Recent Scientific and Technological Innovations Essay Example for Free

Recent Scientific and Technological Innovations Essay The quality of life is normally taken to mean the general well being of people and the environment in which they live in. it is undeniable that recent scientific and technological innovations have enhanced the quality of life for many. However, the developments of today that promise us a better quality of life are also the ones that can worsen the quality of life. Science and technology give their creators and inventors ever-greater supremacy and control, for good or otherwise, over the physical universe. Indeed, the possible dire consequences and impact of misused and misapplied innovations can affect the quality of life drastically. Technological innovations have resulted in an improved and well-established system of telecommunications and satellites. This leads to ease in access of communication system globally. International calls can now be made so readily that two people at separate ends of the world can now stay instantly in contact with a touch of the dial. But, with the onslaught of the worldwide web and wireless communication devices, technology has in fact, drawn people away from each other. The presence of electronic email and short-text messages, gave busy people of this high-tech society yet another excuse to dismiss the need for face-to-face meetings and interactions. Humans have become overly dependent upon such gadgets and devices to carry out the basic task such as to communicate. What will result from the above phenomenon is that the generations to come will be lacking in inter-personal and interactive skills. Medical scientific and technological innovations have been largely beneficial. Death rates, infant mortality rates as well as diseases of the past that used to lead to alarming numbers of deaths, have been eradicated greatly. Modern drugs and vaccines have eased much physically suffering. But, the discovery of Euthanasia and Genetic Engineering have sparked off a series of moral questioning concerning the supposed death with dignity as well as issues that include abortion as the latter opens up possibilities of misuse. It is true that abortion practices ena ble pregnant women who are at health risk to remove the baby in the course of pregnancy but many have taken advantage of this procedure to rid themselves of the product of irresponsible actions on their part. Also, Euthanasia, despite being said to be death in dignity, nevertheless, opposes many religious and conservative views. Advanced military technological innovations have provided a higher degree of security for citizens in countries. This does actually contribute to enhancing the quality of life as cyber warfare, biological warfare and nuclear warfare help to create a new form of defence mechanism to protect the people. Conversely, advance military technological innovations have also empowered modern armies a great level of destructive potential and selective aiming targets. This results in civilians and innocent people ending up as the greater victims in wars. In addition, the use of chemical and biological weapons has diffused effects that make the clear-cut drawing of battle lines more complex and difficult. Hence, instead of enhancing the quality of life, humans’ vulnerability increases and security decreases in times of war. Another political and legal aspect in which scientific and technological innovations have helped to improve the quality of life for humans is the availability of knowledge. Indeed, the access to information enhances democracy that provides citizens with a more liberal political system. However, it should be noted that technology, though allowing easy access to the supply of knowledge, actually devalues the worth of information and knowledge. Today, knowledge can easily turn obsolete as focus is placed on the survival of the most info and techno-savvy society. Also, what is accessible from the wide pool of resources on the worldwide web does not always provide the correct and morally upright information. For instance, the wide pool of pornography corrupts one’s mind and worsens the quality of life as it presents an improper, inaccurate and unrealistic view towards sex. Next, computers and high-tech machinery have aided in improving many economies, especially those of the developing countries. For example, South Korea went from being a developing country to becoming a newly industrialized country because they have become more capital-intensive and technologically oriented in their industries. Areas ranging from manufacturing processes to the service sector have been made easy by the use of both the computer and machinery. Nevertheless, such gadgets have become such an indispensable and essential tool in modern life that the need for labour-intensive employment has greatly declined. This puts lowly educated and lowly skilled workers out of jobs. Such an over reliance branches into almost every type of human activity and the importance of human resources will eventually be lost with time. How can quality of life be enhanced when the technology is deemed more valuable and useful than human resource? Another area to ponder about is the environmental asp ect of life. Pollution and deforestation have both worsened the quality of life in today’s society. Health problems have resulted from air, water, soil and hazardous waste pollution. Governments of less developed nations, in their eagerness to improve their economies by employing technology in their commerce, are willing to forsake the importance of the environment in maintaining the quality of life of their people. Poor air quality in twenty megacities in the world, with population of more than ten million results in an increase in lung, heart and brain cancer. This is the effect of traffic fumes; industrial processes, new sewage systems and even open refuse burning. Water quality is greatly diminished by the pollution caused by petrochemical complex, pesticide and factories. The issue of deforestation is also linked to the worsening of the quality of life as basic needs of recreation, culture and leisure are greatly affected. Thus, it is evident that though busy industries can be an indication of a healthy economy that can increase the monetary aspect of standard of living, actually denies humans their basic right to drink clean water and breathe clean, uncontaminated air. In conclusion, the issues of the quality of life that are affected by scientific and technological innovations are urgent and require much reconsideration. The nuclear power that promised virtually limitless, cheap and non-polluting energy for future generations proved otherwise in the disastrous accidents such as those that took place at Three Mile Island and Chernoblyl. Furthermore, the down sides to the supposed enhancement of the quality of life as depicted by the double-edged sword qualities of science and technology like those presented in this argument have clearly shown that recent scientific and technological innovations can increase the quality of life as well as degenerate it.

A Postmodern Take on a Hollywood Film Classic Essay -- Movies Papers

A Postmodern Take on a Hollywood Film Classic The jacket blurb on Robert Coover’s creative compilation A Night at the Movies reads: â€Å"From Hollywood B-movies to Hollywood classics, A Night at the Movies invents what ‘might have happened’ in these Saturday afternoon matinees. Mad scientists, vampires, cowboys, dance-men, Chaplin, and Bogart, all flit across Robert Coover’s riotously funny screen, doing things and uttering lines that are as shocking to them as they are funny to the reader. As Coover’s Program announces, you will get Coming Attractions, The Weekly Serial, Adventure, Comedy, Romance, and more, but turned upside-down and inside-out.† It is perhaps more appropriate to call Coover’s work a creative compilation as opposed to a novel or even a collection of short stories. A single theme of â€Å"what might have happened† runs throughout each of the inclusions, each inclusion being devoted to a particular Hollywood movie. Thus, the text as a whole is united b y means of this common thread, but the thread is thin and stretched tightly, resulting in each inclusion having the ability to stand alone as a complete and independent work, related to the others, yet individual. The complete collection may be examined as a work, or conversely, each individual â€Å"story† may be considered a finished work to be studied. Each chapter invents its own reality, a reality of the screen, of the movies, that is brought into closer contact by means of a literary text. The book as a whole, then, glorifies in the postmodern tradition multiple interpretations of reality. Movies themselves present alternative realities or interpretations of perceived realities, most often differing from our own individual constructions. Thus, by offering ... ...nto playful pornography, and in doing so has once again acted in the postmodern tradition. Transforming this film classic is in a way blasphemy. The film has been held in the highest esteem by movie critics for decades, and here Coover has deconstructed and destroyed it in a mere thirty-one pages. The manner in which he has done it is indeed witty, however, and certainly eclectic and new. Works Cited Barth, John. â€Å"The Literature of Replenishment,† from Atlantic Monthly 254: 1. January 1980. Coover, Robert. â€Å"You Must Remember This,† in A Night at the Movies. Normal: Dalkey Archive Press, 1997. 156-187 Epstein, Julius J., Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch. Casablanca. Original Screenplay. Warner Brothers Studio, 1942. Hoover, Jeff. â€Å"Towards a Description of Modernism and Postmodernism in Literature.† Cedar Rapids: Coe College, Sept. 21, 1999.

Service Alternatives

Keats, P. (2008). Time-Limited Service Alternatives: Using Therapeutic Enactment in Open Group Therapy. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 33, 297-316. The increasing numbers of students that require counseling and the growing severity of problems that are being faced by these students in the campuses have prompted counselors to study and apply alternative means of providing the students' counseling and therapy needs.The technique that was presented in the article is one which is considered an innovative counseling approach combining group therapy format and therapeutic enactment intervention techniques to address the needs of the clients. The approaches were based on different theoretical foundations of experts and were designed in a way that will be both effective and efficient. An open group therapy was opted because it facilitates cohesiveness as well provide a venue for greater interaction among clients. On the other hand, therapeutic enhancement is a group-based model t hat involves the client's re-enactment of experiences using actions.Clinical and ethical considerations were based on guidelines set by Association of Specialists in Group Work and the American and Canadian Counseling Association . The qualifications for being in the session would depend on making sure that the well-being of the client will not be jeopardized by a group setting. As the approach employs an open-group structure, it also requires a co-facilitation of the group. The group activities are divided into the warm-up section, the central activity, and a closing exercise.In addition, the concerns that may pose as challenges to the format were thoroughly discussed such as student reluctance, confidentiality, timing and training concerns. The qualitative evaluations at the end of the sessions provided positive results from clients who appreciated being in a group where there was opportunity to interact with other students. Some considerations will be evaluated in the future such as extending evaluation procedures, adapting a more extensive questionnaire, comparisons of evaluations by returning and non-returning clients, as well as using a quantitative measure to improve further understanding.A. How is this work useful to me as an aspiring counselor? This work is useful because it provides insights which are vital for a counselor. The results of the study as well as the approaches used can be utilized and applied in future undertakings. The innovation of the approach presented in the article can provide flexibility and additional knowledge that may be useful under some circumstances. Being an aspiring counselor, one must be adept in assessing the needs of the clients and providing the best approach for their concerns.This article provides just that and gives a reminder to be more critical and observant in dealing with the client as well as being open to learning better strategies. b. How does this work contribute to the field of counseling? This work contri butes new ways of approaching group counseling because it deals with something that addresses the concern of finding innovative means to solve the growing number of clients as well as the increase in the intensity of their problems.Combining the open group therapy approach and therapeutic enhancement provides the field of counseling an approach that is conducive for interaction, counseling in a large-scale setting, as well as allows counselors and facilitators an opportunity for co-leadership and provides more resources for them as well as reduces the possibility of frustration by both counselor and client when in an individual setting. c. What new research do the authors generate by writing this article? The authors generate new research which will involve further evaluation of the results and application of the approach in a different setting.It also foresees the possibility of employing other tools such as a more extensive questionnaire and the use of other forms of quantitative measures. Another consideration for future research is exploring the comparisons of evaluations between those who are not returning for the sessions and those who are actually returning. Ultimately, it opens the research of finding means of making clients satisfied after the first session. References Keats, P. (2008). Time-Limited Service Alternatives: Using Therapeutic Enactment in Open Group Therapy. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 33, 297-316.

Essay on The Relationship Between Technology and Human...

The Relationship Between Technology and Human Culture Human culture and technology are continually co-evolving in a dynamic relationship. All technologies (See Note 1) develop in a particular cultural context as the result of changing needs or constraints. But once developed, a technology changes the culture that gave it birth. When a technology spreads to another culture, the cultural context affects the speed or way in which the technology is adopted and how it is used. The diffusion of technologies to other cultures changes those other cultures as well. The changes in culture that one technology creates may then influence the development of another or different technology. Culture is a broad term. The dictionary definition of†¦show more content†¦Sedentary hunter-gatherers in the area (like all hunter-gatherers) (4) had an intimate knowledge of the natural environment, including growing cycles and preferred environments of edible cereal species. As Bruce Smith explains, (5) domestication probably resulted from the intensification of previous cultivation behaviors, perhaps in response to population or other stress. Hunter-gather populations manipulate their environments in order to reduce the risk of food shortages or to increase supplies of favored species. (6) This manipulation can take various forms, including cultivation behaviors such as replanting seedlings in more watered ground. Over time, these human actions changed the selection pressures on wild species, resulting in the development of domesticated varieties. This gradual process happened as it did because of the existing cultural context of hunter-gather populations who were not onl y familiar with the grain species that became domesticated, but also were actively intervening in the life cycles of those species. (7) Another set of technologies that developed in the Middle East in a particular cultural context were irrigation and the movement of water. As M.S. 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