Classroom Conversations – Here, students taking courses and doing research under the aegis of the Center for Values are invited from time to post their reflections and insights about the topics of our lectures and the issues of values in medicine, science, and technology.
Announcing the 3rd Annual Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology Conference At the Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology The University of Texas at Dallas May 22-24, 2012 Keynote Speakers: Kristen Intemann, Montana State University TBA Science, technology, and medicine unquestionably have a major impact on our lives. We live with constant technological [...] Read more
In ‘Science, Religion, and Democracy’ Kitcher calls for us to ” do our best to tell schoolchildren the truth.” This truth of course entails conveying scientifically based facts. This also entails dismissing any religious beliefs that have been instilled in our students. I wonder if Kitcher understands what an emotional blow this could represent for [...] Read more
As I was initially interested in analyzing Heidegger’s philosophy of science with regards to the debate on values our discussions never lent themselves to a phenomenological approach to the question of science & values- particular the value of human freedom. I hope to eventually give more time to this subject in later courses of my doctoral [...] Read more
I must admit I have never really been inerested in the natural sciences. I’ve always been more interested in the social sciences. I guess it is because of the bohemian and care-free lifestyle of the social scientist fits more my personality (yes, I can be sociable believe it or not). I have ignorantly bought into the stereotype of the [...] Read more
In class yesterday, I talked about the Doctrine of Religious Restraint (DRR) and I mentioned some of the liberal critics’ responses to the DRR. Due to time constraints, I was unable to include a discussion on the conservative critics’ responses (and in particular the “New Traditionalist” responses) to the DRR. I feel that it might [...] Read more
I mentioned this article in class from Scientific American (Nov 2011) about genetically altered mosquitos as a means for fighting disease. Here is link to article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-wipeout-gene This is interesting/ raises questions on many levels: - Private versus public research (both are represented here) - Ethical testing – the private firm is testing unapproved “technologies” [...] Read more
This past Wednesday we attended a talk by Kim Stanley Robinson. For those of you that couldn’t make it, the seminar was mostly about the future history of a post-capitalist world; this is not fantasy, it is in fact an exercise in futurology, because even the most ardent supporters of the Free Market and all [...] Read more
In his article, “Science, Expertise, and the Democratization of the Decision-Making Process,” Michael Carolan argues for a reconceptualization of the normal science/ post-normal science way of thinking about science and policy and argues, instead, for a shift toward considering expertise from many perspectives. I agree with this notion wholeheartedly. One of the challenges for me [...] Read more
We recently had a very theatrical and entertaining presentation about the possibility of a pill to prolong life, and what that alternative could do to future generations. It was a hypothetical situation, but it is one that we have returned to in class and speakers of the Centers for Values have also alluded to. The [...] Read more
It is not because I think that the public is stupid or dishonest in general. It is not because I don’t think that some bad scientists have done things to diminish the public trust in the scientific process. It is not because I participated in the biological sciences before changing the direction of my graduate [...] Read more
It should be quite obvious to most properly functioning, and somewhat sophisticated human beings (whatever that means) that we agree on our most basic values and/or moral ideas. It becomes very easy to speak within value-laden and ethical cliches: we can all agree that exploitation of children is wrong, kicking puppy dogs is heinous, and [...] Read more
On page 153 of Science, Policy, and the Value-Free Ideal, Heather Douglas claims that “with the values used by scientists to assess the sufficiency of the evidence made explicit, both policy-makers and the public could assess those judgments, helping to ensure that values acceptable to the public are utilized in the judgments.” My question is [...] Read more
Reading Mark Brown’s chapter on John Dewey in Science in Democracy helped me to understand some of my own problems with the idea that scientists are objective observers taking notes and discovering immutable truths about the world. Of course this paints a picture that is not quite accurate. The immutable truths are immutable for awhile, [...] Read more
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/08/26/lawrence-solomon-science-now-settled/ Above is a link to an opinion piece on a financial website. What would this have to do with science? The piece claims that the global warming debate is settled; the new consensus is that global warming is caused by nature, not by humans. There is some rationality at work here–there has indeed been [...] Read more
Forget Kant, forget church, forget what your parents and Sesame Street taught you; do you know what’s right and what’s wrong? Is there an objective good and evil? Do we live in a moral universe? Is morality anything more than another human construct? If so, is it based on inherent biological principles, like the concepts [...] Read more
One of the main problems I have had with the material from the very beginning of this course is wrestling with the idea of a truly “objective” science—as an extension of there existing a truly “objective” anything. I am not well versed in philosophy so I am coming at this from what is essentially a [...] Read more
Much of what we read this week focuses on the body. The works emphasize the ideas of Bacon, who considered Nature to be “matter”– tied to form but also in need of domination. Nature and matter are all associated with the body, and the body is associated with females. Evelyn Fox Keller examines the need [...] Read more
The Republican presidential debates have highlighted an interesting public health issue that is relevant to our current discussion of the role of politics in science. Texas Governor Rick Perry has been criticized by his rivals for mandating that Texas girls entering the 6th grade receive the vaccine for the HPV virus, which causes cervical cancer. [...] Read more
From Tom Boyett, an auditor to the class who practice as an OB-GYN for 40+ years. One thing that we did not have time for in class last week was Douglas’ 3-4 page illustration of errors in methodology using diethylstilbestrol (DES) as an example. Interestingly, although her points were excellently made, some of the facts [...] Read more
This semester the Center is pleased to have student bloggers from the Arts & Humanities graduate course on “Science, Values, and Democracy” (HUHI 6305). They will be posting on topics related to this year’s series on science and politics, as well as on other topics related to the mission of investigating values in medicine, science, [...] Read more
One of the more interesting lectures at the Human Enhancement Symposium was given by Dr. Mehlman. The topic of the lecture was biomedically enhanced warfighters. In 2003, DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) announced the “Enhanced Human Performance Program” of its Bio-Revolution program. DARPA continues to fund dozens of human augmentation projects to ensure [...] Read more
To live forever for fear of death. To live forever for selfish reasons. To live forever just because we can. There are many options to consider when thinking about immortality. Is it simply being impervious to death? Is it living continuously through multiple lives that are reincarnated? Is it spending eternity in heaven or hell [...] Read more
Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks centers on the concept of informed consent. In the book, George Gey, a doctor from Johns Hopkins, took Henrietta Lacks’ cells without her knowledge and scientists used the so-called HeLa cells – the first immortal human cells grown in culture – in laboratories around the world to [...] Read more
I have now reached the end of my course on Human Enhancements and we have discussed many ethical positions concerning the ways that the biomedical sciences will provide people with many choices for biological enhancement. We have asked about whether or not people should be allowed to enhance themselves, or whether or not parents should [...] Read more
In reading Andy Clark’s “Natural-Born Cyborgs” and Donna Haraway’s “The Cyborg Manifesto,” I have come to realize a broader conception of what it means to be a cyborg and the implications of the cyborg concept for society at large. When imagining a cyborg, I construct a model that is part human and part machine. This [...] Read more
Who wants to live forever? Well, maybe not forever, but for a really, really long time? If one thinks about aging as a medical problem, then the problems that come along with aging seem reasonable to treat under a medical regimen. Medical symptoms that often accompany aging include heart problems, senility, and loss of muscle [...] Read more
The goal of human enhancement is immortality. Maxwell Mehlman noted in his keynote address on the first night of the Human Enhancement Symposium that immortality represents the Holy Grail of Transhumanism and human enhancement. This goal aims to extend human life expectancy indefinitely. Carl Sagan used to argue that we could probably lengthen the life-span [...] Read more
Ed.’s note: This post refers to the UT Dallas School of Arts & Humanities Colloquium at which Pamela Gossin presented. Pamela Gossin’s presentation on what she has been pursuing began to pique my interest and raise some concerns for me regarding interdisciplinary studies and the importance of dissolving the lines between specific areas of study. [...] Read more
Prosthetics are as old as human vanity. Ancient and medieval prosthetics were, in general, provisional fixes for aesthetic problems, a device for recreating the normalcy of an unwounded body. Few were functional, and almost none could restore the previous limb’s ability or level of performance. The earliest makeshift prosthetics can easily be designated as treatments, [...] Read more
The first technology I want to discuss is called SixthSense. It is being developed by MIT’s media lab, and focuses on augmented reality and interactive projection screens. The two videos posted below describe the technology in detail, along with its possibilities. The second technology I want to discuss, keeping SixthSense in mind, is microchip contact [...] Read more
