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1 to turn its attention away from the consequences of our 
2 actions. But these actions involve more than just the 
3 ends. In this social calculus it could be just as 
4 disastrous to ignore the means established as to ignore 
5 the possible ends. 
6 We have had extensive historical experience at 
7 what happens when a society begins to embrace the posture 
8 of the ends justifying the means. Guidelines restricting 
9 intellectual inquiry are clearly a serious business. The 
10 Russians experimented with protecting their society from 
11 inquiry into the genetics of inheritance. In that case 
12 the action was simply an extension of a policy already 
13 accepting the ends justifying the means. Having once 
14 accepted this tenet, it is not so easy to retreat. 
15 If there were a bona fide biological hazard 
16 associated with these experiments, it would be foolish to 
17 ignore them under the guise of the freedom of inquiry. 
18 Such freedoms have never been a license to maim. This 
19 tension between the desire for freedom and the security 
20 needs of us all has been resolved in the past. While 
21 there continue to be details that need resolution, 
22 the basic structure of the solution is exemplified in 
23 how we deal with freedom of speech. That is, the 
24 freedoms are given the benefit of the doubt until 
25 breached by either social consensus or by overwhelming 
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