IB HL Human Ingenuity

Human Ingenuity
Historical Perspective
Ex. 1 Discuss the following innovations with a partner. How do you think that these
innovations have changed the course of human history?
Ex. 2 Can you think of other innovations that have had a significant impact on civilization?
Write them in the circles provided below and discuss how they have impacted human
advancement with your partner. Did you think of the same innovations?
IB HL HUMAN INGENUITY 1
Ex. 3 Consider how human ingenuity is an important factor in multiple areas of our lives.
The progress and pace of human

ingenuity: can we keep up?
Ex. 4
Ex. 5 Vocabulary: Replace the words and phrases associated with science and research in
italics with the correct form of these synonyms.
adverse insert carry out remove
devise reproduce disorder root
due a slippery slope lead to step forward
1. It’s a major breakthrough in the fight against AIDS.

2. They basically need to address the underlying cause of the phenomenon.
3. For his homework the other day, my son had to extract DNA from a banana.
4. They stuck probes into the brains of rats.
5. To me, this experiment represents the thin edge of the wedge.
6. Researchers undertook the survey to establish a link between attitudes and health.
7. The findings could pave the way for new techniques.
8. Other scientists are yet to successfully duplicate the results under laboratory
conditions.
9. The lack of funding was down to the radical nature of the theory.
10. There are concerns about negative side effects of the procedure.
11. The study found that the genetic condition was more prevalent than first thought.
12. Scientists have created a way to detect seismic waves before earthquakes hit.
Ex. 6 Vocabulary: Complete the sentences about statistics and data with these nouns. Do
you know what the full expression means?
anomaly ends link
belief evidence research
correlation interest scrutiny
1. Contrary to popular __________________________, the latest statistics show crime has

been falling and not getting worse, as some newspapers suggest.
2. The __________________________ they carried out is fundamentally flawed. The sample
group wasn’t chosen at random – they were self-selected.
3. Because a number of variables were not covered by the data, it’s difficult to
establish a causal __________________________ between gaming and bad behavior.
4. There is conflicting __________________________. Some data shows a correlation, some
doesn’t.
5. The data showed a negative __________________________ between income and birth rate:
the richer the country, the lower the birth rate.
6. The research didn’t come up with the `right´ result so the company twisted the figures
to suit its own __________________________.
7. As it’s the run-up to the election, the government has a vested
__________________________ in removing people from the unemployment figures.
8. The figures don’t stand up to __________________________ when you look at them closely.
They’re full of holes.
9. It’s too early to say if these two figures are a part of a new upwards trend or whether
they are a statistical __________________________.
AI and Robotics
Ex. 7 These days AI is a buzzword, but how familiar are you with it? Can you match the
terms with their definitions?
A. Artificial B .Natural language C. Language model D. Neural network

intelligence (AI) processing
E. Chatbot F. Algorithm G. Machine Learning H. Deep learning
1. __________ The simulation of human mental processes done by a machine or

computer.
2. __________ The ability of a computer system to learn and improve from experience.
3. __________ Brain-inspired computing system that trains machines to recognize
patterns and predict outcomes.
4. __________ Computer capability to understand and generate language akin to
humans.
5. __________ A software application designed to hold a conversation with human users.
6. __________ A subset of machine learning consisting of neural networks with multiple
layers.
7. __________ A statistical tool that analyzes patterns in large amounts of text and learns
how words fit together.
8. __________ A set of commands that a computer follows to solve a specific problem or
perform a task.
Ex. 8 Watch a video from TedED on Artificial Intelligence and answer the following
questions.
1. According to Stuart Russel, what's one problem with the way we've designed Artificial
Intelligence?
A We give AI too many objectives to compute at once.
B We give AI a single, fixed objective.
C Computer engineers don't understand how everything in the AI system is
connected.
D The AI systems are infused with human bias.
2. Which trait can lead to psychopathic behavior on the part of AI systems, according
to the video?
A Uncertainty
B Complexity
C Certainty
D Objectivity
3. In 1930, what technical term did the economist John Maynard Keynes give for the
idea of machines replacing human workers?
A Human Redundancy Model (HRM)
B Digital Replacement Theory (DRT)
C Mechanistic Superiority
D Technological Unemployment
4. The short story "The Machine Stops," as well as the animated film Wall-e, depicts a
future in which humans have handed over the management of civilization over to
machines. This, according to the video, has what result?
A It makes people infantilized and enfeebled
B We lose the incentive to figure out how the world works
C We lose the incentive to pass knowledge down to future generations.
D All of the above.
5. Most experts say that by ______ humans will have developed general AI
A the end of the century
B the end of this decade
C 2500
D None of the above.
6. What are some obstacles that need to be overcome when building AI systems?
7. What, according to the video, are some potential dangers or problems with artificial
intelligence?
8. What's the difference between giving a human being an objective or task, versus
asking an AI system?
Ex. 9 Read the following mission statement on The Future of Life Institute’s Open letter to
pause all Giant AI Experiments and answer the following questions.
Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open

Letter - Future of Life Institute
We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems
more powerful than GPT-4. Published March 22, 2023
AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and
humanity, as shown by extensive research[1] and acknowledged by top AI labs.[2] As stated
in the widely-endorsed Asilomar AI Principles, Advanced AI could represent a profound
change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with
commensurate care and resources. Unfortunately, this level of planning and management
is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control
race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their
creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.
Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks,[3] and we

must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with
propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling
ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart,
obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions
must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders. Powerful AI systems should be developed
only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be
manageable. This confidence must be well justified and increase with the magnitude of a
system's potential effects. OpenAI's recent statement regarding artificial general
intelligence, states that "At some point, it may be important to get independent review
before starting to train future systems, and for the most advanced efforts to agree to limit
the rate of growth of compute used for creating new models." We agree. That point is now.
Therefore, we call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI
systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include
all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and
institute a moratorium.
AI labs and independent experts should use this pause to jointly develop and implement a
set of shared safety protocols for advanced AI design and development that are rigorously
audited and overseen by independent outside experts. These protocols should ensure that
systems adhering to them are safe beyond a reasonable doubt.[4] This does not mean a
pause on AI development in general, merely a stepping back from the dangerous race to
ever-larger unpredictable black-box models with emergent capabilities.
AI research and development should be refocused on making today's powerful,

state-of-the-art systems more accurate, safe, interpretable, transparent, robust, aligned,
trustworthy, and loyal.
In parallel, AI developers must work with policymakers to dramatically accelerate

development of robust AI governance systems. These should at a minimum include: new
and capable regulatory authorities dedicated to AI; oversight and tracking of highly
capable AI systems and large pools of computational capability; provenance and
watermarking systems to help distinguish real from synthetic and to track model leaks; a
robust auditing and certification ecosystem; liability for AI-caused harm; robust public
funding for technical AI safety research; and well-resourced institutions for coping with the
dramatic economic and political disruptions (especially to democracy) that AI will cause.
Humanity can enjoy a flourishing future with AI. Having succeeded in creating powerful AI
systems, we can now enjoy an "AI summer" in which we reap the rewards, engineer these
systems for the clear benefit of all, and give society a chance to adapt. Society has hit
pause on other technologies with potentially catastrophic effects on society.[5] We can do
so here. Let's enjoy a long AI summer, not rush unprepared into a fall. Preserving the future
of life: The Future of Life Institute’s Mission
How certain technologies are developed and used has far-reaching consequences for all
life on earth. This is currently the case for artificial intelligence, biotechnologies and
nuclear technology.
If properly managed, these technologies could transform the world in a way that makes life
substantially better, both for the people alive today and for all the people who have yet to
be born. They could be used to treat and eradicate diseases, strengthen democratic
processes, and mitigate - or even halt - climate change.
If improperly managed, they could do the opposite. They could produce catastrophic
events that bring humanity to its knees, perhaps even pushing us to the brink of extinction.
The Future of Life Institute’s mission is to steer transformative technologies away from
extreme, large-scale risks and towards benefiting life.
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS NEED TO BE MADE
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
Ex. 10 AI is usually highly contested in terms of its application in the education

system. Think of some pros and cons of AI in education. Write them in the spaces
below.
Ex. 11 Watch the video from the Wall Street Journal about how China is beginning to
incorporate AI into its classrooms and answer the following questions.
1. What are some ways that China is implementing technology in the classroom and in
its society?
2. How do the students in the primary school featured in the video start their day?
3. How does the headband system work? Who gets the results?
4. What are some of the problems with EEG?
5. What do the Chinese teachers say about the headbands?
6. What do some of the kids say about the headbands?
Discussion: What do you think about the use of this technology in the classroom? Is it more
harmful or beneficial for education? What implications does it have?
Ex. 12 Read the following text and answer the comprehension questions that follow.
Don’t Ban ChatGPT in Schools. Teach

With It.
OpenAI’s new chatbot is raising fears of cheating on homework, but its potential as an
educational tool outweighs its risks. By Kevin Roose Jan. 12, 2023 The New York Times.
Recently, I gave a talk to a group of K-12 teachers and public school administrators in New
York. The topic was artificial intelligence, and how schools would need to adapt to prepare
students for a future filled with all kinds of capable A.I. tools. But it turned out that my audience
cared about only one A.I. tool: ChatGPT, the buzzy chatbot developed by OpenAI that is capable of
writing cogent essays, solving science and math problems and producing working computer code.
ChatGPT is new — it was released in late November — but it has already sent many
educators into a panic. Students are using it to write their assignments, passing off A.I.-generated
essays and problem sets as their own. Teachers and school administrators have been scrambling to
catch students using the tool to cheat, and they are fretting about the havoc ChatGPT could wreak
on their lesson plans. (Some publications have declared, perhaps a bit prematurely, that ChatGPT
has killed homework altogether.)
Cheating is the immediate, practical fear, along with the bot’s propensity to spit out wrong
or misleading answers. But there are existential worries, too. One high school teacher told me that
he used ChatGPT to evaluate a few of his students’ papers, and that the app had provided more
detailed and useful feedback on them than he would have, in a tiny fraction of the time.
“Am I even necessary now?” he asked me, only half joking.
Some schools have responded to ChatGPT by cracking down. New York City public schools,
for example, recently blocked ChatGPT access on school computers and networks, citing “concerns
about negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of
content.” Schools in other cities, including Seattle, have also restricted access. (Tim Robinson, a
spokesman for Seattle Public Schools, told me that ChatGPT was blocked on school devices in
December, “along with five other cheating tools.”)
It’s easy to understand why educators feel threatened. ChatGPT is a freakishly capable tool
that landed in their midst with no warning, and it performs reasonably well across a wide variety
of tasks and academic subjects. There are legitimate questions about the ethics of A.I.-generated
writing, and concerns about whether the answers ChatGPT gives are accurate. (Often, they’re not.)
And I’m sympathetic to teachers who feel that they have enough to worry about, without adding
A.I.-generated homework to the mix.
But after talking with dozens of educators over the past few weeks, I’ve come around to the
view that banning ChatGPT from the classroom is the wrong move. Instead, I believe schools
should thoughtfully embrace ChatGPT as a teaching aid — one that could unlock student creativity,
offer personalized tutoring, and better prepare students to work alongside A.I. systems as adults.
Here’s why.
It won’t work
The first reason not to ban ChatGPT in schools is that, to be blunt, it’s not going to work. Sure, a
school can block the ChatGPT website on school networks and school-owned devices. But students
have phones, laptops and any number of other ways of accessing it outside of class. (Just for kicks,
I asked ChatGPT how a student who was intent on using the app might evade a schoolwide ban. It
came up with five answers, all totally plausible, including using a VPN to disguise the student’s
web traffic.)
Some teachers have high hopes for tools such as GPTZero, a program built by a Princeton
student that claims to be able to detect A.I.-generated writing. But these tools aren’t reliably
accurate, and it’s relatively easy to fool them by changing a few words, or using a different A.I.
program to paraphrase certain passages.
A.I. chatbots could be programmed to watermark their outputs in some way, so teachers
would have an easier time spotting A.I.-generated text. But this, too, is a flimsy defense. Right
now, ChatGPT is the only free, easy-to-use chatbot of its caliber. But there will be others, and
students will soon be able to take their pick, probably including apps with no A.I. fingerprints.
Even if it were technically possible to block ChatGPT, do teachers want to spend their nights
and weekends keeping up with the latest A.I. detection software? Several educators I spoke with
said that while they found the idea of ChatGPT-assisted cheating annoying, policing it sounded
even worse.
“I don’t want to be in an adversarial relationship with my students,” said Gina Parnaby, the
chair of the English department at the Marist School, an independent school for grades seven
through 12 outside Atlanta. “If our mind-set approaching this is that we have to build a better
mousetrap to catch kids cheating, I just think that’s the wrong approach, because the kids are
going to figure something out.”
Instead of starting an endless game of whack-a-mole against an ever-expanding army of A.I.
chatbots, here’s a suggestion: For the rest of the academic year, schools should treat ChatGPT the
way they treat calculators — allowing it for some assignments, but not others, and assuming that
unless students are being supervised in person with their devices stashed away, they’re probably
using one.
Then, over the summer, teachers can modify their lesson plans — replacing take-home
exams with in-class tests or group discussions, for example — to try to keep cheaters at bay.
ChatGPT can be a teacher’s best friend

The second reason not to ban ChatGPT from the classroom is that, with the right approach, it can
be an effective teaching tool.
Cherie Shields, a high school English teacher in Oregon, told me that she had recently
assigned students in one of her classes to use ChatGPT to create outlines for their essays
comparing and contrasting two 19th-century short stories that touch on themes of gender and
mental health: “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte
Perkins Gilman. Once the outlines were generated, her students put their laptops away and wrote
their essays longhand.
The process, she said, had not only deepened students’ understanding of the stories. It had
also taught them about interacting with A.I. models, and how to coax a helpful response out of one.
“They have to understand, ‘I need this to produce an outline about X, Y and Z,’ and they have to
think very carefully about it,” Ms. Shields said. “And if they don’t get the result that they want, they
can always revise it.”
Creating outlines is just one of the many ways that ChatGPT could be used in class. It could
write personalized lesson plans for each student (“explain Newton’s laws of motion to a
visual-spatial learner”) and generate ideas for classroom activities (“write a script for a ‘Friends’
episode that takes place at the Constitutional Convention”). It could serve as an after-hours tutor
(“explain the Doppler effect, using language an eighth grader could understand”) or a debate
sparring partner (“convince me that animal testing should be banned”). It could be used as a
starting point for in-class exercises, or a tool for English language learners to improve their basic
writing skills. (The teaching blog Ditch That Textbook has a long list of possible classroom uses for
ChatGPT.)
Even ChatGPT’s flaws — such as the fact that its answers to factual questions are often
wrong — can become fodder for a critical thinking exercise. Several teachers told me that they had
instructed students to try to trip up ChatGPT, or evaluate its responses the way a teacher would
evaluate a student’s.
ChatGPT can also help teachers save time preparing for class. Jon Gold, an eighth grade
history teacher at Moses Brown School, a pre-K through 12th grade Quaker school in Providence,
R.I., said that he had experimented with using ChatGPT to generate quizzes. He fed the bot an
article about Ukraine, for example, and asked it to generate 10 multiple-choice questions that
could be used to test students’ understanding of the article. (Of those 10 questions, he said, six
were usable.)
Ultimately, Mr. Gold said, ChatGPT wasn’t a threat to student learning as long as teachers
paired it with substantive, in-class discussions. “Any tool that lets students refine their thinking
before they come to class, and practice their ideas, is only going to make our discussions richer,” he
said.
ChatGPT teaches students about the world they’ll inhabit

Now, I’ll take off my tech columnist hat for a second, and confess that writing this piece has
made me a little sad. I loved school, and it pains me, on some level, to think that instead of
sharpening their skills by writing essays about “The Sun Also Rises” or straining to factor a
trigonometric expression, today’s students might simply ask an A.I. chatbot to do it for them.
I also don’t believe that educators who are reflexively opposed to ChatGPT are being
irrational. This type of A.I. really is (if you’ll excuse the buzzword) disruptive — to classroom
routines, to longstanding pedagogical practices, and to the basic principle that the work students
turn in should reflect cogitation happening inside their brains, rather than in the latent space of a
machine learning model hosted on a distant supercomputer.
But the barricade has fallen. Tools like ChatGPT aren’t going anywhere; they’re only going
to improve, and barring some major regulatory intervention, this particular form of machine
intelligence is now a fixture of our society.
“Large language models aren’t going to get less capable in the next few years,” said Ethan
Mollick, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “We need to figure
out a way to adjust to these tools, and not just ban them.”
That’s the biggest reason not to ban it from the classroom, in fact — because today’s
students will graduate into a world full of generative A.I. programs. They’ll need to know their way
around these tools — their strengths and weaknesses, their hallmarks and blind spots — in order to
work alongside them. To be good citizens, they’ll need hands-on experience to understand how this
type of A.I. works, what types of bias it contains, and how it can be misused and weaponized.
This adjustment won’t be easy. Sudden technological shifts rarely are. But who better to guide
students into this strange new world than their teachers?
Comprehension Questions:
A. From statements A to L, select the five that are true according to Text A. Write
the appropriate letters (in any order) in the answer boxes provided. An
example is given.
A. People attending his talk showed interest in only one kind Example: A
of AI.
B. Kevin Rosse thinks that ChatGPT has “killed” traditional
homework.
C. Schools are restricting or blocking access to ChatGPT.
D. Roose states that the abilities ChatGPT has are unnerving or

unsettling.
E. ChatGPTZero’s efficacy is not 100% reliable.
F. Teachers are enthusiastic about checking for AI plagiarism.
G. Gina Parnaby thinks that there needs to be tools in place to

catch kids cheating, like a mousetrap.
H. The article proposes using ChatGPT like a calculator.
I.Cherie Shields allowed students to turn in essays written by

ChatGPT.
J. Cherie says that students needed to use critical thinking when

using ChatGPT to do their assignment.
K. ChatGPT is useful for teachers because it always generates

good comprehension questions.
B. Complete the following table by indicating to whom or to what the word/s

underlined refer/s. An example is provided.
In the phrase… The word/s… refer/s to…
Ex. He used ChatGPT … “he” …………one highschool

(line 16) teacher…………….
“It’s”
1. … it’s not going to
work. (line 37)
“they”
2. they found the idea
… (Line 53)
“one”
3. …out of one. (line
77)
“Their”
4. ….sharpening their.
(lines 107)
C. Answer the following questions. Use the EXACT WORDING FROM THE TEXT.
1. In what way can ChatGPT’s wrong answers be useful?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Mr. Gold feels that ChatGPT is useful to student learning when it is…
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3. How has the emergence of AI into the classroom made the author feel?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. Name ONE reason why the author feels that the arguments against AI in
the classroom are legitimate.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5. According to Roose, the most significant reason why ChatGPT should be

used in classrooms is that …
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6. Name ONE reason students should understand how to use AI to be

good citizens.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Ex. 13 Watch the video from Vox about the future of jobs regarding technology and robotics
and answer the questions that follow.
1. Who has different views on the future of employment?
2. Give some examples of automation anxiety from the 1920s.
3. Give some examples of automation anxiety from the 1950s and 60s.
4. Give some examples of jobs that have died.
5. How does automation affect jobs according to the economist?
6. In what ways do technologists and futurists differ from economists? Why do they feel
this way?
7. What is interesting about productivity growth?
8. What does the video say about economic inequality?
Future Humans and Gene Editing
The Benefits: Real World Applications
Ex. 14 Read the Following article and watch a short video explaining CRISPR Cas 9
What Is CRISPR & Why Is It Important?

CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. It is a
component of bacterial immune systems that can cut DNA, and has been
repurposed as a gene editing tool. It acts as a precise pair of molecular scissors
that can cut a target DNA sequence, directed by a customizable guide.
The system is made up of two key parts: a CRISPR-associated (Cas) nuclease, which
binds and cuts DNA, and a guide RNA sequence (gRNA), which directs the Cas
nuclease to its target. It was discovered in bacterial immune systems, where it cuts
the DNA of invading viruses, called bacteriophage, and disables them. Once the
molecular mechanism for its DNA-cleaving ability was discovered, it was quickly
developed as a tool for editing genomes.
CRISPR is important because it allows scientists to rewrite the genetic code in

almost any organism. It is simpler, cheaper, and more precise than previous gene
editing techniques. Moreover, it has a range of real-world applications, including
curing genetic disease and creating drought-resistant crops.
The History & Discovery Of CRISPR

Today, CRISPR is well-known as a precise gene editing tool, but it took many years
for scientists to figure out what it was and how to harness its potential. Let’s discuss
the inventors of this gene editing tool, the scientists who championed this
technology, and the history behind these breakthroughs.
Who discovered CRISPR?
CRISPR was discovered by Dr. Jennifer Doudna (UC Berkeley, seen on right in image
above) and Dr. Emmanuel Charpentier (Max Planck Unit for the Science of
Pathogens, Berlin, left). Their groundbreaking paper,
revealing that the CRISPR-Cas9 bacterial immune
system could be repurposed as a gene editing tool,
was published in the journal Science in 2012.
It wasn’t until 2020 - well after it had been adopted in

labs around the world - that Doudna and Charpentier
won the Nobel prize in Chemistry for their discovery,
becoming the first all-female team to do so.
Other significant contributors include Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute of MIT
and Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who pioneered the use of CRISPR in
eukaryotic cells and discovered novel Cas variants, George Church at Harvard
Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, who was among the first to demonstrate
its use in human cells, and biochemist Virginijus Siksnys at Vilnius University in
Lithuania, who independently discovered the ability of CRISPR to edit genes in other
organisms. For more information on these early pioneers, you can check out our
blog about prominent CRISPR scientists.
4 Important Applications of CRISPR

Technology
In just a few short years, CRISPR has had a massive impact on scientific research,
contributing to breakthroughs in medicine and biotechnology. Let’s take a closer
look at some of the key applications of this technology.
1. Cell and gene therapies
CRISPR is poised to revolutionize medicine, with the potential to cure a range of

genetic diseases, including neurodegenerative disease, blood disorders, cancer,
and ocular disorders. As we mentioned earlier, the first trial of a CRISPR cell therapy
was performed in 2019, treating patients with sickle cell disease. The treatment
restored fetal hemoglobin, eliminating the need for a functional copy of adult
hemoglobin.
In 2021, a significant CRISPR trial for transthyretin amyloidosis, a neurodegenerative

disease, showed very promising results. It is also revolutionizing pediatric cancer
treatment, described in this podcast interview with Shondra Miller from St Jude’s.
CRISPR can also be used to generate chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, a form
of immunotherapy used to treat cancer. The T cells are extracted from patients and
engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors before being re-injected into the
body. The receptors allow the T cells to more efficiently target and destroy the
specific type of cancer the patient suffers from.
While we are still in the early years of clinical trials, this technology could be used to
treat thousands of genetic conditions in the future, including breast and ovarian
cancer linked to BRCA mutations, Huntington’s disease, Tay-Sachs,
beta-thalassemia, cystic fibrosis, and early-onset Alzheimer’s. For all the latest
medical developments and clinical trials using this technology to cure a range of
human diseases, you can take a look at the CRISPR Medicine News website.
2. Diagnostics
During the COVID 19 pandemic, CRISPR was used as both a potential therapeutics
tool and as a diagnostic tool for the coronavirus. The SHERLOCK™ CRISPR
SARS-CoV-2 test kit was granted Emergency Use Authorization from the federal
authorities to be used in laboratory settings. You can learn more about SHERLOCK
and the more recently developed STOPCovid diagnostic test here and in this
podcast.
Mammoth Biosciences has also developed a CRISPR-based Covid-19 diagnostic

method, known as DETECTR. Like SHERLOCK and STOPCovid, DETECTR utilizes
Cas9’s search function to detect genetic material from the virus, employing
naturally occurring Cas nucleases, like Cas12 and Cas13. For more information on
DETECTR, you can listen to this interview with Trevor Martin, CEO of Mammoth
Bioscience.
Similar diagnostics utilizing the search function of Cas9 have also been engineered
to identify other diseases, both infectious and genetic. Early in 2021, Dr. Kiana Aran
of Cardea Bio published a study which combined three different Nobel
Prize-winning technologies - graphene, transistors, and CRISPR - into a tiny chip
that can detect pathogenic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Since 50% of
disease-causing mutations in humans are SNPs, this is a significant breakthrough
in medical diagnostics.
3. Agriculture
Gene editing technology has huge potential in agriculture, and experts suggest
that CRISPR-modified foods will be available within 5-10 years. This is primarily
because it can be used to create crops that are disease-resistant and
drought-resistant. For example, scientists from the University of Berkeley and
Innovative Genomics Institute have partnered with Mars, Inc. to create
disease-resistant cacao plants.
It can also be used to prolong the shelf-life of other perishable foods, reducing
food waste and allowing access to healthy foods at relatively low cost. For more
information on these applications, you can read our overview of CRISPR’s use in
agriculture.
4. Bioenergy
As one of the leading alternatives to fossil fuels, bioenergy has been under the
spotlight for a while now. However, there are several hurdles to producing biofuels at
scale. By using CRISPR, scientists have recently been able to make some significant
advances in this area.
For example, KO of multiple transcription factors that control production of lipids in

algae has led to a huge increase in lipid production for generating biodiesel.
Similarly, gene editing can improve the tolerance of yeast to harsh conditions
during the production of biofuels. It has also increased editing efficiencies in
bacterial species that are used to produce ethanol. For more details, you can
check out this blog on how CRISPR is helping the biofuel industry.
The Future Of CRISPR

There can be no doubt that CRISPR-Cas9 has revolutionized the field of genome
engineering. However, we’re only just beginning to see the benefits and possibilities
of this incredible technology - with a variety of successful preclinical studies and
more clinical trials being approved, the dream of curing human disease by editing
our DNA is now very real.
There are also an increasing number of biotech startup companies focusing on

CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, and many researchers are continually finding
new ways of applying this technology to solve real-world problems, including
epigenome editing, new cell and gene therapies, infectious disease research, and
for the conservation of endangered species.
asComprehension Questions:
A. Match each of the following words from Text A with the word on the right that
is closest in meaning. An example is provided.
Ex. Precise (line 7) _______D_____ A. Cut
1. Cleave (line 13) ____________ B. Replace
2. Harness (line 21) ____________ C. Capture
3. Breakthroughs (line 46) ____________ D. Accurate
4. Poised (line 49) ____________ E. Ready
5. Restore (line 53) ____________ F. Use
6. Promising (line 56) ____________ G. Obstacles
7. Employ (line 78) ____________ H. Advances
8. Hurdles (line 102) ____________ I. Optimistic
9. Tolerance (line 107 ____________ J. Resistance
B The sentences below are either true or false according to Text B. Tick [ ✓ ] the
correct response and then justify it by giving the relevant brief quotation from the
text. The first one has been done as an example. Both the correct response and the
correct quotation are required to gain the mark.
True False
Ex The danger of Crispr is that scientists can’t control what part

of the DNA is cut.
Justification: ✓
It acts as a precise pair of molecular scissors that can cut a
target DNA sequence, directed by a customizable guide________
1 Figuring out how to exploit the benefits of Crispr happened
fairly quickly upon its discovery.
Justification:
2 Crispr is making significant changes in the way a children’s

disease is treated.
Justification:
3 Crispr is already being used as an accepted and approved

form of treatment for many diseases.
Justification:
4 The main reason that gene editing will be used in agriculture is
to produce tastier crops.
Justification:
5 Gene editing in agriculture can also make food last longer.

Justification:
6 Crispr can be used to make larger quantities of Biofuel.

Justification:
C. Complete the following table by indicating to whom or to what the word/s

underlined refer/s. An example is provided.
In the phrase… The word/s… refer/s to…
Ex. It acts as a … (line 7) “It” …………CRISPR…………….

“Their”
5. Their
groundbreaking
paper … (line 27)
“Who”
6. who was among the
first … (Line 38)
“this”
7. this is a significant
breakthrough… (line
87)
“This area”
8. ….significant
advances in this
area. (lines 103-104)
The Concerns: Designer babies
Choosing Your Child:
Should parents be able to choose what their baby is like?
Ex.15 Discussion/ research Questions:
1. What is “in vitro fertilization?”
2. What is “pre-implantation genetic diagnosis/selection (PSD or PGD)”?
3. Why do you think gender selection is banned in Australia and many other
countries? What could the consequences be if it were not?
4. Why would creating “designer babies” cause problems for families who are
trying to have a baby free of fatal genetic diseases?
5. Do you agree or disagree with this statement by the Mission Director:

‘No one exceeds their potential … [if one were to exceed
their potential] it would simply mean we did not
accurately gauge his potential in the first place.’
IB HL HUMAN INGENUITY
24
Do you believe a person’s potential is decided at the moment of their birth?
Ex. 16 Should parents be able to choose what their baby is like?
👍👎 👎
👍
Do you agree or disagree with genetic pre-selection in babies? Is it okay in some situations and not others?
Sort the following features which parents could (according to Gattaca) select for their babies into
‘acceptable’ or ‘not acceptable’.
WHY?
Provide justification for your
Choices parents could make regarding opinion:
their unborn children Consider: the needs of the parents
Morally and Morally and and their AND the needs of
ethically ethically society. Is this a good thing for the
acceptable unacceptable world in general?
Depends
Choosing the gender: male or female.
Choosing cosmetic attributes: e.g.

height, skin color, hair color/type or
eye color.
Removing potential for rare genetic

diseases which run in families like
Fanconi Anaemia
IB HL HUMAN INGENUITY
25
Removing common genetic conditions
like myopia (short sightedness), breast
and ovarian cancer
Removing potential for common

mental illness diseases such as
schizophrenia, bipolar and depression
Removing potential for common

lifestyle diseases like heart disease,
lung cancer, obesity and Type 2
diabetes
Including a genetic disposition to

develop a skill or aptitude: e.g. musical
ability or sports ability
Aborting babies if they develop a

non-genetic syndrome after
conception, like Down's Syndrome or a
physical deformity in the womb
Ex. 16 Comprehension questions for the film Gattaca.

1. How does Gattaca check the identity of its employees as they enter the building?
2. What is our protagonist doing when we first meet him that his boss remarks on?
3. What does the protagonist leave on his desk?
4. Who does the doctor want to talk to the protagonist about during the urine substance
test?
5. Why do Director Josef, Dr. Lamar, and Irene congratulate the protagonist?
6. What is different about Vincent compared to most other people in this society?
7. Why did Vincent’s father change the name of his son from Anton to Vincent?
8. Why won’t the daycare accept Vincent as a student?
9. What was Vincent’s younger brother named?
10. What was the brothers’ favorite game growing up?
11. How do jobs discriminate against applicants with inferior genetics despite it being illegal
to do so?
12. What happened to Jerome that caused him to be paralyzed?

13. How did they solve the problem of Vincent being shorter than Jerome?
14. What item from his past does the real Jerome show Vincent when questioning how
Vincent will pull off pretending to be him?
15. What did the real Jerome ask Vincent to call him instead of “Jerome?”
16. List 3 things Eugene prepares in order for Vincent to be able to pass as him in the world.
17. What is 1 of the several names used to describe a person of Vincent’s nature?
18. Who was murdered in the Gattaca building?
19. Where does Irene bring the hair she finds in the comb in Vincent’s desk?
20. What do we learn about Eugene’s accident that left him paralyzed?
21. What did the investigators find in the building that made Vincent a suspect in the
murder of the Mission Director?
22. What is special about the pianist Vincent and Irene see on their date?
23. Why is it considered near impossible that Irene will ever be allowed to go on a mission
into space?
24. What does Irene leave at the restaurant when she and Vincent run from the inspectors?
25. Who actually killed the mission director and what was his motive?
26. Who is the inspector revealed to be?
27. What is the significance of the final game of “chicken” between Vincent and Anton?
28. Why did Eugene prepare two-lifetime’s worth of samples for Vincent before he went on
the Titan mission?
29. On the day of the mission departure, why did Dr. Lamar let Vincent go on the mission
despite knowing all along he wasn’t actually Jerome Morrow?
30. What is the significance of the word GATTACA?

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Human Ingenuity

The progress and pace of human

adverse insert carry out remove

devise reproduce disorder root

due a slippery slope lead to step forward

1. It’s a major breakthrough in the fight against AIDS.

anomaly ends link

belief evidence research

correlation interest scrutiny

1. Contrary to popular __________________________, the latest statistics show crime has

A. Artificial B .Natural language C. Language model D. Neural network

E. Chatbot F. Algorithm G. Machine Learning H. Deep learning

1. __________ The simulation of human mental processes done by a machine or

Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open

Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks,[3] and we

AI research and development should be refocused on making today's powerful,

In parallel, AI developers must work with policymakers to dramatically accelerate

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS NEED TO BE MADE

Ex. 10 AI is usually highly contested in terms of its application in the education

4. What are some of the problems with EEG?

5. What do the Chinese teachers say about the headbands?

6. What do some of the kids say about the headbands?

Don’t Ban ChatGPT in Schools. Teach

ChatGPT can be a teacher’s best friend

ChatGPT teaches students about the world they’ll inhabit

C. Schools are restricting or blocking access to ChatGPT.

D. Roose states that the abilities ChatGPT has are unnerving or

E. ChatGPTZero’s efficacy is not 100% reliable.

F. Teachers are enthusiastic about checking for AI plagiarism.

G. Gina Parnaby thinks that there needs to be tools in place to

H. The article proposes using ChatGPT like a calculator.

I.Cherie Shields allowed students to turn in essays written by

J. Cherie says that students needed to use critical thinking when

K. ChatGPT is useful for teachers because it always generates

B. Complete the following table by indicating to whom or to what the word/s

Ex. He used ChatGPT … “he” …………one highschool

5. According to Roose, the most significant reason why ChatGPT should be

6. Name ONE reason students should understand how to use AI to be

1. Who has different views on the future of employment?

2. Give some examples of automation anxiety from the 1920s.

4. Give some examples of jobs that have died.

5. How does automation affect jobs according to the economist?

7. What is interesting about productivity growth?

8. What does the video say about economic inequality?

What Is CRISPR & Why Is It Important?

CRISPR is important because it allows scientists to rewrite the genetic code in

The History & Discovery Of CRISPR

Who discovered CRISPR?

It wasn’t until 2020 - well after it had been adopted in

4 Important Applications of CRISPR

1. Cell and gene therapies

CRISPR is poised to revolutionize medicine, with the potential to cure a range of

In 2021, a significant CRISPR trial for transthyretin amyloidosis, a neurodegenerative

Mammoth Biosciences has also developed a CRISPR-based Covid-19 diagnostic

For example, KO of multiple transcription factors that control production of lipids in

The Future Of CRISPR

There are also an increasing number of biotech startup companies focusing on

Ex The danger of Crispr is that scientists can’t control what part

2 Crispr is making significant changes in the way a children’s

3 Crispr is already being used as an accepted and approved