Category: IB Core
TOK: HeLa Cells in Biology
KQ: If we all benefit from the unethical choices of a single individual, should we all be held morally responsible?
In this particular case, I don’t feel as if we should all be held morally responsible for the unethical choices one made because we do not have a say on the matters in which it influences. The scientists who wrongly used her cells and developed the technology that we use today have used the cells in so many different ways and for different advancements that it’s impossible to prevent the use of HeLa cells, even if we wanted to avoid so due to the unethical beginnings. To ask society to stop use of all technology that can be attributed to HeLa cells would not only be impossible, but detrimental and meaningless. The scope of the outreach of her cells simply have become too far in order to reign back. Also, although we are benefitting from the use of her cells, it would be unjust to punish society as a whole for receiving the benefits when many of us were not alive or if alive, were not aware of the unethical choices made that led to such discoveries. Why should we all be held responsible for the actions of one when many of us would not make the same choices, especially in the social climate of today in which morality and ethics are constantly questioned (even though the time period and social expectations do not excuse their actions). If such ideology and beliefs were actually upheld, then until when will the later generations be held accountable and responsible for a punishment satisfactory enough?
Protected: Spontaneous Exercise – Basketball [Activity]
Protected: A Review of The Goldfinch – Writing [Creativity]
Protected: Medical Clinic [Service]
Set in Stone – Show and Tell
Knowledge Question Prompt
- What shapes my perspectives as a knower?
Other people’s beliefs, perceptions, and knowledge are the main factors that shape my perspectives as a knower. The scarab itself and its symbolism, rebirth, development, and existence, as well as its religious foundations, is representative of how perspectives are shaped. To those who believe in amulets and charms, a scarab holds a greater meaning to them. It is a relic of the gods they believe in and what the gods stand for. It reminds them of their culture and is symbolic of their beliefs in that system of religion. Conversely, it can be reasoned from my upbringing and the people who raised me, why I don’t believe in what the scarab represents, but rather, I find my own meaning in the scarab. Since I wasn’t brought up in a religion where there are multiple gods and that the gods take on patrons to animals and objects, I don’t see much meaning in the symbolism of a beetle for the Egyptian gods. I didn’t grow up with enough knowledge about Egypt and the knowledge that I was given, was one that emphasized the differences of our culture in a way that can be construed as making it seem inferior. This would ultimately shape my lack of belief not only in Egyptian gods and customs, but also my perspective on the validity of sacred items in their culture, such as the scarab. Perhaps validity is not an accurate word in this context, because it’s not that I question if the scarab really means something to their culture, but rather, I am skeptical of the scarab’s supposed powers. I think the perspective that I hold of Egyptian culture from the knowledge I was given, is one that falsely frames their customs as flawed, because who am I to question why someone believes in something, when beliefs are based on the perspectives and experiences that one goes through.
Moreover, in a personal context, this particular scarab is a representation of how I gained my perspective as a knower, as its existence is a reminder of how I started on the journey to become a knower. The perspective that I have of the teacher who gave this to me is forever immortalized in the scarab. Who I am as a knower is attributed to her shaping my perspective of myself as a knower. Any real drive I have to learn and to gain knowledge has already been constructed. Her teaching me will be my perspective of who I developed as a knower, but furthermore, the abilities she taught me in being independent as a knower continues to shape who I become as a knower.
At its core, I guess the question asks what influences what I think I know. I think although essentially everything I know is a choice depending on if it aligns with my stance, who I am, and therefore, my perspective, is an amalgamation of the environments I am surrounded by, that shapes the knower I was, am, and will be.
Word Count: 499
Protected: Fanfiction – Writing [Creativity]
Protected: Learning Korean [Creativity]
Microcosm of the Self
I think essentially at the core of my being, I’m a curious person, but I don’t have the motivation or desire to explore any of my interests (or at least, for a long period of time). Since I was a kid, I’ve never really quite had a hobby, but instead, just molding myself to expectations of what I should like or what I happened to be interested at the time. Although it was natural for kids not to know what they want to do in the future, I felt overwhelmed by the possibilities of everything I wanted to do, but couldn’t. I say “couldn’t” as if it was impossible which, I guess it physically wasn’t, but it mentally was. The desire to to learn something that I saw and thought was “cool” didn’t overpower my lack of motivation to master the technicalities of a new craft. However, that proved to be a problem as I seemed to have an affinity for challenging myself and seeing if I could do everything (which almost became a competition for myself to see how many things I could learn), but as soon as I reached the first signs of hitting an obstacle or a challenge I couldn’t easily overcome, I would just give up. It was easy for me to give up because I had no real obligation to continue learning that I could just stop at anytime.
That’s why I’m hoping for the CAS program to be a motivator for me to pursue interests, hobbies, and everything I’ve ever wanted to learn, but either was too unmotivated to do so, or was inhibited by a fear of failure.
To be honest, I don’t really know what my passions are or what exactly even constitutes as having passion for something. I do have a few things that I do, though. I would say that the most creative of my interests is playing instruments and music in general. The first instrument I ever learned to play was the piano. Ah yes, the stereotypical “Asian kid” instrument that everyone learns to play when they’re a kid. Of course being young, I didn’t have much say in whether I wanted to learn it or even what the significance of learning an instrument meant for my life, but my mother still sent me to lessons along with my older brother. A year or two after, I began to learn the violin later as well, but then briefly stopped lessons as I moved to the US, before picking it back up eventually. Despite the accumulated (roughly calculated) eleven years and six years of experience however, I am severely lacking in the technical skills expected of someone who has been learning so long. I would mostly attribute this to my initial lack of enthusiasm for the instruments themselves. Firstly, as I ended up understanding later, I dislike being told to do things as well as being watched when I do things, which is why I think I barely practiced outside of lesson time from elementary all the way until even now. Also, I believe that because I had no initial desire to learn the instrument, my lack of passion made it hard to be good at it. I then learned guitar in middle school after I had watched a cover of Redbone and saw the emotions that were being conveyed through their playing. I found an old guitar in my uncle’s basement and taught myself to play, a little bit at a time. Eventually I was able to play songs, however, I still cannot finger-pick, unfortunately. I also learned a little bit of the flute from my piano teacher because I was interested in trying out a wind instrument since I had never learned before and I wanted to challenge myself to a different kind of musical expression since the sounds produced give off different emotions. My experience with music has been a contributor to my thoughts on learning in general in that it’s hard to be good at things you’re not interested in because you won’t be as motivated to practice. However, those thoughts could possibly be a negative factor in why I didn’t practice many hobbies I had throughout my life, believing that since I did not have enough passion, I would never be good.
I’ve played sports since the first grade when my mom sent me to the club soccer teams that all my same-aged friends were all going to. Well, technically since six, when my parents sent me to a swimming center and I was plunged into the water and forced to learn how to swim, but I wouldn’t really count that if I were you. Since no one wanted to be the goalkeeper, naturally I “volunteered” because I really had no opinions on positions or strategy. I just kind of wanted to go home. Then in third grade, I switched over to playing basketball because the dad of my friend was coaching. I would say I enjoyed it more than soccer because I had more dexterity in my hands than my feet, so being better at a sport gave me more confidence and motivation to play it. When I moved to Taiwan, I picked up volleyball and softball while continuing basketball and soccer. There is a certain satisfaction in getting better at activities and the camaraderie that comes along with being on a team. Although physically and mentally challenging, being there and collaborating with teammates often made practices worth it.
Service experiences are somewhat hard for me to accomplish given my lack of fluency in Chinese. Living in Taiwan, that poses some problems. The biggest acts of service I’ve accomplished are mostly related to reduced inequalities and life below water, in terms of the UN global goals. I’ve been partaking in activities regarding the state of marine life since middle school through mostly advocacy: making websites, entering the Global Goals GSL competition, and beach clean ups. My most sustained effort in service are my trips to Heng Chun where I visit the local Christian Hospital and help out with their visitations of elderly and impoverished people to bring food, fix amenities, and to bring some temporary joy to those people who are largely forgotten.
I’m looking forward to challenging myself to persevere with my interests and to be able to further develop them as I have failed to do in the past. As well as using this as an opportunity to explore all the different interests that I’ve always had but didn’t have the time to or the will to. Through CAS, I hope that I can work through my hesitance to try new things because of a fear of failure as well as be able to work on improving myself. I’m hoping that from my experiences, I will be able to nurture my curiosity as an inquirer and to learn more about my strengths and weaknesses as a reflector.
That’s who I am currently. Hopefully I grow.