Thank God For Human Genetics

I think one of the most fascinating things in this world is how we are all constructed with the qualities of our family that has come before us, and how no one person is the same in the way they look, or feel about certain things, or how they are constructed. Causes of differences between individuals include independent assortment, the exchange of genes (crossing over and recombination) during meiosis and various mutational events. ... The second main cause of genetic variation is due to the high degree of neutrality of most mutations. And honestly, thank god! I do not think I could live in a world where every person was the same as the next, with the same bland and material features. That is a world that I'm pretty sure NO ONE would want to live in, or even find ideal in the slightest bit.
When talking about how children inherit certain traits, the traits that are expressed in the child are determined by dominant and recessive genes. If one or both parents pass on a dominant gene to the child, this is the gene that is expressed. However, if both parents pass on recessive genes, then the recessive gene is expressed.

Untold History of Women in Science & Technology

I agree with the rest of society (and America basically), that the myth that men are better at completing certain tasks than women is greatly overused. However, I'm going to be the good guy here to both men and women, when I say that each gender can be great at whatever they strive to be good at! Men can find passion in anything that women would primarily be passionate about, and vice versa.

According to obamawhitehouse.archives.gov , women actually played a pretty big part in history, and may even be smarter than you thought they were. Here are a couple quotes from the website that I found very interesting and that I was not aware of before;

- "They were leaders in building the early foundation of modern programming and unveiled the structure of DNA."

- "Their work inspired environmental movements and led to the discovery of new genes."

My personal favorite...

- "They broke the sound barrier — and gender barriers along the way, and inspiring more young women to pursue careers in science starts with simply sharing their stories." 

This website also allows viewers and browsers to view, and even listen to various women's stories as they explain how they contributed to history and vital discoveries they made that they're proud of as well.

I honestly think that gender is better than the other, and that we were all created equal. Sure, we were all create with different features and attributes, but that's just what makes us who we are. 

In a perfect world, no one gender is more valued, with nonexistent stereotypes, but that's not the world that we live in. We can try to adapt to that type of lifestyle, but there will always be people who object, and do not agree, and those are the people who we ignore and just let them do them, without getting in the way of others.  

Lillian Gilbreth: American Psychologist and industrial engineer at the turn of the 20th century...just one of the many women featured on this website who assisted in changing this world.

Women are not dangerous...but they can be

The Dangerous Women Project exists as an initiative of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, at the University of Edinburgh. Basically, this project is in favor of the women around the world who think that they can make a difference, or show anyone who doubts them just how strong and powerful women can really be, as well as show them different ways that history has portrayed them.
The Project asks: "What does it mean to be a 'dangerous woman?'"
Some historical periods paint women (collectively, or individually) as dangerous people that existed in multiple cultures, and areas of contemporary life.
"Each daily Dangerous Women Project post will explore, examine or critique the ‘dangerous women’ theme by inviting reflections from women of diverse backgrounds and identities, including poets, playwrights and other creative writers, academics, journalists, commentators, artists, performers and opinion formers, and indeed anyone with an angle on the theme. All views expressed in the Dangerous Women Project’s daily posts are therefore the views of the individual author, not of the Institute or the University."
This organization and movement holds many events that people can check out and attend if they would like to stand with the movement as well, and each event has a different theme, where different topics will be discussed and deliberated.


http://dangerouswomenproject.org/2017/02/28/eugenics-and-feminism/

A women's choice

A very controversial topic that many non conservative people tend to stray away from would be the choice a woman have over their own bodies. Unless put in the situation their self, it is not common for one (especially a male) to give their opinion on whether or not a women should be able to make the choice completely independently on if she would want to keep a child or not. This issue is very complicated and by no means do I feel can have a black and white answer. I do feel that a women should have the most control over her own body as possible but given particular situations such as money, crime, and intention I do feel a mans voice should be heard. I don't feel that one person should have complete and total control over a situation but I do ultimately feel that at the end of the day a women should have control over what is being done to or with her body regarding any situation in general.

In Regards to Human Genetics

In regards to human genetics, I think we can all agree that the history of them have been around for quite sometime. We can all recall that Gregor Mendel first began his research on Pea Plants, which ultimately led to the study of genetics. Now this was during 1866. That was a really really long time ago. From 1866 on, the study of human genetics has only grown immensely, in part due to technology and just the pure knowledge of genetics. Take in to consideration how long ago that was, and fast forward to now. Now, we can manipulate genes, change the genetic code, etc. I never even knew about "designer babies" until last semester. For those who do not know, designer babies are babies in which the parents are able to manipulate their child's genes, in order to do things such as change eye color, hair color, remove diseases, etc. I feel humans have truly become the God's now, just as our class discusses ultimately. We have so much versatility in everything we do now, not just human genetics, and this is basically all because of the technology. I absolutely cannot imagine what things we will be able to do 20 or 30 years from now.

A.I. Article

A.I. Article

Learning from Genes

Human genetics is also a relevant topic of our recent classroom discussions. Similar to my last post, it also relates to women's control over their reproductive system and eugenics. Human genetics and the term eugenics is a main theme in the movie Gattaca, where one's life and social class are determined before birth, based on the parent's DNA compatibility. The advances they made in the movie are relevant to the advances we have available today.

Because of the research done with human genetics, we have stem cell research that offers us hope to finding cures for cancers and other life threatening diseases. Stem cell research offers us cell-based therapy, the development of new drugs, and the testing of new drugs- all without having to use a human test dummy.

Human genetics as a whole, has enhanced the world of medicine and improved human health due to research. We are able to better understand our own bodies as well as those who may have inheritable diseases or traits, or illnesses. By being able to better understand our bodies and what goes on inside, we are able to take better care of ourselves and take preventatives to things we may be susceptible to.

A Women's Control of Her Body

An interesting topic that is relevant to our recent class discussions is regarding the relationship between women and eugenics. More specifically, a women's control over her reproductive system.

Eugenics is formally defined as "the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics." The positive relationship that eugenics has with a women's reproductive system is the ability to freeze one's eggs, have access to various forms of birth control, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and the ability to have a surrogate mother. These aspects of controlling one's reproductive system doesn't follow the formal definition of eugenics but does relate to the term. This form of eugenics allows women to control their reproductive system as far as what type of birth control they choose to take (if any), tying ones tubes, and the flexibility of when and how to conceive. Another positive aspect of this type of control is how it can help maintain one's health- whether it's related to cancer, disease, or heritable traits.

TOTAL control

totalitarianism and technology

Technology is definitely a form of totalitarianism. In this generation, technology basically controls all aspects of life. Whether it is texting, binge watching Netflix, driving BMW's or using ur laptop to online shop, technology definitely controls society. Beyond the point of everyday use, the government is using technology as a way to keep track of us. Almost everywhere you go there are cameras watching you, with your every move permanently recorded. Almost all authority has access to everything we say or do on the internet. As an example, in High School my friends sister had a conversation about alcohol in her Facebook chat. At the park, she ran into a police officer and he ADMITTED TO SEEING HER FACEBOOK CHAT ABOUT ALCOHOL. That is just an extreme violation of privacy and proves that the government can basically control our lives.

New Tech

technological advances within the 19th and 20th centuries

The 19th century was known as the era that had new machinery. The 19th century machines include the lightbulb, telephone, typewriter and sewing machine. These machines made more jobs available and tasks to be done that have never been completed before. The creation of the telephone allowed others to communicate for the first time without having to be together. The sewing machine allowed the production of clothing and the typewriter reinvented books and writing for the entire world. Entering the 20th century, inventions such as airplanes, cars and radio. These inventions completely revolutionized transportation, allowing people to travel to new parts of the world and even have an easier way to get around town. The radio became a crucial part of the home, being played and listened to constantly. As the 20th century comes to a close, spaceships, computers and wireless internet is invented COMPLETELY revolutionizing the world. Technology is constantly advancing by the day and only making life more simple. The fact we have made it from the wall telephone to Apple iPhones and electronics is truly astonishing.

Tech Surveillance

Technology enables totalitarianism- without the consent of the people or to their knowledge. Because of the ability of technology to recognize and differentiate person to person, the government has the ability to use this (without people realizing) and monitor everyone's location. After reading the article handed out in class, it's scary to hear of advances being made that your TV, cell phone, and even random billboards are all monitoring you 24/7. Especially in the privacy of your own home- being under surveillance by your own TV or computer or tablet is uncomfortable and a violation of privacy, What if you don't wear clothes around the house- now the government and whomever else has access to that? No thank you. There has to be a line drawn for the sake of our privacy.

Technology is Forever

The fact of it is that technology will be around for centuries to come, and it is advancing day by day as we speak. Do I think that the government, or authoritative figures/organizations are abusing the means of technology to control/monitor society ? Yes.  If you have ever seen the movie Snowden, centered around the life and discoveries of Edward Snowden, you can clearly see how authoritative organizations take advantage of technology and its functions and frankly, it's quite scary.

Technology controls society nowadays based on the media that is portrayed through our TV's, our smart phones, and what we see on electronic billboards, as well as electronic displays on the sides of buildings! The media can control what people buy and consumption of a product by advertising constantly how "great" a product is, making the public eye desire that item, therefore almost controlling us by trying to tempt us into buying it. If an item were not being advertised so glamorously, we would not be running to stores to buy that item, but since the media portrays the items that way, that's why we buy it.

Technology is something that will always be present in society, and it is NOT going anywhere anytime soon...in fact, it is only advancing each and every single day, and we can't anything about that.  Technology is thrown in our faces wherever we go.  Just think for a second, could you imagine life without technology?? Could you imagine life where you would actually have to go to the movie theatre and pick which movie you wanted to watch instead of having "NUMBER 1 MOVIE IN AMERICA" sprawled across your TV for every single movie trailer that is portrayed?

Technology even wiggles it's way into your eyesight when you play games or apps or even listen to music. You probably cant play a game or listen to songs for a solid 15 minutes without an ad popping up and at least playing for 25 seconds before you can skip it.

Technology is annoying...and frankly quite pushy, and controlling.

Authority Everywhere

In regards to totalitarianism and technology, I feel that it is everywhere around us today, although not nearly as aggressive as Hitler had shown it during World War II. What I am referring to today is something as simple as the media. There is no doubt in my mind that the media is essentially a way of controlling society. Like I had stated before, it is not as nearly as aggressive back then, however I feel it is similar and this is only one comparison I am really making. In what I mean by the way the media is controlling society, it seeks to distract the public with news that quite frankly causes absolute chaos. I am not stating my political stance here, but a perfect example is all the "fake news" or whatever you want to consider it. Spewing information that might not even be true to information that is not even true in general is obviously nothing but controversial. But I feel that all of that "nonsense" is just distracting us from what is really going on in the world, what is occurring beyond closed doors. Totalitarianism is seen today through the use of our computers, and the internet as well. We had discussed this in class briefly but I feel it is important to add here. The fact that the internet has the ability to track what we search and then create advertisements that appeal to our search histories is a way of control. The government being able to tap into any of our devices at any given time is control as well, it just hasn't necessarily happened to any of us so I feel we really do not think about it. We had spoke about the use of symbols in class, and I feel this is something so important in regards to totalitarianism. In a way, technology created these symbols and they were printed, and spread for the world to see. These symbols have a certain message or rhetoric embedded within them. I feel the exposure to such symbols is a way of controlling, for you are surrounding people with them and making them believe what they stand for in a way. For example, the swastika became such a prominent symbol in Nazi Germany at the time, it was there flag, it was everywhere, etc. Everyone was so wrapped up in it, it was seen at every corner, it was what everyone believed was normal at the time.

I feel this political cartoon does nothing but depict totalitarianism perfectly, not just with Hitler, but with any authoritarian type of leader and what they essentially seek to accomplish.

 

Superiority In Regards To Technology

In regards to technology and the technological advances within the 19th and 20th centuries, especially during wartime, the one who possesses the newest most efficient technology has already one half of the battle. Specifically, there are two types of technology: Technology itself and Military Technology. Military Technology is simply technology that is applied to the concepts of war, and exemplifies the qualities of being distinctly military. This obviously includes, for example, weapon engineering. Weapon engineering pertains to the design or development of a particular firearm or defense machine.
I was doing a little research and came across the various components of what actually goes into Military Technology, which includes mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, mechatronics, electro-optics, aerospace engineering, materials engineering, and chemical engineering. Now clearly we have seen all of these, whether it be in movies or even lectures in regards to any war. Specifically, with World War 1, there is the development of mustard gas. This if anything defined what it meant to be superior amongst the enemy, in regards to having better and more efficient technology equipped. If anything, these technological advances within the realm of Military Technology have absolutely changed the game of warfare. The evolution of technology, for civilian use and military use, has proved to be efficient even today. Technology is constantly growing and changing as I write this blog post.
One relationship I find prevalent amongst warfare and technology is that the individuals that possess the most advanced or efficient technology (better weapons, better defense, better ways of wiping out the enemy) will remain superior over others

World War 1 Political Cartoon

Vital Advances

I think that technology being utilized by troops and armies everywhere is a vital advancement in our defense mechanisms as well as our attack strategies when necessary. Some of the biggest technological advances used in warfare have been drones, which can be used for multiple purposes, and also submarines, which allow soldiers (or whatever groups) to monitor from miles and miles below the shoreline.

Combat drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, enable troops to deploy weapons in war while safely remaining thousands of miles away from the front lines of the battlefield. As such, the lives of drone pilots are not in danger, helping the military limit the number of combat fatalities. In the U.S. military, the use of drones is expanding across all branches of operational forces.

Submarines were important because they basically revolutionized naval warfare by introducing underwater vessels capable of attacking enemy ships. The first successful submarine attack on a warship occurred during the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865. Today, the military uses submarines to carry missiles, conduct reconnaissance, support land attacks, and establish blockades.

There are also a ton of other technological advancements in warfare, but in my opinion, these two that I talked about above are some of the most important and necessary.  I find that researching military techniques and attack mechanisms are actually quite fascinating to see how some objects are utilized; and some in more ways than one.   

Relationships corrupted by technology.....

When it comes to dating and the use of technology, it is very obvious that as technology evolves, the concept of being in a relationship changes as well. Excluding the help that technology gives with long distance relationships, it has become a "cancer" to many. All the new apps and devices allows individuals to lose their minds consistently checking up on their partners. What are they checking up on? Their partners snapchat friends and messages, their Facebook, their instagram likes and followers and oh so much more.  Technology has become toxic to many relationships and many people including myself believe this will get much worse.

Just Do It!

   This cartoon shows a negative aspect of the Industrial Revolution. In the cartoon, it shows the owner of the company named "Nike" along with the slogan "Just Do It." This shows when children were working in factories with horrible conditions. Because they were small, they would have to crawl into the tiny, dangerous crevices to fix things that could only be fixed by small hands. They also were taken advantage of and had to follow cruel instructions from the company owners that the adults did not. Although this cartoon shows the negative aspect of the revolution, it did in fact have some positive aspects as well. Many jobs became available to women and children for the first time. Women no longer had to stay home all day, they could now get payed for doing jobs such as sewing. Children could now also help out their family if they were extremely poor by getting a job to contribute to their families bills.

Instagram, Snapchat and Find my Iphone

 Liking other girls pictures on Instagram has become a huge problem within relationships today. Back then, if someone were to cheat they would have an affair and it would be somewhat hard to figure out. Nowadays, couples are getting in fights over the most ridiculous things. If a boy "likes" another girls picture, his girlfriend will most likely freak out and before you know it you are in a fight over simply tapping a phone screen. There are so many hacks in a cell phone like: recently deleted, clear conversations, and remove chat history.. that people are able to do if they are talking to someone they are not supposed to. Couples become obsessed with checking each others phones and social media that they can not even focus on loving each other. Not only that, Find my IPhone gives you the ability to track your partner and before you know it u are sitting on ur phone watching them drive all over town. Therefore, I can definitely say technology is ruining relationships.

Send Nudes

About a month ago, you couldn't go online without seeing a video of someone who "spilled" something, the mess in the shape the words "send nudes". This was an popular culture phenomenon, a meme. So to explain the joke: girls will post about guys asking for nude pictures of them. This is a response to that.

An example of the joke

This is a play on another trademark of the technological age. Sexting is not new; as soon as people could send electronic message, people inserted sex. That's just what people do. With the advent of instant picture sharing apps, sharing got even easier. 

What does this say about how technology is affecting relationships today?

People joke about intimacy. Maybe this makes some people uncomfortable, but I think its only natural. Humans have primal, carnal, desires and we're not always good at hiding or controlling them. Our intellectual side needs to rationalize these moments of animalistic behavior. It's only natural, healthy even, that we make jokes about it. Without levity, progress is scary. 

Obsessive Social Media Disorder

No doubt, technology has had a negative impact on intimate relationships, more so for the generations that have come after our parents. Like discussed in class, technology enables us to "turn off" people even when they are sitting right in front of us. My views and hostility towards technology and how it interferes with relationships is driven mainly by personal experience. The ability to follow your friends, s/o, family, and strangers on multiple social media sites trigger an obsession to always know what others are doing. It heightens the anxiety of infidelity because it's literally at the finger tips of your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife. Cheating can now be done without physical interaction; the exchanging of sexts, secretive cyber-based relationships, emotionally being invested in someone other than your partner. It feeds one's insecurities by enabling the tracking and ability to see who's pictures/posts your s/o is constantly "liking" and viewing. It can become obsessive, unhealthy, and ultimately the reason why relationships don't last.

I'm not going to deny that I often use and scroll through instagram, facebook, and snapchat. But I've also experienced the negative impact it can have on someone's relationship/friendship. It took until I was affected by it, to realize how detrimental it can be. Obviously, it isn't just technology that's corrupting the intimacy of relationships nowadays, but it's also the people's lack of morals, compassion, and empathy.

As for online dating- there may be some pros, but it's essentially creating image driven and instant gratification relationships that don't last very long.

"Until Death" Used To Mean Something More

Technology has undoubtedly affected relationships, and quite frankly what we call destiny. Technology, machines, dating websites, etc. have ultimately proved to be detrimental to not only the individual, but to the entire experience. How does one create such an emotional, chemical, and spiritual feeling or sensation through the use of a computer? Or even a text message? I do not understand how ones can be "fallen in love" shortly after utilizing one of these stupid websites. Granted, they help individuals who may be struggling, however, where is the true essence of a relationship in that? I feel there is no dept and all interaction is quite limited. Technology suppresses our natural feelings and emotions that we express. It stunts it's growth inevitably, and we have become dependent on it so much so that we forget what it means to be HERE, with our feet on solid ground. All social and emotional interaction, eye to eye contact, pure compassion are eradicated through the use of technology.

I would absolutely hate the idea of telling my kids one day, "Hey, did you know I met mommy online? on the internet, with the computer?"

I could not imagine. It is indeed sad because soon the world is going to be so encapsulated and consumed by technology that, these newer generations will be completely unaware of how to establish love and what it means to be in love. There will be no romance anymore, there will be no intimacy, and most importantly these experiences will and are becoming a part of the past. There will be no dates or actual conversation.

I am not going to sit here and rant constantly about how I feel technology has absolutely destroyed the realm of love, however I love and hate technology. I just wish as a society we can hold on to how meaningful things used to be without technology. We are rapidly forgetting these things of the past, and older generations are only getting older. Soon, they will not be here and we will not have the opportunity to actual learn. We must take advantage.

Dating without use of technology these days is basically impossible...

People always say that they wish we lived in the generation where boys would actually ask girls on dates, instead of them relying on a semi-attractive person swiping right on tinder or some dating website in order for a boy and a girl to meet or go on a date. It has become so easy for people to rely on online dating websites these days to score a date instead of making an effort in going out and meeting potential matches face to face.  Where have the days gone where boys stand outside girls windows with boomboxes, blasting a romantic song? Or where boys would actually go up to a girls door when picking them up for a date as a sign that they were ready, instead of just texting them "here." These days instead of intimate conversations or physical actions, couples just rely on technology for nude photos, and a quick "I love you," text.  It has made us lazy, and almost selfish at times.

Technology has no doubt made it easier to connect with other individuals who are longing for a partner as well, but it has also made us soooooo immensely lazy.  Romance was thriving in prior generations, and the way people maintain their relationships today, it makes you wonder, does romance still even exist? 

However, being in a long term relationship before, I admit that I loved the luxury of being able to talk to my significant other 24/7 through text messages and calls, but technology could also be dangerous in a relationship too.

The factor that technology has made it so easy to find a partner or someone looking for a good time, has also made it that much easier for partners to cheat or talk to other partners behind their own partners back. In relationships decades ago, in order to cheat you would actually have to make the effort to go out in public and actually meet another person... 

Technology is something that will not go away ANYTIME soon, in fact, it has only been advancing.

Technology can also be sneaky, so watch out for it and its many many features. 

Industrial Cartoon

Industrialization

Industrialization as a whole has indeed impeded on the role of women in the household. The Industrial Revolution absolutely allowed women to be more independent and take initiative, they now had a different purpose to a certain extent, which was outside of the home. New standards were now imposed on the role of women, and a different type of work ethic was now in place. This may have been great at the time, and the perspective towards women now working and being active in the industry must have been something surreal in the moment. Taking all of this into account, the treatment and working conditions that were to come for these women were absolutely horrible. Was it worth being treated like garbage? Was it worth the wage or the burden that was now imposed on the household and children? I suppose it was, in regards to sustaining all life and the cost of living at the time. I feel the Industrial Revolution eradicated some roles of women, specifically in the household, however adding new roles in the factory. Not only this though, I also feel it added double time for the homemaker, which is obviously the woman or the mother. If the father was not around, the woman was inevitably picking up the slack in the home, taking care of the children, taking care of the home environment, on top of being mistreated in the factories and working long/ridiculous hours to earn practically nothing.


I suppose this was the transition process, and if anything this was a catalyst for obtaining women's rights and equality amongst all people. Meaning, this was ultimately required for society to reach such great heights in the time to come.

The good, the bad, and the basic changes

There were negative impacts (of course) as there always is when it comes to changes in history, but there was definitely positive impacts as well when it came to discussing industrialization and the impact the industrial revolution had on (primarily) women and children. Some of the positives were that the industrial revolution opened up many doors to job opportunities for both women and children, which the women were happy about because they were used to the men being the breadwinners of the family...even though they weren't making much. The women were becoming more independent, and allowed them to become a more vibrant and vital part of social activism and labor movements in hopes of changing their dangerous work conditions. The industrial revolution allowed women to support themselves and their families due to what they were making while working.
There weren't really any benefits for children, besides making money to help their family with their economic situations.

I think one of the most obvious negative aspects of the industrial revolution and industrialization period were the conditions that women and children were working in when they were working.  Many people were injured, some even died. Yet, most people didn't care because they were getting their money and thats all that mattered.  Most children developed diseases, and some even became paralyzed, because the children would be assigned to do jobs that took advantage of their small size, even if it was unsafe; they didn't care.

If this stuff was going on today, no company would be able to get away with ANYTHING like this.  Everyone loves filing lawsuits nowadays as well, so the outside population would be overflowing with lawsuits and money being given away.  It'd be a mess, and that is why all companies take care of their workers and make sure their safety policies and benefits are openly available to each and every single one of them.

The start of something new......

The start of the industrial revolution in 1890 was the start of many major changes for children and women who lived in the united states. Before this time women and children were not required to do much work outside the regular house choirs. At this time many different machines and factories were being created and the demand for workers began to raise. Women mostly found jobs in domestic service, textile factories, and piece work shops. They also worked in the coal mines. Many children did not attend school because they too had to take on jobs. The cost of living went up at this point and many families put their children to work as young as age nine. There were also no labor laws at this time that required for breaks from work, age requirement, and other important rules that we have today.