There were four groups debated on four interesting topics during the roundtable discussion. Our group presented on the topic of brain scan and computational modelling, which will not be summarized here.
The first group debated on the topic of hybrid electrical vehicles (HEV), whether the use of HEV can help to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. The supporting parties argued that HEV is environmental friendly as it produces less hazardous emissions compared to petrol-powered vehicles. In term of its cost and practicality, the HEV has the potential of having cheaper price than the petrol-powered vehicles in a long term view because of the rising oil prices. Thus, HEV is affordable to the masses. The supporting parties also mentioned that HEV has a higher efficiency and higher aesthetic value than petrol-powered vehicles. However, the opponents rebutted these advantages mentioned. They doubted on the availability of today’s technology to provide infrastructure for such vehicles especially for developing countries. The opponents also doubted on the efficiency of the battery and charging system of the HEV, as they are not efficient as the petrol-powered vehicles and required charging station to recharge the battery.
The third group brought out the issue of the green chemistry in this contemporary era. The supporting parties believed that Singapore has the industrial capacity and technology capability to adopt green chemistry technologies and it should also initiate the green chemistry industry in this region. However, the opponents argued that Singapore is a small country and it will be a great challenge for her to be a pioneer of the green chemistry technology. Beside, Singapore is facing population shortage and economic crisis now, she will even need technical supports from overseas in order to success in green chemistry.
The last group of the roundtable discussion presented the topic of stem cell technology. The supporting sides suggested that the stem cell research must be continued and it in order to benefit mankind. For example, human organs could be cloned and used in transplants. However, the opponents argued that there are many ethical issues raised up from the stem cell research as it related to the wastage of embryos which is immoral.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Summary of Two Articles
Articles : A Computer That Can 'Read' Your Mind & Ethics And Mapping The Brain
In the first article, "A Computer That Can 'Read' Your Mind" retrived from internet, a research conducted by a computer scientist,Tom Mitchell ans a cognitive nueroscientist,Marchel Just has shown that we can improve our understanding of how the brain processes information and thoughts by computational modeling. Brain activity can be detected and located when a person thinks about specific word using the technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Furthermore,this technology can be used to develop a more sophisticated computational model that can predict the brain activation patterns associated with concrete nouns, or things that we experience though our senses.
This computational model provides insight into the nature of human thougth. For example this study can tell us how the brain can relate concrete noun to how we preceive and manipulate it. This research could lead to the use of brain scans to identify thoughts and could have applications in the study of mental disease. For instance, autism, disorders of thought such as paranoid schizophrenia, and semantic dementias such as Pick's disease.
In the second article, "Ethics And Mapping The Brain" by Marano,L., some of the ethical issues related to the brian mapping studies and technology have been brouhgt out. Significant correlations between lying and truth telling and the metabolic activity in the region was found using fMRI. This brain imaging technology has positive effects on society ( eg. it is useflu in criminal investigation), but the problem is that who and why they will be tested with this technology?
Can the results of this technology be used as evidentce in court? If there is a brain picture data bases, who would run it and how to ensure privacy? How the brain imaging results will be used? Should it be tested in children? There are a series of ecthic issues arise from the research on this technology, thus standards and regulations should be set up to prevent misuse of it.
With the brain imaging technology, human's thought or behaviour might be easily predicted or detected, this somehow has positive effects on our society. For example it can be used in screening for potential spies,terrorist, or other security risks and in medical aspact, it has application to the study of mental diseases and the technology, however, it may be misused and result in the invasion of privacy and ecthic problems. For instance, this tecnology may be used as a tool to discriminate an employee based on his/her skills(eg. a hypothetical airline pilot is fired by the airline because the brain imaging result shows her familiarity wit assault rifles).
Other than this, parents may try to match their children's brain scan to those famous scientists, musicians and authors to determine what kind of training and exposure their children will receive. this might end up narrow down and exposure a child wll get and result in over expectation of the child scheivement in the field. difeerent individual have different traits and personality, and they could make unique contribution to the field that is not anticipated. in extreme cases, depence of such technology as guidance to determine a child's education and training might stunt the growth of various field.
Vocaburary:
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): is a type of specialized MRI scan. It measures the haemodynamic response related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals.
Schizophrenia: is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality
Semantic dementia: is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of semantic memory in both the verbal and non-verbal domains.
Brain mapping: is a set of neuroscience techniques predicated on the mapping of (biological) quantities or properties onto spatial representations of the (human or non-human) brain resulting in maps.
Mental disorder: is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture.
Sources:
National Science Foundation. (2008, May 30). A computer that can 'read' your mind. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from http:/www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111641&org=olpa&from=news
Marano, L. (2003, June 3). Ethics and mapping the brain(An abridged version of the original in The Washington Times). Retrieved March 1, 2009, from the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics Web site: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/brain_mapping_ethics.htm
In the first article, "A Computer That Can 'Read' Your Mind" retrived from internet, a research conducted by a computer scientist,Tom Mitchell ans a cognitive nueroscientist,Marchel Just has shown that we can improve our understanding of how the brain processes information and thoughts by computational modeling. Brain activity can be detected and located when a person thinks about specific word using the technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Furthermore,this technology can be used to develop a more sophisticated computational model that can predict the brain activation patterns associated with concrete nouns, or things that we experience though our senses.
This computational model provides insight into the nature of human thougth. For example this study can tell us how the brain can relate concrete noun to how we preceive and manipulate it. This research could lead to the use of brain scans to identify thoughts and could have applications in the study of mental disease. For instance, autism, disorders of thought such as paranoid schizophrenia, and semantic dementias such as Pick's disease.
In the second article, "Ethics And Mapping The Brain" by Marano,L., some of the ethical issues related to the brian mapping studies and technology have been brouhgt out. Significant correlations between lying and truth telling and the metabolic activity in the region was found using fMRI. This brain imaging technology has positive effects on society ( eg. it is useflu in criminal investigation), but the problem is that who and why they will be tested with this technology?
Can the results of this technology be used as evidentce in court? If there is a brain picture data bases, who would run it and how to ensure privacy? How the brain imaging results will be used? Should it be tested in children? There are a series of ecthic issues arise from the research on this technology, thus standards and regulations should be set up to prevent misuse of it.
With the brain imaging technology, human's thought or behaviour might be easily predicted or detected, this somehow has positive effects on our society. For example it can be used in screening for potential spies,terrorist, or other security risks and in medical aspact, it has application to the study of mental diseases and the technology, however, it may be misused and result in the invasion of privacy and ecthic problems. For instance, this tecnology may be used as a tool to discriminate an employee based on his/her skills(eg. a hypothetical airline pilot is fired by the airline because the brain imaging result shows her familiarity wit assault rifles).
Other than this, parents may try to match their children's brain scan to those famous scientists, musicians and authors to determine what kind of training and exposure their children will receive. this might end up narrow down and exposure a child wll get and result in over expectation of the child scheivement in the field. difeerent individual have different traits and personality, and they could make unique contribution to the field that is not anticipated. in extreme cases, depence of such technology as guidance to determine a child's education and training might stunt the growth of various field.
Vocaburary:
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): is a type of specialized MRI scan. It measures the haemodynamic response related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals.
Schizophrenia: is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality
Semantic dementia: is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of semantic memory in both the verbal and non-verbal domains.
Brain mapping: is a set of neuroscience techniques predicated on the mapping of (biological) quantities or properties onto spatial representations of the (human or non-human) brain resulting in maps.
Mental disorder: is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture.
Sources:
National Science Foundation. (2008, May 30). A computer that can 'read' your mind. Retrieved March 1, 2009, from http:/www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111641&org=olpa&from=news
Marano, L. (2003, June 3). Ethics and mapping the brain(An abridged version of the original in The Washington Times). Retrieved March 1, 2009, from the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics Web site: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/brain_mapping_ethics.htm
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