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POPSThe ethics of DNA Databasing... From Venter's statement: When we look at our not so distant past it is easy to understand how the idea of the anonymity and protection of research subjects came to pass. The supposed science-based eugenics movement, the human experiment atrocities of the Nazis and the Tuskegee syphilis research debacle are just a few examples that prove that we as a society do not have a very good track record on the research front. So naturally when the idea first arose of decoding our human genome, the complete set of genetic material from which all human life springs, it was met largely with fear, including concern of how to adequately protect those involved as DNA donors. Notions about genetics at the time were based on myth, superstition, misunderstanding, misinformation, misuse, fear, over-interpretation, abuse and overall ignorance propagated by the public, the press and—most surprisingly—even some in the scientific community."
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POPSFacebook owns you. I think the said change of terms is a BIG issue. in the face of society of information and flow of availability, the act of facebook is unthinkable. They are providers (and earn much from that) and not owners of the information that flows through the system.
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POPSOrgans for drinkers "..And the mother of a young woman whose organs helped to keep five people alive after she died said it was "offensive, terrible and unfair" that an increasing proportion of livers were going to people with serious alcohol problems." I find it as a complicated issue. On the surface the answer here seems simple (no organ for drinkers), but it is a question of where can we draw the line? what is the ethical model that one can use? is there one? the question is of course focusing with the scarcity of resources. So with the rising costs of health should we treat those who smoke? or eat junk food? should we treat a disabled baby that his father did not want to go through abortion? All these and i am sure there are more examples, are to stress the need for a paradigm that one can work with.
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POPSProp 8maps exposes A big ethical debate. A college professor from the University of California, San Francisco, wrote a $100 check in support of Proposition 8 in August, because he said he supported civil unions for gay couples but did not want to change the traditional definition of marriage. He has received many confrontational e-mail messages, some anonymous, since eightmaps listed his donation and employer. One signed message blasted him for supporting the measure and was copied to a dozen of his colleagues and supervisors at the university, he said. “I thought what the eightmaps creators did with the information was actually sort of neat,” the professor said, who asked that his name not be used to avoid becoming more of a target. “But people who use that site to send out intimidating or harassing messages cross the line.” Many civil liberties advocates, including those who disagree with his views on marriage, say he has a point.
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POPSCan the all-seeing, all-knowing Google be trusted to rule the world? Many of Google’s brightest ideas come from the attempt to fulfil its almost hopelessly ambitious mission: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Upcoming projects will go some way to achieving this goal. Amongst them is Google Book Search. For the past few years, Google have been scanning the pages of books in order to eventually release them online and make them fully searchable. Professor Angell argued that Google’s track record is admirable, but problems could come in the future. He said: “If it is a choice between Google holding my details and the British Government holding my details, I’d give them to Google every time. I see more nuisance value than evil intent.” But he added: “The moment any organization gets too vast, hubris takes over and then they fail.”
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POPSStorytelling is a carrier "Maybe storytelling - from TV to folk tales - actually serves some specific evolutionary function," says Gottschall. "They're not just by-products of evolutionary adaptation."
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POPSPrenatal tests. from the article: "If a prenatal test for autism becomes available, should medical science be used to 'cure' the condition?"
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POPSPGD, Pre implantation genetic diagnosis Would it be moral to give birth to a baby that may suffer from disease during the course of his life? Is praying for a god, asking her to grant you with healthy children is any different from PGD?
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POPSWhy religion is outdated, and dangerous. I find it most disturbing. On the verge of development that will prolong life with less illnesses, and will increase the degrees of freedom and responsibility a so called 'prolife' religious mass is trying to take us back.
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POPSExtra Frozen Embryos "Smaller numbers of patients wished for solutions that typically are not offered. Among them were holding a small ceremony during the thawing and disposal of the embryos, or having them placed in the woman’s body at a time in her cycle when she would probably not become pregnant, so that they would die naturally. " "(In Italy, fertility clinics are not allowed to create more embryos than can be implanted in the uterus at one time, specifically to avoid the ethical quandary posed by frozen embryos.)" An interesting read. And though i would recommend giving it to research, it is not a simplistic answer.
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POPSCan a 13-year-old refuse treatment? "How old is old enough to decide whether to live or die? Priscilla Alderson, professor of childhood studies at the Institute of Education, says her research had found that even very young children could give or withhold informed consent to medical treatment. Decisions about treatment, or even about whether to live or die, cannot be based on age, she argues. "Our research has found that age isn't a helpful criterion - but experience is," she says. She has found that even at four years old, a child who has diabetes can understand the principle of insulin treatment - and it is vital they do understand or they risk interpreting the pain they as some kind of parental punishment."
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POPSLet's junk the myths and celebrate what we've got Moreover, we need to become responsible versus petty humans; in the words of the article "When you see nothing but junk, create quality. Where quality is hard to find, curate it, adding your own seal of approval with a link. When you read inaccuracies and misunderstandings, add facts, corrections, context and journalism. If people on the internet get things wrong, educate them. When you hear the noise of people talking online, listen." Thumbs up.
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POPSMinority Report is being materialized "The inventors of the technology claim the system can distinguish between people’s memories of events they witnessed and between deeds they committed" “As we enter more fully into the era of mapping and understanding the brain, society will face an increasing number of important ethical, legal and social issues raised by these new technologies,” Mr. Greely, the Stanford bioethicist, and his colleague Judy Illes wrote last year in the American Journal of Law & Medicine." Interesting article. Raises many questions; a) the easiest one is is it valid? why easiest because it can be one day answered, at least i assume so. b) if it is valid, should we use it? where is the line of privacy? should there be a line as such? i find it fundamentally challenging the human conceptual descriptions of what is self, identity, society and its relation. Fascinating. what do you think?
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POPSWho are you? ask wiki... By Sunday morning, YoungTrigg came forward, still anonymous, on his or her Wikipedia user page: “It’s not true that ‘all of my edits made Palin look better.’ ” The new availability of info, and hence influence poses many new questions of ethics.. it seems like the future-now becomes more interesting... :)
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