Blog #9: In Vitro Fertilization

In vitro fertilization (IVF) has given hope to many women, whom for various reasons are unable to conceive otherwise. While there are health risks for any medical procedure, the benefits outweigh the costs of using IVF, assuming that the fertility treatments are effective. 

If the treatments are successful, the greatest benefit is that these women can have biological children. After all, that is the whole point of undergoing treatments. The joy of having a child is immeasurable. Usually, the women who choose to undergo fertility treatments have a deep longing for children of their own.

Deciding to have fertility treatments is not an easy decision to make. If the treatments are unsuccessful, there can be many drawbacks. Although IVF treatments have gotten cheaper over the years, they are still a bit pricey for the majority of the population. Aside from the waste of money if the treatments are unsuccessful, there are emotional factors involved. A woman may feel strongly disappointed if there are no results. Although IVF has a high success rate, it does not have 100% success rate. Usually, if IVF doesn't work, other methods are most likely ineffective as well. As a result, a woman may be upset and angry at herself. She may feel less of a woman because of her inability to conceive, since childbirth should be a natural process. In addition, the pressures of trying to have a child through fertility treatments may strain a couple’s relationship/marriage. By putting in so much time and effort into conceiving, women tend to neglect their spouses. They become obsessed with the idea of having children that they lose sight of what they already have. 

Overall, women are the ones affected by infertility and fertility treatments. These treatments offer hope, not a guarantee. The greater the hope women have, the greater the disappointment. Ultimately, these women have to make the tough decision of whether or not they want to put themselves through financial and emotional stress for the possibility of having biological children.

Blog #8: In Vitro Fertilization

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a fertility treatment that is part of assisted reproductive technology (ART), which is widely used and accepted in society. Although the science and technology has been around for quite some time, with the first person born via IVF in 1978, there are many ethical issues that have not been resolved, and will unlikely be resolved anytime soon. 

While IVF treatments have given hope to many people who yearn to be parents, there are many factors to consider before undergoing treatments. As with all technology, IVF raises many ethical questions in a variety of subjects, ranging from religion to public policy. Amongst these topics, the most important ethical issues in vitro fertilization introduces are anonymity, custody rights, nature vs. nurture, and malpractice. 

Despite the ethical issues, it is highly unlikely that people will stop using IVF anytime soon. As far as fertility treatments go, IVF has an incredibly high success rate. The ART industry has given hope to many people and is still improving to lower the risks and costs for patients. IVF can potentially be less invasive and faster as the physicians develop new techniques in administering the treatments.

When the technology was first introduced, there were very few guidelines and only the wealthy could afford to have this opportunity. Nowadays, there is a medical board regulating fertility procedures. Although it is still quite expensive today, it is much more affordable and accessible than it was back then. As a result, the industry boomed.

The fertility industry has a much bigger role in society than ever before. The technology has boosted our society's fertility rate, which stretches thin our government's resources. Because of this, fertility treatments have a huge impact on the economy, even though this connection is not that obvious. 

Blog #7: Impact of Cell Phones in Society

Cell phones are changing the way people are interacting with each other. Cell phones, while keeping people connected all over the world, isolates us from the people who are physically present in the moment. People shut themselves off of physical human contact in favor of chatting or typing away on their cell phones. 

In the articles “How Cell Phones Are Killing Face-to-Face Interactions” (Glaser, Mark. "How Cell Phones Are Killing Face-to-Face Interactions." PBS. PBS, 22 Oct. 2007. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.),“Your Smartphone May Be Powering down Your Relationship” (Kerner, Ian. "Your Smartphone May Be Powering down Your Relationship." CNN. Cable News Network, 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.), and "How Your Cell Phone Hurts Your Relationships" (Lin, Helen L. "How Your Cell Phone Hurts Your Relationships." Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.), the authors made use of both sound and unsound critical reasoning to make the same point: cell phones are detrimental to interactions and relationships.

Although Glaser, Kerner and Lin all use critical reasoning in their article, Lin’s article has better critical reasoning than the other two articles because Lin uses a good balance of evidence and analysis to get her point across, whereas Glaser and Kerner uses more unsound critical reasoning than sound critical reasoning. Although Lin’s article also has unsound critical reasoning, it does not overpower the sound critical reasoning so that readers can still find the article to be a legitimate and credible analysis of how cell phones are affecting interactions and relationships. Glaser makes a slippery slope argument and uses generalizations. Kerner's article has self-selection and confirmation bias. Lin's article heavily depends on experts, but overall has the most sound logic of all three articles.

Blog #6: Technology: Then and Now

My parents made sure I had my own computer at a young age because they wanted me to have everything I could possibly need for school. As a result, the computer has always been a part of my life and I love keeping up with new models and software. However, my parents still have not embraced the computer, because they did not have access to computers as they were growing up. Even after they bought me my first computer, they did not use it because it had never been a part of their daily lives. And since websites didn’t start popping up until 1993, the internet was a relatively new concept to my parents. My mom needed to learn how to use computers and the internet for her job, so I had to teach her basic computer functions and how to navigate the web. To this day, she still has not mastered computer skills and occasionally Skypes me for tech support. My dad never felt the need to learn, so he never did. Point is, what seems ordinary to me seemed revolutionary to my parents. 

The computer and the internet has made everything much more convenient. Knowledge is at our fingertips. Efficiency and productivity greatly increased because of the vast capabilities of the computer and internet. People can connect with each other all around the world. 

Of course, this leads to the disadvantages of computers and the internet. Real-world connections often lose to connections in the virtual realm. So-called friends on Facebook sometimes wouldn't be able to recognize each other if they met in public. Most people are so engrossed in their devices that they ignore the real world and miss out on the opportunity to make real-life connections. Some lose the ability to communicate because they are used to messaging each other using improper English. The decreased interactions between human beings are negative externalities caused by the increased use of technology.

Blog #5: Wikipedia in Academia

In the article, “Wikipedia, a Professor’s Best Friend,” Dariusz Jemielniak offers a different opinion on Wikipedia than what students are normally told by other academics. His article explains why many academics hate, and sometimes even fear, Wikipedia. Editors on Wikipedia seek to educate, without needing compensation or credit, whereas teachers/professors seek to educate and need at least compensation. If there was a way to make Wikipedia much more credible, teachers/professors will be rendered obsolete. Therefore, Jemielniak is in the minority when he encourages students to use Wikipedia. However, he offers a great solution in mending the bridge between academia and Wikipedia by encourage students to not only use Wikipedia, but also contribute to the website as class assignments.

Blog #4: Evolution of Military Weapons in China through Science and Technology

Situated in a fortress, Museu de Macau has a well-preserved, decommissioned underground ammunitions depot that would be the perfect location to display an exhibit of the developments in military weapons in China for the purposes of educating the public on how science and technology has revolutionized the military.

The development of military weapons in China interests me because I like weapons (in TV and/or film) and I am from China. I take a great interest in learning everything about the place where I am from. That's probably not an interesting answer for such an interesting topic, but that's pretty much my reasoning behind choosing this topic.

The audience is anyone who finds Chinese history fascinating and/or weapons fanatics. Based on the topic, visitors would probably want to see all the commonly used weapons in conflicts and war throughout Chinese history. China has a long history of war, mostly with neighboring territories. Throughout the early periods, the Chinese military primarily used bow and arrows, knives, swords, crossbows, axes, and cannons. Since World War II, the government encouraged science and technological advancements that introduced high-tech weapons, such as bombs, nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons, missiles, drones, stealth fighters, anti-stealth radars, etc. Although initial growth in military technology had been slower in China than western countries, China has since caught up and even surpassed most of them in military capability because of long-term government investment in the military and education, with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

An exhibit should be made on how science and technology revolutionized military through developments in military weapons, because it concerns the welfare of the public and indirectly affects the public through taxes and education.

Blog #3: California Science Center

As I walked through the California Science Center on Friday, I had a very different perspective than the one I had when I visited this museum on class field trips in elementary school. Perhaps it was because I did not have the sense of wonderment I had when I visited for the first time. Or perhaps it was because the museum’s target audience was children.

The air and space exhibits are probably the most formal displays of all. While the telescopes and space locomotives are beautifully displayed, they offered the visitors little, if any, interactions with the exhibits. 

Moving on to the World of Life, I had a fun time learning about the human body. Next to each display, there were placards with just enough information to keep me interested long enough to finish reading the whole thing. I found this exhibit the most fascinating, although I may be biased because I love biology. There was a great amount of interactive objects, such as replicas of human organs, a body on an operating table in the surgery theatre, a drunk driving simulator, etc. I even went to the Body Works show where there was a 50 ft automaton that attempted to simplify the process of homeostasis. Clearly, these displays were oriented toward children so they can learn in an entertaining yet informative way.

In the Creative World, I explored the Communications place, which showed how people communicated over the years. Near the back, I played with the earthquake simulator, in which I built mini structures to see if they can withstand any seismic activity. Needless to say, they could not.

Finally I visited the third floor. There was not much going on besides the Pompeii exhibit, which I did not want to pay to see. I checked out the transportation displays in the Creative World. Like the other exhibits, there were many interactive displays, such as sail racing, solar powered/electric cars, and a driving simulator, which unfortunately did not work when I was there.

Overall, I had a great time at the California Science Center. It brought back a lot of great memories, and I was happy to see many children there on a field trip, experiencing all the museum has to offer.

Blog #2: Journalistic Privileges

While citizen journalists have a greater advantage in reporting on critically dangerous conflicts that professional journalists may not be able to cover, citizen journalists should not be granted the same privileges professional journalists have. 

Citizen journalists are not tied to a news source. They are unprotected because most are amateurs and do not understand the consequences of pursuing a story. In Syria, more than half of the journalists killed were civilian journalists. In the conflict surrounding the Islamic State, even James Foley and Steven Sotloff, professional journalists who had access and experience, could not protect themselves from harm while investigating the atrocities occurring in the area. There is no advantage in extending special privileges to citizen journalists because that only encourages them to put themselves in harm’s way unnecessarily.

More importantly, citizen journalists are not bound by the journalistic ethics professional journalists follow. This makes their reporting subjective, which tends to provoke more conflicts than provide factual information. For example, the Ferguson shooting was blown up into a national controversy, mainly due to stories and graphics on social media posted by citizen journalists. These stories and graphics may or may not have been taken out of context to favor the citizen journalists’ views and advance their own agendas, whether it be pushing equality for minorities or sparking anarchy. The main issue with citizen journalists is that the information and sources are not verified, because their goal is to break the story as soon as possible, whereas professional journalists takes a while to report the whole truth. That is why professional journalists are given special privileges. That is why professional journalists have credibility and why citizen journalists tend to be questioned on the accuracy of their stories.

Blog #1: Jefferson's Views on Newspapers

“…were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” -Thomas Jefferson

The purpose of the newspaper is to give people facts about events occurring around the world. Jefferson’s quote essentially means that the government should not play a role in influencing the media; that way, the public can keep the government in check by forming their own opinions based on factual reporting and verified sources. Jefferson emphasized the importance of newspapers because they ensured the public security against the power of the government through exposure of the truth. 

Jefferson’s quote is still relevant today, even as our society is moving away from print media to social media. Social media websites are not strictly regulated by the government in most parts of the world. This allows for the expedient spread of information across the internet by the public as a whole, not just by journalists. This phenomenon is exactly what Jefferson meant by “newspaper without a government.” The near instant uploading of events onto social media immediately apprises the public of every single news story that is occurring, with major stories becoming viral in a matter of hours, as in the case of the Ferguson shooting. The Ferguson shooting is the perfect example of government vs. newspapers, with the police arresting journalists on the scene. 

This situation exemplifies another one of Jefferson’s quotes, “It [the press] is…the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.” When the press is being suppressed, the public is being suppressed, and everybody’s rights are violated. This is why Jefferson stressed the freedom of the press and why it had to be included in the Bill of Rights for our protection and freedom.

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