I Think Therefore IB

When discussing inductive reasoning in the natural sciences in F-period today, I mentioned an experiment I had read about the other day on certain types of sea sponges that conduct light to their interior. Interestingly, the article even mentions that the experiment was based on previous observations.
I also happened to stumble across another article with the eye-catching title “Impregnating Your Mother-in-Law” that connects us to another side of science (as well as ethics, and it invokes issues of language too). Of course, an article with such a title just had to be ToK material – and indeed it is. Really, ask yourself how has parenthood changed over time and what is scientifically possible now that was not fifty or even only twenty-five years ago (or less?)? How does it complicate things for social scientists as they draw up a family tree? Must we redefine ‘incest’ (which is, of course, a subjective term to start with, yet apparently a universal taboo)? Why is it permissible for a grandmother to carry her own grandchildren, or a grandfather to father (yes, father) his daughter-in-law’s child but not for a brother and sister to procreate? The couple explains their controversial case here and this article on a science blog discusses why this should not be a crime. The blogger, an archeologist, brings up a number of scientific arguments related to genetic defects that the German couple used in their attempt to overturn German incest law. Additionally, he makes the point that because the couple was brought up separately (and without knowing of the existence of the other sibling) “[t]heir anti-incest biological programming never had any opportunity to do its thing”. We might at this point recall our reading on “The Universal Language” when discussing the definition for “innate”, stating that we are biologically programmed to learn every language but that certain conditions must be present at a certain time in order for us to learn any one language. Here, with the incest case, the argument of course is that these two siblings could never “biological imprint” their ‘innate digust factor’ (if that is what we want to call it) to not see each other as possible partners.
Finally, I also mentioned genes in one class, stating that the term had existed for a long time, although not the precise scientific knowledge that we have now – though this was not something I had been aware of until reading this article on our evolving understanding of genes and the human genome.