Lesson 12 (8 Nov 2011)

Reflections on the Entire Course

Today marks the last lesson of Technology and World Change. Throughout this course, I can say for sure that my understanding of technology and how it changes the world has increased significantly. Given how we are swiftly progressing towards an era where technology will be heavily emphasized, the learning gains from this course would certainly be useful in the near future.


Prior to this course, I have been rather skeptical about our increasing reliance on technology due to the detriments that follows. However, upon further understanding about technology, I feel that the benefits of technology more often than not outweigh the detriments. For instance, some may claim that the use of Facebook in the workplace has led to a loss of productivity, and indeed, statistics have proven so. Close to US$1.14 Billion had been lost. However, allowing the usage of Facebook in the workplace had also been proven to improve the mental well-being of the employees and in doing so, improve their productivity. At the same time, firms who are less strict about the use of social media in the workplace will also be more appealing to job applicants who view this generosity as a form of staff welfare. Ultimately, the benefits that firms stand to gain will be greater than the loss of productivity they may experience.


This course has also given me greater insights about what the term technology encompasses. What I found most interesting was the idea of technology forecasting. It had never occurred to me that technology should be forecasted. Rather, I have all along thought that new innovations should merely arise to meet the needs of the present. Thankfully I am not the owner of any firms else the firm is doomed to failure.


To sum up, this course has been a very enriching experience and in my opinion, has achieved the desired outcome of educating students more about Technology and World Change.

Lesson 11 ( 2 Nov 2011)

Learning Gains from Web Report


Initially, the thought of having to create a web report as a project is daunting to me. I had no prior experience in creating a webpage (with the exception of this blog), and I wasn’t naturally good at computer related stuff. Thank goodness for the SIS students in my group who got the website started, and guided us along the way on how to edit the webpage.


There was much to learn about creating a web report, from inserting a picture, to including the references and so on. It was definitely a good learning experience for me and I believe that these soft skills will come in useful in future.


Creating a web report is very different from the conventional report that I am used to. Firstly, the web report cannot contain too much information to prevent the website from looking overly cluttered. In this sense, we faced difficulties in selecting the appropriate information to be included in the web report from our very comprehensive research. Being accustomed to writing a normal report, we did lots of research, failing to take into account the limited amount of information that can actually be posted. As a result, we had to undertake the tedious task of drastically summarizing our findings. On hindsight, what we should have done was to design and plan the outline of the web report, rather than jumping straight into the research first. This could have saved us a lot of precious time.


Next, to make up for the information that was cut out while summarizing, we thought to include relevant videos since pictures speak a thousand words, much less a video. It also helps to keep the readers engaged and interested in our topic.


A web report must also be visually appealing, and at the same time, promotes interaction between the reader and the administrators of the webpage. Our initial idea of including a forum page to promote discussion about our topic on Ecotechnology eventually had to be scraped because of the limits of the web provider. Instead, we dedicated a section for readers to leave their comments, as well as a section where readers can email us directly if they do not wish to post their comments in public. We also included a direct link to our Facebook page that was created as a platform for further discussion as well. A vast majority of our population actually has a Facebook account, and thus, we felt that Facebook will be a good medium to promote our topic. I think what I can learn from here is that the web is truly very versatile and although it may have its limits at times, there could be better alternatives to explore. Thus, we should be more flexible and open-minded in order to identify these alternatives.


In addition, a web report should also be user-friendly so that it is easy for users to navigate around. Initially, we had tabs for every single component that will be covered in our web report. However, it makes the entire page seem very messy and disorganized. Thus, we had to collapse a few topics with some common elements under one heading. However, there was still a section on stakeholders’ roles which was lacking in clear navigation. Upon suggestions by a member of the class, we decided to add sub tabs for that section to improve the ease of navigation.


All in all, this web report provides a good learning experience for me. Apart from hands on learning from my group’s web report, I have also learnt from the web report that was presented by the other groups. I believe that these learning gains can be put to application for future projects.

Lesson 10 (25 Oct 2011)

Technology Assessment and Forecasting


An interesting driver of technology assessment and forecasting that I have learnt from the start of the lesson is ‘the need to prioritize, given limited resources, on whether and when to implement and use new innovations and technologies’. Many a time, countries or firms are hesitant to be the first in the market to test out a new innovation or technology as they are uncertain about the people’s reaction. The fear of failing combined with their risk averse mentality made them a follower, rather than a leader. While this may seem like a safe and risk-free corporate strategy, it may very well lead to the firm being a falling star in this ever changing world. A good example to illustrate this would be the Case study of Kodak.


Kodak had played a significant role in our lives with their domination in the traditional film cameras. However, as the trend heads towards the digital image, Kodak gradually began to lose its market dominance. What many do not know was that Kodak was in fact the first to develop the digital camera in 1975. However, as the directors of Kodak were not keen on this idea and thus, the launch of this digital camera was pushed back to 1996. By then, many other brands had already developed their version of a digital camera and Kodak had lost its competitive advantage in the camera industry. More information about this incident can be found in the following website:


http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/03/features/kodak-develops-a-film-giants-self-reinvention


Had Kodak been more adventurous and into technology assessment and forecasting, it could have remained the dominant power in the camera industry. Such is the importance of technology assessment and forecasting!


In today’s world, the trend is such that there are economic and skills insecurities and power is more diffused than before. The US is quickly losing its position as the economic powerhouse and the non-western societies are rising faster than ever. As shared in one of the videos shown in class, the word ‘Future’ is used as an acronym to represent the following:


Fast


Urban


Tribal-new tribes in this world


Universal


Radical


Ethical


These are the emerging trends in the future. In light of this, technology assessment and forecasting is ever more so important. However, should we look at the past to project the future or look at the future and try to work backwards? The former is a realistic behavior, while the latter is more of a wild behavior. To put into the context of technology, the former will be the mindset of a falling star while the latter would be that of a rising star. Shocking?


As emphasized repeatedly, changes are occurring at a rapid rate. New innovations are churned out at an unimaginable pace. We can no longer afford to merely create something that is based on information gathered from the past. People are now looking for refreshing innovations.


An interesting reading that supports this point is reading 2, which is about Futurology. Futurology is basically the scientific means of predicting the future. The article did a comparison between Futurologists and Sci-fi writers. While futurologists use logical and scientific methods, Sci-fi writers are more creative and imaginative. In a way, they stretch the idea of what is possible. The article mentioned that living in such a world of uncertainties, we must sometimes rely on our creativity rather than logic to resolve the pressing issues.


In general, I think that technology assessment and forecasting is a very essential tool that firms and countries alike must possess. Failure to do so will merely limit their chances of achieving success. Furthermore, it is also critical in ensuring sustainable development. After all, technology may have negative externalities on the environment and this is something that the developer of the technology should take into consideration.


On a personal note, I would rate this lesson an 8 out of 10. This lesson is definitely refreshing. However, I feel that the presenters could perhaps be a little clearer on how their presentations tie in with the topic of technology assessment and forecasting.

Lesson 9 (18 Oct 2011)

Emerging & future technology


Technology knows no boundaries. With strong desires, wild imagination can be converted into reality through technology. This is nicely summarized by a quote from Kahlil Gibran, “There is a space between man's imagination and man's attainment that may only be traversed by his longing”. Indeed, who would have thought that phones are now able to interact with humans through SIRI, a software that was developed by Apple and made available in iPhone 4S?


The readings for this lesson mentioned some rather interesting emerging technologies like the vibrating gloves that give the wearer superhuman touch powers and the possibility of the transparent phone. Both innovations actually draw reference to the popular movie Iron Man. Clearly, this illustrates that the development of technology can be brought about by mass media which changes the perception of what humans actually want and need.


Other upcoming technologies include things like robotics, biotechnologies, nanotechnologies etc. An interesting emerging technology that was brought up in 2 separate presentations was the brain computer interface technology. It involves the controlling of an external device by using the brain. In other words, thoughts are transmitted as a form of signal to the device. It may sound fictitious or something that will only occur in the movies, however, it has in fact been in practice to assist the diseased. Regardless of how cool it may seem, there is always the morality issue that will be raised by some individuals. Some religions may be against this form of technology as it alters the original creation of human beings. Furthermore, this technology may be exploited for use in acts of terrorism, which further endangers the world. Personally, I think that this is an interesting issue and provides scope for more discussions in class.


It is unknown as to what the future holds for us. However, as of present, a critical problem would be that of erratic climate change. It not only threatens our food stability, but also increases the occurrence of natural disasters like flood around the world. Thus, I feel that an important aspect that the future technology should focus on will be the protection of ecology. Ecotechnology has been found to be able to contribute significantly in the mitigation of climate change as it can reduce the carbon footprints in human activities. As such, I think that more efforts should be made in developing ecotechnology.


On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate today’s session 8 out of 10. It is fascinating to see what the up and coming technologies are and how they can benefit human lives. However, I feel that there could be further discussions on the possible implications that these technologies might have on us. Nevertheless, it was still an interesting session for me.

Lesson 8 (11 Oct 2011)

Energy and World Change

The lesson started off with an interesting fact about how much more (solar) energy the sun can provide as compared to other natural sources of energy. Just a small fraction of the solar energy provided from the sun is sufficient to meet our energy needs. Yet, we have not fully harnessed the full potential of the Sun’s energy due to the high costs incurred by the large number of solar panels needed. However, this is a sound concept and will definitely reduce the burden on the limited natural resources and cut down emissions significantly.


It cannot be overly emphasized that countries have to reduce their emissions. While it is pleasing to see that countries are increasing their investments in green technology, more efforts should be put in by countries, such as India with only a marginal increase. Germany has set a very good example in their investment in solar energy. Germany experiences all four seasons and does not receive a lot of sunlight. Yet they still chose to invest in solar energy. Their target was to derive 20% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, and not only are they on track, but they may even surpass the 20% mark to hit 30%.


Moving on to the readings assigned for today’s session. Reading 6 offers a good overview of what we should do to progress towards a renewable energy future. It mentioned suggestions like government to enforce strict sustainability criteria, and supporting climate and energy agreements. However, the recommendations may not be effective due to self-interest. For instance, in a bid to revive the US economy, President Obama reduced the budget Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2011. Where the welfare of the country is at stake, efforts to go green and sustainability are often compromised. Furthermore, there is imperfect information available to all. Thus, it would be difficult, say to monitor the amount of pollution caused by a particular firm.


 Presentations given today and the discussions generated were refreshing. It was brought up that the plan to construct wind farms has generated much protest from the local community due to the loss of the natural habitats and landscape. Their concerns were understandable as I would personally be against the idea of having a beautiful view in front of my home being ruined by a wind farm, especially if a premium was paid for that view. Thus, an alternative offered was to develop an offshore wind farm. For me, my preference would be the development of the offshore wind farm because land is scarce. On the other hand, the ocean offers plenty of space as very few physical structures are actually found on the ocean. Furthermore, my guess is that the offshore wind farm may actually generate more wind energy due to the sea breeze. Another presentation was about creating artificial tornadoes using residual gases from nearby plants as a source of energy. The issue raised was about the safety of using such sources. Personally, I feel that safety is not much of a concern since the tornado is artificial and within our control. Rather, people may be slow to accept such technology as they perceive any form of tornado to be dangerous.


On a whole, I would give today lesson a rating of 7/10. While the presentations given were certainly interesting, some were overly technical, making it hard to follow. A brief coverage of what the technology is about and the changes that it could make would make the presentation easier to understand.

Individual Topical Paper (draft)

Hi all,

My individual paper can be found in the following link. The topic is on Integrating the use of the Internet in Religions. Please feel free to look through and review.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44476189/TWC%20indv%20paper.docx

Lesson 7 (27 Sep 2011)

Biobusiness Revolution: Agriculture and the environment

“When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability” (Gurinder Singh)

Indeed, to be sustainable, we need to find means to be self-provident for our energy usage rather than be dependent on the limited pool of natural resources that are depleting at an alarming rate. The same could be said for the growth of agriculture.

Sustainability in the realm of agriculture involves maximising the growth of crops or the production of meat within a limited plot of land. This has perhaps led to the increasing movement of population from the rural to the urban areas. Since 2008, more than half of the world’s population have been residing in the urban areas. This shift is an attempt to alleviate the problem of rural overcrowding which limits the growth and development of new crops. With more land, one will have more capital and incentive to invest in new seeds which can improve agriculture. However, urbanisation does have its own set of problems. Being in closer proximity and having greater interaction with people, an epidemic breakout would result in faster spread of the disease.

Given the increasing world population, there is a need to invest in agribiology to increase the productivity of crops. A major innovation in the agribiology field is the concept of genetic modification which can be used to increase the resistance of crops to pests and extreme weather.

 Interestingly enough, meat production can also be enhanced in the lab. As what Sheryl had presented, scientists are currently exploring the idea of in-vitro meat, which is essentially growing of muscle cells into a large amount of meat. It was mentioned in Wikipedia that the nutritional value of the in-vitro meat could actually be increased by reducing its fat content and controlling the nutrients added. When first introduced to this idea, one may find it absolutely repulsive. But if we are willing to delve deeper into it, we will realise that it actually brings about much benefits. Only half the energy is required to produce it and the land required for this production is only 2% of the current land usage. Furthermore, a taste test conducted revealed that there is no distinct difference in the taste of the cultured meat and the natural meat. There is really no reason for us to reject this innovation in light of the imminent problem of food shortage, except for the fact that it could potentially redefine the meaning of being a vegetarian. I would definitely support this production as long as the cultured meat pose no health risks and are priced affordably. (If it is cheaper than natural meat, I would consume it without second thoughts.)

On a personal note, I would give this lesson a rating of 9/10 as it is enlightening and the presentations provides many interesting ideas on what have been done to ensure sustainable agriculture practice.

Lesson 6 (20 Sep 2011)

Biobusiness Revolution: Healthcare and biomedical science

There are only two ways to live your life. 

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.

- Albert Einstein -

A great quote by Albert Einstein, shared by Prof! It basically summarises what drives changes-----our mindset. A curious mind encourages us to explore what is seemingly impossible, and this leads to innovation or invention.

An interesting article http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t030709.html  (reading 5) to read. To summarise, it mentions how technology used in the area of healthcare has actually increased life expectancy but also caused the increase in healthcare costs due to the lengthy and expensive R&D process required. However, the rate at which drugs are being produced has not increased and thus, there is a need to improve the efficiency and value of medical technology. A proposed solution is to increase access to generic drugs. However, this solution is debatable because on one hand, it could discourage pharmaceutical firms to spend much effort on R&D knowing that the profit gained will be greatly reduced, but on the other hand, generic drugs which are cheaper but nearly always equally effective as the original can help alleviate many healthcare problems in the less developed countries which are typically faced with widespread disease outbreak.  A proposed win-win solution by prof is to provide the developing nations with license to produce the drugs. In other words, give them exemptions from the patent rights owned by the developer. This would definitely be a good solution, however, there may be a concern that the developing countries could export these drugs to other countries to gain profits if the licensing is not well monitored.

An interesting point brought up by prof was that many people spent more money nearing the end of their life just to buy themselves more time. In fact, the article “Cost of Dying” by CBS news found out that in 2009, the Americans spend $50 billion on doctors’ and hospital bills during the last 2 months of patient’s life. This amount is much higher than the amount spent on defence and education. (article adapted from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/19/60minutes/main5711689.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody ). Is this ethical? I think not. After all, it is a known fact that we will die one day. Why bother prolonging the inevitable when we know that our time is nearly up and illness is beyond cure? Money can be better spent on creating new drugs to cure other illnesses as opposed to trying to extend one’s life without him/her being able to enjoy a good quality of life anyway.

It is projected that chronic diseases will be the main cause of death in the future. Perhaps it would be more prudent to spend the money on building infrastructures or developing medicine that can help us deal with this problem in future.

There are many opportunities for biobusiness in the realm of healthcare. An opportunity that I find intriguing is that of herbal and traditional medicine. It seems ironic that we are so modern these days with all the high-tech devices, but when it comes to healthcare, many people still rely on herbal and traditional medicine. For instance, the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has gained much popularity in Singapore, and even around the world despite having a history of over 4000 years. Some have even suggested that the western medicine and TCM can complement each other. Going forward, it is good to see that the world has not disregarded traditional methods especially in the healthcare sector since its effectiveness is probably the reason for its long existence.

 On a whole, I would give this lesson a rating of 8/10.

Lesson 5 (13 Sep)

ICT and World Change

Information Communication Technology (ICT), as the term implies, refers to any technology that helps to disseminate or provide information. Call me bias, but I think that ICT is one of the greatest innovations of all time. It has brought us much convenience, introduced greater connectivity between countries and allows us to receive information at a faster rate. There are 2 types of ICT in particular that has caught my attention, namely the mass media and the internet as I have witnessed first-hand their development.

Mass media can be divided into two categories---traditional media (which consists of radio, newspaper, television etc) and new media (which includes blogs, social network etc). An issue that is commonly raised is this: Will traditional media become obsolete one day? My personal take is that it will not totally fade out of our lives, but dependency on traditional media will be reduced. New media is readily accessible especially with the increasing popularity of smartphones accompanied with wifi features. It provides us with ‘news on the go’, and with hectic lifestyles these days, such a concept will be well-received as opposed to traditional media. On top of that, news that new media provides are more updated and this is crucial especially for the finance sector. However, in terms of reliability, traditional media will still win hands down as the new media allows one to assume anonymity which emboldens them to post untruths.

 What I find fascinating about the internet is the progression from web 1.0 to web 3.0 with its increasing interactivity. It’s amazing how the website can actually identify our area of interest and provides us with more information accordingly (web 3.0). Technology has certainly gone ‘smarter’, and I truly look forward to seeing how else web 3.0 can be developed.

 As always, the positive is accompanied by the negative. ICT has sparked off concerns about the invasion of privacy, ‘mass mobilisation of hatred and prejudice’ (John Gage, Chap 1 Some Thoughts of How ICT could really change the World) and a widening of gap between countries as the powerful countries could use ICT to their benefit to extend and maintain their power while the poorer countries lack the means to exploit such technology. Such detrimental effects are inevitable and the best way to deal with it is to act in accordance to the “second law of technical change: Expect unexpected effects” (John Gage, Chap 1 Some Thoughts of How ICT could really change the World), that is to innovate further as we experience the unexpected effects. Also, ICT should be used responsibly as any mishandling will generate far-reaching implications due to the diverse cyberspace.

On a whole, I would give today’s lesson a rating of 8/10. Presentations by my course mates were rather interesting and refreshing.

Outline of individual review paper: Effect of Internet on religion

Specific innovation of interest

The internet has brought about many changes to religion. It has altered the way in which religion is practiced, as well as increased the spread of religion in the globalised world. However, being a revolutionary change, the internet faces it its fair share of concerns from various religious groups because of possible clashes with their beliefs, or because they view the internet as a threat to their traditional way worshipping.

How has the internet changed religion?

The internet, with the great convenience that it provides, has been integrated into the lives of many, and our reliance on the internet will only increase in the future. As such, many religious groups have turned towards the internet to remain relevant. Religious information that could only be found on books previously is now readily accessible on the internet, thus leading to a widespread of different ideologies across different countries. Similar religious groups from different countries can also practice their religion together through the use on internet.

Proposed approach to the development of paper

Introduction:

        I.            Characteristics of the internet

      II.            Characteristics of religion (i.e  the value of religion to one)

    III.            How the characteristics of both complement and/or clash with each other

Initial stage: When internet first became a tool for religious purposes

        I.            Skepticism that religious groups have on the internet initially.

Current situation: Evident implications that internet has on religion

        I.            Positive impact of the internet on religion (E.g  spreading of ideology, increased accessibility to religious information etc)

      II.            The negative impact of the Internet on religion( Disinformation , discrimination etc)

    III.            Religious groups today-Are the generally tolerating or embracing technology

Future considerations:

        I.            Will the freedom of speech that one has on the internet lead to religious strife?

      II.            What does the future holds for religion?

    III.            Should religion rely more on internet to attract youths?

Lesson 4 (6 September 2011)

Lesson 4 (6 September 2011)

Change is the only constant. But what drives changes?

There are many drivers of change such as technology, demographics etc. Changes can be classified into two types, namely evolutionary and revolutionary.

Evolutionary---Gradual development over  long period of time

Revolutionaly---Entirely new and different development

Changes can be for the better or for the worse. For instance, social media has definitely improved communication between people and allow us to be updated about the life of our friends and families. But on the other hand, it can cause addiction and harm relationships.

It is nearly impossible to predict what change comes next or the rate at which changes are occurring. Thus, it is important not to be complacent even though it seems as if we are at the top. This is highlighted in the article “Global Drivers Of Change: Their implications for the Zambian Construction Industry”. Changes in technology and market place have rendered the traditional methods used by the Zambian companies obsolete. This illustrates the need to monitor changes and innovate in response to changes.

Changes cannot be stopped and are often irreversible. Therefore, it is pertinent for us to manage changes well, which brings me to the next part- Change Management and Leadership.

As the world is generally moving towards a knowledge-based economy, education and life-long learning, coupled with intensive research and development should be heavily emphasised upon because these factors are crucial to managing future changes. Reason being that innovation is very much the only solution to coping with the changes, and therefore, there is much to know before we can innovate successfully.

Along with the changing structure of the economy is the changing structure in the workplace. A hierarchal structure that will work in the past will no longer be relevant in most workplaces. As people become more educated, people are looking towards career advancement and feeling valued by the company, while companies are constantly seeking measures to improve the company’s performance. These require motivation of the employees which can only be done at a personal level. A hierarchal structure in this case would only leave workers at the bottom of the pyramid feeling neglected and unvalued. Thus, leaders should have ‘change management’ skills to maintain the competitiveness of the company.

I would give today’s lesson a rating of 8/10 as it broaches on topics which I have never thought about before.

Lesson 3 (3 September 2011)

Moving Towards Sustainable Development?


Definition of sustainable (as shared by Prof): People today should be able to exercise their options without compromising the choices available to future generations.

We all know that resources are limited and plenty of which had already been depleted by resource-rich countries such as Belgium and Great Britain during industrialization in the earlier days. What is left is no longer sufficient to support our existing rate of living. In fact, it was pointed out in the first video that Prof had shared with us during lesson that we would need 3 to 5 planets if the world were to adopt the lifestyle of people living in the US. Sadly, we only have one planet Earth, and this clearly illustrates the crucial need to turn towards sustainable development.


Sustainable development could be done in many ways: increasing efficiency, using renewable sources of energy etc… the article ‘Sustainability for Tomorrow’s Consumer’ (reading 3) states that in times of a global downturn where businesses are not doing well, and resource prices plunge deep down, one may question the need to invest in increasing efficiency as it does not make economic sense. But think long-term! Recall the idea of the 3 boxes that we learn in lesson 2, more specifically, box 3, which is about “creating the future by embarking on future looking projects that will improve the bottom line a decade down the road” (Source: Innovation in the Reset World, Vijay Govindarajan). Taking advantage of the low prices in a global recession to improve efficiency is actually a smart move. It is cost saving and also harnesses the potential to reap great gains after the recession.
That said, technology that is developed can be quickly copied by someone else. As such, many will deem the R&D efforts put in towards technology for sustainable development a waste because the resources used could be saved if they were to tap on the R&D efforts of others, instead of spearheading it. Once again, the selfish nature of humans comes into play. So who is going to start the ball rolling and head into the direction of sustainable development? Are we all going to sit back and actively participate in the ‘finger-pointing’ of responsibilities, but ultimately achieving nothing? Point is any catastrophe that may result due to our ‘extravagant’ lifestyle is going to affect all of us, and so, everyone of us should be involved in sustainable development. Sustainable development should not even be an obligation on our part, but rather, an integration into our daily lives.

Technology and innovation management

The world is highly competitive, and how can we ensure that a great innovation does not lose its appeal? In the realm of technology, one can never afford to stop innovating and developing new products according to the changes in preference of the consumers. Back when America was the country that everyone looked up to, many other countries were known to be ‘Americanised’, that is being strongly influenced by the America culture. It is no longer true today where the Korean and Japanese culture is now on the rise. A shift in the dominating culture will naturally lead to a shift in preferences and innovations have to follow according to remain fresh and relevant.


On top of that, innovations are quickly adapted into products developed by rivals with the intention of stealing the market share. There is no way to put a stop to this, and the only solution is ironically, innovating further. But to do so successfully require a team of people with different niche areas because as what Prof mentioned, innovation is not a one stage process. In fact, it requires 3 stages as shared by Prof. There is the element of research, the development stage, and the final marketing effort to make an innovation known to the world. Clearly, a lot of effort is involved but sadly(for the innovators), there is practically no other innovation management except to continue innovating or to retire from the market.


I would give today’s lesson a rating of 8/10 as I find it rather insightful. The presentation I enjoyed most is the one on Masdar City, shared by Samantha. It is interesting though I don’t think that I will feel comfortable living in such a city as the life there is too restricted and controlled.

Lesson 2 (23 Aug 2011)

There are two themes for today, with the first being “technology, society and global dominance”, and the second is “Technology and Human Development”.

Technology, Society and Global Dominance

For the article “Innovations in the reset world”, I think that the title itself is very attention grabbing as it suggests that the world had undergone really massive changes. What I like most about this article is how the writer actually classified and summarised the solutions to changes into 3 boxes, where box 1 is about “managing the present’, box 2 is about “selectively managing the past”, and box 3 is about “creating the future”. When combined together, it will in my opinion, allow one to stay ahead of the pack and lead the changes instead of waiting for changes to occur and then adapting to it. In a way, this ‘box package’ is very much like a hedge against the inevitable changes, and only the ‘owner’ of this package can succeed and prosper through such uncertain times.  It may seem elitist here that only the lucky or smarter (depends on how you view it) few who gain possession of the’ package’ are allowed to achieve success, but this is all part of the harsh realistic world that we live in. Whether we like it or not, changes are going to occur. Not even the stepping down of Steve Jobs as the CEO of Apple can make the world come to a standstill.

Technology and human development

According to Wikipedia, there are four pillars to human development, namely equity, sustainability, production and empowerment. Essentially, it’s all about expanding the number choices offered to us, and allowing people to lead the life that they actually value. Undoubtedly, technology has contributed greatly to the human development in terms of offering us a significant increased number of choices. However, amidst the benefits, it has also contradicted the four pillars (stated above).

 Following discussions below will be based on our reading article “The Colonial Holocaust and its Legacy”. With regards to this article, I must first express my horror at the atrocious lies that we had been told about Columbus. Columbus had always been known to us as “Columbus the Great”, but what most of us fail to realise was the dark side of him. He spearheaded the Colonialism movement which is based on this extremely biased notion that the Europeans are far greater than the non-Europeans because of their superior military technology. The non-Europeans were sorely mistreated and many of them were killed. The third world countries were also exploited for their labour and natural resources, and our planet was harmed in the process.  Evidently, technology has been misused in this case and it could lead to a lasting and devastating outcome.

I think that what we can take away from today’s lesson ties in very nicely to the key message of my presentation: Technology is a double-edged sword and whether it is more detrimental or beneficial to us very much depends on how we weld this sword. History had chosen, and now it’s time for our generation to make our choice!

On a personal note, I would give today’s lesson a rating of 8/10. I feel that we could have extended our discussion to include how human development has also affect the development of technology as I think that technology and human development has a mutual effect on each other.

Lesson 1 (16 Aug)

 “What do you know about technology and world change?” That was a question posed by Prof to us during our self-introduction. Honestly, this subject is so diverse that my knowledge of it would probably be considered as insignificant, but just to put in my two cents worth, I think that technology and world change have a mutual effect on each other, and the outcome may not always be positive.

The theme for today’s lesson is Technology and the rise of civilisations. To start off, we were shown a short episode of ‘Guns, Germs and Steel” which threw this mind- provoking question right in our faces, "Why is it that you white people have so much cargo, but we New Guineans have so little cargo?"

The difference in the development rate could be caused by the strategic locations of the European countries which favours trade, or perhaps by the fact that the European countries have a greater pool of natural resources to tap on. In short, it is the difference in opportunities offered to them that causes this disparity.

Point aside, what abhors me is the racism practiced by the Western colonial. They believed that they are superior to the ‘blacks’ and it is only natural for them to own more cargo. I can’t help but wonder if it is technology that causes the Westerners to become arrogant and develop such a twisted mindset. Being more developed countries, they are equipped with the latest technology that allows them to enjoy a higher standard of living. Perhaps it is this advantage that made the Western colonial think that they are of a higher class.

With such a discriminating attitude, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ‘whites’ actually misuse the technology they possess to exploit the New Guineans just to maintain their status quo in the ever changing world. If so, technology has indirectly became the dividing factor between countries.

Moving on to the assigned reading ‘Cutting edge Science in the Middle East’. One question that Prof posed was ‘What factors led to the middle-east becoming a major global centre of learning, science and technology a millennium ago while much of Europe was still in the midst of the “dark ages”?’ Apart from the difference in opportunities offered (as aforementioned), could it be religion that affects the rate of progress? It was emphasised in the reading that technology rose alongside with the popularity of Islam in the Middle-East. My thought is that with a common religion, it may be easier for the scientists to convince the people to adopt a new development (e.g in the medical field) since they share a common belief. This would pave the way for speedy progress to be made in area of technology.

Key Takeaway:

Despite the obvious benefits of technology, it is not all that glamorous. It harnesses the potential of dividing the world which can escalate into hostility between countries. As such, a responsible management of technology is required to prevent this.


Rating: 8/10