Human Genome

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an intensive study and research to order all the genes of the human DNA. This is useful to determine how humans are built and what makes us tick (gov). The project was completed in April 2003. It was originally thought that there were about 20,500 human genes. In 2001, a journal ranged from 50,000 to 140,000 genes. No wonder it took from 1990 and international contribution to complete such a massive feat. More projects have been taken to further understand the genome and its comparison to other known genomes. Day by day, we have a better understanding of who we are, what we are made and how we became to be.

Source: https://www.genome.gov/12011238/an-overview-of-the-human-genome-project/

Accomplishments of Women and Technology

It is built into our culture to believe that men are better at math, science and technology, but in fact, women are, and they were even the first ones to help develop computer programming, the structure of DNA and encouraged other women to join the STEM program. (gov) A great example is Grace Hopper who helped developed computer science and a programming language called COBOL that uses English rather than mathematical expressions. While Hopper may have impacted the computer age in the 20^th century, Ada Lovelace is considered the “founder of scientific computing and first computer programmer” even though her ideas for the machine were never built in her time, her ideas would be later used to encourage modern programming and computers. (gov) Another example is Katherine Johnson, who contributed in the development of the aeronautics and space programs. She was a key role in calculating the trajectory for the first man in space and the Apollo 11 moon mission (gov). There are so many women who have impacted the world of science and technology, it is too hard to list them all, but know that women are just as successful, if not better, then what is believed in modern culture.

Source: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/node/311241

Women and the Eugenic Sterilization Program

In the critically racist, unethical world and country we live in, there is no surprise of the amount of idiocentric beliefs and hatred for those that are not the “supreme race or sex”. In the 20^th century, this was no exception for the unfortunate women who were put in “federally-funded sterilization programs” used to limit the amount of “undesirable” populations (pbs). This included “immigrants, people of color, poor people, unmarried mothers, the disabled, the mentally ill” (pbs). This means that this “treatment” was not only on women, but men and children as well. While some people have seen this as a means of strengthening the human population, others have seen it as a “Hilter” ideology. That is why laws have been passed prohibiting this unlawful method. In 2015, an act was passed to assist those who were forced to the sterilization programs. (pbs)

              

Source: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/unwanted-sterilization-and-eugenics-programs-in-the-united-states/

Human Genome Project

The Human Genome project is one of the most ambitious and challenging quests ever undertaken by science. Its goal is to completely map and sequence all of the genetic material that makes us human. When it is done, we will have a new and profoundly powerful tool to help us to unravel the mysteries of how the human body grows and functions. The cells in our bodies each contain a master program which controls how and when they develop and how they should function. This information is organized in units called genes, which are arrayed one after the other along long polymers called chromosomes. I hope that the Genome Project can accomplish one of its goals, and that is to try to cure and find a treatment for all human diseases. I support the project.

The Thinning: Elimination of the Weakest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD3M5JN1uhg

As I was watching TV this weekend, this trailer came on. It describes a society where people are required to take a standardized test on a tablet device in order to survive. It reminded me of our class because of the various conversations we have had regarding technology and it's ability to eliminate us. The movie describes how the weakest people will be destroyed in order to create a super society, almost like the holocaust. If you have time, take a watch of the trailer. It was extremely interesting.

Forgotten Female Programmers

Ada Lovelace was the world's first computer programmer. She noted that, "a computer can do anything that can be noted logically". Lovelace was pushed into learning mathematics because her mother did not want her to become a romantic poet like her father was. Little did Ada know she would soon find her love for numbers and codes. Women like her essentially revolutionized the modern world to what it is today. We often forget that women were involved with science and mathematics, but they helped change the world too. 

The Human Genome Project- The Truth Revealed

In this video The Human Genome Project is explained. In addition to that, he also addresses the "3 sad surprises"about DNA that were discovered during this experiment: the sequencing of our genome has not contributed to finding the cure to cancer, the human genome has a lot fewer genes that actually code for proteins and perform things than expected, and finally these genes only make up 2% of our entire genome.

23andMe: Human Genetics

When thinking about human genetics, I cannot help but talk about the things available to retrace our genetics makeups. My father over winter break submitted a swab of his spit to 23andMe to see if our family was predisposed to any diseases that we should be aware of. The results that we received were shocking. We discovered that he was a carrier of a blood mutation that my brothers and I were all tested for and also have. I was on medication that would cause me to have a blood clot, so thank God we did the 23andMe and found out before something horrible happened. I think it is amazing how with a swab of spit we can trace our entire genetic makeup. In the top right corner is an example of some of the things 23andMe test for such as certain responses to drugs and inherited traits. The fact that we have the technology to analyze the entire genetic makeup of human beings is amazing. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for technology and telling us about our past.

The women behind the screens

https://www.sfu.ca/wwest/WWEST_blog/meet-the-women-of-silicon-valley.html

Growing up, I always thought technology was a field for only men to pursue. In middle school and high school, I only learned about scientists like Einstein, Darwin and Newton, which led me to assume that only men worked in technology. It was only until the movie "Hidden Figures" came out this year did I learn that women played a significant, if not larger role in technology than men did. The article I attached talks about the blog that was started by Lea Coligado called the "Women of Silicon Valley." Lea got this idea from the Instagram account "The Humans of New York," which documents pictures of people in New York City with captions about what they are doing or what they would like to say to the world. Lea interviews women that work for start up companies in the San Fransisco Bay Area, or large companies like Google and Facebook. One of her stories features a young woman named Adriana Gascoigne. Adriana has worked for over twenty start-ups and started a non-profit organization called "Girls in Tech." Girls in Tech strives to promote empowerment, engagement, and education for women in the technology industry. Adriana began it in San Fransisco, however Girls in Tech now has chapters in Australia and the Middle East. Girls in Tech have events such as hackathons where they sit in rooms together and try to hack servers and do not have to feel pressured by a male figure to finish their job on time. It gives women time to do the thing they love surrounded by other women. Women of Silicon Valley features many other impressive stories like Adriana's. The article broke the image that I had that only men could succeed in technology and was very empowering.

Human genetics

The study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings is known as human genetics. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields. The common factor of the qualities of most human-inherited traits are genes. The study of human genetics is useful because it can answer questions about human nature, understand the diseases and development of effective disease treatment, and understand genetics of human life.

Women, science, technology

In today's era women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law, and business, however, there are so few women scientists and engineers. Accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers-including stereotypes, gender bias, and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities- continue to block women's progress in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). To increase the number of women scientists and engineers, it is recommended to get girls interested in science and engineering by spreading the word about girls' and women's achievements in math and science, help girls recognize their career-relevant skills, and encourage high school girls to take math and science classes when available.

Women and Eugenics

The intimate connection between women and eugenics begins with Victoria Woodhull. Being the first ever women to run for president in 1872, she was a leader of the woman's suffrage movement, the first female stockbroker and the first person to publish the Communist Manifesto in English in her paper Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly. The paper was famous for promoting sort skirts and licensed prostitution along with other feminist ideas and included writings regularly from other prominent feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was perhaps the most influential of them all. The idea that marriage should be prevented by the government was pushed regularly by Woodhull. The term "eugenics" was defined by Charles Darwin's cousin, Francis Darwin. It basically meant controlling human reproduction using the institutions of the state and the scientific establishment to prevent the lower class from breeding and to favor the breeding of the upper class or what they deemed genetically fit.

Designer Babies and Eugenics: are we playing God too much?

Over the past few years, the concept of designer babies is becoming an up and coming theme with celebrities and millionaires who have the money to take advantage of this type of medical technology. A designer baby is just like any other baby in the womb, except its genes are manipulated to change simple things such as hair color or eye color, but could advance to things such as preventing autism, cancer and have a certain IQ. Designer babies are very controversial because Catholics believe God is supposed to control what your baby looks like or if it has any deformities. I feel as though if I knew my child was going to have a disease or some sort of genetic issue that would prevent them from living a normal and happy life, I would take advantage of using the designer baby method. A couple who was hated in the media for it was John Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen. They did something as simple as pick the gender of their baby. Chrissy was having issues with conceiving and was put on IVF to increase her chances of getting pregnant. As she was put through several rounds of IVF, they offered her the opportunity to pick the gender of the baby. If I was Chrissy Teigen and I had the option to pick my babies gender, I would absolutely take advantage of that, especially under the stress of not being able to conceive to begin with. A large issue in today's society is that more people are realizing that religion is not as large as a savior as technology is, and there is a divide between people who are still very religious and people who are not at all. The Catholic community jumps on every opportunity to criticize a prominent figure for doing something slightly controversial and I just feel it is wrong. If everyone would mind their own business, we would be a much happier united society.

Mostly Human: I Love You, Bot

http://money.cnn.com/mostly-human/i-love-you-bot/

I got a CNN notification on Saturday about this article and it made me think of our discussions in class about Tay the chatbot and artificial intelligence. A woman named Lilly that lives in France, discovered at a young age that she did not connect with humans. She decided to start identifying herself as robosexual. Lilly claims that she would rather be hurt by a coding error, or glitch rather then being lied to or cheated on by a human. As if this could not get any more bizarre, there is a factory is San Diego called "Real Dolls" where customers can design their own boyfriend or girlfriend. The owner of this factory, Matt McMullen, claims that human connection is not required for happiness, and that these dolls provide company for people who purchase them. McMullen also says how his A.I dolls are different than SIRI and the Amazon Echo's Alexa because they do not care when your birthday is or why you may be sad that day. However, McMullen's dolls have human emotions and behaviors so they will always be responsive no matter what mental state their owner is in. Along with the factory, McMullen designed an app called "Harmony" which lets users design their own girlfriend and communicate with them. McMullen states that it is only a matter of time until humans and robots coexist. However, are we ready for that?

The Human Genome Project

I am a biology major, so this topic really interests me. The human genome project is a research project to map the entire human genome and the 25,000+ genes that make up our gene pool. It launched in 1990 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to better understand all aspects related to human genetic material, or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This project was completed in 2003, and all of the project's goals were met:

 identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA,  

determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,  

store this information in databases,  

improve tools for data analysis,  

transfer related technologies to the private sector, and  

address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. 

Although there are some controversial, ethical disputes about this project, I believe that the completion of this project was a major stride in the science world; 

Women in science and technology

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/gone-in-2016-10-notable-women-in-science-and-technology/

I found this article very interesting because the very first person who is mentioned is Ann Caracristi, who was a code breaker like Alan Turing.  While Alan Turing was had the Turing Test named after him, Ann Caracristi has little to no recognition for the accomplishments which she provided during WWII.

Feminism and eugenics: Engineering reproductive totalitarianism

https://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/feminism-and-eugenics-engineering-reproductive-totalitarianism/

I found this article and was wondering what other people thought of it.  I found the article interesting and amusing.

I am very confused however if this is from a source which is advocating for women's rights, or rights of everyone or if the entire idea of this company is only to make a mockery of feminists in general.

Ex Machina- Artificial Intelligence

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/05/15/real-world-tech-anxieties-behind-ex-machina-327755.html

http://www.livescience.com/49009-future-of-artificial-intelligence.html

“If you’ve created a conscious machine, it’s not the history of man,” Caleb, a young programmer played by Domhnall Gleeson, tells his genius boss Nathan in Ex Machina, the dazzling new AI flick from writer/director Alex Garland. “That’s the history of gods. The uprising of artificial intelligence plays a big role in the movie Ex Machina, and is also playing a big role in today's society.

The idea of artificial intelligence is something that is improving each and every day in today's society. We have it all around us, whether it is our phones, or even a device that you are able to communicate with. Some people argue that AI will eventually wipe out the human race; it is currently a very active area of research for many companies. For example, 
Google. From smartphone assistants to driverless cars, the Bay Area-based tech giant is gearing up to be a major player in the future of artificial intelligence.

What Is More Important: Our Privacy or National Security?

https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/what-is-more-important-our-privacy-or-national-security/comment-page-17/?_r=0

People are so concerned that their privacy is being violated that they don't consider the fact that sometimes that is what is needed to happen in order to protect the entire American public. This article discusses the government's motives behind the decreased privacy of every citizen, regarding the surveillance of each person's phone records, texts, and even search inputs on the Internet. 

They're watching you

I found this cartoon and I found it very comical. It shows the NSA drilled holes into the O's in the two most popular search engines to show how much they are monitoring us. It applies to our discussion from previous classes that no matter what we do, the government knows.