〓DIES IN FLAMS〓 Issue88 by jessicalulu

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issue88 Technologies not only influence but actually determine social customs and ethics.

Along with the innovation of the technology, our social customs and ethics are gradually changing, whether we are conscious of it. However, the speaker overstates the influence of technology. In my opinion, technologies have not achieved the extent to which they actually determine social customs and ethics.

Firstly, by virtue of the globalization brought by the internet and the convenient travel across national boundaries, the tradtional customs are interacting with the others. For example, Chinese people, who become better understanding and accepting the western customs. With the benefit of far-ranging effects of the television programs broadcasted by the tv sets which were invented in 20th century, Chinese people began to know about the customs of other countries distinctly different from ours, from which the chinese people know about western foods and feasts, as well as all kinds of manners of different areas. In contemporary China, there is no surprising to the fact that children prefer hamburgers to traditional chinese food, youngsters favor the valentine's day, and every person from child to old man, appeciates that embracing our American friends is a just normal amenity, which is considered to be discourteous in ancient China. Admittedly, the obvious change of social customs is brought by the advancement of technologies.

Secondly, the emergece of a myriads of new products and affairs has challenged our traditional ethical system. For instance, in the field of medicine, the development of the technology provides opportunities to treat innumerous incurable disease in the past, at the same time which posed several controversial issues such as ethical problem about research on human stem cells. As a matter of fact, the idea that cultivating stem cells which taken from the patient develops into an certain organ or some tissues, then the patient's failure organ or tissue would be superceded by the cultivated homegenic healthy one, thereby the patient surviving, should be perfect. However, as the result of the limitation of ethics, which suppose human stem cell to be cloned for the purpose of copy oneself making use of the rapid development of clone technique, a few people think it is unjustifiable to the research on stem cell. Ironically, in several countries, the government has admitted it is legal and most residents would like to accept scientists' trials to research on human stem cells for medical purpose, which after all is to improve the level of the medicine.

Thirdly, although technology is influential to social customs and ethics, it is not a decisive factor. While those customs from other nations and traditonal customs are fused to some extent, the diversity of the customs does not decrease. We would not abandon our tradition, even imagine. Similarly, while the criteria of ethics are likely to step back in front of the challenge of new ideas, however, the radically fundament of ethics has not change, as illustrated by the unaltered antipathy for violence, when the action movies prevail in the movie market.

From what has been discussed above, we may arrive at a conclusion that by far- ranging internet, tv program, and the convenient visits brought by the advancement of technology, different customs are interacting each other. although technologies are influencing social customs and ethics, they have not achieved the extent to which they actually determine social customs and ethics.