DNA Sequencing at Birth

4. Should we sequence everybody’s DNA at birth and keep the information in a database? If so, who should have access to that information? Discuss some of the ethical implications that have arisen about how it could be used?


Yes, we should. We could find a similarity between people with the same disease and use this info to potentially find a cure. Scientists should have access to this so they can find cures for others and work to understand genes. There are many ethical implications that this science could raise. If everyone had their DNA mapped out, then their entire unique human code would be revealed for the world to see, and in the future, if the technology is present, it could create complicated issues. Copies could be made of people, and their diseases and unique problems would be open for manipulation. Although this science is promising in the fact that it could make the process of curing or recognizing diseases easier for the individual, the lack of privacy will result in disastorous results.

John Lucke, Campbell Housh, Kyle Wagener

http://www.bioethics.gov/background/humangenetic.html

My comments

Emily Rose

Anders

Tess

Hanna Stolt

Boone

Nels

David

Laura Woodwick

Will K

Kelly THotland

outside reading final post

In the last part of the climbers' journey, they experience confusion, chaos, and cold. Many of the climbers die or get frostbitten. This end is caused by many reasons. The leaders, Hall and Fischer, are competing to see who can more climbers to summit so their business can look better. They are blinded by this drive and don't pay attention to other factors like hypoxia which makes the climber delusional. This happens to many climbers, and results in mistaking full oxygen tanks as empty, a critical mistake that breaks the possible outcome of survival for a couple climbers. Krakauer makes these speculations himself, and I find the accusations against Hall and Fischer a bit harsh. I don't think what Krakauer thinks is true. The number one priority on a mountain guide's list is safety, even if it means the team must turn around and not summit. Even if they are 100 feet from the summit. The disaster on Everest affected Krakauer emotionally, and for this reason he is harsh and rash in his blames. He may never leave behind the tragedies that occured on the mountain. He wonders whether the glory of reaching the summit was worth what else happened on the mountain, and other questions like that, and is very depressed about what happened and his decisions, some within his control, some not within his control. I think that an experience like that should change someone forever. Krakauer was changed. It comes clear in other books of his I've read and interviews I've seen, in that he is more like an parent, more careful in his life and views than his younger days as a mountain and rock climber. 

Post 9

In Chapter 16 of Into Thin Air, Krakauer finds out that Andy Harris didn't make it back from the summit. The night before Krakauer pointed Harris in the right direction and saw him clamber into camp. After searching for him for a while, he realizes that Harris fell of a cliff. Krakauer is really, really upset by this. He is unbearably sad, and feels bad for telling people that Andy made it back safe the previous night. He had even talked to Andy's girlfriend on the phone and told her. Krakauer then tells of another story, that I notice he does a lot, as I have previously noted. Krakauer tells of his times after returning from Everest. He tries contacting everyone on the trip on what happened and how certain people met their end. Through one of these interviews Krakauer makes a horrifying discovery. He realizes he made another mistake concerning the disapearence of Harris. He finds out that the person he directed back to camp wasn't Harris, it was Martin Adams. Adams had gotten stuck in a crevasse, and pulled himself out. Krakauer was sitting at the top and pointed him in the right direction, Krakauer thinking it was Harris and Adams not knowing who it was. Krakauer got his conclustion of Harris falling off the cliff by the footprints by the crevasse. He is horrified by his second mistake and wants to find out what really happened to Harris. The chapter really builds up suspense, and is the first really gripping part. It makes me really want to read on and not put the book down, the first time this has happened in the book. Its starting to get good. 

Post 8

In Chapter 15 of Into Thin Air, all the climbers have reached the summit. They are all spread out from one another, and don't know where each other are. Krakauer had to do much research to find out exactly what happened at these points in time because he was far away from the summit by the time his other group members reached the summit. The whole mountain was in chaos was because a big storm had started up while everyone was summiting. No one noticed the storm brewing. Because the group wasn't together with Rob Hall, the leader, they didn't notice it. THe leader would've gotten them off the mountain if he was with them. It is one of the most important things to do when climbing a mountain like everest is to pay attention to the weather. The weather can change very rapidly, and if you don't notice it you can die. Unfortunatly, not all the group members made it back to camp from the summit. The Japanese woman, Yasuko Namba died. The group members where walking all around the camp, within 1000 feet of it, for hours before finding it. The wind was blowing at hurricane speeds, and it blew a climber off the mountain. I think this chapter is Krakauer's way of telling us how big of a factor the weather is, an how alert and focused you have to be when you are there. You have to respect the mountain and how insignificant you are to it. 

Q2 Post 7

In chapters 13 and 14, the team does their final section of the journey to the top of the mountain. A lot of the team members are feeling sick from lack of oxygen and from the high altitude. They enter one of the deadliest parts of the climb, and area called the Death Zone. It's almost the last push before the summit, and normally people's oxygen runs out if they don't do it quickly. The climber has to be focused on that part. Several of the team members decide to turn around at this point because they don't have enough oxygen. They have to make the decision themselves if they are well enough to summit. Often a climber can be blinded by the fact that they are so close to the top, they ignore their body and go anyway. These decisions have led to death on Everest before. Later, Krakauer reaches the summit, but turns back right away. When Krakauer returns back down the mountain, he comes across a friend at the top of the traffic-jammed Hillary Step. He has his friend turn down the oxygen flow on his tank so he saves more. His friend accidentally opens the tank more so Krakauer gets too much oxygen and is wasting it. I think that in situations like that, when everyone is a little delusional I would've been more careful and protective of my oxygen supply than Krakauer. In these chapters, Krakauer indirectly explains to us how vital oxygen is. Most people don't even think about it or even notice it. On the mountain, it is the most important factor in determining the climber's survival. 

Q2 Post 6

In chapter 11 of Into Thin Air, the group does thier final attempt at reaching the top of Everest. On their way up they pass a climber from Sweden who is decending the mountain. The climber, Goran Kropp, almost summited, but decided he was too tired and it was likly he could've died if he tried. Kropp came within a couple hundred feet of the top when he decided to turn around. He could even see the top and made that decision. I believe the type of people who can make that type of decision are hard to come by these days. Most people would've thrown caution to the wind and gone for summit anyway. For most people it's too hard to give up a chance like that one. They wouldn't care about the consequences and go for it anyway. I think this is especially true in America. Americans don't seem to be very rational in realtion to the rest of the world. This is true because of how fortunate most Americans are, relative to the world. Life here is always easier, and safer, and a very stable and supportive government that makes many Americans feel secure. I hope that Americans can stop thinking and living this way, but still have the great quality of living that America provides.