Week 13

13 weeks of TWC over, time sure does fly really fast! But not that I'm complaining teehee :p These 13 weeks have proven to be useful in changing my perception of technology. In particular, I'm now more exposed to the various kinds of new technologies that I've discovered with the class over the weeks, and these emerging technologies have wow-ed me! It has made me aware of the up and coming technologies in the different fields and industries, something which i would never have discovered on my own.

So this last session of TWC saw the last few groups presenting their web report, including my group on Women & Technology- please visit us at HERE to learn more about how women do have intricate links to technology and we're really not noobs at it! Please take our polls too!!! Okay, don't mind the advertising. So this week we had 3 other groups, apart from my own, presenting. One was on armageddon, the second on diseases and technology and third on technology and art! I thought this week's range of presentations was pretty diverse, so that was really good in expanding the scope of learning for our class. The one which was caught my interest was the one on armageddon! I've always been interested in end-of-the-world stuff, such as movies like 2012, the day after tomorrow, etc. So i thought this topic on the end of the world and technology was nice to know about, will visit their site once i'm not as bogged down with work like I am now!

One other presentation that I thought to be informative was the one on diseases & the technology related to combat the spread of diseases! This group had an organised site which made it easy for users to navigate around and it seems really easy to obtain information without overloading us with facts at the same time. I thought this topic to be really relevant to everyone as it deals with health- our very being! They also offer information on various diseases on their site, including the most recent H1N1 swine flu, of which during the period I got quarantined with my friends, haha. And the rest of the other types of diseases listed there have information that everyone should gain knowledge of as well.

Lastly, I'd like to include a video which my group had shown in class (and is also on our site) to illustrate the preconceived notion that most people have- that women are noobs at technology. Hope you have a good laugh watching it!

And here's another one!

And to end off, I'd rate this session a 9/10!

Bye bye TWC.

Week 12

We had the group presentations for class today, and overall you could see that a lot of effort had gone into putting the various sites together :) There were 3 presentations today, one on aeroplanes, one on space junk, and the last one on technology and land use! Can't really recall the exact names but it was along these lines. From all the presentations, i managed to pick out the most significant example to me, which was the China Straddling Bus! Blogger says i've exceeded my limit to upload photos -.- so here's a video instead!

I thought this way of incorporating technology into improving land space is way cool, and can probably top the list of China's inventions! With the Straddling Bus, it allows buses to function like MRTs, and this lets it move at faster speeds as well, making the whole service more cost-efficient. This should be implemented in Singapore! We're always bothered by bus lanes and traffic jams with long queues of buses at the side (esp near school, haha), hence such a form of transport will definitely speed things up on the road.

One other thing noteworthy about today's session is the quote that Prof mentioned-

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification. -Martin H Fischer

Although it kinda has no link to the content of the presentations today, I thought this to be true, and that it is important to keep these in our heads as University students. Many a times while doing our research papers we tend to get carried away with the content and knowledge that we're obtaining. We fail to internalize it fully and we just proceed to rephrasing and dumping them into our papers. So I thought this quote would be a good reminder for us all to not take the easy way out, but to make the effort to absorb and internalize the knowledge that we gain through the research process.

Overall, I'd rate today's session a 8/10 as it was interesting to learn about other arenas in which technology has had an impact in, apart from what was fixed for us to learn during the past 11 weeks.

Week 11

Today's session was on technology assessment and forecasting, and it elaborated on how it is important to be forward-looking. And being forward looking didn't simply mean just looking at what we have today and thinking about what might happen, but today we discussed how it was more important to go back from the future rather than going forward from the present. This meant that we are only limited by our imagination and it is vital for us to view the possibilities of the future, and to start working on them today.

The process of strategic foresight as the next business frontier was also perceived to be a viable option that would prove to be successful for organisations if they chose to have strategic foresight as one of their practices.

This video mentioned that the capacity for a business to generate different more accurate images of the industry's future will be his greatest asset. And i thought this to be really true as competition within industries soar high and it's always better to stand out with your unique future innovations. One other quote that was mentioned in the video was- "To be successful in the future, your business needs to develop the understanding of the future as its foundation for strategy and innovation development". This summarises what we discussed in class today, that we need to extrapolate into future possibilities so as to anchor ourselves in methods and strategies today.

One interesting thing that Prof mentioned was to "take the obstacles and challenges of today and make them into stepping stones into the future". I thought that this optimistic mindset was interesting and would be beneficial to all who adopt this thinking. Most people see obstacles and challenges as dampeners to their growth, but what they do not realise is that these obstacles can be taken in a positive light and in turn be used to generate more ideas on where the use of technology can lead them into future possibilities.

What I managed to pick out from the presentations today was that it’s easy to overestimate ST gains and underestimate LT ones. It allowed me to realize that society is often short sighted and we’re unable to fathom the various benefits and gains we can inherit in the long run, if only we were willing to not let anything restrict us.

Overall I'd rate today's session a 8/10 as it summed up what we've learnt over the past 10 weeks and is helpful in my understanding of how the future can shape the present.

Week 10

Today's session covers emerging and future technologies and was an enriching session to me cause once again, twc lesson lets me in on the new world of technologies that I'm unaware of. And this new world of new technologies owe to the innovators that dared to imagine.

You say things and you say 'why?'

I dream things that never were, and I say 'why not?'

- George Bernard Shaw

One quote that was mention in class pretty much sums up how most of us aren't open to imagining and creating new stuff on our own, and the opposite- how a group of people look to break the "it cannot be"s and are open to thinking of alternative ways to improve various aspects of our lives.

And another quote that is relevant to the issue of people being closed-in on their imagination was prof's quote- "In terms of the development and application of new and emerging technologies, we are limited only by our imagination- and, all too often, the lack thereof"

Of the many videos that prof showed us, I particularly liked the one on Augmented Reality. Augmented reality is the adding of a layer of useful information to the reality we see on handphones and computers. And here's the video:

It was interesting to see how you could just raise your mobile phone to say, a row of restaurants in front of you, and with this you are able to know the details of this restaurant. This is certainly a breakthrough for convenience, saving people the hassle of ploughing through the Yellow Pages, or even the need to turn on computers to look for information. This then brought to my mind another type of augmented reality that i came across while researching for my group project. This is about virtual make up where women (or men if they like) can just position themselves in front of a screen that takes a snap of their face. And through this, you can pick up the cosmetics that you think would benefit you, and as and when you scan their electronic tags, you're able to see the results on your face instantly in the video screen. This also enables women to get a better perspective of both before and after pictures displayed side by side.

One other point mentioned was that supply can sometimes create demand. I thought this to be really true as people in the past were always satisfied with whatever they had, and they didn't need more. But when has progressed from then till now is that due to the wide imagination of various individuals, leading to the emergence of new technologies, it has created a huge jump in supply of new innovations that can have possible impacts on society. And due to the onset of such innovation, people are increasingly intrigued and curious about such creations that hence led to the increase in demand of the new stuff. This illustrates how people don't realise they need it until they experience this new technology, and one example would be the iPhone.

Other quotes mentioned was that "there is a space between man's imagination and man's attainments that may only be traversed by his longing" and a more significant person would be the main founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, who mentioned that "innovation distinguishes the leader from the follower". I thought that these 2 quotes summed it up pretty well, that it is up to the Gen Ys to be willing to imagine and break boundaries, leading to technological advancement. It certainly is important to rid ourselves of the rigid mindset that innovation is only for intelligent people who have done tons of research, but what we fail to remember is that the root of all ideas begin in creative environments where there is no restraint on the kind of ideas that are churned out.

One interesting take away from the presentations was the one on the electronic paper which is the new form of paper that was flexible, water-proof and could store multiple information, making things a whole lot more convenient for people since information was all stored on a single sheet. What excited me was that you could line your room with e-paper and these could change colour or images according to however you wish! I guess this suits the ever-changing wants that society so often has these days, and this in turn explains how there is a need for new innovations to sprout out constantly to ensure that our ever-changing needs and wants are met.

However, there are setbacks to this as it was mentioned that the copyright of materials might be an issue. With the transfer of information so easy and at your finger tips, it would be no surprise that the existing issues of intellectual property would be worsened further. One method of countering this is possibly the topic of copyleft that allows people to use other people's work as long as they cite where they took their material from.

Overall, I would give today's session a 9/10 as I'm always awed at this whole new world of emerging technologies that are unknown to me, well probably cause I'm not sufficiently well-read. And this I'm sure, is that many others out there are also unaware of such developments that have been taking place, and this is a pity. I think it's important that commoners like you and i recognise the effort and time spent into such innovations, and more importantly, recognise the boundaries they broke and their never-ceasing imagination that allowed the advent of new technologies.

Week 9

First session after our break from Recess week led us to talk about energy! Oh how we need the energy to continue studying till week 14 :((((((( But that wasn't the kind of energy we were talking about today, instead we spoke about the various types of energy, and how important it is for humankind to keep going in the search of new sources of energy, since old ones are running out.

Prof pointed us to one of his many quotes again and today's read this:

The days of fossil fuels are numbered. Renewable energy will drive the Green Revolution.

- Gurinder Shahi

This is definitely true in all sense of it, as sources of energy used in the past are fast depleting, with people consuming more energy than they actually should. This use of energy can be attributed to various sources, like the use of energy as a source of national income, energy for the poor, and energy for transportation technology. Such usages can perhaps be advantageous in helping a country grow economically, but what it fails to realise is that our consumption is more than the availability, leading us to the road of energy deficit in the near future.

Hence, people have turned to research on renewable and sustainable energy, that are better options for everyone to turn to. Renewable technology are naturally replenished, and hence would not run out anytime soon, or ever for that matter. Some of these include solar energy, wind energy, and geothermal energy. I guess my favourite for Singapore would definitely be SOLAR ENERGY! Since it's always so hot here, we might as well put the heat into some use.

Solar energy has been put in place all over the world, with solar panels covering huge acres of land, and in turn generating a substantial amount of energy! One hurdle for singapore would be our lack of land space, but one solution would be installing these solar panels on rooftops (since we always like to go upwards). From what I know, my alma mater, SAJC, has previously installed solar panels on the rooftops, and it was said that even though it provides only a small portion of energy, it is no doubt still helping to contribute to energy consumption. In fact, SAJC was in the news yesterday about these solar panels! And it was talking about how Dr Amy Khor, senior parliamentary secretary for the ministry of environment and water resources, mentioned that this solar energy project "takes Singapore further in realising its goal of switching to clean energy technologies". Here is a picture of the solar panels, dr amy khor, and my principal, haha.

Apart from solar panels being installed in SAJC, Singapore has also progressed to install solar panels atop Changi Airport's Budget Terminal. It is said to save up to $60,000 annually and can convert about 346,750 kilowatt hours of energy each year! I'd say it's definitely worth the investment and proves that even a small country like Singapore, with limited land space, can still do its part in helping conserve energy globally. And again, here's a photo of the solar panels, with a plane flying in the background!

Also, in reading 5, it brought to my attention the vast number of sources of energy we can tap on! These include wind power, solar power, solar photovoltaic power, geothermal, solar thermal & ocean energy! T'was quite cool, I thought. And perhaps we should indeed turn to such renewable sources of energy, and fully make use of what's given to us naturally.

This brings me to remember about how one presentation mentioned reusing CO2 exhausted from cars, to power cars! It's like you don't even have to use petrol and diesel anymore (and what more about fossil fuels), cause what you produce from your car can drive it! No pun intended. But seriously if such a thing came to light and use one day, it's gonna put oil and petrol companies out of business, and that was something we discussed in class as well. But I like that thought, though, that we can save money on petrol, and use it to buy more cars!!!!!!!! Ok, you know I'm kidding.

One other highlight of the lesson was this animation that Prof showed us, which I thought brought the message of the problems that global warming bring, and how new ideas and new technologies can help conserve what we have. Going green, and using cleaner technologies, friendlier to the environment, can help us use energy more efficiently. Here's the video!

So all in all, my key takeaway for today's session is that turning to alternative sources of energy would be a decision well-made. And it would leave countries with more hope than regret as such sources of technology can conserve the fragile environment that we live in, and is no doubt a good investment.

And to end off, i'd rate today's lesson an 8/10 as I can finally see some use of Singapore's sweltering heat other than making us perspire like mad dogs.

Week 7

Today's session covered the second component of the biobusiness revolution, concerning that of agriculture and the environment. What we covered today led me to have an increase in understanding of how our food sources might be threatened as we move along the years, and what are some ways that have been implemented in order to counter act nature's processes.

Prof shared his quote- "When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability". Essentially, this meant that a country has to be self-sufficient and to also not be too dependent on nature, or on others. This might be a little questionable for Singapore in terms of food as we are severely restricted in land area, having already reclaimed land for our newest developments like the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort. It would then question the government's priorities on whether it does want to channel both monetary and non-monetary resources into constructing more infrastructure for aeroponics, hydroponics, and the likes.. Prof also let us in on the various colour of biotechnology that i was previously unaware of! Red/Medical. Blue/Marine. Green/Environmental. White/Industrial.

One other interesting point mentioned was on waste management. That you could either take waste and generate oil from it, which I think would really help save a significant amount of monetary resources from purchasing oil. Or else, there was also the process of taking human faeces and allowing microorganisms to feed off the sewage and generate protein, making………. SHIT CAKES. Yuck, never in my life will I consume them. Well unless I'm really on the brink of dying from starvation. But, ew.

I also did my presentation this week, on how climate change can threaten food security. And one key point of my presentation was on climate change adaptation, which is centred around increasing the agricultural productivity of land despite climate change hazards like droughts, for example. Through my research, I came across this interesting development that has taken place, and which I also shared during the presentation. This specie is known as WEMA, which stands for the Water Efficient Maize for Africa, which is essentially a drought-tolerant maize developed through conventional breeding and incorporating the best technology available internationally.

How WEMA is really useful in drought-prone areas is that it is predicted to significantly increase yields by up to 20%-35% under moderate drought as compared to current variety. This translates to approximately 2,000,000 more tonnes of maize, capable of feeding 21 million people. This is indeed quite a substantial amount, and I never fathomed that such new developments in agricultural seeds could have such a huge positive impact on society.

Furthermore, more of these new developments are found in the 4th Reading. It is stated in the article that different cereal varieties have been developed with a greater tolerance for soil alkalinity, free aluminium, and iron toxics. What proves to be really beneficial is that these varieties will allow agriculture to succeed in acidic areas, hence increasing the amount of arable land. Furthermore, it is stated in the article was that the "greater tolerance of abiotic extremes, such as drought, heat, and cold, will benefit irrigated areas". This development is in sync with that of Project WEMA as mentioned above, and are both good progressions in the area of the agribusiness, ensuring that much of our food will not be affected by unexpected climate hazards.

It was also questioned in the article "How will resource-poor farmers of the world be able to gain access to the products of biotechnology research?" This is because most genetic engineering research is being done by the private sector which holds patents to many inventions or developments. And I thought this to be a very real issue that governments would come to face one time or another. This is quite a debatable issue as smallholder farmers aren't able to contribute significantly to the developmental process, so hence should they then have a piece of the pie? Many might argue that it would be unfair treatment to allow farmers who have had no contribution to the biotechnology developments to have a share of the benefits. However, another school of thought comes from those who believe that these poor farmers are afterall still humans, hence they should have every right to benefit from a development that can prolong their lives and businesses.

This hence brings me to think upon Project WEMA again, where the foundation (the African Agricultural Technology Foundation) will identify smallholder African farmers especially those in sub-saharan Africa, and distribute any drought-tolerant maize varieties developed to the poor farmers without royalty, essentially at the price of regular maize seed. I thought this act was certainly one that was generous of the AATF and is definitely a decision that would allow all farmers, rich or poor, to thoroughly benefit from the advancements of biotechnology.

Apart from the points mentioned above, one other interesting fact of lesson today was that I didn't know we were consuming Genetically Modified food so much. Like prof mentioned kiwis, i never knew those were GM-ed! Cool fact of the day. I guess it just goes to show how we just stuff our faces with food most of the time, not knowing where it was flown over from, how it came about, and the various processes that made it possible for growth and henceforth, consumption by us fatty people (all singaporeans included, haha)

Thus this made today's session really interesting as it widened my perspectives on the food i'm eating, the agricultural processes that were behind its growth, and what can be done to ensure our source of food isn't threatened by the climate, or by other humans ways, like spraying pesticide for example.

On a separate note, I thought more discussion could go on about the whole issue on smallholder farmers benefitting from biotechnology, whether they should be let in on this privilege or not.

With that, I'll rate today's session a 9/10! (:

Week 6

Today's session covered a new topic on Bio Business, which was defined as a commercial activity based on an understanding of life sciences and life science processes. I thought today's lesson although not as directly relevant to our age group, still proved to be somewhat useful knowledge. We spoke about the future of healthcare and its patients, with prof showing us this video which I thought was quite cool, and have never thought that advancements in technology can be so useful to the healthcare industry in such ways.

Unfortunately I do not have the link of the video and neither did I take note of the title, but what I remember of it was that clinics were kinda like brought into the homes of patients. This is in the sense that patients can have doctor consultations right in their living room, which I feel really saves the whole time and effort bit for the elderly, especially, removing the need to travel to and from the hospital. One other feature I remember from the video was doctors in hospitals having everything electronic! Seeing a patient with electronic records, and also doing research with a team without pen and paper. If this is where we are heading for in terms of healthcare, I'd think it would definitely bring about greater efficiency for hospital staff, and perhaps being able to increase life expectancy for many patients in the long run.

Furthermore, something in the reading "Gates Foundation Global Health Strategy" brought up a fairly valid point. It was stated that both Bill and Melinda Gates had the belief that lasting improvements in health, education and poverty reduction are achievable, stating that these advancements would not simply vanish with people losing interest in it after a while. This kinda links up to the quote which prof also mentioned during the session- "Bio Business may well be our best hope for achieving sustainable development". I can agree with this to a large extent since bio business is based on the understanding of life sciences and life science processes. & since each and every living organism has some form of life science as a part of them (cells, genotypes, etc.), then definitely there would be some form of dependency on bio business for sustainable development.

One other interesting takeaway I got from the same reading was that Bill and Melinda Gates both focused on problems that have a major impact on people in the developing world but get too little attention/awareness, and funding. This was further backed up with their ability to invest with foresight which was combined with the use of technology, giving rise to new products designed specially for the poor. I felt that it's really true that the poorest of countries are just no exposed enough to the new arena of technologies that can help them by leaps and bounds (eg. vaccines), all due to the fact that the awareness of such healthcare advancement is not widespread enough. In my opinion, it certainly is a pity and it is definitely encouraging to know that the Gates Foundation is keen to look into this matter.

The presentations then went on to elaborate a little on medical tourism, the one on the kidney thing which was interesting to listen to, and the last one on the pharmaceutical industry. There was this question raised on whether anyone would be willing to go to a developing country to seek treatment/ for plastic surgery, etc. And this discussion gave me new insight as I never saw Thailand as a country that was known for its medical/healthcare business, and that my classmates were in fact willing to give it a shot! Frankly speaking, I would never have Thailand as one of my options for treatment (and nope i dont believe in plastic surgery haha), choosing developed countries like the US or the UK over Thailand anytime. This sees no relevance to biasness or whatsoever, but perhaps due to certain impressions that have been left upon us previously.

Something that could have been given more air time would probably be the issue on plastic surgery, maybe? I think that would be an interesting topic to discuss, whether the advancements of medical technology has positive impacts in the area of fake beauty, although this would probably bring up issues of ethics and things like that.

Overall, I'd rate the session 8/10 as it gave me comfort to know that when I grow old, medical technology grows with me too, and when that time comes, I wouldn't have to leave home to see the Doc for my aching back :P

Week 5

This week's session allowed us to discuss on ICT(Information & Computing Technology) and World Change, covering areas like the internet, wireless networks, mass media and interactive telecommunications. I thought this topic was relevant to many of us since as youngsters we're all mostly tech-saavy and closely linked up with the internet, especially that of social networking sites.

Some interesting ideas or observations in class today was definitely the video on Milo! It showed how this boy had emotions and knowledge of the person that was talking to him. The video definitely took me by surprise since I had no clue that technology has advanced to such levels today. However it really is quite freaky and intimidating that this character with no life whatsoever has the means to communicate in such a way. I guess we're really moving on with technology huh.

We also discussed cloud computing in class and with many of us ignorant about it, prof showed us this video which pretty much summed up what it was all about CLoud computing allowed info to be not be stored on our computers, but instead it'd be on the internet as if like on a browser. This allows us to gain access to tools and technology that we need without having to purchase it. Examples would be like google docs, Facebook games, etc. I thought this was kinda good in the sense that information cold be shared amongst people more easily, and would save us the worry if our computers crashed just before a presentation or something. However, this would lead to the issue of security of data, since all information could possibly be exposed to the whole world. And I guess the way this issue could be alleviated is only dependent on the discretion of the user- knowing that whatever he uploads has the possibility of reaching many others. So if he has such fears that others would get a know-in on his private life, then he probably shouldn't upload anything in the first place.

Some discussion that came about from the presentations saw us going a little deeper into the scheme of ICT. We discussed the impact ICT has on the economy, and this branched out into a few areas. We mentioned that there must be a certain level of education/ literacy rate in order to maximise the potential of ICTs, and proper infrastructure must also be in place in order to allow ICT to reach out to the masses. Another point brought up was that policies must be in place, meaning the government has to be supportive of such usage of ICT in their countries too. On my part, I feel that, apart from the above, people must be receptive to using new technology and we must be ready to embrace such a change. If the older generation were to remain stubborn sticking to the old ways of doing things, then I guess they'd be stuck in their era for a long time. In order to give technology a chance to positively impact their lives, they've gotta first open their arms to welcome it.

Some issues for further discussion could perhaps be how as youngsters we can use ICTs in a better way instead of being hooked on Facebook all the time, and hence use it such that it would bring about even more technological change for us in the future.

Overall, I'd give this week's session a 8/10 for opening my eyes to the wonders of how technology has advanced, and for relevant discussion of the use of ICTs during the presentations.

Week 4

Well it sure doesn't feel like I've been sitting in TWC lesson for the fourth week now. Time really does pass so fast (when you're having fun?). Anyway today in class we were focused on the topic of Drivers of World Change, mainly elaborating on what are the motivations behind the change that happens. Some examples mentioned were environmental, globalisation, and changing expectations&tastes with changing time. These examples mentioned by Prof are a subset of what was stated in Reading 1, which gave a wide variety of examples of global drivers of change.

Some of these examples mentioned in the reading kinda relate to last week's topic of sustainable development, the primary one being climate change. How the need for us to keep innovating and keep producing stuff has somehow led to more polluted skies and seas, and how such pollution has led to climate change, and finally, how climate change is a driver of change.

Prof also gave us a few of his favourite quotes, and I take special liking to the following one:

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

-George Bernard Shaw.

I thought this quote really summarised the two kinds of people that we can be, passive or aggressive. There is a significant group of people who are comfortable at where they are, thinking that staying in their comfort zones would somehow inch them nearer to success. These people don't question the Whys when things go wrong and are just satisfied with people's reasons for hiccups. On the other hand, the individual who's bold enough to press for change if he senses that things aren't going the way it should be would be the one who's the reason for change today. It's a pity that many aren't for change, particularly the older generation, who would sometimes prefer to stick to tradition.

After our very short 8minute break today, we were gonna talk about Change Management & Change Leadership. Prof showed us this amusing video of a guy who started dancing (top half naked, i think) at this random field with so many people! Well, he was labelled the Leader. Cause soon after, this other skinny man joined him, then a fat man, then 2, then 3 others, till there was this whole crowd that made it look like some rock concert!

Well the video illustrated some points, that

1st, you have to be willing to take the initiative to make the change, well this is in reference to the first guy not minding what others might think of him. And I guess that's the same way for leaders with a vision, that you have to be able to be confident and persuasive in presenting your vision, and to be able to take criticism as well.

2nd, sometimes it requires more boldness to be the first follower. You gotta be willing to 'look stupid doing something stupid'. This is when people are skeptical about this new idea that's brought up, unknowing of all the good it might bring. And as humans, we all have the herd mentality, it would not be any longer before everyone joins in to do what was thought of as stupid in the first place.

& lastly, there has to be music in the background for the dance to appeal. This is in no relation to today's topic, but I thought it was important to recognise that each organisation has to have people in the background, the back office support who does what we call saikang (directly translated to shit work in english heehee) but receive no acknowledgement. As part of being in the leadership, they've gotta recognise that there are important people behind the scenes and credit them, for without them there wouldn't be the basis to drive change.

So, some key takeaways from lesson today is that change begins with the individual. As future leaders (hopefully) of organisations, my generation has to be both receptive and willing to initiate change. Being receptive would enable us to be open to suggestions from other sources that might spark growth, and being willing to initiate change would mean we have to inculcate a sense of boldness in us (i guess school's helping in this ie speaking up with our personal viewpoints) so as to be confident in expressing our ideas across in the secular world in future.

All in all, I'd give today's lesson a 7/10 because there were a number of presentations today, which led us to rush through some questions which could have been elaborated on more. But presentations were insightful, and discussions were alright too.

Week 3

The third session of TWC saw us covering Technology & Sustainability of Industrial Development and Innovation Management.

We started off by looking at the old industrial model, elaborating on how people of the past could continue to advance in technology without having to consider the pressing situation of environmental degradation. However, as a result of such, the environment has landed in bad state today, leaving current firms to grapple with the issue of sustainable development. Companies these days now have to ensure that their primary objective of maximizing profits are being met, while ensuring that they do not bring up levels of global warming at the same time.

Furthermore, Prof also mentioned that starting late does not always put you at a disadvantage. This allows firms to leap in to the industry and begin to capitalize, without having the need to invest in the starting of a new technology and its developmental process. This creates a substantial amount of value for such companies.

Hence, all current firms now have the onus on them to innovate, and work around with our current situation, in order to allow economic growth without harming our environment.

One classmate then had his presentation- whether development & sustainability were/had to be trade-offs. We then proceeded into discussion on how much of a role should governments play in the sustainability of the environment. In my opinion, a government is a leadership figure, having power and influence on the people. Its role is to educate, and to provide the framework for long-term change. However it is not up to the government alone. Firms, on their part, have to be receptive to orders, and to question whether they are willing to compromise on profit levels for the sake of the environment. It would be quite unfortunate if governments have to exert too much pressure, putting the whole issue in a very bad light, cause after all, we're under the same sky.

Halfway through class, we moved on to the topic of Innovation Management. One thing that I remember from this segment was Prof's cute attempt at drawing BioEnterprise Asia's Technology Landscape Conceptual Framework! In summary it listed the summits as opportunities when knowledge, technology & barriers to entry are high, with few competitors in the market. Valleys are pretty much the opposite, with low interest for BioEnterprise unless there's innovation. Then there are the clouds, with summit characteristics (high knowledge tech & barriers to entry) although the business case is not yet developed. All this well-represented by the image below-

All in all, what I've learnt during week 3 was that most of the time, it's worth the risk to think innovatively out of the box and to try something else that no one has. However at the same time, we must be careful to not let the risk be damage to our environment.

I rate this session a 7/10.

Week 2

This second week of TWC was split into 2 sections-

Technology, Society & Global Dominance

We started off by listing the various types of dominance (cultural, military, information & even disinformation) and Prof also kinda defined dominance. It's a country/ organisation who's clearly the leader in the market, setting the tone for the rest. Prof also showed us his own model for organisational behaviour for identifying innovating leaders & dominant players! T'was quite cool with the Triangle thingy that had Rising Star & Falling Star on both slopes of the triangle, and a Dominant Player being well-balanced between the two.

One point I remember from this was when Prof mentioned how you can either choose to energise people, or sap energy from people. And I guess this boils down to individual choice, on whether you would wanna influence people, or be influenced. From this model I also gathered how it's important to be open to new concepts and information from external sources, in order to prevent being isolated.

Prof wrote another quote on the board before lesson (I wonder if he's gonna come up with a new quote every week hahaha) stating that, Change is inevitable and often necessary; the transition process can often be difficult or painful (for some). This is really true, as we have previously discussed how we've moved on from hunter-gatherer times to now, that change is indeed inevitable. It's also necessary for us humans to continually be on the move to improve ourselves, so as to keep up with modernisation.

However, the time period between the start and end product of change would leave some struggling, because whenever there's change, someone else is bound to lose power and influence. And most of the time, people prefer to stay where they are. This then brings us to the question whether people are in fact contented with what they have, or are they constantly in hunger for change. One example mentioned of an organisation that has been successful with continual change is Apple who have been reinventing themselves with the recent launches of the iPad & the iPhone 4.

One key takeaway point for this segment of the class was the video Prof showed us on Globalisation, and the New Rulers of the World, which can be found here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdgMlXoQMbY. Honestly, I was quite sad after watching this as it depicted reality, about how wide the income disparity has become, and truly there is a huge income gap between the rich and the poor. In light of this, I feel it's important that society sees the need to help the less-fortunate population of the world. And I'm glad that what the UN is doing about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is working towards that, which was discussed in the second half of class.

Technology & Human Development

Development, as what I make of it, is the process of advancement. There was then some discussion in class whether change is development or vice versa, and we concluded that change is in fact, a consequence of development. We then went into the different examples of development like social, economic, cultural, human etc. But what striked me was Prof summing up sustainable development pretty well- Choosing options Today that wouldn't limit your options Tomorrow.

One highlight of this segment was the question that Prema posed to the class, and which Prof asked me to answer- How do we go about catergorizing which technology would be related to human capabilities? I went about answering the question saying that people can be categorized according to their education levels, so as to allow them to fully maximise their potential using technology, of an appropriate level, assigned to them. I had thought that since the less-developed people weren't exposed to modernisation, they'd just have no clue.

I then went on to state that people in less-developed countries were probably be unable to use an iPhone 4. Which at this point, Prof gives me a look of shock and refutes my answer, stating that developing countries can actually be adaptable to new technologies! He stated that it was ignorance and the lack of experience on my part, which I have to agree with. Haha. But for that, I'm now a little more aware on how some developing countries are in fact, adaptable to new technologies, just like how a classmate pointed out he knew of this group of young students on a mountain being able to utilise a laptop within the time period of a month! Impressive.

So, one thing that we could have discussed further would be how we, as normal people, can contribute to society in realistic yet pragmatic ways that can somehow benefit the less-developed countries? The MDGs project would indeed go a long way, but it is a little tough for everyone of us to be in that project and to contribute significantly.

I would give Week 2's lesson an 8/10 as I've come to have more interest in class due to insightful presentations by my classmates, and the discussion that followed.

Thoughts from Week1 Readings

Just covered my readings as stated by Prof Shahi in the slides, and thought I should do a summary kinda thing here lest I forget the small details of what I’ve read.

www.worldworld.com provided me with a timeline of how civilization progressed from the very beginning, with the formation of galaxies and Earth, all the way to intellectual developments by humans today.

I thought a brief flowchart would provide better visualization, and hence came up with one. Please correct me if I provide inaccurate details or missed out on vital information, which I should have included.

1. Basic forming of galaxies and the Earth + development of survival skills + primary inventions (eg. Wheels)
2. The rise of religions (eg. Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism)
3. More modern inventions (eg. Telephones, Aeroplanes, Radio-signals)
4. Progressed to have more intellectual inventions/ developments (eg. Nuclear weapons, Spacecrafts, Microchips, Cloning etc.)

In summary, this website provided me with the whole timeline of how human civilization has developed over the thousands of years, and how technology has advanced over the course of time. One line that caught my eye was “Stoning to Cloning in a few thousand of years”, illustrating how we’re advancing at an exponential rate, and it would certainly be unimaginable what we would be like 5 billion years down the road when the galaxy is supposed to be naturally destroyed (if we’re not already gone by 2012, haha).

The second site that was recommended was www.history-world.org/agriculture.htm. It elaborated on agriculture and the origins of civilization. It states that an increasing number of humans shifted to dependence on cultivated crops and domesticated animals for their subsistence. Tools & skills advanced sufficiently to support >1000 people.

The Agrarian Revolution was brought about by a few factors

1. Climatic Changes

· Led to the migration of many big game animals to new pastures in the North decreased the supply of game for hunters in the Middle East.

· Led to a change in distribution and growing pattern of grains and crops, which hunters depended on.

2. Increase in Human Population

· Led to a shift to sedentary farming.

· Caused by a change in climate, plant & animal life, with people moving to places where shifts were minimal.

· Cause by harvesting grains intensively. More grain harvest led to a systematic cultivation of plants.

The broadcasting of wild seeds involved selecting the best grain for seed, leading to improved crop yields and resistance to plant diseases. Time needed increased, but labour required declined, and potential yield rose significantly.

Spread of the Neolithic Revolution

Agriculture was far from the dominant support for society. However, those who adopted it survived and increased in numbers, spreading the techniques throughout the Middle East and to India, to Europe and to Africa.

Transformation of Material Life

The growth of sedentary farming in the Neolithic era greatly accelerated the pace of technological and social change.

Technological: There was a rise in invention- increased reliance on sedentary farming led to the development of agricultural implements (eg. Digging sticks to break soil, axes to clear forests, etc.) Seed selection, planting, fertilization and weeding were also improved. The end of the Neolithic age saw newly devised ways of storing rainwater & rechanneling river water for irrigation. Transportation also improved leading to the making of skin-covered boats and reed-and-log rafts.

Social: Surpluses in agriculture led to exchanging part of their harvest to specialized services and production of non-cultivators (toolmakers & weavers). Specialized production in tools is a good consequence of the development of agriculture as it led to regional specializations and interregional trade.

Women played an important role in the domestication of plants, but soon men took over tasks like heavy labour (eg. plowing, hoeing, controlling vital irrigation systems). Men also took the lead in taming animals and soon the economic position of women declined.

Causes of civilization in the Middle East

Settled agriculture implied forms of property, giving families an identity. With property, there was incentive to introduce improvements (eg. wells & irrigation). Property brought about laws & enforcement mechanisms and an extensive government, leading to possibilities of trade.

Settled agriculture also encouraged the formation of large and more stable communities, which developed around fields. The primary incentive for stability was the need for irrigation systems. Farmers needed to cooperate and be dependent on each other, leading to people living in villages rather than in isolation. The increase in scale of political and economic organization ensured that users along the river had equal access to it.

Further innovations- New Tools & Specialisation

New inventions enhanced the productivity of Middle Eastern Agriculture. Consistent surpluses shaped civilization, leading to a recurrent series of technological changes. (eg. Potter’s Wheel & Obsidian, a hard stone used for tools. One significant technological change was the introduction of metal for use in tools & weapons (eg. copper + tin = bronze). The use of metal enabled them to manufacture a greater variety of tools, which were lighter and easier to make. The Middle East was the first to move from the Neolithic (stone tool) Age to the Bronze Age. Trade also led to the formation of sea routes.

The last site, www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/science/, informed me about cutting age science in the Middle East. Some of these include calculating the diameter of the Earth, and areas in medicine, like the removal of cataracts, and the treating of kidney & gallstones, at the time when the Europeans were still using leeches.

Technological advancement of the West led to them having a military & economic advantage over the Islamic world. The Middle East had to outsource work to foreign firms due to being tight on cash. They sold their right to develop and & profit (aka concessions). Hence, the European government had interests in influencing Middle Eastern regimes, hence leading to greater dependency on the West, slowly increasing resentment within the Middle Easterns.

Access to Technology

Internet cafes sprung up in major cities for people who couldn’t afford computers. However, the government was the only Internet provider and hence had the right to censor any content they deem unfit. Oil-poor countries had insufficient resources to take advantage of new technology. In summary, the ability to access new technology is related to both economic resources and political openness.

Well, that’s what I’ve gathered from the readings from the various sites. If you’ve read until this line, then I’m quite honoured, haha! It’s really long, but I hope it has somehow benefitted you, cause it sure has enlightened me on a variety of issues (: Do leave a comment if I’ve stated wrong facts or if I’m lacking in elaboration in any part, or if you have anything in mind you wanna say! :D

Week 1

My first TWC class started with Prof Shahi showing us a video "Guns, Germs, and Steel", narrating how a Mr Jared Diamond was in Papua New Guinea, feeding his passion for bird-sighting. It was there that Diamond was immersed into a culture with lots of history, backdating to at least 40,000 years ago, much longer than people living in the continents of North & South America. But what dumbfounded Diamond wasn't how the New Guineans so efficiently eyed and caught their game, it was when a native, Yali, posed a question that at first seemed simple to Diamond, but did not have a simple answer.

"Why you White Men have SO MUCH cargo, and we New Guineans have so LITTLE?"

Cargo is a term for material goods first brought to their country by the Westerners, and was regarded by many as evidence of a white man's power. The Westerners would argue that power was determined by race, seeing themselves as superior to the New Guineans, hence being "natural" that they'd own more cargo. But is this really true? That certain civilisations deserve to be less developed cause of the colour of their skin?

Diamond disagreed, and so do i.

The New Guineans are amongst the most culturally diverse and adaptable people in the world, and could easily knock up a shelter in the hardest of environments within a few hours. So why then are they so much less developed than modern day America?

I believe it is due to the factor of accessibility. Or rather, the lack of it for the New Guineans.

It was stated in the video that "All great civilisations have something in common- advanced technology, large populations, and a well-organised workforce". Papua New Guinea sure has a large population, but not one that is trained and skilled to ensure survival in the modern world. Technology has also not found its way to the forests of New Guinea, hence depriving its citizens of the wide world of the Internet, and many other advancements and advantages that technology can bring. Without sufficient resources, no amount of adaptability, intelligence and innovation in them would allow Papua New Guinea to shift to become more technologically advanced. Some people just march faster in the walk of history.

Something interesting that caught my attention was the image that Prof Shahi had in one of his slides, titled The Future of the Human Race?

Much discussion went on about this. Some stating that it is a result of technology that has made life so much more convenient for us, citing examples like being glued to the television or the computer screen playing video games, or simply picking up the phone to dial for our favourite (and very unhealthy) fast-food and pizzas. However, in my opinion, it is really up to the individual. There shouldn't be a direct blame on technology, it is at most a factor that one can choose to make beneficial or detrimental.

Technology has served us humans in ways that have truly made life easier. Some examples would include public transportation instead of getting around by foot, or simply going on Skype to look at loved ones halfway across the world. Relating back to the photo above, technology is not a direct cause of increasing obesity, as treadmills and weighing machines are also part of modern technology that can help us to keep in shape, if only we are willing.

My Key Takeaway for the lesson would be that technology is neutral, and it is up to us on how we choose to use it. This relates to the quote that Prof Shahi wrote on the board- Technology is Easy. People are Hard. This summarizes how technology can be used to spark off new technology. This is when a new idea is being worked on after seeing how a previous idea has helped civilisation, hoping that this new idea would similarly be of benefit as well. On the other hand, people are not as easily-convinced. People tend to stick with what they're familiar with, like a product that they have full knowledge about, and only few would venture into the arena of new products, trying and testing new technologies that have much to offer to us, if only we are willing.

Something I would like for further discussion would be whether we are contented with how Technology has taken away Tradition. One example would be how e-mails have taken the place of snail mail, and have also taken away the sincerity of a letter along with it.

I would rate the session 7 out of a full 10, as I found it informative and thought-provoking.