TWC session 2!

Today marks the start of the second week of school for me. It wasn’t as bad as what I expected it to be because currently the workload is still quite manageable for me. But like what prof said, a country shouldn’t rest on his or her laurels and be complacent if not she will just go down on a decline from there. I think this applies to each and everyone of us students too. Today prof addressed two main issues, first Technology, Society and Global Dominance and secondly Technology and Human development. Technology society and global dominance looked at how countries gain and lose dominance while Human development examined how technology affected the development of the human race. We also had a few of our fellow classmates presenting. This was quite refreshing and I really admire their confidence and composure! Hope im able to be like them when its my turn.

Now for the key take away messages from this session.
Has technology increased the inequity in Singapore.
During a discussion on Technology and Human development, Prof stated that the inequity now in Singapore is greater than as compared to the 60s and 70s. Yes it is true that the spoils and benefits brought about by technology is not evenly distributed to the rich and poor hence resulting in the rise of inequity to a certain extent in Singapore over the past few years. However I would like to disagree with this point as I feel that the playing field in Singapore has gradually leveled over the past few years. Why do I say so. Firstly our nanny state has implemented Compulsory Education in 2003, making it compulsory for any kid who is above the age of 6 years and who has not yet attained the age of 15 years to attend school. Compulsory education ensures that kids study up to Primary 6 as this is considered the minimum period of education for all Singapore children. This results in a common level of education and knowledge amongst the younger generation and hence allowing them to start off on the same level of competency. Hence in the long run, these kids who benefited from the CE program will be able to ride on the long-term benefits of technology. For those that were not able to benefit from the Compulsory Education, the government launched an experimental workfare program that gave low-wage earners bonus pay of up to $780. They are also considering making this a permanent program. This will thin the ranks of the working poor, tilt the balance in favor of the poor and ultimately reduce the inequity in Singapore.

How do we build societies companies that are dominant leaders in their respective arenas? I am very intrigued by this question posed by Prof. What I feel about this is that in order for a society to be dominant in their respective arena, it has to be the forerunner and keeper of new technologies. For example, east European countries withheld their technology by containing the manufacturing sector to their own countries while the only task given to other countries were the supplying of raw materials and agricultural commodities. Examples of such technologies were steel steam turbines, boilers and pharmaceuticals. The ability and know hows were not passed to other countries hence enabling them to retain their dominance. For any society to remain dominant, it has to have a open perspective and a constant hunger to learn from others. It cannot rest on its laurels because if it do so, it will become secular. It has to be keen to invest in new ideas as well.

Change is inevitable and often necessary the transition process can often be difficult or painful. Some push for change while others are resistance to change. When there is change there will be a transitional period and this transitional period will certainly affect someone in one way or the other. For example the advent of technology brought about huge changes and during the transitional period, effects such as environmental degradation and technological disasters have contributed to social imbalance. The environment is suffering from pollution and non-consequential uses of its natural resources. The rate at which technology is trampling on mother earths is much higher than the natural rate which earth can repair itself. Also, Technology has made it possible to create biological and nuclear weapons, both of which possess the ability to tip the balance of humanity in a matter of seconds. The world is currently facing a threat like never before. These are painful changes to those that are at the receiving end but for the wielders of today’s most advance technologies, these are merely changes for the betterment of their profit driven organizations.

It would be nice if Prof dedicated more time to part 2 of the lesson, technology and human development. I believe that it was due to the presentations that resulted in the lack of time for the second half of the class and hence the lack of coverage. To be specific, the topic which I want to talk about would be technology and woman's development. It was quite intriguing when prof said that when you give education a man you teach one person, however when you give education to a woman you teach the whole family. This sparked my curiosity in how technology has has liberated or emancipated woman as this is not a very commonly discussed topic.

Overall, i would rate this session 8 out of 10 as it was refreshing to see some of our "guest speakers" present infront. At first when prof said that we will be having "guest speaker" i thought he was referring to real full time speakers who are professionals in that field of study. but i guess its a pleasant surprise after all.

Something interesting to share

TWC session 1

The class started off with each of us doing a short introduction of ourselves followed by a short video showing some staggering facts and figures pertaining to the future state of today's world which was then briefly followed up by a discussion of whether technology

Interesting Observations and Ideas (ideas and concepts that captured your attention) -
To me war has always been something which i associate with adversity, people suffering, people dying, poverty, national service and basically nothing good. Hence it came to me as a surprising revelation when it was mentioned in class that war is a driver of technology.

Some personal thoughts about the key points which i find useful :

1.Is technology a means to an end.
A picture was shown to us of a man's evolution from an ape to who we are now and then to a fatty. The message to us was that technology is a means to an end of human kind. I beg to differ as technology has been and always will be a tool for the evolution of man kind. Around ten million years ago, man has made use of stone to come out with tools to aid them in their daily activities such as hunting for wildlife, or simply just coming out with weapons. These tools were cutting-edge technology at that time and these technology soon allowed them to discover fire ( around 1-2 million years ago ) and subsequently the wheel at around 3500BCE. The advent of these technologies allowed mankind to develop and evolve to what it is today. Till today Technology is still pushing mankind to their fullest potential. Case in point, the timing for 100m sprinting has been going down steadily over the past few years with the emergence of atheletes like usain bolt, who is no doubt a benefactor of today's technology. Hence I believe that technology is no means to an end.


2.Technology is easy people are hard.
Humans and technology alike are both constantly evolving and both are highly sophisticated but what makes people hard when compared to technology? I believe that it is the ideology, mindset and intelligence of human beings which makes them "harder" than technology. Those attributes and features are precisely the reason why humans come out with technology instead of technology coming out with humans. That being said, although humans are the drivers of technology they are also the ones limiting the growth of technology at the same time. Case in point, nuclear power is one of the most abundant and infinite source of energy but why is it not being fully utilized even in the face of depleting natural oil resources. It boils down to the destructive nature of humans, and hence making it necessary for the UN to curb the development of nuclear energies lest countries develop nuclear armaments out of it. The technology is there for people but people are the limiting reagent to the growth of technology.


2.Why white men have so much cargo?
This question left most of us dumbfounded as most of the answers to this questions were thoroughly disputed by the prof. Examples are, class : due to them not having war. prof disputed : they had countless internal wars. Another answer : they were not receptive enough to the technology introduced to them . Prof disputed that : they were very receptive to the technology example of it can be seen from their spears and such.

It was actually because of the fact that they were not situated along any major trade routes. It suddenly dawned upon me that trade routes were integral to the development of any country and a perfect example would be Singapore. Our country started out as a fishing village and later transformed itself,due to her strategic location, to become a trading port along one of the busiest trading route in the 1900s. Evidently, a trading route does not solely bring about monetary benefits but also, the non-monetary yet priceless exchange of information, culture and most importantly technology. Not being along a trading route is definitely a disadvantage to any country as can be seen from the case of "why white men have more cargo". It is also disadvantageous if a country chooses to shut itself out of the world as can be seen from the case of China. However they have sensed the importance and benefits of being interconnected with the rest of the world and only time will tell if they indeed become the largest speaking english nation as predicted by the video : shift happens.


I feel that this session was quite an informative one as we were given the freedom to air out our thoughts. 7/10