Should our curiosity about ourselves and the natural world be unfettered? Or should some forms of enquiry, especially in science, be limited? On the grounds of safety we restrict the way that experiments involving radioactivity and genetic engineering are done. Should we attempt to curtail other forms of scientific enquiry on social grounds? For example, if we found cures for cancer and heart disease, could we cope with the problems created by large numbers of people living into their 80s and 90s? Is some knowledge so dangerous politically as not to be worth having?
Mary Goldring chairs a discussion between Dr Sydney Brenner of the Mite Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cam-bridge, Anthony Quinton. President of Trinity College, Oxford, and Ian Kennedy , Reader in Law at King's College, London. Producer DAVID PATERSON