Trade-Offs

Julia Johnson In today’s society, there are many trade-offs for technological advances. Different people may argue whether or not these trade-offs are for better or worse. It is my belief that today’s technological advances are for the common good and can result in immeasurable blessings. My cousin, Jennifer, has been married for over eighteen years. Her lifelong dream was to become a mother. After trying for years to conceive with no luck, Jennifer and her husband eventually turned to in vitro fertilization treatment. Five tries and thousands of dollars later, they were finally blessed when their first son, Kyle, was born. About two years later, Jennifer and her husband decided to undergo the in vitro fertilization treatment just one more time with the hopes of one more little blessing. This time their wish came true right away, but was multiplied by three; nine months later Ryan, Jack, and Brooke were born. I love my little cousins so much and couldn’t imagine having a family function without them running around to keep me busy. Therefore, regardless of all that Jennifer and her husband have gone through to have their children, my little cousins are living proof of how much of a blessing the trade-offs of technological advances can be. Both “Souls on Ice,” the newspaper feature article by Liza Mundy, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley express blessings resulting from technological advances. In “Souls on Ice,” Janis Elspas went through the same treatment as Jenifer, resulting in an almost exact destiny. She had her first child from an in vitro fertilization treatment and had her triplets after multiple attempts of the treatment. “Elspas worked hard to get her children, and is grateful to have them” (Appendix 19a). The article also mentions that “a San Francisco woman gave birth using an embryo that had been frozen for 13 years” (Appendix 19h). The use of technology to keep this embryo frozen for that amount of time allowed the women to have a baby