TWC Session 2

Brief Overview
There were two topics discussed today during the second session: Technology, Society and Global Dominance; and Technology and Human Development. For the first part, we talked about the different aspects of Global Dominance that a country might have and Prof discussed the ways in which dominant leaders come about. As for the second part of the session, we mainly talked about the components of human development and personally i learnt a new term: impact assessment.

Interesting Observations & Ideas
The most interesting part of the first half of the session was the discussion about the concept of rising stars, dominant leaders and falling stars. Honestly, i have never looked at key dominant leaders in this perspective, usually just the usual thoughts of "how impressed i am with this fellow". It lead me to think on a more personal level, of my individual attitude towards everything else and what i should be. I realize to succeed in life as a whole, one should adopt the attitude of a rising star / dominant with rising star attitude.

Next interesting idea that was talked about briefly was the "happiness" component that might be added to the Human Development Index(HDI) in the future. I feel that this will add on to a list of already comprehensive measures to calculate HDI. The idea was not new to me, but the ways of measuring happiness were. Examples such as rate of suicide, broken marriages and such from the Prof gave me new insight into this factor. Personally i feel that this addition to HDI will allow a better grasp of the developments of countries everywhere.

The Millennium Development Goals was a movement unheard of until today. I feel that though more often than not, the goals will not be met entirely by the end of the proposed timeline, but as countries work towards this goals, there will definitely be increase in the general welfare of the world (especially the developing countries). This movement also boils down to every individual and to do his part in helping out. This session shared this MDG movement with many from SMU who has not heard of it and I'm sure has impacted at least some of them.

Key Takeaways
Everyone who wants to succeed in life MUST adopt a rising star attitude!

Issues for Further Discussion
One issue that i wished was discussed further was the reasons as to how the countries (in the past such as China and Roman Empire) became the dominant leaders in that era? Prof started on the Pars Romana already leading in the various cultures and the fall of the empire, however i felt that a more important point was what led to their dominance.

Personal Rating
I feel that there will always be something new to learn from TWC and Prof brings up very different perspectives on issues that i had never though of.
8/10

Jeremy :)