Bioterrorism

Last week I watched the movie Resident Evil and it made me think of Oryx and Crake. The movie “Resident Evil” depicts the theme of Bioterrorism such that the entire movie is about infected persons killing non-infecting persons. In the movie, a pharmaceutical company called Umbrella invents a sort of deadly virus. This special virus has the ability to transform a normal individual into a zombie and which causes a huge epidemic. Now the way this relates to Oryx and Crake is really obvious, Crake spreads out a virus that causes huge epidemic and destroys the entire human race. Bioterrorism in today’s world is not seen as something really threatening among normal citizens, but as a matter of fact, the governments have a whole different vision on it. In our actual society, with all this tension and intolerance among the nations, we are actually in a great risk of being a victim of bioterrorism.  Many governments have initiated protocols to follow in case of such an attack. I think that scientists should perhaps work on finding better solutions for such treats instead of passing their time in cloning and genetically engineering genes which does not really help during a viral epidemic. Another possible solution would be to raise awareness among the people. The social network could play an important role in this case. If the government health organizations in each country take critical measures in creating awareness among the citizens, it could be the first step towards achieving the goals. Now, what do you guys think of a better solution against this severe issue?

Apparently Life's a GAME

Recently at a LA night club the rapper Game dumped a $1400 bottle of champagne and said "You know what I call that? Feeding the roaches. Good thing, too ... because carrying an open container in public is a ticketable offense in L.A." You ask how is this related to the novel Oryx and Crake, well there is no crazy connection except for the development of a two class society. I am a huge fan of The Game and I think his antics are kind of amusing, but I feel this connects because there are not many people who can spend that kind of money so there is definitely a case of two class society. Also it connects because he defying government, corporations and the social norm, but i think the ticketable offense comment was a subliminal shot at the police based on the rappers history of being in gangs. But i felt this ties in because of Atwood's concern about the 2 class society and this does not help the cause. But an argument could be made that Game is an activist who is "sticking it to the man" by making a public scene and insulting the police force. But however you look at it you can not escape the fact there is definitely an issue of a two class society.


http://m.tmz.com/article_head.ftl?id=http://www.tmz.com/2012/04/17/the-game-ace-of-spades-champagne/ here is the link

Dark Side of the World

The world is a big place. It is filled with many mysteries and wonders, but darkness lurks here as well. People do things to each other, they use others for their personal gain, they wage wars on each other, they abuse others, and some would do just about anything for money. It is sad but true to know that child trafficking exists on our planet.

In Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, many contemporary subjects are integrated within the story line, whether it be genetically modified animals or made up diseases created to make a profit. A main issue is the one of child trafficking. Oryx’s history is one filled with misery and slavery, from a young age, this girl, living in poor conditions, was sold and forced to perform acts that were horrid, for money. Recall that Oryx was brought to Jack after uncle En died, and she was forced to participate in porn movies. This situation reminded me of a movie that came out in 2008 called Slumdog Millionaire. In this movie, the main character, Jamal, retells a series of events that occurred during his life, one of those events was when he was taken by a man. Jamal’s job: get money from tourists. He would go out day after day and beg for money from people visiting the country. This does not only happen in fiction. All over the world this type of child slavery exists. The boys are forced to become beggars, and the girls are forced to become prostitutes.

Oryx’s situation is similar to so many other stories out there, since child trafficking exists all over the world. In the following story, Sreypov Chan, a young girl, was sold to a brothel when she was 7 years old. For many years she was forced to engage in sexual acts and if she didn’t meet her quota she would be tortured and punished. We can see the similarities with Oryx’s story here. Both girls were sold by their mothers to strangers at a very young age, and both were forced to engage in sexual acts with men. To read further about Sreypov Chan’s story visit this link: http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/diary-escaped-sex-slave

          If you are interested to read or listen to more stories like this one, click the link below: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/27098993/ns/today-today_news/t/teen-recounts-horror-abduction-sex-slavery/

To conclude, our world is a big place. As previously mentioned, the book Oryx and Crake discusses a number of issues happening today. Child trafficking can be found everywhere and it is sad to see that helpless children become slaves and are forced to do tasks in order to satisfy whoever owns them. Our planet is a big place, but does it have to be one filled with darkness?

Will We Become Invincible?

      It seems that after completing the novel Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood brings along a central theme that gets brought up numerous times throughout the story, that of immortality; humanity's quest to extend human life. Just like Crake and many other intellectuals in that society dedicate their lives to finding new pills or new ways of extending or even diminishing life, a simple question remains within the palms of our society

; do we have the capabilities to maybe accomplish in medicine, immortality? 

      In today's society, famous English author and theoretician in genetics, Aubrey de Grey, has been praised as the leading brain in the extension of human life. Aubrey de Grey is also a co-founder of the famous Methuselah Foundation which focus's on the methods of extending lifespan. Since this foundation is meant to motivate scientists all around the world to quicken research in maybe achieving immortality one day with a top prize estimated to be around 4 million $.

            However, would this actually be a good idea? Will the investments of private corporations make actually turn out positive for the survival of humanity? Or will we be exploited and used for profit just like in Oryx and Crake? Whatever happens our generation will be able to experience it first hand and there will be an interesting response to this whole situation.

            Atwood’s perspective about immortality is very interestingly portrayed through the character Jimmy and in todays society, technology and medicine are only advancing and only time will tell if we will reach a point of immortality in our lives. 

For Love or for Money?

Science is very much incorporated in our society today. Many things and careers are established, thanks to science. Our world is slowly, but surely, becoming very dependent on it.

In Oryx and Crake, since it is perceived as the future, the only jobs that will get you far and will financially aid you are the one's that involve science. This book, in a way, foreshadows our future on Earth. Soon, having a job that you love, such as being an artist or even a writer, will eventually get you nowhere. Or at least that was our society makes it as. It is not enough to just do what you love anymore, it has to have an impact in our world in a big way, and the only careers today that allow you to do that are the one's that have to do with science, such as being a doctor, or a successful scientist. This book demonstrates to what extents people will go to just to be financially well-off, even if the job requires you to be utterly unethical and cruel. For example, in Oryx and Crake, Jimmy's father has a job that drains people of all their money and integrity. This is what will happen to our future. Soon enough, everyone will be so intrigued by companies that do this, just because as a whole they bring in a lot of income. We will be brainwashed by all of these big incorporations, and even pretend to be astonished by their findings. They will allow us to have this mentality like "Oh, they say that's the right thing to do and the right path to take, so I will obey and do the same," as if they've taken hold of our society's concious. In the future, no will will do what pleases them. Everyone will just follow, just like a bunch of robots. Robots, made with the great invention of science technology!

Even the simplest things require science. Wanna get rid of your wrinkles that haven't even developped yet? We got something for that. Wanna be skinner without the hastle of dieting and exercising? We got something for that. Wanna remove body hair for ever? We got something for that, too. All with the fortunate existence of science!

In another case, wanna be a writer? Poor your blood and tears into a few hundrend pages? Publish and sell hard copy books? Oh, wait, they already have that online! These science advances will come to no end. Everyone will abuse it until they get every last information they can.

Hate sciences but wanna make a lot of money in the future? Well, it seems like the only option is to actually do what you hate. Study what you can't stand.
People will have to give up what they always loved to do, just to be able to live a normal, stable life.

So the question comes to, WOULD YOU?

Genetic selection

Is gene selection bad, will it lead a problematic future, I don't think so. When the possibility to choose the genes of our children surely it will only be for the rich. This will lead to a big distinction between the classes (upper class, middle class, and lower class). But I do think that when the technology gets better it will eventually become affordable to the general public. This would mean that most of the human population would have and be able to select genes. People will choose to have their children perfectly beautiful and perfectly intelligent. Which wouldn't be all that different from now. I say that because it couldn't be possible for everyone to be equally beautiful regardless of being able to the genes. Everyone would have to look the same for everyone to be equally beautiful. And for the intelligence it would mean that there would be lots of intelligent people doing jobs the drop outs can do today, which will definitely lead to frustration but that's no different in some cases now in Canada (of course other places too). The competition would be very high in schools because that half mark on the test would be the difference between passing and failing (passing grade would be something ridiculously high like 98%. This is different though). More or less distinctions would be made even if people were able to choose the genes of their children or not.

This is purely speculation.
I saw several blog that talked about the same topic, if I am repeating someone, I apologize, I haven't read all the blog entrees.
I choose to write my blog entree like this to see what other people thought of this topic.

WE GOT A SITUATION

While reading the novel Oryx and crake I found a significant amount of similarities between the novel and the movie I am legend.  They both involve mass destruction of their somewhat corrupted futuristic society, and the characters just about have the same scenarios of survival. Another significant scenario was when Jimmy is witnessing the death of his mother. All his life he had been secretive about his mother, to keep her hidden from authority and after so much time, there he was watching her die through a TV screen. She had given him a pet named “killer” and it he would never forget it. In I am Legend, we witness how hard Robert tries to protect his family from the infected humans. He puts his wife and daughter in a helicopter out of New York, just as he tells them goodbye, his daughter gives him a baby German shepherd. As the helicopter goes up, a mass of mutants sabotage another helicopter which then collides with the helicopter that Roberts’s wife and daughter were put into. Robert finds himself gazing upon his family’s death with his daughter’s puppy in his arms.

     As I read through Margaret Atwood’s’ Oryx and Crake, pages 173-280, I had realized that I no longer attained the images of Margaret Atwood’s characters and scenarios, but the movie I am legend. In these sections of the novel, Jimmy is very much alone left with the carcass of many unknown beings surrounding him. Jimmy later on finds himself trapped in an establishment and he is being hunted by the notorious genetically modified “pigoons.” He tries every tactic to lure them away and escape their blood thirsty snarls. Jimmy shelters himself in a watch tower, finds a radio and tries to contact someone-anyone. In the movie, the character, Robert Neville, is the last human in the city. He goes out everyday to send out radio messages in search to find anyone else out there. He too shelters himself from the “infected” scientifically modified but corrupted beings. He walks up and down the destroyed streets of his city with nothing but death surrounding him. He dwells behind the darkness and emptiness of his home to protect himself from the mutants. He to begins to be hunted.

    The novel and the movie share similar ideas. They aware both settings of the future and science in society. What waits for us in the future? Will we be faced with mutants and devastation as well? Many novels and movies indicating “the future,” present only devastation, clones, and mutants. Is there ever truly a happy ending?