It has come. The final formal seminar has ended and it was a good close to the whole course. While we have looked at the past, the present we proceed to looking at how future technology will be effective. This seminar I learnt about how it was to forecast and assess technology.
While expectations of technology soars high, to understand its impact on the world is important. Just as any technology, they never made significant marks in the world when they were first introduced into the world. Like my research paper on smart phones, the IBM Simon was significantly insignificant when it was released, but look where smartphones are today. It is the highly used mode of telecommunication.
While praises for technology that was bestowed upon us are welcomed, we have to also recognize some of the problems that it entails. While we benefit from the technology, some people somewhere are not enjoying the same benefits as us. Significantly for smartphones, the biggest problem is addiction. Spending too much time on their gadgets makes them lose sight of the importance of life and reality. Furthermore addiction leads to over dependence that makes people be helpless when out of touch from their smartphones.
However the future of technologies can be improved hence forecasting is necessary. Changes have to be done to make a positive impact with these technologies. Like the smartphones, while people speculate about the sophistication that smartphones can reach in the future, we should also speculate how to perform counter strategies to eliminate or reduce the negative impact of this technology.
While the future of technology is ambiguous, speculations are not wrong. However, the power to make it a beneficial good in the future lies in how we exploit and manage it.
After so many weeks that this course has taught me that technology has changed the world drastically. For without technology, we will still be so backdated and life will be so much less comfortable and convenient.
This week’s seminar will look into the future of technology. As science and technology advances, we can expect the world to change along with it. The expectations of the future are vague. People had high hopes for the 21st century to be the future but as we can observe, the expectations we had 20 years ago were not really fulfilled. Despite the gruesome nature of the world, the milestones that technology has achieved are commendable.
The core in development of the technology in the future has to rely on one thing. Imagination. It allows us to step out of the box and see the world in different perspectives. As cliché as it sounds, indeed imagining breaks the boundaries set by the people who says “No.” Only such kind of people can help to change things and make the world improve with every imagination that turned into reality. The “Why not” perspective is tough especially in our present society that has set standards for everything and debunks all other creativity produced. When this perspective proved successful, the worse that can happen is that the pessimists neglect their initial thoughts and imitates. That limits the rate of how progress should be done and instead with every new technology, it plateaus instead of inspire for new imagination to be materialized.
While we have to commend the imitators that made a technology much acclaimed, but the greatest appreciation should be granted upon the creators. One thing about this that frustrates me is that much credit were given to Steve Jobs after his passing because he bit an apple and sold it off in the market (get the joke? No?). While he receives a lot of media attention, a sincere creator of numerous technology passed a few days after Jobs and yet he wasn’t really recognized at all. Dennis Ritchie is the father of the C language has made a revolutionary mark in the technological world, yet his passing was not known by many until a few weeks after Jobs passing when all the ridiculous grieving over the end of the iEra (Steve Jobs) died down. It’s unfortunate we celebrated the life of an impersonator who glamourised a technology but showed little respect for the life who changed the world of programming.
Now, it begs the question should people even bother to create or just remain stagnant and take opportunity on someone else’s creativity and receive appreciation for it. It seems like people love receiving appreciation because it’s easy rather than travelling the hard road of creation. Now if the future is going to present such kind of mentality, how much further can technology improves in let’s say 20 years?
Recess week is over and it’s back to regular seminars. This week TWC discusses about energy and how the world has changed. I have to say I was really educated by this week’s theme because honestly, I know little to nothing about energy.
Although energy is practical the fundamentals of everything that we do today, there is so little of it harnessed for our use. Especially when today’s generation is growing in number and development, so much things need energy to be done. And we are taking the existence of energy taken for granted. We keep using and using and left the thought of preserving it. The energy source that we depend on today is depleting so much and I find it interesting that people fear most out of energy is cost rather than not having it. Probably it’s indirect thought that cost is proportional to capacity, but the concern is diverted from the true cause for worry.
Energy security is the key topic of this week’s seminar. How do we ensure that we have enough energy to last for many generations to come? We have come and gone with different sources of energy. We used to depend on wood for energy; we cut down trees, burned the wood for light, heat and to operate other things in our life. However the concern for depleting forest has forced human beings to seek for other non renewable source of energy; because the easiest to find and to harness energy from. Therefore, we found underneath our feet that we can actually use the earth’s stored fossil fuels and natural gases to make energy. And human beings starts to ‘drill, baby, drill’ and then Sarah Palin was ostracized for using that phrase. (side joke because I am trying to break out of this week’s stress) Today we finally realized that the earth cannot provide us with no more non renewable energy to waste.
However, the smarter ones in the human population found out that the earth is filled with so much energy, and perhaps we can harness those energy to make use for ourselves. And then, people are coming up with all sorts of ways to harness these energy, but as a consequence, we have to give up some of the other important components of the Earth, like diversity, land space and sea level. It’s no problem, because there are other kinds of smart that will solve those problems.
So in summary, that’s what I thought about energy security.
This week’s individual presentations were a little un appealing. Tar sands, GEM and Smart grid. Honestly, I don’t know any of those things until I wiki-ed them. Their presentations were not very clear because I couldn’t grasp the idea of their presentations. Anyway, I had a joke that I wanted to say when Byungjoo presented on Smart Grid, but I dared not say it because I felt I would get judged by the class, so I’m putting it here so that the whole world can judge me. So the premise was that he was telling the class that Korea has no source of energy and they have to import. However, he forgets that Korea always has a renewable source of energy. Here is the punchline, Korea is always releasing the brand new hottest Kpop stars, suck their energy out to power the country and spare the world from their dominance. Yes, I am not a fan of Kpop. #drumroll
So I would say that this week’s presentation was good because I was still on the Recess Week high and I learned a lot. Although I gave the presenters high grades, honestly I don’t think their presentation was effective.
This week is part 2 of the biobusiness series. We dwelt further into the biobusiness with respect to the agriculture and the environment. This seminar is interesting because the slides were mostly on biobusiness in agriculture but somehow Prof Shahi spoke more about the environmental aspects. Perhaps the high attention paid on the agriculture during the individual presentations lead to his lopsided discussion.
To be honest, I have forgotten most of what Prof Shahi said because I was too anxious about my presentation. However, from what I can recall, he listed and illustrated a lot of the different types of biobusiness which I have to say was the reason why Prof Shahi became tired. Anyway, this blog post will be so much more interesting if I told you about my presentation. Let’s we shall.
So, I believe that I was one of a kind presenter because from what I heard, many presenters decided to discuss about GM food or something about agriculture. Well, I tried to stick out of the pack and presented about bioplastic. There’s nothing agricultural, but the source of materials to develop bioplastics. In fact, my presentation got so much attention from Prof Shahi that he kept referring to my topic while he held the seminar. I felt that I had a lot to live up to since Prof Shahi put so much emphasis on bioplastics.
Actually I tried to be informal with my presentation, but when I got in front of the class, I got so rigid that I just presented regularly. Yet, I find that my presentation was good. I delivered the idea of bioplastics well and had a really good discussion started. I was disappointed when one person gave me 7 for my presentation, perhaps she was vengeful when I gave her a 7 for her presentation. Anyway, I did a good job and that’s all that matters.
Well to be honest this week’s seminar was a bit of a let down for myself because I was too riled up over the presentation and did not focus much in class. However, for what it’s worth, this seminar I believe was a good closure to the biobusiness series and really informative.
Hi guys,
The above hyperlink is a pdf version of my topical review paper. I know it’s not the best and can be further improved, I hope you guys can give me constructive comments to improve my paper. Thank you in advance.
If you need me to review papers, please do comment here as well. thank you.
Teddy
It’s nearing the recess week and this week the seminar covers the biobusiness. It’s interesting how I got excited about ICT last week, but this week I am neutral towards biobusiness. Probably it’s because next week I have to do a presentation on biobusiness as well.
This week’s focus is primarily on healthcare and biomedical sciences. Prof Shahi showed the seminar a video about how technology will advance so much that everything to do with healthcare is as simple as touching a pad and flick of a card. Personally I find it too far fetched to believe. I understand that technology is a boon to the society, but technology should not be the primary source of everything that one does and need. Too much dependency will cause great inconvenience when disruptions take place. For example, the recent Circle Line break down for 4 hours caused many people to have take detours to get to their morning destinations, and I believe that a lot of productivity was lost due to this breakdown. Imagine if there was a widespread power outage like that of the Circle Line, what would happen to people who are in need of medical attention? They got used to speedy medical attention that going back to old ways will make some go mad. (just exaggerating) anyway, yea, technology should not take over completely the healthcare sectors.
I am really grateful to know that biobusiness in healthcare and biomedical sciences is increasing. Yet, biobusiness is more of like a 2 extremes kind of thing. On one hand, there are companies who are paying a lot and earning a lot to research on life sciences to produce good drugs to help the greater majority. On another hand, there are some companies who are producing scams and useless products just for the purpose of earning big bucks. Oh well, a thing can never be always good. But, to look at the positive side, indeed more incurable illnesses have lesser mortality rate. Let’s put our hopes that eventually biobusiness will find a cure for cancer and the world will be a healthier planet.
I tried my best to respond to the readings, however the more I read about it, the more they appear to be logical and opinions will just seem to be unnecessary. However, the readings provided were really good because they really educate the readers about the different issues involving the healthcare and biomedical sciences biobusiness fields.
I would rate this seminar averagely because it was more informative rather than interactive. The presentations were really interesting as well because they educate the class more about specific fields of biobusiness that are worth knowing. Hence, let’s hope my presentation will have the same effect.
This week’s seminar was the most interesting one so far for me. Information Communication Techonology (ICT) is fast developing especially in the 21st century. I enjoyed this lecture a lot because ICT really intrigues me and I am quite of geek, but not enough to make me spend on them. So if I were to say where I stand on the graph, I would be in between the late majority conservatives and the laggards.
Prof Shahi this week showed a video demonstrating the Natal technology which really amused me. I have not seen such a technology before and to see how technology interacts with human is really fascinating. Prof Shahi proposed that this technology could be the future of companionships for the elder and loners. However, what really worries me is that if the elders and loners were to be interacting with artificial intelligence, wouldn’t it encourage the society to develop stronger relationships with them rather than with people? Today, we are already facing the problem of people having deep feelings for non artificial intelligent machines like the mobile phones and really odd ones like the vacuum cleaners. People are becoming more anti social and neglect the presence of other beings when they are together with their machines, what more damage can happen when Natal is eventually released and widespread in our society?
Aside from the problems that I foresee with Natal, I really think that ICT has a bright future because I honestly believe that if it were accurately programmed and properly used, the world can be a better place to live. Just imagine all the tragedies having been prevented with the support of ICT. But then again, if tragedies can be prevented, the fortunes can also be succumbed by technology. Clearly ICT is a double edged sword; it can be a good thing and also a bad thing. However, again, if it was done right, hopefully the advantage outweighs the disadvantages.
This week’s presentations were a few. There were discussions about cloud computing, elearn and tiger text. The one that really got everyone talking was actually ELearning. I understand the Prof Shahi has to defend the presenter, and I agree that the questions asked were a tad irrational; however, I believe that some of the comments made have some justice. ELearn can be a good way to create a universal education, yet Elearn is not yet accessible by everyone. There is first a computer or a device, then the Internet, then Elearn. If a developing country is poor, how much is it willing to support Elearn in the country? Maybe NGOs will want to look into it.
I have to rate this week’s seminar high because for the first time, I actually more than a line in the class. And also, I find the theme for the seminar to be very interesting.
The following will be our approach for the group web project
Technology for the physically disabled
Introduction
-why we chose this topic
-linking the different sections of the webTypes of disabilities
– limb immobility
– blindness
– deafPast present future of technology (about 3 significant innovations)
Past
Deaf – sign language
blind – braille
immobility – wheelchairsPresent
immobility – electric wheelchairs
Deaf – hearing aids
Blind -electronicsFuture (regaining capability)
immobility – limb replacement, nerve reconnection
Blind – echolocation, replacing sight with other senses to visualize images (tongue)
Deaf – cochlea implant (To be researched further)OR
Future (to be more independent with the help of technology)
Social changes for the physically disabled (impact of the technology on the society)
– transportation (airports, buses/trains)
– community (ramps, elevators)
– Legislative changesSingapore’s contribution to help the physically disabled (continuation of the previous part with respect to Singapore’s context)
That’s it for the outline, should there be any suggestions on how to improve on the outline, please comment. Thanks
Group members are Ishita, Karishma, Javier, Teddy.
This week’s seminar is interesting because we dwelled on change, mainly on the drivers of world change and the changes in management and leadership.
The first portion of the seminar, we discussed on what has resulted in world change. The most important component of change is flexibility. In order to be able to adapt to change, one must be able to accept change and change himself. Change is a very delicate idea because change can have impact or none at all. Revolutionary change is what all drivers of change wish to achieve. Evolutionary change can be made revolutionary when it makes a huge impact to a point where people no longer go back to how things are. Throughout the years, technology has made quite a few revolutionary changes. It is hard for one who has been introduced to a certain technology to be able to look at their lives the same way again. For example, I do not use a handphone until I was 17 years old. All the while I always use landlines or public phones to communicate. I convey my messages in person and wear a watch. However, a broke down handphone that I owned 2 years ago made a revolutionary change to my life. I now call people anywhere or anytime, convey my messages just as I think of them and refer to my watch. Honestly, I was apprehensive with usage of handphones because it’s annoying that people can reach me anytime, anywhere. However, the society forces me to accept the revolutionary change that has occurred years before. Today, I wouldn’t even imagine myself to use a public phone. Well that was to say for myself, but imagine the extent of technological revolutions that can happen in the society, it makes older innovations useless and redundant.
The second portion of the seminar was about changes in the corporate world; changes in management and leadership. A manager and a leader are differentiated because one is not the same. A manager oversees an operation while a leader makes an operation. Prof Shahi made a very interesting comparison of the different types of leaders to birds. However, I was not satisfied with how he compared the dodo bird as the leader who does not embrace change and die. If taking facts, the dodo birds were over hunted to extinction rather than not willing to change. Illustration wise, perhaps such a leader can be compared to as a pigeon. A pigeon used to have a very useful purpose with its memory skill, delivering letters. However today, the pigeon no longer is regarded as very useful in mail carrier because the world has developed in much more efficient ways to carry mail. So, the pigeon is now outdated in its purpose for humanity.
Prof Shahi also showed a video about how a leader makes a video. It was an unexpected video because it showed a naked stoned man dancing during a concert. Throughout the video, he gathered a small group followers which grew into a crowd of dancing fools. This illustrated how a leader is not afraid of being foolish and it takes one follower to make him a good leader. Then I searched the video again on Youtube and I found an extension of the “Dancing guy”. The front portion of the video can be a good illustration of the development process of innovation. He started to have followers from the beginning, however the attempts failed to bear a huge a crowd of dancing fools because the moves were too difficult to imitate. He tried to teach, but failed, so he thought of alternatives which makes his dancing doable. He was under much scrutiny throughout the whole time he was dancing until a point when the number of dancing fools became a realisation that it’s no longer foolish. Do you agree with how I interpreted the video?
This week’s seminar I would rate really high because it was interesting and I followed the seminar well. However, I was disappointed with the presentation how the group used the title Third World frivolously with regards to Indonesia. Furthermore with the irrationality of the discussions with regards to the haze, it’s just the first world complaining for the sake of making noise. I apologize for the rant. However, the articles discussed were informative, although I would have felt that the past weeks presentations were better.
Teddy
I have chosen to write a topical review paper to a revolutionary change that is the smartphone. The outline below is a rough draft of how I am going to approach the innovation, please do comment if you have any suggestions to how i can improve on my approach. Thank You
Smartphones – the revolutionary innovation
Executive summary – describes the proliferation of smartphones in the society, how smartphones improves our lives, how it has damaged our lives
Background- what is a smartphone, how has smartphones found its way to be the leading handheld gadget
Historical perspective – existence of smartphones in alternative forms, the past target group, the purpose of the smartphone
Current situation – positive and negative impacts of smartphones
Future considerations – how smartphones can eliminate negative impacts, the future developments of smartphones
Conclusions – smartphones being a revolutionary change in mobile media
Technology for World Change 