# Social Experiments By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-08-18 There is a general prohibition against conducting studies on human subjects without their consent. This has not always been the case, and unethical studies have been perpetrated against human subjects without their knowledge and against their will. It is appropriate for societies to establish ethical standards to avoid these abuses. Humans are, in fact, subject to social experiments without their consent. The only difference is that we collectively call these experiments “life.” In life, humans are subjected to various conditions like fear, anxiety, and poverty. The major difference is that these conditions are uncontrolled and measured in a largely haphazard way. Much of the ideology of American society centers around the random and beneficial outcomes associated with capital markets. Under this ideology, outcomes are asserted because they are simply what economic conditions produce. This ideology is suspect. Subjecting the mass of society to the whims of capitalism under the untested theory that it produces the optimum outcome should be tested. If found wanting, a new ideology needs to emerge. #### Related Items [[Society]] [[Experiments]] [[Life]] [[Ideology]] [[Capitalism]] [[American]]