Book Worm

Book Worm
So many books to read, so little time.

Books to read in 2018

Books to read in 2018
So many books to read, so little time.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Sorry, but your soul just died #EDCMOOC

"There is no longer any excuse for anyone to be depressed or unhappy; even "normally" happy people can make themselves happier without worries of addiction, hangovers, or long-term brain damage." - Francis Fukuyama

The way the future is envisioned is when technology would eventually develop drugs that will allow nobody to experience negative emotions. But.. but... as "heavenly" it may sound like, (and despite I hate the feelings of melancholy, depression or heartaches), it is during these dark stages of our lives that we grow and learn from our experiences. These are the emotions that makes us... human.

"...advances in stem cell research allow scientists to regenerate virtually any tissue in the body, such that life expectancies are pushed well above 100 years"

My mom used to work in a pharmaceutical company during those days where stem cells weren't so popular yet. It sounded like a wonderful invention. But fast forward to the future, it will probably make people immortal. Think, OVERPOPULATION. I remember I had a friend who would always gladly greet a birthday celebrant and then accompanied with "may you live a very very long life". At first it may sound like that my friend is being thoughtful, but in reality his greeting was more like a taunt. My friend would joke around that may the birthday celebrant live a long life even when everybody else he knows is already dead. When you come to think of it, living a very very long life isn't that amazing when all of your friends are dead and the remaining family members that you have are less than half your age. Mortality is what makes us human.

"the wealthy routinely screen embryos before implantation so as to optimise the kind of children they have. You can increasingly tell the social background of a young person by his or her looks and intelligence; if someone doesn't live up to social expectations, he tends to blame bad genetic choices by his parents rather than himself."


I had watched a video before where scientists can remove diseases or abnormalities of an unborn child, or even put traits such as blue eyes. It sounds like a cool idea... I've always also wanted to have fraternal twins (one boy and one girl) ... But but... manipulating fertilized ovaries doesn't guarantee normality does it? Unless science can make it perfect... but... being imperfect is what makes us human...


I DON'T WANT TO BE A ROBOT 




*EDCMOOC stands for E-learning & Digital Cultures Massive Open Online Course provided by Coursera



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