Yes, Don't Impede Medical Progress

I found this essay to be very interesting and intellectually challenging. This assignment will help me with writing my own research paper by using similar strategies to present my argument. Below, you will find the answers to the discussion questions.

1. The thesis statement that the author is trying to support is the fact that: “Scientists hope to coax embryonic stem cells into becoming specialized tissue such as nerve, muscle, or pancreatic islet cells. Therapeutic cloning, or nucleus transplantation, could make such treatment more effective”. The author placed the thesis statement in paragraph two in order to have a strong introduction of her argument in the first paragraph.

2. The author connects her agreement to the broader issues in paragraph 17 where she states that biomedicine has already “altered the human experience”. For instance, she states that our life expectancy has doubled worldwide, childbirth is no longer a danger to mother and infant, and childhood is no longer a time for early death. Her argument is that biomedicine has already affected human lives in a positive way. She leads you with the feeling of, “Why stop now”? The author’s use of the progress of biomedicine is a very effective argument.

3. The strategy of answering the objections to an argument is important because it negates the critics of the author’s argument. The main arguments are, a fertilized egg is a person, unscrupulous people will take advantage of cloning, and we should not be involved in human genetic engineering. The main strategies that she used to answer her critics are centered on common sense dialog that addressed the potential of biomedicine.

4. The word “fear” was used several times in the essay in order to play on the emotions of her audience. The author realizes that cloning, advanced cell technology of a human egg, and stem cell research conjures up fear and doubt in the minds of certain populations in America, such as, the anti abortion movement.

5. In a very subtle way, the author explains how our culture has evolved very slowly to progress to our current stag. She explains that our lives our very different from our ancestors because of the advancement of science. She ends her argument by stating that we should let the “process continue”. The effect on the reader is that we should not stop the progress of science research. The fact that she did not mention cloning in her closing argument, was a very strong and legitimate tactic because it left the reader feeling as if it would foolish to stop the natural progression of science research and technology.