A Cure for AIDS in Our Lifetime?

One huge hope for science that I have is that scientists will be able to find a cure for not only AIDs, but for all deadly diseases and infections. I think that it is safe to say that most people know at least one person who has died from a disease or infection that has no cure. I also think it is safe to say that these people would love there to be a discovery to cure the disease which killed their loved one. The unfortunate part is that scientists are not optimistic about finding cures to such diseases. This article talks about how scientists are not even sure if there will even be a possibility of find a cure "in the next 20 years" (McNeil). It is somewhat sad that scientists are not hopeful, but that does not mean that a cure will not be found.

McNeil, Donald. "After Long Scientific Search, Still No Cure for AIDS." The New York Times, 9 May 2010. Web. 5 September 2010.

Hopes

Technology as others have stated has pros and cons. Cons would be we sometimes rely on them heavily and often take them for granted. The pros are obvious, it has simplified many daily tasks in life like automation and time consuming tasks. Without all the help technology provides it would make advancement in our society much slower than the current rate. Some might argue we are progressing too fast because we cannot sustain ourselves.

Recently we have been turning to technology/ science to figure out how to reverse the damage we have done to the climate. Originally we thought we could slow down the amount of pollution we are putting into the air, but after this was apparent it wouldn't work on its own. Many more countries recently have been prospering and their people are using more and polluting, and the government of those countries has to control those emissions just as the U.S has policies in place to limit its emissions.

Some ideas that have been thought up of how to combat global warning: "injecting sulfur dioxide
aerosols"
fertilize the open oceans with iron
"giant reflective helium balloons"
"putting sunshades above the Earth to reflect sunlight"
From: Global Warming: Technology vs. Choice

Some of these ideas are far from ordinary but innovation is what our society thrives on. Even if we can use science to create a way to help reverse what we have done to the climate/atmosphere it still comes down to our behavior as people. The solution sound simple, change our behavior when it comes to things like this. In reality that is extremely difficult and it again is one of those things a lot of people take for granite. It good take a whole generation or some type of event for people to wake up .


Citation:
Leech, Eric. "Global Warming: Technology vs. Choice." TreeHugger. 30 May 2009. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

Technology - The Negative Effects Of Instant Gratification

Without proper downtime the brain does not process information and experiences which can prohibit you from learning.

At the University of California, San Francisco, scientists have found that when rats have a new experience, like exploring an unfamiliar area, their brains show new patterns of activity. But only when the rats take a break from their exploration do they process those patterns in a way that seems to create a persistent memory of the experience.

Technology has allowed what normally would be idle time, like going for a walk. Turn into a online shopping spree. Depriving the brain of idle time (processing time). These small breaks throughout the day allow your brain to rest, too learn.

It's not that obtaining a particular piece of information almost instantly is a bad thing. It's the long term effects of instant information and entertainment that are negative. It is said that "One of the most prominent things technology does is nurture a societal philosophy of instant gratification." Simply put, the information we are granted access to via technology is so plentiful and so relied upon, that we sometimes do not even process the information that is being put in front of us. Information is put in front of us at such a rapid pace, that our brains do not process the information unless we actually stop. And think about what we read.

Citation:

Pollette, Chris. "Put Down the Electronics and Back Away." (2010): n. pag. Web. 5 Sep 2010. .

Richtel, Matt. "Your Brain on Computers Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime." New York Times (2010): 1,2. Web. 5 Sep 2010. .

Fears

As each days goes by, new technological devices are created and are introduced to the general public. One device that are often getting introduced are Cell phones. Each time that a cellphone is released, the performance and capabilities are most likely more advanced than the previous ones.

Cellphones has made it easier for us to communicate with one and another. My fears are that the use of cellphones can get out of hands with new capabilities that are added, and that we become too attach to it(not that we aren't right now). Not only will it be counter productive to our work ethic, but it can feed on to our bad habits of cellphone usage.

I believe with the amount of information that we have access to through our cell phones, it's making us more busy than we need to be. According to a recent article from the NY times it states'

"The technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas."

With this in mind, should we limit ourselves from the usage of technology ?

"Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime." New York Times. 24 Aug. 2010. Web. 6 Sept. 2010. .

For Your Convenience

Technology has come a long way. A really, really impressive and fascinatingly long way. And it's growing exponentially. The production of bigger (and in some cases, smaller), better things is becoming faster. I mean, how often do you hear someone joking about how often new generations of iPods are coming out? Because they really do come out so often, it's ridiculous.

There is one thing all technology has in common. It all caters to us. It's all for our convenience. Back in the early days, when hunters invented tools and weapons to catch their meal for the day - that was for convenience. In the old-timey days when we used horse and buggies to get around instead of walking - convenience. Pasta strainers - convenient. Toilets, beds, radios, cafeteria trays, winter coats, bulldozers, 2-in-1 cans of primer paint... We're constantly, rapidly, pushing out ideas to make things for the human race more convenient. Why?

Ever heard you or someone else saying that there just isn't enough time in one day (to get everything you wanted to done)? Well, with all of these little improvements, maybe you can. Maybe you can finally get everything you wanted done. I mean, instead of walking to your destination, you can have a car. That could save you a half an hour of trouble. Even little improvements like those laundry sheets with the detergent and a dryer sheet built into the same thing. Saves you a minute or two of pouring the detergent into the washing machine and pulling a dryer sheet out of the box, doesn't it?

But it's not going to stop here. We're never going to stop trying to save ourselves time. And as a result, I think we are sucking some of the flavour out of life. Not literally, because a lot of people are preferring to stop at a fast food restaurant after work, or soccer practice, or school, or just pop chicken nuggets loaded with preservatives into the microwave, in lieu of cooking a meal. And, I'm not saying I don't do these things, nor am I saying you can't ever do these things. It's delicious! But what's easy and fast isn't always better.

Going along with this food theme, check out these infomercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wRYd5H3koA

I like 1:16, when the woman says she is enjoying cooking. I think she means she enjoys putting food into a machine that does most of the work for her so she can go do other things. I also like 1:44, because it's a perfect example of how infomercials use really weird tricks to try and get you to buy things, like enhancing the voice for "SERVE, SEAL, & STORE".

I love cooking... I'm not very good at it, but I find it fun. It's relaxing for me. It's something I like to learn about, and read about, and I'm excited to make dinner and dessert at the end of the day. Let's say, years and years from now, machines do all of the work for you. They chop your ingredients, put some in a skillet, your marinated steak in the oven, and you're free to sit on the couch and play Final Fantasy's eighty-second installment. You've never cooked your whole life. No one in your generation has. That's one less hobby you could have. Worse, that's one less hobby anyone could have. WORSE, that's one less career choice.

What if everything becomes like that? How many jobs is the world going to lose? This sounds like it's turning into a robots-are-taking-over-the-world-ohemgee blog post. In a way it is, I guess. I'm worried we're going to lose our individuality to convenience. I mean, what's one of the first questions people tend to ask you these days? "What major are you in?" The adult version of this is, "What do you do for a living?" It's a big definition of who you are as a person. I told my orthodontist a couple weeks ago, "Game Art and Animation." He laughed, beaming, and exclaimed, "Oh, you're a computer geek!" I proudly smiled back. "Yeah, I am!"

A good summary of what I am trying to say here, would be the movie Idiocracy. Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0yQunhOaU0

The main character ends up in the far future, a time during which technology has come such a far way that machines do everything for humans. So humans are able to be... not very smart.

Another example of convenience having a negative effect, in movie form, would be Wall-E. I can't find a clip of Wall-E walking around the spaceship, Axiom, but there is a scene in which Wall-E is among the citizens of the Axiom, all in their electric hover armchairs, with holographic screens in front of them, talking to their friends, or watching TV. And they are all enormous, gelatinous blobs, due to never having to walk in their lifetimes. The scenery is also made up of huge screens with commercials about a mock WalMart company called Buy n Large, which owns the ship and everything on it. Hopefully most of you have seen Wall-E, because I'm not an expert with film summary. But I did find a blog written by Josh Golin about the statement against commercialism in Wall-E, which you can read here: http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/articles/featured/trashingwalle.htm A bit unrelated, but there is a bridge between convenience and commercialism.

Anyway, wrapping this up, I'm not saying convenience is terrible. It's good to have some extra time in the day. But it's when we begin to ignore parts of our lives that we shouldn't ignore for the sake of convenience, that I worry about. We tend to take the easy way out. If any of you have "read" a book on sparknotes.com, instead of reading the actual book, for school, there's your example. We're sacrificing quality for convenience. Hanging out with friends and family for texting; hiking and exploring for video games; hobbies for time. And I guess that's what I mean by convenience making life a little less flavourful.

Citations:

1. "Ninja Master Prep Blender and Food Processor @ Bed Bath & Beyond" 13 November 2009.

YouTube. 5 September 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wRYd5H3koA

2. "Idiocracy - Trailer" Dir. Mike Judge. Perf. Luke Wilson. 12 December 2007. YouTube. 5 September 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0yQunhOaU0

3. Golin, Josh. "Trashing Wall-E". Commercialfreechildhood.org. n.d. Web. 5 September 2010.

Electronic Learning

Technological developments can be seen as beneficial, detrimental or lost in the land of uncertainty. However, there is less of a debate regarding whether technological developments influence society and the way people interact.

The lifestyle that Americans live today is very different from those living in the 1800's. In two centuries an enormous list of technological developments could be documented.

Currently, in the year 2010 I am concerned about electronic learning. Specifically, at the college level with online classes. While making education accessible is an improvement, what is lost; the in-class interactions, the structure and the role of the live, physically present teacher is detrimental to education (in my opinion of course). The lessons learned within a classroom go beyond the material that is covered in the syllabus.

Lessons of face-to-face respect, how to act within a professional/social academic setting, the ability to understand spoken instructions, to act when called upon and the ability to process unspoken communication with strangers that have a common goal (albeit within the lesson, or about a given subject, or to pass the course) is limited significantly with electronic learning.

The 2014 student projection of "...18.65 million will take some of their classes online..." worries me. I fear that this form of technological development will play a large role in future conflicts all around the world.

We are losing our togetherness, we are losing our focus, we are losing the valuable personal time within the classroom environment that has produced success for centuries.



Nagel, David. "Most College Students To Take Classes Online by 2014 -- Campus Technology." Campus Enterprise Networking & Infrastructure -- Campus Technology. 28 Oct. 2008. Web. 05 Sept. 2010. .

Fears

The possibilities are endless to what technology and science can bring to our future. I guess one question we should ask ourselves is, what happens if it goes to far? I believe that science can be dangerous in the way it continues to grow as technology becomes more advanced and available. Take for example, the "invisibility cloak," though it's only at a stage where things can be invisible to microwaves, in theory science could potentially create a cloak invisible to light waves. Now understandably this could be great, but what happens when people start abusing this technology?

I am just afraid that as science and technology continue to grow, new inventions will be created that may eventually make humans useless in the workforce. As i see new technology coming out, i think about what everyone from the 40's and 50's think about this technology revolution. Sometimes i wish that our world could go back and just live in the world that they experienced. I hate how much we rely on technology these days and can only see this getting worse in time.




1.)NBC News."NBC news of Invisibility Cloak." News. 26 Dec 2007. YouTube. 4 Sept. 2010.