Emergence Of Biotechnology: A Summary

dark underside of scientific and technological advances and the effects that has on what it means to

Over two centuries ago, Mary Shelley created a gruesome tale of the horrific ramifications that result when man over steps his bounds and manipulates nature. In her classic tale, Frankenstein, Shelley weaves together the terrifying implications of a young scientist playing God and creating life, only to be haunted for the duration of his life by the monster of his own sordid creation. Reading Shelley in the context of present technologically advanced times, her tale of monstrous creation provides a very gruesome caution. For today, it is not merely a human being the sciences are lusting blindly to bring to life, as was the deranged quest of Victor Frankenstein, but rather to

Thesis: In a world where knowledge is essential, it is often asked just how much intelligence is “safe”. In the story Frankenstein, Shelley expresses the idea that knowledge is power and this is shown through both despair and progress. This can easily be understood through the conclusion that science is almost always left up to chance even though it is thought to be a straight cut subject.

Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein, can be greatly related to many horror novels, no consideration of morality or thought. Shelly writes her story in a real world perspective showing themes of corruption and downfall making it seem frighteningly realistic. It truly is mind-boggling how research can conflict with religion without a thought or care. During the enlightenment, science began to mask over faith and religion, creating a cultural phenomenon. This is still a factor in today’s world. Although experimenting and research can have poor and great affects, the common question comes to mind, “even though it can be done, should it be done?” While Shelly talks of science and technology, it seems to become more predominate that not all

Destruction Today’s society is so fixated on discovering ways to scientifically improve and create life. Researchers have dedicated their entire life to finding ways to do these unthinkable tasks. Much like the scientists and researchers, Victor Frankenstein, from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, has dedicated his entire life and freedom to create life by his own hands. Scientific progresses, such as the creation of life and today’s genetic developments, for knowledge should not be performed due to the fact they have destroyed and will destroy people’s lives in the future.

Science has become a tool for humans to understand the wonders of nature and to manipulate the new knowledge for personal benefit of a single race. Specifically, during the Nineteenth Century, electricity was being recently experimented with and galvanism was one of the most gruesome practices at the time. This initiated the idea of giving life to the dead and became one of the foundations of the gothic and romantic monster novel that is still famous today. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the author warns that although science has many great beneficial achievements, there are the consequences of attempting to replicate nature and warns of the self destruction that results from obsessing over it that are often disregarded.

Science is loved and feared by humans, depending on how it is used and applied. It both helps people and causes difficulties. In some ways it has hurt lives, like in Macaela Mackenzie’s “What to know about 2018’s Deadly Flu Season” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde”. In some ways it has helped our lives, like in Fabrizio Bensch’s “Scientists find DNA of first-ever bubonic plague, warn of new outbreaks.”, in Daniel Defoe’s “ A Journal of the Plague Year”, and in Harvard University Contagion : Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics “The Great Plague of London, 1665”. First, in Mackenzie’s text how it hurt lives.

Although science research is important, some innovations can be harmful to society. In the book “Frankenstein”, as the Shelley (2008) suggests that knowledge can sometimes be destructive. In order to prevent pursuit of destructive knowledge, it is important to conduct science research based on ethical principles. This can act as a solution to the constant tension between the utopian vision of science and their possible dystopian effects. Although the book was published over two centuries ago, its concepts are applicable in the modern techno-science culture. Today, the book is often used as a reference to warn scientists against potential consequences that can result from uncontrolled quest of knowledge and dominion over nature. Basically, “Frankenstein”

Many times, we are often forced to question our standing, as humans, in the universe in light of how both humanity and the world progresses due to the continuing increase in technology as the years go on. Many are for continuing onwards to become more scientifically and technologically-oriented as time passes, but others claim that going to far with technology will prove to be the undoing of mankind. In the nineteenth century, decades before anyone truly conceived of human-made artificial life, Mary Shelley, the wife of the famed poet Percy Shelley and author, wrote a horror story by the name of Frankenstein, an enduring story that may have even sewn the first inklings of Science-Fiction themes into a novel about a man who plays God and creates

The natural sciences have a lot in common with Pandora’s box. Both contain any number of wonders and possibilities within them, the promise of untold riches and benefits just as great as the threat of disaster and pain. The fear of catastrophe can keep the scientific box shut, and science may not progress at all. For this reason, scientists should only be held responsible for the application of their discoveries to an extent that does not give them blame for the negative. For should scientists be blamed for the tragedies that result from their work, not only do they become a scapegoat for the abusers of their knowledge, but the process of scientific discovery itself becomes hindered by this fear of the unknown.

“The process by which either the individual makes or the community makes the transition from constrained fall to the pendulum or from dephlogisticated air to oxygen is not one that resembles interpretation…Rather than being and interpreter, the scientist who embraces a new paradigm is like the man wearing inverting lenses. Confronting the same constellation of objects as before and knowing he does so, he nevertheless finds them transformed through and through in many of their details”

In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is trying to convey the message that science and technology can be dangerous in the wrong hands. She affirms this idea through the character of Victor, a cautionary tale, but dispels the idea that all pursuit of knowledge is bad through more traditionally romantic characters such as Henry Clerval. Shelley is complicit in her understanding that curiosity and experimentation are unbreakably tied to the human condition, and tries to warn the world of the evil that can come from this. However, the effects of the interpretation of this book can vary: it is an exemplary cautionary tale, and a much needed reminder of ethics in an increasingly technology-dependent world, but one could easily take these warnings too far and use her novel as a means to quell innovation or incite censorship. In a world of technology that would be unbelievable to Shelley, her work still remains relevant, notably in the field of genetic engineering. Frankenstein raises important questions about ethics, responsibility and censorship, and is applicable to modern technological issues such as genetic engineering.

Schumacher Book Review Modern society is a roadmap, full of lines, symbols and destinations, but what this what does not have is an expansion of knowledge. In his book “A Guide for the Perplexed”, writer E.F. Schumacher critically analyzes the ignorance of society and its inability to expand intellectually as it bases the essence of progress on materialistic scientism. “Leave[ing] all the questions that really matter unanswered […] deny[ing] validity of the important questions,” single-minded society is focused on the study of inanimate and visible objects, rather than what is invisible such as faith, knowledge and morality (4). Contrary to what has been believed for some time, science cannot and will not solve our problems when it comes the

Other phrases throughout the first four pages use words like "nightmare", "destroy", "haunt", and "anguish" to attract readers to how seriously society takes awareness of science. These phrases get readers to feel the urgency of the views against science in society. The dark phrasing successfully shows that society has taken a responsible view against incorrect scientific application.

Biotechnology is a broad term. Basically, it is the “tools and techniques [opening] new research avenues for discovering how healthy bodies work and what goes wrong when problems arise”(Siedler para. 1). It covers controversial technology and procedure, like genetic engineering and gene therapy. It is controversial because it can affect everyone(Jeremy para. 16). As a consequence, the development of biotechnology has been a “slow, quiet progress”(Kirsner para. 3) because society may or may not recognize the repercussion of it. However, scientist like Smith- a previous chief for the Cambridge biotech company, Genzyme- continues to develop biotechnology(para. 1). Because biotechnology can be controversial, yet scientist continues to develop it;