Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

NAME: < write your name here >

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus

Worksheet – Internet Research: The Biotech Revolution
Overview: Contemporary science is ripe with parallels to Victor Frankenstein’s controversial experiment. You will be exploring a number of contemporary bio-technology issues, all of which are ethically and/or morally controversial at some level. This research worksheet is the first step in a group project. The goal today is to become familiar with the various terms and issues and to discover which issues are of interest to you.
In order to conduct your “Insta-Research” here, you should consult the list of recommended sources – websites and e-Books on the “Our Posthuman Future” page of the class website.
Primary Resource 1:

Many of these issues are explained and discussed in Francis Fukuyama’s book Our Posthuman Future: The Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution. On the class website, I am providing you with a PDF copy of the book. Use the “Ctrl-F” function in order to search the text. This will help!

Primary Resource #2

Another excellent book to use as a valuable resource is Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World by Wesley J. Smith.

Further Recommended Resources

Again, in order to conduct your “Insta-Research” here, you should consult the list of recommended sources – websites and e-Books on the “Our Posthuman Future” page of the class website.

Directions: Using the list of Bio-tech resources on the linked page above, define the following terms/issues in a few brief sentences. You will need to read, skim, or preview some of the articles in order to define these terms. The goal is to gain an overview understanding of all these issues with the goal of research one of them in depth
1. DESIGNER BABIES/EGGSPOLITATION: What are designer babies? Who wants them? Who “creates” them? And who is used (“exploited”) in this process?

< eliminate this and write your response here >
URL citation(s): < eliminate this and cite your source(s) here >

2. TRANSHUMANISM/POSTHUMANISM: What is a transhuman? What is a posthuman?

< eliminate this and write your response here >
URL citation(s): < eliminate this and cite your source(s) here >

3. ANIMAL-HUMAN HYBRIDS/CHIMERAS: What are these? Why do researchers want to create these?

< eliminate this and write your response here >
URL citation(s): < eliminate this and cite your source(s) here >
4. HUMAN CLONING: What is it? Why do researchers want to do it?

< eliminate this and write your response here >
URL citation(s): < eliminate this and cite your source(s) here >
5. GENETIC ENGINEERING/TRANSGENIC LIFE FORMS: What is it? What are some of its applications?

< eliminate this and write your response here >
URL citation(s): < eliminate this and cite your source(s) here >
6. SELECTIVE REDUCTION EUGENICS: How do you define “eugenics”? And, what is “selective reduction”?

< eliminate this and write your response here >
URL citation(s): < eliminate this and cite your source(s) here >
7. EMBRYONIC BEAUTY TREATMENTS/EMBRYO STEM CELL RESEARCH: Why is embryonic stem cell research controversial? What are “embryonic beauty treatments”?

< eliminate this and write your response here >
URL citation(s): < eliminate this and cite your source(s) here >
8. PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY (or NEUROPHARMACOLOGY) : What is it? What does it do to the human brain? What are the ramifications of its use?

< eliminate this and write your response here >
URL citation(s): < eliminate this and cite your source(s) here >
Below, indicate your first, second, and third choices for subjects to research. You are choosing from the eight topics listed above. You will be assigned to work in groups of 3 on a project involving one the topics.

1. 
   < write your response here >
   
2. 
   < write your response here >
   
3. 
   < write your response here >