TWC Session 1

Brief Overview 
The  first part of the session was more of getting familiar with the course outline, expectations and requirements as well as an introduction of everyone. This was followed by a YouTube video of "Guns, Germs & Steel" by Jared Diamonds and a discussion of the inequality of fortunes between New Guineans and the European, otherwise known as "white men". Discussions about technology "revolutions" and the picture on the Future of Human Race was carried out after.

Interesting observations & Ideas
After the sessions, two observations really caught my attention.

First is the video of "Guns, Germs and Steel". During the discussion of this video, we discussed the factors that contributed to the inequality, which were inability to communicate (with many different languages and no writing innovation), lack of exposure and most importantly, geographical location. Though I agreed to the contributing factors, I was not convinced that geographical location was the most vital aspect. This led me to watch all 18parts of the video on YouTube, which took insanely long.

After watching the video/movie, I only then realized how important geological location of a particular community was and how it affects the pace of development. The geographical location provided the Europeans with higher protein crops, higher immune system against the Incas as well as the innovation of writing and guns. These were mainly what i had gathered from the video.

However, after putting more thought to it, I also realize that is how Singapore became such a developed country and of which the pace it developed. Singapore is strategically blessed as a port, in between the major trading countries, allowing the country to prosper. This, along with brilliant minds, allowed Singapore to progress at a rapid rate.

The second point that caught my eye was on the discussion on the Future of Human Race. The main topic of the discussion was the increasing obesity rate all around the world. Some factors which were contributed in class were increase in wealth; technology (traveling in vehicles vs walking); more forms of entertainment which leads to the decrease in exercises and convenient "save time" meals in such a hectic society.

Though i do agree to some extent, for all the advances the world has, obesity is a problem that can be solved by cultivating proper habits in everyones' lives. For instance, governments should create social awareness and educate the people, especially the young to curb the problem of obesity. Singapore government in the recent months have been promoting "low fat" milk powder (if i am not mistaken) to reduce the chances of obesity at a young age, as well as creating awareness of the down-sides of being obese, other than just appearances. Another example is the activists protesting for a "ban" on Ronald MacDonald's Happy Meals and their fierce marketing campaign to the young children about MacDonald. MacDonald's marketing has been very successful and hence obesity is higher. (this is just an example, not solely blaming it on Macs)

Key Takeaway
For every innovation, i feel that there will always be downsides. It is how the society reacts to them and bring them to a minimum.

Sometimes the root of a problem, such as the one in "Guns, Germs and Steel", can sometimes be an unexpected answer.

Issues for Further Discussion
I vaguely remember Prof mentioning something about "dark ages" and how first Europeans, then Middle East plunged into the era. I wonder how a progressing society can be digressed into the "dark ages"? Logically to me personally, I feel that this does not make much sense and wished that this could have been discussed further during the session.

Personal Ratings
I will rate the session about a 8/10. Going into TWC for the first session, i did not know anything about this module. The session sparked my interest in the the module as a whole and questions left pondering in my mind.

thanks!