TWC end of semester review

I recall during the first lesson of twc, prof asked us what we thought this course was about. I believe many of us actually thought twc would be about different case studies on technology and how that particular technology has changed the world. However, I believe most of us would have realized that this course is actually aimed to equip us with the concepts, analytical skills and mind-sets so that we can critically analyse, predict and understand how technology will/can/have affect the world in general. I am sure many of us have noticed that the set of words below are always present in every set of slides that prof puts up.

To help equip you with:

•          a conceptual framework for intelligently considering the potential economic, social and commercial impact and significance of technology innovation;

•          a solid foundation for considering issues of development, technology policy, change management, and the management of technology.

The course has taught me a myriad of things, and I will be reviewing some of the more important concepts and skills I have grasped over the semester.

The hunger

Countries that are complacent and believe they already know all that there is to know will ultimately lose out and fail eventually. They are contented with what they already possess and are very resistant to change. This is the falling star mind-set, and many large civilizations have lost their competitive edge due to such complacency and lack of hunger for success. I recall prof mentioning how China was initially a very advanced kingdom but eventually got caught up and overtaken by other nations due to their resistance to change. It is important that we maintain a rising star mind-set, one that is open to new ideas and have the hunger to constantly improve ourselves. This mind-set is key to success as it will encourage greater innovation to improve ourselves, which will ultimately lead to great success.

Yali’s question

In the book Guns, Germs and steel, Yali asked this question
"why you white people build up so much cargo and takes it to New Guinea, but we black people has a little own cargo".
This question requires the understanding of why is there so much inequality between developed and less developed countries. Throughout the course of the semester, we have discussed many possible reasons for this inequality. Such could include the rising/falling star mind-sets as mentioned above, colonisation by the British or the geographical location of nations.

Going beyond Yali’s question

Prof mentioned that we should go beyond Yali’s question and ask ourselves how we could help solve this inequality. As such, throughout our course of study we did learn about how many different technologies could help close up this inequality gap. Such could include how ICT could provide access to the internet to these less developed societies to provide them the information needed to progress or how we should progress in a sustainable manner so as to not jeopardize the future for these less-developed nations.

Sustainability

In my opinion, I thought that the need to be sustainable in my progress is also one of the key lessons that TWC has taught me. Sustainable progress is progress that does not compromise the environment for future generations. This is imperative as at the rate the developed nations such as the United States or Singapore is consuming, the resources would be used up very quickly. We need to achieve a cyclical process of development is vital so that we can recycle and reuse the resources we use. Technologies such as the toilet that can generate electricity through the waste we produce or solar panels are all good examples of technology that can allow us to progress sustainably.

To conclude, this twc course has greatly broadened my perspectives and knowledge over the short course of 3 months. The specific case studies might not be relevant in years to come, but I believe the skills and concepts I have acquired will definitely be useful and relevant in my endeavours in life in the future. Thank you prof and classmates for everything and good luck for our final examinations!

TWC lesson 12

Brief Summary

The first presentation was about prosthetic. Talked about the history of prosthetic, possible economic, social issues of modern prosthetic, proposed solutions and possible improvements to the technology. The second was somewhat similar to the first with many additional fields like Bionic eye. Third presentation was about the different preservative methods of food, in-vitro meat and the future consideration of such a technology. Fourth was about sex and advertisement. A interesting and eye-catching presentation about the timeline of sexual education, the implications and the future consideration of it. The last presentation was about virtual reality. It talks about virtual world, how meetings can actually take place online in a virtual reality. Augmented reality and how it has already been incorporated into our lives. Ikea has been using it to allow people to know how the furniture could look in your house.

Interesting observations

The presentation was very interesting and the prospects of mind controlled prosthetics are very exciting.  The part of how war created demand for prosthetics was a very interesting part as well. It was exciting how prosthetics could create a permanent solution to paralysis and the impacts of such a technology is wide and far reaching.

Economic effects- The group mentioned that mind controlled prosthetics cost 8m dollars now. However I do not think that this is a problem as the initial cost of technology is always expensive. I believe that as more research and innovation occur, the cost will plummet and it would be made available to a larger proportion of the population. For example, 3D  printing technology actually helped lower the cost of mind-controlled prosthetics to 500USD dollar. As further development occurs in the 3D printing fields, it could be possible that the cost for prosthetics could decrease further in the future.

Social effects- However it does make sense that if the prosthetics were actually stronger than our original limbs, people might want to amputate their arms just to replace it with the prosthetics. This would thus create many social problems. However, such a technology would also mean that the older generation would have the ability to regain some of their abilities to carry on with their daily lives.

The second presentation was somewhat similar to the first. However, Cedric’s group talked about more fields such as the Bionic eye and the improved hearing aids. It is exciting how technology has provided solutions to diseases that were previously thought to be untreatable. As technology advances, what other diseases could be treated? Would there be a time where technology has advanced so much that immortality is no longer a myth?

The group also mentioned that space race can actually be a good thing for humanity. I do agree on that part, and that I believe that competition is one of the best sources of motivation. However, such competition is usually a race to complete a certain weapon and to protect national interest. If we are able to channel such competition into developing technology that helps humanity on the whole, I believe it could greatly benefit mankind.

One problem I have identified with In-vitro meat was that there could be a disparity between the rich and the poor.The rich will continue to eat normal meat while the poor will have to settle with meat that is made in labs. Golden rice was mentioned, however I have read an article about how golden rice is actually not very effective. The beta-carotene in golden rice can only be activated in the presence of fats, and the person that actually requires such rice normally would have a healthy diet that consists of fats. There might be hidden implications in such GMO food and extensive research and technological assessment should be carried out before allowing it to be commercialized.

Meat is a very inefficient form of food. Interesting point as a large amount of corn is used in the process of making the meat. Poor storage leads to almost 10% loss in the total yield. Poor storage leads to spoilage and pest like rats could damage the harvest.

Key takeaways

The world is rapidly changing and technology is rapidly being innovated. From the different presentations, it actually identifies many implications of the technology that is not known to me. It is important to try our best to identify such implications so that disasters such as the Monsanto or Ecaudor disaster does not repeat itself.

Rating

8/10 as it presented much different indepth analysis of technologies such as the mind-controlled prosthetics, virtual reality or the use of sexual advertisement. Greatly broadened my perspectives of the technologies discussed. 

TWC Lesson 11

Presentation week.

Group 1: Futuristic buildings.

http://twcfuturists.wix.com/home

The first group’s presentation about futuristic buildings tackled quite a number of pressing issues our planet is currently facing. It has also taught me the history of buildings and the current interesting technologies used in buildings. It was really interesting as they brought a model along to show us how their design of the futuristic building would look like. In my opinion, their model would be able to tackle a number of problems.

Rising sea levels

Global warming has caused quite a number of problems for our environment. The increased global temperature has caused huge icebergs to melt in the poles, and that is raising our seawater levels. As such, a floating/waterproof home does sound like a very feasible technology for low-lying countries that will be affected. Furthermore, evidences has shown that the increased global temperature has also caused stronger and more frequent typhoons and hurricanes to be formed. Such could cause extreme flooding and devastation to areas affected. A recent example would be hurricane haiyan that devastated Philippines.  As such, a floating house could help them reduce the damage incurred as it would be able to float amidst all the flooding and increase survival rates for those affected.

Lack of land

There has been a lack of land for residential purposes in many developed nations and cities recently. Singapore has been experiencing a lack of land for many years now as seen from our high prices for property. The fact that our HDBs are being built higher can also be seen as evidence of our land shortage. As such, living in/on the sea would greatly ease the land crunch on such developing countries as they would be able to allocate housing on the sea. Such would lead to more people being able to afford housing as the increased supply of housing would drive prices of housing down.

However, the important issue here is the price of such buildings. Would they be a novelty only available to the rich? From the presentation, it seems like the technology needed to build such a structure is pricey and is very likely unavailable to the less well-off. Underwater turbines and solar panels are all expensive structures. It is important that we do not get complacent when we complete such technology and continue to strive for and innovate ideas to drive the cost down. For example, with the extensive research done on plastic recently, could we possibly build the structure out of the cheaper plastics instead?

Group 2: Clean energy

http://thisishoyee.wix.com/cleanenergy

My group was the second to present and our topic was clean energy. Due to our negative approach to presenting, we exceeded the timing pretty badly. As such, this has actually taught me that when presenting an idea to an audience, we should always try to capture their attention and allow them to participate. We should have only presented on the ideas that were interesting instead of reading word to word from our website. Throughout my research of clean energy, I have come across many interesting applications and types of hydroelectricity. Through all the research, it seems like the world already possess the technology necessary to be sustainable, but many political and social issues are preventing that from taking place.

Group 3: Nanotechnology

http://twc2013groupone.wix.com/smallisthenewbig

Nanotechnology is one of the upcoming technologies that will revolutionize the way we do things. It is exciting to know the wide variety of ways nanotechnology could be applied to. Such include

Healthcare

The group talked about how nanotechnology could be used to kill cancer cells without harming the normal cells. Such is a huge improvement from our current chemotherapy methods were all the cells within the vicinity are damaged and destroyed. Such could make cancer treatments much more tolerable as the heavy side effects such as vomiting from the chemotherapy could be avoided. Furthermore, nanorobots that can specifically target cancer cells seem like a much more efficient way of curing cancer as compared to chemotherapy where some portions of the cancerous cells may not be destroyed.

Hydrophobic nano particles

I have seen many videos that shows how such hydrophobic particles work. It really seem like magic to me the first time I saw it, on how mud water or water can just slide off cotton materials as if the surface was waxed. If anyone is interested, here's the video.

The first thing that came to my mind was how it could be applied to army equipment. Imagine spraying such a coating on my boots, field camp would be so much more bearable with dry feet! Such technology could also be used for windscreens for cars during a storm to increase visibility, or sprayed on to glasses so that they do not fog up or get wet in humid environments.

However, as prof always says, technology is easy but people are hard. There are many possible consequences of such technology and I believe we should properly assess and forecast Nanotechnology so as to be prepared and prevent any negative impacts it could bring. As I stated in one of the post below, movies often showcase the possible implications of future technologies. In movies such as GI Joe: The rise of the Cobra(2009) or The Day the earth stood still(2008), it all shows how nanotechnology has been converted into weapons capable of mass destruction. Although such movies are based on fictions, I believe such concerns does stand true. If some scientist managed to convert nanotechnology into workable weapons, the consequences would be dire.   

To conclude, the presentations gave me great insights into different technologies and has helped me broaden my knowledge base. I would give this lesson a 9/10!

TWC Individual report

Hi guys! this is my individual report regarding Therapeutic Cloning- The next breakthrough in human healthcare.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw1zYx50DOwaRlVqaUhtZXRmNm8/edit?usp=sharing

TWC Lesson 10

Brief Summary

The lesson started out with a brief summary of what we went through in our past lessons. Afterwards we watched a very interesting video of a man showing the 20 upcoming technologies. We were then brought through the various methods of technology assessment and forecasting.

Interesting observations

By using gaming as a method of foresight by stimulating the scenarios to derive the possible implications of the technology. In my opinion, I believe gaming really does has a lot of potential which are not utilized fully. I have read and posted an article to the Facebook page regarding how gaming helped solve the biological configurations of the AID virus recently, and it was a really good example of how gaming can be utilized to solve real live problems. I believe gaming works well for problem solving as it adds a level of fun to the problem solving, and this provides great motivation for users to want to solve and work on the problem.  I have personally known many friends that could stay on their computers for almost 16 hours a day, only stopping to eat. If we could somehow retain the fun aspects in gaming and integrate the problem into the game itself, I believe it would be a great problem solving tool. Furthermore, the gamers population normally doesn’t get paid to play the game, hence the labor cost could be considered almost negligible. If we could somehow integrate upcoming technology that needs to be assessed into a game, we would probably be able 

to come up with the implications that follow that technology.  

There is also a need for nations to prioritize and carefully choose what sorts of industry/research it should venture into. One aspect of technology assessment is of whether the technology is worth venturing upon, and countries should invest greatly into such technology assessment efforts as they would determine the direction of where the country is heading. There is a global shift towards cleaner sources of energy like solar and nuclear, and people are moving away from the usage of fossil fuels as energy. In this case I believe countries like Nigeria should move away from their reliance on the trade of petroleum and diversify their economies. I have learnt in a Leadership&Team building course that the ruler of Dubai recognized that solely relying on the sale of fossil fuels would not benefit his city in the long run, and he came up with a series of plans like the opening of free trade zones to attract major companies into his city. These were due to good foresight and the good technology assessment of petroleum as a declining industry.

There was something interesting that I have often observe, that the type of movies screened in those times actually kind of shows what the near future contains for us. For example, the recent movies such as Resident Evil, The Island or even Jurassic Park showcases some of the issues that may arise due to cloning. Movies like Alien vs Predator and The Avengers has actually showcased mankind’s curiosity about outer space, of the recent hype into venturing into outer space.  Although most of the scenarios are plain science fiction, 

there are many aspects of the movies that actually seem pretty plausible.

Key takeaways.

Technology assessment and forecasting is a vital process for any organization. It is vital as it helps predict what sort of issues could arise from the implementation of the said technology, and whether the technology would benefit mankind as a whole. In my opinion, I believe that technological forecasting would be of greater important than technological assessment as there are less sunk cost when you identify the issue early, hence the idea can be scrapped more easily. As compared to if millions have already been spent on a project and a major issue is found, organizations will be more reluctant to scrap the project but might instead try to cover up for the issue.

Issues for discussion

I realized there were not really any in-depth discussion of some key technology assessment and forecasting methods. I understood what the topic was about but didn’t really understand how they actually carried out the forecasting and assessment. Perhaps we could have discussed upon one prominent case study of a particular forecasting/assessment case.

Personal Rating

I give this class a 7/10. The information given was relevant but perhaps some specific cases could help clarify some doubts. 

TWC Lesson 9

Brief summary

This week’s lesson was about new and emerging technologies and world change. This was a very interesting lesson that talks about the different drivers for emerging and new technologies and the interesting technologies like nanotechnology and artificial intelligence system.

Interesting observations

There was a discussion on facial recognition abilities of augmented reality devices in class. I found that to be quite a creepy thought, and to think that such technology has already been researched and implemented in some websites like Facebook. It’s a scary thought because strangers could easily find out a myriad of information about you just with one look at you. There is no question that we have revealed way too much personal information on the internet, at least on my part. If someone really wanted to, I believe they could find out many things about me just by looking at my facebook pictures and activities. If such a technology was widely implemented, would that not cause a situation where privacy is easily breached? There are many pros and cons to this augmented reality technology and I believe that an adequate amount of effort should be placed into balancing the benefits of the technology with the social issues it could bring.

Another interesting observation I made was on the future of plastic electronic technology. The video that was showed was really insightful and provided a lot of possibilities plastic electronics could entice. It is hard to imagine a contact lense that could display images directly into your sight and the fact that such a technology could be made available in the near future is an exciting thought. The idea that prof brought up where the newspapers could be made obsolete with a permanent plastic one was a great idea in my opinion. Everyday, tonnes and tonnes of paper are wasted to print the newspapers which are only used once. It is such a waste of resources! If we could have one universal plastic newspaper for every household in which individuals can go online to pay for the newspaper, it would greatly reduce the wastage of paper.

The purpose that artificial intelligence are being used in japan is a scary thought though. I have seen documentaries where Japanese guys are marrying this “online wifes” through some specialized hotel where a virtual marriage would be held. If the artificial intelligence system could now be incorporated into humanoids, the consequences might be quite dire for the Japanese society. Japanese teenagers might be opting to marry a humanoid other half and the fertility rates might plunge. Furthermore, I can foresee a lot of social and ethical issues arising. Would these humanoid dolls be considered human? What are the penalties if they were to do something wrong? It is a very tangled issue and I believe that governments in question should really proceed with caution and care when dealing with the issue.

One of the presenters also brought up the idea of nuclear fission as a possible method of obtaining energy. The technology does indeed sound very promising, as its raw materials are hydrogen which can be found all over the atmosphere. However, the question is whether the cost of perfecting this technology will be worth the effort. In my opinion, it sounds more feasible to invest in coming up with new and better methods of harnessing the sun as a source of energy. The sun provides so much energy to earth, and if a country like Germany could successfully make use of solar energy, I don’t see why the rest of the world couldn’t. The solution to our energy crisis is right there infront of us, why are governments around the world not putting in 100% to perfect the techniques for capturing solar energy? Such is some of the questions that really puzzle me at times.

Key takeaways

Technologies are rapidly evolving and renewing itself in current times. It is imperative that despite all the benefits and convenience such new technologies can bring, we do not overlook any possible social, economic, environmental or ethical issues that might entail. It is important that we, as the consumers, are able to see the big picture of any emerging technologies and not just be blinded by the immediate benefits that the technology can provide.

Personal rating

7/10. I felt that some of the topics were not discussed in depth. However, I blame the lack of time as emerging technologies is a really broad and wide topic that a short discussion of 3 hours would not be enough to cover.  

TWC lesson 8

Summary

Energy and world change. Past present future.

The next industrial revolution will be when we shift our current fossil fuel based, energy intensive economy to an environmentally sound and sustainable clean and green approach. We were shown a video on new ideas and old ideas, and that if we follow the same direction that we have been following in the past our environment will not sustain. We need to follow new directions for a totally different new economy.

Drivers of change for energy consumption.

•  Rising energy consumption and need for economic development. Developed countries have did very well with fossil fuels, however China and other developing countries cannot follow such fossil fuel consumption patterns. These developed countries have jeopardized the environment greatly in the process. Furthermore, there is not enough fossil fuels for everyone to consume at the same rate as an average Singapore or U.S. citizen. We will have to find new ways to allow such developing countries to achieve such growth without compromising the environment. 

•  There is a need for sustainability. With the rising cost of fossil fuel, there is a need for new and more sustainable energy sources to replace fossil fuels. Years ago when fossil fuels weren’t discovered in Brazil yet, they used agriculture to make alcohol as another source of energy. Now, they are able to produce the cheapest alcohol in the world out of sugar cane.

•   New technologies and approaches. Europe has enforced fluorescent light bulbs and banned the conventional light bulbs as fluorescent bulbs are more energy efficient.

• Cost is another driver. Fossil fuel takes millions of years to make. Its externalities can actually be the most expensive fuel we are burning. The extra cost is not taken into account and we are burning such fossil fuels instead of using them to make useful products like plastics and stuff.

We then moved on to the different considerations in energy and world change. The more notable one is energy security and energy as a source of income. The diagram shown to us next shows us that most of the energy come from the sun with exception to geothermal and nuclear energy. Next, we are shown diagrams that show us the percentage of different types of energy we are consuming. We were then shown two separate tables that contain shocking facts. The first one tells us that the sun actually provides more than 7000 times the energy we consume yearly, and that the sun actually provides more energy to us in an hour than mankind can use in a year. The second one tells us how much energy one kilometre square of land can generate. It was shocking how much more wind and solar energy can be generated as compared to Biomass methods. It gets one thinking why people are still investing in planting sugarcanes or palm trees for energy when you can get so much more from solar or wind energy. We were then shown 2 videos, one on how Europe aims to achieve 20% renewable energy by 2020 and another on solar power plants in Africa.

Interesting keypoints and observations.

The diagram that shows how much solar energy provides to earth was mind blogging. The sun provides more energy in one hour than the human kind currently use in a year. Such statistics really makes me wonder why countries are not pooling resources to develop an efficient and cheap way of obtaining solar energy. Sunlight is free, and the sun would not burn out for another few billion of years. If we could somehow efficiently tap into this source of energy, wouldn’t that greatly help improve our sustainability? We using solar energy to develop, and the usage of such solar energy does not deny future generations of equal opportunities to tap on this solar energy. Furthermore, solar energy is a clean source of energy and does not create pollution as compared to the burning of fossil fuels.

I believe there is a need for countries dependant on fossil fuels as their main source of income to diversify and move on into profiting from other industries. In the Middle East, countries like Nigeria and Oman are very dependent on the sale of fossil fuels as their main source of income. As prof mentioned, 98% of Nigeria’s economy is dependent on petroleum. There is a global movement of developed countries moving into cleaner and renewable sources of energy, like solar and wind energy. Alternatives for petroleum are being researched and it is possible that the world might become independent of fossil fuels in the future. Once that happen, such countries will lose their main source of income. Such would cause the divide between the rich and the poor to further widen.

On the presentation regarding Hempcrete, as beneficial as it sounds I believed there are still several downsides to this technology. The first and most important point is that it could mask the production of Marijuana. From the image below, it is frankly very hard to tell the differences between Hemp and Marijuana just by looking at it. Drug dealers could easily grow Marijuana among Hemp plantations and not be detected. Such could increase drug problems in the country. Furthermore, since hempcrete last for thousands of years as compared to normal concrete, wouldn’t that mean that hempcrete is extremely non-biodegradable? Such could add on to pollution problems. There is a need for careful considerations of the pros and cons of this technology before fully implementing it.

The top image shows Hemp plants while the bottom image show Marijuana plants.

Key takeaways

In order for us to achieve sustainable development, a transit from reliance on fossil fuels as energy sources to more renewable and cleaner sources of energy is needed. Solar energy from the sun, is readily available in many regions of the world and would be the ideal choice as the next main energy supplier. Other technologies such as wind, biomass and geothermal energy should also be invested in for a greater variety of sources for energy. If Germany, a country that does not get a lot of sunlight, could fare so well in utilising solar energy, it shows that solar energy will be viable in most parts of the world.

Issues for further discussion

Nuclear energy was brought up during this class. Nuclear energy is considered a clean form of energy, but I have actually read an article about the how the extraction of uranium is actually a very polluting process. It would be informative if everyone could discuss and be more informed on some of the unseen sides of the energy sources we regard to be clean and renewable.

Rating

I would give this class a 8/10. As always, it was mind-blowing and facts such as how much energy the sun provides in a year versus how much we use was very informative. The different perspectives of issues and the different technology presented by my fellow classmates helped me build a good knowledge of the current state of energy in the world.