Cryonics Essays (1599 words) - Emerging Technologies, Cryobiology

Cryonics is the low-temperature preservations of legally dead humans or pets with the hope that resuscitation in the future is possible. Fewer than 200 people have undergone the procedure since it was first proposed. This future resuscitation is aimed towards technology that can restore one to life, youth and health. Cryonicists are people who use or advocate cryonics in the hope of extending their life and youth once they have passed. The purpose of cryonics is to save the lives of living people, not inter the bodies of dead people. Through preserving sufficient cell structure and chemistry so that recover (including recovery of memory and personality) remains possible by foreseeable technology. Death is a neurological process that begins after the heart stops. A stopped heart only causes death if nothing is done when the heart stops. Cryonics proposes to do something. The purpose of cryonics is to save lives of the living people not dead people. Legally, in the United States, cryonics can only be applied to a person who has been pronounced dead by a health professional. No law allows freedom of choice in this matter. The usual point of judgment in determining death is by cessation of the heart. However, almost all cells of the body are generally still alive when death is pronounced. The main damage is always within the first hour after the heart stops. It usually takes many hours for all cells to die at room temperature, including those in the brain. Cryonicists, however, do not want to wait hours, days or weeks before attempting to slow tissue deterioration due to tissue damaging. Cooling should begin immediately after the pronouncement of death. If so, tissue deterioration is minimized dramatically. Although cryonics preserves people at very low temperatures, it does not mean that cryonics patients have been frozen. Actual freezing involves the formation of ice, causing the crystals to be very damaging to the bodys tissues. Cryonics replaces the bodys water with an anti-freeze mixture called cryoprotectants. By injecting this biologic anti-freeze substance through blood vessels, most of the bodys water can be removed and replaced with this mixture. At very low temperatures ranging from -200F/-130c the cryoprotectants harden like glass, without forming the damaging crystals, and creating parts more plastic like. This process is known as Vitrification. Vitrification can preserve organs as large as the human brain, maintaining excellent structural preservation without the hazards of freezing. The ideas of cryonics involve the proposal that people can be frozen and stored for periods of hundreds of years. Freezing it not a treatment for disease; but merely opens the possibility of future treatment to a patient. A close consideration of the kinds of disease from which we now suffer, and from which we will in future suffer, strongly suggest that freezing would yield very little real benefit to the frozen if we are only willing to contemplate freezing for short times of 20 years of so. Indeed, if we start to freeze people with the intent of doing so only for 28 years, we will be led to storing them for hundreds of years. The basic premise involves an uncertainty which no amount of purely technological discovers will removes at this time, even if someone is successfully frozen. According to experts, there is no evidence that cryonics can work and is often regarded with skepticism. Cryonics is an interdisciplinary field based on three facts from diverse unrelated sciences and based off of theoretical future technologies. These three facts are: cells and organisms need not operate continuously to remain alive. Many living things can successfully be cryopreserved and revived. Secondly, existing cryopreservation techniques, while not yet reversible, can preserve the fine structure of the brain with remarkable fidelity. This is especially true for cryopreservation by vitrification. The observations of the first fact make clear that survival of structure, not function, determines survival of the organism. And last, it is now possible to foresee specific future technologies that will one day be able to diagnose and treat injuries right down to the molecular level. Without all these facts, cryonics seems ridiculous. Cryonics is definitely not guaranteed, and can fa il in two ways. Either cryonics patients will not remain cryopreserved long

Action plan for preparing organizations to deal with the challenges and opportunities presented by diversity

Action plan for preparing organizations to deal with the challenges and opportunities presented by diversity Managers encounter enormous challenges as they try to manage diversity within the organization. To start with, they are required to learn how to handle individual versus group fairness. This refers to the extent to which the management should attempt to embrace human resource programs for purposes of dealing with diverse employee groups (Robbins Judge, 2007). Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Action plan for preparing organizations to deal with the challenges and opportunities presented by diversity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another challenge that the management has to encounter is resistance to change. Once an organization has embraced and adopted a working culture, it becomes very hard to try and change it later on. For example, resistance to diversity has made it hard for minorities and women to prosper and survive in the corporate sector. Resentment is also another issue that the management has to deal w ith. For instance, because the government imposed the Equal Employment Opportunities on organizations, many companies responded to the change in question by grudgingly complying with the government’s directive (Harvey Allard, 2009). Although employee diversity may result in better problem solving and improved creativity, it could also lead to chaos and open conflict in the event that the organization is faced with a lack of respect and mistrust amongst its workforce. As such, organizations need to embrace diversity because it would enable them to undertake their duties effectively. On the other hand, diversity at the workplace is reported to result in enhanced organization effectiveness. Diversity brings about novel ideas by fuelling innovation and creativity. This leads to the emergence of novel products and services that fulfills the needs and expectations of the customers. Diversity also results in better teamwork. This is because interaction within a diverse workforce r esults in enhanced motivation and morale, as well as better ideas in the organization (Harvey Allard, 2009). In addition, a diverse workforce gives companies a better image, patronage and reputation, in comparison with other companies that have not embraced diversity. Organizations that have embraced diversity are also likely to expand the most because of the reduced target crunch. Managers who are able to handle diversity properly help the firm to not only improve employee productivity, but also increase their motivation as well. Thus, employees feel valued, and that the firm has accorded them the dignity that they deserve. Diversity also lowers attrition and reduces absenteeism. Population growth is projected to increase further in the coming years and this will mean that organizations will be faced by more challenges and opportunities in as far as the issue of workplace diversity is concerned. Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can he lp you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There is the need therefore for the organization to prepare for the aforementioned challenges and opportunities associated with diversity. To do so, organization must first embrace diversity. Accepting multiculturalism is the first step towards embracing diversity (Robbins Judge, 2007). As such, the management should try to accept diversity both in words and deeds. The second step is to ensure that you recruit broadly. In case there is a job opening at your firm, ensure that you have in place a diverse applicant tool. Management should work hard to ensure that it does not rely on the existing workforce as a source of referral for future employees. This is because existing employees are likely to recommend candidates with similar traits. Moreover, the management needs to ensure that the selection process remains free and fair, and that it does not allow for discrimination. More importantly, the management should ensure that the selection tests are related to the job at hand. Furthermore, it is important to ensure that all the other employees are taught on the need to embrace diversity (Robbins Judge, 2007). They should be exposed to diversity training so that they can realize the value attached to it. Recognize that various groups have varying values and needs because this is also part of valuing diversity. The management should also work hard to ensure that employees’ differences are reinforced (Schaefer, 2011). Employees should also be encouraged to value and embrace diverse views. Accentuate the positive elements of diversity as a way of celebrating this concept. At the same time, management should also be ready to deal with the various challenges associated with diversity. They include miscommunication, mistrust, attitudinal differences, lack of cohesiveness, and stress. The management should also try to avoid stereotypes. These are the preconceived ideas held by an individual regarding an individual. For example, there are beliefs that some specific traits or behavior are shared by members of a given race. Thus, stereotypes establish classes and try to fit people into them. It is therefore a hindrance to diversity at the workplace. If we allow stereotypes to go on in the organization, this is bound to bring about natural divisions (Robbins Judge, 2007). To combat this, managers should try and mix the existing teams. Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Action plan for preparing organizations to deal with the challenges and opportunities presented by diversity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There is also the need for organizations to implement a diversity policy. The lack of a proper diversity policy has been linked to the high rates of attribution experienced by organizations today. Even before trying to hire diverse candidates, it is important first to ensure that the organizational e nvironment and culture support diversity. Failure to do so, we shall be faced with the challenge of retaining employees. Reference List Harvey, C. P., Allard, M. J. (2009). Understanding and managing diversity (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A. (2007). Organizational Behaviors (12th Edition). New York: Prentice Hall. Schaefer, R. T. (2011). Racial and ethnic groups (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.