Feed

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1. Space Travel 2. Currently, in our society, there are many ideas spreading about civilian space travel. About a year ago, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic announced that he had opened a new company called Virgin Galactic. This idea though isn’t gone as far as to the moon or interplanetary travel, but is currently for a different type of, international travel. It consists of a smaller size plane with two cockpits and a stretched wing. The concept basically consists of the “plane” going the opposite direction of the Earths rotation. Once it is in space, it doesn’t have atmospheric friction to slow it down and already has the momentum to keep going until declination. The idea of the Earth spinning the opposite speed of the plane will double the speed and save oil as well as get passengers to their location faster. Although this proposal is not in the interplanetary stage, it has the potential to get there, possible in the near future. Another idea, this one interplanetary and maybe even interstellar, is the idea of using solar sails. The sun produces solar wind. This will help a spaceship with solar sails slowly speed up until it is at increasingly high speeds. With this, dreams of travel to even another star can be made a reality. 3. At this stage, it is very hard to find negatives to these ideas. Of coarse there is a lot of risk and money involved but overall the outcome will probably be good. The problem is, there’s still some time before we actually accumulate the technology needed to accomplish this. 1326415521
 * Vallab Nayak~**

1. In the novel __Feed__, many people in the society own flying cars, traveling in tubes that go in every which way, which take them into different towns. Today, many companies are researching and working to create the perfect flying car that will be available on the market. The most known and realistic company is //Terrafugia,// which has created a half-car, half-plane form of travel called //Transition.// It made its debut flight two years ago. Like the flying cars in __Feed,__ //Terrafugia// can be transformed from a car to a plane. 2. The benefits of this technological advance is that there would be less traffic and travel would be much faster. With routes in the air and on the ground, there would be far less car-jams. In addition, flight from the air would take less time than travel on the ground. 3. The danger of having flying cars is that it would be a step back in our fight to reduce pollution. With flying cars, there would be even more air-pollution. Furthermore, in the novel, society has an entirely different route with tubes for flying cars. If we were to allow this advance in technology, we would have to create different, new laws and routes. Thus, there would be different problems in traffic. In addition, flying cars are to be sold at a starting price of around $280,000. With the troubled economy, not many people will have the money to purchase these cars. Is it really worth the trouble of creating a new system of laws and driving/pilot-licence requirements for the few people who will be able to afford flying cars? //Harita Vyas-// 1. Today's technology is quickly advancing and is quickly reaching some of the advances that are mentioned in the novel, __Feed__ by M.T. Anderson. Today, we are able to create test tube babies by mixing the egg and the sperm outside the body and then placing it back inside the __woman__'s body and then the __woman__ goes through the formal pregnancy. That is very close to what happens in __Feed__ though what we have today isn't as advanced or even as quick for that matter. In __Feed__, people in labs are able to make test tube babies in front of the parents' very eyes rather than the parents having to go through the entire pregnancy.
 * Debby Cheng-**

2. The benefits of this advance are that couples that are unable to have __children__ because of medical issues, most can try and often succeed to have children this way. Couples can be given an opportunity to have a __family__ of their own.

3. The dangers of this advance are that medical issues are a concern. Test tube babies are known to be born underweight compared to babies not born from test tubes which is a concern. People worry that health issues such as; obesity, diabetes, etc. The population up rise is also another issue. There are already so many __children__ out there that don't have parents, a home or even basic necessities such as food and __water__, so instead of adopting those children or taking care of them, would it be right to bring even more babies into this world. Another issue are ethical beliefs. Some people believe that bringing babies into the world through test tubes isn't morally right and that babies should be crated naturally rather than through a scientific technique.

Today's technology is not that much far from achieving the reality of flying cars. Many organizations have already began and been modeling and testing their versions of a "flying car." The most well known and realistic is one by Terrafugia, the Transition. It's an aircraft aimed towards pilots that has the duel action of being able to be driven on road. These crafts have been pre-sold and are set to be distributed to their customers late this year. Though, drivers of this craft won't be able to make "the Transition" in the middle of the street; the transition from wheels to flight and vise versa would have to be done in a private airport. With this, we won't be seeing this casual car flying world that this book Feed lives in, for a while now.
 * //Lia Davies-//**

This advancement of flying cars can really help our world. Due to population growth, this alternate form of transportation would come in handy and would rid traffic jams a farewell. Though, there are many dangers of this kind of craft. First, it would obviously make terrorism an ease and would cause a lot more damage if there were an accident, such as crashing into a house, store, etc. Also, it is not very likely that the average person can become a good pilot. If drunk driving is an issue and car accidents can be very hazardous, imagine would damage and threats flying cars could put upon not only the airways, but people on the ground and their homes, too!

In the book __Feed__ by M.T. Anderson, a teenager named Titus and his friends visit the moon for spring break. Todays technology is close to acheiving civilian moon travel. In fact, a private company called Space Adventures brought the first tourists up into space. The tourists spent sixteen days at the international space station and a five day side trip to the moon.This amazing trip did come at a price though- it cost over one hundred million dollars. As technology progresses, this amount might cost as much as an international airline ticket. There are many benifits to this advancement, and also many dangers. This advancement in science and technology would help population growth. If people were to visit and even live on the moon, the population on Earth would decrease and there would be less demands for necessary supplies and less deforestation. The dangers that come with moon travel are high blood pressure and moon dust. Changes in gravity can cause blood pressure to fluctuate. Changing blood pressure cause a myriad of health problems. Also the dust on the moon (which is the consistancy of flour) can seep through a persons space suit, get into their lungs, and either cause a fever or suffocate them to death. Also the amount of money spent on this trip can put alot of people in debt. In the future when technology becomes more advanced and scientists can create cheeper and better ways to bring people to the moon, the seen on the moon in __Feed__ can become a reality.
 * Amanda Gross-**

Although we now have several of the advances that seemed far fetched in the show from the 60's known as "The Jetsons," (video chat, jobs where all you do is push buttons, etc.) there is still one major question people ask: Where are the flying cars? In M.T. Anderson's novel, __Feed,__ everyone flies in something known as an "upcar" which is just a flying car. We are actually very close to having flying cars used in everyday commutes. A company known as "Terrafugia" has already created //and// tested the "Transition," which is what they describe as an airplane that can also be used for standard ground transportation. In fact, the Transition is expected to start being sold by the end of 2012. Also, NASA is developing a prototype of a vehicle called the "Puffin" which is a very small aircraft that would take off from any location just like a helicopter. Clearly, not only are we exploring this technology, we are actually in the stage of producing the technology for those who can afford it (a single Transition costs around $200,000 and the license required to fly one costs between $2000 and $5000). Although companies are already developing and producing flying cars, we haven't achieved the practicality of flying cars in __Feed.__ However, if we did achieve this, there would both be some very obvious benefits and some very obvious deficits. The major benefit this would bring would be the reduced congestion on our very crowded roads. Many Americans have to deal with over 1 hour of traffic every week, and the amount of cars on the highways are not decreasing. If more people did their morning commute in the sky, we would not have to worry about people getting stuck in traffic on the ground. Another benefit this would bring would be another market that would be controlled by America for a significant amount of time. Most successful flying cars have been produced by American companies. If we started exporting flying cars to other countries, our economy would do much better because more money would be coming into the states, rather than the other way around. However, there are also disadvantages to having regular people ruling the skies with their cars. For example, if a car failed, it wouldn't just cause traffic and create irritated commuters, it would fall onto the ground and cause severe property damage and injuries. Secondly, our government would need to pass countless laws stating what you can and can't do in the air. If there are no paths that you must fly in, then you would have major chaos with people going too high in altitude and disrupting airplanes (they would still probably be needed for international travel) and military drills, and people going too low and accidentally crashing into buildings. Finally, if a drunk driver were to get behind the wheel (or whatever they'd use to drive) of a flying car, the result could be devastating.
 * Kevin Cadavillo-**
 * -- Comment:** I agree with Kevin about the danger of letting civilians have access to this technology but another concept can involve laser-sensory flying cars. Currently, they have already tested an automatic-drive laser-sensory car it it actually drives by it-self, a lot safer and faster than regular humans. If we could integrate this into flying vehicles, it would make aviation (flight) a lot safer. 1326412772

Man on the moon, video chats, wireless internet, cellphones, advance science...these were all so far-fetch when back in the less-advance days. In the book, Feed by M.T. Anderson, meat products were being produce on trees and 'factories'. It seems incredibly ridiculous, but it may not seem as far-fetch. Already on the outskirts of Las Vegas, shrimp and salmon 'factories' are exploring with new ways to produce. Scientist Dot Earth pointed out that it has many benefits. For one, we can get rid of the slaughter houses and end the debate on animal cruelty, less demands for land and pesticides, fewer emission of methane, and more choices to produce food without health-harming side effects. However, many specters also pointed out the potential harm it can bring. If we rely on these 'lab meats' too much, we will eventually come to a point where we don't 'need' real animals and get rid of them, this topic hasn't been explored much and can bring harm if the generated meat goes wrong, In the novel, the author brings the topic up so lightly to show readers how common it had become in that society. Babies are already been born test-tubed, so what is to stop these people from growing meat in labs? To read more about lab meat, click [|here]. and [|here].
 * Crystal Chen-**

**Cat Martin** The scientific advancement in "Feed" by M.T. Anderson that I researched was "vacations on the moon," or, more specifically, hotels on the moon. From my research, I have found that there might already be a space hotel in orbit, however, it isn't on the moon. But, proposals for lunar hotels from Hilton Inn, Dutch architects, and other people are already popping up. These proposals have been introduced back to as far as 2001! If we were to succeed in making a lunar hotel, I'm sure that colonization on the moon may not be far away, which would kind of be a good thing. But wars may start over which country own which part of the moon, so maybe we should keep our feet on good ol' earth after all.