- European values study: Pissed off Spain is a happy country: why we are the most satisfied Europeans
- Editorial: The dangers of unethical science
They say that the Spaniards, quixotes , nobody wins. But to scientists, either. After comparing the perception of the population with that of four countries in our environment - Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy -, Spain has distinguished itself from the rest for its higher expectations regarding science and technology. Nobody trusts more in their possibilities, nor fears less their possible adverse effects.
However, apart from certain Spanish peculiarities, there is a broad consensus among the countries analyzed . All attach great importance to research and its applications, and in all of them the professionals dedicated to these activities enjoy wide confidence. Above all, doctors.
This follows from the survey conducted in the latest European Values Study of the BBVA Foundation . The majority of people interviewed, in all countries, believe that science improves health, reduces superstitions and fears of the past and provides the most reliable image in the world.
The population relies mostly - in this order - on doctors, scientists and engineers. Also, although somewhat less, in environmentalists. The environment arouses more and more interest and predominates a vision of nature associated with "purity and beauty" , as opposed to "materialist or utilitarian" visions.
The coincidences regarding values - which should not be confused with knowledge - are wide among the five countries studied. However, the small print of the report also reveals some notable differences according to the nationality of the respondents.
The specific answer that most distinguishes Spaniards from the rest of the countries analyzed is that related to the ethics of scientific research. Asked the participants if they think that ethics should put limits on scientific advances, in all countries, with the sole exception of Spain, most consider that they should .
The Germans are the most in favor of setting ethical limits, with 68% of favorable responses, followed by the French, with 57%. In Italy and the United Kingdom, support was more timid, but also majority. On the other hand, the opinion of the Spaniards is clearly unmarked , since only 36% believe that ethics should mark limits to science, always according to the aforementioned survey.
An explanation for this Spanish anomaly could be found in the lack of scientific tradition. We have experienced many compressed advances in a few decades, so our enthusiasm is immense, but not so much our ability to discern between advantages and precautions.
"This is not a study of scientific culture," recalled Rafael Pardo, director of the BBVA Foundation, who explained that, through other surveys, we know that the level of knowledge of Spaniards in scientific matters is below that of other European nations.
The dissociation between values and knowledge may seem paradoxical: we are the most enthusiastic, but not the ones we know the most. But it is not a strange thing either: "It is not necessary to know the electromagnetic theory to turn on the light," said Pardo.
In the Spanish population, the association between progress, well-being and technology is very intense, which motivates that the answers are almost always the most partisan of any proposal . For example, there is no other country in which brain implants to increase the memory or genetic modification of animals to produce drugs are mostly acceptable.
Germany is at the opposite end of Spain in these and other matters. It is frequent, in fact, that countries with more scientific and technological tradition already take their advantages for granted and place greater emphasis on caution. A very concrete example: there is much less support for nuclear energy in France (27%), a country closely linked to this technology, than in the United Kingdom (40%), where it is much less implemented. The explanation, says Pardo, is that in France it is already considered "something of the past."
We crave, above all, what we don't have, or what has taken longer to reach us. But why only one in three Spaniards would put ethical limits on science? "From my point of view, the first and fundamental cause is the ignorance of the scope of the concept of ethics , in general, and ethics in research and scientific integrity, in particular," says María Luisa Salas, director of the Department of Ethics in CSIC Research .
"There are insurmountable limits, such as respect for the dignity of the human being, his capacity for self-determination, his privacy, the protection of personal data, the welfare of animals used for scientific purposes or the preservation of the environment" , argues Rooms.
Perhaps the problem is that the notion of "ethical limit" is perceived as an obstacle to progress, an unnecessary interference in our path to the future. But the reality, Salas insists, is that having a cutting-edge science and high standards of control go hand in hand . "Only ethical, integral and responsible conduct in research guarantees the advancement of knowledge," he says.
Religion, cloning and genetic engineering
Contrary to what happens in the field of ethics, the coincidence between countries is unanimous when asked whether religion should set limits to science. Everyone thinks mostly not . Although Spain also stands out here for being where this position is the highest premium (82%), followed closely by France (79%). The country where this consensus is less widespread is Germany (60%).
When you move from general questions to specific cases, caution against a science without a cutter increases. The clearest example is the cloning of animals, to which rejection is widespread . But, again, Spain is at the extreme, this time next to the United Kingdom, by presenting a greater tolerance to these techniques.
Respondents scored with a scale from 0 to 10 their level of tolerance or rejection of the cloning of animals, 0 being the maximum rejection and 10 the maximum acceptance. In all countries, the averages were around 3, being slightly higher in Spain.
The genetic modification of animals, evaluated by the same method, again reflects a particularity of the Spaniards, the only ones who, with an average of 5, gave an approved scrape to this kind of experiments , provided they were directed to the development of medicines. The rest of the nationalities rejected them mostly for any purpose. No country approves genetic engineering to produce food, but Spain is the closest, with a 4.3.
Research with human embryos for medical purposes is widely rejected in Germany (57%), while in Spain and the United Kingdom the positions are more polarized. In Spain, the maximum rejection - score from 0 to 2- reaches 33% and the extreme acceptance - from 8 to 10 - obtains 29%, which makes it the country where the division of opinions is greater.
The United Kingdom is the country with the most similarities with Spain throughout the entire report. For example, they are the only two where the genetic modification of plants to produce food exceeds that approved. In the few issues in which both countries separate, it is usually due to a greater enthusiasm for technology - with or without limits - by the Spanish population.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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