Talk:Self-experimentation

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[edit] Experimentation Phobia in Fiction

The In Fiction section refers to the Fantastic Four case in which it is something outside the planned experiment that has bad consequences rather than unintended consequences of the experiment performed as intended. The test of the rocket was successful. It was not, as I read it, a test of the concept of travel outside the atmosphere. I am not familiar with the other cases that are mentioned and do not know whether they are also cases of accidents or of unintended consequences of the successful execution of the experiment. In addition, if Reed Richards was one those transformed by the rocket trip into the Fantastic Four, then we have a self-experiment. Or, if all four worked on the rocket, it might be deemed a self-experiment.

The fictional cases seem to suggest that writers see that the audience is likely to have a phobic reaction to the very idea of experimentation that makes both accidents in the execution of the experiment and unintended consequences seem plausible.

If I am experimenting with a toxin, drop a test tube, and die of the exposure, that is not essentially about the process of experimentation. If I am reading a book, turn a page, and get a paper cut, that is not about reading or books; it might be about paper.

I would prefer the examples to be more focused, if that is convenient. DCDuring 16:17, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Other (RFID case)

This item was removed without discussion. I have reverted to the version with it until I can get some kind of explanation that makes sense to me or greater power prevails. In the meantime, I am having some trouble making the references included show up on the page. DCDuring 20:52, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

You can keep the Kevin Warwick item if you like, but since you moved it from a place where it was added as part of a single-purpose editor's campaign to promote Kevin Warwick, and since I couldn't get the ref link to find any verification, I thought we'd be better off without it. Dicklyon 21:39, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

I was able to make the CNN link work. It hadn't been formatted to work as an in-line link. I'm not really sure that this article would meet the highest Wikipedia standards, but I guess there is greater license with article that cover such special topics. I haven't yet checked the IEEE article, which is more reputable by my lights. I'm still not able to get the IEEE footnote to show up properly, but that's probably my inexperience and impatience with documentation. Whatever the motives, it is of interest for this article because so few documented cases exist. DCDuring 22:18, 31 August 2007 (UTC)