In this sessions, there were 4 group presentations: Epidemic management; Crowd sourcing; Green Urbanization; and Sports and Technology. The presentation styles were similar to the previous weeks, though the topics presented shed quite some light on various issues. The main two presentations that were most interesting to me was Sports and Technology, and Wild Green Urbanization.
Sports and Technology is a natural interest to me as i use to play squash competitively at school and club level. In this presentation, the thing that caught my attention most was the part on technology to accelerate recovery. The example given was Valencia from Manchester United who broke his leg, and within 10weeks, he was back on the pitch. Before such advanced technology, one a soccer player broke his leg, it was more or less over for his career. Applying this to all sports in general, other than precautions that a sportsman can take, the technology has given sportsmen confidence that they will be able to carry on with their careers. Simulation Training, with the aid of technology, has also been a great asset to sports. It allows people to have real like simulations of the actual game. This is especially useful for sports like Formula One. To add on further, it allows them to train even when there is no 'competitor' and it saves on costs. As far as my knowledge goes, the cost of the amount of fuel in a F1 race is substantially high. Simulations will reduce the costs, but more importantly, save fuel. Sports and technology is something to keep a constant look out for in the future!
Moving on to Green Urbanization, the concept of this is very appealing. Though government bodies have been constantly 'worried' about the environment, I have not seen much that had been done about the matter. Green concepts are not tough to come out with, but it takes tremendous commitment and resources to apply them. For example, the use of electric cars. The invention has been out for 10-15 years at least? But look at the amount of electric cars on the road currently. Only in the past few years, the Singapore government had provided subsidies for people who purchase hybrid cars. This acts as a good incentive for road users to use. Hopefully in the future, governments can use more of these policies to electric cars!
i had a good time during the TWC session. though it was the last lesson, i am thankful for the amount of insight that have been shared! (:
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Monday, 31 October 2011
TWC Session 11: Group Presentations (i)
This week's TWC session had no seminar, but rather, it was a time where the groups presented their websites. The websites' topics can be based on anything, as long as it is related to technology. The topics were 1. Designer Babies 2. Nanotechnology(my group!) 3. Space Tourism 4. Plastic Vortex. This session is very different form the other sessions as the entire time is dedicated to the presentations and the discussions are from us, the students.
i found the designer babies very interesting, both in the aspect of presentation, as well as the topic. First, i am impress with the presentation style, especially in the introduction. The group introduced the topic by describing a scenario of a thirty odd year old wife who wants to have a baby, but is unable to have one despite trying very hard by natural means. Having designer babies will allow the wife to be able to have a child, as well as reduce the possible complications that a older lady might face. I felt that having such a introduction caught the attention of many of the students, and is able to relate and understand the issues of the topic.
Moving on to the topic itself, i feel that there is a certain amount of controversy. Basic human rights and moral issues are pretty much in the center of conflict. If a couple is perfectly healthy, is it right for them to have a designer baby for the reasons that they want to choose the gender of the child and his or her strengths and features? If designer babies become a common practice in the future, which i foresee, everyone will be of high IQ, good looks and almost no weaknesses. is that a good thing? what if every son looks like brad pit? on this issues, personally i feel that having designer babies to prevent diseases, deformities or problems along these lines are the right thing to do. It will prevent suffering and pain of children or loved ones. However, for esthetic or gender preference wise, i feel that this then becomes subjective. No one can really stop a couple from having a designer baby, but i feel that it is wrong to do so. Like many other technologies, only time will tell the developments of this amazing technology and how societies apply it.
The other presentation that caught my attention was plastic vortex. First, the topic presented is new to me. I did not know before the presentation about plastic vortex, or the amount of waste there is in the oceans. The group did a generally good presentation, covering the issues and possible solutions of curbing this problem. I was impressed with the solutions that the group came up with. This allows any readers that come across the website to be able to be "part of the effort". Those interested can also look up the 2 organizations whose aim is to clean up the mass thrash in the ocean, that is polluting and destroying the sea and the creatures in it. Among the solutions, Prof did offer to amend their solutions and i thought it was very helpful. The group's mentality was to stop further pollution of the sea by cutting down on plastic materials, but not to do anything about the plastic vortex. However, what prof mentioned was to put that as a mid-term goal and pen down a long-term goal to clean up the plastic vortex. This will require a lot of time, effort and expenditure by countries. Hopefully, countries will join hands to do so.
i had an enjoyable time in this TWC session and am looking forward to next week's batch of presentations! (:
jem
i found the designer babies very interesting, both in the aspect of presentation, as well as the topic. First, i am impress with the presentation style, especially in the introduction. The group introduced the topic by describing a scenario of a thirty odd year old wife who wants to have a baby, but is unable to have one despite trying very hard by natural means. Having designer babies will allow the wife to be able to have a child, as well as reduce the possible complications that a older lady might face. I felt that having such a introduction caught the attention of many of the students, and is able to relate and understand the issues of the topic.
Moving on to the topic itself, i feel that there is a certain amount of controversy. Basic human rights and moral issues are pretty much in the center of conflict. If a couple is perfectly healthy, is it right for them to have a designer baby for the reasons that they want to choose the gender of the child and his or her strengths and features? If designer babies become a common practice in the future, which i foresee, everyone will be of high IQ, good looks and almost no weaknesses. is that a good thing? what if every son looks like brad pit? on this issues, personally i feel that having designer babies to prevent diseases, deformities or problems along these lines are the right thing to do. It will prevent suffering and pain of children or loved ones. However, for esthetic or gender preference wise, i feel that this then becomes subjective. No one can really stop a couple from having a designer baby, but i feel that it is wrong to do so. Like many other technologies, only time will tell the developments of this amazing technology and how societies apply it.
The other presentation that caught my attention was plastic vortex. First, the topic presented is new to me. I did not know before the presentation about plastic vortex, or the amount of waste there is in the oceans. The group did a generally good presentation, covering the issues and possible solutions of curbing this problem. I was impressed with the solutions that the group came up with. This allows any readers that come across the website to be able to be "part of the effort". Those interested can also look up the 2 organizations whose aim is to clean up the mass thrash in the ocean, that is polluting and destroying the sea and the creatures in it. Among the solutions, Prof did offer to amend their solutions and i thought it was very helpful. The group's mentality was to stop further pollution of the sea by cutting down on plastic materials, but not to do anything about the plastic vortex. However, what prof mentioned was to put that as a mid-term goal and pen down a long-term goal to clean up the plastic vortex. This will require a lot of time, effort and expenditure by countries. Hopefully, countries will join hands to do so.
i had an enjoyable time in this TWC session and am looking forward to next week's batch of presentations! (:
jem
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
TWC Session 10
Session 10's main focus was on the Assessment and Forecasting of technologies. In this session, we talked about the potential fields of technology that are present today and also looked at "mega trends" that are present in the society today.
An important aspect to be discussed further is on the vitality of being proactive and imagination. Being proactive in the area of technology is to be aware of the future issues and thinking about how we can address the issues. This will cause an increase in demand for innovative technology. Being proactive is also beneficial to anyone, which will in turn let one be the forefront in that area. In addition to being proactive, imagination is also an important factor. As discussed more in-depth in the last session, pro activeness and imagination comes hand in hand. To be successful in any industry and to be ahead of your competitors, one needs both these "concepts".
An issue brought up during the session was the limited resources there are in the world, hence the need to prioritize on whether and when to implement new innovations and technologies. This is especially crucial in the developing countries. I feel that the government plays a huge role in this aspect of allocating resources. Most of them (especially developing countries), unfortunately, allocate their resources based on short term goals, meeting the present needs. However, they fail to have enough foresight to plan for the future issues and needs that their country might face. This means that they will always "be playing catch up" and not be able to break out of this cycle.
"Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today"
Perhaps what could have been discussed more is on mega-trends. Prof did show a video on it, but due to the lack of time, there was not much discussion on this. Maybe a few mega trends could have been highlighted and debate about the importance of the trend.
This session was fruitful in bringing insight about the future and the attitude one should carry to be successful! 9/10
jem
An important aspect to be discussed further is on the vitality of being proactive and imagination. Being proactive in the area of technology is to be aware of the future issues and thinking about how we can address the issues. This will cause an increase in demand for innovative technology. Being proactive is also beneficial to anyone, which will in turn let one be the forefront in that area. In addition to being proactive, imagination is also an important factor. As discussed more in-depth in the last session, pro activeness and imagination comes hand in hand. To be successful in any industry and to be ahead of your competitors, one needs both these "concepts".
An issue brought up during the session was the limited resources there are in the world, hence the need to prioritize on whether and when to implement new innovations and technologies. This is especially crucial in the developing countries. I feel that the government plays a huge role in this aspect of allocating resources. Most of them (especially developing countries), unfortunately, allocate their resources based on short term goals, meeting the present needs. However, they fail to have enough foresight to plan for the future issues and needs that their country might face. This means that they will always "be playing catch up" and not be able to break out of this cycle.
"Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today"
Perhaps what could have been discussed more is on mega-trends. Prof did show a video on it, but due to the lack of time, there was not much discussion on this. Maybe a few mega trends could have been highlighted and debate about the importance of the trend.
This session was fruitful in bringing insight about the future and the attitude one should carry to be successful! 9/10
jem
Monday, 17 October 2011
TWC Session 9
The main discussion in the TWC Session 9 was about the emerging and future technologies. The session was the most open-ended of all the previous session, allowing the class to discuss on any technologies and its future predictions. An overview of the type of drivers was also given by the prof for recap.
“You see things; and you say, 'Why?'
But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'”
- George Bernard Shaw -
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.
For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
-Albert Einstein –
These two quotes revolves one of the main reasons of innovation of emerging and future technologies. The keyword: IMAGINATION! Imagination is a very powerful tool, it is the cause of innovations and new inventions. Imagination can be seen as the spark of vision that makes one chase after the idea. Though imagination is very important, i feel that there should be emphasis on being "grounded to earth".
A concept that is very interesting is The Perfect Woman. This is derived from robotics. Two scientists have been researching on building "the perfect woman", a robot. This "woman" will be able to cater to the chores of the household and even provide massages for the owners! The idea was based on the facts that there are 100,000,000 single men around and that those who are unable to find their perfect soul mate can just purchase one. The robots or "woman" will be able to be bought online and delivered to them. A broader picture of this concept can be related to the work that robots can 'take over', such as menial factory work and low-cost labors. This will enable these jobs to be done more efficiently and effectively. However, there will be a change of social unrest due to the rise in unemployments. Before such events can happen, there must be a change in the economics of the world, where people will strive for excellence, being able to contribute more than menial labour, leaving them to robots.
A revolutionary technology that can be seen to emerge in the next decade is plastic electronics / technology. The main idea is using plastics instead of silicon for electronics. This will enable the flexibility of equipment as well as the durability. For example, mobile phones can be made of plastics. The main focus is manufacturing plastic microchips. This technology can being endless opportunities! to find out more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Tv5Ox_U90
After mentioning on the potential of the solar energy in the previous session, i went to do some research on the emerging technologies of alternative solar energies. Recently, scientists have been able to a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun's power into energy. The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the first solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays. The breakthrough has led theorists to predict that plastic solar cells could one day become five times more efficient than current solar cell technology. Like paint, the composite can be sprayed onto other materials and used as portable electricity. A sweater coated in the material could power a cell phone or other wireless devices. A hydrogen-powered car painted with the film could potentially convert enough energy into electricity to continually recharge the car's battery. Hopefully there will be faster development of this invention and that it will be used worldwide, especially with the pending energy crisis of nuclear.
the takeaway quote of the session: If you imagine it, you can make it happen.
8/10
Jeremy (:
After mentioning on the potential of the solar energy in the previous session, i went to do some research on the emerging technologies of alternative solar energies. Recently, scientists have been able to a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun's power into energy. The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the first solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays. The breakthrough has led theorists to predict that plastic solar cells could one day become five times more efficient than current solar cell technology. Like paint, the composite can be sprayed onto other materials and used as portable electricity. A sweater coated in the material could power a cell phone or other wireless devices. A hydrogen-powered car painted with the film could potentially convert enough energy into electricity to continually recharge the car's battery. Hopefully there will be faster development of this invention and that it will be used worldwide, especially with the pending energy crisis of nuclear.
the takeaway quote of the session: If you imagine it, you can make it happen.
8/10
Jeremy (:
Monday, 10 October 2011
TWC Session 8
Today in Technology and World Change, the topic of discussion was energy and world change, taking account the past, present and future. The world at present is aiming to have a transition from fossil fuel based energy intensive economy to environmentally sound and sustainable clean and green approach. To reach this target, governments and people have to inculcate new habits and come out with new ideas and technologies.
An interesting point that was brought up during the session : "the sun provides more energy to the Earth in one hour than humankind currently uses in an entire year". considering there is some truth to this quote, i wonder why most countries are not focusing the majority of their resources on solar energy, finding ways to fully utilize or harness the energy. Some countries focus on nuclear energy, natural gas, while other focus on alternative renewable energy sources like biomass, wind and water. Perhaps a reason i can think of is that solar energy requires 2 conditions : abundance of sunlight and land. in the case of sunlight, Germany (shown in lesson) is seen to have invested a lot in solar energy and has got very positive outcome in the process. Other countries, especially countries in the tropics, should follow and example of Germany and their governments should also encourage the private use of solar panels. Next is land, the presenting technology requires a large amount of land to harness enough electricity to power a town or so. hopefully in due time, technology will enable the same surface area of panel to absorb a significantly larger amount of energy.
Governments play a huge role in achieving a clean, green environment. i have to agree with prof when he stated that the "biggest stumbling block is political will for a possible energy scenario of achieving close to 100% renewable energy by the year 2050". Governments are the driving force of a nation's economy and if they all put their focus to a green economy, a lot can be achieved. i lean more towards the role of governments than "it starts with you" campaigns. why? policy tools for facilitating change to a green economy is done by the government, and if done right, the results will be tremendous. Using Germany's solar energy as an example, the government used a combination of incentive, subsidies and education. The result was that even traditional farmers care thinking of using their land for energy purposes rather than just rearing and growing crops. Such an system should be implemented all over the countries!
The Fukushima accident was tragic. BUT it has also caused several countries to focus on alternative renewable energy sources and fully stop nuclear energy. Though nuclear energy has significantly less pollution than coal / fossil fuels, the bottom-line is that there is still pollution. Countries like Germany and Scotland had decided to totally phase out nuclear and turn to alternative energy sources. Maybe the 'new' investments can lead to greater utilization of these renewable resources.
The key takeaway is the importance of renewable resources and non-pullution. Governments should focus more on renewable energy than on how to maximize the non-renewables.
Something else that can be discussed during this seminar is the possibly of moving technology of renewable resources into the private sector. Governments should, like everything else, provide patents and incentives for the private sector to invest in renewable resources. This will lead to a much rapid rate of development.
8/10
Jeremy! (:
An interesting point that was brought up during the session : "the sun provides more energy to the Earth in one hour than humankind currently uses in an entire year". considering there is some truth to this quote, i wonder why most countries are not focusing the majority of their resources on solar energy, finding ways to fully utilize or harness the energy. Some countries focus on nuclear energy, natural gas, while other focus on alternative renewable energy sources like biomass, wind and water. Perhaps a reason i can think of is that solar energy requires 2 conditions : abundance of sunlight and land. in the case of sunlight, Germany (shown in lesson) is seen to have invested a lot in solar energy and has got very positive outcome in the process. Other countries, especially countries in the tropics, should follow and example of Germany and their governments should also encourage the private use of solar panels. Next is land, the presenting technology requires a large amount of land to harness enough electricity to power a town or so. hopefully in due time, technology will enable the same surface area of panel to absorb a significantly larger amount of energy.
Governments play a huge role in achieving a clean, green environment. i have to agree with prof when he stated that the "biggest stumbling block is political will for a possible energy scenario of achieving close to 100% renewable energy by the year 2050". Governments are the driving force of a nation's economy and if they all put their focus to a green economy, a lot can be achieved. i lean more towards the role of governments than "it starts with you" campaigns. why? policy tools for facilitating change to a green economy is done by the government, and if done right, the results will be tremendous. Using Germany's solar energy as an example, the government used a combination of incentive, subsidies and education. The result was that even traditional farmers care thinking of using their land for energy purposes rather than just rearing and growing crops. Such an system should be implemented all over the countries!
The Fukushima accident was tragic. BUT it has also caused several countries to focus on alternative renewable energy sources and fully stop nuclear energy. Though nuclear energy has significantly less pollution than coal / fossil fuels, the bottom-line is that there is still pollution. Countries like Germany and Scotland had decided to totally phase out nuclear and turn to alternative energy sources. Maybe the 'new' investments can lead to greater utilization of these renewable resources.
The key takeaway is the importance of renewable resources and non-pullution. Governments should focus more on renewable energy than on how to maximize the non-renewables.
Something else that can be discussed during this seminar is the possibly of moving technology of renewable resources into the private sector. Governments should, like everything else, provide patents and incentives for the private sector to invest in renewable resources. This will lead to a much rapid rate of development.
8/10
Jeremy! (:
Saturday, 8 October 2011
TWC Research Paper Draft 1- Nuclear Energy
Hi all!
here is the link to my TWC research paper draft 1!
(:
link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wtLrxhtMGJ2UW9-APsRY5ToqTcghW2mqyb0-BXF7580/edit?hl=en_US
here is the link to my TWC research paper draft 1!
(:
link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wtLrxhtMGJ2UW9-APsRY5ToqTcghW2mqyb0-BXF7580/edit?hl=en_US
Monday, 26 September 2011
TWC Session 7
For TWC session 7, we continued our discussion about BioBusiness Revolution. This time we mainly focused on Agriculture and the Environment, how BioBusiness has impacted the society in the aspects of agriculture and the environment. We touched on matters such as waste management, plant biotechnology and Agri-biology.
One of the perspective of Agri-biology is the transformation of traditional farmers to what they call "farmist". The concept is to educate farmers to the extent that they are specialized. Gone were the days when farmers where termed by growing crops on lands and harvesting them. Present day "farmist" are farmers that use up to date technologies to increase productivity. Methods such as hydroponics and aerophonics are examples that famers used. Technology enables us to increase productivity of food, shorten the growth cycles of crops, hence allowing more food to be produced from the same amount of land. Hopefully in the near future, technology will have advanced to the extend that the cost of food prices will drop to enable food to be catered all around the world, even the poorer nations.
Another question that Prof posed today was "Genetically Modified Food or not?. I feel that Prof made a good point in arguing for GM food. There should not be protests against it if these food provides better nutrients and allow frequent supply of quality food. The only difference is that food nowadays can be done in a laboratory, crossing genetic properties to come out up the desired product. Back in the past, plants were also genetically modified by cross breeding! just that it was done slower and more "traditional" methods.
“There’s enough on this planet for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.”
I feel that if everyone lives by this, there will never be famine.
I feel that if everyone lives by this, there will never be famine.
7/10!
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