Desma9 week 6 assignment

In this week's lecture, Professor talked about the relationship between biotech and art. Biotechnology is a newly developed area that may have a huge effect on the future of human beings because scientists believe that by some genetic processes we can cure some malignant diseases such as HIV or cancers. However, I do not think that life itself should be seen as a valid expressive medium because life is much valuable than a medium that medium can be reproduced but life cannot. In this case, I think there should definitely be more restriction for artists or scientists doing biotech experiments than those working in other fields.

To be more specific, we can first talk about the cloning, which is a hot topic in recent 20 years. Clone is a biotechnology that refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments, cells, or organisms. There is a famous movie call “The Island” released in 2005. In the movie, people in the future used cloning to reproduce themselves in order to increase their life. In my mind, this is a stupid and inhuman process because what or who we cloned is also a life and they should own the same right as us. For this ethnical reason, cloning with human cells is still prohibitive in the world and I think should last forever.

Moreover, we can talk about the transgenic technique. Because of the shortage of grain in the world, transgenic technique appeared as they are more productive and easy to survive. However, some people have claimed that these transgenic crops actually cause problems such as creating Superbugs and Superweeds, killing bees and butterflies and even contaminating regular crops by cross-pollination. Though, their effect on human body needs time to test, we should still be careful dealing with the transgenic crops.

In conclusion, transgenic technology may have its benefits but it has obvious disadvantages both ethnically and practically. In this case, we should still put limitation on those biotech processes until we can control them well.

Sources

S. GRANT. “10 Problems Genetically Modified Foods Are Already Causing.” Listverse. Jun 22, 2013. Web. Nov 10, 2013.

http://listverse.com/2013/06/22/10-problems-genetically-modified-foods-are-already-causing/

“What is gene”, B4FA.org. web. Photograph. Nov 10 2013 http://b4fa.org/biosciences-and-agriculture/introduction-genes-crops/what-is-a-gene/

“THE ISLAND: ½ STARS.” Richard Crouse. Web. Photograph. Nov 10 2013 http://www.richardcrouse.ca/the-island-%C2%BD-stars/

Paul Brown. “Attitudes to GM crops must change as the world warms.” Carbon strategy group. Jun 6 2013. Web. Nov 10 2013. http://www.carbonstrategygroup.com/carbon-market-news/attitudes-to-gm-crops-must-change-as-the-world-warms/

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. DESMA9. Web. Nov 10. 2013