1. What cultural or social values, beliefs, etc., do we share with the society or culture in which the text was written? Why have they endured?
I value scientific research, I want to go into the field myself, so I am in favor of any type of research to help cure any kind of disease. This is the basis of designer babies, editing DNA to be able to eradicate hereditary diseases from fertilized eggs so that babies aren't born with these debilitating and most times incurable diseases. Scientists hope that genetic editing is the solution to several incurable hereditary diseases and I share this same hope. This effort to find cures for diseases has always been supported. Most people want to extend the lives of humans and save people from dying with diseases.
2. What cultural or social values, beliefs, etc., do we not share? Why not?
I completely disagree with the belief that the genetic editing should be used to select traits in embryos and all for parents to genetically design their babies. Not only is this unethical, but there are consequences about messing with evolution, gene pools, and overall diversity. Some people are okay with the idea of changing the DNA of their babies and choosing traits and characteristics. A lot of people strive for perfection and being the best, but I think this is an unrealistic expectation. I'm afraid that this technology with be used for the right purpose at first, and then ultimately be abused.
3. If the text is written in a culture distant or different from our own, what social values, beliefs, etc., connect to or reflect our won culture? What social values, beliefs, etc., can we not see in our culture?
This text is written in the same culture that I share.
This text is written in the same culture that I share.
4. If the text is written in our culture but in a different historical time, how have the social values, beliefs, etc., developed or changed over time?
This text was published recently in the last several months and reflects today's societal culture very well.
Reflection:
After reading Lauren and Jenny's posts I saw a lot of similarities among our three posts. The most striking similarity was that all of our texts had the same culture beliefs and values that are present in our culture today. This makes sense because we are looking at issues that are more current. I really like Lauren's approach to the last question and how she compared the culture of the past to the current day. This will work well with my text because it was written this year, but I can analyze the culture in the mid-90's to compare. Also, because Lauren and Jenny are both writing about education, it was interesting to see that their cultural values and beliefs on the subject were very similar.
This text was published recently in the last several months and reflects today's societal culture very well.
 |
| Dr. Random Factor. "Flag Map of the United States." 12 Sept. 2012 via Wikipedia Commons. Creative Commons. |
After reading Lauren and Jenny's posts I saw a lot of similarities among our three posts. The most striking similarity was that all of our texts had the same culture beliefs and values that are present in our culture today. This makes sense because we are looking at issues that are more current. I really like Lauren's approach to the last question and how she compared the culture of the past to the current day. This will work well with my text because it was written this year, but I can analyze the culture in the mid-90's to compare. Also, because Lauren and Jenny are both writing about education, it was interesting to see that their cultural values and beliefs on the subject were very similar.
.png){kind=link}
I really enjoyed reading about your personal views on this topic! I also agree on the fact that this new form of technology should not allow parents to "pick and choose" what their kid will look like. That is unnecessary, and quite frankly, shallow. Also, I share the same apprehension that you expressed about technology--with more advances, comes more chances to abuse it. I think that you need to be sure to research examples that are related and completely different from your topic, in order to add variety to your evidence.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting controversy with so many different elements involved. I share your belief about how it is wrong to create "designer babies," with certain traits because this is considered very unethical in our society. I think it might be interesting to look into examples of the very first evidence of "designer babies," and maybe see how things have changed over time, it at all.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you in that the research of the ability to edit DNA to prevent certain hereditary diseases is incredible and could change the future of medicine. I also agree with you in that editing DNA to select specific traits for your child is unethical. However, I also think that the ability to edit DNA to prevent certain hereditary diseases could be seen by many people as unethical as well, particularly when it comes to religion. I have talked about this topic before with another class and one of the most common responses to the research of editing DNA was that having doctors change your child does not follow God's plan. Personally, I think the research is important because many fatal diseases and conditions could be prevented and therefore save peoples lives. However, giving someone the ability to 'edit' their child is scary. I think that uniqueness is important in our culture and if we were to remove that uniqueness by trying to make our babies look a specific way, that would harm our culture and the way we view difference.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to read your analysis because you disagreed with some of the values of the author. You didn't just disagree, you completely disagreed. I agree with you that being able to choose certain traits of a child is very unethical. I am nowhere near calling myself an expert in the field of science so my knowledge on the subject is very limited. This seems like a topic that really goes either way in terms of what people believe, meaning there can't be an in between.
ReplyDelete