Presentations(Part II)

It is the last lap of TWC presentations and also the journey of TWC itself! It is surprising how at first it just seemed like piles and piles of work to do and now we are concluding this module with so much of information, skills, knowledge from wise ones and analysis of technology and its applications. The presentations served as a conclusion to the course and this week’s presentations were relatively good.

1)      Music and Technology

This was a really interesting presentation which is something everyone is interested to find out more about. For this topic specifically, they should have put in more images than text to maintain interest of the viewers. They structured it in terms of timeline and how music has evolved across the decades. This is especially interesting as it lets the viewers see the transition however, they should have put more emphasis on how music will be in the future. This will be appealing to the audience on how the group imagined the future will be given the past applications.

2)      Vaccines

The second presentation was on vaccines for the major flus that have plagued the world. It does look real informative looking at all the statistics and facts. They also have created an appealing web page that is attractive to a reader! At the start of the presentation, the presenter mentioned that they are only going touch on the main influenza that caused a global pandemic. However, they should have included the not-so well- known flus to expose the viewers to something new.

3)      Food and Technology

The 3^rd group opted for simplicity that made the web site so easy friendly and easy to understand. It could do with more animations, but it content wise and transitions was great!

4)      Crime Tracking with technology

A very interesting website that is not known to many about technologies applications! Great job!

The very last session and for the pure knowledge we all have received, thanks to Prof, I would rate this session 10!

Presentations(Part I)

It was presentations week! It was exciting to find out how every group’s website will turn out to be and how they would present it to the class. Another factor was how every group will decide on which software platform they’ll be using to create their website. Our group was in a fix, whether to use Wix which allowed more room for animations and graphics but was utterly difficult to use or iWeb on a mac that allowed little room for making the website lively but was very user-friendly. Gideon, our group mate was one with a Mac laptop and thus to be able to use the iWeb, he was in-charge of putting all the content together and making it look good on the website while Kenny, Priya and I were in-charge of getting the content down, from facts to examples to analysis to videos. It was a group work, but felt not having a Mac limited our scope for helping Gideon out in fashioning the website. But, all in all it has passed and we have learnt plenty during our journey of TWC.

1)      E – Commerce

The website was aesthetically appealing as it resembles a typical e-commerce website where it was ‘funky’ and ‘cool’! The paragraphs were chunky and should be boxed up to make it look less wordy Other than minor changes and modifications, like the font and alignment, they have done a great job with wix! Content wise, they have covered most if what needs to be covered in e-commerce. They have put sufficient emphasis on the analysis of current applications of e-commerce and how it may evolve in the future! This is commendable as that is the crux and purpose of the website to show their imagination on how the future will be given the current state of any given technology or application.

2)      Our group(Online Dating)

Our group had come up the website after much dilemma to use either wix or other website platforms. Gideon, with agreement from the rest of us, had created the website using iWeb composing the compiled work by the other 3 three group mates. The presentation was decent enough where we had valuable feedback from our classmates. Our pages go way down and there are some buttons missing that could make the transition from one page to another easier. Other than that, the presentation was well received by our classmates, where it was a topic which everyone could relate to, that is finding a partner.

3)      Kinetic Tech

The entire site was kept simple and was user-friendly. The very intriguing part if the website is how they send a message through their pictures rather than chunks of paragraphs. This makes it really attractive to any viewer. However, they should have spent more effort in making the transition more smooth and ensuring that the videos were up and running as they faced difficulty in playing the videos. Content wise, they had brilliant ideas but it seemed to have lost focus from the initial topic that was kinetic energy. It should narrow down the scope to specifically how usage of kinetic energy has changed the dynamics of energy usage and how it can be used in more efficient ways to work in the future.

4)      GM Food

The presentation had a start with an over-exaggerated video on how GM food could lead to creating super humans. There could have been better link between the video and content. Other than that, the website was simple and to-the-point!

The presentations were great and I personally got to learnt a lot from my peers through the sessions! I would rate the session 9/10.

Final Session...

 The African proverb, “Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today” is really relevant to our generation! Future projections which we may be forecasted by us today could very different of what the reality may be. Thus, forecasting and at the same time taking precaution to wisely use current and upcoming technologies, should be on par. But firstly, why bother with foresight? Prof Shahi posed a question to us asking if we should work from the past or work backwards from the future. Working backwards from the future, is where we paint a scene where we see what we want the future to be, and use that as a final goal, destination, or motivation even to bring an organisation forward. This seems very uncertain and risky as projecting the future could be very different from what it might shape up to be. However, just one example had me change my mind immediately and that was Steve Jobs. He had a vision to create the Mac and its profound features, lo and behold, his vision has survived and thrived well.

There have been a lot of upcoming innovations and inventions, but truth be told, many are completely redundant which  are not useful for the betterment of societies as a whole but only specific in their benefits to a small groups. Thus, much of the current resources especially monetary resources are carefully being channelled to support or invest in the “right” kind of technology. This is very relevant to developing countries where the resources are already pretty much scarce. However, if everything was to be taken with so much precaution and new technologies would have been discarded, who knows, it could have been something would revolutionise the future. Nobody will know which technology ought to be encouraged or not, a difficult decisions that, managers or CEOs have to take.

Wen Cong’s presentation was truly supportive of the session’s content on future forecasting. He spoke on the 6 rules of effective forecasting technology that was valuable in providing us with an insight on importance of prediction. However, yet again, there are limitations to this where forecasting cannot be the answer to our future. Only with checks and balances in place and stringently following a procedure will forecasting bring benefits and shape a stable future.

With interesting ideas that were mentioned in the session, I would rate this class an 8/10!

Future Technology

This week’s session could be described as surreal or just pure wild imagination. It was an extrapolation of what the future might hold in terms of our progress in technology. Decades back geographical boundaries were thought to be insurmountable yet now we have communication giants such as Facebook or travel modes such as airplanes. So much has progressed and thus the possibilities and opportunities in the coming years cannot be doubted as anything can be possible.  

One very interesting technology that could be a norm is plastic technology where high-tech plastic could be embedded in anything we can imagine such as contact lens, clothes, curtains which may change the dynamics how things work in our day-to-day lives.

A throng of innovations are being introduced into the market continuously. Most die out while some become a huge success. The prof has mentioned again that the success of the product is determined whether it is market-driven or technology -driven. If there is a need for the technology, it would be widely accepted. Innovation does have its perks where, constant modification alters the application of a technology which can be used in a simpler way deeming it to be more convenient for people to use. Motion sensors in gaming is not limited to just video gaming but is applied in different sectors such as the medical field.

The prof posed a question of the difference between sales and marketing. Seems similar yet it has very stark difference in its strategies, where sales has a push force on the public while marketing has a pull force. This is really interesting where it comes back to the whether a product is market driven or technology driven. If the product is a need in society, it pulls their attraction when the product is marketed. One Singaporean company mentioned was Creative Technology where it is seeing losses due to not being able to keep up with the market needs which other companies such as Apple is able to provide.

Other two most-discussed future technologies are robotics and augmented reality. These were further analysed through the presentations. The first presentation covered the concept of trans-humanization where individuals could replace their body parts with machineries work and appear as a human hand but are of course, made to do things more efficiently, faster and go through tougher jobs and brain transplant could have us think faster. However, why not have robots or machineries that are not incorporated into our bodies, to do the jobs separately? Would we want to go beyond our human capabilities and as prof posed, at which point would we seize to be human as we adopt cyber technology with artificial intelligence.

The second presentation was on Future of aviation technology by Gideon. The presentation covered the futuristic feel on flights and their uses to be more efficient as a transportation and entertainment mode where the public could enjoy flight cruises. Most of my classmates do believe that in 40 years, such a concept will be possible. However, I feel that possible or not, it is not our priority looking at the dire needs of the world that have not been tended to yet.

The next presentation by Daryl was on the pervasiveness of robots where there has been a major shift in the industry. Would robots taking over every job of men and women while people reap their benefits? This is something I would like to see for myself in the future.

The last presentation by Michelle who spoke on augmented reality and its pervasiveness. Would information on everything be so readily available to us that accessing sites such as Google or Facebook become moot? This technology can be used in any field, education, medical, aviation to provide a better and richer experience for patrons. Again the crime of infringement of privacy crops up if one had the access to a person’s bio-data just by looking at them. However, with modifications of this technology this one will be really pervasive and prevalent in society and I would like to experience that for myself.

For the pure fun and imagination that this class brought up, I would rate this 10/10.

Energy: Past, Present and Future

The crux of this week’s topic is energy consumption. It never fails to surprise me that the magnitude at which I see people in Singapore or the States or any city consume in such magnitude and the world still seem to be operating continuously. I could be referring to food resources or electricity used daily. This goes to show just how much the Earth has in store for man’s disposal. However, this may not go on for long. Yet, some credit must be given to humans who have and are still stretching, unscrupulously rummaging for the remnants of sources of energy. Wind and solar energy which were available alternatives decades ago are becoming major components in contributing to future energy sources.

Wind energy has its limitations where it could be only harvested with the presence of wind. However, one question which stumps me and even Prof Shahi is why solar energy is under-cultivated. Is potential energy is triple times all the other sources of energy combined together. Yet, we do not see a widespread usage of this source. Harnessing this energy could supply us with unlimited energy that could sustain, maybe forever till the sun perishes. There has been a visible push to capture solar energy. However, from http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/19/markets/global_energy_use/index.htm, it can be seen that the projected world energy mix, contains only 14% of renewables. This is mainly due to the expenses that the country incurs investing in this type of energy. Every technology, when first introduced into the market is costly due to lack of competitors. However, organizations are still not ready to invest in this technology and thus costs will still be high and this vicious cycle may not be broken at least in the coming few decades.

Also the global energy consumption is expected to rise by 53% largely driven by demand from India and China. China currently uses 25% in a global scale. Energy is also a source of income and how energy is harvested and is used in each country is influenced by the clout of politics. The more hardworking government would pass in laws that may implement greener technologies. However, some are plain corrupt where people from the grass roots level work to produce energy for the state do not even get their income. Suresh has kindly put up a very intriguing article on Nigeria and its impoverishment due its corruption.

The presentations were intriguing; especially Avijit’s topic on the consequence is governments are not cautious with their usage of their energy which evokes a sense of foreboding. Suresh also spoke of reserve power plants which will not add to the energy consumption but will be used in case of emergency. Maybe this stored energy could be the answer to future consumption in place of others perishable resources.

For an insightful class, I would date this 9/10.

Agriculture - BioBusiness

This session brought us through agricultural-biology, environment and its past present and future. Prof Shahi has mentioned the quote ‘When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability. He did explain the quote, that is, sustainability can be only attainable when we know how to renew our resources and while we are consuming them. He also mentioned that Singapore takes on a different angle in this, that is, sustainability is attainable if we use less of what we have in hand. Both have their stand in defining the word sustainability. However, as much as it sounds compelling that we start to grow our resources, it sounds too drastic and unrealistic. It might be true in the case of agriculture where we could plant and re-plant as long as the land remains fertile. Even the land runs out of its fertility and that’s when resources are put in to make the better out of the land. We are not able to grow new land but work on what we have. As much as we should embrace opportunities to grow our resources, our current path to sustainability is reducing our use.

A very interesting concept which Prof mentioned was the introduction of ‘farmists’ as opposed to farmers. Farmers are known to have a rigorous and brainless job since the start of agriculture. However, turning the job role into a smarter one, which increases the farmer’s productivity, seems like a more lucrative business in farming. This has been discussed in class and it has been mentioned the challenge is in changing and teaching these farmers to adopt a new business style. Looking at India, 60% of the land is agricultural land, which shows the magnitude of number of farmers. And going through training programs for them seems like a huge hurdle. However, this idea should not be shunned as a gradual movement into turning farmers into ‘farmists’ might just be possible and may turn the agricultural business.

Moving on to the presentations, most of them have touched the agro-biology on GM food. Many pros and cons of GM food have been discussed. I feel that we are already in the era where most of our foods are genetically modified and even if they are not direct products of genetic modification, they initial ingredient could have been tampered with. As for labeling, companies should provide information about the contents of the product. More detailed information about the process of manufacturing of the food product could be updated on the company’s website. However, even then, the truth and credibility of the information given is doubtful. As agreed by some of my class mates, what you do not know does not hurt you. And I think many of us are living by this example, where they usually ignore given labels, and even if we might chance upon the labels, we do not take the extra step to understand what our food contains. Guess we all are still leaving it upon the government and food industries to decide what is good for us and what is not.

Topic on agriculture was not my favourite one, yet this class induced and evoked so many intriguing questions. I would rate this 10/10!

Bio-Business...

As the progress of bio-business has been steep over the past 3 decades, the future of healthcare seems even more promising. The video on Microsoft’s vision for the future healthcare was brilliant on how people will have the convenient and ‘remote’ healthcare consultation. Patients will be able consult their doctors without having to physically be there in the clinic or hospital. This topic has been discussed in class. Technology always has its setbacks, where with this particular one doctors could not provide accurate reviews of the patient’s medical condition or prescriptions. Moreover, the precise amount of consultation fee cannot be determined.

From slide 8, it can be seen that the US is seen to be spending a lot in the bio-business sector, however, there are many issues with specifically the US healthcare. This is another issue which has sparked my interest.

It is yet again ironic that despite the innovations and the exciting future that bio-business holds, in the global leading causes of death and disability is major depression ranked at number 2. People are still not happy! And ranked number 1 is heart disease which is not surprising as our emotions affect our heart, and people round the globe seem depressed!

We can see that there is upward inclination to the trends in bio-business looking at the life-science patent approvals. Increasing numbers of people have entered themselves in the innovation business over the past years. As stem-cell research becomes prominent and genetic modification crops up, there research in this field seems to know no bounds. From the graph of Global Burden of Disease, we can see how communicable and non-communicable diseases are spread over the globe. The innovations have to be effective in alleviating suffering in areas with these fatal diseases as for now this the pressing problem.

Coming to presentations, Future of Healthcare done by Yu Jun was brilliantly done and it also received much applaud from the class. The presentation style was very effective as it used very few words and the message came across through interesting usage of visuals. This is a learning experience for me as I came to know what the audience looks for in a presentation.

I would rate this session an 8/10 as it brings quite a few things into perspective especially about a vast sector such as bio-business.                                            

Topic Report Outline: Human Cloning

Specific Innovation of Interest:

Creation Theory, Creation Science, Theism Evolution and Naturalistic Evolution are all theories on the conception of first of homo-sapiens. Ample theories and believes stemming from different religions and various deity-led communities have cropped up.  Many scientists were on a rat race to accurately figure out how the most complex machine on the world, human body, was created. This is definitely not as straightforward, due to lack of evidence and gaping holes of clues. As many look back to uncover the birth of a human, technology, specifically bio-technology has blazed through the world with a new anticipation of this medical breakthrough. This negates the purpose and crux of the of what the aforementioned scientists having first embarked on finding. Why find out how the first cell multiplied when we can already use electric and magnetic fields to have  sperm fuse into an egg to create a new being?

Rationale for Selecting this Innovation:

There are two types of Human Cloning:

1.      Reproductive Cloning

2.      Therapeutic Cloning

 Cloning has changed the dynamics of the scope of future possibilities for the human kind. According to the Medical Dictionary, cloning is a procedure for producing multiple copies of genetically identical organisms or cells or of individual genes. Organisms may be cloned by transplanting blastocysts from one embryo into an empty zona pellucida, or nuclei from the cells of one individual into enucleated oocytes.

As technical and convoluted this may sound, the controversies of bioethics and identity crisis have been omnipresent. This is a revolution by itself, and with the success the Human Genome Project, it will have dire consequences.

This ‘advancement’ in bio-technology has shaken the world and the consequence intrinsically connect with every aspect of a human’s life. Thus, this topic can be explored to great depths.

Proposed Approach to Development of Paper:  

·         Executive Summary:

o   This report is a compilation of the current standing of human cloning, consequences of this technological leap. Along with that, a depiction into future possibilities of cloning.

·         Background/Introduction:

o   The context of which the first of cloning was initiated.

o   Needs of society and drive of researchers that brought this up

o   Examples of cloning experiments

·         Historical Perspective

o   Various methods used/ or lack thereof  for various diseases and grave illnesses before the medical ‘miracle’.

o   More on the theories of how humans came about

·         Current Situation

o   Idea of reproductive cloning

§  Has been highly controversial and research(trials) has been limited

o   Idea of the therapeutic cloning

§  Major breakthrough in medical field

o   More on research of integrating animal and human cells

o   Who decides?

o   Clout of researchers, governments, human rights organizations, societies on the topic

o   Stand/ laws on cloning in various countries.

·         Analysis of cloning/Future Considerations

o   Weighing the pros and cons from different angles

o   Link how our decisions now may affect the future of the medical field, keeping in mind the benefits and disadvantages

§  Creating exact copies of a certain person

·         ‘Demise’ of the unique identity of the original person

§  Harvesting better copies of a person for selfish purposes

§  ‘Manufacturing’ designer babies

§  Repudiate human rights of an unborn to be given birth to, for research and medical work

o   Bringing in perspectives from “My Sister’s Keeper” and other various examples

Conclusion

·         Evaluation on this latest, upcoming technology

·         Boon or bane?

·         Will we bring doom upon ourselves, with continuation of this technology?

References

·         http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Cloning

·         http://explore.library.smu.edu.sg:50080/plainsrcpq/docview/398885498/abstract?accountid=28662

·         http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml

·         http://kaeleb.tripod.com/cloning_start.html

Exciting Possibilities!

Information and communication technology was the crux of the class discussion. An array of different prospects in each sector, such as Mass Media, Gaming, Wireless Technologies, was shown and comprehensively explained to us. The future possibilities also seem enticing as a video on Project Natal was presented to us. It depicts a character in the computer who is able to communicate with a human being. We are so involved in the conversation, that it may seem real to us. This is where a topic of discussion came about the demarcation of what is real and what is not may become unclear to kids in the future who will have these technologies at their disposal. However, Prof Shahi mentioned that there’ll definitely be checks and balances in placed from the parents. Will this be enough? In light of opportunities to expose to kids, where can parents draw the line? This could be a very subjective topic.

We also came to realize the rising significance of a CKO (Chief Knowledge Officer) in companies. He captures insights, knowledge, data and mapping the movements within organisations. Many of us were oblivious to this new term and position in an organization. However, this may have more importance in a more ICT- centric age, which is in progression now.

ICT’s application in various fields was also discussed. I was particularly interested in the impact on global poverty. This is also directly related to the buzzword, “digital divide” that is present. Many technologies have been capable of alleviating poverty, such as the radio, television, telephones, and computers and internet and several more. It was also realized that communities acceptance and adaptability to such technologies may take longer than we expect and thus the variation in development in different poverty-stricken country.

The presentation by Mellisa on ‘Future of Television’ was insight on how television might become moot. Personally, I would not be excited about that idea,  as someone in class mentioned that the ‘randomness’ of the television is what keeps us attracted to television at the end of the day.

Another interesting presentation was by Shaak, who talked about an interesting topic of why things are free. He comprehensively explains the concept behind this and is interesting to note that big platform providers will lose out in the market if they were make people pay for the services!

For interesting ideas and in-depth concepts, I would rate this session 9/10!

An Unexpected Future?

All the possible occurrences and how our future might shape into, is summarized in the global drivers of change! Every aspect in our lives seems to be changing and surging to create something new for all species on earth to adapt.  The most intimidating of them all and the common concern in class is scarcity of resources. Unless we have something concrete in our hands to sustain the resources, we might just be on our way to our own demise. An interesting factor that I felt about the drivers is that there will be technological innovations and scientific discoveries that renders for the betterment of humans. However, due to the scarcity and limitations of sustenance of resources,  it creates a paradox of whether we’ll be to ensure our survival.

We had also looked deeper into revolutionary and evolutionary changes. This brings in another angle when I look at different applications of technologies. It is seen as a game-changer and making previous products(design, model, features) moot in the market, that is, revolutionary. Small modifications and changes to the products is seen as an incremental change to the previous products, that is, evolutionary. Evolutionary changes are constantly happening and is ubiquitous. Revolutionary changes brings something new to the market. I had not demarcated the line between these two terms, but it is much clearer now.

We also had an intense discussion on management and leadership and its difference. It showed how each influences the corporations and its innovations. As I see it, anyone can be a leader also shown by the video in class. A manager is someone who follows a structure. There seemed to more of inclination or preferences of leader in the business. Leaders have a focused vision and bring out the creativity and passion for what they truly believe in.

In one of the presentations, the CIO role, there was a question posed on whether a leadership or a management approach will be appropriate. Leadership approach is where we have more inflow of ideas and the management approach is more on the execution of the ideas. I feel that both are equally important as, we need to new ideas and also make these ideas a reality!

All in all, I rate this session a 8/10.

 

New Concepts to Ponder Upon...

“Advantages of backwardness” was a very interesting concept that we has gone through during the class. Asian countries had no financial grounds to embark on any innovation or research for their country. More often than not, technological innovations were adopted by from the Western powers. As much as the technologies were ground-breaking and recognition and status these western powers received, the Asian countries were having it easy. They were merely imitating, as Prof Shahi puts it and using the technologies that didn't require the initial capital. However, it is interesting to also learn that this is situation is evolving. Asian countries are also starting on the journey of innovation. There have been many speculations on the extent of success.

http://blogs.hbr.org/anthony/2010/09/the_asian_innovation_century.html

This articles entails the possibilities and changes Asia needs to see to, for future success in the path of innovation.

 There also has been a question posed if innovation should be technology and market-driven. Innovations are over-hyped, in the sense that, people think of and expect them to be something as out-of-the-world and utterly expensive. However, many around the globe have needs that need to be satisfies. As long as innovation is made possible to fulfill its needs and brings social welfare, innovation has done its job. Thus, many technology-driven innovations are not winners in the market, because they are unnecessary with over-the-top prices. It can be seen that market-driven technologies overcome the ‘Development’ stage in the RDA model as it is demanded and can be afforded by the society.

There were two presentations that caught my attention, one on Apple, done by Fiona and the other on aviation and its innovation on more green technologies, done by Keith.

The one on Apple, showed us the side of Apple, which does everything that’s different from other companies. It showed how the management of the company can change the dynamics of the business processes in the company. However, it was very Steve Jobs-centric. The article should have shown the side of the employees working in the company and how they are coping to produce the results.

Aviation is one major field that contributes to the air pollution. Thus, the topic on innovation on greener technologies is a of major hype. Yet, many innovations on technical of aspects of  innovations have been shot down, due to its unfeasibility. There’s a solution yet to be discovered that could solve the problem effectively.

For the new interesting concepts that I learnt from the lesson, I rate the class 9/10.

Potential of Technology!

The Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), was something that struck me as of large scale. The video that was showed to us was touching and after reading a few more related articles, the dependence on technology to get a step closer to reaching the goals was surprising. From the environmental fact sheet, an EU perspective, industrialization uses cutting edge technology to run the economy. However, the pollution and side-effects of industrialization is also solved using another set of cutting-edge technology. It is amazing how technological advancements will shape our ‘better’ future.

Data of development of countries and their progress, was put together in such a way that was not mundane, in just few minutes. This development in countries, is very intrinsically linked with the technological innovations within each country. It is shocking how even within each country the pace of progress varies. The USA and a few western countries, progressed rapidly, leaving far behind its African and Asian counterparts. However, from another demographics, it showed that in the future, Asia and Africa will see great progression. I think this is due to the great potential that has gone untapped in the these areas. Once we see the application of technology in these areas, the MDGs would be reached faster than we know.

The individual presentations by our peers was very intriguing, especially one on ‘Designer Babies’. This concept and leap in technology has raised several ethical debates and controversies. From one of the episodes of ‘The Doctors’, it spotted designing our own babies, as one of the hottest trends! A couple, after conceiving four girls one after another, decided to modify their fertilized egg, that could determine the gender and that the baby is without any deformities or diseases. But this would be severely abused, and that’s where debate sparks off. It was an article that had ponder more on this topic.

The key take away points from session 2 class, was that we still might be far from achieving the MDGs, as we see a very scattered efforts, such as the EU. A more united effort could better the world. Another take away, is how technology is able to modify and create life. Technology mixing with religion or creation of life is disturbing.

I would rate the first two sessions a 9, as I gradually realize the potential of technology!

Why the world is, the way it is?

     This is a reflection of all the readings from session 1. Much of the focus was on technological revolution in early years of civilisation. It was enriching to read about how people, way back in time, were just beginning to discover ways and solutions for mere activities, such as gathering food to sustain their community, keeping themselves warm, and surviving in the enviroment, against climate or the wild.

     Jared's Guns, Germs and Steel was very comprehensively put together, and made it more clear on how warfare, diseases and geographical locations have shaped Africa or the Western countries the way they are now. He believes that geography is the main factor. However, it does strike to me as odd, where the people in New Guinea who are on a constant move to new places, in search of food and shelter, did not to travel as much as the Westerners. What had stopped them from making the leap to being as advanced as the whites and get as much 'cargo' as them? Many countries have surpassed the geographical barriers in search of better living and thrived.

     The reason could be that indegenous people of Africa, were made of small communities. And their priority in life is to sustain each other and ensure continual living of thier kind. Thus, the innovations that arise from them, are limited to survival techniques. The westerners were a more amibitious bunch, where they took innovations to great heights that could change the dynamics of large communities.

     From my previous blog, I had a question about whether the white dominance had anything to do with stifling the progress of New Guineans and also how societies have been shaped till now. It was not mentioned much in the videos about how the skin colour could have affected New Guineans' way of life. This could have been one of the more subtle factors. This amongst many other things, shaped the way the world it is.
    

A New Beginning to Comprehensive Understanding

     When posed the question of what we know about technology and world change, many students replied that they do not know much about technology and world change. It could be a safe answer to give especially when none of us are overly knowledgeable on the topic. I did have a few replies to the question which seemes to grow more comprehensive as the class progressed.

     Technology and world change are undoudbtedly interconnected. Technology changes the dynamics of different aspects in the world, while technology feeds and accommodates to various changes happening in the globe. And we citizens of the world are caught up in this whirlwind. No matter the age, where the previous generation is looking to adjust to the new advances in technology, especially social media.

     I had a vague idea on how products of technology are impacting the globe, however, I was taken aback when the changes and impacts were crudely represented in numbers. (In the video, as shown by our professor) It gives us the concrete statistics how the world in ever evolving. Technology is fundamentally to make life better for people. It is not a question about whether we'll be able to keep up with it, but it is of whether we'll be capable of manipulating it to our benefit and making our lives as we desire it to be. This question can be tackled due to the fact that technology is a mere tool.

     The professor also has introduced to us new insights of Diamond's, where his works starts with a simple question of why the whites had more 'cargo' than the New Guineans. There were many ideas on why such was the case. Travelling opportunities and availability of resources were the factors that the whites had advantage over. However, what struck my mind, of why the whites and not the other party, was colour of the skin. The whites were dominative and that could have shaped the fate of the New Guineans. I have yet to view all the videos of Guns, Germs and Steel to elaborate further on the validity of my point.

     Key take away is that we have to know the history of how technology has progressed and we should read up on various case studies. The direction for the whole semester has been set and it seems that it will be a really informative one!