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Impact of technology in society
Effect Of Technology On Society
Society impact on technology
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New forms of technology emerge all around the world every day. Gene transfer technology, known as transgenics, is a biological form of technology and a rapidly advancing one. Transgenics consists of new forms of biological research studies. By definition transgenic means "of, relating to, denoting an organism that contains genetic material into which DNA from an unrelated organism has been artificially introduced" (Oxford English Dictionary). In simpler terms, transgenics can alter an organism’s biological (genetic) makeup. The real argument behind transgenics is, what effect does it have on societies culture and how can it affect the peoples future? To be specific, this new technology can help create a new species, cure diseases (cancer), and help grow new organs and other biological alterations. Transgenics is a widely discussed topic. Articles, books, research studies and journal articles all convey different aspects of which transgenics works and the understanding of it. Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" novel portrays the advancements in transgenic growth. This novel utilizes the science behind transgenics and expresses how it can be used to create new, living, human organs from tissues being grown on living animals. …show more content…
After his years there, he was recruited for a project known as "Pigoon Projects", where he worked with "transplant experts" and "microbiologists" who focused on splicing DNA and diseases (Oryx and Crake, page 22). The purpose of these projects was to begin the growth process and effectively grow "an assortment of foolproof human-tissue organs in a transgenic knock-out pig" (Oryx and Crake, page 22). The goal is to successfully transplant these fully developed organs onto a human host, clean of all infectious diseases and no
...he reader, which creates many questions about the particular subject of genetic engineering. It also conveys the authors idea, that we really need to be careful about what we do with this new scientific marvel, effectively to the reader, thus raising the reader's awareness about genetic engineering.
The pigoons are the main animals used for the gene splicing experiments. They were used to harvest organs for human use. This fictional experiment really sends a message to the reader because these are things that are already taking place in science. As said by Bouson, we live “In a biotechnological world in which the boundaries between science fiction and science fact are fast collapsing, corporations can own, patent, and commodify technologically designed species, … for medical and experimental purposes” (Bouson 139). For example, there has already been experiments where mice were used to grow ears on their backs for human use. This topic is an issue because it is unethical as stated by Atwood, gene splicing is “interfering with the building blocks of life. It’s immoral. It’s … sacrilegious” (Atwood 57). Gene splicing interferes with the normal course of nature. Eventually the hybrid animals were released into the outside environment. This could be a problem in real life because the hybrids could outnumber and replace the natural animals which could affect nature negatively. Gene splicing is also a problem within the novel. When the corporations began gene splicing science was no longer about sustaining all forms of life. Instead, science became a way for only the people to receive the benefits of the advancements, while completely ignoring the harm they were causing due to their endless acts of greed. This also shows how humans completely disregard the possible negative effects or impact on the environment caused by our actions. Not only do we ignore the impact on the environment we also ignore how certain things could affect
Mae-Wan, Ho. Genetic engineering : dream or nightmare? : turning the tide on the brave new world of bad science and big business. New York : Continuum, 2000.
Science and technology are rapidly advancing everyday; in some ways for the better, and in some, for worse. One extremely controversial advance is genetic engineering. As this technology has high potential to do great things, I believe the power genetic engineering is growing out of control. Although society wants to see this concept used to fight disease and illness, enhance people 's lives, and make agriculture more sustainable, there needs to be a point where a line is drawn.
Genetic engineering has been around for many years and is widely used all over the planet. Many people don’t realize that genetic engineering is part of their daily lives and diet. Today, almost 70 percent of processed foods from a grocery store were genetically engineered. Genetic engineering can be in plants, foods, animals, and even humans. Although debates about genetic engineering still exist, many people have accepted due to the health benefits of gene therapy. The lack of knowledge has always tricked people because they only focused on the negative perspective of genetic engineering and not the positive perspective. In this paper, I will be talking about how Genetic engineering is connected to Brave New World, how the history of genetic engineering impacts the world, how genetic engineering works, how people opinions are influenced, how the side effects can be devastating, how the genetic engineering can be beneficial for the society and also how the ethical issues affect people’s perspective.
Trivedi, Bijal P. “Cloned Pigs modified for Use in Human Transplants”. National Geographic News 3 Jan 2002. Retrieved 6 April 2011 from nationalgeographic.com
"The aim is to decrease the fear of a brave new world and to encourage people to be more proactive about their health. It [Gene therapy] will help humans become better physically and even mentally and extend human life. It is the future” (Hulbert). Dr. Hulbert, a genetic engineer, couldn’t be anymore right; more time, money, and research needs to be put into gene therapy and genetic engineering, since it can cure certain illness and diseases that are incurable with modern medicine, has fewer side-effects than conventional drugs or surgery, and allows humans to be stronger physically and mentally at birth. Gene therapy or genetic engineering is the development and application of scientific methods, procedures, and technologies that permit direct manipulation of genetic material in order to alter the hereditary traits of a cell, organism, or population (NIH). It essentially means that we can change DNA to make an organism better. Genetic engineering is used with animals and plants every day; for example with genetic...
Although humans have altered the genomes of species for thousands of years through artificial selection and other non-scientific means, the field of genetic engineering as we now know it did not begin until 1944 when DNA was first identified as the carrier of genetic information by Oswald Avery Colin McLeod and Maclyn McCarty (Stem Cell Research). In the following decades two more important discoveries occurred, first the 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA, by Watson and Crick, and next the 1973 discovery by Cohen and Boyer of a recombinant DNA technique which allowed the successful transfer of DNA into another organism. A year later Rudolf Jaenisch created the world’s first transgenic animal by introducing foreign DNA into a mouse embryo, an experiment that would set the stage for modern genetic engineering (Stem Cell Research). The commercialization of genetic engineering began largely in 1976 wh...
Although growing wings, developing a beak, and having horns are all possible through genetic engineering, that is not the reason for the growing popularity of this medical practice. Genetic engineering has far more valid applications than some would imagine. Genetic engineering is the changing of an organism’s characteristics by modifying its genetic material, and this technology has some of the most significant data backing it up. The causes for the increase in genetic engineering include the ability to choose and correct genes for offspring, the ability to correct defective genes which code for genetic diseases/disorders, and the increase in hunger-stricken areas.
Chimeras are created by injecting foreign DNA(from another animal) into a developing animal embryo. Chimeras were first primarily used to understand developmental biology. Today, chimeras are used for disease processes, test new drugs, and organ transplants. Sheep and pig have been genetically modified to produce human organs for transplant. In 2004, pigs have been modified to have human blood (Silverman). Since chimeras can be genetically modified to include human DNA, they are better research subjects. Irv Weissman, a director of Stanford University’s Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, created mice with 100 percent human brains. Weissman believes the mice can offer ground-breaking information in combating brain functions and diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's. Consequently, there is much opposition against the research and use of chimeras (Mott).
“Transplanting animal organs into humans is feasible.” USA Today. November 1999: 54-55. Gehlsen, Gale M., Ganion, Larry R. and Robert Helfst.
In 2004 another experiment was created in Rochester Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic. The clinic was the first to create pigs that used human blood in place of their own. In 2005, two more hybrids are created the first being a mouse with human brain cells and the second is a feline-human protein hybrid. These hybrids are being created to fight and cure cancers and diseases including Parkinson and Alzheimer’s disease. 2007 and 2008, sheep ...
Muller, M., & Brem, G. (2001). Large transgenic animals: Their making and their use. In E. C. R. Reeve (Ed.), Encyclopedia of genetics (pp. 363-367). NY, USA: Fizroy Dearborn Publishers.
Biogenetic engineering is the ability to change or modify a genome of an organism through the use of biotechnology. We use this in order to add a new gene to an organism that it would originally would not contain. This creates a better suited organism to adapt to any form of change it may have to deal with. Biogenetic engineering works by physically entering the organism’s genome and removing it and inserting the genome into another organism this allows the organism that had received the new trait to express the new code. The steps for genetic engineering is by first finding an organism that contains a trait that is desired, then scientist will extract the DNA, then once the gene has been extracted it goes through gene cloning, this is the process in which the gene is located and copied from the different of genes that had been extracted, and sometimes the desired gene will be modified so that it will be able to perform desirelly within the organism, the transgene, which is the new gene, will be inserted into the organism, once inserted scientist will allow for breeding in order to perfect the desired gene. Biogenetic engineering allows for the manual transport of genes from one organism to the next. The genes that we use for bioengineering are beneficial since we are able to perfect this genes for an unlimited amount of usage. Bioengineering also allows a single or a few desirable genes to be inserted into an organism rather than breeding which has at times undesirable traits that might not be as beneficial to the organism as the gene that is being inserted manually in bioengineering.
Retro-viruses and gene-specific medications could be used to alter a person’s genetic code, ridding a person of inherited maladies such as heart disease or diabetes. With the introduction of some, if not all, of these different methods of treating ailments, we could effectively wipe out a large amount of diseases that would otherwise be untreatable. Senior citizens would no longer have to suffer from maladies such as Alzheimer’s or other such illnesses related to age. With these procedures, a child can grow up never having to suffer from a learning disorder such as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder) or even cases of mental retardation by eliminating or modifying the genes that are responsible for these and other problems.