journal #2

Biomedical engineering ethics is a new field where engineering principles and techniques are used to medicine. However, it lacks of biomedical engineering ethics.
After reading all the materials, the first idea came into my mind was that the ethics would be a great obstacle for developing of the biomedical engineering.
In this journal, I will focus on the issue that if a person with a prosthetic body part can he or she be considered fully human. 
It is well considered to us that the distinguish between human and animal is thought. Based on this opinion, no matter how many prosthetic items a person has on his or her body, as long as he or she has thoughts, he or she should be considered as a person. We all know that the great astrophysicist Stephen Hawking whose body cannot move except his head. He has to rely on the machine to express his idea. However, he has made a lot of contribution to astrophysics and helped all the humans to have a deeper understanding about the cosmos. Nobody dares to say that Hawing is not a fully human. You may have the question that Hawking uses the machine to express his thought but he doesn’t have a fake body. While the machine he used and the fake body has the same function. That is to say that even if Hawking has a fake body to replace the machine, he is totally a fully human.
With the developing of the biomedical engineering, there are more and more people with disabilities can live a normal life with the help of prostheses and implants. Technology has helped the disabled a lot to make it a better life for them to live. The goal of the biomedical engineering should be focused on improving human’s quality of life. While the idea that all of the attempts based on this idea should be encouraged is totally wrong. All of the manipulation should have a deep understating on human identity and dignity.