Previous Blogs Rolled into One

Well here are two blogs I wrote in the beginning of the semester that I never uploaded.

Gold Intrinsic or Instrumental

            Gold was once the foundation of most currencies before the establishment of fiat currency to allow for proper monetary control of economies. Gold is a solid stable investment for almost all investors looking to secure their wealth in a unchanging good. So what makes gold so valuable to the human population. Ever since early civilizations gold has been collected, melted, and fought over. Is it the intrinsic worth of the good or is it the instrumental/ value instilled by humans?

            First lets look at gold for what it is. Gold is an element with a low boiling point and a malleable solid form. This allows it to be easily molded and shaped at low temperatures by both skilled and unskilled hands. Gold can also keep its solid state even when spread extremely thin i.e. gold leaf. Gold is also a great conductor of electricity and is found in many high-end electronics. Finally gold is a fairly rare element with only .004 ppm of gold per igneous rock. This makes extraction and discovery of the substance very difficult.

            Now the reason that gold is so valuable is given to it by early humans. Gold was not useful for tools or weapons instead people valued it for its beauty. This beauty came a cost though in the form of human labor. Civilizations built around the trade of gold, silver, and copper needed a labor force to extract it from the ground and since they were doing it as such a high rate compared to other nations they obtained exuberant wealth. Palaces were decorated in it, women and men draped in it. This tradition of gold worship continues even to today to an extent. This paragraph may make gold sound like its mostly valuable due to its intrinsic value however lets look at a competing good, fools gold.

            Fool’s Gold also known as Pyrite is a shiny gold like mineral that has fooled humans for centuries into thinking its gold. However its not appreciated on nearly the same level as the “golden child”. This is due to its more common inputs iron and sulfide. Iron is far more common than gold and thus pyrite is not valued as highly, this leads me to the belief that although gold has intrinsic worth in its beauty the more important input into why its so valued to humans is it general rarity.

Source for gold rarity: http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_01/poitras022801.html

Late Night Run

Last night while on duty I found myself on a 3 am call to Hinesburg for a child with a lower respiratory infection. Long story short the child was alright and got the attention he needed however the reason for this blog was the discussion on the way. As those from the area know a ride through Hinesburg can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour… unfortunately I was going to the opposite end of the “Burg”. This leaves me a lot of time to discuss any type of topic with my fellow “backseater.” While this ride we managed to get on the topic of animal duties and rights. I found a refreshing opportunity to use my acquired knowledge from the course in my everyday life. For the next forty minutes we discussed the intricacies of animal testing (where we found common ground with Cohen) and we both agreed that although we have a love for our protein rich diet that the atrocities committed within CFOs should be brought to light so the general public can make a choice between cheap meat and cheap meat. Perhaps this is not what the public wants to hear about the emergency medical service; that the EMTs are so calm when others are upset, but that night we got our job done, comforted a scared mother and child, and found time to talk about the finer details of humans and their interactions with animals. 

Testing Waters

Animal Testing:

Animal testing  is a more heated issue than abuse, more intimidating then vegetarianism and more hidden then the former two. This issue is difficult to ignore and even more difficult to claim is inherently evil. The very core of testing is to examine cases of unclear issues to look for solutions, Not every test is frivolous abuse. Of course there will always be moral unjust cases such as the radiation monkey pilots and the rabbit eye tests but not every researcher's goal is unjust and cruel. We as a society need to sit down and thank our spaceship earth companions for their sacrifice to our society. Without them polio would be a word uttered behind closed doors among terrified parents and rabies would be still stalk our children in city alleys. Individually we need to honor their sacrifice. This can take form in any number of ways. Before using any kind of modern medicine imagine the tests that might have been performed. Truly visualize and internalize the suffering. Do not torture yourself though because that would defeat the sacrifice that they made. These animals are the foundation that modern medicine is based upon, with human longer lives comes wisdom and reflection. With this new knowledge, maybe we can find both an alternative to animal testing and a way to properly mourn and honor these noble creatures.

Humans: Need and Needed

Why must all animals need to exist without humans? Humans have done a lot of damage to the planet in our process of creation and destruction. However not all of interaction with animals are negative. There are certain breeds, which we have altered over the course of our history to perform tasks for us. Horses were broken by early man to ease the hard work that our frail frames could not perform, they helped to till our fields, move our goods, to name a few of their tasks; and they are respected and cared for. Then we have the obvious animals i.e. dogs and cats who’s symbiotic relationship has secured their place in the evolutionary food chain as a human companion. However not even these “pets” cannot escape the demands of humans. Below is a clip of Bernese Mountain Dogs from Dogs 101m they are pulling carts, their large frame has been breed to do this type of work and they love it.

 This is not me attempting to say that animals should love to die for human consumption. Humans have over the centuries molded their behavior and physique to create companions to our world. Like corn these animals cannot flourish in truly wild environments due to their catered lives as farm animals. If farmers properly treat their stock as both animals and their livelihood as farmers have for many centuries I do not see how removing the farm would be beneficial for these creatures. Cows should be allowed to graze, pigs should be allowed to roll in filth carefree, and chickens should establish their pecking order all without fear of random predication. In return humans will systematically slaughter parts of their population. This is a huge price to pay for these animals and I am sure that like any animal they have no interest in dying. We as humans have placed ourselves as the dominant predator of these creatures but that does not mean that we have to rob our prey of their deserved lives.