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an assignment for an undergraduate course at
Thomas
Sowell
About Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell was born on June 30, 1930 in
Sowell has held jobs as an economist with AT&T and the Department
of Labor. He was the project director at the Urban Institute for two years starting in 1972, an adjunct scholar of the American Enterprise Institute for one year starting in 1975, and a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford for one year starting in 1976. Sowell was more interested in
teaching and in 1965, he began a professorship at
Thomas Sowell is a very well published author. He has written over a dozen books and
innumerable articles, essays, and columns.
He does not limit himself to the field of economics. His writings have covered topics ranging
“from classic economic theory to judicial activism, from civil rights to
choosing the right college.” His books
have been translated into Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, Chinese, Swedish,
Polish, Hebrew, Bulgarian, and Indonesian.
His book Vision and the Anointed was published in 1995 and
emerged on three major best-seller lists: The Wall Street Journal, the New York
Times, and USA Today. In 1984, he found a career as a regular
newspaper columnist, though he had been contributing throughout the late
seventies and early eighties. His syndicated column appears in over 150
newspapers nationwide, and his also writes a column for Forbes Magazine.
(Sowell, 2000; Sowell, n.d.; Sowell, 2004)
Thomas Sowell and GMOs
I was unable to obtain any specific information
regarding Thomas Sowell’s views on genetically modified or transgenic
organisms, but some articles and quotations led me to believe he would not
support such technology. At least two of
his articles for his syndicated column speak negatively of
environmentalists. He says they are
selfish and bigoted. Sowell questioned
why humans should be inconvenienced for the sake of saving a couple of
endangered animals or preserving national wildlife parks. He also doesn’t understand why the media
continues to take these people seriously since they have no qualifications
(Sowell, 2000 April; Sowell, 2002 Green Bigots). One could be extremely anti-environmentalist
but still support the development of GMO technology. They do have the potential to be more
economical than traditional agricultural methods. Two other quotes convinced me
otherwise.
1. “Scientists are now putting jellyfish genes in monkeys. I don’t know what they’re trying to produce, but they could end up producing academic administrators.” (Sowell 2002, Random Thoughts) According to many other articles, Sowell is not a huge fan of administrators or any sort. Basically, with this quote he is saying scientists could potentially create something unpleasant and unnecessary.
2. “Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has
involved replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area - crime, education,
housing, race relations - the situation has gotten worse after the bright new
theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of
failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor
discredited them.” (Sowell, 1993) This
was intended for social scientists, but I think it is appropriate to
extrapolate to biological scientists.
Neither failure nor disaster (or potential disaster in the case of GMOs)
has stopped scientists from continuing to produce new technologies and
experiment with different transgenic organisms.
The impact on surrounding wildlife is not completely known, yet the
technology keeps on growing.
Works Cited
<http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/pubaffairs/newsletter/03031/sowell.html>
Moncur, Michael. The Quotations Page. 2003. 25 January 2004. <http://www.quotationspage.com/>
Sowell, Thomas. “About Thomas Sowell.” n.d. Creators.com – Creators Syndicate. 25 January 2004. <http://www.creators.com/opinion_Shell.cfm?pg=biography.html&columnsname=tso>
Sowell, Thomas. “Quotations by Author.” 1993. Is Reality Optional?. The Quotations Page. 25 January 2004. <http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Thomas_Sowell/>
Sowell, Thomas. “Green Bigots Versus Human Beings.”
Sowell, Thomas. “Random Thoughts.”
Sowell, Thomas. Home page. 2000.
Sowell, Thomas. Home page. 2004. 25 January 2004. < http://www.tsowell.com>
Sowell, Thomas. “Silly Letters.” Jewish World Review Insight. 1 October 2003. Creators Syndicate. 25 January 2004. <http:www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell100103.asp>
Sowell, Thomas. “Stealing
<http:www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell040300.asp>
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