Homework 12

Question1) Comment on Toxoplasma Gondii. What do you think??
Thinking about how parasites ( and diseases in general) can affect behavior  really makes me wonder about how and why things happened in the past, and how and why things will happen in the future. Were some of the "bad things" that happened in history due to someone being infected with a parasite or a disease? If so, how would it have been different had that parasite been eradicated prior to that person being born?
(This is the butterfly effect all over again, I am afraid...).
In class, you also posed the question whether one should be screened for certain diseases or parasites prior to being elected for political office.  Well, if someone gets elected, it is because of who they are and how they act.  Since these parasites take a while to manifest themselves and make obvious changes in behavior, then it seems reasonable to think that there won't be radical ("overnight") changes in behavior while the person is in office.  Also, it may be BECAUSE of the parasite and its effect on the behavior that the person is popular and got elected.  Maybe without it the persone would not be the "go-getter" that got him elected (or similar).
It seems mind-boggeling that an organism so small could have such an effect on human kind.

Also, could we potentially use parasites that can change behaviors as "biological weapons", not to kill or make people sick physically, but to change how they act?  Could we find a way to make agressive people more mellow and easier to compromise with?
What would happen if certain parasites were eradicated?  could now peacful nations turn violent because people there were infected and it made them mellow???

Question 2) I will email you the poster...

Question3)  Think about the impact of information and/or computing privacy, security, and quality, etc. on individuals like you. Then explain what these conclusions mean for society as a whole now and in the future, as follows.
a) privacy
b) security
c) quality
d) some other one of your choice

As far as privacy, I think that individuals will have less because of the increasing use of computers in daily lives.  It is easy to find out inforation about people by simply googling them, checking on their tweets and facebook entries.  Some of that loss of privacy is with a certain amount of consent from the individual (ie. if you make a post on your facebook or twitter, you should KNOW that people will look at it...).  If you use a cellphone, people can track your location.  If you access an online account, the computer you access it from can be traced, so people may know where you were or are at any given point. So therefore, as far as society as a whole is concerned, I think we are getting more and more used to less privacy and a certain amount of invasion into our assumed privacy.  In the future, I think this will only get "worse" because we are relying more and more on computers and technology.
As far as security goes, I think there is a lot that needs to be improved and worked on.  From a technical standpoint, as well as policies and also consumer education.  Some companies are easier to hack into and steal for example credit card information than others, it seems.  Some companies forward certain types of information to third parties, with or without the knowledge of customers.  And then there are people who are either unaware or simply just neglectful and give out certain types of information over the interenet that they should not.  I think in the future, with increasing advances in technology and also increasing awareness, these issues will become better (after first getting worse and coming to a head, though).  Eventually, there will be better security and policies in place, and people will know better than to post certain types of information that will compromise their security (personal or financial).
Quality will also increase.  personally I catch myself using more and more online services.  I use the online app from my bank so I don't have to get paper statements, I am attending online classes as opposed to having to drive to school, I am ordering gift online rather than going to the store and actually paying more for the item, and I am renting text books from an online company that does it way cheaper than any physical store near me.  So for me as an individual, quality has definitely improved.  For society as a whole, i think it has improved as well and will keep improving with more and more things that can be done online.  Also, there are many people that without a computer, they would not be able to easily communicate with others, or be able to buy certain things (for example if you lived far from any bigger cities, or in a different country than your friends and families, and especially military personnel (see answer to d) )).As far as in the future, there will be more and more people taking advantage of these things, and our quality of life overall will increase.  It will, however, take away from some of the things that we currently cherish, such as small mom&pop stores that may not be able or willing to keep up with technology, that will then no longer be able to compete.  Also, the "personal touch" will be gone.  You will not get the same feeling going to order something on amazon as when you walked into the department store in your town where you know some of the sales associates by name, or the teller in your bank that you see once a week and became friendly with.
I think technology and computing has really changed the military.  Aside from the obvious gains in being able to gain knowledge about the enemy, etc.  I think it has changed on  a personal level for the soldiers.  They can communicate with their loved ones much easier, have facebook pages, and SEE their kids while they talk to them on skype or similar servivces.  If I were a soldier, I think that would make it a little easier and get me through the day a bit better.  They do not have to wait weeks for letters and photos anymore.  They don't have to worry about not knowing what is going on at home.   Fathers are able to "see" (online) the birth of their children, first steps, hear first words.
So as long as soldiers don't give away their positions while using twitter (I heard a radio article about that), I think computing has greatly improved the well-being of soldiers and families at home.