UNESCO/IUBS/EUBIOS BIOETHICS DICTIONARY - "W"s

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WAR: See INSTITUTION OF WAR.

WAR CRIMINAL: An officer who was responsible for cruel acts, while he was serving in the army which lost the war.(FL)

WASTE: Gratuitous use and squander of resources by the human species, a result of unnecessary products, unused by-products, excess packaging, overzealous advertising, inbuilt redundancy, conspicuous consumption and a preoccupation with economic growth. Consumption of resources by humans causes damaging flows of waste back into the environment, including landfill rubbish, industrial pollutants and sewage. (See CONSUMPTION, CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION, INBUILT REDUNDANCY, RECYCLING, ECONOMY) (MP)

WATER CRISIS: A state of emergency in which populations are at risk of death, disease and panic due to an interruption/contamination of the fresh water supply. Many communities of the world endure an unclean, unpredictable and remote water source on a daily basis. The term also refers to times of drought and insufficient water supply to agricultural and ecological systems. (See WATER POLLUTION, WATER PURIFICATION, WATER CYCLE) (MP)

WATER CYCLE: The movement of water from the oceans to the atmosphere by solar evaporation, to the soil by precipitation, and back to the oceans via runoff from rivers and groundwater. Some water is cycled many times within compartments of the system before completing one full circuit. Terrestrial ecologies including humans are dependent upon sustainable management of the fresh water phase of this cycle. (MP)

WATER PURIFICATION: Clean, clear water is an essential requirement of the healthy body. Fresh water may be purified by filtration processes (e.g. sand/charcoal filtering particulate matter), adsorbtion (e.g. activated carbon for non-biodegradable organic compounds), precipitation (reduces water 'hardness'), reverse osmosis (semi-permeable membranes separated by ionic pressure differentials), electrodialysis (electric filtration), distillation (multistage flash distillation, vapor compression, desalinization plants), freezing (freezing-vapor compression), boiling (microorganism sterilization) and other chemical processes such as sedimentation, ion exchange, coagulation, flocculation, solvent extraction, hydrate formation, aeration, chlorination and fluoridation. (See DESALINATION, WATER CRISIS, WATER POLLUTION) (MP)

WATSON, JAMES DEWEY: 1928 - Together with Francis Crick, the discoverer in 1953 of the double stranded helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the molecule that carries hereditable information in living things. Winner of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Crick and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins. President of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a leading molecular biology research and education institution. http://www.cshl.org (RW)

WAVE POWER: Electricity generated from energy produced by the action of coastal waves. Wave power often uses the vertical oscillations of floating devices to spin generators, dependent upon wind, current and underwater topography. Wave energy has proven a technological and economic challenge and as yet contributes little to the world's energy supply. (See OCEAN POWER, TIDAL ENERGY, RENEWABLE ENERGY) (MP)

WCED: World Commission on Environment and Development.

WEAK SUSTAINABILITY: " Weak" (or "broad") sustainability requires the passing on to the next generation of an aggregate stock equivalent to that of today ("constant capital") but is indifferent to the form in which it is passed on. Unlike "strong" sustainability, in this scheme the environment is treated as simply another capital stock, with the generous assumption that natural assets are substitutable and can be replaced by human infrastructure. A better argument may be that human wealth should be compensated for by environmental regeneration. Even for weak sustainability, the use of non-renewable resources must generate investment in alternatives, and critical natural capital cannot be substituted. (See STRONG SUSTAINABILITY, CRITICAL NATURAL CAPITAL, CONSTANT CAPITAL) (MP)

WEALTH: Wealth refers to accumulated ownership, whether of money, property, knowledge, happiness or any other collectable faculty. Wealth is unevenly distributed between individuals and countries, with a tendency to flow towards existing wealth rather than distributing evenly. Excessive accumulation of material wealth not distributed back into the community will indirectly rob the poorest of their wellbeing. Countries have three major forms of wealth; material/economic wealth, human/cultural wealth and natural/biological wealth. (See WELLBEING, POVERTY) (MP)

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: Internationally maligned groups of horrendous weapons subject to international law through various global bans and non-proliferation treaties, WMD include nuclear weapons (e.g. atomic, hydrogen and neutron bombs), chemical weapons (e.g. mustard gas, vx nerve agent, sarin) and biological weapons (e.g. anthrax, smallpox, botulinim toxin). Concern must be expressed against the blurring of the boundaries of weapons of mass destruction, such as current discussion about low-impact nuclear weapons and gamma ray bombs. Similarly, future technological developments have equal potential for mass destruction, with potential impacts on the scale of the Earth or larger (including space weapons, genetically engineered bioweapons, nanotechnology and robotics). Examples of conventions against WMD include the Geneva Conventions and Protocols, Hague Conventions, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I and II), Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties (START I and II), Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous and Other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare (1925), Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (1993), Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1995), Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1996) and Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (1997). (See NUCLEAR WEAPONS, BIOLOGICAL WARFARE, CHEMICAL WARFARE, SPACE WEAPONS, AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS, NANOTECHNOLOGY WEAPONS, CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS, NON LETHAL WEAPONS, DISARMAMENT, DEMILITARIZATION) (MP)

WEB: 1. A network of interconnecting nodes which can transmit energy and materials (e.g. ‘food web’). 2. Spider’s silken net used for prey capture. 3. The internet’s World Wide Web. (See WORLD WIDE WEB, FOOD WEB) (MP)

WEB ADDRESS: The internet is accessed through an Internet Services Provider (ISP). Sources are differentiated according to their ‘web address’ and accessed by clicking on ‘hypertext’ links. Hyper-Text Markup Language (html) is the Internet-based computer language used to create the World Wide Web document and address system. Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (http) is used to deliver an address called URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A collection of documents for browsing is the ‘web site’ and a single document is a ‘web page’. An individual person’s letterbox is their ‘e-mail’ address. (See CYBERSPACE, WORLD WIDE WEB, EMAIL) (MP)

WEB BROWSER: The World Wide Web is searched and sifted through the platform of a ‘Web browser’ (e.g. Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Explorer), ‘Web Search Directory’ (Yahoo, About.com, Infoseek, Britannica), ‘Search-engine’ (Google, AltaVista), ‘Web Metasearch Agent’ (Internet Sleuth, Metacrawler) and/or commercial ‘Web Portal’ (e.g. Microsoft’s msn). A directory implies human assembly and design, while an engine implies an automated process, each with their benefits and limitations. (See WEB ADDRESS, OPERATING SYSTEM, INTERNET) (MP)

WEDGE ARGUMENT: Ethical argument which asserts that one morally questionable action or policy will set a precedent for, or lead to, other actions or policies which are even more morally questionable. (DM)

WEED: Unwanted plant. For most of our agricultural history, farmers have tried to prevent weeds from growing. In many parts of the world, weeds still devastate many crops. However, in countries that use large amounts of herbicides and other products of BIOTECHNOLOGY (q.v.), weeds are now much scarcer than they used to be. This scarcity decreases the BIODIVERSITY (q.v.) of organisms on FARMS (q.v.). For example, birds that feed on weed seeds become rarer. Because of this, increasing numbers of people are questioning whether weed eradication should be our aim. (MR)

WELLBEING: (Anglo-Saxon: wyllan + beon 'to be') a good existence as defined by the individual. Researchers, since the early 1950s, have identified key factors in the generation and maintenance of physical, psychological and social wellbeing - the most notable being that a sense of control over our lives promotes wellbeing more powerfully than an appropriate command over behaviors such as smoking, diet and exercise. Since wellbeing can be improved by self-sustaining behavior, advanced by heightened personal empowerment, it is a pity that personal mastery which becomes a top priority in sickness, diminishes in the maintenance of the continuum of wellness. Modern ethical principles in medicine; such as, unconstrained informed patient consent, respect for patient confidentiality, frankness about medical uncertainties and justice, promote wellbeing as they reflect responsible patient control over their own health. Contrary to popular belief, acute stress is an essential function which protects our bodies against demanding life events and can actually boost wellbeing, as it increases arousal and attention. Acute stress also enhances our immunity. Chronic stress, whether physical or psychological, depresses our immune system function through an over-production of the stress hormones (see ALLOSTASIS, STRESS, LEARNED HELPLESSNESS, HEALTH AND GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR). (IP)

WEST: A term derived from the hemisphere of Eurasia in which it originated, "The West" refers to the civilization which evolved from the Classical legacy in Europe originally founded upon Greek and Roman philosophy, law and politics. Western civilization’s historical influences include the Renaissance, nt. Western Christendom, later divided into Catho Orthodox Christians are increasingly included asstrong indigenous component and relative poverty.CCIDENT) (MP)

WESTERN DECLINE: The West is the richest civilization, with massive military capability and domination of the international finance system, weapons industries and international communications. Commentators such as Samuel Huntington have however prophesized gradual or punctuated erosion of Western power. This decline may be due to global demographic shifts (i.e. a non-Western youth bulge with a "graying" West), global indigenization (e.g. the "democracy paradox" in which newly-formed democracies vote for non-Western tradition), the anti-capitalism movement, postmodern cultural confusion (e.g. antisocial behavior, apathy, weak work ethic, family breakdown, religious decline), and perhaps also a little international resentment for what is sometimes perceived as Western arrogance, decadence or economic imperialism. (See INDIGENIZATION, CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS, COLONIALISM, POSTMODERNISM, DECADENCE) (MP)

WESTERN PHILOSOPHY: Western civilization comes from the Christian faith, divided since the Reformation into Catholic and Protestant, and today with large agnostic and mixed religious groups. Western philosophy has a distinguished lineage, including the fields of metaphysics (e.g. Plato, Aquinas, Leibniz, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Nagel), ethics (Aristotle, Christ, Spinoza, Mill, Rawls), politics (More, Hobbes, Rousseau), economics (Smith, Marx, Keynes, Schumpeter), consciousness (Descartes, Sartre), psychology (Freud, Jung, Laing), science (Bacon, Popper, Kuhn, Einstein, Heisenberg), language (Chomsky, Derrida), logic (Kant, Russell) and knowledge (Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Foucault). Western society is today characterized by separation of church from state a release of politics which contributed to its social pluralism and individualism. Western individualism (concentrating more on rights, e.g. freedoms, equality, human rights) may contrast somewhat with the collectivism of many other civilizations (based more on responsibilities, e.g. to family, state or God). Clearly a blend of the two is essential to ethics and sustainability (individual rights and wellbeing balanced by social and environmental responsibilities). Western philosophy embraces liberty, the rule of law, constitutionalism, gender equality, cultural diversity, representative institutions, private property, capitalism, strong aristocracy, modern science and technology, sustainable development, ethics, human rights, democracy, and if indigenous and youth cultures are included, multiculturalism and environmentalism. (See EASTERN PHILOSOPHIES) (MP)

WESTERNIZATION: The process of a country’s culture becoming more lacted by the affirmation of culture called indigenization. Westernization is a different process from modernization. (See MODERNIZATION, INDIGENIZATION, WESTERN CIVILIZATION) (MP)

WFP: World Food Programme.

WHALES: Cetaceans along with DOLPHINS (q.v.). In all, 39 species in 17 genera. Sea mammals including the largest animal (the female blue whale) even known on the Earth. Whale numbers have been drastically reduced by over-hunting in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Today, many traditional whaling countries no longer hunt whales but some species are still in serious decline due to deaths from collisions with ships. (See WHALING). (MR)

WHALING: because of man’s greed whale s regulate a stable whaling industry but its record has been poor. A good example is the Australian humpback whale fishery which became uneconomic by 1963 because of overfishing off the continent’s east and west coasts - not only because of the large number taken by Australian land stations, but also because whales from the same stocks were also taken off their Antarctic feeding grounds.lations showed that greater than 300-400 animals off each coast each year was unsustainable, yet catches of over 1,000 animals from one stock were consistently taken each year. However, through ements in scientific knowledge, more agreement among whaling nations, the appointment of international observers and the protection of many species, the IWC has indicated its willingness to reguccording to the principles of sustained management. Much emotional stress has been generated over the argument whether whaling should continue or not. One opinion is that under no circumstances such intelligent, highly evolved mammals be killed for commerce. The contrary view is that stocks that can withstand fishing should be harvested on a scientifically controlled basis. The ethicaeconomic views are often voiced together, so that confusion occurs, particularly when the ethical argument is used as justification for the IWC to regulate against whaling. A decision should firmade as to whether whales should be killed at all; if the answer is yes, then their killing must be regulated, and the whaling commission is currently the only international body capable of suchation. (see SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT & WHALES) (IP)

WHORE: See PROSTITUTE.

WIK CASE: see MABO EDY.

WILDERNESS: A large remote area such as old-growth forest in which genetic diversity and natural cycles remain essentially intact and uninterrupted. More than National Parks, wilderness areas should have public access restricted to help preserve these designated examples of undisturbed ecological systems. (See NATURAL HERITAGE) (MP)

WILDLIFE: Often interpreted colloquially to mean natural animals, wildlife more correctly means the collective non-domesticated animals and plants of any habitat. (See WILDLIFE CORRIDORS) (MP)

WILDLIFE CORRIDORS: Wide strips of vegetation retained as linkages between isolated patches of forest habitat. Wildlife corridors are essential to increase migration and foraging routes and allow genetic exchange, helping alleviate the biodiversity impacts of habitat fragmentation. Wildlife corridors also provide aesthetic values to intervening suburban landscapes. (See HABITAT FRAGMENTATION) (MP)

WILD-TYPE: An organism isolated from nature.

WILSON, EDWARD O.: Coined the term "sociobiology". Author. Biophilia (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1984). On Human Nature (Harvard University Press 1987).

WILSON, JAMES Q.: Author The Moral Sense (Harvard University Press 1985).

WIND ENERGY: Wind power uses the force of the wind to drive energy-producing turbines that are based on the designs of traditional windmills. Windmills can be used to either generate electricity or do mechanical work. (See RENEWABLE ENERGY) (MP)

WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization.

WMA: WORLD MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.

WMD: See WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

WOMB see UTERUS.

WOMEN’s BUSINESS: Australian Aboriginal concept in regard to female cultural life, or to secrets of female initiates only. The first initiation is a ceremony which marks the beginning of life as an adult and establishes a young woman’s responsibilityhose relating to childbirth, food cycles and ways to increase the Earth’s food and shelter resources. The initiates are marked by a permanent sign on the body to demonstrate that they are now responsible adults. As for "men's business" women’s business can be regarded as the Aboriginal equivalent of Latin provisions Mens legis - the mind of the law; that is, the purpose, spirit, or intention of a law or the law generally, and Mens legislatoris - the intention of the law-maker. (See MEN’s BUSINESS, TOTEMISM). (IP)

WOMEN'S LIBERATION MOVEMENT: See FEMINISM.

WORK: 1. Employment and weekly occupation, work should be fulfilling, pleasurable and sustainable. (See WORKAHOLIC) 2. Physics: Work is force multiplied by distance (W=Fs), a measure of change of energy. For example, work, measured in the Newton meter or Joule, is done with transfer from electrical to kinetic energy. (See ENERGY, EMPLOYMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES) (MP)

WORKAHOLIC: A person who is addicted to work, often working obsessively or seemingly constantly. Warning signs suggested by Workaholics Anonymous include working more than 40 hours per week, missing or taking work on vacations or weekends, and talking or thinking about work more than any other subject. The workaholic suffers physical and psychological stress as well as strain on family and social life. (See KAROSHI, WORKAHOLISM) (MP)

WORKAHOLISM: A modern affliction referring to the increasing pressure on workers to perform, such that work becomes the overriding drive controlling a person’s life. Today’s modern techwireless technologies such as mobile phones have allowed work to intrude into our lives 24 hours and 7 days. (See KAROSHI, WORKAHOLIC) (MP)

WORLD BANK: The World Bank Group is the UN’s ‘International Bank for Reconstruction and Development’, and its affiliates the ‘International Development Association’, ‘International Finance Corporation’ and ‘Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’.

WORLD HERITAGE: The World Heritage List is an internationally recognized register coordinated by UNESCO for the protection of natural and cultural heritage. World Heritage status is conveyed upon architecture, landscapes, habitats, geological or historical monuments of outstanding universal value. For example, World Heritage natural sites include the Great Barrier Reef, cultural sites include Angkor Wat, and Australia’s KakaTURAL HERITAGE, CULTURAL HERITAGE) (MP)

WORLD VIEW: One’s ‘world-view’ ( Weltanschauung ) is an epistemological framework or paradigm which explains the world/universe and one’s place in it. For example, outlooks on the structure of reality have sometimes followe Darwin), a web (Fritjof Capra), a hologram (Karl Pribram), a cell (James Lovelock), a computer (Alan Turing), or a matrix of overlapping ‘windows’ (Bill Gates). (See PARADIGM, MEANING OF LIFE, EARTH FROM SPACE) (MP)

WORLD VILLAGE: See ETHICS, POVERTY.

WORLD WIDE WEB: Created by CERN mathematician Tim Berners-Lee and publicly released in 1992, the World Wide Web (or ‘Web’, denoted in internet addresses by ‘www.’) is the user-friendly interface of the internet. The Web contained over one billion public web-pages on all topics at the start of 2000, growing rapidly. Content was mostly text and pictures, with some audio, video and virtual spaces. Information is available without discrimination between different users of the web, or for that matter without discrimination as to the quality of the information posted. (See INTERNET, WEB ADDRESS, WEB BROWSER) (MP)

WORM: 1. Self-propagating computer program or software fragment, usually with potential for illicit damage to data and normal operations. In metaphor with biological parasitic worms, use of the term dates from the rebel 'tapeworm' program of John Brunner's 1975 science fiction novel The Shockwave Rider. A worm differs from a computer virus in its autonomous ability to tunnel segments of its programming across networked computers without having to latch onto a program or data file. (See COMPUTER VIRUS) 2. Generalized term for elongate invertebrates such as annelids and parasitic worms like nematodes. (See ANNELIDA, WORMS) (MP)

WORMHOLE: 'Wormhole', a term coined by John Wheeler based on the 'Einstein-Rosen bridge', describes a point in spacetime geometry which is stretched or pinched (for example inside small black holes), and postulated to form a quantum topological 'tunnel' connecting to other regions of spacetime. Wormholes have some of their most interesting applications in theoretical physics which investigates the possibilities of interstellar and time travel. Wormholes are speculated to perhaps be a cosmic 'umbilical cord' from which new mini-universes may be born, or a type of bridge or gateway connecting distant universes and/or different regions of our universe. (See BLACK HOLE, SINGULARITY, EVENT HORIZON, PARALLEL UNIVERSE THEORY) (MP)

WORMS: Infection by parasitic worms, organisms which complete part of their life-cycle in the intestine, liver or bloodstream of a host body. Intestinal worms and other health implications associated with unclean water are common across much of the less-developed world. Examples of parasitic worms include nematodes, tapeworms, hookworms, roundworms, pinworms, flatworms and flukes. (See WORM, PARASITE) (MP)

WRIGHT, ROBERT: Author. The Moral Animal. Why We Are The Way We Are. The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology (New York: Vintage Books, 1994). (DM)

WRONGFUL LIFE: In civil law, a cause of action which alleges that a defendant has wrongfully caused a child to be born. (DM)

WTO: WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION.

WWF: Worldwide Fund for Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund).

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