Month: December 2018

Should everyone have access to free medical care?

Key words: ‘should everyone’, ‘access’, ‘free medical care’

• A basic human right
• Medicines/vaccines should be stock-piled in developing countries (depending on the need)
• Efforts should be made to check everyone’s health
• Role of the WHO
• Free immunisation programmes (Ebola)
• Cheaper generic medicines are delayed through pharmaceutical patents
• Wealthier nations should fund
• The pharmaceutical industry requires a return on their investment to fund further research
• Problems of logistics/corruption/recruiting qualified professionals to administer
• Responsibility of individual governments to provide some funding and organised programmes
• Should not: to avoid people abusing the system; having a carefree life; creating dependency and not leading a healthy lifestyle

If we are pushed far enough, we are all capable of acting aggressively, but we are not all equally aggressive. Discuss what makes some people more aggressive than others.

For and against arguments for aggression and aggressive behaviour

  • aggression is an expression of the survival instinct
  • people respond differently to triggers but are all capable of acting aggressively, even the most passive
  • people learn to be aggressive or to control it as a result of their upbringing
  • aggression management techniques can be taught to help people control their aggression
  • aggression may be channelled into competitive sports
  • aggression is sometimes necessary for the greater good
  • aggression can be an uncontrolled response; non-aggression is more likely to be a rational choice based on beliefs.

‘Our understanding of modern technology is enhanced by knowledge of mathematics’. Discuss.

Keywords: ‘modern technology’, ‘enhanced’, ‘mathematics’, ‘discuss’

• There needs to be a binary/digital understanding of mathematics
• Many Computer languages (Java and MATLAB) – are based on mathematics in formulaic/coded/encrypted sense
• More accessibility and understanding when technology fails
• Mathematics also enables an understanding of programming
• Extract patterns from data • Understand computer modelling to test theories
• As a part of science which requires a foundation in Mathematics
• Requires an understanding of instructions more than Mathematics
• Accessible to everyone
• Function and use are enhanced by other factors (ease of communication)
• Mathematics enhances if specialist knowledge is required (a career in computer programming)

How far can the arts change the world?

  • the arts range from high art to popular culture
  • the arts offer a personal experience for everyone
  • the arts push the boundaries of acceptability over time (eg Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain)
  • for many, the arts hold little interest or influence
  • the arts might encourage people to view society from different perspectives (eg Damien Hirst’s winning “Mother and Child (Divided),” a cow and a calf bisected and emerged in formaldehyde, was a tabloid sensation.)
  • the arts could be seen as a reflection of society and its values at the time
  • Contemporary works like Bansky can highlight issues that need to be solved
  • arts can be elitist (Read Article)
  • arts can be sexist (eg Les demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), Pablo Picasso _

How far can poorer countries benefit from scientific developments?

For and against points for poorer countries benefit from science

  • Present a broad interpretation of ‘poorer’.
  • Present a broad interpretation of ‘scientific’ to embrace technology/medicine etc.
  • the extent to which difficulties posed by pricing are insurmountable/avoidable, eg, declining prices; increasing affordability of new technologies; pricing of medicines may be slower to decline
  • ways in which companies/countries might not see it in their financial/political interests for poorer countries to profit
  • the problem of the ‘brain drain’ of talented scientists being attracted to richer countries for study, practice and research
  • the main beneficiaries actually are within a country – the state/individuals/particular groups
  • Poor countries may have other urgencies