Английский язык: Аннотирование и реферирование текста

295 "Is withholding this lifesaving treatment while we ponder akin to mur- der? " When a choice raises ethical questions or throws values into con- flict, it is time to make an ethical decision or to step aside and let others choose for themselves. Deciding to avoid whatever raised the question is itself a decision – and often ethically indefensible. New technologies will face us with uncomfortable decisions, but so does life itself. Setting up rules for nanotechnology development will be chal- lenging: finding ways to maximize research freedom while preventing serious abuse and making this stick worldwide is a social challenge of the first rank. Beyond this are decisions regarding rules for its applica- tion, and the challenge of maximizing freedom of choice and action while preventing serious abuse, again worldwide . To guide nanotechnology means grappling with a set of decisions that could ultimately remake much of the world – for the better if we are reasonably wise, or for the worse if we are too blundering and in- cautious. To avoid this responsibility (if we could) would be tempting, yet given the environmental and human stakes, it would, perhaps, be a wrong of historic proportions. Responsible Action For all practical purposes, nanotechnology seems inevitable. With work, it can be made beneficial, but only if we exercise ordinary care in avoiding accidents and extraordinary care in preventing abuse. It's hard to get people to take future technologies seriously. Pre- sent-day problems dominate discussions, and ideas about future possi- bilities take effort to judge. Because of this inertia, broad international regulation of nanotechnology won't be possible until nanotechnology already exists, until people begin to see its results. And then, for regula- tion to be most effective, researchers and governments in many coun- tries will need to cooperate and be on speaking terms with the technol- ogy's critics. What, then, is the socially responsible course of action, the ap- proach most likely to avoid serious abuse of nanotechnology and most