Blogging Assignment 8

Everything I learned in the ELP program was new to me. In this term, there were many reading reviews to do and it helped me to look deeper in the content and understand the main points of the readings. It also helped me apply my own thinking to the related issues of the readings. The short paragraph writings improved my skills of writing briefly and expressing my own feelings in a way easy to understand. In this term, I learned basic skills of writing an essay. Those skills, especially how to write an outline, was quite useful for me. Looking back upon the fall term, I gained a lot of skills and knowledge in researching, reading, writing and disscusion, and I think my English abilities have improved.

Blogging Assignment 7

I think the meaning of the first quote is that technology have the possibility to bring about bad results. No one can predict exactly how technology would make progress in the future. Therefore, there still is the possibility that it may suddenly result in a bad way. If this happens in reality, people would have to take responsibility in trying to change the bad result. Though the situation may be uncontrollable, people have to take some kind of action to take responsibility for what they have done. The way of taking responsibility may sometimes be improving technology. Therefore, it may also lead to another bad result and this flow is limitless. However, I think this is the way technology takes advance.

Blogging Assignment 6

The term "the law of unintended consequences" means to me a consequence that was not expected to occur brought about by some kind of change or action. The consequence can be both good or bad. For example, the emerge of videophones made it possible for those who live far apart to communicate with each other, seeing their faces. However, it also lead to a situation of less direct relationship among people, which was not the purpose of videophones. In short, some kind of change or development made for a particular purpose may lead to other consequences that was not expected, and this situation may be expressed as "the law of unintended consequences".

Blogging Assignment 5

My topic for the Essay 2 is prenatal diagnosis and abortion. I want to pursue what the true happiness for people is through this topic. It is true that some mothers have an abortion when they are informed of a fetal disease through prenatal diagnosis. However, children with diseases also have the right to be born as well as other healthy children. In reality, though, there are many mothers having difficulties bringing up their children for many reasons, for example, monetary problems. Therefore, it is hard to say whether it is good for those mothers to bear their children or not, since bearing their children might lower the quality of the mothers' life. My thesis statement so far is "Abortion caused by fetal disease is unacceptable except in particular situations: those that might lower the quality of mothers' life."

Blogging Assignment 4

The existence of enhanced people seemed quite unreal to me. It would be nice if we were able to have these abilities. However, I think enhanced people are not humanlike since they hardly have any weak points. I also think people are attracted to others because they have something we don't have. If we were all enhanced people, maybe we would not feel attracted to others anymore and the world would change into one that people have no one to respect.

Blogging Assignment 3

The modifications to the human genome currently being studied and experimented with will eventually change human nature in the following ways. By controlling the human genes, people could be able to create an ideal human. For example, parents who want intelligent children may be able to have one by operating their children's genes. However, it may be against the original  thought that children are gifts and  may kill their personalities. People seeking for  higher ideal may lead to a world where everyone is perfect but has no individuality.

Blogging Assignment 2

  My revised thesis statement for Essay 1 is "Several specific changes in Japanese values that have occurred through the Shouwa era may be correlated with specific changes in gender roles in Japan over the same period of time." and the three main supporting ideas for this thesis are as follows. The first supporting point for my thesis is that the value that women should be free to take action leaded to the advance of women to work. The second supporting point for my thesis is that the Western value brought to Japan changed the Japanese way of thinking into a thought that men should also engage in houseworks and nursing. The third supporting point for my thesis is that the current situation which some men take place of their wives and take on all the houseworks and nursing is brought about by the value that people should live freely under their own individual value.