Darell
F. Calayag
2011-41836
Sir Juned Sonido STS X2
2011-41836
Sir Juned Sonido STS X2
Reaction
Paper on Population
The
effects of population on the environment cannot be hidden from everyone. On the
documentary we watched, how resources are being consumed by the population was
talked about. Landscapes are artificially changed nowadays.
During
the old times, everyone had to forage for food. Plants became the start of a
food chain being a producer. A certain species population is controlled by the
amount of food in its environment and vice versa. For example, forests. Plants
feed the herbivorous ones who get eaten by the carnivores who will get eaten or
die and become fertilizer to the land. This cycle continued for every species,
until humans came to the picture.
The
human species had become an exception to this pop control. We used our skill to
manipulate tools and the environment to our will to support bigger population,
in the expense of changing the land’s natural design. Forests are cleared and
wide areas are turned to farm focusing only on production of food with certain
geometrical patterns developed for planting and harvesting efficiency.
This
is one thing other species do not have, which in turn leads them to their near
extinction. Fortunately, our race has started to notice that our continued
growth is affecting our environment and causing the extinction of other
species. Our scientists have created artificial environments, encased in
protective covering or roofs to maintain it that can house these nearly extinct
flora and fauna and hopefully grow them to a bigger population again. We have
yet again proved the skill of our hands being able to even control the very
environment.
However,
a time will come where the earth will not even be enough to support all of us
as this rate of change continues. And this is what interests me the most. Space
exploration. They showed us what other planets would look like if we tried to
place artificial environments there. In order to support our growing
population, they will have to expand to other planets as well. Will we have to
move other species to make more room for us? That is one question that has been
bugging me after watching that show. Will our uncontrollable greed lead us to
the complete extinction of other species that cannot serve us any purpose?
I
also wanted to refute some of the thoughts given by the speaker in that show,
where we must be controlled by the environment. First of all, no one wants to
see their loved ones die helplessly from sickness without finding a cure or
their family starving to death, right? This is what makes us, us. Our desire to
not experience tragedies like that make us want to advance and control this
events. Therefore, lesser casualties make the population grow faster. We then
control the environment to do that, and therefore the environment can’t take
control anymore.
Darell
F. Calayag
2011-41836
Sir Juned Sonido STS X2
2011-41836
Sir Juned Sonido STS X2
Reaction Paper on Life of Mammals
In
order to survive, a living organism must be able to adapt to its surrounding.
This concept of Natural selection where only the strong lives pertains to those
that can adapt to the environment are able to continue on and propagate their
species while those that cannot will be left behind and die out. The show we
watched about the different species of monkeys gave us a better look in this.
Some
monkeys, even though small, are able to feed off on plants and some on insects.
Based on the area where they live, their diet changes. For example, those
living near lakes and a little bit away from the forest catch other birds in
supplement to their herbivorous diet, making them omnivorous. The smaller ones
living on forests live on tree tops and mingle with other species, feeding off
on plants and insects. But there are those who gain some strange habit of
getting their food. One good example is the monkey that eats shellfishes. It
has a good grasping ability, but is still not enough to open the shellfish and
eat whatever is inside it. They use their grasping ability to hold the
shellfish and hit it against other surfaces till it shows a little opportunity
to open it and eat the insides. It’s fascinating how they pass on the culture
to their offspring as it is shown that the younger members of the same species
of monkeys are trying to imitate what their elders are doing.
Another
thing is the hierarchy on their society, where there are alpha males, females
and males. The alpha males dominate everyone on the society. The females follow
the males; however, some do follow the non-alpha male occasionally. This can be
compared to cheating on your wife/husband on human society. The alpha males can
have many different female partners, while some of the female in their society
try to break free from the alpha male and go with other potential partners.
This kind of society where there are pack leaders, followers and workers
(consider these as the ones that take care of the youngsters) is similar to
what we have. The alpha males can be compared to the government who decide on
what the people should do.
Some
monkeys also tend to mingle with other species to form a united group that can
warn each other of impending danger. This is similar to alliances between
different nationalities to guard against threats that a single nationality
won’t be able to tackle alone.
I
think that Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species,” do hold credibility if we
base it on this. We humans also have the same way of passing our culture to the
younger generations. We choose to demonstrate first and experiment on things
then pass it on to others if it is beneficial to us. The similarity between how
this monkeys act and humans cannot be denied.
Darell
F. Calayag
2011-41836
Sir Juned Sonido STS X2
2011-41836
Sir Juned Sonido STS X2
Reaction
Paper on Dr. Custer Deocaris
The
invited speaker last time seemed multi-talented to me. According to this site, http://www.apbionet.org/election10/biodata/Custer.pdf,
after researching more about him after class, I felt that I can’t even compare
to him even after n years, where n is a number between 20 and 40.
Custer C.
Deocaris, Ph.D. This guy from the DOST who was the guest speaker last time
inspired me. His talk about lots of failures in his life turning into some
grand success was like a fairy tale to me. Imagine him going to other countries
to finish some heavy science course, it doesn’t come as easy as a pie. He had
to go through hardships to go to school and fund it up, and even when he was
rejected, he did not give up and eventually found some lab where he was
accepted. The saying “If there is a will, there’s a way,” definitely showed
itself.
I
was like “What the hell is this guy talking about? Is that even real?” when he
started talking to us about immortality and cancer cells. I do know that cancer
cells do reproduce fast, but to connect it to immortality is something even
greater. Add up more of his achievements, that including the advocacies he led,
you can really call him a multi-talented guy with lots of luck.
After
hearing such a story (which is actually real after some researching on the
person itself), I had to evaluate what is happening with my tenure here in the
University of the Philippines Diliman. Will I be able to reach heights like
that someday? That guy just took on everything, even if it’s something beyond
his profession. That guy was already advanced when he was a kid, and I wasn’t
like that when I was a kid. He is even knowledgeable on law. I’m still clueless
about law, and not even close to his academic record. But he did prove that
everything depends on the person itself.
Because
of that guy, I’ve remade my course plan for my remaining tenure in UP so that I
will have more time for my thesis and hopefully get a good job and get another
degree.
No comments:
Post a Comment