Have u ever wonder what you can do if you can read minds? Not sure? Well then think about the movie “What women wants”, where Mel Gibson uses his mind reading ability to work his way up in his work and also to the women he likes. Interesting stuff here you can do, right? However, this is just a small part of the possible usage of mind reading in a non-harmful manner. In fact, there are some who felt that what Mel Gibson’s character did was rather unethical. If we were to implement this mind reading technology to the society, we must first understand the possibility of any abuse in the technology, and whether we have any ways to minimize the abuse.
Firstly, the most common type of abuse will be the use of the technology for personal gain. This will be unfair to people who do not have the use of the technology. In this case, if the technology were to be implemented to individual use, there will be a need for new definition to the ways of life. For example, criteria for promotion will be re-written such that it is fair for everyone. Also, the implementation of the technology for individual use must be strictly control with proper terms of conditions and legistrations. If not, there should not be any distribution of the technology to prevent abuse of the technology.
Next, the technology may be use by an organization that has no proper control on the extent the technology usage. For instance, an organization may use the technology to steal passwords, codes or personal information and use it to access your bank accounts, your secured files or even to threaten you. Therefore, strict controls must be carried out on any organization with the technology. This may mean the involvement of government, police or even independent watchdog to keep the situation in check and observed that there is no unethical abuse.
In conclusion, extensive rules must be set-up on the technology usage. In fact, government, magistrate and scientists must come up with a set of regulation on the use of the technology. Also the technology must be “well control”, meaning no circulation of the technology without any authorization. Just like what you had heard in the movie “Spiderman”, ‘With great power, comes great responsibility’; we must be prepare to minimize any unethical abuse if we were to implement the technology to the society.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Summary 2
In the past, the cost of using solar module in energy industries is about 4 times more expensive than the use of fossil fuel. While prices have dropped since the early 1980s, the solar module itself still represents nearly half of the total installed cost of a traditional solar energy system.
Currently, much of the solar cells are made from the same material used in manufacturing integrated circuits and computer chips. And high demand for circuits and chips causes the cost of solar energy to increase and to the extent whereby consumers shunned away from solar energy due to the high cost.
Hence, there is a shift in the research to finding new materials for solar module. Using a single layer of plastic sandwiched between two conductive electrodes, the new type of solar cell is can be mass-produce at lower cost. Also, recent tests on the new solar cells show a record efficiency for energy gather from sunshine and lifespan of the solar cell. This is a critical step towards the use of solar energy and researchers predicted that mainstream use of solar energy will just be a few more years
Read the full article here:
Click Here
Currently, much of the solar cells are made from the same material used in manufacturing integrated circuits and computer chips. And high demand for circuits and chips causes the cost of solar energy to increase and to the extent whereby consumers shunned away from solar energy due to the high cost.
Hence, there is a shift in the research to finding new materials for solar module. Using a single layer of plastic sandwiched between two conductive electrodes, the new type of solar cell is can be mass-produce at lower cost. Also, recent tests on the new solar cells show a record efficiency for energy gather from sunshine and lifespan of the solar cell. This is a critical step towards the use of solar energy and researchers predicted that mainstream use of solar energy will just be a few more years
Read the full article here:
Click Here
Evidence showing Global Warming is occuring
Over the last decades, many worldwide phenomena have been occurring. For example, rise in temperature, drastic weather condition, lose of low lying island to the sea, melting of glaciers, loss of natural habitat and many more. At the same time, there have been rise in the amount of greenhouse gases, deforestation activities and agriculture productivity. Is this a mere coincidence or is there a relationship between the human activities and the phenomena. To find out which is the case, we will need to study any evidence engineers and researchers from other filed of studies can find.
In science, environmentalist have studied that the phenomena is caused by greenhouse effect. The green house gas produced by human activities traps most of the sun radiation, which was supposed to be reflected back to space. Hence there is a rise in the global temperature. This theory is also supported by satellite’s data on the earth temperature and the emission data of greenhouse gases recorded since decades ago.
Again in science, biologist found that the there has been an increasing loss in natural habitat of corals. Corals are marine organisms that are sensitive to environment changes. According to Seth (2006, March 30), a science writer, researchers have studied that colonies of corals that have been growing over the century died due to the rise in sea temperature. Many coals attractions that were once filled with beautiful and colorful corals have become rock like structures. It is just like lush forest turning into a dead desert.
Over at the social science sector, geologists have observed many effects caused by global warming. Drastic change in weather has become more frequent over the world. For example, Australia has suffered its worst drought season in the year 2006. According to a news article from Guardian (2006, Nov), many farmlands became arid and reservoirs become depleted. The drought had made the Australians realize that something has to be done to reduce the greenhouse effect.
One other area that was affected by global warming was business. For example, Cameron Highlands in Malaysia has been a popular destination, for the past five decades, when the temperature was pleasantly cool. However, over the last decade, temperate has risen. At the same time, large deforestation occurred around the area. The trees which were able to trap moisture to keep the air cool were removed, thus causing the temperature rise.
The different disciplines of studies have shown many evidences of global warming occurring in Earth. We cannot ignore the fact that the loss of corals, drop in business and drastic weather change has nothing to do with global warming. The number and damage of the effects have been increasing so much that it have become hard for us to deny the existence of global warming.
In science, environmentalist have studied that the phenomena is caused by greenhouse effect. The green house gas produced by human activities traps most of the sun radiation, which was supposed to be reflected back to space. Hence there is a rise in the global temperature. This theory is also supported by satellite’s data on the earth temperature and the emission data of greenhouse gases recorded since decades ago.
Again in science, biologist found that the there has been an increasing loss in natural habitat of corals. Corals are marine organisms that are sensitive to environment changes. According to Seth (2006, March 30), a science writer, researchers have studied that colonies of corals that have been growing over the century died due to the rise in sea temperature. Many coals attractions that were once filled with beautiful and colorful corals have become rock like structures. It is just like lush forest turning into a dead desert.
Over at the social science sector, geologists have observed many effects caused by global warming. Drastic change in weather has become more frequent over the world. For example, Australia has suffered its worst drought season in the year 2006. According to a news article from Guardian (2006, Nov), many farmlands became arid and reservoirs become depleted. The drought had made the Australians realize that something has to be done to reduce the greenhouse effect.
One other area that was affected by global warming was business. For example, Cameron Highlands in Malaysia has been a popular destination, for the past five decades, when the temperature was pleasantly cool. However, over the last decade, temperate has risen. At the same time, large deforestation occurred around the area. The trees which were able to trap moisture to keep the air cool were removed, thus causing the temperature rise.
The different disciplines of studies have shown many evidences of global warming occurring in Earth. We cannot ignore the fact that the loss of corals, drop in business and drastic weather change has nothing to do with global warming. The number and damage of the effects have been increasing so much that it have become hard for us to deny the existence of global warming.
Waste disposal scheme: Zero Waste vs Land Filling
There are many waste disposal schemes and each has its own advantages and disadvantages over one and other. Here, we will be comparing zero waste and land filling. Land filling is a cheap method to dispose waste; it is also a very simple process as it just requires setting some land aside for the waste. On the other hand, it requires lots of space and overtime, it will corrode the land with harmful substances. Compared to land filling, zero waste is a more tedious method. Zero waste requires a large cooperation between the people, government, and company. And it requires a long time before a result is obtained. However, it is environmentally friendlier and less space consuming. Furthermore, zero waste creates new business opportunity. These are some comparison and contrast between zero waste and land filling.
In the context of Singapore, one needs to look at the characteristic of the land to determine which disposal scheme is suitable. Singapore is a small country so zero waste will be a better choice since it is less space consuming than land filling. Also, zero waste helps solve waste disposal problem permanenttly rather than pushing aside the problem like land filling. Next, Singapore is located at the equator. The temperature and weather makes her a good location to breed pest and vectors-mainly bacteria and diseases carrying organism like mosquito and animals. Land filling will provide an even ideal location for this organism. Also, the waste may undergo chemical reaction, to produce harmful substances to the atmosphere or to the land. Hence, the land becomes unsuitable for development without any treatment being done. Lastly, with Singapore’s efficient government and knowledge based economy, zero waste schemes can function easily to give a quick and good result. Henceforth, the most suitable disposal scheme for Singapore is zero waste schemes.
In the context of Singapore, one needs to look at the characteristic of the land to determine which disposal scheme is suitable. Singapore is a small country so zero waste will be a better choice since it is less space consuming than land filling. Also, zero waste helps solve waste disposal problem permanenttly rather than pushing aside the problem like land filling. Next, Singapore is located at the equator. The temperature and weather makes her a good location to breed pest and vectors-mainly bacteria and diseases carrying organism like mosquito and animals. Land filling will provide an even ideal location for this organism. Also, the waste may undergo chemical reaction, to produce harmful substances to the atmosphere or to the land. Hence, the land becomes unsuitable for development without any treatment being done. Lastly, with Singapore’s efficient government and knowledge based economy, zero waste schemes can function easily to give a quick and good result. Henceforth, the most suitable disposal scheme for Singapore is zero waste schemes.
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