TECHNOLOGY ESSAY OPTION 1 BIONIC BODY PARTS OPTION

TECHNOLOGY ESSAY

OPTION 1: BIONIC BODY PARTS .

OPTION 2: CLONING (ANIMALS OR HUMAN)

OPTION 3: GENETIC ENGINEERING OR TAMPERING One major application of genetic engineering techniques is in the realm of food production. With the world population expanding and synthetic pesticides decreasing in effectiveness, novel solutions are increasingly in demand. Genetically modified foods are one such solution. Genetically modified foods can: increase plants' resistance to pesticides and herbicides (decreasing the need for pollutant chemicals); allow plants to manufacture their own pesticides to ward off insects; increase the yields of many staple crops (warding off starvation in many areas of the world); and allow plants to grow under adverse weather conditions or in poor soil. Another application of genetic engineering techniques is in the area of gene therapy, or treatment of genetic diseases through genetic modifications. Proponents argue that gene therapy is the most reasonable and cost-effective way to treat most genetic diseases, because the ideal treatment would only need to be administered once - after that, the modification would be incorporated into the person's genome. Gene therapy techniques promise to end or at least curb a vast amount of human suffering due to painful, debilitating, and sometimes fatal genetic diseases. However, this topic becomes dangerous when you combine modification and human genes, as seen in the 1997 film Gattaca.

OPTION 4: GOVERNMENT MONITORING OR “BIG BROTHER”

OPTION 5: TOO MUCH TECHNOLOGY

DIRECTIONS Now that you have the information on the topics, choose where you stand on each issue Just like the anticipation guide for Frankenstein, there will be a group discussion for each topic. Pay attention: not only might you get additional ideas for your essay, but you could also find your counter-argument!

REFERENCES Bionic Body Parts Cloning Genetic Engineering Government Monitoring