ABSTRACT
The experimentation decision maker must consider how the abstract concept of fairness applies to specific activities, taking into account the much-quoted aphorism of Justice Potter Stewart that "fairness is what justice really is." The experimentation decision maker would have to take into account several things. He or she would focus on the information about risk that is available to those who create it and to those who may be affected by it. Scientific and technological experimentation takes many forms. One of the most successful enterprises of this kind was fostered by the environment at Bell Labs, where Mervin Kelly—ultimately chairman of the board of the firm—put together an "institute of creative technology" that "housed thinkers and doers under one roof." The chapter reviews the basic approaches society employs in encountering and attempting to control experimental risk. The broad range of experimentation in realms related to the law begins with politics in the raw.
