Beyond 13-15; Code Breaker (CB) Intro & Part One-The Origins of Life
Presentation: Martha
Here's your AUDIO REVIEW for exam 1 on Thursday March 6...
Beyond
1. What do Athanasiou and Darnovsky fear we're at risk of losing, if the human genome is privatized?
2. What future social classes does Lee Silver predict will effectively become separate species? Who are some prominent figures who endorse his views?
3. What published opinion do our authors cite as committing a "naturalistic fallacy"?
4. Brave New World was what, "first of all"?
5. What practice continued into the 70s in "that liberal paragon Sweden"?
6. People with congenital disabilities typically feel ____.
7. What's the logical conclusion of the "Kinsley-Sullivan thesis" and what does it conflate?
8. CRISPR is an acronym for what?
9. What's needed most, to reduce the incidence of monogenic disease?
10. Scientists have a responsibility to debate _____.
3. What published opinion do our authors cite as committing a "naturalistic fallacy"?
4. Brave New World was what, "first of all"?
5. What practice continued into the 70s in "that liberal paragon Sweden"?
6. People with congenital disabilities typically feel ____.
7. What's the logical conclusion of the "Kinsley-Sullivan thesis" and what does it conflate?
8. CRISPR is an acronym for what?
9. What's needed most, to reduce the incidence of monogenic disease?
10. Scientists have a responsibility to debate _____.
DQs
- Do you agree with the "biotech boosters" that possible advances in medical science trump all other considerations, and that the prospect of progress is worth the risk of inheritable genetic modification?
- "Designer babies": do you want one?
- "Post-humans": do you welcome them?
- Why don't techno-utopians like Lee Silver (et al) deplore the prospect of a social gap between those who've been genetically enhanced and those who haven't? Do you?
- Was James Watson right about "what the public actually wants"? 160
- Is it alarmist to invoke Huxley's dystopia as a harbinger of things to come?
- Are there any spheres of medicine, or indeed of life, in which perfectionism is an appropriate state of mind and plan of action?
- Who has the right to decide when, whether, or how to edit a child's genome?
- How would you respond to any of the questions posed in the first paragraph on p.173?
Code Breaker (CB)
- CRISPR is based on what kind of trick? xvi (And what does the acronym stand for? --see index)
- What "joy" is this book about? xix
- What did Jennifer Doudna first realize when she read The Double Helix? 8
- Mendel's experiments revealed what momentous genetic facts? 14
- What was James Watson's "feeble attempt at graciousness"? 26
- What revolutions coincided in the '50s? 28
- What changed for Doudna after her junior year? 33
- How did President Clinton announce the sequencing of the human genome? 40
- What injunction became one of Doudna's guiding principles? 46
- What was one of her father's "gifts" to Doudna? 60
- What was the most exciting finding of the "Dicer" study? 66
Discussion Questions:
- What do you think are the likeliest potential applications of CRISPR? Are you more excited or worried about them?
- What do you think of the way Watson and Crick treated Franklin?
- Do you think the sciences of biology and chemistry, and the significance of their convergence, are adequately communicated in science classes at every level?
- Did President Clinton accurately represent the significance of the human genome project?
- Do science and humanities educators adequately understand one another, or is there still a "Two Cultures" schism (as C.P. Snow dubbed it long ago)?
- Suggest your own DQs
Is it alarmist to invoke Huxley's dystopia as a harbinger of things to come?
ReplyDeleteNot at all. I think the thing about Huxley's book that makes it more "realistic" is that it did not take a violent revolution for the world to become a dystopian nightmare. Scientific advancement without the consideration of bioethics caused a world where people were born in test tubes. These people were born into their social roles, genetically created for their caste. Because of this, they genetically could not break out of their roles. If you were born to be a day laborer, you would be a day laborer. You would not be given the genes to be intelligent.
Allowing genetic mutations to increase people's intelligence, strength, etc, etc, allows for this sort of society to be a reality. Huxley's "Brave New World" is not alarmist, it is a prescient warning, and one for our time, right now.
I agree. I think that bad things will inevitably happen unless we are proactive to prevent them from happening. People generally act in their own interest, and the people with the most money and power will leverage these things to further their goals. And I think Aldous Huxley understood this and wrote about what could very easily happen if we continue to use technological advances as vehicles for those with capital to further entrench their own power.
DeleteDo you agree with the "biotech boosters" that possible advances in medical science trump all other considerations, and that the prospect of progress is worth the risk of inheritable genetic modification?
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm actually really scared of technological progression, especially when it happens fast and during unstable times. I wonder what the next thing we make that we regret will be like. The biggest example of this I can think of is nukes. I wish we could pause certain technological advances until the powers that be are unified in a shared goal of using this new technology in ways that improve lives.
Are there any spheres of medicine, or indeed of life, in which perfectionism is an appropriate state of mind and plan of action?
ReplyDeleteNope, definitely not. The goal of perfection I think does more harm than good, because it works better to remind people how much they lack than it does to motivate people to improve. It's good to always seek to be better while also maintaining a sense of self worth, which is very easy to lose if you're trying to be perfect.
For CRISPR and other such technology I see application in mostly plant based products and viral genomes. I see the most potential application in bacteriophages for example, as I think they could be programmed to intercept specific bacterial genomes while leaving animal cells alone. In this aspect, I look forward to the technology, however I do recognize the downsides.
ReplyDelete“Designer Babies” - No I would not want one nor would I want to genetically modify my children’s embryo. The whole idea is just so wrong considering you’re doing this to someone before they’re even able to conceive and perceive their own identity. Body and mental positivity should be prioritized instead of trying to change our children’s appearance.
CRISPR - Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats
Is primarily found in bacteria.
Who has the right to decide when, whether, or how to edit a child's genome?
ReplyDeleteI think a Doctor should have the right to decide when, whether, or how to edit a child's genome. I feel like this process should only be done it the child has some things that life threatening or decreases their quality of life. Some parents might take advantage of this and use it for the wrong purpose, specifically for aesthetics. But as I stated I think genome editing should be decided on by a doctor and even by a second opinion to confirm the edit.
5. Compulsory sterilization of “unfit” persons continued in Sweden into the 1970s. It is jarring to think that such unvetted killings were deemed commonplace just 50 years ago.
ReplyDelete8. CRISPR is an acronym for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”. It is a system that is used for gene editing that has gained a lot of traction in genome research. It seems like a work of fiction that our genetic code can be altered. I can only hope that the subsequent discoveries are made with the greater good in mind.
9. To reduce the incidence of monogenic diseases, routine genetic testing is recommended before falling back on embryo editing. In my opinion, such a delicate process seems risky. I feel that a lot more time is required before I would ever feel comfortable with such a procedure.