What future generations need from us
Abstract What do future generations need from us? Various procedures, including individual and group role playing at 13 locations in nine countries, can help us answer this question. In general, future generations need equal opportunity (a legacy as beneficial as ours was), our caring about their well-being, and attention to their needs in our legislatures and parliaments. Their particular needs are for us to focus on peace and security, the environment, the worst risks of all, governance, the knowledge base, children and learning. The needs of future generations may provide the centrepiece for a new global ethic that improves our prospects for a positive future.
Colonizing mars—An opportunity for reconsidering bioethical standards and obligations to future generations
Abstract The exploration and settlement of Mars provides a rare opportunity to reconsider our ethical, political, philosophical, and economic relationships with non-human life (very broadly defined) relatively free of many of the constraints that have framed and limited our analyses throughout our many histories. Manned and robotic exploration throughout and beyond our solar system also fosters reconsideration of our obligations to future generations and allows for expansion of membership in the class that constitutes those generations. This paper argues that the concept of “future generations” should not be limited to Homo sapiens , as currently defined. Opportunities for a higher ethical standard within the context of the discovery of extraterrestrial life are discussed in terms of a thought experiment and mechanisms to allow future generations to be represented in these ethical discussions are suggested.
Cambodian refugee health care beliefs and practices.
Since 1975, when refugees from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia first began coming to the United States, many articles have been written about Southeast Asian or Indochinese refugees and health care. A careful review of the literature shows that most of these articles have one thing in common: they are written primarily about Vietnamese and do not address the unique health care beliefs and practices of Lao or Cambodian refugees.1 Although some beliefs and practices are common to most Southeast Asians, many are not. Understanding at least that differences exist, and hopefully what some specific differences are, will allow nurses and others to give better care to the various people commonly grouped together as Southeast Asians. This article will introduce readers to some Cambodian beliefs and practices related to health care. Of the principle refugee groups admitted to the U.S. since 1975, the Cambodians are presenting the greatest challenges to health care providers. Cambodians are usually poorly understood by Americans, their health status statistics are hidden among the broad category of "Asian-Pacific Islanders" or "Indochinese Refugees," and cultural and institutional barriers combine to make access to care an overwhelming problem. The end results, of course, are more problems and more expense for the Cambodians, increased stress placed on an already terribly overstressed people, and ultimately greater demands and expense placed on the health care system. One of the most common misunderstandings about Cambodians is that they (and Lao) are basically the same as the Vietnamese. "They speak the same dialect don't they?" There are some similarities, but there are also very significant differences.