Jahmel Jordon Writing & Rhetoric Research Paper Sources Possible Thesis: 1.

Has natural selection allowed for us as humans to eventually completely bypass selective pressures which have allowed for selection in the first place? i.e. As humans we have successfully altered our environments and are slowly gaining the capacity to alter ourselves to the point that natural pressures from the environment and genetics are affecting us less and less. 2. With major advancements in science and technology are we stepping out of the realms of being humans and becoming something more? 3. Have we begun to exceed our roles as humans? Sources: These articles all talk about the advancements we have made as humans to direct our fates as humans. We have found ways to bypass nature altogether. We have ways to make the blind see, the deaf hear, even ways to make unborn babies that should die actually live. We have stepped out of the realm of letting nature control us to us controlling nature. Has our ability to think made us more than animals? Humans after all in the grand scheme of things are animals. Are we becoming more than what nature intended? Autonomous Robocane http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/zero-moment/autonomous-self-steeringrobo-cane-and-other-co-robots-come?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=3&con=anautonomous-selfsteering-robocane-and-other-corobots-to-come An autonomous cane that aids the blind to walk
Brain-Machine Interfaces

D. Templeton, Brain Linked to Robotic Hand; Success Hailed, PittsburghPost Gazette, (30 March 2012). G. Miller, Brain Implants Help Paralyzed Monkeys Get a Grip, ScienceNOW, (18 April 2012). J. ODoherty et al., Active Tactile Exploration Using a BrainMachineBrain Interface, Nature 479, 228 (10 November 2011).

L. Hochberg et al., Neuronal Ensemble Control of Prosthetic Devices by a Human with Tetraplegia,Nature 442, 164 (13 July 2006). L. Hochberg et al., Reach and Grasp by People with Tetraplegia Using a Neurally Controlled Robotic Arm, Nature 485, 372 (17 May 2012).
Apparatuses that allow the user to control robots with their mind. Microchip allows blind to see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9243223/Eye-implantrestores-vision-to-blind-patients.html An implantable microchip can allow the patients to regain primitive sight. With a bit of refinement this can lead to the ability of giving the blind sight. Designer Babies https://sakailogin.nd.edu/access/content/group/c6f8c89b-5fb9-4737-a2a2d1364e601cb5/FERDIG%20HANDOUTS/Oct.%2014%20Reading/Designer%20Bab yMaking%20System%20Patent%20Stirs%20Controversy%20_%20Singularity%20H ub.pdf Shows methods of manipulating the genes of babies to affect their traits a process termed designer babies Treatment to fix genetic diseases http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/10/09/229167219/proposed-treatmentto-fix-genetic-diseases-raising-ethics-issues The ability to overcome a genetic disease that wont allow an embryo to live. Many debates over this process because it would involve creating a baby that would have three parents.