E-Post #5 - Roundtable discussion summaries

The roundtable discussion by other groups was on “ cloning”, “geo-engineering technology” and “genetic modified food” which is also commonly known as GM food.

In the discussion on geo-engineering, they discussed about the technology on carbon storage, carbon capture and possible technology such as releasing sulfur oxide into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight back to space. However, this point is being rebutted with being too costly and it is the social problem of using too much energy that need to be solved rather than a need for a better technology. In my opinion, as mentioned in previous related blogs, it is not such technology we should be spending our money to stop global warming so that we could use more energy with “ease”, but rather it is an individual needs and responsibility to play their own role in reducing the need of energy. These technologies only give excuses for us to “welcome” the use of more energy as it gave us a false sense of security that global warming is being controlled. Money should be spent on more useful and long-term research of more renewable energy such as solar and wind, and in my opinion these technologies should only be a short term solutions till the World gradually wake up.

In the discussion on cloning, a process in which certain items or organisms are duplicated genetically to return a exact genetic copy, the group had highlighted it advantages in the field on medicine where it could be used duplicate organs or tissues for transplantation. However, some believed this is the work of Mother Nature and this boundary should not be tempered with. In my opinion, I believed that this technology should be further explored and exploited on, as it would solve the problem on organ transplantation from the dead and the lack of critical organs for the ailing dead. However, there should be a limit and control on this technology for else we would really be stepping into the work of Mother Nature.

In the discussion on GM food, they raised several advantages it would bring to the economy and solve the issue on food shortages. However the problems it faced are the possible health effects such as gene transfer, allergies and even diseases. In my opinion, technology would get better with feedbacks and responses, and I believed these health effects in the early stage to introduction to genetic food are normal. With enough time, it would be eliminated away and I thought this would be a good technology in solving food shortages in the midst of crisis of facing the shortages of arable land use for cultivation of food.