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