Homework Assignment 13

1) Recall the relevant class. Comment on Toxoplasma Gondii. What do you think??

I believe Toxoplasma Gondii is a very interesting phenomena. I would like to relate it to the future. What if a genetic scientist could use this organism as a blue print to make an organism that directs people's minds? I have watched videos by renown scientist Craig Venter. He helped map the human genome. He gave a speech on the ability to program "blank cells" to perform desired tasks. A malicious example would be a new air borne plague that could wipe out the human race. You might think this if far-fetched, but programming cells if cutting edge technology. We could also look at how the mind works. With the release of certain chemicals in the brain we can experience different emotions. What if someone injected you with a serum that made you angry. Then they brainwashed you to hate North Koreans. They could eventually convince you to fight in a war against North Korea. We can also look at rabies. It is common knowledge that Rabies can cause a person to become agressive. True serum also generally makes people oblige to questions in even difficult circumstances.
I believe this organism had mild effects. I do not think a high number of indivuals have this parasite as stated by a source I looked at. It was interesting to see the side affects to personality. I thought many of the symptoms shown are innate to men and women naturally. However, it could be nice to check for this parasite. Who knows what limitations someone has had on themselves by not trying to cure this disease.
So in conclusion, this disease had a mild affect, but could be used in the future for harmful or manipulative applications.


2) Add more to your project. Put the new stuff in a new blog posting. Consider new material that has some connection to Toxoplasma Gondii. Alternatively, it could have a connection to some other parasite or disease, or parasites or diseases more generally. Or it might be about something completely different...your choice!

I think we could use Toxoplasma Gondii in the future as an application that will help manipulate human behavior. We can upload an altered form of this disease in order to help control people's behavior. For example, the American government could have a new breed of soldiers. These soldiers could use different physical machines integrated into their bodies to help make them more atheltic, agile, and robust. If we can convince humans to allow this amount of body modification, perhaps the government could convince them to alter their minds during war time. They could download this disease. Perhaps it could make them react quicker, act tougher, control their actions during fighting, etc. I believe that future soldiers will have body modifications, and I do not think they could complain if scientists found a way for them to act more efficiently and safely when engaging the enemy. So I do believe their is an opportunity for Toxoplasma Gondii or another mind altering disease to play some affect on trans-humanism.