Literature Review
Question 1
Even if privacy may be necessary, carrying out closed door researches can be sop risky to many people. For instance, Amanda and Jack became victims in the research activities done by Ricky. Meanwhile, other people and animals were greatly affected by the hazardous autonomous swarms of bacteria and nanobots that spread from the laboratory to the far distant lands. Many of the wild and domestic animals were killed. For instance, a rabbit was suffocated to death by the effects of these swarms. Unfortunately, Julia, a vice president for the Xymos Company also became a victim when she was infested with these lethal swarms.
Question 2
Jack Forman was initially working for the Media Tronics company as a software programmer before being fired. As it is narrated in this lecture, he was laid off because of disagreeing with the top management over the company’s malpractices. In other words, he discovered a scandal that would jeopardize the reputation of this company.
On the other hand, his wife Julian is working on a revolutionary imaging technology used by her company. The Xymos nanobots consumes a lot of her time to the extent that she lacks time for her family, thus putting Jack as her house husband. Because of her commitments, she gets promoted as the Vice President of this company.
Question 3
This video is really shocking. I just can’t imagine that I can fall a victim of such scientific researches. Anyway, it sensitizes me on the theme of caution in the performance of genetic research. It is clearly evident from this video that this kind of activity can be so harmful to the society if not done under severance. It is important because it emphasizes the need of care when using the modern computing technology to propagate artificial life. People like Jack would have been so careful not to harm any person who would otherwise benefitted from their research activities. This is quite unethical and should be highly condemned.
Question 4
Ironical victimization of Jack
In deed, Jack’s attempts to safeguard himself and his rabbit get futile when he fails when they both get victimized. This is quite paradoxical in that, as an expert, Jack would be safer than anyone else who would easily be victimized by these swarms. In my opinion, I would like to say that this happened just because of the complex nature of these swarms. Even if they would stay intact within the fab plant at day time, they would quickly escape at night during strong winds. Ironically, this was not known by Jack and his crew. These things were very dangerous. It is because of this that Jack managed to persuade his colleagues to destroy all of them.
Question 5
Population biologists find emergent behaviors so interesting because it can help them in carrying out a series of scientific researches like the one done by Jack in this scientific non-fiction. The behavior of birds, ants and other animals like bees can be interpreted to help in predicting the conducts of scientifically modified bacteria. As a result, it will be easier to trace and tame the spread of these swarms that if not done, can really cause havoc to the people. Had it not been for this application, Xymos Company would have wiped everything out of existence.
