Supreme Court Gene Issue

   WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would decide whether human genes may be patented. The case the court added to its docket concerns patents held by Myriad Genetics, a Utah company, on genes that correlate with increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

   The patents were challenged by scientists and doctors who said that their research and ability to help patients had been frustrated...

   The legal question for the justices is whether isolated genes are “products of nature” that may not be patented or “human-made inventions” eligible for patent protection. A divided three-judge panel of a federal appeals court in Washington ruled for the company. The three judges each issued an opinion, and a central dispute was whether isolated genes are sufficiently different from ones in the body to allow them to be patented.

   “The isolated DNA molecules before us are not found in nature,” wrote Judge Alan D. Lourie, who was in the majority. “They are obtained in the laboratory and are man-made, the product of human ingenuity.”

   This is part of an article, which was written November 30th by Adam Liptak on the New York Times website (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/us/supreme-court-takes-up-question-of-patents-in-gene-research.html?ref=us).

   I found the whole idea very interesting, especially after watching Gattaca, a 1997 sci-fi film about genetically enhanced humans. Technology is becoming advanced enough to be able to tell us which gene does what, causes which disease, and can be changed to make things better. It is a really cool idea, but at what cost?

   So, if it becomes 'legal', patented, and a 'human-made invention' to alter one gene, what will humans be considered when more of their genes are altered than are not? Will that make the person a 'human-made invention'?
   There could potentially be future problems with gene alterations as well. If it becomes widely popular, and everyone begins getting the same genes altered, then people will become similar in more areas than is healthy. The Markab race from Babylon 5 discovered this when the Drafa Plague -- an airborne virus -- attacked them. They had cloned themselves to reproduce (because sexual reproduction was no longer an option), so all their genes and immune systems were identical. Thus, when the Drafa Plague attacked, they all succumbed and the whole race died.
   Though these are somewhat futuristic and exaggerated examples, they are possibly warnings against altering human genes. Every invention has its pros and cons, and most can be used for good or evil. We need to weigh the cost, and not simply allow it because it's "scientific".

Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

  The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialized practitioners. The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be rewarded with substantial gifts. However, the medicine men do not provide the curative potions for their clients, but decide what the ingredients should be and then write them down in an ancient and secret language. This writing is understood only by the medicine men and by the herbalists who, for another gift, provide the required charm.
  The charm is not disposed of after it has served its purpose, but is placed in the charm-box of the household shrine. As these magical materials are specific for certain ills, and the real or imagined maladies of the people are many, the charm-box is usually full to overflowing. The magical packets are so numerous that people forget what their purposes were and fear to use them again.

  This satire passage by Horace Miner is poking fun at the 1950s American. He takes the position of a foreign, modern, advanced specialist who is trying to understand the old and barbaric ways of the Nacirema (American spelled backwards). This specific passage brings the strangeness of our medicines to light. Americans go to doctors, who diagnose the symptoms and send the "cure" information to a third party. If we were to find another "tribe" doing this, we would most likely be appalled, because why should they trust a medicine man who writes in a secret language (Greek and/or Latin) and gives the information to a third party who has nothing to do with us? This seems overly complicated and obsolete.
  In addition, modern psychology has proven that if a placebo (a "medicine" that really does nothing) is given to the patients instead of the real curative potions, the patients will recover a surprisingly large amount of the time anyway. This brings into the questions of whether or not the medicines are really that helpful, or are simply modernized renditions of the old-fashioned native witch-doctor remedies. Doctors and medicine still have a major role and power in the modern age, though the average American doesn't seem to notice this. That is what Horace Miner was trying to point out, when he wrote this brilliant piece of irony.

Black

  Something woke him. A noise or a breeze -- something had pulled him from his dreams.
  Tom blinked in the darkness. Breathed hard, tried to clear his mind. The bats weren't simply a figment of his imagination. Nothing was. His name was Tom Hunter. He'd fallen on a rock and lost his memory, and he'd just escaped the black forest. Barely. Now he had passed out and was dreaming.
  Dreaming that he was Tom Hunter, being chased by loan sharks he'd stiffed for a hundred thousand dollars four years ago in New York.
  Problem was, this dream of Denver felt as real as the black forest had. There had to be a way to tell if he really was, at this very moment, physically lying on a bed of green grass or staring at the ceiling of an apartment in Denver, Colorado.

 This passage is the beginning of the fifth chapter in Ted Dekker's "Black". First, I love Ted Dekker's stories, some more than others. I've often considered -- as I'm sure many others have -- writing about a character who switches between worlds. You know, in reality, if someone had to deal with dreams like this, they'd go crazy. Not being able to tell what is real is unnerving.
  Of course, Dekker's confused protagonist decides to live each "dream" as if it were real, staying completely sane in the process. I haven't actually finished this book, but so far its been quite entertaining. I really enjoy Dekker's characters, plot twists, and writing style in general. I like how he does a series of short sentences, and then a long compound-complex sentence or two. I think its a pretty cool technique, and have even attempted multiple times to put it into my own writing.

PS: The green are the prepositional phrase and the participial phrase, in that order.