TWC Lesson 6, 23/9/2013

There are only two ways to live your life. 

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.

- Albert Einstein -

The way we view things affects our actions. By taking the things in our lives as granted, we see things as it is and do not seek to change the status quo. By seeing the things around as a miracle, we consider the reasons behind how things happen, and the factors leading to their creation, and hence the potential in otherwise everyday objects. No doubt people of the past would have viewed events like how an apple drops from the tree as obvious and demanded no explanation while people like isaac newton viewed that as a miracle (or at least mildly fascinating) and it was this curiosity and fascination that has led to many of the inventions and technologies we see today. Had the wright brothers not been amazed by the flight of birds and pondered about what made it possible, we would not have airplanes today. The eagerness to learn and explore what we do not know has been the driving force of the human population.

An interesting point during class was that america spent much more on healthcare (1588.2 bil) compared to other regions such as south asia (33.5) and east asia (108.6). It is a saddening fact, because despite all our medical advancements, only a small portion of us are able to enjoy most of the benefits of it. Its a frightening thought that as the lesser developed countries catch up, the demand for healthcare will rise substatially, which may drive prices of healthcare higher and higher. Thinking about this, it dawns upon me the importance having innovations such as banana's with vaccines contained in them. I think the main problem with healthcare nowadays is not about how advanced the medical technology is, but with the available and ease of access. (In a sense, the field of making medicine and healthcare more easily accessible is a part of sustainable technology, so as to accommodate the increase in the population's demand for healthcare as countries get more developed.) However one of the problems of increasing ease of access such as through food, is that only vaccines can be transferred this way. While prevention is better than cure, a large number of diseases cannot be vaccined against and treatment through drugs is the only way.

 As such, using food as a source of drug transport is not a viable option as drug resistance would occur. I then thought about the video prof showed us later, about the innovations in disease management. Most of the class thought the technologies mentioned could happen within 10 years time, and it is an encouraging fact because of how useful it would be! Imagine how much travelling time and cost it would save, as well as being to provide medical advice to the lesser developed countries and rural areas. This also makes medical advice to be able to be disseminated to more patients as doctors do not have to be in their office to meet patients. Such a technology has much potential, especially since much of the services and jobs in today's industry are knowledge and service based hence do not actually require the person to be physically present. By bringing medical consultation into the virtual world, it opens a wealth of opportunities which would make healthcare more accessible to more people,  such as having people with common ailments be immediately matched to any registered general practitioner who is available.  Going back to the topic at hand, the fact that no transport is needed to see the doctor means that medical emergencies requiring immediate attention can be addressed right on the spot. I am certain the commercialising of such a technology would save many lives.

There was a video about the future medical revolution whereby there would be drugs tailored to be more effective for patients belonging to certain groups of genetic makeup. It is interesting to note that research in genes and research in medicine are now being used in combination. It shows how technology is multi-faceted and each branch of technology may be used for other purposes in the future. Technologies which we may find to be useless at the moment could be applied for other more novel purposes in the future.

In rebekah's presentation about genetic sequencing in babies, the viability of such tests being a reality, and also the ethics of it was discussed. I feel that having such tests being made available to us beings about a tremendous advantage. Her presentation covered only about the defects we could find using genetic test, but what about the special physical or mental abilities that it may show too? Just like how people take online personality tests so as to find out which jobs and activities are more suited for them, such tests would be a useful guideline for people in setting goals and directions in their life!  Such information would also be useful for insurance companies. While there may be problems caused by such testing such as discrimination by employers based on genetic testing results, i feel that it is a problem which has to be tackled and should not prevent such a technology from being a reality. 

It is my opinion that governments should not aim to prohibit any sort of developing technology they feel is immoral or could have possible drawbacks. As mentioned in class, it is very hard to stop people from innovating, and such innovation would then proceed incognito. Governments should instead monitor the development closely to as to better cater and address any of the problems that may arise from it. There was also discussion on whether research in any areas was should be outright banned. Human experimentation was mentioned, but as said by one of the classmates, the discoveries  stemming from the human experimentations in the japanese occupation brought about significant medical advancement. I think the issue with human experimentation was that it was done against the will of the victim; as long as it is done with consent it should be allowed given the vast advantages it can bring to the medical field.

I am of the opinion that ethics holds back the development and technology and should be ignored as such opinions, i feel, merely stems from the fear of change and the unknown.

Key takeaway points from this lesson was about how as society develops and urbanisation becomes widespread, new trends of diseases emerge and new problems such as obesity develops. As such the healthcare sector has to be aware of such changes in demand and modify its training and resources to cope with it. There is also a healthcare revolution whereby drugs are becoming more disease specific and individual specific. While this increases the effectiveness of drugs such costs are inevitably passed onto consumers and marginalise them. We would have we weigh the benefits of such research and re-evaluate the research priority given to them. Innovations in virtual reality can help to make medical aid more easily available and contribute to solving problems of inequality by being able to provide instant quality medical help to rural or poorer areas (but with internet access). 

Issues for further discussion would be about the application of the various bio-business industries with each other such as the genetic modification of animals (examples of rats modified to grow human ears) and their implications on health, environment and ethical concerns.

Today's twc lesson was pretty interesting, i rate it 7/10

TWC Lesson 5, 16/9/2013

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”  

- Arthur C. Clarke -

This quote i feel is such an impactful one. The things that we have today, such as mobile phones and technology such as the touchpad and remote control would have scarcely been imagined by people 100 years ago. It would have been, as the quote says, magic to them. It shows the impossibility that technology is able to achieve. No doubt, we may now think that we know nearly all there is to know, with so many theories debunked and so many facts made known, But surely the people 100years before us must have felt the same? It just proves to us how much we have yet to learn. While reading the quote i remembered a figure mentioned before, about how 1hour of energy from the sun captured on the earth is able to sustain our energy needs for a year, or something along those lines. It just shows how much potential for growth we have, with all the unharnessed energy and vast unexplored universe around us!

There was also discussion on "the expanding concept on what it means to be human". Though the various innovations throughout the century have been truly revolutionary, we have naturally, but unfortunately, became reliant on it such that for many people the computer and the smartphone can be considered as an extension of themselves. As Daniel asked in his presentation, could we survive without the internet?

Another interesting point brought up in his presentation was the question of whether the access to the internet could be considered a human right. In my mind, access to the internet seemed more of a luxury and hardly could be considered a human right. Thus i was quite surprised when prof mentioned that such a stance had already been adopted by several countries such as finland (greece and france too, as i found out). However now that i think about it, in such an era where such vast amounts of information are available and where much of human communication now take place, by denying an individual access to the internet would be, by extension, denying the right of speech & thought (internet communication) and of education (through the inaccessibility of information on the internet which could educate and empower). 

In jamie's presentation  she discussed the use of ICTs (information & communications technology) in the education system in singapore, and how it could provide better means of education through providing means of allowing students to further their learning through their own research, as well as making education more interactive and engaging. While it seemed like a feasible plan in theory, class discussion brought up the fact that the use of ICTs has been rather poorly implemented. For example, secondary school students who were given laptops to use mainly used it for gaming in class instead of using it for studying and to source out information. I felt such an observation was hardly surprising. It is simplistic to think that teenagers would utilise laptops for educational purposes. Initiatives such as the "one laptop per child", as noble as it may seem, are based on the foolish assumption that the children will use it for the purposes that it was designed for. Im positive that the laptops and internet bandwidth have been used for other purposes such as gaming or pornography. As mentioned, it was only recently that the use of internet for social networking purposes have overtaken pornography. Despite the wealth of information that ICTs can provide to us, it requires a certain level of maturity to harness it properly. 

There was a video shown describing the transition of the web from 1.0, where it primary gave information,  to 2.0  where information was exchanged and provided for by the community and its current gradual transition into web 3.0. where computers are in many equipment and have a certain degree of automation and computers have personalized searches to suit our needs. It is interesting how the spread of information has changed, from "one-to-many" approach in web1.0 into a "many-to-many approach" in web2.0. Through this, the common man has been made more aware of his surroundings and the information we can obtain is more reliable given the many sources available. in web3.0 we will have a many-to-many-to-many approach where artificial intelligence is able to utilize our information and form one of the parties in the exchange of information. 

other than the web, ICT has also brought to us benefits through the means of
-social networking, where people are able to share their information with greater numbers of people around the world, and also be able to network with a greater number of people through connections that were previously unknown. Content posted in social media also helps to bridge the digital divide as people who are networked together usually share common interests thus people would be able to access information and ideas they would otherwise have missed out on.
- crowd sourcing. The varying point of views and vast amount of ideas to be contributed by people from various walks of life has made information and ideas more well-rounded and insightful. Examples of crowd sourcing would include wikipedia, google answers, as well as discussion forums everywhere
- online gaming has been a common source of entertainment for many people worldwide and hence led to their interconnectedness. more importantly, the virtual reality aspect offers huge potential in terms of education and training as it allows people to be placed in many different scenarios. 
- wireless technology have, by the elimination of the need of wires, reduced the capital required to provide internet connection and hence allowed poorer countries to enjoy the benefits of technology despite their lack of infrastructure. An example mentioned in class was how a poor city like bangladesh was able to be connected via phones as the development of wireless technology had gotten rid of the high set up costs of land lines and fibre optics. Wireless technology has made possible things such as laptops and smartphones greatly increased efficiency by allowing more people to stay interconnected on the go.
- cloud computing has allowed the access of information not on our devices as all the information and application have been made available in the "cloud".  Besides increasing interconnectedness, it removed the need for expensive hardware because the information is stored online, and software because they can be readily available online. 
As can be seen, many technologies resulting from ICTs do play a role in reducing inequality amongst countries.

Key takeaways from today's lesson was the vast impact the development of internet and its accompanying technologies it has on our lives and the need for its availability to facilitate information and communication between all users and aid in solving inequality by providing information to the disadvantaged groups that they did not have before. The many developments in ICT has also made the use of internet and computer applications much more efficient, cheaper, and productive than before. As our internet grows from web 2.0 to 3.0, its impact on our lives will continue to increase and thus the areas of ICTs are important fields which need to be developed continuously.

Issues for future discussion would be on methods today which are attempting to make web 3.0 possible, and the limitations that prevent them from doing so. Is the provision of internet access to the poor a naive solution by the rich to ease the problem of inequality? And if so, what more can be done to enhance such methods?  Today's lesson was enriching as always but i will give it a 6/10 because the lack of controversial topics failed to spark my interest.

TWC Lesson 4, 9/9/2013

One of the interesting observations mentioned during class today was the fact that if everyone consumed as much energy as the average singaporean and american citizen, the world's oil reserves would be depleted in 9 years. It was pretty shocking considering that we are quick to criticize america for the pollution that it causes while the same case of pollution and unsustainable consumption and production is actually happening in our own backyard.

 What is more puzzling is how our energy consumption have increased much more than malaysia and hong kong, despite the two countries being largely similar in development with singapore. Moreoever, singapore's energy consumption per capita is 19th highest in the world, with 100% of its energy coming from fossil fuel; a non sustainable source of energy. This is in contrast to countries such as iceland where despite having the highest energy consumption per capita, the majority of their energy production comes from sustainable sources such as hydroelectricity. With Singapore as the country with the 5th highest GDP per capita in the world, there is no excuse for our country to not invest into sustainable technology.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

- George Bernard Shaw -

I found this quote to be a thought provoking one. I interpret the quote as saying that we should always strive to overcome problems that we find in our lives with the power that technology gives us and thus seek to change the environment we live in, instead of allowing problems and inconveniences to persist (adapting to the world). I find it inspiring that much of the progress of mankind is due to our traits of curiousity and "unreasonable-ness" which have made us seek solutions to our problems and led to the development we now see today.

For the topic of drivers of world change Alistair presented on aviation. I found this to be an important factor. Aviation has been a breakthrough in transportation and has led to the congregation of people to work together and thus the communication of ideas, and also improved the method of transport for trade to occur. This thus led to both industrial development and technological development. However i was puzzled by his ending question of whether aviation was a double-edged sword, despite the convenience it has brought to us,  Studies have shown that transport through air is 3 times greener than transport by sea.   He also mentioned the problems of transnational crime given the increase in mobility. However we must also remember that with this mobility it has created the opportunity for the richer countries to help the lesser developed ones. The delivery of food and medical supplies, as well as actual people to help to impart knowledge to the lesser developed countries have been aided through the use of planes for transport. The delivery of aid to disaster-striken countries such as during the tsunami in 2001 and earthquakes in china would surely not be possible without the speed of transport which aviation brought to us. As such aviation have certainly aided in solving the problem of inequality, and it is fair to say that the benefits which aviation have brought to us far outweigh the problems.

Another driver of world change was mentioned in Eric's presentation : People, through the use of social media. A valid point mentioned in his presentation was how social media has allowed information to be spread rapidly to a large number of people, as such unjust and inappropriate actions would be quickly brought to the attention of the public. This makes corporations and government more accountable for their actions and by giving a voice to everyone, it prevents oppression of the weak because social media gives a voice to everybody. An example is how issues like the human rights violation in burma and the ill treatment of prisoners of war by the american soldiers were all quickly brought to light into the mainstream media through the initial spread on social media websites. 

On the other hand, his opinion that social media should be more flexible so as to allow a "bottom-up" approach whereby the common man could voice his opinions and feedback towards the government officials and policy makers and as such give the people a greater say on the way things are done. I strongly disagree with this opinion. Government officials and policy makers are highly educated people and have all the necessary information available to them thus giving them a broader and more in-depth perspective of what is happening and hence make more informed choices. Opinions of the common man, on the other hand, are mainly one-dimensional and often affected by their own self-interest and laziness. Take singapore, for example. We have one of the most educated population in the world, yet common criticisms from the people include that of the electronic road pricing, central provident fund, and national service, all of which have been mentioned by international commentators as highly innovative, successful and some have been used as good benchmarks and examples while some countries have implemented similar concepts. If even the educated population of singapore are not able to provide valuable feedback, more so other countries. 

Much thanks to the anonymousity provided online, netizens rarely have any sense of social inhibition, this have given rise to lots of internet trolls and so-called "flamers". These are people who post opinions simply to rant or confuse others and have no intention to contribute to real discussion. Moreover too much freedom of expression will merely allow the proliferation of misguided opinions and incite anger, creating chaos and dissent among the community. Just take a look at any online forum: rarely would you see a consensus being arrived by two opposing parties; what usually happens are simply mass posts of insults, one-sided anecdotes and ad hominem attacks. Where contributors are of the same opinion all that occurs is circlejerking (A group discussion or activity between like-minded individuals that validates mutual biases or goals in a non-confrontational environment.) and straw-man arguments. In a group where people are not bound by social etiquette to discuss in reasonable fashion, and are filled with people who think they are smarter than they are, rarely is there any notable feedback which could be of use to anyone (and, if any, would be buried by the heaps of nonsense posted). Singapore also have grass-root leaders who do hold real-life discussion forums so as to allow people to air their views. This is the correct way to do so, in my opinion, as more reasonable discussions can take place, and only those who sincerely wish to contribute will take the trouble to participate. 

I found the pessimism-time curve to be an important tool because it makes innovators aware of the troubles that they will surely face and hence will be more prepared to overcome them. However it was mentioned that around 80% of innovations are scrapped due to lack of practicality and cost, while only 5% are actually released to the market. With innovations requiring so much effort and cost, we should not be too quick to criticise companies who are slow to innovate.

Prof also talked about the traditional model for change in companies, and how it needs to be reworked. The traditional model was to freeze-unfreeze-refreeze, meaning that  companies review and revise the decisions, goals and policies made in a company once every few years. However given the rate at which information is expanding and the environment of constant change, it was suggested that the modern model - one of continuous monitoring and renewal - should be adopted. I was pretty puzzled by such a suggestion. Wouldnt such a model create lots of confusion especially in larger firms where such constant changes in company policy and decisions would not be disseminated to everyone?

Key takeaways for this lesson were that some of the main drivers for world change revolves around making the world more interconnected together such that the spread of ideas and new technology can be adopted by everyone and ideas can be interchanged. 

Questions for further discussion would methods to make innovation a less risky step so that companies will be less averse about embarking on such innovations, especially small companies. Is Singapore limited in its capabilities of embarking on sustainable sources of energy given its small space and lack of natural resources? It does not have access to geothermal and hydroelectrical energy as well as lack of space for wind energy. Previous methods of harnessing solar energy also required large amount of land space that singapore lack. Should Singapore embark on taking up sustainable technology?

Today's session was informative and interesting as always, i rate it a 8/10.

Outline for Topical Review Paper

Topic: Telekinesis - The form of remote control in the future

Executive Summary 

The paper will cover on how the impossibility of telekinesis have been made a reality by technology,  and its vast change it could bring in the future should further developments continue to occur in the neurological field. It will discuss the many advantages that telekinesis, however basic, will provide and also the limitations it faces and possible controversial issues it could face, as such examining how it would measure up to its competitors hence its viability.

Why i chose this topic

The ability to create even basic movements with our mind is an invaluable. This is definitely a marked improvement compared to current remote control systems available. The fact that it has been shown to be possible and does not require invasive equipment makes it almost certain that it will be a revolutionary innovation in the near future.

Background
- the method by which telekinesis is made possible

Historical Perspective
- the area of remote control which telekinesis enhances
- limitations of current methods
- improvements made to them

Current Situation
-  non-invasive scalp recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) in humans  translates certain actions or thoughts of the user towards the recipient.
-  the transmitter to be trained, and the process of human brain-to-brain transmission is cumbersome and currently only basic movements can be transmitted.

Future Consideration - What does the near future of telekinesis hold for us?

- this new field of remote control allows humans to be more connected to machines, allowing for better reaction times reduce accidents from occurring
-  used to enhance the capabilities of people with any form of sensory or movement disabilities
-  for surgical procedures where the margin of error allowed is very low, robots controlled by the human mind could be used to perform the complex procedures with a steady and precise hand.
- the ability to control movements of other people would be a useful educational tool especially for the communication of movements such as for skills like dancing, self-defence, and sports manoeuvres
- possible fears of invasion of privacy where brain-to-brain control is done without consent
- accidents could occur when used by untrained individuals
- limitations in popularity due to high cost

Conclusion

- Telekinesis, which have long been a fantasy in plenty of science fiction movies, has now been made a reality. It is a vast improvement in the current remote control technology available, and there is no doubt as to the wealth of possibilities that it can open. However, just like in the movies, the issue of  mind control without consent could be one of the problems that could be brought about by this technology.

TWC Lesson 3, 02/9/2013

The spillover effects of industrialization was one of the points mentioned in today's lesson. Although it has aided in development around the world, the spillover effects of technology is a high detrimental effect and makes innovative technology unrewarding. Not long after a new technology or innovation is introduced to the public before the market is filled with imitations of it. I believe that introduction of patents have played a part in nurturing all the technology we have in our world today. Unfortunately patents have not been able to stop competitors from modifying certain patented innovations and calling it their own, as shown in Michael's presentation where products such as in the gaming industry was becoming more and more homogeneous.

There was discussion at length about how should the issue of sustainability be tackled. Apparently creating new "cyclical" business models compared to the traditional linear models would be one of the solutions. I would disagree. As long as sustainable energy sources  is more expensive than our current energy sources, it would never be adopted be a significant number of people for it create any impact. USA's refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol  citing economic reasons and the exclusion of India and China from it is exactly the reason why the voluntary adopting of sustainable technology and development will fail. People are greedy are unlikely to be "gracious" and adopt sustainable practices. Still struggling to recover from its financial turmoil, and with China threatening to take its place as No.1 in the world, it is unlikely that the environment is on America's list of priorities. No need to waste time on exhorting countries and businesses on the importance of sustainability; it is only through the further development of harnessing sustainable energy sources and technology will the current situation be corrected.

It was mentioned in the slides about the key elements for successful innovation.The main foundation for it was successful/creative people, which was a topic addressed by Suherman. Indeed, the seeds for innovation is sowed through the education system and culture of society itself, where the children's mindset towards learning and the ability to think out of the box is either suppressed or nurtured. She mentioned about the culture of obedience towards authority and merit based systems which were one of the key suppressants of innovation in Singapore. The merit based system is what i feel holds back creativity and innovative ideas. Singapore rewards success, but those who fail get nothing - they have nothing to fall back on. Unlike in other countries where there are free healthcare and most important unemployment benefits, in Singapore if your idea or innovation ends up a flop you could very well lose everything. That said, creating an environment to foster creativity do come with certain costs. Relaxing the merit based system to foster creativity would come at the price of a dip in productivity.

Key takeaways from this lesson would be the importance of fostering environment for development in the future, 2 ways which would be through maintaining the resources needed for future development through the use of sustainable technology, as well as fostering a positive environment for such innovation and development to occur through modifications in the education system to encourage independent thinking and different schools of thought.

Further topics of discussion would be whether cyclical development is the only way for sustainable development, or are there other ways? Would space technology be a solution for sustainable development? Improving on our abilities to travel to outer space may allow us to harness materials and energy sources from outer space, and although that is not renewable per se, there are so much materials to be taken! Further discussion could be on the methods to foster innovation other than the education system itself.

i would rate the class 8/10 due to the interesting points presented and the topic of sustainable technology is one that is of interest to me.