Last post.

This entry today will be the last post for this TWC blog.

This week’s class was a continuation of the class presentations made by other groups. There was one web report that really caught my attention, the technology and sports web, even though there isn’t really much content for reading, the website itself was aesthetically pleasing and informative enough for a person who doesn’t like to read large chunk of words. We have to identify that technology plays such a huge role in the sports today, in terms of training equipment and even gives the physically disabled opportunities to participate in sporting events.

The group that presented on epic management also did a pretty good job in portraying the different ways in which epidermic are managed from past to the future. It was the first time that I heard the term “crowd sourcing” from one of the groups presenting, I just thought that this was just a form of out sourcing and never knew that there were so many new developments in this aspect of sourcing for the relevant people we need.

TWC has taught me how to view things from different perspective and has caused me to be more aware of the new technologies created and how they can possibly bring a change to the future we’re heading towards.

Week 11: Group Presentations

This week’s lesson was different from usual as it was our turn to present while Prof took a seat back from his regular teaching. My group was the first group to present for the week, so I suppose we were more jittery as compared to other groups? Our group’s presentation was about designer babies and the impacts on individuals, family and society. Often we fail to see the implications on our lives just because the technology seems to be so far away, we need to recognize the power that we hold in our hands when it comes and how we are going to manage it.

The following group after us presented on the use of Nanotechnology which I found extremely interesting, because there are so many potential solutions to the illnesses we face today with the use of nanotechnology. Another group’s web report that really caught my attention was the last group, Plastic Vortex, their website has a very clean design and the storyboard concept of their website made reading much easier and much more interesting.

 

Session 10: Technology Assessment and Forecasting

Summary
With the many different technologies discussed in our past lessons and the unlimited future potential that technology can bring us. This brings us to the conclusive topic on the assesment of the technology used today.  How should we govern the use of these technologies to ensure that we bring out the good, rather than the unintented adverse impacts technology may bring.

Interesting observations and ideas

The assessment of technology is important, because as much as we want to govern it the best of what can be done. There may be a possibility that due to strict assessment in the use of technology, it may deter the process of creative ideas thought of by people. Prof introduced the idea on how the way we assess technology should be viewed from future to the present, just like how looking through a binoculous and being unable to see ideas at the side. We should be looking from a bird’s eye view.

Issues for further discussion

The presentors of the day mainly highlighted that it is important to assess technology from different points of view. Involving the  impacts on different groups such as social, medical point of view and economic point of view.

Key takeaway

The main keytakeaways from the lesson, for me is to not always be welcoming to any form of technology that is introduced. We must always weigh the possible consequences that that technology may result in. ALWAYS WEIGH THE PROS AND CONS.

Personal ratings

8.5/10

Session 9: Emerging and Future technologies

Summary
This week’s topic was the most interesting out of all the topics that we have gone through in the whole TWC course.  There are just so many future technologies that is just within our grasp and they all open up a whole new level of opportunity for different groups of people. Prof showed us a video about

Interesting observations and ideas
Another video that prof showed us was the creation of the “perfect women” where the robot is a very similar replica of a real woman and the robot has the ability to cook and respond with voice recognition ability. As much as I do agree that it is an impressive robot to have created, it is similar to having a maid, because I don’t think that men can convince themselves that this “perfect women” that they paid a certain amount of money for is going to give them the lifelong happiness they are searching for.

The technology of the wireless transmission of electricity is something that would cause a great change to the way the world runs if it is truly able to work. We would not have to worry about not having enough laptop battery when we bring our laptops out, the world would be at a much faster pace than before.

Issues for further discussion
The most interesting presentation of the day was the one on virtual reality, where our bodies are able to experience something which is physically not possible at that point in time. Some of the points mentioned were how VR can be used by medical students to practice their surgeries, or even possibly speak to the girl/guy of your dreams. However, as much as VR is seemingly so real, ultimately it is still not the real event happening. What I thought was if VR becomes accessible, then would people begin to be unable to separate the line between what’s real and unreal?

Key takeaways
Technology is constantly developing and we cannot limit ourselves to what we have today, but consistently come up with improvements to make our lives better. As the quote by George Bernard Shaw goes, “You see things; and you say, ‘Why? ‘But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’”

Personal ratings
9.0/10

Individual Review Paper: green revolution

Hi, this is the link for the google doc where you can view my paper, would love to hear some views and inputs on the direction of my paper.

Individual Review Paper: Green Revolution

Thanks!

 

Session 8: Shift from unsustainable to sustainable

Session 8 was about the shift from the current unsustainable fossil fuel based energy intensive based economy to an environmentally sound and sustainable clean and green approach.

Summary
It’s funny how we all can recognize and say it with our mouths that there is a limited amount of energy left, we have approximately 40 years left, but there is just so little effort made to change our habits. However, there are still people out there who care and are making an effort to save the limited non renewable resources we have. There are a number of technologies used today in effort of using renewables resources, such as biofuels, solar power, geothermal energy.

Interesting observations and ideas
Prof mentioned about the global carbon market, it is something which really caught my attention because I never thought that people would actually trade their “rights” to pollute the environment. The concept itself, it is truly something different and I would never have thought of that. The European Union is actually one of the largest markets trading the emission of carbon dioxide. This is a good system as it rewards large corporations which reduce their pollution and charges companies which pollute the environment.

Issues for further discussion
One technology that was extensive discussed in class was the use of solar panels, since the sun rays that hit our earth daily is known to have  3,850,000 EJ, which is many times more than the energy that we can derive from wind or biomass. Through the use of photovoltaics, we are able to effectively capture energy from the sun and convert it to energy for our consumption. Then the question comes, if this is so effective and there is just so much that we can tap on, why isn’t this being used by all nations today? One reason that I thought of is the cost factor, the cost required to built such machines to convert the energy to other forms of energy itself is very high and countries today would not view it as a good investment.

One of the presentors spoke about how Britian burns their trash to create energy through the process of gascification. This is a very interesting idea, because trash is stuff that we do not want, unwanted and being able to utilize trash and convert it to energy is both economical and environmentally friendly at the same time. I’m wondering if Britian is able to do this, in the near future Singapore might adopt this as well? Since as Singaporeans we produce massive amounts of trash for a nation as small as ours.

Key takeaways
We all want change for the better, we want our earth to be running on sustainable energy for the benefit of out future generations. But this is not translated into actions, why? Although we may have had some technologies introduced to help save the environment, to move towards a sustainable environment. The important point, is to have leaders who are willing to stand up and make a change, governments who will take initiative(Germany has done a great job) and make changes to the system that we are used to.

Personal ratings
8.5/10

Session 7: The Bio Revolution

rev•o•lu•tion |ˌrevəˈloō sh ən| noun
1 a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.
2 an instance of revolving : one revolution a second.

The class on Agribiology, Environmental Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology was a particularly interesting topic, and since my review paper is about the Green Revolution, there was some information which I learned that I thought would be quite useful to me.

Prof showed us an interesting cartoon video about what human has done to earth so far, it seems to be an accurate reflection of what we have done which is nothing good actually. Much more effort has to be made to cause a change in our mindset to stop causing damage to our home. Some have taken the step forward and try to bring a stop to these problems. Bio business can be defined as commercial activity implemented in order to maintain the continuity of  life on earth. Over the years as the earth faces more issues on the limitations of natural resources available and environmental problems, the bio business market has expanded greatly, especially in ares such as agriculture and healthcare.

The engaging topic for me was the discussion on labeling of GM foods. In Singapore, our food products are not labelled so we all do not know whether what we put inside our mouth has been genetically modified or not. Personally to me, it doesn’t really matter, since I’ve been living for so long without knowing whether the food I consume is GM or not, and thus far there has not been any proven negative side effects on humans from consuming too much genetically modified foods. Humans seem to realize the negative connotation to their actions only after allowing something which we created long before. At the point of making GM foods there were no major complains from people. It was only when GM foods has become more widespread then people begin to really think about the possible negatives.

A random cartoon I found online:

It is funny that we seem to advocate different forms of farming (supposedly environmentally friendly) and more efficient growth of crops so as to meet our needs, but it is apparent that we are all causing more damage to what already has been done. One of the presenters spoke about the use of Nanotechnology for the next “green revolution” which I thought was a pretty good because there is always room for improvement in increasing our productivity in growing crops etc. However, as much as Nanotechnology can be used to improve our farming outputs etc, there are areas in which Nanotechnology should be used in a more environmentally friendly manner. After all, even if we do increase our productivity and have all the food we want, without a healthy earth, there is no point in having so much when we cannot enjoy the benefits on a long term basis. With more research and development, Nanotechnology can be used in many other areas which will bring good to us without compromising our environment.

The main takeaway that I got was the vast areas of opportunities that we have to make the human race’s life on earth more sustainable. Besides agritechnology, nanotechnology, environmental bioremediation, there are just so many areas we can work on and make our lives easier and worry less about the earth not being able to sustain for the next generation. Everything starts with the mind, as long as the perspectives of people change, there will be a change in action. Some have started on the journey sustainability, some have not.

Ratings: 9/10

Session 6: Blast to the future

Side note: Today I just found a way to use the graphic calculator to calculate some interest rates which are quite difficult to find without the use of a financial calculator, so glad technology has been put to good use especially in GCs!

Summary
As usual Prof starts the lesson with an introductory video, the video by microsoft showed many futuristic inventions, such as credit cards which can be electronically contained within 1 card, and the other possible healthcare technologies. While all these innovations are not impossible, after are inventions which people have thought of, but I think that they would take quite a while before it can be witnessed within our generation. Especially in the healthcare sector, technology plays a very big role in enabling better diagnosis of illnesses. For instance the creation of X-ray machine, without the X-ray scans to assist doctors in viewing internal body, I can’t imagine how doctors have to touch the patient’s body and try to determine which part of the arm or leg has broken and imagine the pain the patient has to go though.

Interesting observations and ideas
It is funny how today the main causes of death are problems such as heart diseases and depression while in the past the main reasons were respiratory diseases and diarrhoea diseases. The causes of death from respiratory diseases are perfectly logical since in the past the standard of hygiene was not as good and people were less informed about the ways in which they can protect themselves with good hygiene, but the causes of death today seem to be self inflicted by man in one way or another. Heart diseases arise because of unhealthy diets and at times hereditary, and people do know it is important to eat healthily and exercise to maintain good health, but as humans we often take for granted what we think our body can take, when we are so well informed about how to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Issues for further discussion
One of my classmate presented on the evolution of superbugs, while it is comforting to know that we have anti-biotics to enable our bodies to fight these bugs, it is scary to know that they evolve and become stronger. For this issue there is no right or wrong answer. Even though antibiotics can lead to the evolution of bugs leading to a creation of a much stronger bug, but it is wrong to say that antibiotics are not good for us. In an extreme example where you either choose to die or take antibiotics which may result in the bug becoming stronger again, honestly i’d rather take the antibiotics, at least I buy more time for myself. And prof also mentioned that the evolution of bugs to superbugs is only when people who are supposed to finish the whole course of antibiotics do not finish it. So why don’t we as individuals practice some self interest for yourself and to the people around you and just finish the entire course of antibiotics. Another presentation which was interesting was the ViRob, where it can be used in replacement of surgeries(for some) and possibly treating cancer. And the issue raised about people rejecting it, definitely is not a problem, because if there is a chance of fighting the cancer, a patient would definitely choose to do the treatment given that they find a way to get it out of the patient’s system after performing the function.

Key takeaways
Technology plays an extremely vital role in healthcare and as much as people may have issues about humans becoming increasingly dependent on technology, we can’t deny that we have reached a point where healthcare cannot function without technology. WIthout the use of MRI scanners or CT scans, we would not be able to detect the diseases and sicknesses we have and find a cure to it.

Personal ratings
8/10

Session 5: ICT & World Change

Summary
The first thing which generally comes to my mind when I hear the term “ICT” is actually how schools are becoming more tech savvy and educating children on the use of technology for educational purposes. As a person who is not exactly very tech savvy, when I first saw the video that prof showed us about Milo and how the girl interacted with him, it seemed to be something so unreal, but it is real, and today it is the technology used to create the newest game kinnect. Prof posted this question to us, are the interactions between the girl and Milo considered human? Although I raised my hand when Prof asked how many of us disagree that it is human interaction, thinking back about it, it can be considered human but only up to 75%? As much as Milo is able to read our facial expressions and talk to us just like any other normal person, his responses are always limited to the responses designed by the programmer, this differentiates between Milo and a real human, because real humans are unpredictable and human reaction is often unlimited.

Interesting observations and ideas
The topic about Cloud computing is something very intriguing. It is so applicable for everyone in almost all industries. It is actually something which we have been using since we started using email, an email account can be accessed anywhere in the world as long as there is internet and web browsers to use, significantly reducing the stress on computers to run and load the program which is used as a medium for emails. The question when thinking about this, would be whether this system is reliable and the security of the files, are they well protected, can they be easily hacked into? Considering that more and more important information and data is placed into these cloud computing systems, hackers will try to hack into them and extract the information.

Another interesting thing was that I never knew that gaming technology was actually used in medical surgery procedures. I was quite surprised to hear that the technology used in surgery originated from gaming ideas.

Issues for further discussion
One of the 4 presentations was about Ford’s introduction of wireless technology to facilitate communication between cars, something which has not been brought to Singapore yet, but I presume soon after the technology has been formally sold to consumers. Something that I thought of was that won’t it be really awkward if for instance driver A accidentally bumps into driver B’s car, then he uses this to speak to driver B apologizing for doing so, it would be quite a scene to see both of them talk to each other in their cars angrily or something. Assuming that the wireless technology would be like a mobile phone for the car drivers, so they actually can choose whether to take the call or not from the other party. How are the calls/communication made? Recognition through the car plate? Or some other code? But it would be really interesting to see the new technology come up and how it will be used by car drivers.

Key takeaways
ICT can often be tapped on to help develop us further technologically, and it also can be used to make the world a better place for the suffering. As much as we all wish to become more technologically savvy, to become more efficient and productive globally, we should also keep in mind that the technology we create can bridge a gap between the poor and rich, reduce the income disparity. Through engaging youths and children in the poorer nations, make them understand the possibilities of technology we have today such as wireless technology discussed earlier, they will also be able to learn and develop their nations further. After all, children are the future of a nation.

Personal ratings: 8.5/10

Review paper: Green revolution

Executive summary
The green revolution led to a rapid increase in production of crops ranging from wheat to rice. It also resulted in the boom of agriculture industries all over the world. This paper focuses on the effects of the Green revoution in India, since India was one of the developing nations that have benefited greatly from the increased yield, and encompasses of farmers who were unable to gain from the introduction of these genetically modified seeds. And also investigates the factors which led to the increasing disparity in income levels between the poor and rich farmers.

Introduction
The Green Revolution has been widely discussed by many writers with differing views about it, some groups advocate it, and others do not see the good in it. This paper discusses the pros and cons of the Green Revolution and the impact it has brought about to people, economy and the environment with reference to the Green Revolution in India.

This paper analyzes the reasons behind Green Revolution’s success or failure in different aspects.

Terms used
Overall framework of paper

Methodology:
Limitation – Unable to conduct primary research
Review of articles written
Books

Historical perspective
Motivation for green revolution: In hopes of reducing food shortage
Rapid development of agricultural production, from low level subsistence farming with low yields, to high output yield after the introduction of high yield varieties genetically modified crops.
Great reduction in food shortage between 1960s and 1970s, through the lowering of food prices and increased employment to the poor

 

Current situation
Food security: 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 (FAO).

Economic(Individuals) :
Farmers who have benefited from this are farmers who have the ability to afford the extra costs required to use the high yield varieties such as pesticides and fertilizers.
Significant reduction in number of workers per yield, reduction of manual labour, much higher profits than before due to lower labour costs.
Farmers unable to do so are still experiencing low crop yield.

Social:
Problem: No transfer of earning power to poorer farmers.
Crop production reaching plateau, threat to food security around the world.
Potential health hazards to farmers – Case study: State of Punjab
Power that organizations hold, which can influence the way farmers work

Environmental:
Extensive use of land, fertility of land has substantially decreased
Crop yield experience significant drop due to decreased fertility
Soil degradation, chemical pollution, aquifer depletion and soil salinity.
How farmers can continue to grow crop and sustain quality of land fertility
Role of governments in ensuring sustaining environment of farming

Future considerations:
Creation of special variety of wheat, which does not require fertilizers and pesticides
Currently, some crops have pesticide-producing genes embedded into the plant, thus not requring application of pesticides by farmers
Development of green revolution – development of second-generation GM crops such as biopharmaceuticals or, edible plant vaccines.

Conclusion
Assesment of good and bad of green revolution

References