Genetic Engineering: The Ethical Side
Corrections or additions?
This article by was prepared for the October 17, 2001 edition of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Linking Computers? It’s Getting Simpler
Connectivity in your office rings like “habeas
corpus”
in the courtroom — fancy words that cost you money. Typically
budgets get bruised pretty badly when it comes to linking up computers
so they can swap messages without an annoying electronic snub.
Establishing
even the simplest interface has required an expensive, incoherent
wizard, who would swoop in, perform his tricks, and then vanish,
leaving you all alone.
But now, more and more of this magic is translating into a very simple
science. On Thursday, October 18, at 12:30 p.m. the tricks of this
trade are revealed in a free “Networking Technology for Smaller
Businesses” seminar at Mercer County Community College’s James
Kearney Campus at North Broad and Academy streets in Trenton. Long
time tech veteran Ray Ingram, director of Central NJ Centers
for Workforce Excellence in Information Technology
will join MCCC technology instructor Rafael Cortes in showing
you how to link up your system with minimal cost. This is a Trenton
Small Business Week seminar. Call 609-396-8801.
“The real truth,” says Cortes, “is that few people have
even the vaguest awareness of the software and networking aids already
available in their own hardware.” But Cortes does. He is one of
those fast-fading, old style wizards who has made himself much sought
after by major firms. Born, raised, and seldom moved far from Trenton,
Cortes swiftly shifted from high school through a string of technical
training centers, all the while freelancing his talents to such firms
as Betz Dearborn, a Pennsylvania hydrotreatment plant in need of
system
linkage.
In l992 Mobile Oil hired Cortes to interconnect all the computers
within its Hopewell Research and Development plant. He knows the
workings
of that humming strange box on your desk as few folks do.
Cortes’ prime directive to business owners is to rid themselves of
computer fear and create a wish list. Without imagining limitations,
design the exact networking flow pattern your business needs —
in all its offices and stations. “Odds are,” he says, “you
can get that very link from your current system cheaper than you
think.”
Keeping it simple. Currently 90 percent of all technicallearning in the office is achieved over the Internet. The how-toinformationlies within reach of your keyboard and phone in most cases. Cortessuggests that you first examine your own systems, call yourmanufacturersupport people, and find out exactly what capabilities already existwithin the box. Frequently, the phone support folks can lead you tosites with special linking instructions. From there you can move intooutside compatible software on the Internet and, if the need arises,through a local computer store.Both Ingram and Cortes warn against purchasing blind from a catalogand dumping the entire task in the lap of some outsourced wizard.Previewing purchases in cyberspace allows you to read more copiouslyand compare products. Catalogs only have room for a brief blurb.Further,net-sold products are more often linked directly to the manufacturer’sfree support group.Outside tech wizards frequently will build you a network that issimpleto operate, but monstrous to debug or even upgrade. Their supportcapabilities are necessarily limited. This does not mean that youshouldn’t hire them. It means simply that they serve best as advisorswhile several people from your own business get their hands dirtywith the actual network set-up.Go for Thrift. “A few years ago, major corporationswere spending up to $2 million on a client page that web hosts nowoffer for $200 a year,” says Cortes. There is so much in-computerlinkage, downloadable shareware (nominal fee software) and freewareavailable, he insists, that most small and mid-size businesses canhave all their computers interfaced for petty cash.Online firms like Flash or Tech Republic lead customers directly tospecific websites where software can be instantly downloaded andinstalledwith online support standing by. Clients can register, define theirneeds, and receive news of current updates, or actually have theupgradedsystem automatically installed. Web hosting companies will installand tend your set-up, with prices beginning at $24.95 to about $200a month.Mac vs PC. This ancient tech feud is no longer a majorconnective obstacle, according to Cortes. Using the Unix-basedsoftwareof Linux and Novell, the two types of machines should be able togrudginglychat with one another. (Though Heaven knows how they bicker when theoperator is away.)Virus Protection. Being very vulnerable to viruses, mostsmall businesses appear justifiably hesitant to merrily goa-downloadingunknown software. Yet Cortes advises that Internet or store-boughtvirus protection products, particularly those offering free instantupdates, offer ample protection.Storage Capabilities. Once you have all your fax machinesand printers linked, and all your sales data shared and instantlyupdated, the question becomes: Where do you center all this stuff?If cataloged by Microsoft Office suites or some infinitely cheaper,yet capable, shareware, probably much of the day-to-day stuff canbe based in the boss’s own system. The rest can be farmed reliablyto an outsource server, which can daily update, tend, and reshufflethe data on demand. Costs are minimal, particularly compared withthe necessary hardware purchases required for in-house storage.In choosing such a such an outside web host, Cortes advises,”Supportis the main issue. Be it a web host, or shareware vs. Microsoft, youget the support system you pay for.” Generally a local web hostphysically nearby proves best. In any case, make sure dedicated backupis part of the contract.Ingram proffers one final caveat. “It’s fun to play withtechnical toys. But the real question you have to keep asking yourselfis what works best for you? Some transfers will always be best madeon paper. The whole concept of `multimedia’ is to provide you choices,not to make you conform to a system.”Top Of PageGenetic Engineering: The Ethical SideRight here, right now in central New Jersey, scientistsare working on genetically manipulating mice and pigs to achieve newbreakthrough in medical technology and drug development.Mice and pigs — no problem there for most of us. But, as PrincetonUniversity biologist Lee M. Silver points out, sooner or laterthe object of scientific inquiry will be the genetic alteration ofpeople. Sooner or later, Silver predicts, geneticists will be ableto genetically modify human embryos so that children can be born withnew genes that were not present in either parent.Silver will address some of the ethical implications on Thursday,October 18, at the 10 a.m. meeting of 55 Plus at the Jewish Centerof Princeton, 435 Nassau Street. The non-sectarian 55 PLus is aninformalgroup of retired men or those with flexible work hours. It meets onthe first and third Thursdays of each month from September throughMay. For information call 609-737-2001 or E-mail joelmay@yahoo.comSilver’s topic has the same title as his recent book: “RemakingEden: How Genetic Engineering and Cloning will Transform the AmericanFamily.””It all boils down to two strong desires,” Silver said ina 1999 interview with U.S. 1, “the desire to have one’s ownbiologicalchildren, and the desire to `advantage’ one’s children as much aspossible.”Comparing biotech to transportation, Silver says that this decademarks the birth of biotechnology. Two hundred years ago, horses werethe major means of transportation, and now mankind is almost readyto land on Mars. Given that amazing improvement, it is hard to imaginewhere biotechnology will be in 200 years.For those who object to repro-genetics on ethical or religiousgrounds,Silver points out the similarities between the polio vaccine and agenetic vaccine. Almost everyone gets the polio vaccine, so why can’tthe genetic vaccine be made available? Would it be wrong for parentsto give their child a gene (say, an anti cystic fibrosis gene) thatsome other child gets naturally?Everyone is going to draw the line in a different place, and curingfatal diseases will obviously get more support than upgrading IQs.Possible uses of repro-genetics:To eliminate serious childhood diseases such as cysticfibrosis, Tay Sachs, and muscular dystrophy. “Even the Vaticanapproves of this,” says Silver.To eliminate the predisposition to less serious or adultdiseases such as cancer, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, orasthma.Some people would allow the pre-birth elimination of cystic fibrosisbut would insist on treating asthma with drugs after birth.To enhance health attributes beyond the normal: to selectfor AIDS resistance, longevity, and resistance to senility.To give advantages far beyond health such as mentalacuity,physical beauty, or perfect pitch.Another ethical quagmire is the conflict between liberty andjustice, whether rich families should be allowed to”advantage”their children genetically when poorer families cannot. “Is itwrong to start life with a huge advantage that other families can’tafford?” asks Silver. His answer: It’s the American way, and itis going to happen, whether or not ethicists approve. Rich familiessend their children to the best schools and give them every advantage.Meanwhile poor families can’t afford to buy their children a computer.”If it is right for after birth — why not before?” heasks.However, principles of social equality might lead society to rejectthe use of a technology that could greatly widen the gap betweenaffluentand non-affluent people and societies.Silver is a Professor at Princeton University in the Department ofMolecular Biology and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public andInternationalAffairs. He graduated from Harvard University with a Ph.D. inbiophysics.His book has been published in 15 languages. Dr. Silver was a memberof the New Jersey Bioethics Commission Task Force formed to recommendreproductive policy for the New Jersey State Legislature, and hastestified on reproductive and genetic technologies beforeCongressionalcommittees.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
