Humans are the dominators of the world, and we did not achieve it by chance or luck. We have qualities no other animals have, and these qualities place us on top of other organisms. Of course, interllect plays a very important part in this, but we could not have done it with brains alone. The most determining factor is that we know how to accomplish things as a team, and care for each other and do good to each other. But why do we?
According to the Hamilton's Rule, altruism evolves when the relatedness between individuals multiplyed by the benefit that a recipent obtained is greater than the cost of an act of goodness to that recipent. Interestingly enough, this is almost always the case. The cost of an act of goodness normally is much lesser than the good it can do to others. For example, a piece of bread may mean nothing to you, but if you give it to a beggar it can help him a lot. Thus, considering that the Hamilton's Rule is true, humans will always help each other.
However, the Hamilton's Rule does not explain all altruism. Another big chunk of goodness falls under the category of reciprocity. If I do good to you, you will do good back to me. This forms a cycle of goodness whereby people helps one another and one another helps people. One will like to help people thinking that they will help them when they are in need of it.
Thus, humans have many reasons to do good to each other, regardless of the cost or the consequenses.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Commentary that is graded
Imagine one day you walked out of your house, ready to welcome a fantastic day ahead, only to be scared the wits out of you by seeing multiple copies of yourself all over the place, greeting each other with the same name. To scientists seeking new technology or power-hungry people seeking strength, cloning may be just seem perfect and be exactly the answer to their problems. It is true cloning may be beneficial to mankind, but cloning is never accepted, or the least so by me. This is because it may lead to disastrous results like the rise of body part merchants and women being subjected to severe dangers. However, cloning is a double edged sword, and definitely can do good to society when correctly applied. For example, it can treat a spectrum of diseases.
The acceptance of cloning can easily lead to ‘smart’ people making loads of money through it. Body part merchants would arise and earn money through an unethical and considered by me an evil way. They would make clones of either themselves or other people, and raise them simply for one purpose, to sell their body parts away to people in need of it. For example, a patient is suffering from kidney failure and is desperately in need of a kidney, but no one is willing to donate to him. Now, the body part merchant can sell him kidneys from his clones. This is definitely immoral. For example, Mark Schofield, who is in need of a kidney, did not receive any transplantation after waiting for four years. Hence, he traveled to Philippines, attempting to buy one for £400,000. Imagine if body part merchants were willing to sell one to him for a cheaper price, and many body part merchants were competing with each other for customers. This will spark a dirty market in the dealing of body parts. I, and surely everyone, oppose to this.
Also, if cloning is accepted, women will be in great danger. One most crucial ingredient for a successful clone is the egg cell from a woman’s’ ovaries. Thus, people who want to clone a massive number of people for various reasons will be in need of a constant supply of the egg cell. This leads to abduction of women, as people who want to practice cloning need their egg cell. Not only that, it may even result in modification of a women’s body parts against their will, or women being forced to take drugs or stimulators to enhance the speed they produce egg cells, as one per month is probably not enough for the criminal. All women produce around 200 egg cells through their lifetime. Thus, when they fail to produce any more egg cells, the criminal will dispose of them, and search for another victim. The introduction of cloning will put all females in danger, and this stirs up troubles and problems in society, which we definitely do not want.
However, cloning has its good side too. It may be the answer to many of the questions we could not solve. It can serve as a cure for a numerous number of diseases we could not cure before, such as cancer and spinal-cord injuries. This is called therapeutic cloning, whereby a patient’s somatic cells, or body cells, are combined with an egg cell that has its DNA removed. As a result the body cell’s DNA is reprogrammed back to an embryonic state, and cells identical to those of the patient, called stem cells, are produced. These unspecialized cells can develop into cells with specialized purposes as needed by the patient. Thus, cloning helps many patients to survive, rather than dying without any cure. This helps the society and brings the world’s technology to a higher level.
In conclusion, although cloning has its own benefits, it gives rise to many problems that are hard to solve, and the cons outweigh the pros. I will not like the day which cloning is accepted and welcomed into our society, and never will. When I see myself all over the place as I open my door, I hope I will be able to wake up soon and get over the nightmare that haunted me the previous night.
The acceptance of cloning can easily lead to ‘smart’ people making loads of money through it. Body part merchants would arise and earn money through an unethical and considered by me an evil way. They would make clones of either themselves or other people, and raise them simply for one purpose, to sell their body parts away to people in need of it. For example, a patient is suffering from kidney failure and is desperately in need of a kidney, but no one is willing to donate to him. Now, the body part merchant can sell him kidneys from his clones. This is definitely immoral. For example, Mark Schofield, who is in need of a kidney, did not receive any transplantation after waiting for four years. Hence, he traveled to Philippines, attempting to buy one for £400,000. Imagine if body part merchants were willing to sell one to him for a cheaper price, and many body part merchants were competing with each other for customers. This will spark a dirty market in the dealing of body parts. I, and surely everyone, oppose to this.
Also, if cloning is accepted, women will be in great danger. One most crucial ingredient for a successful clone is the egg cell from a woman’s’ ovaries. Thus, people who want to clone a massive number of people for various reasons will be in need of a constant supply of the egg cell. This leads to abduction of women, as people who want to practice cloning need their egg cell. Not only that, it may even result in modification of a women’s body parts against their will, or women being forced to take drugs or stimulators to enhance the speed they produce egg cells, as one per month is probably not enough for the criminal. All women produce around 200 egg cells through their lifetime. Thus, when they fail to produce any more egg cells, the criminal will dispose of them, and search for another victim. The introduction of cloning will put all females in danger, and this stirs up troubles and problems in society, which we definitely do not want.
However, cloning has its good side too. It may be the answer to many of the questions we could not solve. It can serve as a cure for a numerous number of diseases we could not cure before, such as cancer and spinal-cord injuries. This is called therapeutic cloning, whereby a patient’s somatic cells, or body cells, are combined with an egg cell that has its DNA removed. As a result the body cell’s DNA is reprogrammed back to an embryonic state, and cells identical to those of the patient, called stem cells, are produced. These unspecialized cells can develop into cells with specialized purposes as needed by the patient. Thus, cloning helps many patients to survive, rather than dying without any cure. This helps the society and brings the world’s technology to a higher level.
In conclusion, although cloning has its own benefits, it gives rise to many problems that are hard to solve, and the cons outweigh the pros. I will not like the day which cloning is accepted and welcomed into our society, and never will. When I see myself all over the place as I open my door, I hope I will be able to wake up soon and get over the nightmare that haunted me the previous night.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Interesting Introduction
The Singapore Tourism Board spent 40million worth of Singapore dollars, just to give Orchard Road a 'plastic surgery'. Orchard Road has long since been one of Singapore's tourist attractions, being known as a shopping paradise. However, after comments of 40million having a lot of zeros and many complaints from local citizens, I believe that the 40million dollars is not well spent at all. The STB's efforts to decorate up Orchard Road are in vain. 40million is a large sum of money, and it can go to better use to the Old Folks Home, the Child Care Centers or 80million roti-pratas. Thats enough to feed all the people in Singapore who cannot afford a meal for say, few months at least. People think the amount spent on this project is around one million, rather than 40 times of what they thought. This shows how inefficent the STB spend the money, not to mention in the times of the global economic recession.
Plastic Surgery for Orchard Road
The Singapore Tourism Board spent 40million worth of Singapore dollars, just to give Orchard Road a 'plastic surgery'. Orchard Road has long since been one of Singapore's tourist attractions, being known as a shopping paradise. However, after comments of 40million having a lot of zeros and many complaints from local citizens, I believe that the 40million dollars is not well spent at all. The STB's efforts to decorate up Orchard Road are in vain. 40million is a large sum of money, and it can go to better use to the Old Folks Home, the Child Care Centers or 80million roti-pratas. Thats enough to feed all the people in Singapore who cannot afford a meal for say, few months at least. People think the amount spent on this project is around one million, rather than 40 times of what they thought. This shows how inefficent the STB spend the money, not to mention in the times of the global economic recession.
Interviews reveal that most people does not notice the change in Orchard Road, and some merely see one or two of what has changed. The government renewed all the lamps along Orchard Road. A student mentioned one would not take any notice to a street lamp, unless they are malfunctioning, and that the old ones were working fine. The STB put up glass panels all along Orchard Road, featuring its culture and history. However, they were remarked to be 'cheap-looking' and 'unsightly'. People might crash into them and not only breaking the glass panels, it will cause injury. The STB defends by stating that the glass will not break, but simply crack. Although this removes the chance of being injured, we cannot allow a broken glass panel to stand in the middle of Orchard Road, which is ugly and gives Singapore a bad image. So, the glass panels will have to be replaced, which takes both time and money again. Judging by the fact that glass is very brittle, which easily breaks, this is very inpractical, unless the STB is ready to make a trip down Orchard Road every few days.
Not only that, the flower totems put up by the STB have been badly viewed upon too. Firstly, according to a ice-cream vender, people are unable to see him from across the road, as their view is blocked by the flower totem, unlike previous times, when his business is not affected by some big flower towers. Also, they were described as being small as compared to Orchard Road. One will not notice them unless they were looking out for them. They feature like dirt on one's shoe, which is hard to notice unless one looks out for it. Thus, as seen from the examples, the many changes the STB brought out were inpractical and unmeaningful.
However, this also has a bright side. Tourists who went to Orchard Road now will not be put off by many of previous factors, as they were removed. One of them is the crowd of people and traffic jam. Now, this problem is effectively resolved by the widened roads, which is one change that people liked. Also, the interesting theme of nature may help attract tourists, and the large number of shopping centers will most definately give the tourists a special feeling about Singapore when they return. A couple of tourists commented that they did not think that Orchard Road had a lot of shops when they went to Orchard Road, and it did not meet their expectations. Now, with the change, they surely will look at Singapore in a different way.
However, although there are pros about the Orchard Road facelift, the cons far outweigh the pros. The facelift gave rise to many negative effects, and caused many people to be unhappy. Also, in the troubled times of unemployment and economic recession, it is unwise to spend so much money on such luxurious projects. Thus, I conclude that the STB failed to spend the money effectively.
Interviews reveal that most people does not notice the change in Orchard Road, and some merely see one or two of what has changed. The government renewed all the lamps along Orchard Road. A student mentioned one would not take any notice to a street lamp, unless they are malfunctioning, and that the old ones were working fine. The STB put up glass panels all along Orchard Road, featuring its culture and history. However, they were remarked to be 'cheap-looking' and 'unsightly'. People might crash into them and not only breaking the glass panels, it will cause injury. The STB defends by stating that the glass will not break, but simply crack. Although this removes the chance of being injured, we cannot allow a broken glass panel to stand in the middle of Orchard Road, which is ugly and gives Singapore a bad image. So, the glass panels will have to be replaced, which takes both time and money again. Judging by the fact that glass is very brittle, which easily breaks, this is very inpractical, unless the STB is ready to make a trip down Orchard Road every few days.
Not only that, the flower totems put up by the STB have been badly viewed upon too. Firstly, according to a ice-cream vender, people are unable to see him from across the road, as their view is blocked by the flower totem, unlike previous times, when his business is not affected by some big flower towers. Also, they were described as being small as compared to Orchard Road. One will not notice them unless they were looking out for them. They feature like dirt on one's shoe, which is hard to notice unless one looks out for it. Thus, as seen from the examples, the many changes the STB brought out were inpractical and unmeaningful.
However, this also has a bright side. Tourists who went to Orchard Road now will not be put off by many of previous factors, as they were removed. One of them is the crowd of people and traffic jam. Now, this problem is effectively resolved by the widened roads, which is one change that people liked. Also, the interesting theme of nature may help attract tourists, and the large number of shopping centers will most definately give the tourists a special feeling about Singapore when they return. A couple of tourists commented that they did not think that Orchard Road had a lot of shops when they went to Orchard Road, and it did not meet their expectations. Now, with the change, they surely will look at Singapore in a different way.
However, although there are pros about the Orchard Road facelift, the cons far outweigh the pros. The facelift gave rise to many negative effects, and caused many people to be unhappy. Also, in the troubled times of unemployment and economic recession, it is unwise to spend so much money on such luxurious projects. Thus, I conclude that the STB failed to spend the money effectively.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
CCT--Stay or Scrape
CCTs should most definately be scraped. They are very inaccurate gauges of the standard of a pupil.
CCTs do not speak for the level of a student at all. There are many factors affecting the results of the CCTs. For one, a student can perform very well on every normal day, but freak out on the day of the CCT, and thus resulting in very bad results. Also, one can perform badly, but still get top grades for the CCT if he 'mug' for the test the day before. Not only that, health factors play a important part too. If one is down with a mild fever that is not enough to earn him a Medical Certificate, he will have to take the test with it, which definately foils his results. CCTs are designed to tell you the level you are at, but seeing that it is so inaccurate, it is not useful at all. Thus, CCTs should be scraped.
CCTs do not speak for the level of a student at all. There are many factors affecting the results of the CCTs. For one, a student can perform very well on every normal day, but freak out on the day of the CCT, and thus resulting in very bad results. Also, one can perform badly, but still get top grades for the CCT if he 'mug' for the test the day before. Not only that, health factors play a important part too. If one is down with a mild fever that is not enough to earn him a Medical Certificate, he will have to take the test with it, which definately foils his results. CCTs are designed to tell you the level you are at, but seeing that it is so inaccurate, it is not useful at all. Thus, CCTs should be scraped.
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