Cancer

After the presentation, I now see cancer as a deadly, vile monster that enjoys taking the lives of others. It's so horrible that I wouldn't even wish it upon my worst enemies. Fortunately, chemotherapy was also brought to light as a treatment to cancer. Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy the cancer cells, and can possibly cure the cancer once and for all. However, this treatment doesn't come without consequences as well. If I were a patient with cancer, I would definitely consider my options carefully before I make a decision regarding chemotherapy. While it remains true that chemotherapy can effectively kill off the cancer cells, and give the cancer patient a clean bill of health, where they are able to return to their normal lives, without having to suffer through the emotional and physical stress of cancer, sometimes you have to wonder if chemo is even worth it with all the pain and torture you have to suffer through during the treatment, as well as the high possibility of dying during the process.

                 

If I were a cancer patient, I would definitely weigh in my options. Personally, I believe in living your life happily. Even though I would have a limited amount of time left to live if I was diagnosed with cancer, I could still live every last second of it to the fullest, as well as being more motivated to try the things I never did but always wanted. I don't believe that the last seconds of your life should be spent in a hospital writhing in pain and agony, as you come to regret not doing the things you should have done. I understand that there are people who I need to fight for, to live for, especially if I had children who were waiting for me at home. However, if the circumstances were similar to my current situation of living with two parents, I would probably not consider chemotherapy, because my parents and I both have similar opinions of being happy in life, and I would rather have them not see me suffering through chemotherapy. If there was someone that I had to live for, on the other hand, then I am left with no choice but to go through with the treatment.

Although, regardless of the circumstances, it really is your life. And even though you have obligations and attachments to others, if you're not happy with what you are doing, and you know that you'll end up regretting the choices you make, then it's up to you to make the final decision, despite how selfish the entire act seems.

In the end, due to strong opinions about chemotherapy, I suppose it really isn't such an effective "cure" to cancer. Perhaps if the treatment of cancer would continuously be improved overtime, so that there are less and less disadvantages, (such as the chance of death that comes with the treatment), and be more favoured as a cure to cancer.

A Synthetic Human.

Science is full of endless possibilities. Theoretically, everything in science is possible, such as time travel,or producing another human being. After reading the article "What to make with DNA origami", and discussing about the complex shapes and structures that can be made with DNA through nanoengineering. These structures made with DNA can be used for a variety of functions (such as capturing viruses and aiding in the transport of nutrients), and will  be extremely useful in society if it proves to be success.

However, with this idea being introduced, we can't help but wonder what it would be like if we were to synthesize an entire human being. If this was to actually happen, I would definitely feel proud of the advancement science has been able to achieve in our society. Unfortunately, at the same time, like most ideas, theories, and inventions, I feel that if this were to happen right now, our society would not be ready for it. With a synthetic human being, there would definitely a question of how it is categorized in society. Should this human be treated like the rest of us, or should they be placed below us in society, because they could be easily made, and thus their lives are not to be valued? What will be the purpose of this synthetic human? Will they be treated as slaves to do our bidding? If they have no purpose, then why should we create them, when we have enough humans in the world as it is?

There could be many potential problems with this idea as well. With synthetic projects such as these, there are always errors that can occur. Unfortunately, if these errors will affect their major organs such as the heart, brain or anything of the like, then they will have to suffer through the torture, and the pain of it all. It's just cruel to purposely create humans knowing that they might have to be put through complications such as these, because it feels as if we're treating them like toys, instead of actual people. If we really mastered the nanoengineering of our DNA, perhaps we can create them without feelings or emotions, but then we would basically be creating a robot, and removing the emotions and feelings may be alot more trouble than it's actually worth.

Another complication would be the cost of this synthetic human. Unless we had a valid reason for the creation of the human, than there would be insufficient funding for the project. The question would occur of why we actually require an expensive, fake human when we can have real ones for free. Would these humans be tailored to whatever we want them to be? For instance, if someone needed workers for their factory, would they just buy a bunch of humans to work for them? Or, if someone needed test subjects for research and studies of their own, then they can buy a human to work with? This would definitely be a subject of controversy since these humans are not given equal rights as everyone else.

Therefore, it is always amazing to find out just how far we have advanced in the scientific community. Unfortunately, we always have the limiting factor that restrict us from optimizing the scientific discoveries to its fullest, and in this case, the limiting factor is our society.