IMPROVING: MY ENGLISH EXPERIENCE ANTONI PAEZ
YACHAYTECH ECUADOR, 2016
BY ANTONI PAEZ ENGLISH LANGUAGE Program Yachay Tech Level 6 006 Teacher: Daniel Beall January 3, 2017 Imbabura, Ecuador
TABLE OF CONTENTS___________________ PORTFOLIO LETTER RESPONSE ESSAY INTERPRETATIVE ESSAY LITERARY ANALYSIS FINAL ESSAY THANK YOU LETTER
Antoni Páez Yachay Tech Department H 1-3 Monday, December 12, 2016
Dear Portfolio Reader.
My name is Antoni Páez, first of all, thanks a lot for give you a time to read this letter, second, be prepared, buckle your seatbelts, because in the next six paragraphs I am going describe one of the most gratifying, astounding, captivating (and many other ING ending verbs) experience. Ladies and gentleman, in this short letter I am going to talk about my experience as a student of the Yachay Tech Level 6-006 English class, powered by one of the best English teachers around da world: Daniel “The Music Man” Beall. As a young student from a country in where the English language is not the native language and the majority of people speak and talk Spanish or Quechua. I have to say, that I use to consider learning English as a waste of time, this because, it actually exist a lot of technologic tools that can allow us to talk, and understand many languages`s, inclusive, the ones that are considered really hard to learn like polish or Spanish from Spain. Anyway, this semester I learn that I was totally wrong thinking like that, when you learn to manage the English language, as well as a native user, you are taking a huge advantage against your competitors. What I want to say, is that, when you manage the English language, you are actually acquiring a skill that is going to help you in the future to reach your objectives, making a difference between you and the rest of the people.
Through the entire semester, I have to affront many negative situations, bad moments, bad notes etc. For that experience I can say now that to success in the English class, to improve your notes and to become a better speaker you haven’t be afraid of failure. Because fail is the first step to success. As an example, my major fear was to speak in public, I use to be afraid of presentations or to talk in English for a long period of time, and in level 6 I just have around 4 oral presentations in the entire semester. The topics of the presentations were hard to explain so I just learn that if I continue with my idea of being afraid of speak I will not pass the class. So, I just star to practicing every time with other people or reading books in English. At the beginning it wasn’t easy, but, with the past of the sessions I just become great at it, and the afraid of talk start to disappear. Level 6 in general, is the level in where you start to polish all your knowledge from your previous levels. Topics like phrasal verbs, modals, and literary elements will be your daily dose of grammar but, finally, you will find the real importance of this topic: These tools will give you a hand when you have to express your ideas and this my friend will improve a lot your English level. Just as a reminder, level 6 is a beautiful experience, but to go through them, you have to give your best every day and be responsible. This two things will help you to no complicate yourself unnecessarily. Finally, I can say the things that I learned in level 6 make me feel ready for affront every obstacle or situation that my career requires. Thank you so much for read this letter and hope that someday, you enjoy the English as the same way that I do on this semester.
RESPONSE ESSAY
Response to: The Ethics Of Humans Enhancement Antoni P. Lara Yachay Tech
After many years of research, science has finally reached enough knowledge to take humans into the next step in their evolution but, the question is, Is it ethically correct the use of technology to improve the human species? In the article “The Ethics of Human Enhancement” Andy Miah explains the pros and cons about the use of new technologies that are focused on enhancing human capabilities. For the author, these improve represent a big problem to the actual society despite the benefits that will produce. This because many of this technologies attempt to break the laws of human ethics. I think that the author has a good opinion but he is missing a crucial part. In the majority of cases technology always is searching for solutions and it cannot be considered as something that we have to stop for ethical issues.
The author tries to explain in the article about the main ethical problems that human enhancement produces. He claims that (Miah, 2016) “society is not prepared to manage, in a responsible way, the kind of benefits that human enhancement may produce.” He proposes to create local laws, governmental policies, and a global concretization in order to avoid the future issues that human enhancement will produce in society. Summarizing, in his article, he shows a clear position against the use of technology on humans.
In one of his points Andy Miah (2016) claims that “Some enhancements might promote success early in life, but lead to serious disability later” I’m totally against to this claim because, the author is avoiding the fact that every technology achievement as drugs, pills, bionic parts etc. Has been under research for many years in order to elaborate them with the minimum collateral effects. As an example, according to Ingrid Torjesen (2015) “Before a drug is deemed suitable for patients, it has to go through rigorous testing and cost-effectiveness analyses.” This is a clear
example of how the actual science works. The new ideas are always under constant test to prove that they are ready to be used in humans. As an example of the tests in the case of new drugs. It takes 15 years of hard research to scientist to let a drug be ready for commercialization. So I think that the author in this part didn’t make a good research.
The other main point that the author defends that it's crucial for him to “establish some general principles that govern the ethical conduct of human enhancement at all levels. This effort should include widespread independent consultation and investment into research principles” I totally disagree with this argument because. Establish policies to control the human enhancement will represent a big obstacle for future investigations, obstructing the next steps of evolution and improvement. Also, this idea doesn’t represent a good way to solute the problem that the author want to show, by the way, it makes it worst. As the author says humans are entering into a new era denominated “Trans-humans”. In this era, the majority of people are not attached to the ethics, so they do what they want and doesn’t matter if they have to break some rules in the way. For this reason, the principles that the author purpose will be ignored. As an example we have drugs as marijuana or cocaine, these drugs are prohibited in the majority of countries. The use of these particular drugs could lead into a penal imputation, anyway, people still buy it and use it. So, in my opinion, the best solution could start giving information to society about all the issues that human’s enhancements can produce. This will create people more prepared to make correct decisions.
The author said in his article that (Miah, 2016) “If a person uses a technological shortcut to achieve a goal, that choice may decrease the accomplishment's value.” This idea is not well developed because he is ignoring the nature of human species. What I want to say is that people are always searching a way to be better. So the use of this enhancement will produce a contrary effect. The accomplishments value will grow up instead of decrease. This because people is going to start to notice that, with the use of enhancement they can achieve more complicated goals. In conclusion, the author makes a good analysis of the principal problems that the uses of human enhancements will produce but, he is not considering all the points and in some cases, his article is missing the point. Anyway in my opinion if we want to enter in the era of “Trans-humans” we have to transform, or change, the laws of ethics at the time that we improve the technology to enhance human. This because technology always brings a lot of good benefits to the human species that allows them to go forward and improves their lives. If we continue thinking that ethics are over the use of technology the improvement can be stopped because our ethical laws can be rustical.
References Torjesen, I. (2015).Drug development: The journey of a medicine from lab to shell. Tomorrow`s Pharmacist. Miah, A. (2016). The Ethic Of Humans Enhancements. MIT Technology Review.
LITERARY ANALYSIS
INTERPRETATIVE ESSAY
Interpretation Essay Herrera Bryan Paez Antoni Paillacho Bladimir Pozo David Yachay Tech University
Interpretation of the painting “Alcoholism�
P.Kuczynski 2006 Nowadays, artists have started to use art as paints, songs, etc. to conscientize society about the problems that the addiction represents. In this case, the painting “Alcoholism” by Pawel Kuczynski shows an amazing representation of how alcoholism can “hook” individuals and make them dependent. The author uses a proper technique and the correct hue tone to express the idea. The combination of these elements makes the painting an iconic picture and clearly
achieves the objective to conscientize society about addiction problems. Pawel Kuczynski was born in Poland on August 12, 1976. He has won 95 prizes for his satirical images and cartoons since he specialized in graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan. He started his art in 2004 and in 2005 he won an award from the Polish Caricaturists Association. He lives and works as a police officer in Poland. In the painting we can see, first of all a person who is drinking a bottle of a red liquid that represents alcohol, also this person is using a jacket to protect himself or herself for the cold. You can also see that the more the person drinks, a hook tied to a hook come close and slowly approaches to his or her mouth, Around the person we can see a dark place and the only light is produced by the bottle. The person drinks the contents of the bottle with great enthusiasm by which he or her raises it above his or her head reflecting a great despair. Also we can see that is this person has a sickly skin color.
This painting shows and presents a lot of symbolism. It is especially hard for those one that have problems with alcohol or with any addiction, this painting produces in us a feel of depression and isolation, especially because the person seems like he or she doesn’t care anymore the damage that they suffer from drinking that bottle. The empty and dark room that surrounds this person represents how is his or her life, lack of hope and empty of happiness, this room appear as the greatest fear of the person, loneliness is the only thing that has, the bottle shines because the person gives it a special value and that liquid becomes the thing that was missing so much.
The author is capable to express a lot of things with a little painting and give to people an open field to think and imagine anything. Just in the moment when we saw the painting for first time, our body shuddered at the understanding the meaning of painting because it is a real
conflict that people have to face in the daily life where people have to decide between two options: taking the right decision or enter into the world of addiction. Furthermore, exists a feeling of impotence to know that the alcohol can interned within our body and control our will without asking us to do anything. Now, thanks to the painting, we have a lot of feelings stored in our memories that will be useful to know the facility by which people can enter in a bad world where is difficult to get out. Of this way we can be conscious of damage at which we are exposed and think many times before making a decision. Only the bottle looks red, one of the meanings of this color is that it represents the power, the liquid called alcohol is a power that subjects the person to an addiction, when a person is dominated by this power his will is lost Until they lose the consciousness and that person can commit actions that the person fails to remember. The hook is attached directly to the bottle, it does not need any force that pulls it like a fishing rod, and this represents the ease as many people can be hooked to the alcohol and once subjected, people cannot be free easily and even there are foundations to help them get out of this problem. In the painting we can see that the bottle is not supported with both hands, we can observe only one hand, this represent the easy with that a person can get what he wants, even that there is no impediment or law that prevents it even a bottle of alcohol is more cheap that a book. There is not a face visible in the painting, for example it can be a woman or a boy or a man, this represents
how alcohol is a problem for society, as any member of a family could be a victim of this addiction, which in many countries, The sale of alcohol is free in most stores In conclusion we can say that if one has willpower and if you want, you can stop taking with the help of support centers family understanding. The painting is capable to produce some feelings in our body like: depression, isolation or impotence at understanding what it represents
in the life of a person and the facilities by which people can to enter in a world of addiction. This painting shows a great impact to society on how free is to have a bottle of alcohol as a fishing rod and how people can be trapped in that hook so that their consumption is progressive, and also as people we have the freedom to break the rules of society by consuming alcohol and causing chaos in the family. One deduction at the end, is a reasoning of how an addiction can produce in a person the false sense of hope and happiness while in the reality it is destroying a life.
Reference Brilliant Satirical Artwork by Pawel Kuczynski. (2012, May 10). Recovered from:http://twistedsifter.com/2012/05/satirical-artwork-by-pawel-kuczynski/ Bourn, J. (2015, February 25).Color meaning: meaning of the color red. Recovered from: http://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-red/ Burke, D. (2015, November 25). Alcoholism. Recovered from: http://www.healthline.com/health/alcoholism/basics#Overview1
FINAL ESSAY
The Ethics behind the Use of Nootropics Antoni Pรกez University of Experimental Technology Research Yachay Tech
Abstract The following research is focused on giving the reader information about human enhancements for human cognition, the risk factor behind these enhancements and the impact that the use of these drugs will produce in the human society. These enhancements are known as nootropics and are designed to produce a chemical reaction into the human body in order to improve the concentration, the creativity and the intelligence of the user. Two of the most known drugs are Ritalin and Alertex, this enhancement is composed by two powerful neuro-stimulants: amphetamine and modafinil respectively. Anyway, around the world many students are joining the new movement of the “smart drugs” in order to make improve their academic skills. This because, the secondary effects doesn’t represent something to worry about if the benefits are a chance to change your D- into an A. Many researchers around the world, as Andy Mia, consider that the use of enhancements, represents an attempt to the human ethics despite the benefits that they can produce. Anyway, world is entering with the implementation of the “Smart Drugs” into a new era, in where, the capability of learning, think and improve is at the reach of his hands.
The Ethics Behind the Use of Nootropics
After many years of research, science has finally reached enough knowledge to take humans into the next step in their evolution. In the article “The Ethics of Human Enhancement” Andy Miah (2016) explains the pros and cons about the use of new technologies that are focused on enhancing human capabilities. For the author, these improve represent a big problem to the actual society, despite the benefits that will produce. This is because many of this technologies attempt to break the laws of human ethics, especially the ones that can improve the human creativity and intelligence. Anyway despite the benefits that this enhancement does, the question is: Is the use of this kind of technology to augment human cognitive ability ethically correct? Nowadays, science is taken huge steps to make improvements that help the society to enhance their lifestyle. Some of this improvements are focused on giving to the user a buff to their capabilities of cognition and creativity. These products are commonly denominated as nootropics and are composed by amphetamine and modafinil in the majority of cases. These compounds were made to give treatment to people with mental ills as depression, anxiety, and deficit of attention. For one side, amphetamine is a potent nervous system stimulant that was developed for the treatment of persons with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. According to Grandy (2016), “Amphetamine produces its behavioral effects by altering the use of monoamines as neuronal signals in the brain, primarily in catecholamine neurons in the reward and executive function pathways of the brain”. The reaction of this chemical in the human body produces “emotional and cognitive effects such as euphoria, change in desire for sex, increased wakefulness, and improved cognitive control. It also produces physical effects such as decreased reaction time, fatigue resistance, and increased muscle
strength”[ CITATION Mal09 \l 3082 ]. For the other side, the Modafinil is a wakefulnesspromoting agent used for the treatment of disorders such as
narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and excessive daytime sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea. It has also have been used as an enhancement of cognition. Researchers describe Modafinil as an “atypical” because it “shows a profile of effects that is very different from those of other dopaminergic stimulants. For instance, modafinil produces wakefulness reportedly without the need for compensatory sleep and shows a relatively low, if any, the potential for abuse. Aside from modafinil, examples of other atypical DAT inhibitors include vanoxerine and benztropine, which have a relatively low abuse potential similarly to modafinil” according to the doctor Reith [CITATION Rei15 \n \t \l 3082 ]. Another research made by Oloyumi[CITATION MOl14 \n
\t
\l 3082 ] found that these drugs “appear to interact
molecularly with the DAT in a distinct way relative to "conventional" DAT blockers such as cocaine and methylphenidate”. On the Convention on Psychotropic Substances in 1971, all of the 183 state parties of the United Nations defined that the amphetamine became a schedule II controlled substance. This treaty determined that the market of the amphetamine will be strictly controlled by the medical departments around the world. Anyway, despite the laws that prohibit the sale of this enhancements without a medical recipe in the year of 2013 according to the stats of DEA [CITATION DEA93 \n \t \l 3082 ] “The production of methylphenidate (Ritalin) and the legal production of amphetamine in the form of Adderall and Dexedrine in the U.S. has soared since 1990”. This data turn on the alarms of the anti-drugs groups because represents a considerable amount of users in a short period of time. Subsequent research determined that the principal group of consumers are students that are under a high pressure for their academic responsibilities.
One of this research goes for Sean Esteban McCabe a professor at the University of Michigan’s Substance Abuse Research Center. In his research, he reported that “4.1 percent of American undergraduates had taken prescription stimulants for off-label use; at one school, the figure was twenty-five per cent”[CITATION Mar091 \t \l 3082 ]. As any other medicine on the market,
we have to consider their side effects. In the case of amphetamine, their overdose can produce several side effects that can develop a mental illness, called psychosis but, for reach this, the user needs to avoid the warnings that the doctor recommends. If the user follows the recommendations for consumption the side effects will be similar to a pill for a headache. By the other side, the consumption of Modafinil doesn`t produce considerable side effects, by the way, the side effects are comparable as caffeine. Anyway, as equal as any pill that is on the market the overdose of this pills can develop a serious illness to the user. Based on this, it is understandable that students use these enhancements because of this offer to them, the possibility to reach their daily objectives without putting his wellness in danger. With the improvement of this medicine a new era of enhancements have arrived, and with them, a new kind of consumers denominated as “Bio-Hackers”. For this people the use of nootropics has changed their life, helping them, to stay at his hundred percent of energy every day. Is well to know that, this group is composed of students and workers from all the world and have its beginnings in the city of knowledge: The Silicon Valley. In the southern area of the San Francisco Bay, many researchers have found in the nootropics the answer to his daily energy problems. As an example, Dan Wiggins a Bio-Hacker have been using this smart drugs for a long period of time. In an interview, Dan says that he start the use of nootropics because he wants to find a way to improve their daily performance. According to Sam Harnett [CITATION Sam16 \n \t \l 3082 ] “Dan started with some measures
that might seem familiar to anyone wanting to make a life change. First, he altered his diet, exercise and sleep routines. Then he began taking supplements and experimented with prescription drugs like Adderall and Modafinil”. For Dan, the use of nootropics represents 16 hours of production per day. Another example is from Dank Walsh, a specialist in marketing. Dank compares the effect of nootropics as the “same as
eating a whole bar of dark chocolate” [ CITATION Sam16 \l 3082 ]. This two case represents a clear example of why people around the world are starting in the world of nootropics and why we have to leave our old ethics and star to improving it at the same time that the technology does. The principal issues with psychostimulants are that their use is linked with the behavior of the society and the medical problems that consumption of these drugs will produce. In this article, “Ethics of human Enhancement”, Andy Miah (2015) proposes many issues that the use of this kind of drugs will produce. Two of the most representative claims are that “if a person uses a technological shortcut to achieve a goal that choice may decrease the accomplishment value”, he sustains it because, in this society, the amount of effort that a person puts on a goal it is equal to the goal’s value itself. Another important claim is “some enhancements might promote success early in life, but lead to serious disability later”, because everyone thinks that almost every drugs
on the market have their secondary effects that could end in risk on health, perhaps not immediately but a long-term they will. Miah also sustains that the use of these psychostimulants will be to of exclusively access of those who could pay for it, increasing the advantage and
opportunities for people with economic resources over people without enough economic stability (Miah, 2015). All these issues together could create a series of ethical irregularities. The claims from Andy Miah’s article can be considered as a slippery slope fallacy. The truth is, if we gave people the chance to achieve a goal, in an easier way than the conventional way, they will immediately try to achieve more complicated goals. This happens because people is
always trying to improve themselves and to become more skilled over time. Another representative claim is the possibility of developing any illness in the future for the use of this kind of drugs is also a fallacy. The truth is that these kind of drugs before they can get on the market are putting under rigorous testing to prove that they are not dangerous for the human health and do not cause any injury on their body. In the case of the psychostimulants as Rivotril, their secondary effects are not more dangerous as the secondary effects of a pill for a headache. Finally, about the claim about accessibility for people without huge incomes, depends on a lot of the country where you live. In the specific case of Ecuador, the price to access to these type of drugs is not high. In the case of Ritalin, in this country, the price oscillates around the six dollars for the whole box of capsules. Besides that, as is explained above, these drugs are exclusively used for the treatments of mental illnesses so the access to them is very limited. Consequently, Miah’s statements could be considered an overreaction about nootropics.
In conclusion, the use of psychostimulants to improve creativity in people are taking the academic standards to a higher level. It because these drugs can help to students to be more focused
in their studies, making them more predisposed to learn. As consequence, their performance will improve and the application of their knowledge will be more fruitful than the present. These drugs have been on the market for many years and till now, under recommended doses, they have not caused a huge damage to a person. Also, medical tests show that their secondary effects are really
Low and almost do not affect to humans. These drugs can let us take the next step in the evolution and the better part is that their toxicity for the humans is really low while their consumption is maintained under medical control.
References.
DEA. (1993). Statistics on stimulant use . Washington D.C. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/drugs/stats.html
Harnett, S. (2016). Nootropics, biohacking and silicon valley’s pursuit of productivity. Retrieved from: https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/08/24/nootropics-biohacking-and-silicon-valleyspursuit-of-productivity/
Malenka RC, N. E. (2009). Molecular neuropharmacology: a foundation for clinical neuroscience. Oluyomi, M. (2014). Elucidation of structural elements for selectivity across monoamine transporters. Reith ME, B. B. (2015). Behavioral, biological, and chemical perspectives on atypical agents targeting the dopamine transporter. Talbot, M. (2009). Brain Gain: The underground world of neuro-enhancing drugs. The New Yorker. Retrieved from: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/04/27/brain-gain
Carey, B. (2008). Brain Enhancement Is Wrong, Right? The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/weekinreview/09carey.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1
Miah, A. (2016). The Ethics of Human Enhancement. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved from: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602342/the-ethics-of-human-enhancement.
“Thank you for giving your time to read my portfolio. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Sincerely, Antoni Pรกez