Designer Babies

In todays age, with technology moving forward at a rapid speed, it is not surprising that scientists have figured out techniques in which it enables us to design what type of baby we want. A designer baby is a baby that is developing from an embryo created by in-vitro fertilization and selected because it had or lacked particular genes with the genetic makeup often having been modified by genetic engineering

Pros	Cons
Embryos of designer babies are scanned for any genes which might develop illnesses, therefore they are born healthy.	Designer babies are expensive. They cost about $180,00.
Doctors will be able to identify the gender of the embryo after being fertilized for a few days.	Parents can choose the child’s traits as if playing a video game. Traits can be modified and designed to the parents liking.
Designer babies could be a solution to avoid pointless loss of innocent lives as slaughtering of innocent babies because of their gender still occurs in many countries. This could be because the country restricts only a certain amount of children in a family, or if the fetus is an undesired genfer.	No one should be playing God. Designer babies will cause perfect individuals to be delivered to rich families. Only the rich will be beautiful, meet all the social standards and be healthy at the same time.
	Designer babies would further intensify the superficiality in society. Modern society is already too concerned with looks and the invention of designer babies will only further lead humans into the endless want of having a perfect appearance.

Designer Babies May Come With Unpredictable Consequences
Technology has enabled us to create a baby with three biological parents. A child can now be conceived using a DNA from a mother, a father, and a third “parent” with genetic material to replace disease-carrying DNA. Although at this stage it is only used to prevent diseases such as heart defects, muscular dystrophy and other problems, who’s to say that people will end up using it to change physical and appearance traits of the child. There is also new technology that allows daughters to give birth to their mothers child. An Australian woman named Melinda Arnold, was the first to be selected in her country to be a donor womb for her mother. Although they are only using this stage to help infertile women have their own babies, how long will it stay just that. We also do not know the long term implications of genetic manipulation. One of the babies created by Professor Cohen is reported to have a developmental disorder. Also, babies who are born naturally are healthier than those created with IVF and other assisted reproductive techniques. Doctors from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute have linked the rise in infertility treatments to increasing number of premature babies born with a higher risk of lifelong health issues. Babies born because of IVF have a mortality rate that is five times higher than children born at term, and a 4 ½ times higher rate of respiratory distress. Although the risk is low, studies have shown that we have seen a 150% increase in the number of births resulting from assisted reproductive techniques. There is a possibility that this science will be used to genetically alter babies for vanity purposes. Although we have the technology to create designer babies, it does not mean that we should and that it is right. This science should only be used to prevent and eradicate disease and to help those who are infertile.

Credibility
I think the article, “Designer Babies May Come With Unpredictable Consequences” is a credible and reliable source because I found it in the Herald Sun website which is very well known. I also know it is credible because the writer of the article, Susie O’Briend, also wrote many other articles for the Herald Sun.

Bias
After reading and reviewing the article, I have come to the conclusion that it is bias. It is clear that the writer, Susie O’Brien, does not approve of the science behind designer babies if it is used for vanity purposes. I think that she makes it apparent in the article that she thinks it is wrong to use our technology to design and plan our whole baby and that it should only be used to eradicate diseases and help infertile woman conceive.

Works Cited
Susie O'Brien. (October 07, 2012 12:00AM). Designer Babies May Come With Unpredictable Consequences. In Herald Sun. Retrieved January 8, 2013, from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/designer-babies-may-come-with-unpredictable-consequences/story-e6frfhqf-1226489794661.

undefined. (DEC 25, 2010). Pros and cons of designer babies. In Study Health.com. Retrieved January 8, 2013, from http://ic.steadyhealth.com/pros_and_cons_of_designer_babies.html.

Blogs I commented on

1:  http://niclol87.blogspot.ca/2012/03/blog-entry-4-beauty-is-it-really-in-eye.html#comment-form
2:  http://bey0ndstars.blogspot.ca/2011/09/texting-in-social-situations.html#comment-form
3: http://schinellasblog.blogspot.ca/2012/02/media-and-self-esteem.html#comment-form
4: http://dagabuya.blogspot.ca/2012/03/is-it-really-in-eye-of-beholder.html?showComment=1335752615543#c7138105740938227717
5: http://abcdanica.blogspot.ca/2012/03/to-share-or-not-to-share-that-is.html?showComment=1335752764132#c7239344477578355894
6: http://klagrln.blogspot.ca/2012/01/4-beauty-is-it-really-in-eye-of_24.html?showComment=1335752949209#c2497989966541761422

Web 2.0 is YOU.

I think that literacy has changed and it is not just constricted to pen and paper anymore. I think that in the future there will be many new mediums for literacy. Technology is definitely going to be more prominent in the future and it will effect everything we do, such as reading and writing. Web 2.0 is making us think how technology has changed the way we communicate with people and how that has changed throughout the years. Theres so many new ways that we can now communicate with people, and its not just face-to-face anymore. We cant text, we can facebook, we can imessage. It makes us think how technology is going to grow in the future.

A Look At Music Videos

Taken from YouTube

The music video I chose to do is One Thing by One Direction. 

My initial reaction to the music video was "WOW! These guys are so beautiful! And the song is so upbeat and catchy!"I thought the music video was very fun and candid, and it resembled The Beatles and The Monkees . It was very natural and had no real structure to it and it was just One Direction out in London having fun and being themselves. The song is initially about a guy who likes a girl and he's trying to get recognized by her and get her attention but his attempts go unnoticed. I think that they created this music video to show that the guys in One Direction are just normal people like you and me. That they are very fun and new and something that we havent seen in the music industry for a couple of years now. I think the theme of the video is just to live life and have fun, to enjoy being young and appreciate it while you still can and that life is what you make it so make it enjoyable. I do not think that this music has any religious ties to it. I think that the music video was loosely inspired by The Beatles. One Direction do have similarities with The Beatles, and they embrace it. Even though I love the music video,  I dont think that the song lyrics really go with the music video. Theres not really a storyline behind it but I think the upbeat-ness of the song matches the tone of the music video. I love the song and the music video makes me even love it more. It also makes me love Harry, Niall, Louis, Zayn and Liam more. 

Media and Self Esteem

1.  Why do you think people are portrayed this way in the media?


I think people are portrayed this way in the media so that people will buy products. They want to make consumers think that if they buy and use this product, they will look like the models who use them too. Magazines tells us that if you look a certain way, that you can have it all, and that you can attain this certain look if you use what they are trying to sell you. 


2.  How are you affected by the images you see? 



I am saddened by how young people today are so engrossed and invested in wanting to look "beautiful" to fit in. What is the definition of beautiful? If media were not around to tell us what we think we should look like, would our perception of beauty be different? Media uses our insecurity in ourselves so they can make money and it angers me how easily people fall for it. We should love ourselves instead of constantly thriving to get that unattainable beauty that they portray in the media.

3.  What can be done to reduce the amount of young men and women that are 

     negatively affected by these images?

Companies should advertise their product on more realistic models instead of super skinny, long legged, tan models. They should encourage us to love who we are and appreciate what we have instead of what we aren't and what we do not have. All of us need to stop comparing ourselves and start accepting who we are. This is what god gave us and we should appreciate it.

4.  What would your reaction be to a magazine cover where the subject isn’t   

     all glammed up?  Is this a possible route that society should take?  Why or

     why not?

I would be thrilled if there was a magazine cover where the subject was all natural, without the make up and the photoshop. It would make a statement that beauty is not everything. Although I think that society should take this route, I find it unlikely that this will happen soon.  We live in a generation where the need to fit in is so essential to people and that we would buy anything to be part of the crowd, and companies know this, so they use it to their advantage.

                                            Taken from YouTube.

 

To Share or Not to Share??

I think that file sharing is completely fine. Some people consider file sharing as theft, but I disagree with them. Theft is when you take the product and original is gone. While file sharing is just copying the file. The original is still there. I do not think it is wrong and it does not harm anybody. I don't have a problem with file sharing unless someone is making a profit from it.

I would still hold the same opinion even if I produced my own music. Although I lose money, it is getting my music out there and that is what I would want. If someone really loved music, and making it, they shouldn't care about the money as long as their music is becoming more popular.

I think it is acceptable to download copyrighted material if it is only intended for personal use. As I said before, as long as someone is not making a profit from it, I think it is okay. 

                                               Taken from Google Images.

Career Mashing!

I looked through the website and I found that I am mostly and innovator. I am creative, imaginative and curious. I think I would enjoy being an App designer. I am passionate about mobile and I can take complicated concepts into simple practical apps. I am also very open to new ideas.

App designers are innovative and imaginative. They think of ideas that would improve or make the mobile experiance more enjoyable and easier. Good app designers have a sharp visual eye, they can take an idea and turn it into a lifelike 3D animation or cartoon character, using things like digital imaging tools. App designers make apps for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android etc.

If you are interested in being an app designer the courses you would take would be, interactive multimedia design or visual arts programs and such.

Kevin Systrom designs apps like Instagram. He made the app so the user would be able to understand how to work it within seconds. Kevin graduated from Stanford University in 2006. He had worked at Google for two years and some of the things he worked on was Gmail and Google Reader. He had always had a passion making communication more easy via social products.

                                                                 Image taken from Google Images.