Controlling Evolution?

Is it really possible to control evolution? Well, I was recently sent a video from a website called Ted.com that said it is. The video featured a scientist named Juan Enriquez, and he began his speech by talking about the economy. I immediately thought, What does this have to do with science, and why am I watching this? Though the clip is almost twenty minutes long, I am so glad I stuck with it.
    In a humorous and intriguing way, Enriquez begins to talk about stem cells. He explains some of what we already know, that stem cells can be used to grow body parts. He shows an ear, he even mentions a woman who used her own cells to regrow a trachea that allowed her to breathe. Then, he tells of a heart that had all of its living cells taken off, leaving only cartilage. Other cells were put back onto the heart, and it began to beat. It doesn’t end there.
    Enriquez moves on to the topic of technology. He talks about cochlear implants that help a deaf person see. He shows eye implants that allow people to see the difference between dark and light. Then he blows my mind.
    He begins to speak of the future. How this is only the beginning of our knowledge. How the deaf person with an advanced cochlear implant may one day hear with superhuman ability. How the blind person may one day see with extraordinary clarity. How we are evolving into a new species of human, that has the ability to control our own advancement and evolution as a species, and the evolution of other species, as well.
    The idea that as we speak, this new species of human is being developed, has staggering ramifications. Not only scientifically, but spiritually, morally, and in almost every other aspect of life. With the ability to regrow body parts, or fix birth defects, or give someone without sight microscopic definition, are we playing god? This twenty minute video is definitely worth the time, because it brings up questions that are so hard to answer, but it’s so important to try.
The Video.
  

The Egyptian Revolution

I’m sure most of you have heard about the current revolution occurring in Egypt right now. Its people are rising up against their government, and calling for their president, Hosni Mubarak, to step down. While the world awaits the outcome of this uprising, I cannot help but thinking about the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the saying, “History repeats itself.” High inflation, high food prices, unhappy people, rioting, countless signs and symptoms of a revolution. And recently, we are seeing the same poor economic status, coupled with tyrannical leaders, leading to the riots in Tunisia, and now Egypt.

Hopefully, with a democratic government, Egypt can receive the responsive leadership it is searching for. A government that focuses on its people. I find it amazing that after studying the French Revolution from the eighteenth century, we can see history being made, in the Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions of the 21st.