Unregulated Genetic Technology Threatens to Dehumanize Society When James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA in 1959, they could not have known that their discovery would one day lead to the possibility of a human factory that is equipped with the capabilities to mass produce perfectly designed, immortal human beings on a laboratory assembly line. Of course, this human factory is not yet possible; genetic technology is still in its infancy, and scientists are forced to spend their days unlocking the secret of human genetics in hopes of uncovering cures for diseases, alleviating suffering, and prolonging life. In the midst of their noble work, scientists still dream of a world—a utopia—inhabited by flawless individuals who have forgotten death and never known suffering. What would become of society if such a utopia existed? How will human life be altered? Leon Kass, in Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics, acknowledges genetics technology’s greatness, and applauds it for its invaluable, benevolent contributions to mankind. However, Kass argues that if left to their devises and ambitions, geneticists—with the power of their technology—will steal away society’s most precious asset; genetic technology will rob society of its humanity. Genetic technology can, and will, achieve great things, but unless it is regulated and controlled, the losses will be catastrophic and the costs will far exceed the benefits. The age of genetic technology has arrived. Thanks to genetic technological advancements, medical practitioners, with the help of genetic profiling, will be able to better diagnose patients and design individual tailored treatments; doctors will be able to discern which medications and treatments will be most beneficial and produce the fewest adverse side effects. Rationally designed vaccines have been created to provide optimal protection against infections. Food scientists have hopes of genetically altering crops to increase food production, and therefore mitigate global hunger. Law enforcement officers find that their job is made easier through the advancement of forensics; forensics is yet another contribution of genetic technology. Doctors have the ability to identify “high-risk” babies before they are born, which enables them to be better prepared in the delivery room. Additionally, oncologists are able to improve survival rates of cancer patients by administering genetically engineered changes in malignant tumors; these changes result in an increased immune response by the individual. With more than fifty years of research, and billions of dollars, scientists have uncovered methods to improve and prolong human life and the possibilities offered by gene therapy and genetic technology are increasing daily.
The ethics behind genetic engineering have been discussed and argued for years now. Some arguing points often include competitive advantages, playing God, and the polarization of society, but Sandel takes a different approach in explaining society’s “unease” with the morality of genetic engineering. Broadcasted through several examples throughout the book, Sandel explains that genetic engineering is immoral because it takes away what makes us human and makes us something else. He states that by taking control of our genetic makeup, or the makeup of our progeny, we lose our human dignity and humility. Our hunger for control will lead to the loss of appreciation for natural gifts, whether they are certain talents, inherited from the genetic lottery, or the gift of life itself.
For moreover, Daniel Goleman (2004) explained that emotional intelligence plays an integral role in defining character and determining both our individual and group densities. It involves the ability in monitoring one’s own and others emotion, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and action. It means to embrace the power of emotion intelligently, it involves abilities that may be categorized, into five (5) domains: (1) self-awareness, (2) emotional maturity, (3) self-motivation, (4) emphatic understanding, and (5) quality communication.
A man casually walks down the street with a skip to his step and a smile on his face. While staring at the clouds, he whistles a serene tune. Bam! The man trips on a jutted piece of sidewalk. With his limbs failing he comical collapses onto the ground. The neighbors cannot help but to laugh from his humorous fall. The man giggles along with the crowd and then continues on his merry way. This scene whether appropriate or inappropriate causes laughter. The man in the story, could have potentially been injured, but yet people laugh anyway. They feel superior to the man that tripped and laugh from seeing weakness in him. Similarly, many cartoons emphasize humor based on the dichotomy between superiority and inferiority. Common cartoons, like Looney
Over 40 years ago, two men by the names of James Watson and Francis Crick discovered deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. DNA is hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms (What is DNA?). From this finding, gene therapy evolved. Today, researchers are able to isolate certain specific genes, repair them, and use them to help cure diseases such as cystic fibrosis and hemophilia. However, as great as this sounds, there are numerous ethical and scientific issues that will arise because of religion and safety.
Webster goes on to the formal definition of humor, as saying that it is a way someone can feel emotionally. (“Humor”). Humor is just making another person happier with themselves or the situation they are in. The same way as negativity can bring someone down, humor has the opposite effect, it is positive and makes people feel better about themselves. So many comedians do bits making light of any kind of situation they will or already have encountered or experienced. Doing a comedy skit, or going to a comedy club, or just being around someone who is humorous is all part of humor and what is all of its components. Humor’s components are happiness, laughter, kindness, love, and laughter all mixed up into one
A multitude of opinions are found on the subject: are emotions more a function of the heart or of the head? According to Antonio Damasio (1), emotions and feelings are an integral part of all thought; yet we as humans spend much of our time attempting to disregard and hide them. In the view of source (2), experience is the result of integration of cognition and feelings. In either view, it remains indisputable that emotions are not what we typically make them out to be: the unwanted step-sister of our cultural sweetheart reason. Reason in our culture denotes intelligence, cognition, and control. Emotions seems such a "scary" concept to our collective m...
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.
Sandel, M. J. The case against perfection, ethics in the age of genetic engineering. Belknap Press, 2007. Print.
Nursing is a very important job in the medical field and is projected to grow in certain aspects over the next few years. There are multiple sub-careers to go into and some are more general than others. The options go from children to elderly people and dealing with all different types of diseases. There are even specialties for different organs in the body of one’s geared more towards female’s or male’s. I am undecided on which specialty to choose however, I know that I would like to pick one that concerns children due to the fact that ever since I myself was a young adult I have always loved children and taking care of them. Nursing has multiple specialties to choose from that involve children such as, a Midwife nurse, neonatal nurse, and a pediatric nurse.
The null hypothesis being tested states that there is no difference in maple tree density in rural versus urban habitats. The experiment conducted observed maple tree density in both rural and urban habitats. The observed mean number of maple trees per quadrant in an urban habitat (Jackson Park) was 2 trees. The observed mean number of maple trees per quadrant in a rural habitat (Ojibway) was 6.25 trees. A student’s t-test was performed to test the null hypothesis. The tree density was measured in 16 quadrants in a total from the two habitats, thus the degrees of freedom of the experiment was 14. The critical t-value was 2.14 and the observed t-value was 3.12. Since the observed t-value is greater than the critical t-value, the results are
Savulescu, Julian. “Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Human Beings.” Readings in the Philosophy of Technology. Ed. David Kaplan. 2nd ed. Lanham: Roman & Littlefield, 2009. 417-430.
These are emotions that help us to be social. They include compassion, joy, love, loneliness, and euphoria. Scientists have been acting narrowly thus focusing on negative pro-social emotions. Of late, this perspective has been broadened to have the scientists think upright and be constructive. There are emotions such as altruism, gratitude, and forgiveness increases the mental health and well being of people and those who surround them. One can understand the aspects that lead to pro-social emotions. Such emotions start from the group and later affect an individual. The pro-social emotions can help improve the well being of an individual plus their mental health. Mental health involves psychological well being. This means, there is no spiritual illness (Colins, Oliver, & Henrik, 198). Broadly, psychological health is the mental state of a person functioning at an emotional level that is satisfactory. An individual would enjoy life under holism, or the constructive mental health. Prosocial emotions, therefore, contribute to the good health of people's
Human genetic engineering can provide humanity with the capability to construct “designer babies” as well as cure multiple hereditary diseases. This can be accomplished by changing a human’s genotype to produce a desired phenotype. The outcome could cure both birth defects and hereditary diseases such as cancer and AIDS. Human genetic engineering can also allow mankind to permanently remove a mutated gene through embryo screening, as well as allow parents to choose the desired traits for their children. Negative outcomes of this technology may include the transmission of harmful diseases and the production of genetic mutations.
The controversy of these issues stems from the immense potential in genetic sciences for both positive use and harmful misuse. Though the questions and fears of critics reflect the wisdom of caution, the potentially unlimited benefits mandate that we pursue these technologies.
The 2001 documentary film "Store Wars: When Walmart Comes to Town" reported that turnover was about 70% a year, which is much higher than the rest of the retail industry. Since then it has fallen (Ritholtz). In the article by Coleman Peterson, an internal data analysis of Walmart showed that an associate leaves within the first 90 days because conflicts on their schedule or they prefer to work in a different area (Peterson). To address this issue, various promotions along with training & development strategies are used to support the company’s HR needs and increase employee morale. One way Walmart empowers their employees is by helping them achieve a higher status academically. Some universities like American Public University have agreed to give academic credits to company’s employees based on performance reviews and duration of employment. The company’s objective in using this method is to maximize cost-effectiveness of recruitment