The Nuremberg Code for Scientific Experimentation
The Nuremberg Code case examines whether the ethical rules for human-subject research can help us evaluate new technologies. The code was created after World War II in response to the unethical experiments performed by Nazi doctors on prisoners in concentration camps. It emphasizes voluntary consent, social value, limits on risk, protection from injury, and the right of participants to end an experiment. The main ethical question is whether these principles can be applied to technologies that affect the public, such as self-driving cars, the Internet, or new medical devices. This case highlights a major difficulty: unlike patients in a medical trial, ordinary people affected by new technologies often cannot give informed consent, cannot fully understand the risks, and cannot easily withdraw from the “experiment” once the technology becomes part of everyday life.