Lesson 0.6 - 24 September

As these pictures suggest, week 6 discusses the biobusiness revolution: the past, present and future of healthcare & biomedical sciences.

The development in technology allow massive advancement in healthcare. Th revolution in healthcare, over these past few years is highly impressive. Glad to say, the change is good. The integration of technology and healthcare allow huge development in global standard of living. Medicine is now available at much lower rate. However, I can't help but question: what will healthcare be like in the near future, whats with the rapid development in technology?

microsoft prediction of the future healthcare

This video provide a glimpse of the (predicted) future in healthcare. Is this feasible? Some of these features are already available in today's world. So my answer to that question is: why not? This is only feasible if there is an amalgamation of the different departments. When these different departments work together, surely technology can facilitate such developments. At the same time, we have to note that the development of healthcare differs in every region of the world. 

This brings us to biomedical science, which increases the quantity of food at lower cost. Biomedical science involves the direct manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. We can say that scientists are playing God! Undeniably, this can potentially bring about various benefits, but what's the controversy here?

There are ethical concerns, ecological concerns, and economic concerns raised by the fact GM techniques and GM organisms are subject to intellectual property law. GMOs also are involved in controversies over GM food with respect to whether food produced from GM crops is safe, whether it should be labeled, and whether GM crops are needed to address the world's food needs. I personally feel that the development of such technology can solve several world's problems. This is an important, what's with the changing dynamics of global epidemic and pandemics. 

Again, the presentations are highly interesting and captivating. As such,I rate this lesson an 8.5/10. 

Lesson 0.5 - 17 September

Week 5 lesson discusses the influence of infocomm tehnology (ICT) on world change.

The different forms of ICT in today's world include mass media, the Internet, information systems, cloud computing, gaming and more. The development of technology drives the evolution of ICT. Prof quoted John Naisbitt, which struck me: “The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century will not occur because of technology but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human.”  

This shows our innate need to innovate, and this innovation is made evident through the development of technology. I find this quote compelling because of our increasing reliance towards technology. Personally, i think that the development, is correlated our level of dependence towards technology. In today's modern world, it is undeniale that technology has been integrated in our daily affairs. An ideal example would be a mobile phone. Can you imagine your life without a mobile phone? If you ask me that question, my answer would be a no. This brings us to the video showed in class:

Project milo

Basically, this video shows an unpublished game which allow user and virtual game interactions. This left me awestruck. It's really impressive how far technology has gone! At the same time, wouldn't the development of such games further increase our reliance on technology? On worst case scenarios, we can't even differentiate between real life and virtual life. As such, shouldn't there be some form of restriction or limitation which can deviate such cases? Currently, there exists cases where people face difficulty differentiating virtual and real world.  

Hence, I conclude that it is important to draw a boundary between virtual world and real world. Maybe we can raise awareness towards this issue as one of the preventive measures. 

Also, presentations in class were both entertaining and informative.

Overall, I rate this lesson an 8/10!

Individual Topical Review Paper Outline

(tentative)

Topic: tech journalism

executive summary
This paper will cover.. 
1. the role of tech-journalism in today's world 
2. Impacts on modern society due to the amalgamation of technology and journalism
3. Discuss the arguments against & supporting tech-journalism
4. Discuss development of tech journalism in the near future
5. Discuss the potential impacts due to the development of tech journalism


introduction/background
- define tech-journalism
-brief summary on factors that drive the development of tech-journalism
- brief summary on the role of tech-journalism in today's world

issues/challenges/opportunities
-discuss the role of tech-journalism in today's world
- discuss the factors that drive the development of tech-journalism
- evolution in the term 'journalist' with the development of tech-journalism
-changes in materials shared
-impacts on modern society, positive and negative impact

discussion and analysis
- discuss arguments against the development of tech-journalism
- discuss arguments supporting the development of tech-journalism
- discuss relationship between the rate of technological advancements and development of tech-journalism
- potential impacts due to the development of tech journalism

conclusion
- role of tech-journalism in the future

Lesson 0.4 - 10 September

CHANGE

Change is the only constant in today's world. Session 4 revolved around the idea of change- (i) the drivers of world change (ii) change management and change leadership

Many a times, we desire change. We talk about change. We complain for the lack of change. But on rare occasions, do we act on it. As such, as individuals, we can be the drivers of world change.

 

This is a video I found online which I find highly fascinating. We can be the boy, driving the change. Or we can be the eagle- with a little bit of push and encouragement, we can fly in the sky. By flying in the sky, we can actually act on our desire to change. Needless to say, many individuals who drove change are non-conformists. They are willing to go out of their way to promote change; to alter the conventional conservative idea of what people deemed 'normal'. 

In relation to the second part of the lesson, where change management and change leadership is discussed. I still remember the video prof showed the class. There was a guy dancing in the middle of the field, surrounded by others- looking ridiculous. Standing alone, this guy looked like a joke. However, another person joined him, and now there are two guys dancing on the field. This person termed 'first follower' appeared to be a big influence of change as he called his friends over. After his friends joined, many others joined in. What appeared to be a lunatic dancing alone in the middle of the field has now turned into a party. As such, it is important for the Leader (in this case, the dancing guy) to embrace his followers, especially the first few because the influence of these followers can spark the change in others. Hence, it is important for the leader not to adopt the elitist attitude. In this case, Prof's Organisational behavior model comes into play. Dominant leaders are those who adopt the rising star's attitude to maintain their position at the top. 

And lastly, I have to commend the presentations made by my course mates which contributed to the enriching session. I rate this lesson an 8/10.

Lesson 0.3- 3rd September

The 3rd session of TWC was definitely a stimulating and (as usual) an interactive one. It was divided into two parts.
The first part: we discussed issues related to technology and industrial development - towards sustainability.
Second part: technology and innovation management.
And of course the presentations made by my fellow coursemates.

Technology and industrial development was an interesting topic brought about during class. Basically prof raised the issue of sustainability: DEVELOPMENT VS ENVIRONMENT. However,  I have to point out that we wouldn't be enjoying the lesson in an air-conditioned class and you wouldn't be reading this on your laptop if not for development. The thirst for development (namely economic development) drives the society towards advancement and futuristic goals and perhaps innovation as well (which will be discussed later). But at the same time, the question at hand would be: is it okay to sacrifice our environment, mother nature, at the expense of  development? The consequence of our development is made evident by global warming and even the quality of air and water and size of forest and sea level and so much more. Is it really okay to allow this to happen? This reminds me of Avatar the movie where Man aim to penetrate another planet and take advantage of their resources for economic motivations- and what drives economic motivations? GREED. As quoted by Sara Bareilles,"Who died and made you the King of Anything?" Thats right, who made us the king of anything? Who gives us the right to take advantage of our environment for our own benefit/personal motivations? NOONE.

But thankfully, environmental consciousness is making their way to our hearts. Through media's influence, NGOs and environment activists, environmental awareness is spreading like bushfire. As such, the term "Green Technology" is born. Green Technology promotes sustainable development, to curb the negative impacts of human involvement on our environment. I personally encourage the implementation of green technology. Despite the availability of such technology, its usefulness is largely influence by our decision. As quoted by prof (which struck me): Technology is easy, people are hard. The lack of support may deter sustainable development.

This brings us to the second part of the lesson which revolves around technological innovations. Technological innovation drives technological development. Prof shared the framework he came up with which shows a valley and a summit and a cloud. The valley shows a low interest in investment unless there is an innovative approach. The summit, on the other hand, shows high interest in investment. And the cloud shows a KIV interest. I find this realy interesting because I've never heard of such categorisation of investment.

And there were presentations in relation to the topics raised in class. One presentation which struck me was the one made by Derrick which discuss the falling star of the mobile phone industry: Nokia. I find it really surprising that nokia invest so much more on R&D compared to Apple and Samsung, which are much more popular. I guess this shows that the amount of money used on investment does not directly relate to the increase in sales.

Overall this was a really enjoyable and definitely beneficial lesson. I give it a 9/10. Can't wait for the next session!

Lesson 0.2- 1st September

The second session act as a platform to discuss the issues related to technology, society and global dominance, as well as technology and human development. 

Prof started the interactive class by introducing us to the different dominant players involved in the wide variety of fields. Prof pointed out USA- one of the superpower nations. Meaning to say, one of the dominant players around (on the global scale). Widely known for their steady political system, advanced military, largest economy, strong internal security, and law & order- it comes as no shock. US also influence the global economic climate through world organisations : WTO, NATO, UN, and IMF. However, prof pointed out that this global dominance result in the unfair distribution of standard of living and quality of life worldwide. Take the Israel-Palestine case as an ideal example. Israel take advantage of their military dominance and economic power to assert dominance over their counterpart, who is not as advanced. Taking advantage of their bilateral relation with US, Israel continue to hold the upperhand in this situation. Due to America's influence as a member of UN, the UN are unable to stop Israel. Personally, I find it depressing to knowing that this is occurring despite the massive advancement in the implementation of human rights. (I found an enriching video, through the eyes of a human rights activist if you're interested in the Israel-Palestein case: Staying Human)

However, as mentioned in lesson one, where change is the only constant, as the world move from one era to the next, the power and status of a country does not remain. Prof shared the model he generated observing the characteristics which influence the development of the country. Basically, there are three players involved- namely the rising star, the dominant player and the falling star. For example the rising star are optimistic keen learners, meaning to say they are very receptive to learn from others. On the other end of the spectrum, the falling star, hold a closed perspective- meaning to say, they are pessimistic and not open to new ideas.One question which struck me was when Prof asked the class which player does Singapore fall under? When the class answered in unison: A rising star. Prof asked, "Really? During the last election, many people complained about the influx of migrants. Isn't this a sign of a Falling Star? Not being receptive to foreigners."  I did not manage to raise my arguement in class due to the limited time, but I would say that largely depends on the kind of migrants being accepted as Singaporeans. It is undeniably frustrating knowing some "imported Singaporeans" are taking advantage of Singapore's passport to go elsewhere- treating Singapore, our home, as a mere stepping stone. (You can read this forum I found addressing this situation: Why are Singaporeans migrating?) 

We also had a brief discussion on the Human Development Index (HDI) - which measure the different level of development of the various countries. However, HDI fail to point out the level of development within the country itself. Also, they fail to include a couple of essential factors to better measure the development of a country. This undermines the usefulness and credibility of HDI when making comparisons. Prof then showed the class a video on the Millimenium Goals which address the different goals set to further distribute equality worldwide. Honestly, the video touched my heart and overwhelmed me emotionally. The statistics pointing at the low standard of living in the developing countries comes to me as a shock. I feel so blessed and thankful, but at the same time, I feel so helpless- knowing that they are facing such situations. As an average Singaporean teenage girl, I feel like I cant do much to help them out of it, other than spreading awareness. 

Other than that, five of my classmates presented- covering the various issues related to technology. It is apparent that they took the presentation seriously as comprehensive presentation is made. One question which struck me during one of the presentations was if  Internet attracts lonely people or does it make people even lonelier? I personally feel that the term "Internet" is a broad and vague term- allowing room for various discussions. Internet does not solely refer to social networking sites, however also involve the various websites which faciltate communication such as MSN and yahoo messenger. I would say the Internet does make people lonelier as we become more reliant on other people. The ease of communication causes loneliness to be felt, as communication becomes as important to us as food or even oxygen- whats with the amalgamation of internet with our mobile devices. I find this drastic increase in reliance a worrying issue. 

At the end of the day, the class exceeded by 15 minutes- having to cut down on discussions.
I would rate this class 9/10. An enjoyable and definitely enriching lesson.