CAUTION

As humans, we sometimes get easily excited and forget to take precautions.  Let's be honest, how many people actually read the safety precautions on anything they buy:  food, mouthwash, ect.  In fact, most of the times, the list of safety precautions is in small text in a discreet location.  For example, when playing Wii, the safety notice that is displayed before every game is often a nuisance is a single screen that most simply get annoyed at.  However, it has shown time and time again that when it comes to scientific discovery and exploration, a necessary caution level of caution, or as Raymo describes it, a measure of restraint, must be considered as we move forward in our technologically explosive world.

In Raymo's essay, "A Measure of Restraint," Raymo discusses various times that humans have been careless in their excitement over new discovers.  For example, Raymo discusses the Curie's and their discovery of Radium.  When they first discovered it, there was a sudden "radium craze," and thousands of people ignorantly used the radium in the most dangerous ways they could, without even knowing!  The harmful effects of this radioactive substance on humans can cause death as well as cancer.  Even the famous woman who discovered it, Marie Curie, suffered with, "radiation-induced leukemia, with cataracts on her eyes and her fingertips marked by sores that would not heal" (214).  Had someone taken the time to measure the risks that this substance had, it might not have been used so recklessly.  In light of this, Raymo points out the need for restraint in the pursuit of knowledge and scientific discovery.

At first, I completely disagreed with his argument.  I believe that, without any restraints, scientific discovers that have revolutionized the world we live in might not have happened.  However, then I began to realize that exploration in science does not have to be restrained:  the products of scientific research and exploration are what need to be carefully examined and researched before they should be used on a large scale.  Had this happened with the famous radium, many lives could have been saved.