We'll talk more about this broad topic in chpt 12 of the RCR, but this news came out today about changes in the laws regarding human subjects.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/arts/rules-meant-to-protect-human-research-subjects-cause-concern.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
HIV research
Science article by Gallo & Montagnier
http://aidscience.org/science/298%285599%291730.html
And the Band Played On (a book and film about the early study of HIV)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Band_Played_On
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106273/
http://www.amazon.com/Band-Played-Politics-People-Epidemic/dp/0312241356
http://aidscience.org/science/298%285599%291730.html
And the Band Played On (a book and film about the early study of HIV)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Band_Played_On
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106273/
http://www.amazon.com/Band-Played-Politics-People-Epidemic/dp/0312241356
Oct/Nov Current Events
*new* 10 Nov 11
from an essay in Inside Higher Ed , "The first factor promoting ethics scandals is that, contrary to their self-belief, smart people are especially susceptible to acting foolishly. Your biggest risk factor for foolish behavior is the belief that, while other people often act in foolish ways, you never would do so. Smart people are often those most likely to harbor such a belief."
5 Nov 11
A Dutch scholar was found to have falsified findings in dozens of papers, in a field that critics say is vulnerable to such abuses. http://nyti.ms/unVj1J
31 Oct 11 Is being good sometimes a matter of feeling good?
Brain scans suggest that everything from sugar to sex lights up the brain’s pleasure circuitry similar to the way cocaine does in an addict. And altruism does, too. http://nyti.ms/uH4aJI
27Oct11
Recycling scientific lab equipment:
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/26/141666558/used-lab-equipment-finds-a-second-home-overseas
25Oct11
Fresh Air interview regarding patenting of human genes.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=141429392&m=141591220
An essay on how biology has changed due to the amount of data involved in studying genomics, and other 'omics'.
http://the-scientist.com/2011/10/01/data-deluge/
from an essay in Inside Higher Ed , "The first factor promoting ethics scandals is that, contrary to their self-belief, smart people are especially susceptible to acting foolishly. Your biggest risk factor for foolish behavior is the belief that, while other people often act in foolish ways, you never would do so. Smart people are often those most likely to harbor such a belief."
5 Nov 11
A Dutch scholar was found to have falsified findings in dozens of papers, in a field that critics say is vulnerable to such abuses. http://nyti.ms/unVj1J
31 Oct 11 Is being good sometimes a matter of feeling good?
Brain scans suggest that everything from sugar to sex lights up the brain’s pleasure circuitry similar to the way cocaine does in an addict. And altruism does, too. http://nyti.ms/uH4aJI
27Oct11
Recycling scientific lab equipment:
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/26/141666558/used-lab-equipment-finds-a-second-home-overseas
25Oct11
Fresh Air interview regarding patenting of human genes.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=141429392&m=141591220
An essay on how biology has changed due to the amount of data involved in studying genomics, and other 'omics'.
http://the-scientist.com/2011/10/01/data-deluge/
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Gratitude (John)
from John:
C-s defines gratitude in many ways throughout his less-than-ten pages he devotes to it. In fact, he probably restates the general definition at least once per page, if not more. However, a comprehensive definition can be offered as thus; Gratitude is the enjoyment of eternity, the pleasure of receiving, the joy of being joyful, the most pleasant of virtues, and the most virtuous of pleasures. (132-137, that list is a combination of three quotes).
"To thank is to give; to be gracious means to share... This joy, this happiness, they belong to both of us" the giver and the receiver (133). Thus, "Gratitude is love, not a quid pro quo" (135). Ergo it has to be willing given and cannot be forced, expected or even demanded. Because gratitude cannot be forced, then it has to come out of something else, some existential "love" (fraternal, camaraderie, just to be clear) for another. When someone is kind to someone else, it causes a chain reaction; Gratitude and generosity go hand in hand, wherein, someone is generous to another person who feels gratitude towards them and then is generous in turn. Think of the old coke commercials, where everyone passed along a coke to the next person; the person holding the coke was already smiling and happy, while the person they were about to give it to was not or was simply working hard. Once the coke was passed, the new person felt the same way and therefore felt generous enough to keep on passing the coke, so as to share the joy, in a gracious manner. The "egoist", as C-S puts it, or someone who is self-absorbed, cannot enjoy gratitude because when he receives something, he keeps the happiness to himself, by being ungrateful. "We absorb joy as others absorb light, for egoism is a black hole" (134).
Gratitude is both honorable and good because it has the ability to allow us to see from where we have attained joy from another person and then share it, thus making us good as well. However good it may be, it cannot come before other, more "important" virtues. C-S uses the example along the lines of a murderer saving your life and then them asking you to testify for them, saying that they are innocent. While it is right to be gracious for having your life saved, it is not right to let this gracious feeling come before other virtues, like honesty and justice. Conversely, it cannot take a backseat to pride, though "We all tend to see the love we have received as reason for self-congratulation rather than a cause for gratitude... Pride refuses to owe, self-love to pay" (135), in the mind of C-S. Pride often does not allow for gratitude, because, in the sense that C-S has proposed, pride is all aimed inward, at the self. However, I disagree with this point, and I feel anyone who has a family can relate; one can certainly feel pride for someone other than themselves, especially in someone that they love, in which case, the pride is humble and not arrogant, because it is sharing in someone else's success and therefore, joy, as gratitude would have us do.
Gratitude is a feeling that lives in the present, as opposed to regret or nostalgia, which linger in the past, and hope and apprehension, which lie in the future. Gratitude is the pleasure of the here and now, what is and what has just taken place. When gratitude does deal with the past, "It is time regained - the past recaptured, if you will - 'the grateful recollection of what has been'" (137).
Some parting quotes, to think about, be inspired by, etc. :
"Gratitude does not abolish grief; it completes it" (138), so that one can come out of the mourning process and instead rejoice that whatever was lost and being mourned ever existed in the first place.
"Life is not a debt: life is a state of grace, and being is a state of grace,; therein lies gratitude's highest lesson" (137).
Lastly, in gratitude, we defeat death, because death can only take away the future, which doesn't yet exist, and cannot take away what has caused you joy in the past.
C-s defines gratitude in many ways throughout his less-than-ten pages he devotes to it. In fact, he probably restates the general definition at least once per page, if not more. However, a comprehensive definition can be offered as thus; Gratitude is the enjoyment of eternity, the pleasure of receiving, the joy of being joyful, the most pleasant of virtues, and the most virtuous of pleasures. (132-137, that list is a combination of three quotes).
"To thank is to give; to be gracious means to share... This joy, this happiness, they belong to both of us" the giver and the receiver (133). Thus, "Gratitude is love, not a quid pro quo" (135). Ergo it has to be willing given and cannot be forced, expected or even demanded. Because gratitude cannot be forced, then it has to come out of something else, some existential "love" (fraternal, camaraderie, just to be clear) for another. When someone is kind to someone else, it causes a chain reaction; Gratitude and generosity go hand in hand, wherein, someone is generous to another person who feels gratitude towards them and then is generous in turn. Think of the old coke commercials, where everyone passed along a coke to the next person; the person holding the coke was already smiling and happy, while the person they were about to give it to was not or was simply working hard. Once the coke was passed, the new person felt the same way and therefore felt generous enough to keep on passing the coke, so as to share the joy, in a gracious manner. The "egoist", as C-S puts it, or someone who is self-absorbed, cannot enjoy gratitude because when he receives something, he keeps the happiness to himself, by being ungrateful. "We absorb joy as others absorb light, for egoism is a black hole" (134).
Gratitude is both honorable and good because it has the ability to allow us to see from where we have attained joy from another person and then share it, thus making us good as well. However good it may be, it cannot come before other, more "important" virtues. C-S uses the example along the lines of a murderer saving your life and then them asking you to testify for them, saying that they are innocent. While it is right to be gracious for having your life saved, it is not right to let this gracious feeling come before other virtues, like honesty and justice. Conversely, it cannot take a backseat to pride, though "We all tend to see the love we have received as reason for self-congratulation rather than a cause for gratitude... Pride refuses to owe, self-love to pay" (135), in the mind of C-S. Pride often does not allow for gratitude, because, in the sense that C-S has proposed, pride is all aimed inward, at the self. However, I disagree with this point, and I feel anyone who has a family can relate; one can certainly feel pride for someone other than themselves, especially in someone that they love, in which case, the pride is humble and not arrogant, because it is sharing in someone else's success and therefore, joy, as gratitude would have us do.
Gratitude is a feeling that lives in the present, as opposed to regret or nostalgia, which linger in the past, and hope and apprehension, which lie in the future. Gratitude is the pleasure of the here and now, what is and what has just taken place. When gratitude does deal with the past, "It is time regained - the past recaptured, if you will - 'the grateful recollection of what has been'" (137).
Some parting quotes, to think about, be inspired by, etc. :
"Gratitude does not abolish grief; it completes it" (138), so that one can come out of the mourning process and instead rejoice that whatever was lost and being mourned ever existed in the first place.
"Life is not a debt: life is a state of grace, and being is a state of grace,; therein lies gratitude's highest lesson" (137).
Lastly, in gratitude, we defeat death, because death can only take away the future, which doesn't yet exist, and cannot take away what has caused you joy in the past.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Craig Venter
Chapter 5 Collaboration between Academia & Private Industry references Craig Venter, former CEO of Celera Genomics Corporation. You might want to watch this TED talk of his. He is a major player in genetics, genomics research, very cutting-edge. He is also know for his huge personality & ego.
http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life.html
Here's a link to the full paper announcing the sequencing of the human genome, a joint government + Celera undertaking: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/291/5507/1304.full
http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life.html
Here's a link to the full paper announcing the sequencing of the human genome, a joint government + Celera undertaking: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/291/5507/1304.full
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Codes of Ethics
We'll read about Codes of Ethics in more detail in chpt 12, and you've read a bit about them already in Immortal Life (Chpt 17, esp. pp. 131-132), but here's a story about a man who was at the Nuremberg trial reporting on it: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/opinion/nocera-the-nuremberg-scripts.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212 . The article has links to primary sources which you'll find interesting.
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