Issue119 by happyhappypig

happyhappypigUID: 2342810

Issue119
"When research priorities are being set for science, education, or any other area, the most important question to consider is: How many people's lives will be improved if the results are successful?"

First Version
Time 45min
Words: 569
From the discovery of penicillin to the wide spread usage of Pasteur's sterile method, from the radioactive treatment of cancers to the potential organ transplant developed from the patient's own stem cells, progresses and improvement in medical science have saved lots of people. What should be put in the priority concern in the field of science, education or other areas? Is the number of people's lives we can be saved or improved? From my point of view, successful research which can improve lives of the majority is definitely of significant meaning to us, yet it is not always the case.

Admittedly, no matter what field we are working in, the improvement of the majority people should be put in to priority since they are the foundation and impetus of our society. In the field of scientific study, most of the funding come directly or indirectly from the public, either through government's support or provided by business sponsors. Without their contribution, hardly can scientists make great progressions in their related field. In return, improvement of people's life would increase their working efficiency and productivity, push forward the development of society. In consequence, more financial support could be allocated to the scientific study. With improving living condition and physical healthiness of the public, the speed our society stepping forward would be faster.

However, in reality, not all researches are directly related to the improvement of people's life in short term, yet they should be still priority concern due to their long term impact on our next generations. For example, any research trying to save the original rain forests in the world may have no connection with improvement of our life. However, with tight connection between human beings and the Mother Nature, the fate of these forests would influence our atmosphere composition, the amount of precipitations, frequencies of typhoons, storms and other nature disasters. Also, aqueous and forest animals are also affected if we leave them alone. Although researches into these related areas may not affect our life at the moment, their investigation would alarm us about the seriousness of such issue and provide us feasible suggestions to have sustainable development so that our next generations would be able to enjoy the same sunshine as ours instead of worrying about lacking enough oxygen for breath or short of food due to the break up of ecosystem. To this extent, those researches related to the quality of our life in the long term should be also put into priority position.

Moreover, researches related to our past should also be put into priority concern since we could learn lessons from such studies and improve our future life. Researches like historical studies about endangered languages, the underling meaning or formation of certain rituals and ceremonies or the significant meaning of particular historical events seems have little connection with our contemporary life. As a matter of fact, studies which reveal the processes of our culture formation, traditions and customs and the establishment of our moral norms nowadays. They cannot improve our lives, but they help us know our past and trace our identity.

From the analysis above, it may be safe for us to draw a conclusion that researches with the potential to improve our lives should be put in the priority concern. At the same time, studies which can bring benefits to our next generations or those would evaluate our past should be also emphasized.

Second Version
Words: 660
Editing time: 30 min
From the discovery of penicillin to the wide spread use of Pasteur's sterile method, from the radioactive treatment of cancers to the potential organ transplant developed from the patient's own stem cells, progresses and improvement in medical science, physics and other related areas have saved lots of people’s lives. What should be put in the priority concern in the field of research? Is the number of people's lives we can be saved or improved? From my point of view, successful research which can improve lives of the majority is definitely of significant meaning to us, yet plenty of other studies which could bring us long lasting benefits or those tracing our past are equally important.

Admittedly, researches related to the improvement of the majority people should be put into priority since the public are the foundation and impetus of our society. In any research studies, most of the funding comes directly or indirectly from the public, either through government's support or provided by business sponsors. Without their contribution, hardly can scientists make any progression in their related field. For example, in order to study the mechanism causing Parkinson disease and possible treatment, database related to all the patients syndromes and tissues should be kept properly, whose maintenance may equals to the financial income of one province in Korea. If researches successfully figure our corresponding treatment, great number of people would lead a normal but happy life. Such improvement would increase their working efficiency and productivity, pushing forward the development of society. Consequently, more financial support could be allocated to the scientific researches.  Continuing of the above beneficial circles would require us to consider such researches as priority.

However, in reality, not all researches are directly related to the improvement of people's lives in short term, yet still essential due to their long term impact on our next generations. With the fast development of technology and over exploration of nature resources, the area of primeval forests is declining sharply. Although related researches have no connection with the improvement of our lives, the tight connection between human beings and natural environment gain the attention from scientists worldwide. The fate of these forests would influence our atmosphere composition, the amount of rain precipitations, frequencies of typhoons, storms and other nature disasters and the existence of aqueous and forest animals. Investigation in the related areas would alarm us the seriousness of such issue and provide us feasible suggestions for us to adopt sustainable development so that our next generations would be able to enjoy the same sunshine as ours instead of worrying about lacking enough oxygen for breath or shortage of food due to the crash of ecosystem. To this extent, those researches related to the quality of our life in the long term should be also be emphasized.

Moreover, researches related to our past are of equal importance since lessons from past would help us improve our future life. Researches such as revitalizing endangered languages, formations of rituals and ceremonies or the significance of particular historical events seems have little connection with our contemporary life. However, actually these are the studies revealing the formation of our culture, tradition and customs, as well as the establishment of our moral norms today. They cannot improve our lives since their focus is on our past, yet their outcomes reveal our inner characteristics and would give us directions in the further development. For example, the study on the Confucianism may not save lives in the accidents, yet the grateful, thankful, humble and other spirits it spreads would help victims in the accidents and in larger scales provide social stability and harmony, deserve our focus.

From the analysis above, it may be safe for us to draw a conclusion that researches with the potential to improve our lives should be put in the priority concern. At the same time, studies which can bring benefits to our next generations or those would evaluate our past should be also emphasized.

如果不改就没法看了，写的还是很烂啊，使劲砸吧

[ 本帖最后由 happyhappypig 于 2007-7-23 15:05 编辑 ]