Session 12 - Going full circle

Today's session was a continuation to last week's group project presentations. My group presented today, and you can access our site here: http://www.bit.ly/nuclearzeema

Am super proud of it showcases what we've been working on for the past three months!

Here's a snapshot of my group's site: (isn't it gorgeous?!)

Among the other group presentations, I found the one about genetic engineering particularly interesting, especially the ethical issues that are related to it. They then did a poll and asked the class who was for, and who was against human cloning. I raised my hand for the latter.

I was then asked why I felt that way. The presenter posed me a hypothetical situation - What if one day I were to have a terminal illness, and technology was such that they could clone a healthy replica of me, and technology was such that they could download my memory into a brainchip to install into the new one? Would I still rather not have myself cloned?

I stood by my stand, but hesitated a little as I tried to present my thoughts in a rational, persuasive manner. It was then that I realised that it made no 'sense', perhaps, to be staunchly against cloning. What I wasn't comfortable with was the artificial-ness of it all, and this is probably an emotional reaction. 

I then tried to make logical sense out of this emotion, drawing out the ethical issue which was bothering me. I then responded that I was totally supportive of cloning of organs, as it helps to cure illnesses and save lives; but I was against the idea of man playing god and trying to recreate people. I felt that people had soul, which could not be recreated. Perhaps this view stems from my religion, in my belief that life is unique and cannot be re-created. Perhaps it can, but I'd still look down on it as 'less human', perhaps like an imitation good of the real one. 

But what if this imitation good is the key to opening up doors to world-changing technologies? A key is a key, and as long as it fits into the hole, it's alright - one may say. Do the ends justify the means? Put in such a life-threatening situation- having two choices, to either make use of technology to preserve my life and let me continue watching my loved ones grow, or to hang on to my belief that "no, I shouldn't compromise on my morals and let men create MichelleGwee v2.0, I'd rather die instead" -- really makes me tempted to choose the former. And put in that situation of desperation, I actually probably would.

However, many ethical issues arise, even when the purpose is to save someone from death. What if that person is evil, and better off to society dead? Who's to decide if he was evil? Must he have committed a crime against society? What if he hasn't, but his clone was going to? Would the 'net benefit' of cloning him then be negative? Or, what if his descendants who craved inheritance of his fortune resorted to an underhand means to circumvent his successful cloning? What if they bribe those who are to carry out his cloning?

Technology raises more and more questions for us, which I will not attempt to answer in absolutes. As technology advances, the lines between what's ethical and what's not becomes increasingly fuzzy, and decisions must be made specific to the context, with careful weighing of costs and benefits, and the decision of individuals who are affected must be respected. Technology is after all a tool mankind has created, and it is one's choice whether to use it or not. Those who hold the power to technology also hold great responsibility.

Session 11

“You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.” – Oscar Wilde

Today, we had our group project presentations. Even though my group’s presentation is next week, I must say that today’s session was quite useful as my group managed to learn some ‘best practices’ from the groups that presented.

Here's something interesting that I picked up from today's discussion on Cyber Crime:

Internet online business services, which ordinarily suppose to be a blessing as it exposes one to a lot of opportunities in various field of life, is fast becoming a source of discomfort and worry due to the atrocity being perpetrated through it.

Computer crimes encompass a broad range of potentially illegal activities. Generally it may be categorized into two major groups:

1.    Crimes that target computer networks or devices directly

2.     Crimes facilitated by computer networks or devices, the primary target of which is independent of the computer network or device.

Session 10: Technology Assessment and Forecasting; Developing a Framework for Understanding What Comes Next

Brief summary:

-       A new technological innovation might bring in economic, social, ethical/legal, and environmental effects.

-       There is a need to prioritize in deciding whether & when to invest in R&D of new technologies – especially in developing countries, as they have lesser resources to play around with.

-       Whenever you start a change initiative, you can never know everything. However, you need to be keenly aware of the market dynamics and understand how to improve and adapt to suit their needs.

Interesting observations & ideas:

-       Obama was using electronic media in his political campaign

-       Ideas from fantasy science fiction culture as inspiration for current technologies. For instance, in Space Odyssey (a film made in 1968), the spacesuits that were used then are used in current times!

-       There are two kinds of sci-fi: Soft Science Fiction, which is based on social sciences, and Hard Science Fiction, which is based on scientific facts and theories.

Key takeaways:

1. Start with a blank sheet of paper. Dream without constraints! Then, give it a reality check & plot your path towards success.

2. Importance of constantly engaging the public in the change management process, with the purpose of reconciling cultural differences with new technology. There is also a potential for developing business ideas from this.

Issues for further discussion:

-       Cultural “stickiness” – it is important to take into consideration the market’s culture when implementing a new technology. Should technology adapt to culture, or culture adapt to technology? I believe that that is the essence of Disruptive Technology – where a revolutionary technology comes in and changes the way the market operates. I feel that as long as a technology is inherently beneficial, it will be able to win followers through rational persuasion of its practical benefits.

My rating for this lesson:

8/10. Quite an interesting session and I learnt some frameworks that could be applied to my individual topical paper!

6 Reasons Why I'd Never Marry a Robot

1. They don't have soul. Ok, or maybe next time technology will be such that robots can think and feel independently? But that will still be a product of a bunch of scientists. And so...I'd never be able to detach myself from that fact and it's still kinda gross to love a machine

2. We'll never have a strong relationship. I'll probably replace mine once I get bored of the features of my current one. That's probably not what I want for a life partner. Or am I just being a girl? (I WONDER IF MALES WILL WANT THAT, HMMM.)

3. They may be perfect compared to humans, but... I'll be dealing with hundreds of pounds of plastics, steels, fluids and wires. What if there's a technical glitch or virus, which causes it to become like the Terminator, thus killing me in a matter of seconds? *Ahh!*

4. What will happen in bed? 

5. How about our kids?!

6. I can control it. I don't think that's the essence of love, getting exactly what you want out of something, even to the extent of controlling it. PLUS, seriously, what a henpecked husband that'd be!


P.S. Well. You may not agree with me. You may instead identify with Zoltan, a 33 year old guy from Georgia who has a great tale of robo-love. Read about his story at: http://gizmodo.com/367698/technosexual-one-mans-tale-of-robot-love

Session 9: Emerging tech (fave lesson thus far)

“There is a space between man’s imagination and man’s attainment that may be transversed by his longing.”

-       Kahlil Gibran

Brief summary:

1.            We explored the various aspects of emerging technology like nanotechnology, computer-based simulation technologies and so on. We recapped that technology is either market-driven or technology-driven, and established that innovation has two parts: the invention and the bringing of the idea to the market place.
2.         What are the possibilities for emerging technology? Whether an idea gets implemented or not depends if there are these 4 Smarts in place: 

o   Smart people- creativity, hands- on approach in wanting to apply idea to market

o   Smart ideas – Need to create conducive environment for ideas to bounce about.

o   Smart money  - You can’t drive things forward without $$. Coming from either governments or investors.

o   Smart alliances & partnerships – Marketing & advertizing/legal people (for patents). If you want to take it global, make sure you have distributors and contacts.

Interesting observations & ideas:

- ‘The perfect woman’.

•          There is an ongoing project to make an artificial woman who can give you a hydraulic massage, cook a meal. Inventors said that there are millions of lonely guys around the world, thus there will definitely be a need for it. Yes, I guess it’s true that there are more and more lonely people on this world especially with increasing hectic lifestyles. Perhaps this will fill a great need for efficiency, including efficiency in finding the perfect partner and getting one’s needs fulfilled by the relationship. Will a perfect partner be the answer to this? I shall write a separate post about this later because I REALLY FEEL STRONGLY ABOUT THIS! Haha.

 

- Augmented Reality

• Where reality is richer and more interesting. This is a very exciting technology as it has many applications in different fields. Would really like to have the application on my mobile phone, as it makes thing so much more convenient. Especially useful in today’s busy times when we don’t have time to seek out information actively; such a technology will present information to you when needed.
• The emergence of this will increase the need of companies to keep up with technology, perhaps to monitor their reputation online. What about those that are lagging behind? This also opens the commercial world to sabotage and criticism; one can no longer have such a tight grip over corporate image, as the main platform for this is now consumer-based.

Pornography as a driver of technology.

• How technology has progressed very quickly in areas with these applications. As Brennan pointed out, we have YouTube because of porn. The same goes for other advancements in 3D technology and artificial beings. I find this quite funny but true. This is an example of market-driven technology, where there is a true human need. And this need is never-ending. Besides, there is no such thing as a monopoly in this field as variety is perhaps celebrated. (haha)

Key takeaways:

1. I found it interesting how today’s discussions became closer to the heart, or the essence of being human. Perhaps this is symbolic of how technology has progressed: from meeting the basic needs like food and water (in previous weeks) to more intermediate uses like mass media and communications, to emerging fields such as even having artificial partners. It is similar to the triangle of human needs (Maslow's hierarchy of human needs):

1. Reinforcing the concepts learnt from previous weeks, the need for understanding the market before implementing the technology.
2.  The theme of technology being a very powerful tool, yet one that is potentially dangerous and controversial at the same time. Thus the need for good regulation and receptive minds (or do we really want to receive it? This depends on what we stand for in life.)

Issues for further discussion:

-       1. How can we change mindsets to accept radical kinds of technology? Or do we even need to try? (if it is a matter of time.) Perhaps we could do a case-study on any past controversial technology, and see how this psychological barrier was overcome.

-       2. As we go up the ‘human needs’ triangle, what about technology & religion? Is there any way that these two traditionally contradicting fields can converge? Human-created things vs God-created things.

My ratings for this lesson

9.8/10. Very interesting & loved the topic. The possibilities are infinite! Wonder what life is going to be like in 5 years time. But I will certainly NOT love a robot. Minus 0.2 points because it ended late and I ended up being late for my next class!

The Green Gameplan: How can we move forward?

Here are some ideas I thought of and shared in class:

 1.    An Enviro-fund. Create a national fund for green energy development, which works like company shares. Members of the public would be able to purchase quantities of it and reap returns in the long term. This would provide the capital for R&D and initial equipment. It is preferable to have these created and managed by private organizations – such that there is a bottomline that would ensure a sustained effort towards real growth and development. Since the green industry is clearly a potential area for growth, and if the country’s policy is clear that it will increasingly rely on it, such an Enviro-fund can be marketed as a low-risk, high-return long-term investment. I feel that this may be an innovative way of pooling together the funds of the public to raise necessary capital to move green technology forward. Not only will it raise fund – the fact that people have a stake in it will also shift their mindsets to be more pro-green energy, which is crucial for such a green revolution.

2.    An alternative way to raise awareness and shift mindsets. Other than the traditional way of educating the public about the goodness of green tech, perhaps business idea competitions focusing on innovative ways of applying green technology could be organized. Not only will this be a cheap way of garnering new ideas (solving the problem of the innovation deficit in the energy industry), it will also get the younger generation to think about what they can do to effect change. Instead of spoon-feeding information, such competitions would nudge students to find the answers for themselves, and such experiential learning would leave a more lasting impression on students. (Similar to how the education industry is increasingly moving towards such an approach.) Creating their own ideas would also create a sense of ownership. Therefore, other than ensuring the technical and financial aspects are sound, it is also important to ensure that society’s hearts and minds are ready for such change – especially that of the young generation, which would eventually become the movers and shakers of the next stage of the world’s development.

Session 8: The dawn of a new day

Energy and World Change (Past, Present and Future)

Brief summary:

The days of fossil fuel are numbered. Renewable energy will drive the green revolution. – Gurinder Shahi

There is an increasing need for new ways to produce energy, as fossil fuels are not only pollutive, but also limited in number. We’ve exceeded more than half of all available oil, and it is estimated to last us about 40 to 50 years. Even though we had an unprecedented decrease in energy consumption last year, this was primarily due to the world economic recession. There’s a theory that 2008 was Peak Oil.  

Interesting fact of the day: China is investing the most in clean energy in the whole world! Surprise, surprise. This is probably driven by necessity, due to their rapid modernization and rising middle class.

We also watched a number of videos today on energy sustainability and where it is in the world today. How do we get there? It seems that political will is of ultimate importance, as they have the financial muscle to influence R & D processes, without which, innovation for sustainable energy would not be possible. Private entities are less likely to want to invest in this as energy companies are already comfortable with the high revenues they get, and there is not much need for innovation as energy is a necessity with high price-inelastic demand. However, it is interesting to note that the increase in oil prices pushed the green revolution – as companies were seeking more affordable, long-term alternatives. This highlights how humans are short-term and innovations are needs-driven.

Interesting observations & ideas:

1.     Singapore is 100% dependent on other countries for energy. Energy Security is a concern of every country and governments have to ensure that there is sufficient energy for economic growth and development.

2.     Energy as a source of national income. This is a smart way of killing two birds with one stone – achieving both energy security and economic growth at the same time.

3.     Using cash to incentivize people to go into solar energy. Imagine if Singapore were to adopt it.

4.     WW.Energy grid. If we can have a world wide web, can’t we have a world wide energy grid? Aim: to create a win-win situation among those who want it and those who supply it. The energy grid would indicate demand and suppliers can then address that demand.

5.     The innovation deficit in the Energy Industry.

Issues for further discussion:

Energy Grid. How would this work?

Here’s an example of a Energy Grid company, EnergyGrid Networks, A Smart Grid Solutions Company.

Taken from their site, http://www.energygridnetworks.com:

“We partner with Utilities to transform legacy electric grids and infrastructures to create a next generation of Utility applications and Smart Grid network solutions. By leveraging our technical and operating expertise, EnergyGrid Networks provides a global platform for new services, allowing Utilities to cost effectively and reliably communicate with their customers to improve service, lower operating costs, and better manage energy supply and demand."

Such an energy grid seems especially feasible in this age where many parts of the world are densely linked up by infocommunication technologies, which serve as platforms for such utility applications to work. Perhaps the emerging technology of cloud computing could also be integrated with energy grids.

However, in implementing such an initiative, there are some issues I foresee that need to be addressed. If there is to be a consolidated, single grid to be formed, this requires collaboration among all the energy conglomerates of the world, and the main companies in each country. Given companies’ differing business perspectives and profit motives, there is a need for an authority for decision making. Should the governments be in charge or should a private committee be set up? For such a good that is necessary for survival, there should definitely be an element of governmental regulation to prevent exploitation.

Key takeaways:

1.     The drive towards energy sustainability will only be successful if the goals of government, private companies and individuals are met.

2.     Aligning of goals boils down to governmental policy toolkits.

3.     There is a pressing need to commercialize new energy alternatives, in order to make it attractive to the mass market for significant energy change.

My ratings for this lesson

8/10. The lesson today enriched my knowledge about the green sector and its future, and I found it especially useful for my group’s web report. I also like how some presentations brought out new and interesting technologies, which made me think, “why haven’t we thought of that?!” Indeed, an exciting future for the green industry lies ahead.

Thank god for technology!

What a day hahaha I left my all-important TWC Individual Review Paper brainstorms in my friend's bag!!

Needed it by tonight.
Panicked.

Then my friend volunteered to scan it in.
Yay.

The power of technology indeed in making up for human's negligence, laziness, ...., and other imperfections.

Session 7: BioBusiness in Agriculture & Environment

Image from http://www.aboutxinjiang.com/

Brief summary:

1.     The focus this week was on the Biomedical BioBusiness, Agri-Veterinary and Food BioBusiness, and the Environmental and Industrial BioBusiness.

2.    “When we are able to grow the resources we need, only then will we be on the way towards sustainability.”

We watched a video on Biotechnology crops, which told us of the numerous benefits of Biotechnology- for instance, the avoidance of crop disease, coping with drought, and more efficient use of water. This to me was symbolic of one of the great innovations of humans- that not only improves the current quality of our life, but also aids the situation (food shortage) in developing countries (by lowering the cost of food significantly).

3.     Some everyday frontiers of biotechnology: Cheese, enzymes, yoghurt, food preservatives, beer, the kiwi fruit(!), tomato ketchup(really?!), etc. I was enlightened how biotechnology was so pervasive in our modern lives, and how reliant we are on it. There have been some fears about biotechnology- that they may possibly develop deadly strains of virus in the future; threatening to be a medium for such new epidemics to spread. Such fears are understandable, thus, some countries require companies to label Genetically Modified food, so that consumers are fairly informed on their food choices.

4. Food Security - It is a condition where all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. One of the presentations suggested that a particular innovation, “Plumpy Nut” can help to address this issue. Whether a society is able to achieve Food Security relies on two issues: whether it is able to afford such food, and whether there is infrastructure present to facilitate the distribution of such food to the masses. Again, in the cases of poorer countries, this highlights the importance of good governance in managing the given funds and ensuring that they are being in a non-corrupt, efficient manner for the good of the public.

Interesting observations & ideas:

1. The “Malthusian Nightmare” – It was a prediction that society would be forced to return to subsistence-level conditions once population growth had outpaced agricultural production. (above is a picture depicting this concept)

However, it did not come to pass: Our innovations e.g. Industrial Revolution enabled society to break out of the Malthusian Trap. Improvements in agricultural production methods have increased productivity levels, believe that as long as people are educated and have economic freedom, the world will be able to increase production as such ventures remain profitable.

2. Shift from Farmer to “Farmist” – in that Farmists are becoming more specialized in their industry, and take advantage of new technology to increase quality and efficiency.

3.     Making food from POO! Prof told us about a certain innovation, which was able to create high-protein consumables from human waste. However, this business venture failed in the commercialization of their product, as people could not get quite comfortable with the idea of eating their own poo. (I shall elaborate more on this in the section below)

  

Issues for further discussion:

Would you be comfortable with eating a derivative of your own waste? Well, it may seem utterly disgusting now but as Prof humorously pointed out, we currently do drink NEWater.

I then asked Prof if such food was expensive. The answer was that it is cheap – since waste is all you need.

Could such a technology be used for countries which are facing food shortages? I suggested that this could be provided as an option of food, especially since it was high in protein and low cost. This would potentially enrich the thousands of malnourished bodies and even save some from the deadly plight of starvation.

However, Prof raised some moral issues about doing this: Was it respecting their human dignity by giving them something that we ourselves would not like? He shared that as a practioner, he often told himself to only give a treatment to a patient a treatment he they would give to a loved one.

However, after further thought on this, I feel that this is perhaps not as bad as it seems. If one of my loved ones was in a life-threatening situation, I would be desperate to rectify the problem. It is this very desperation that would drive me to want to solve the problem in almost any way that is possible. I guess that this was initially a question of Ethics vs Practicality, but when the situation is dire, I feel that it’s the care for the ultimate well-being for these people that would lead me to the view that “the ends justifies the means”.

Could this be another case of our human mindset limiting technological innovation? Our unease with such innovations is primarily a product of societal norms which we have been brought up with. Perhaps sometimes the greatest hurdle is ourselves.

Key takeaways:

1.     Technological innovations in the sphere of BioBusiness have historically disrupted our traditional concepts of food, and they continue to do so.

2.     Such technology can be used to the ends of solving World issues

3.     What’s next? The possibilities of the future may only be bound by our perception on things. Sometimes, it is necessary to radically dissociate ourselves from prejudices and common expectations to discover or lead a change that is truly world-changing.

My ratings for this lesson

7/10. The presentations were informative and interesting. However, I wish we could spend more time on how governments are currently doing the balancing act in prioritizing; analyzing the decision-making process.

Humans are living longer and longer – Argh!

The 'problem' of extending lives. With all the biomedical advances enabling humans to become more ‘immortal’, living past the traditional life expectancy, there is a potential issue of having an ageing population, or even over-population.

Currently, our economic system is not ready for an ageing population. Our physical landscape is as unready as well - It is still very inconvenient for a physically disabled person to maneuver from one place to another. There is a problem because there is hardly any incentive to improve this situation. Improving such infrastructure may not be exactly profitable, and governments may not have much political interest in solving this. 

Session 6: The BioBusiness Revolution 1: Healthcare and the Biomedical Sciences: Past, Present, Future

Brief summary:

-       BioBusiness refers to commercial activity based on an understanding of life sciences and life science processes.

-       We covered these aspects of BioBusiness today:

o   Biomedical BioBusiness

o   Environmental and Industrial BioBusiness

o   Agri-Veterinary and Food BioBusiness

-       Valley and Summit opportunities. Valley: low value-added agriculture; Summit: new innovations like cures for HIV, cloning technology, etc.

-       Healthcare- in the past, it was more corrective than pro-active or preventive. Pre-emptive medicine for people at risk, which can reap huge revenue.

Interesting observations & ideas:

- BioBusiness constitutes over 25% of global GDP! It employs 40% of the world’s labour force

-> Still low value-added; valley opportunities instead of summit opportunities

- Biotechnology has a very broad definition. Traditional biotech would include making beer!

- The Obesity Pandemic – symbolic how technology has destroyed our health and well-being.

- BioBusiness may include cosmetics as well. Prostitution as well, possibly?

Issues for further discussion:

-       “We wont stop being sick until we stop making ourselves sick.” The less we depend on drugs, the more motivated we are to keep healthy.

-       Abuse of BioBusiness: Doping among athletes, abusing human rights in biomedical testing.

-       Ethical issues – Where should we draw the line, and how would we do that?

Key takeaways:

-       The healthcare industry has significant barriers to entry: both specialized knowledge and high costs.

-       BioBusiness may well be our best hope for achieving sustainable development, as it deals with life. Life in the broad sense- of humans, animals and plants.

My ratings for this lesson:

8.5/10. I found the various presentations interesting and insightful. I also liked the ethical debates! However I wish there was more time for discussion and exploration of other related issues, for example how the abuse of BioBusiness can be regulated.

The Exciting Future of EMR!

Integrating EMR into hospitals:


It’s interesting how doctors may resist such change due to reluctance to be transparent. This shows how EMR can also help to achieve greater transparency in the healthcare industry, as there is often asymmetric information and the patient is not in a position to decide which treatment he requires. There has been an issue of over-charging which patients are often unaware of.

Currently, in Singapore the government is attempting to produce industry standards of charges for General Practioners at least. However, such standards are probably static and even if they are updated frequently, patients may not even access them frequently.

Thus, EMR may serve as a stepping-stone towards having an integrated system storing with all medical records and biomedical technology advances. The prospects of this are exciting – a streamlined cloud computing system which doctors can access and update patients’ medical records. Such a consolidated system will also facilitate research and development in the laboratory to study how various patients react to different treatments, and any common allergies. It would also help to address the problem of asymmetrical information in the healthcare industry, solving the common principal-agent problem. EMR systems could also help to ensure safety of patients, by alerting doctors when they fail to follow the recommended guidelines for a particular drug, which can potentially cause undesired reactions in patients.

What about using EMR to create a potential testing ground for emerging biomedical technology? Patients may be able to choose from a platter of treatments- traditional or relatively new, perhaps at a lower cost. However, there are huge ethical issues as less well-off patients may choose more affordable, yet riskier technology. Moreover, such a system which allows too-new treatments to be consumed by patients may lead to an uncontrollable surge of different illnesses born from the different combinations of treatments administered, leading to a healthcare disaster. Thus, this again highlights the importance of the government in the healthcare industry for the right amount of regulation- to reach an optimal level of social welfare, balancing risks and minimizing the costs.

Here’s an example of a current EMR technology which has already been adopted by 1,500 hospitals and 10,000 extended care organizations: Allscripts Healthcare Solutions

*Economic Analysis: It is interesting to note that there are Network Effects present in the market for EMRs- The more clinics are connected, the more information will be stored in the database, hence the more benefits obtained from the information system itself.

Session 6: Review of my Favourite Pre-Reading this week

I particularly liked Reading 4: Disruptive Innovation in Healthcare by Clayton Christensen, John Kenagy. (Disruptive tech! I had talked about it in my individual presentation last week, in the context of the media industry.)

It basically talks about Disruptive Technology in the healthcare industry.  There was an interesting example of low cost x-rays, which uses technology borrowed from night vision technology which originated from the military. This shows creative use of technology where a link is drawn to address a particular area of need, which is different from the original intended use.

However, particularly for the healthcare industry, it is harder for such Disruptive Technologies to develop. Due to the high barriers to entry in the market structure, the big players are reluctant to invest in such technology as it threatens to topple their original business model. This situation highlights the importance of government intervention in the arena of healthcare, as healthcare after all achieves a social good.

However, even though such technologies may be promising, governments may often be slow to fund them, as they have to thoroughly check that they are safe and tested. This links back to the reality where regulatory authorities are afraid of failure, thus the requirement for a great deal of testing which will lead to increased costs. This adds to the already high barriers to entry that healthcare has.

Food for thought

Healthcare and Education: It has been observed that these industries have been the slowest to innovate and advance. Is it because they have been trained to be conservative? How can we create a shift in the mindsets of the people – is education, ironically, the answer?

Session 5A: Will there ever be a borderless world?

With increasing connectivity in information technology, perhaps the notion of having international borders will increasingly become outdated as people can travel to where they want, when they want. Besides, information is so easily transmitted between people that meeting up in person can even be unnecessary. Holding meetings with videoconferencing tools like Skype has become commonplace for companies. Even if physical presence is preferred, there is the emerging technology of Virtual Reality to enable this. The possibilities are almost infinite!

A lil tidbit for Session 5

I chanced upon this video on the future of Virtual Technology. It's quite exiting how the possibilities are *virtually* limitless. In this video, Dentistry students in the University of Minnesota utilize Virtual Tech to facilitate their learning and training - they perform practice on life-like mannequins, replicating real-life situations without the risks and difficulties of using real patients. What a brilliant application of tech!

Session 5: An expanding concept of what it means to be human

Firstly, we had a broad overview of how Information Communications Technology has progressed over the years. We covered many areas, and I shall elaborate the most exciting points:

-Mass Media


-Internet


-Wireless Technologies- What would it be like to have a completely wireless Singapore? This would definitely revolutionize the way businesses are carried out. Will there still be the concept of offices in the future, when people can create value from anywhere in the world, and share it with their colleagues any time they wish? However, what is the purpose of a physical office? Perhaps an element of physical reality is still needed to keep employees more accountable and feel a sense of loyalty to their organization.

-Gaming


-Interactive telecommunications- Presents very exciting potential, especially in the realm of virtual reality. This technology has overlapped with that of gaming- we have technologies like Wii that detect physical movements and integrate that into the gaming system. But what about projecting the gaming system into reality? The applications of Virtual Reality are boundless- to social, military and educational aspects, just to name a few.

-Cloud Computing- more open concept.

-Knowledge management-
Data -> Information -> Knowledge –> Wisdom


Digital Divide: Can ICT help to close that?
“Today’s real borders are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated.”
– Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General of the UN.

There is also the changing dynamics in the political realm – where political leaders can use technology as a platform for interaction. I feel a good example of this is Barack Obama’s use of New Media:

“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post.

Here’s an interesting article from the New York Times on How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics

Session 4

Outline of Lesson
For the first half of the lesson, we discussed the various Drivers of World Change- Environmental Drivers; Scientific Discovery and Tech Innovation; Social, Cultural and Ideological Innovation; Commercial Innovation; Competition; Globalization and Changing Expectations. I thought it was interesting how all the different forces of society interacted and moved towards a certain line of change.

For the second half, we explored the various methods of reacting to change. This can be classified into three broad categories:
#1. Make it happen.
#2. Respond to change.
#3. Be surprised.
Which in other words is to be pro-actice, to be re-active, and to be ‘blur’.
#1 is usually practiced by Leaders; and #2 by Managers.

Interesting Points
I found it ironical how Plague could be an example of world change - how it caused the need for a cure, thus eventually pushed society to research and develop a cure for it, in the process advancing medical technology significantly. Prior to the success, however, it was not all rosy- society turned to religion and superstition as a cure for the plague. This did not facilitate any technological advancement at all. I found this symbolic of the tussle between Science and Religion; just at the tip of the iceberg of many more complex issues today.

Food for Thought
Religion vs Science: Can the two ever exist in harmony? I would think so. I believe religion and faith is a complement of science; providing humans with the security of the unknown- something which cannot be proven or broken down into predictable concepts by Science. Science is crucial for development and progress, to tangibly improve the standard of living of the world. Religion at the very least, arguably has practical purposes of instilling hope within individuals, inspiring them to perhaps work for a better life – which may cause the economy to grow. More fundamentally, religion also reinforces largely positive values, which ultimately increases the welfare of society. In Freakonomics, it is mentioned that a study by Angus Deaton found that higher religiosity among the elderly may be due to aging effects as opposed to simply secularization of younger generations. Religious people view themselves as more fit, reporting better health, more energy, and less pain. (Perhaps prayer is a substitute for complaining?)

Rating for this lesson: 7/10
The lesson and presentations were insightful, but I guess the small mix-up in the number of presenters resulted in the discussions having to be kept shorter, in order to keep within the class time.

Rating for Week 3: 9/10

:)
-I liked the 3 Innovation Models prof shared with us (I like models!) (They give me a macro view of things)
-Short & sweet presentations, mostly of interesting subject matter
-Thought-provoking discussions

How to get that one more point:
-I look forward to a session where discussions are more spontaneous and radical, as opposed to standard & predictable answers!

#3b: Will society ever become sustainable?

Part one: Industrial development from linear to cyclical

from liberty-moonbeam.blogspot.com

Almost every society that has experienced rapid development or progress in wealth has done so through industrialization. (Industrialization: the process of automating the production of things in large quantities) However, at what cost has this been?

The rapid industrialization process has inevitably led to environmental degradation- both in running out of scarce natural resources and polluting the environment. However, can we change this?

It is interesting to see how companies are increasingly shifting from the “linear” way of thinking to the “cyclical” approach in designing a product. The difference lies in whether they consider the long-term pollutive effect of the item, from its raw materials to becoming a used good. In other words, products designed from a “cyclical” angle are perhaps recyclable, compared to those, which are rendered worthless after their useful product life.

from http://livingears.com/

There's a problem: Human beings (and private enterprises) don't care so much about the earth as they do about themselves.
It would be ideal if all companies took such an approach, as that would help us work towards sustainable development, where there is development and economic progress, yet not at the expense of future generations.

However, I doubt it is realistic to expect companies to want to switch to the “cyclical” approach soon. Process rigidities are present and private enterprises are more likely than not to want to maintain the status quo especially if current processes are bringing in high profits. They would only be likely to want to change if the return on investment is high- and guaranteed to be high.

Thus, the challenge I feel is to make it 1. More profitable to go green and 2. Establish such “green” practices to be profitable, so that risk is seen to be low, thus gradually persuading more companies to make the switch.

I feel that much of the job is then left into the hands of the government- it is the only body that has the capacity to take into account social costs and hopefully has the foresight to plan into the future. Compared to activism groups, they have far more funds to influence even the minds of self-centered private entities, through tax incentives and research and development grants. This all links back to the motivations of humans- that we discussed in our previous lesson. Money is perhaps the universal tool for such.

Another important driver of sustainability for the future is education: to teach and persuade consumers to go green, out of their own will. This means cultivating habits and mindsets in them to be more conscious of energy consumption and the environment. This may mean curbing extravagant consumption behavior or going out of one’s way to recycle items- of which are challenging tasks for societies which are increasingly affluent and used to living in comfort.

An important case in point is the rising middle class of China- increasingly affluent; they are able to keep up high consumption habits. Such habits will ultimately be detrimental to the environment. This is especially worrying due to the sheer size of the growing Chinese middle class. Thus it is imperative to ‘catch’ them before they develop undesirable environmentally harmful habits. This can be done through campaigns and movements. Perhaps the social make up of the Chinese may aid in this process, due to the focus on community spirit- if the community decides to do it, then perhaps masses of Chinese would do so too.

I wonder if we would ever be driven to desperate times where the government has to enforce strict rules and regulations on “green” standards. Currently, the Environmental Law in Singapore seems to be more of a balancing act- managing both economic progress and environmental sustainability. I predict that with time, if environmental issues become more severe, international bodies would pressure societies to tighten their Environmental regulations.


Or, can we make use of their "selfishness"?
We discussed that the smart way around it would be to sustainable development profitable. I shared that it could be a "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" situation where developed and developing countries collaborate towards sustainable development. This would also address the ethical issue of whether developing countries need help protect the environment (since it was the developed countries who damaged it previously, and perhaps now it's only fair that they have their turn at rapid economic progress)

The transfer in skills and development in tech for developing countries would be valuable. Developed countries would be drawn to the cheap labour, land and other raw materials- along with the possibility of a new market in the future(who knows?)

Disclaimer: At the end of the day, it still boils down to the country's comparative advantage- or the potential to create the comparative advantage, in this case, green technology.


Part Two: Tech & Innovation Management

There are two different types of innovation: those that are purely driven by Technology, and those that are driven by Market Demand.

It makes quite a lot of sense to focus on those driven by Market Demand, as one would naturally have a customer base. For the former, one would have to take pains to create it-and risk failing as well.

However, what about the innovations that are Techonology-driven, yet are so good that create a market for themselves? What are some examples of these, and are there many of them? What is the common characteristic of such innovations, and in what field do most of them lie? Perhaps those innovations driven by technology are more successful in the Research & Development sector, where such intermediate innovations can further be used to supplement current innovations-which are still ultimately for market demand.


There was also an interesting presentation on Google Wave and how it failed, but also how it picked itself up. This highlights Google's commitment towards developing a culture conducive to innovation. In which sectors would it be more important to develop such a culture? Is there any sector of the economy that does not require innovation at all? Even then, is it both product and process innovation that is unnecessary?

Key Learning Points:
1. The ultimate self-interest in individuals, enterprises and even countries. This is important if we want to find a real solution to achieve sustainable development.
2. The importance of having the most conducive environment for innovation to take place, and the factors to effectively manage it.

#3a: "The greater the class difference within countries, the greater the environmental degradation."

Do you agree? Can you think of any instances in both cases?
This was a very interesting point brought up by Kuan Ling in her presentation, which I liked. Wish we could have spent more time discussing that.

Session 2B

PART TWO: TECH & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

#3. Human Development Millennium Goals

Poverty & hunger	Target: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the number of people living on less than $1 per day.
Education	Target: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling
Gender equality	Target: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015
Child Mortality	Target: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
Health	Target: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality rate.
Combat disease	Target: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/Aids Target: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
Environment	Target 1: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources. Target 2: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Target 3: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers.
Global Partnership	Target 1: Address the special needs of the least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states. Target 2: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. Target 3: Deal comprehensively with developing countries' debt. Target 4: In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth. Target 5: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries. Target 6: In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.

It is apparent that technology is the answer to many of the targets above. The capabilities it has granted us with enable us to extend a helping hand to those in need. However, this brings us back to the issue raised in Session 1- Should the richer countries help the poorer ones?

There are a few issues:

1.     Moral obligation.

2.     Potential economic gain from helping them- e.g. developing countries could be a profitable market in the future

3.     Politics
However,

4.     A big one: the opportunity cost of aiding them- at the expense of one’s own economy, especially in trying economic times.

Bill Gates is probably one of those who believe in helping out the poor. The co-Chairperson of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he emphasized the need to help out poorer countries even during trying times.

Bill Gates and his Wife, Melinda, the two chairpersons of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Taken from http://www.eschoolnews.com

"The success we've had in meeting the needs of the poorest are easily lost," he said.

"Otherwise, we will come out of the economic downturn in a world that is even more unequal, with greater inequities in health and education, and fewer opportunities for people to improve their lives."

Further Points for Discussion: Which do you think are the most important goals? Which are more urgent, and which are more long-term? How are the goals inter-related?

#4. Let’s talk about LIFE

After taking a look Millennium Development Goals(above), we then broke into a discussion on what life means to us. It was quite interesting to hear the answers from my classmates, and I weighed their responses against my views to test and refine my personal views. Here are some points:

- Happiness as a goal in life

Happiness constitutes many things- including meaningful relationships, satisfaction with one’s achievements and some may say material wealth.

I, however, felt that happiness can be fleeting and is very dependent on the actual outcome of events. What if I don’t become rich? What if I fail at everything I’ve tried? I feel that perhaps joy is more important. It exudes from within and is much less dependent on external circumstances. It is an attitude of optimism and a commitment to finding beauty in the simplest things. It can be infectious too, and spreads joy to your loved ones, which will in turn reinforce your own. This may all sound very idealistic but I believe that it is important to develop resilient joy as it is something that will affect one’s enjoyment of life and also determine how far one goes in life.

Sometimes I feel that creativity is linked to joy. In creativity, you have an open mind. You see the possibilities. In joy, you are optimistic about things. Appreciation sometimes requires creativity. Creativity, like joy, I feel, is a choice.

- Material fulfillment as a platform for happiness

How modern busy-ness and focus on productivity/$$$ may sometimes cause us to lose track of what matters the most. How the most luxurious house is just a concrete emptiness without a nice family inside to fill it with warmth. As Ken from Toy Story 3 once said (to Barbie), “I have everything, except someone to share it with!”

Screenshot from ToyStory 3 taken from the site http://www.filmschoolrejects.com.

Rating: 6.5/10 because we didn’t have enough time for though-provoking discussion! I guess it is because we had many individual presentations to watch!