<p>eritas44: I wrote about religion ^^
If you like, we could trade essays. Most people here would be willing to read and comment on your essays if you’re willing to comment on theirs (now that the deadline has passed). Just send me a PM if you’re interested in seeing mine. I’d like to see what you did with religion too…</p>
<p>And welcome! :)</p>
<p>Ugh, I’d be awful at it.
So what can America do to fight back? Go local again. Fight against legislation that is unfair to small businesses. I’m not anti-protectionist, I just think that the right jobs should be protected, like the radiology and the engineering you mentioned. </p>
<p>What beef do you have with the Teacher’s Union?</p>
<p>I wrote my critnal about religion and search for god and identity in PD Eastman’s “Are You My Mother?”</p>
<p>I’d trade too, if you like.</p>
<p>I have to go start dinner, I should be back in twenty minutes or so.</p>
<p>The teacher’s union? WELL, in Detroit specifically (I don’t actually live there, but about a half-hour away) the teacher’s union goes on strike practically every other year, demanding higher wages and more benefits. Teachers in this area of Michigan are always complaining about their salaries, but they make so much more on average compared to most other Midwestern states. Also, once a teacher becomes tenured, or whatever the correct term is, that teacher becomes impossible to fire regardless of incompetence. I once had a teacher who was not only sexist but just plain BAD, and the school board wouldn’t even consider our complaints (from a total of about 40 parents). And many of my older teachers earn ridiculously high salaries while student teachers do all the work. Ugh. I don’t mean to sound like I hate on teachers at all, but the system just bothers me.</p>
<p>Ah, I see. I don’t think the teachers in my area have ever gone on strike. We must be paying them too much then… Hmm.
There are a few useless teachers I know of that ought to be fired but aren’t. A physics teacher comes to mind. He uses all the other teachers’ tests, quizzes and labs, but doesn’t teach anything the other teacher teaches. He makes my poor overachiever friends who have him cry because it kills their GPA… </p>
<p>Still, it’s not easy to be a teacher and have to deal with unruly students and awful parents.</p>
<p>Good point.</p>
<p>again, if anybody wants to exchange essays, PM me :)</p>
<p>Time for a new debate topic?</p>
<p>Sure. What did you have in mind?</p>
<p>Hmmm… What haven’t we talked about yet?</p>
<p>Uh…how do you feel about…bioengineering?</p>
<p>Ooh, good one! Now we just need panicpower and St.Hudson again.</p>
<p>I think it’s a fascinating topic. There’s so much potential for disease research and curing, alternative fuel sources, alternative food sources (Imagine growing meat proteins instead of having to slaughter animals- you could save real meat for special occasions and it could be potentially cheaper, safer and more convenient to cook with since it’s all the same thickness).</p>
<p>Obviously there are ethical concerns, about stuff like eugenics. Personally, I am all for voluntary eugenics. Smart people should have more children, people with measurably lower intelligence or talents should consider having fewer. It’s really only consciously doing what nature did for thousands of years- selecting for the best traits.</p>
<p>Interesting ideas! I’ll be back after about a half-hour to reply; I have to eat dinner. (I know, we eat dinner at 5:30 in my house…)</p>
<p>Okay, I might be off making dinner. I’m starving already.</p>
<p>o dear. well im popping in and i feel lost. bioengineering i feel like i should pick up a textbook im a bit rusty on the topic.</p>
<p>id just like to say while the possiblities are amazing. i go a little old school on this. im hesitant to like go into the store and buy meat totally made up in a lab or something. it just seems really far-fetched and sci fi.
i mean think you walk in and pick up the fat free, super tender, t-bone steak. its like dude will we be doing that? but on the more solid let’s find a cure or regenerate vital organs its great. i just want through testing and the assurance that i wont grow like an antler.</p>
<p>Earilmadith, you make your own dinner?! Gosh, I just order a pizza. I must be lazier than I thought.</p>
<p>panicpower, my knowledge of bioengineering is very limited too. You’re not alone!</p>
<p>A lot people, for various reasons, find the idea of eating a genetically-modified organism disturbing. But the potential is so great; bioengineering could significantly reduce global hunger (remember the Green Revolution?) and create a healthier population. I don’t know much about meat, being a vegetarian (life would be so much simpler if the livestock industry was shut down) but obviously an end to animal slaughter would be appealing to me. Most of the food we buy in stores is genetically modified in some way…</p>
<p>And, of course, there are the ethical concerns, like you said. Some people predict that this field will grow to the extent that we will have “designer babies” (a sign that “science” might take over the role of “God”)</p>
<p>Eugenics is fascinating to me. The less intelligent are less likely to be educated about…protection…which creates quite a lot of that demographic. And the human race has been actively working against the laws of nature and natural selection…</p>
<p>but the less intelligent dont necessarily birth more less intelligent children.
on some level that’s gotta be impeding on people’s rights and in a most private way too.
i understand the potential global effects. but im wary of the wasteful. it would be just awful if purely modified foods became another accesory of the haves. i mean even now we have technology that is widely available but sparingly given to those who can benifit from it because they are in a third world.</p>
<p>i tried being vegetarian but i just liked chicken too much.lol. and designer babies is appaling.your supposed to love your kids when they come out. not design them just so, what happens when you change your friggin mind and you have a kid you think is not Quite perfect.
and pizza thats not too healthy.</p>
<p>Intelligence is definitely gene related and inheritable- <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics_of_intelligence[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics_of_intelligence</a>
And women with lower IQ and people without or with only a high school diploma have more children than those with a college degree- <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysgenics[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysgenics</a></p>
<p>I’d say it was the other way around. Natural food will probably be more expensive- people might switch to new-meat most days a week, and a few days of real meat. </p>
<p>We don’t have any clue right now how to make babies smarter or prettier. But we can reduce the risk of babies born with debilitating genetic disease or heart defects or something. How about no more Tay Sachs or muscular dystrophy, anyone?</p>
<p>wow. talk about being prepped for tasp, guys… the last few pages have been discussion-discussion-discussion. (:</p>
<p>bioengineering? we’ve been talking about that in my apbio class… woot! =)
it really IS an amazing topic. </p>
<p>There are genes that are used to alter bacteria for clearing up things like toxic waste and oil spills and proteins for human growth hormones are being used for treating stunted growth. diabetics no longer find themselves dependent on animal insulin; proteins coding for insulin are being mass-produced - thanks to bioengineering.</p>
<p>earl, sorry but I don’t agree with your stance on eugenics. while bioengin. is by all means useful, it shouldn’t be used to interfere with evolution. some argue that “improving the gene pool” is necessary, but eugenics is too close to being a pseudoscience. yes, eugenics may help to eliminate hereditary diseases. and yes, there’s a possibility that it may save many lives in the future. but the whole “smart people should have more babies” thing is almost like a genocide of the inferior. i want to say that it’s almost as superficial as saying “all the ugly people should marry and have less babies”…</p>
<p>okay… i don’t think i’m making any sense. = ='</p>