Essential Question Response #3

"Then, if we value the life of a child more than going to fancy restaurants, the next time we dine out we will know that we could have done something better with our money."
This is a quote from Peter Singer's "The Singer Solution to World Poverty."

Singer's writing basically said that human beings were responsible for donating money to the poor. Now in terms of values, this is a very noble stance; we have been raised to believe that rich should give to the poor from stories such as Robin Hood. But is this really a responsibility? Someone might argue, "By giving to others less fortunate than yourself, you are bettering the human race." Now what I want to know is why do they believe that? I agree that in terms of individuals, donating helps keep people alive so that they may have the opportunity to find a way to better human race. But how can you say that feeding a poor Chinese farmer is a responsibility of the human race? Just to be clear, I definitely agree that it is our responsibility to better the human race, but on a large scale, how are we doing this by helping people in poverty. In a world where our medicine has allowed us to cheat numerous population controllers, such as diseases, maybe this is one of the only ways we can do so. All species have some sort of limiting factor that prevents them from expanding. Why do we deserve to be different? We can't escape the fact that as populations increase, resources decrease. So in the end, I believe that although donating to charity is noble in terms of individuals, when you look at the big picture, it isn't a responsibility of human beings.

Essential Question Response #2

Do human beings have a responsibility to better the Human race?

I definitely believe that humans have a responsibility to better the human race. All individuals of a species have a responsibility to better their species. Organisms are constantly doing this through evolution and natural selection; the most elite of the organisms pass their genes forward, creating an even stronger generation than before. My idea of bettering the human race is a little different than just evolution. I believe that we can better the human race not by passing our genes forward, but rather our knowledge. In a time of reason, a true equilibrium could be reached. A time where everyone is equal at birth and can create either a life of greatness or sorrow depending on their own decisions. We will never be invincible (that is just stupid), but we can allow ourselves to be able to sustain our race in perfect balance with the world and each other.

Essential Question Response #1

Is recycling a responsibility of human beings?
Humans have done (and are still doing) the most damage to the ecosystem out of all other life on this planet. Because of this, it would seem that we are obligated to at least attempt to reduce our destructiveness, so that we can use this planet for a long time. Recycling helps us do that by allowing us to consume less materials by reusing the same materials instead of constantly harvesting new materials. However, no other form of life has ever recycled or slowed their consumption of resources and life has continued, even afer countless natural changes have occurred (like the ice age). So what if the damage is just a normal progression of the world? In fact, smaller cases of such things happen everyday. A species of predator might consume more prey than are being reproduced, but then the predators don't have enough food for every member of the species so some die and as a result the prey population goes back up. The predator-prey cycle is never ending, and maybe it is only natural that humans be a part of a cycle like that as well. Despite this contradiction, I believe that humans have dug a hole deeper than any other species before, and it could very well end in a larger consequence than just a reduction of the human race, but could even extend to every species on the planet. It's because of this, that I believe it's a responsibility of human beings to try to right the wrongs we have committed and to recycle, so that we could fill in a little of that grave we are digging.

Hey

My name is Andrew. I am asian, so you know that my parents make my life a living hell if I get a B in AP(insert the hardest subject you can think of here). Of course, I somehow manage to still slack off so I don't go crazy and become one of those people that spend their entire day in class or studying for a test a week in advance. I like to think of myself as decently average (leaning a little more towards the weirder side). I like sports, have multiple hobbies (some of which are more like obsessions), and enjoy just chilling with my friends. This is the first blog I've ever done and I think it is kind of a pain in the butt. So why am I making a blog? The purpose of this blog, other than getting me an A in english this semester, is to provide my insight on various topics or just to speak what's on my mind. (NOTICE: When I write, I sometimes like to take a very critical, emotionless stance. Do not be offended by my writing). One of the topics that I will constantly be responding to is my essential question. Essential questions are questions you come up with that have deep significance and are hard to answer. My responses are more to try to build up to an answer, rather than come to a conlcusion right off the bat. I may not be able to do it, but the aim behind the essential question is to be able to answer it by the end of the semester. My essential question is:
What is the responsiblity of a human being?
Hopefully I'll be able to come up with some sort of answer from such a broad subject.
Well, that's my intro. I can't think of anything more to say without explaining my entire lifestory.