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GMAT Sample Questions : Analytical Writing Assessment

Scientific inquiry is rooted in the desire to discover, but there is no discovery so important that in its pursuit a threat to human life can be tolerated.

Sample-1

The prompt means that generally speaking a scientists job is to discover new things but not to pursuit a threat to human life. Discovery is important but not costing human life. For example, what the Nazis did to prisoners was wrong to them.

Sometimes a threat to human life is tolerated when the scientific discovery can help many people at one time. Such a specific situation might be if a scientist thinks he has a cure for AIDS but needs to test it on people who are not HIV positive. In this case and others where humans might be helped, scientific discovery can be pursuit even if there's a threat to human life because maximum benefit might occur.

A scientific discovery can overtake a human life only in certain cases that occur when scientists can see benefits from their experiment. Such as if there's a cure for AIDS.