Portfolio 5 - Minimize potential unethical abuses of brain mapping

People have been thinking of reading a person's mind throughout centuries. With the aid of advanced technologies, especially functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we have successfully to execute some simple mind readings. However, as we meet the success in brain mapping more and more frequently, ethical issues arise, especially when we talk about the potential abuses that may unavoidably occur. Once this advantageous technology is being abused or misused, it will become dangerous. For example, terrorists may capture a military officer, scan the officer's brain, obtain any top military secret and plan for their next attack. Therefore, minimizing potential unethical abuses of this technology is crucial; we should at least have strict rules and regulations on its usage, typically by whom and to whom it is allowed.

First, the ownership of related machines should be with the government, that is, no any individual or non-governmental organisation (NGO) is allowed to own such device; even the manufacturing role is to be restricted. By having this rule, the access to this technology will be controllable. We can have a trace of who has accessed it. Some may suggest restricting the ownership and accessibility by licensing; however, licenses do not promise us the “real” user of the device is authorised, so licensing is not a good solution.

Second, we should identify to whom this technology can be used. The most important requirement is the permission by the one whose brain is to be mapped. We cannot force anyone, who is unwilling, to be brain-mapped. Besides, this technology should be used only on those who really need a brain mapping, such as Pick’s disease patient, as we still don’t know whether if there is any side effect to the mapped brain.

In conclusion, brain mapping is naturally a beneficial technology. The pros or cons that it will bring rely completely on by whom and to whom it is used. To eliminate any possibility of abuse, rules and regulations must be made, and more importantly, we must follow them.

Portfolio 4 - Difficulties In Engineering Writing

Time passes without mercy, more than two months have passed since my very first day in NUS. As an engineering undergraduate, writing academic essays focusing on engineering are unavoidable. Of course, I have been facing some difficulties in writing them, even for now. Here, I am ready to share them with you all.

First, the style of academic writing is totally different with what I have used to be. I have been writing mainly narrative essays all the time since I was in primary school, all the way until Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM, equivalent to A-Level). Due to my familiarity in writing narrative essays, which do not require a straight-forward style to introduce a point, I have been encountering problems in writing academic essays. I have been struggling for a long time to write a good thesis statement in formal academic essays, because no matter how well I wrote it, I will feel that the sentence is not very attractive, like what a narrative essays' sentence should have, and this wasted most of my time. However, after this two months of EG1471, I am feeling some improvements in my writing of academic essays. I hope that it is not just my feeling, but truth.

Second, my engineering-related vocabulary is insufficient. Due to the same reason, my vocabulary is formed by mainly those for story writing, which are usually unsuitable for academic essays. Hence, searching for a suitable word to convey my idea has become my second problem. The exercises in "Focus on Vocabulary" has really helped me a lot. It contains many academic-related words that we should know to have a smooth progress in writing. However, I have not encountered any problems in writing the short answers in MLE1101 yet. Furthermore, after enhancing myself with these necessary words, I think I won't feel big problems in expressing my ideas in the coming MLE1101 questions.

These are the two main problems that I have encountered so far. There are still some other grammar problems such as modals and articles, but they are not so serious in my case.

Portfolio 3 - A summary about fusion power

Solid, liquid and gas are the three states of matter that we are familiar with. However, in the last century, a fourth state of matter called plasma has been introduced. In addition, the astounding fact is that the universe contains around 99 percent of plasma, which we did not realize for centuries!

The future of human survival much relies on new source of energy that replaces fossil fuel, which is decreasing and causing pollutions. Several sources have been proposed: Nuclear fuel which has a great potential, but is not widely accepted by the public; hydrogen power but consumes even more fossil fuels with current technology; and wind and solar energy that are still not in practice.

Plasma, which is defined as a high temperature ionized gas, can be one of the solutions by putting fusion into effect. Fusion just simply means the joining of atoms, which will cause a transformation of mass into energy. Such reaction requires an extremely high temperature, about 100 million degrees Celsius. One of the crucial problems is that how a container is to be designed to withstand such temperature without danger.

Fusion energy brings several important benefits. First, the source of fusion energy is easily available. Second, there will be relatively no negative impact to the environment. Third, less waste products are produced, if compared with nuclear fission power. Fusion energy is now recognized by scientists to be environmental friendly, more concentrated and perhaps inexhaustible for its abundance. We should put some hope on it for the future of human kinds.


Reference:

Lowman, M. (2006). Will fusion power provide energy solutions for our grandchildren? Retrieved September 11, 2008 from http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20060129/COLUMNIST18/601290335