This week marks the last week of our Technology and World Change module. This week's focus is mainly on presentations and some housekeeping matters before the course ends. There are 4 presentations this week. The presentation topics are technology and identity, drugs, visual technology on holograms and consumer devices from group 5, 6, 7 and 8 respectively.
One particular interesting observation that I have throughout this session was on group 6 presentation on drugs and how some drugs such as marijuana. I agree to the arguments brought by this group and legalise marijuana. The benefits of legalising marijuana would actually outweigh the costs of it. Another interesting observation that I had was actually on consumer device and I am amazed by the great changes that we had from the past to today.
This week's lesson do not have much key takeaways as this week is on the presentations from our peers. There aren't any teaching involved other than the introduction of interesting ideas by our peers. I hope after this lesson, I will explore more insights to technology and most importantly apply the necessary tools I have gained through this course.
I would rate this week lesson as 8.5/10 and hope that i can apply the knowledge taught by Dr Gurinder. I would end this post with a quote which i think is meaningful.
We are limited but we can push back the borders of our limitations.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Lesson 11: Presentation week!
This week is the time when we applied what we have learnt for the past 11 weeks and it's time to put those knowledge into the presentations. My group presented this week and out topic is on Biological Warfare. Do give us your support and comments with regards to our webpage. As usual, Dr Gurinder explained to us some concepts in the beginning of the lesson before we start the series of presentations.
The quote that i have found it useful is actually the quote by Oscar Wilde
You know more than you think you know just as you know less than you want to know.
There are 4 presentations this week. Group 1's presentation is on sports technology, followed by my group, group 3 chose Animation as their topic and lastly group 4 focuses on Technovention. I feel that the most interesting presentation that i had witness among the 3 groups is the one on Animation. Animation has started since our childhood days and seeing the behind the scene preparation and how it have evolved is something that has intrigued me. The most interesting idea that I have seen was the video shared by them during their presentation. It was on how a device could be use to create a invisible "screen" and after a spotlight is shined on it, we can view the the animation on that very space that you have created.
Well, I would say the key takeaway for this week is about my presentation topic, Biological Warfare. It has been proven that Biological Warfare is a threat to our society today and it will be detrimental if the biological agents have fallen into the wrong hands. Hence, there is a need to change focus on the development of such weapons. In addition, the strain that it has put on the economy is very high and more resources has to be used in order to recover the economy. I hope through our presentation, we can spread the message across people about the threats of such weapons and discourage the use of it.
I would rate this week's lesson 9/10. The topics that all the groups presented are interesting and engaging. I am looking forward to next week's lesson on the left over 4 groups' presentation. I will end this week's post with a this quote which i find it pretty meaningful.
We never know what will be thrown at us, but it’s up to each of us as to how we deal with whatever does come.
The quote that i have found it useful is actually the quote by Oscar Wilde
You know more than you think you know just as you know less than you want to know.
There are 4 presentations this week. Group 1's presentation is on sports technology, followed by my group, group 3 chose Animation as their topic and lastly group 4 focuses on Technovention. I feel that the most interesting presentation that i had witness among the 3 groups is the one on Animation. Animation has started since our childhood days and seeing the behind the scene preparation and how it have evolved is something that has intrigued me. The most interesting idea that I have seen was the video shared by them during their presentation. It was on how a device could be use to create a invisible "screen" and after a spotlight is shined on it, we can view the the animation on that very space that you have created.
Well, I would say the key takeaway for this week is about my presentation topic, Biological Warfare. It has been proven that Biological Warfare is a threat to our society today and it will be detrimental if the biological agents have fallen into the wrong hands. Hence, there is a need to change focus on the development of such weapons. In addition, the strain that it has put on the economy is very high and more resources has to be used in order to recover the economy. I hope through our presentation, we can spread the message across people about the threats of such weapons and discourage the use of it.
I would rate this week's lesson 9/10. The topics that all the groups presented are interesting and engaging. I am looking forward to next week's lesson on the left over 4 groups' presentation. I will end this week's post with a this quote which i find it pretty meaningful.
We never know what will be thrown at us, but it’s up to each of us as to how we deal with whatever does come.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Session 10: Technology assessment and forecasting.
This week's lesson focuses on technology assessment and forecasting. I would share 2 interesting quotes shared during Professor Gurinder lesson
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there - Charles Kettering
Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepares for it today - African Proverb.
This actually shows the importance of having a good foresight and we have to foresee what future holds because we need to get ourselves ready for it.
One interesting observation that i have observed for this week is the commonly used foresight methods known as SWOT ( Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) This is a useful model to analyse the technology as well as foreseeing potential problems and this model includes all aspects of assessment. It won't be useful if the technology is useful but poses a threat to the community. Another interesting observation is the 9 steps to end poverty that was presented by one of our peers. The 9 steps involves harnessing global science, promote sustainable development, adopt a plan of action, commit to the task, raise the voice of the poor, strengthen the IN, rescue the IMF and world bank, redeem the US role in the world and lastly make a personal commitment. These steps in the model seems comprehensive. However, tackling certain issues such as redeem the US role in the world and strengthening the U.N might be tough. This was the topic that i wished that we could spent more time on if time permits. The reason is because poverty is a issue that is plaguing certain countries and with so much surpluses of food in the world each day, we are still facing this problem. Thus, it is important that we look into this issue carefully and work towards the solutions.
One of the key takeaways that I have was about the ability to work back from the future and not work from the current issue now and work for the future. The reason is the constrain that we have today. If we are able to look at what we have and think to improve things in the future using what we have, the ideas will be better as it is used to tackle current issue. Another key takeaway is that when we assess a technology, one most important consideration that we should have is the impact on society. People are the one that are dependent on technology. If one fails to consider that factor as his priority, the technology might not be useful and well accepted by the society.
I would rate this week's lesson as 8 and i am looking forward for next week's group presentation!
Before i end my post, i will share a meaningful quote that i have found this week.
The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn’t matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there - Charles Kettering
Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepares for it today - African Proverb.
This actually shows the importance of having a good foresight and we have to foresee what future holds because we need to get ourselves ready for it.
One interesting observation that i have observed for this week is the commonly used foresight methods known as SWOT ( Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) This is a useful model to analyse the technology as well as foreseeing potential problems and this model includes all aspects of assessment. It won't be useful if the technology is useful but poses a threat to the community. Another interesting observation is the 9 steps to end poverty that was presented by one of our peers. The 9 steps involves harnessing global science, promote sustainable development, adopt a plan of action, commit to the task, raise the voice of the poor, strengthen the IN, rescue the IMF and world bank, redeem the US role in the world and lastly make a personal commitment. These steps in the model seems comprehensive. However, tackling certain issues such as redeem the US role in the world and strengthening the U.N might be tough. This was the topic that i wished that we could spent more time on if time permits. The reason is because poverty is a issue that is plaguing certain countries and with so much surpluses of food in the world each day, we are still facing this problem. Thus, it is important that we look into this issue carefully and work towards the solutions.
One of the key takeaways that I have was about the ability to work back from the future and not work from the current issue now and work for the future. The reason is the constrain that we have today. If we are able to look at what we have and think to improve things in the future using what we have, the ideas will be better as it is used to tackle current issue. Another key takeaway is that when we assess a technology, one most important consideration that we should have is the impact on society. People are the one that are dependent on technology. If one fails to consider that factor as his priority, the technology might not be useful and well accepted by the society.
I would rate this week's lesson as 8 and i am looking forward for next week's group presentation!
Before i end my post, i will share a meaningful quote that i have found this week.
The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn’t matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Lesson 9: Emerging and future technologies
This week's lesson focus our attention to emerging and potential technologies that is emerging in the future. We discussed mainly on nanotechnology, robotics, surveillance technology and computing-based simulation technologies. The quote of the week shared by Dr Gurinder is
"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 there of."
What is meant by the above statement is that technologies knew no bounds and the only boundary is the boundary set by humans; lack of imagination. Just like what George Bernard says, "You see things and you say, 'why?' but I dream things that never were and say why not?" What he trying to suggest is that we need to let our imagination run wild and this is only when we can create new technologies that will benefit our society. In addition, the source of motivation to create that wild imagination is actually the unmet market opportunities and need. In short, the market force is the one that drives R and D and hence, new technologies emerge.
One of the interest things that i have observed for this week's lesson is robotic technologies. The "perfect woman" was developed by 2 Japanese and that "perfect woman" is someone that all man would desire. The project was initiated as he has seen that there are a handful number of people in this society who are lonely and lack of friends. This is one good example of the development of robotic technology and other products include robotic pet and robotic "hands" in factories to assemble complicated parts. Another interesting observation is the rising of nanotechnology. Prior to this lesson, i was not sure how much nanotechnology can do to improve our lives. However, my knowledge has expanded with the video that prof has shared and the presentation that one of our peers has done. I am amazed by how cryonics can do and it is inexpensive. However, every emerging technology will face some ethical issues. In this case, it involves resurrection and people might start the question if this technology is morally right as we are indirectly playing the will God has created. The question that i hope that we could have more time to discuss on is how are we able to eradicate this perception and make people accept this technology.
One of the key takeaway message that i wish to drive across is that whatever new ideas or technologies that introduced, it's bound have conflict with ethical issues. However, I feel that sometimes we have to put ethical issue aside in order to have breakthrough. Another key takeaway that i want to share is that the difference between us and computer is that a computer is able to retain all the knowledge that the world posses but humans can only retain a certain portion of it. Hence, we can see that we must create a relationship between computer and us so we are able to maximise what the computer has with what we know in order to create the limitless imagination that I have mentioned earlier. Only then, new breakthroughs could be made and new technologies could emerge.
I would rate this week lesson 8/10 and i hope that i will benefit from the leftover 3 sessions with Dr Gurinder and gain interesting insights from TWC.
"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 there of."
What is meant by the above statement is that technologies knew no bounds and the only boundary is the boundary set by humans; lack of imagination. Just like what George Bernard says, "You see things and you say, 'why?' but I dream things that never were and say why not?" What he trying to suggest is that we need to let our imagination run wild and this is only when we can create new technologies that will benefit our society. In addition, the source of motivation to create that wild imagination is actually the unmet market opportunities and need. In short, the market force is the one that drives R and D and hence, new technologies emerge.
One of the interest things that i have observed for this week's lesson is robotic technologies. The "perfect woman" was developed by 2 Japanese and that "perfect woman" is someone that all man would desire. The project was initiated as he has seen that there are a handful number of people in this society who are lonely and lack of friends. This is one good example of the development of robotic technology and other products include robotic pet and robotic "hands" in factories to assemble complicated parts. Another interesting observation is the rising of nanotechnology. Prior to this lesson, i was not sure how much nanotechnology can do to improve our lives. However, my knowledge has expanded with the video that prof has shared and the presentation that one of our peers has done. I am amazed by how cryonics can do and it is inexpensive. However, every emerging technology will face some ethical issues. In this case, it involves resurrection and people might start the question if this technology is morally right as we are indirectly playing the will God has created. The question that i hope that we could have more time to discuss on is how are we able to eradicate this perception and make people accept this technology.
One of the key takeaway message that i wish to drive across is that whatever new ideas or technologies that introduced, it's bound have conflict with ethical issues. However, I feel that sometimes we have to put ethical issue aside in order to have breakthrough. Another key takeaway that i want to share is that the difference between us and computer is that a computer is able to retain all the knowledge that the world posses but humans can only retain a certain portion of it. Hence, we can see that we must create a relationship between computer and us so we are able to maximise what the computer has with what we know in order to create the limitless imagination that I have mentioned earlier. Only then, new breakthroughs could be made and new technologies could emerge.
I would rate this week lesson 8/10 and i hope that i will benefit from the leftover 3 sessions with Dr Gurinder and gain interesting insights from TWC.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Lesson 8:Energy and World Change ( Past, Present and future)
This week's lesson focuses on Energy and world change from 3 dimensions namely, past, present and future. We have discussed in class about how energy has transformed from the fossil fuels era to our era of using green technology to achieve sustainable development. In our world today, we are focusing on energy conserving technologies in terms of maximising energy efficiency and GDP. We are seeking new ways to create a new source of energy that do not pollute the environment and at the same time prevent pollution in our environment. This is actually in line prof Gurinder quote of the week as shown below
"The days of fossil fuels are numbered.
Renewable energy will drive the green revolution"
One of the interesting observations that i found is since the discovery of fossil fuel, it has been used extensively and something unexpected happened in 2009; It was the only time when the fuel usage is the lowest. Some may argue that this is not due to the increased awareness of green technologies but largely due to economy contraction due to various unforeseen circumstances. I do agree that it is part of the reason but not the main reason. As we are facing the wretch of global warming, there is a need to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and switch our attention to renewable energies. The reason is simply given the estimated amount of fossil fuels left, it will only last between 40-50 years. Hence, i would say that it is through this awareness, companies and government decide to reduce their reliance on renewable energies. Next interesting fact is that the sun transmit as much as 3 850 000 EJ the earth and this is something that we can work on. What is more surprising is that we are tapping less than 1/4 of the energy that the sun has gave to the earth. The source of fossil fuels indirectly comes from solar and i believe that we can focus on solar energy as a source of renewable energy since the energy is in abundance. One country that adopted this approach is Germany. Germany aims is to achieve 20% renewable energy usage within in the country by 2020.
The key takeaway for this week is that there is a need to switch to alternate forms of energy generation. We should not rely on fossil fuels for energy generation our non renewable resources are depleting. If we do not curb our usage, we will be compromising our future generations and hence not achieving sustainable development. We can see that countries such as Brazil are moving towards Bioethanol. I am sure that as time goes by, different countries will expand their creativity on creating new technologies that is green and reduce their reliance on non renewable resources. Another key takeaway is that the government and industries are not the only one that could play a part in reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Community too can play a part. For instance, the cash incentives given to citizens in Germany that sells their excessive energy generated from their solar panel and the profit motivation factor encourage more people to adopt this technology. Government plays a huge role in encouraging the community to adopt this technology.
Well, this week session was another fruitful journey and it has indeed expand my knowledge about how much we have evolved from the fossil fuels ONLY era to our various forms of energy generation today. However, i hope a more elaborate discussion could be held with regards to Geo engineering which i finds it pretty interesting. Hence for this week lesson, i would rate it 8.5/10
Before i end this post, i will share with u guys with an interesting quote:
Be real, because a mask only fools people on the outside. Pretending to be someone your not, takes a toll on the real you, and the real you is more important than anyone else.
"The days of fossil fuels are numbered.
Renewable energy will drive the green revolution"
One of the interesting observations that i found is since the discovery of fossil fuel, it has been used extensively and something unexpected happened in 2009; It was the only time when the fuel usage is the lowest. Some may argue that this is not due to the increased awareness of green technologies but largely due to economy contraction due to various unforeseen circumstances. I do agree that it is part of the reason but not the main reason. As we are facing the wretch of global warming, there is a need to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and switch our attention to renewable energies. The reason is simply given the estimated amount of fossil fuels left, it will only last between 40-50 years. Hence, i would say that it is through this awareness, companies and government decide to reduce their reliance on renewable energies. Next interesting fact is that the sun transmit as much as 3 850 000 EJ the earth and this is something that we can work on. What is more surprising is that we are tapping less than 1/4 of the energy that the sun has gave to the earth. The source of fossil fuels indirectly comes from solar and i believe that we can focus on solar energy as a source of renewable energy since the energy is in abundance. One country that adopted this approach is Germany. Germany aims is to achieve 20% renewable energy usage within in the country by 2020.
The key takeaway for this week is that there is a need to switch to alternate forms of energy generation. We should not rely on fossil fuels for energy generation our non renewable resources are depleting. If we do not curb our usage, we will be compromising our future generations and hence not achieving sustainable development. We can see that countries such as Brazil are moving towards Bioethanol. I am sure that as time goes by, different countries will expand their creativity on creating new technologies that is green and reduce their reliance on non renewable resources. Another key takeaway is that the government and industries are not the only one that could play a part in reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Community too can play a part. For instance, the cash incentives given to citizens in Germany that sells their excessive energy generated from their solar panel and the profit motivation factor encourage more people to adopt this technology. Government plays a huge role in encouraging the community to adopt this technology.
Well, this week session was another fruitful journey and it has indeed expand my knowledge about how much we have evolved from the fossil fuels ONLY era to our various forms of energy generation today. However, i hope a more elaborate discussion could be held with regards to Geo engineering which i finds it pretty interesting. Hence for this week lesson, i would rate it 8.5/10
Before i end this post, i will share with u guys with an interesting quote:
Be real, because a mask only fools people on the outside. Pretending to be someone your not, takes a toll on the real you, and the real you is more important than anyone else.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Lesson 7: BioBusiness revolution 2: Environmental Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology (Past, Present and Future)
"When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability."
The picture above actually depicts the various means that we are using to move towards sustainability and the branches stopped at certain point and the missing links are actually the resources we need to drive all the activities shown in the picture. Once we are able to find the missing links, we would have actually complete the whole picture and i believe that we are already on our way to find the missing links.
Environmental life sciences and industrial biotechnology are the 2 main types of technology driven by biobusiness and according to the statistics in 2001, it accounts for over US$ 9.7 trillion of the world's GDP and i strongly believe that the figures could have reached as much as US$15 trillion today especially with the high emphasis on sustainable development.
One surprising fact brought by Dr Gurinder this week is that we are still suffering from rural overcrowding. I believe that this is probably due to the high cost of living in the urban area and also the natives in those area are rather conservative, hence resistant to changes. This has actually caused some concerns as it has led to poor and dirty living environment. Since those people are living at rural areas, their income tends to be lower and result in poverty. 1 of the MDGs is to actually reduces poverty in developing countries and i think the root of the problem is rural overcrowding and once this issue has been solved. Poverty rate can actually be reduced. Next interesting fact would actually be about the presentation that one of our peers had presented about Monsanto.
I have heard about Monsanto but i am surprise that how they resort to bribery in an attempt to get their products approved by the legislation. In addition, they have employed the so call "GM police" to keep track of what the farmers have done and arrest those farmers that are suspected of keeping the GM seeds. I am sure the reason is because of their high pricing policy. The seeds itself constitute nearly 20% of the farmers income, excluding the cost of maintaining the crops. This is actually one of the examples of the down side of having BioBusiness, increasing the disparity between the rich and the poor; The rich who are able to afford it gets richer and the poor who are struggling for their basic needs get poorer.
Some key takeaways for this week lessons is actually so far the technology that we have created is linear, i.e. to say the advancement that mankind has made to technology is only to improve mankind and not beneficial to both mankind and environment. The rise of BioBusiness might be the way to change the linear function of the trend and improve the environment and at the same time, benefit mankind. Thus creating a win-win situtation. Nature has responded to us by increasing the number of natural disasters and creating global warming to warn us to change the linear relationship. Next would be with regards to the issue of genetic engineering. People are actually afraid of genetic engineering due to the modifications made and perhaps some ethical issue. However, i have to emphasise that whatever modifications we have made so far is nothing compared to the natural derivation of genetic modification. We have to accept it in a more open approach and so that we are able to reap the benefits of GM products. In the beginning stage, people might be skeptical about the benefits it can bring about but i believe once people start to see the improvement, it will also serves as a driver for them to work towards that improvement.
I would rate this week's lesson at 8/10. It has actually widen up my knowledge in the BioBusiness industry. However, i wish we could have more time for discussion with regards to the topic of the term flash pyrrosis ( i hope i did not spell it wrongly!) and for this time i would not look forward to the next lesson! Reason is simply that means recess week ended -.-
I shall end this week's entry with this quote.
"We wake up everyday with a list of wishes, and maybe we spend our lives trying to make those wishes come true. But just because we want them, doesn’t mean that we need them to be happy."
NED, PUSHING DAISIES
Friday, September 24, 2010
Lesson 6:The BioBusiness Revolution 1: Healthcare and the Biomedical Sciences: Past, Present, Future
This week's focus on BioBusiness Revoultion and the market we are looking for is the healthcare and the biomedical science. The quote of the week by our Dr Gurinder is
"The Biobusinesshas the potential to will transform our lives and economies"
Dr Gurinder has categorized lives to 5 main categories; Health,energy source, food, clothes and others. In our world today, biobusiness plays an important role in our society today as it has already constitute over 25% of global GDP and it employs some 40% of the world's labor force. In addition, it may be our best hope for achieving sustainable development.
One interesting facts i have learnt during this session is that actually we share 99% genetic similarity with Chimpanzee and also 88% with mice and this fact actually encourage scientist to try out more bio products as they can obtain the results from mice for analysis before releasing the products to the market. Another interesting fact is that healthcare and biomedical science are the 2 revolutions covered side by side and the improvement of healthcare is largely due to the advancement of biomedical science. For instance, there's a device invented specifically to measure your sugar level and who knows that in the near future, daily measurement of your sugar level will be sent to the doctor and if it is not at the optimal level, the doctor will alert you and inform you to reduce your sugar intake. As the saying goes, prevention is better that cure and if we are able to detect this small little thing before it snowballs to a big problem, the chances of contracting certain disease can be minimized.
The presentation that attracted my attention is the Human Genome project and it involves the focus on the study of the DNA structure. It is good to know how our DNA functions so we can delve deeper into the structure, study on it and improve it. One key takeaway message for this lesson to take away is that as knowledge advances, we need to redefine our understanding of knowledge so it does not obsolete. With so many information created n changed everyday, it is essential to manage it properly so humans do not abuse it. Technology itself is neutral but when rights are given to humans. We tend to abuse it. The next interesting fact is how the market mechanism has played a big role in making some vaccines expensive. The cost of production maybe cheap but it is due to the interaction between the consumers' demands and supplier' supply of the goods that determine the equilibrium price. Just like the case of insurance that one of our peers has covered.
The question i think we can have more time to discussion on is the application of the results obtained from the human genome project. The main concern of the application of the project is ethical issues. Some people might feel that we are defying nature and change what god has created. So, how we can eradicate this issue is another discussion we can discuss and focus on if we had more time.
I would rate this week's lesson as 8/10 and i feel that the flow of the presentation and teaching is just right. not many of them exceed the time limit.I hope next week we will have a better understanding of the topic when prof starts part 2 of biobusiness!
"The Biobusiness
Dr Gurinder has categorized lives to 5 main categories; Health,energy source, food, clothes and others. In our world today, biobusiness plays an important role in our society today as it has already constitute over 25% of global GDP and it employs some 40% of the world's labor force. In addition, it may be our best hope for achieving sustainable development.
One interesting facts i have learnt during this session is that actually we share 99% genetic similarity with Chimpanzee and also 88% with mice and this fact actually encourage scientist to try out more bio products as they can obtain the results from mice for analysis before releasing the products to the market. Another interesting fact is that healthcare and biomedical science are the 2 revolutions covered side by side and the improvement of healthcare is largely due to the advancement of biomedical science. For instance, there's a device invented specifically to measure your sugar level and who knows that in the near future, daily measurement of your sugar level will be sent to the doctor and if it is not at the optimal level, the doctor will alert you and inform you to reduce your sugar intake. As the saying goes, prevention is better that cure and if we are able to detect this small little thing before it snowballs to a big problem, the chances of contracting certain disease can be minimized.
The presentation that attracted my attention is the Human Genome project and it involves the focus on the study of the DNA structure. It is good to know how our DNA functions so we can delve deeper into the structure, study on it and improve it. One key takeaway message for this lesson to take away is that as knowledge advances, we need to redefine our understanding of knowledge so it does not obsolete. With so many information created n changed everyday, it is essential to manage it properly so humans do not abuse it. Technology itself is neutral but when rights are given to humans. We tend to abuse it. The next interesting fact is how the market mechanism has played a big role in making some vaccines expensive. The cost of production maybe cheap but it is due to the interaction between the consumers' demands and supplier' supply of the goods that determine the equilibrium price. Just like the case of insurance that one of our peers has covered.
The question i think we can have more time to discussion on is the application of the results obtained from the human genome project. The main concern of the application of the project is ethical issues. Some people might feel that we are defying nature and change what god has created. So, how we can eradicate this issue is another discussion we can discuss and focus on if we had more time.
I would rate this week's lesson as 8/10 and i feel that the flow of the presentation and teaching is just right. not many of them exceed the time limit.I hope next week we will have a better understanding of the topic when prof starts part 2 of biobusiness!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Lesson 5: ICT and world change.
This week's lesson is about ICT( Information and communication technologies) and world change. Prof started off with introduction to the topic and the various forms of ICT. He also touch on the issues involved ICT over the years and whether ICT is a driver of world change. We had a series of interesting presentations on the related topics of ICT and discussions about those topics. The quote of the week by Dr Gurinder is
ICT is the catalyst the facilitates the knowledge revolution
so what does the above message means to me?
The keyword above is CATALYST. In Chemistry, it means that a substance used to increase the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being affected. In this context, the sentence means is that we are using ICT as the tool to increase the process of knowledge revolution and the term ICT only serves as the purpose the expedite the process of knowledge revolution. So this leads us to the question that whether ICT is the driver of change and how can we capture the potential of ICT to combat issue such as poverty.
Some interesting issue that brought up during lesson was the idea of cloud computing and how much reading has progress since the past. I was not aware of the term of cloud computing prior to this lesson and the video that Dr Gurinder shared actually gives me an idea of how cloud computing work. It actually involves running of a shared data system and everybody will benefit on the changes; Once the system is upgraded and improved, it will be uploaded to the common network and shared with everybody. In the past, information are pass down verbally and in the ever changing world today, informations are passed via various form of media and mainly the internet. Hence, that's a need for cloud computing. The reason is with so much knowledge being pass down, those information has to make sense and being integrated with the information and coming our solutions to those problems. This is actually in line with the quote Dr Gurinder shared with us. In this case, Cloud computing is used as the catalyst for knowledge revolution.
Next interesting point is actually the topic covered by Daniel about the debate of reading online. He talked about the rationale behind reading and reading has shifted from the books era to the modern era, which is make use of internet to do reading. I find his topic particularly interesting because for me, i do not read books very often as I feel that I lack the motivation to read after awhile. However, with the pervasive use of internet, it has actually motivate more people to read since they are online and they can read on information of what they are interested in in just a few seconds. Though as what people might argue is that it cause a lot of distraction, but as what Prof has mentioned, sometimes we need a little distraction before we can really focus on the things we need to do.
I have 2 major key takeaways for this week's lesson. The first key takeaway is actually there's a need for knowing the knowhow for applying technology. There is no point applying the technology for the sake of applying as it will result in more complex management rather than simplifying it. We should actually figure out the process before implementing the correct technology that will benefit us. The next key takeaway is that currently, we are still using the industrial age model of ICT and as a result, we are not about to capture the full potential of ICT and knowledge revolution. We are currently running things in the old way rather than the new way. One problem that we need to look into is actually the digital divide. The disparity will actually cause countries to use old industrial age model rather than moving towards the new model to capture the full potential of ICT. The question that I hope that we can have more time to discuss on is how we can do to actually close up the disparity and maximise the potential of ICT.
This week lesson was rather interesting for me and I would rate this week's lesson 8/10. Although this week's presentation was more and longer, I find it interesting as this week we are covering just 1 theme and hence have more time for discussions related to this week's theme. Before i end my post, i will with u this quote by Andrew Grove,
Not all problems have a technological answer, but when they do, that is the more lasting solution.
ICT is the catalyst the facilitates the knowledge revolution
so what does the above message means to me?
The keyword above is CATALYST. In Chemistry, it means that a substance used to increase the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being affected. In this context, the sentence means is that we are using ICT as the tool to increase the process of knowledge revolution and the term ICT only serves as the purpose the expedite the process of knowledge revolution. So this leads us to the question that whether ICT is the driver of change and how can we capture the potential of ICT to combat issue such as poverty.
Some interesting issue that brought up during lesson was the idea of cloud computing and how much reading has progress since the past. I was not aware of the term of cloud computing prior to this lesson and the video that Dr Gurinder shared actually gives me an idea of how cloud computing work. It actually involves running of a shared data system and everybody will benefit on the changes; Once the system is upgraded and improved, it will be uploaded to the common network and shared with everybody. In the past, information are pass down verbally and in the ever changing world today, informations are passed via various form of media and mainly the internet. Hence, that's a need for cloud computing. The reason is with so much knowledge being pass down, those information has to make sense and being integrated with the information and coming our solutions to those problems. This is actually in line with the quote Dr Gurinder shared with us. In this case, Cloud computing is used as the catalyst for knowledge revolution.
Next interesting point is actually the topic covered by Daniel about the debate of reading online. He talked about the rationale behind reading and reading has shifted from the books era to the modern era, which is make use of internet to do reading. I find his topic particularly interesting because for me, i do not read books very often as I feel that I lack the motivation to read after awhile. However, with the pervasive use of internet, it has actually motivate more people to read since they are online and they can read on information of what they are interested in in just a few seconds. Though as what people might argue is that it cause a lot of distraction, but as what Prof has mentioned, sometimes we need a little distraction before we can really focus on the things we need to do.
I have 2 major key takeaways for this week's lesson. The first key takeaway is actually there's a need for knowing the knowhow for applying technology. There is no point applying the technology for the sake of applying as it will result in more complex management rather than simplifying it. We should actually figure out the process before implementing the correct technology that will benefit us. The next key takeaway is that currently, we are still using the industrial age model of ICT and as a result, we are not about to capture the full potential of ICT and knowledge revolution. We are currently running things in the old way rather than the new way. One problem that we need to look into is actually the digital divide. The disparity will actually cause countries to use old industrial age model rather than moving towards the new model to capture the full potential of ICT. The question that I hope that we can have more time to discuss on is how we can do to actually close up the disparity and maximise the potential of ICT.
This week lesson was rather interesting for me and I would rate this week's lesson 8/10. Although this week's presentation was more and longer, I find it interesting as this week we are covering just 1 theme and hence have more time for discussions related to this week's theme. Before i end my post, i will with u this quote by Andrew Grove,
Not all problems have a technological answer, but when they do, that is the more lasting solution.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Lesson 4: Drivers of world change and change management and leadership
Our focus for this week is actually drivers of world change and change in both management and leadership. This week's discussions were both interesting and engaging especially this week's presentation. We had a series of impressive classmates presenting and touch on issues that I do not realize it till this week. Actually the first thing that i had notice is when i stepped into the class is what prof had wrote on the board: The 3 essential ways to cope with change
1) Make it happen
2) Respond when it happens
3) Be "surprise" when it happens
I feel that this concept is useful in evaluating how things happen this way and this brings us to this week's topic for discussions.
I felt that the most interesting issue that caught my attention is actually how germs has been the drivers of world change and how it played an import role in the western civilization. Prof explanation was further elaborated by Chang-e. She shared about how globalization has brought about transmission of diseases and how the historical time line of how some plagues evolved. Next, Eunice shared with us some interesting perspective of how consumers expectation are the drivers of world change. I agree to her point as nowadays, the world is changing base on the market expectation. For instance, if consumers decided to stop drinking coffee due to the side effects of caffeine, the demand for coffee will drop and this will actually lead to producers looking for alternatives to satisfy consumers' wants. This actually shows that how the world has shaped is actually related to the expectation of consumers. Next is actually the interesting concept Daniel has brought up which is the model of change and how those changes have to be reported to the government. The graph below is actually what prof had shown as and related to what Eunice has presented.
Some key takeaways that i have for this lesson is that actually to ensure that all of us are involved in this drivers of world change, we need to expose ourselves with more knowledge as it enables us to have different perception towards certain issues since the world has changed according to consumers expectation. If we just sit back and content with the current knowledge that we have, when changes come, we will most likely be surprise when it happens and this is when some people that feel that "pain" that prof had mentioned have to go through. Next would be the 2 essential model that prof shared with us once a decision is made to change. I personally feels that the modern model is much more practical compared to the past. The reason is now countries are moving towards a knowledge based economy. Now the question that one will start to ask is how society can react to those who do not have the knowledge to assimilate into the knowledge based economy. To make sure our skills do not obsolete as time goes by, the modern model seems to be a better choice compared to the traditional model and this boils down to change in management and leadership.
As a whole, i will rate this week's lesson 9.5/10 as this week's lesson really expand my knowledge TWC and the issue that really caught my attention is the dark age and how germs played a part in the fall of the roman empire. What I feel that we can have more time to discuss on is actually about the consumer's expectation. The reason is simply because that drivers of world change is linked with change in management and leadership. Change in management and leadership for a better management will actually lead to a change in the factors that drive this change. This actually comes down to expectation by consumer.
I shall end this week's reflection by sharing with you this quote
"Vision without action is merely a dream,
Action without vision just passes time,
Vision with action can change the world."
-Joel Barker
As a whole, i will rate this week's lesson 9.5/10 as this week's lesson really expand my knowledge TWC and the issue that really caught my attention is the dark age and how germs played a part in the fall of the roman empire. What I feel that we can have more time to discuss on is actually about the consumer's expectation. The reason is simply because that drivers of world change is linked with change in management and leadership. Change in management and leadership for a better management will actually lead to a change in the factors that drive this change. This actually comes down to expectation by consumer.
I shall end this week's reflection by sharing with you this quote
"Vision without action is merely a dream,
Action without vision just passes time,
Vision with action can change the world."
-Joel Barker
Thursday, September 2, 2010
TWC session on sustainable development and innovation management
The session start off with a video sharing by Dr Grinder entitled story of stuffs and if you guys want to watch the video, you can click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8. This week's theme is on sustainable development and innovation management. We started first half of the session with sustainable development and the second half of it on innovation management. Dr Grinder started off by giving some introduction and how industrial development has moved from linear development to circular development..He compared the old industrial model, Economic development VS environmental well-being, against the new sustainable industrial model, Economic development AND environmental well-being. We were being introduced the IPP model for sustainable industrial development and what it comprises of. We then move on to individual oral presentation by Gerald, Hui Min and me.
The next half of the session is about innovation management. Dr Grinder shared with his some interesting insights about innovation management and an inspirational phrase by Tom Peter.
“Life is pretty simple:
You do some stuff.
Most fails. Some works.
You do more of what works.
If it works big, others quickly copy it.
Then you do something else.
The trick is the doing something else.”
Dr Grinder then shared with us his conceptual framework on the opportunities available when it comes to innovation management and links us back to last week lesson on the concept of rising stars and falling stars. We then started our presentation on the issue. The guests were Ruixin and Aurrick which gave us interesting insights about Wikipedia and whether is worth taking the risk for nuclear power. We then had a little discussion about that and the session ended off with our personal ratings for this week's guest.
I would say that this week's lesson is more engaging as Dr Grinder has implemented the time rule limit to each speaker which gives us more time for discussions about the topic brought up by the guests. One of the interesting insights that i have gained is actually the advantages of backwardness. Countries that industrialize later actually benefit more than those that have industrialize earlier. The 4 Asia Tigers which comprises of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan actually did not reap as much benefits as those Asia countries that industrialize later. One good example to take a look at is China and India. They entered the market much more later and yet they have actually developing at a much more faster rate than the 4 Tigers. Take China for example, currently they are the biggest economy based on the video Dr Grinder shared with us. I am sure with proper utilization of resources in the correct hands, the African nations will start to develop and hence eliminate poverty. The next interesting insight that i have gotten is actually the phrase that i have shown above shared by Tom Peter. To me, the above mentioned sentence implies that our ideas and innovations will constantly being copied once it's proved to work well and we need to constantly being innovation in order to make sure we remain competitive in the market and the gist of innovation is to constantly think of new ideas after the current ideas are being implemented. Take ipod for example, when the 1st ipod is invented and mimic the product. Apple tried to be innovative by creating the itouch and the idea of incorporating the idea of handphone and itouch to remain competitive. The last interesting fact is Dr Grinder sharing of the valley, summit and cloud opportunity.
I like the idea of the 3 terms introduced by Dr Grinder. I also can interpret it as showing different level that one is at and it can be used as a reference for one to continue innovate. For instance, company A introduced a product to the market. He will be at the summit but if he continue to develop and innovate. However if he chose to be complacent and be content with his product, he would definitely fall to the next category, Valley opportunities.
I would just summarize my major key takeaways in 3 points. Firstly, i will link this 2 theme hand in hand; To attain sustainable development, one has to be innovative. If we follow traditional model of industrial development in the 1980s, i am sure half of the iceberg would have melted and there will be more natural disasters. We have to think of ways and means to maintain our current usage not at the expense of our environment. Sometimes being innovative is not a bad thing as after one has invented a better way to reduce environmental impact, one can share the technology with the others so we can minimize the effects of global warming. Next would be innovation itself is a risky business that people must take. It will bring opportunities for your ideas being implemented and accepted in the market BUT it will also create challenges for the innovators. Competitors might either copy similar products and produce it to the market with just changing the label and design. In addition, competitors too might adept the ideas and create better products using the ideas of that innovator as a foundation of the research. The last key takeaway is that according to Prof Arai's perceptive, the process between the research period and the implementation period is actually the nightmares and this nightmares can be minimized if one take the nightmare into their dreams and make sure the process will not be as painful as it initially supposed to be.
I think the issue that we could spend more time for discussion is actually whether should innovation be technology or market driven? The reason is simply because i believe innovation on end products will definitely be different with different purposes. Next i would want to raise the question on how innovation can be made special and unique so that copies of similar products would not happened? Just like the product of champagne. It is considered as champagne if it is produced at only certain parts of france. This is the use of right branding strategy.
In conclusion, i would rate this week's lesson as 9/10 as this week we have more time for discussion and we have more time to delve a little further on the topic by our guest speakers compared to last week. I hope i will learn more issues about technology world change next week! =D Anyway if you guys are interested in the Chernobyl accident, i have actually posted the link at our group page. Alternatively, u can click on the link to watch! this is part 1 of 6. You will be able to see the rest of the parts by clicking the appropriate video links on the right.
The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoEgkGNO-sQ&feature=related
The next half of the session is about innovation management. Dr Grinder shared with his some interesting insights about innovation management and an inspirational phrase by Tom Peter.
“Life is pretty simple:
You do some stuff.
Most fails. Some works.
You do more of what works.
If it works big, others quickly copy it.
Then you do something else.
The trick is the doing something else.”
Dr Grinder then shared with us his conceptual framework on the opportunities available when it comes to innovation management and links us back to last week lesson on the concept of rising stars and falling stars. We then started our presentation on the issue. The guests were Ruixin and Aurrick which gave us interesting insights about Wikipedia and whether is worth taking the risk for nuclear power. We then had a little discussion about that and the session ended off with our personal ratings for this week's guest.
I would say that this week's lesson is more engaging as Dr Grinder has implemented the time rule limit to each speaker which gives us more time for discussions about the topic brought up by the guests. One of the interesting insights that i have gained is actually the advantages of backwardness. Countries that industrialize later actually benefit more than those that have industrialize earlier. The 4 Asia Tigers which comprises of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan actually did not reap as much benefits as those Asia countries that industrialize later. One good example to take a look at is China and India. They entered the market much more later and yet they have actually developing at a much more faster rate than the 4 Tigers. Take China for example, currently they are the biggest economy based on the video Dr Grinder shared with us. I am sure with proper utilization of resources in the correct hands, the African nations will start to develop and hence eliminate poverty. The next interesting insight that i have gotten is actually the phrase that i have shown above shared by Tom Peter. To me, the above mentioned sentence implies that our ideas and innovations will constantly being copied once it's proved to work well and we need to constantly being innovation in order to make sure we remain competitive in the market and the gist of innovation is to constantly think of new ideas after the current ideas are being implemented. Take ipod for example, when the 1st ipod is invented and mimic the product. Apple tried to be innovative by creating the itouch and the idea of incorporating the idea of handphone and itouch to remain competitive. The last interesting fact is Dr Grinder sharing of the valley, summit and cloud opportunity.
I like the idea of the 3 terms introduced by Dr Grinder. I also can interpret it as showing different level that one is at and it can be used as a reference for one to continue innovate. For instance, company A introduced a product to the market. He will be at the summit but if he continue to develop and innovate. However if he chose to be complacent and be content with his product, he would definitely fall to the next category, Valley opportunities.
I would just summarize my major key takeaways in 3 points. Firstly, i will link this 2 theme hand in hand; To attain sustainable development, one has to be innovative. If we follow traditional model of industrial development in the 1980s, i am sure half of the iceberg would have melted and there will be more natural disasters. We have to think of ways and means to maintain our current usage not at the expense of our environment. Sometimes being innovative is not a bad thing as after one has invented a better way to reduce environmental impact, one can share the technology with the others so we can minimize the effects of global warming. Next would be innovation itself is a risky business that people must take. It will bring opportunities for your ideas being implemented and accepted in the market BUT it will also create challenges for the innovators. Competitors might either copy similar products and produce it to the market with just changing the label and design. In addition, competitors too might adept the ideas and create better products using the ideas of that innovator as a foundation of the research. The last key takeaway is that according to Prof Arai's perceptive, the process between the research period and the implementation period is actually the nightmares and this nightmares can be minimized if one take the nightmare into their dreams and make sure the process will not be as painful as it initially supposed to be.
I think the issue that we could spend more time for discussion is actually whether should innovation be technology or market driven? The reason is simply because i believe innovation on end products will definitely be different with different purposes. Next i would want to raise the question on how innovation can be made special and unique so that copies of similar products would not happened? Just like the product of champagne. It is considered as champagne if it is produced at only certain parts of france. This is the use of right branding strategy.
In conclusion, i would rate this week's lesson as 9/10 as this week we have more time for discussion and we have more time to delve a little further on the topic by our guest speakers compared to last week. I hope i will learn more issues about technology world change next week! =D Anyway if you guys are interested in the Chernobyl accident, i have actually posted the link at our group page. Alternatively, u can click on the link to watch! this is part 1 of 6. You will be able to see the rest of the parts by clicking the appropriate video links on the right.
The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoEgkGNO-sQ&feature=related
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Technological impact on social and global dominance and human development
The lesson began with a youtube video shared on our facebook group and some discussions based on the video. The video is about whether China is already the biggest economy. Although base on statistic, Germany might seems that it is the biggest exporter, it might not be true. China could consider as the biggest exporter as it has the highest GDP. US on the other hand is considered as a contract economy as it is starting to decline. Prof shared this sentence with us; Changes is inevitable and often necessary. The transition can be often difficult or painful (for some). Sometime a choice, sometimes it has to happen. If you guys did not manage to find the video, here is the link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb5pbFykn5M
The lesson went on to touch on issues on global dominance and it can be simply termed as global player, rising and falling star. After introducing those terms to us, we had our guest speakers, clement and lydia presenting their slides on the topic they have chosen. The 2nd half of the lesson was about human development and the factors that affect human development. We also had 2 guest speakers Sherman and Aaron presenting their topic. In addition, a video on MDGs were shown to us to ponder about. The lesson ended off with some discussion about the video.
One of the issues that has intrigued me is around the 1960s, countries in Asia and The African nations stand the same ground. However, after colonization, Asia actually got better and the African nations got worst off. The reason is simply because Africa is too near to Europe. I am impressed and grateful in a way that how colonization has actually made Asia a better place to live in. The other issue that has trigger my attention is prof's definition of equality; Think of 2 person. Child of the poorest and the riches in a certain country and judge whether have an equal chance of standing at a university. I would say this test will actually be a better way of judging equality. The reason is simply statistic might not be accurate. The richest person might be earning a lot of money and hence pulling up the average income. Another interesting fact that i have learnt is actually that equality is far more not equal now compared to the 1960s n 1970s.
This week's lesson l had 2 major takeaways for me. The first takeaway i would want to touch on is innovation. The only way to ensure growth in country is to innovate. Rising star refers to country for knowledge and invest oriented. A rising stat requires innovation. One example of rising star will be in the case of China. The Chinese are constantly sending it's best talent to the western society to learn what has they installed in their talents and they will then bring the knowledge back to China to improve on it. US is not able to achieve this because they are better off at value-added products rather than innovation of products. The next key takeaway for me would be the need to invest on women's education. It is tested and proven that education on women is often doubled and men's education tend to be wasted. Aaron's presentation on women in power too reinforce the need to invest in women education. Perhaps thats the reason why empowering women is one of the MDG goals
Coming to MDGs, we didn't really touch a lot of this issue. We did not really delve into each goal and how we can do to make sure we can achieve these goals by 2015. As we know, the global recession that happened 2 years ago had hindered the progress of the goals but we did not touch further on how countries can bounce back from this recession to achieve the goals. The most important factor to achieve the goals is to actually gather support and we need to know what those countries need to do to get themselves back on track so that they are able to contribute they way they used to. One of our classmates bring out the issue that she is surprised that fighting against corruption is not in one of the goals. I agree to her suggestion as a country can receive as much aids from the global community but if the funds are allocated in the wrong hands, the citizens might suffer as they will not be able to receive as much aid as it initially allocated to. This can be further touched on during lesson but due to time constrain, we are not able to expand much on this suggestion
Lastly, i would rate this lesson as 9/10 as this week's lesson has made me look forward to the next lesson. A lot of interested facts have been said and it has certainly allowed me to gain further insights on TWC. I hope next week will be a better information sharing session than this week!
The lesson went on to touch on issues on global dominance and it can be simply termed as global player, rising and falling star. After introducing those terms to us, we had our guest speakers, clement and lydia presenting their slides on the topic they have chosen. The 2nd half of the lesson was about human development and the factors that affect human development. We also had 2 guest speakers Sherman and Aaron presenting their topic. In addition, a video on MDGs were shown to us to ponder about. The lesson ended off with some discussion about the video.
One of the issues that has intrigued me is around the 1960s, countries in Asia and The African nations stand the same ground. However, after colonization, Asia actually got better and the African nations got worst off. The reason is simply because Africa is too near to Europe. I am impressed and grateful in a way that how colonization has actually made Asia a better place to live in. The other issue that has trigger my attention is prof's definition of equality; Think of 2 person. Child of the poorest and the riches in a certain country and judge whether have an equal chance of standing at a university. I would say this test will actually be a better way of judging equality. The reason is simply statistic might not be accurate. The richest person might be earning a lot of money and hence pulling up the average income. Another interesting fact that i have learnt is actually that equality is far more not equal now compared to the 1960s n 1970s.
This week's lesson l had 2 major takeaways for me. The first takeaway i would want to touch on is innovation. The only way to ensure growth in country is to innovate. Rising star refers to country for knowledge and invest oriented. A rising stat requires innovation. One example of rising star will be in the case of China. The Chinese are constantly sending it's best talent to the western society to learn what has they installed in their talents and they will then bring the knowledge back to China to improve on it. US is not able to achieve this because they are better off at value-added products rather than innovation of products. The next key takeaway for me would be the need to invest on women's education. It is tested and proven that education on women is often doubled and men's education tend to be wasted. Aaron's presentation on women in power too reinforce the need to invest in women education. Perhaps thats the reason why empowering women is one of the MDG goals
Coming to MDGs, we didn't really touch a lot of this issue. We did not really delve into each goal and how we can do to make sure we can achieve these goals by 2015. As we know, the global recession that happened 2 years ago had hindered the progress of the goals but we did not touch further on how countries can bounce back from this recession to achieve the goals. The most important factor to achieve the goals is to actually gather support and we need to know what those countries need to do to get themselves back on track so that they are able to contribute they way they used to. One of our classmates bring out the issue that she is surprised that fighting against corruption is not in one of the goals. I agree to her suggestion as a country can receive as much aids from the global community but if the funds are allocated in the wrong hands, the citizens might suffer as they will not be able to receive as much aid as it initially allocated to. This can be further touched on during lesson but due to time constrain, we are not able to expand much on this suggestion
Lastly, i would rate this lesson as 9/10 as this week's lesson has made me look forward to the next lesson. A lot of interested facts have been said and it has certainly allowed me to gain further insights on TWC. I hope next week will be a better information sharing session than this week!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Technology and World change lesson 1.
This is my 1st lesson if the week and i went in to the lesson with my group of friends. The lesson was pretty interesting and started off with a video of did you know: Shift happens. After that we had a little ice breaker to get to know about our classmates better and also our perception about TWC. We also get to know the expectation of our Prof Gurinder Shahi.
The next half of the lesson topic that we discuss is technology and the rise of civilization.We started off from this video: guns, gems and steel. Followed by a short discussion of the video and followed by technology passed down since stone age. One interesting observation that i had gained from this lesson is actually many of the things that we used and see grew primarily from the middle east. For example, Algebra is originated from Arab and people have then, used those algebra equations to invent great things. Another thing that caught my attention is the video that Prof Gurinder had shown us; Prediction by 2013, a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computation capabilities of human brains.
This leads to my question of whether in future, the cyber world will end up taking over humanity. I would cite one show to support my argument and that show will be eagle's eye. The show is basically how a supercomputer has manipulated the computation capabilities that it has and manipulated 2 person in an attempt to take over humanity. This might not happen as most people would claim: It's just a show. However, we must not dismiss this possibility as technology might become so advance in future and nobody knows what the future holds. Another take away point for me is how much technology has advanced to the extent that it has surpass our biological needs. As a result, there's a increase in the rate of obesity. However, i also have to add to the point that one of our classmates has discussed, i.e. some area in the states has more fast food outlet around the vicinity and most of them do not have the choice but to purchase their lunch and dinner at those fast food outlets. However, this topic was not further discussed during lesson and i hope this topic should be further elaborated. The reason is because i feel that this issue is related to us in every other way. We might not be obese now but 10 years down the road, who will guarantee that the weighing scale that we stood on, will not be at the opposite end of it? In addition, obesity is the cause of certain heart related diseases like heart attack.
I think that this first session is rather meaningful to me. However, i think prof should allow us to repeat the topics that we have chosen be it oral presentation, tropical review paper or group project. The reason is cause in addition to this, we are not allowed to repeat the same topic as our classmates which post a challenge to our research. I hope you can consider changing this policy. I would rate the lesson 7/10 =)
The next half of the lesson topic that we discuss is technology and the rise of civilization.We started off from this video: guns, gems and steel. Followed by a short discussion of the video and followed by technology passed down since stone age. One interesting observation that i had gained from this lesson is actually many of the things that we used and see grew primarily from the middle east. For example, Algebra is originated from Arab and people have then, used those algebra equations to invent great things. Another thing that caught my attention is the video that Prof Gurinder had shown us; Prediction by 2013, a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computation capabilities of human brains.
This leads to my question of whether in future, the cyber world will end up taking over humanity. I would cite one show to support my argument and that show will be eagle's eye. The show is basically how a supercomputer has manipulated the computation capabilities that it has and manipulated 2 person in an attempt to take over humanity. This might not happen as most people would claim: It's just a show. However, we must not dismiss this possibility as technology might become so advance in future and nobody knows what the future holds. Another take away point for me is how much technology has advanced to the extent that it has surpass our biological needs. As a result, there's a increase in the rate of obesity. However, i also have to add to the point that one of our classmates has discussed, i.e. some area in the states has more fast food outlet around the vicinity and most of them do not have the choice but to purchase their lunch and dinner at those fast food outlets. However, this topic was not further discussed during lesson and i hope this topic should be further elaborated. The reason is because i feel that this issue is related to us in every other way. We might not be obese now but 10 years down the road, who will guarantee that the weighing scale that we stood on, will not be at the opposite end of it? In addition, obesity is the cause of certain heart related diseases like heart attack.
I think that this first session is rather meaningful to me. However, i think prof should allow us to repeat the topics that we have chosen be it oral presentation, tropical review paper or group project. The reason is cause in addition to this, we are not allowed to repeat the same topic as our classmates which post a challenge to our research. I hope you can consider changing this policy. I would rate the lesson 7/10 =)
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