Score for Genetic Science

So, recently, scientists created a synthetic yeast chromosome for the first time. That may not sound like a lot, but it's eye-poppingly amazing.

I mean, it took a top scientist 15 years and 40 million dollars to synthesize a procaryote cell chromosome, specifically a bacterial virus. The yeast chromosome was created by undergraduates only a third of the time and a quarter of the funds to make the eukaryotic cell chromosome which makes up yeast, and eukaryotic cell chromosomes are considerably more complicated. But wait, there's more. The synthetic yeast chromosome is fully functioning, living and adapting. It's mind boggling.

Here's the process:

The science is pretty incredible. We're playing God, and it's only a matter of time before we start making genetically synthetic dogs, cats, humans even. Let's just hope that our ethics will still be around by that point.

An Expansion on the Point of Fairness

Reading over my previous post, I realized I have more to say on fairness. Heck, this probably won't be the last time I talk about this... issue.

First of all, the word "fair" is grossly misused. This is mostly due to the fact that people often interchange it with equal. NO. Don't do that. While fair and equal are related, they mean different things, and it would be fatal to confuse them. For example, it would be fair if you flipped a coin for who has the do the dishes that night, but would it be equal? No, and that precisely proves my point. Fairness ≠ Equality.

Second, anyone who says life's fair is either delusional or trying to sell something. Life was not built to be fair. Life was built to be realistic. But, there are exceptions to the rule. My favorite is; "Fairness under the law." You're being promised you will be processed and judged fairly under the law, and in a perfect society, that would be true. Unfortunately, juries have prejudices and judges are only human, so you could argue that even THAT isn't fair.

Human ethics just weren't built to accommodate reality. Such is society.

Individuality is an illusion, says math.

There is a number called the googol, and it's a 1 with a hundred 0's behind it. As you can imagine, it's a fairly large number. But that's not the half of it. There's also the googolplex, which is a 1 with a googol 0's behind it. Mind boggling big. But it does't stop there. Oh, no. There is also the googolplexian, which is a 1 with a googolplex 0's behind it. This number is so large, that if the universe where to span a googolplexian meters across, you would begin to see copies.

Can you imagine? All the atom types, all the possible physical combinations, all the numerous little quirks that make something unique, would be replicated down to the sub-atomic level. It makes me twitch just thinking of the implications. You would see copies of yourself! And if you were to alter something, it would't just stop being a copy, it would just be a copy of something else. Individuality would only be an illusion caused by the incredible distance of the universe.

Mathematics + Physics = Head spinning.

Homework Ethics Fiasco

CNN recently published an article titled; "Is homework making your child sick?" Homework, however much people may not like it, serves many purposes. If you would just put down your bias for a second, you'd be able to see why it has been in use for 30 years.

In the article, they state:

The researchers sought to examine the relationship between homework load and student well-being and engagement, as well as to understand how homework can act as a stressor in students' lives. Their findings were troubling: Research showed that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children's lives; 56% of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives.

Ok, 5 hours might be a bit excessive, but a decent dose of homework not only reinforces learning, but also wheedles out the weak. In high school, if you don't do your homework, you grade will drop several letters. Homework is a way for colleges and employers to see who is a good worker and who isn't. And you want to take that away? For what? "Equality"?

Let me tell you something that you, as an adult, should have understood by now: Life. Is. Not. Fair. Period. End of story. Anyone who thinks otherwise is living is a fantasy world. Even if it weren't so, and your goal in life was to make life fair for everybody, ask yourself this; what is fair? If there where  someone who was only 5' 3", and they wanted to play football, it would be unfair to bar them, right? So, what do you do? Tell the other players to "Go easy on him?" But then that's not fair to the other players, is it? How is that feasible?

So, homework is not only a vital learning tool for academics, but also for life skills. For some people it's easier, but what are you gonna do? Give the kids who have a harder time a lighter load? Again, how would that be fair?

Link to the article here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/21/health/homework-stress/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

A letter to the Editor

This was a letter written to the editor of the Times from a teenager in Scotland.

Whoever wrote this, I would not mind meeting you. You seem to be an excellent example of a rational human being, and that alone is enough to make you stand out. But there is one thing. You seem to be in an area of the world where your average classmate isn't an insensitive dumbass. Sounds like I'm moving to Scotland. Regardless, those of us with the reasoning to write an article of this caliber has ever right to be, as you put it:

"...treated not as strange creatures from another planet, but as human begins with intelligent though."

As for the experts, they need to revise their conclusion before they throw us all under the blanket statement of "Moods and Meltdowns". Ridiculous.

Jenni Herd, I applaud you.

An Apeirogonal Outlook

I have noticed that people tend to tie a single reality to the world, typically their own bleak view of the society. They make the mistake of thinking that their perspective of reality is the only one that influences their tedious existence. But if you pay close attention to the world, you will notice something that will change you opinion on mankind's mentality.

You see, the universe is not just what you perceive it. There is the Universe, and there is the Observable Universe. No one knows how much of the universe is unobservable, of course, but there are ideas as to samples of the unobservable universe. For example, theory suggests that magnetic fields are actually unobservable particles. Also, the reason that people have made such a big deal out of the Higgs-Boson Particle is because it is a particle that was unobservable, but scientists, for a split second, made it observable. This does not contradict Einstein's Theory of Relativity, because the particle was there all along, it just didn't have mass or any other observable trait.

But anyway, the reason I point this out is because it shows that there is so much more than we can perceive. People, the world isn't one plane of observation. If anything, think of it as a sphere, with an infinite amount of facets and viewpoints. the world isn't just made up of suffering, or of happiness, or of annoying homework form overbearing teachers. It's everything and anything all at once and never at the same time.