Genetic Greatness

The sciences behind genetic engineering can be exceedingly complex, but the benefits we can pull from studying our DNA are definitely worth the effort.  When we look at how evolution works, we see that a species can develop specific changes over several generations if the changes made are beneficial to the species, but if we were to find out how our own genome works we could supercharge our evolutionary speed, developing resistance or driving out genetic diseases.  Alternatively we could also focus on external forces, and while we would develop resistance to disease through years of exposure, we could combat entire strains with new medicine tailor made to fight them.  

Another use for gene manipulation is in food, and although we already do we could be expand on what we do in that field, and lower the potential negative consequences of manipulating our food on a genetic level.  We can create new vegetables able to survive in harsher climates, opening up possibilities for increased production or distribution of food around the world.  All of these things may happen, if given enough time for the natural processes to kick in, but if we can create all of these amazing things, why would we not try to do it as fast as possible?

How not to be ignorant about the world

The TED talk I choose to review was: “How not to be ignorant about the world”, and it explains just how to do that.  The talk was done by Swedish Global Health Professor Hans Rosling, and his son Ola Rosling, the head of Gapminder Foundation.  The talk opens with Hans giving a short test to the audience about various world health issues, such as how many people have died because of natural disasters or how many people live in poverty. The audience does generally poorly on the test, and he explains that it is because of 4 main factors: Environmental bias, outdated available information, Media bias, and our own intuition.  

 

After the test Hans passes the talk to Ola, who explains how we can change our intuition from a weakness into strength again by looking at common misconceptions and how people react to them and showing alternate ways to view them.  The conceptions looked at are: “things always get worse over time” and after looking at the data, to reevaluate it as, “things usually improve over time”; “there is a large discrepancy between rich and poor people, and that’s bad” and change it into “most people are actually somewhere in the middle”.  

 

All of these points are presented well, with bits of comedy strewn throughout, and are tied together nicely.  I think that many of these points are correct, and that ignorance in our society can easily be fixed by changing our own view points and learning to overcome what we were taught if it happens to be wrong.  The way that Hans and his son express their ideas turns the talk from a discussion of world statistics many people would dismiss as boring and give them a comedic twist to really engage the audience.  Overall, I enjoyed Hans and Ola as speakers, and would want to watch any more TED talks they may do later.

 TED Talk: How not to be ignorant about the world