Ted Talks - #2
Daniel Murphy
Salt Lake Community College
Biology 1090-003
I thought it was interesting that a significant portion of the talk was focused on the current economic situation in America. At first, it appeared that it was a lecture upon the current dysfunction of our fiscal standing as well as the potential consequences for failing to address them. However, especially with the allusion of the tidal wave crashing over the mountains, it elucidated the reality that, despite our current self-imposed malaise, that there is a torrent of new ideas, technologies, and realities sweeping towards us.
Humankind is on the cusp of being able to do what no other species on earth has successfully accomplished: guiding our own genetic evolution and destiny. The ability to generate programmable stem-cells that can replace and act as any part of our body, without threat of rejection, is simply revolutionary. The immense promise of being able to replace damaged organs or regenerate damaged cells will affect almost every level of healthcare as we know it. The implications towards heart-disease, cancer, damage caused by unhealthy habits such as drinking, smoking, weight gain, etc. is staggering. My sister, who has since passed, suffered from arterial stenosis. Resultant of the complications, she was required to undergo two heart-transplants, a kidney transplant, and numerous open-heart surgeries. Due to this, there were significant complications from surgery-based trauma, scarring, and immunosuppressant’s that were required to facilitate this process. Technology that may exist in the next decade, or perhaps even exist today, could have rendered that condition to be far more manageable or perhaps even curable. To know that individuals who are hard of hearing, who may be facing degenerative diseases, can utilize their own cells, specifically programmed to augment or replace current cells, without the threat of rejection, opens up a significant promise for each individual who is currently suffering.
Not only does this promise to establish a new opportunity for each individual, whether young or old, healthy or infirm, but also allowed people to overcome potential physical weaknesses and reach their full potential as individuals.
Works cited:
· "Juan Enriquez: The next Species of Human." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 June 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_shares_mindboggling_new_science.html>
Daniel Murphy
Salt Lake Community College
Biology 1090-003
I thought it was interesting that a significant portion of the talk was focused on the current economic situation in America. At first, it appeared that it was a lecture upon the current dysfunction of our fiscal standing as well as the potential consequences for failing to address them. However, especially with the allusion of the tidal wave crashing over the mountains, it elucidated the reality that, despite our current self-imposed malaise, that there is a torrent of new ideas, technologies, and realities sweeping towards us.
Humankind is on the cusp of being able to do what no other species on earth has successfully accomplished: guiding our own genetic evolution and destiny. The ability to generate programmable stem-cells that can replace and act as any part of our body, without threat of rejection, is simply revolutionary. The immense promise of being able to replace damaged organs or regenerate damaged cells will affect almost every level of healthcare as we know it. The implications towards heart-disease, cancer, damage caused by unhealthy habits such as drinking, smoking, weight gain, etc. is staggering. My sister, who has since passed, suffered from arterial stenosis. Resultant of the complications, she was required to undergo two heart-transplants, a kidney transplant, and numerous open-heart surgeries. Due to this, there were significant complications from surgery-based trauma, scarring, and immunosuppressant’s that were required to facilitate this process. Technology that may exist in the next decade, or perhaps even exist today, could have rendered that condition to be far more manageable or perhaps even curable. To know that individuals who are hard of hearing, who may be facing degenerative diseases, can utilize their own cells, specifically programmed to augment or replace current cells, without the threat of rejection, opens up a significant promise for each individual who is currently suffering.
Not only does this promise to establish a new opportunity for each individual, whether young or old, healthy or infirm, but also allowed people to overcome potential physical weaknesses and reach their full potential as individuals.
Works cited:
· "Juan Enriquez: The next Species of Human." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 June 2013. <http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_shares_mindboggling_new_science.html>
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