Chapter 1: Out of Eden
"Why were Europeans the ones with all the cargo? Why had they taken over so much of the world, instead of the native people of New Guinea? How did Europeans end up with what Diamond terms the agents of conquest: guns, germs and steel? It was these agents of conquest that allowed 168 Spanish conquistadors to defeat an Imperial Inca army of 80,000 in 1532, and set a pattern of European conquest which would continue right up to the present day.
Diamond knew that the answer had little to do with ingenuity or individual skill. From his own experience in the jungles of New Guinea, he had observed that native hunter-gatherers were just as intelligent as people of European descent -- and far more resourceful. Their lives were tough, and it seemed a terrible paradox of history that these extraordinary people should be the conquered, and not the conquerors. "
The cause of inequality in modernization between countries is mainly due to the geographical location of the country and the crops they yield. Papau New Guinea's main agriculture yield was taro and bananas, which are low in protein. Unlike wheat and sweet potato grown in other countries like America and Asia, which are high in protein. Hence, population grew faster, and more people could help in sourcing for food. When there are more people to source for food, others could take on the role of the innovators and creators, thus inventing the plough using animal domestication. Another reason was that Papau New Guinea people domesticated pigs, which could not be used for labour. Whereas in America and Egypt, they had horses and cows, to help them plough the land for farming, thus increasing the efficiency. This slowly led to changes in society.
Man started building homes and decorating them back in the olden ages, around the same time they started developing metal tools. The discovery of plaster, by heating stones to 1000 degrees, used to plaster their homes. The concept of air-conditioning, by building homes with a small vent that allows cooler air from the outside to flow in.
However, back to Yali's question: 'Why do you white men have so much cargo, and we New Guineans so little?'. Jared Diamond affirms it to the geographical location. The blueprint for the division between haves and havenots lies within the land itself. The fertile crescent, in the Middle East played a huge role in the revolution of agriculture. However, ironically the people living in the fertile crescent soon moved away as the hot weather did not favour the growth of crops. The fertile crescent spread east and west, to Eurasia. The rise in civilisation in Europe began and grew rapidly only after the spread of the fertile crescent.
Chapter 2: Conquest
The roots of power. The key to it is the distribution of farm animals.
16th century, European farms were dominated by domesticated animals, which provided dairy, meat and muscle power, and all these came from the fertile crescent, none were native to Europe.
Gunpowder orginally came from China, but was pioneered as a weapon by the Arabs. People started working with metal in the fertile crescent, and because Europe was nearer to the fertile crescent, they developed metal tools and weapons faster. Only in the 16th century did people start to 'wear' swords on them, unlike in the middle ages. It was a symbol of aspiring greed.
Like how animals and crops spread from the fertile crescent, knowledge and technology of writing also spreaded across the world. Due to Europe's favourable geographical location, they advanced faster than most parts of the world.
"On November 15, 1532, 168 Spanish conquistadors arrive in the holy city of Cajamarca, at the heart of the Inca Empire, in Peru. They are exhausted, outnumbered and terrified -- ahead of them are camped 80,000 Inca troops and the entourage of the Emperor himself. Yet within just 24 hours, more than 7,000 Inca warriors lie slaughtered; the Emperor languishes in chains; and the victorious Europeans began a reign of colonial terror which will sweep through the entire American continent."
But the Spaniads won because of horses, swords and strategy, the first two-Inca people have never seen before. European powers were so huge that they colonise not only Inca (peru), but also America, Africa and much of Asia. They were able to do so, because they had guns, germs and steel. Smallpox started from the Spainards on their conquest over Inca, and there they spreaded the germs to the Incans.
Chapter 3: Into the Tropics
"So far, Jared Diamond has demonstrated how geography favoured one group of people -- Europeans -- endowing them with agents of conquest ahead of their rivals around the world. Guns, germs and steel allowed Europeans to colonize vast tracts of the globe -- but what happened when this all-conquering package arrived in Africa, the birthplace of humanity?
Can Jared Diamond's theories explain how a continent so rich in natural resources, could have ended up the poorest continent on earth?"
An advantage the Eurpeans had was living in close proximity to their livestock, they become infected with viruses of those animals, which evolved into disesases of humans. Through exposure over centuries, Europeans have developed resistance to some of those diseases. but as Europeans spread around the world, they encounter ppl who didn't have those resistance and thus spreading the diseases.
Back in those days, guns developed outside of Europe, but Europe kept them inside. People went everywhere with their rifles, just like how people now would go everywhere with their handphones. The Voortrekkers from Europe were travelling, when the Zulus attacked them. Did Europe, who had guns, germs and steel, finally met their match of Africa? The sneak attack rendered the Voortrekkers useless to their guns. // Another attack between the settlers and the Zulus occured and this time, the Europeans had time to maximise the use of their technology, some shoot while others reload. Guns, germs and steel had prevailed over the Zulus.
As settlers move to Africa, they were soon faced with problems that disabled them from farming, and their animals died. This is due to the horrible climate. Africans overcame the problem that Europeans faced, developed a unique system of agriculture that spread across Africa. Usually, its the guns, germs and steel from Europe killing the Indigenous people. But now, in African Cape, it is the germs from the native African countries killing the Europeans who came in. Tropical Africans, through exposure to these germs, have developed resistance to them too. They were also resistant to smallpox, combating them with their own ways. Malaria also started in Africa (some experts say that smallpox originated from Africa), and killed many European settlers. The Africans have found ways to deal with Malaria, by moving to higher and dry locations where mosquitoes cannot breed. Many Europeans died as they could not understand the Africans way of living, and continued living by the river-a water source, and a place for mosquitoes to breed. This way, tropical Africans have triumphed over the Europeans settlers.
In the late 1800s, the Europeans took over Africa -now known as Congo, and set the Africans to labour. The Africans were forced to abandon their way of life, and labour for the Europeans. The colonisers turned to their technology, they forced Africans to build railway tracks from Cape to the tropics, constructed for Europeans to extract Africa's wealth, built on the ruins of African civilisation.
Malaria is a pandemic in Zambia, and its one of the biggest killer of African children below 5 years. Other continents like Asia also experienced such pandemics, but through knowledge and technology, they knew how to combat the disease and thus eliminate or largely reduce malaria.
Guns, Germs and Steel are the most powerful forces shaping the world.
Why is our world divided between rich and poor? And how perhaps can we change it?
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Lesson #12
We had 4 groups presenting this lesson, one of which was my group. Anyway, in order of who went first:
First group did the topic on The End: Technology and Armageddon. They had role playing too, a darth vadar guy, a guy in thrash bag, and the others. If armageddon were to stike Earth, obviously we would all die, hence they introduced the idea of having cyborgs apart from us humans and robots which exists today. Cyborgs would survive all these, and is at the top of the pyramid, hierachy-wise.
Our group went next, we did on Diseases and the technology related to combat the spread of disesases. More specifically, we did on infectious diseases like Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS as they are more prevalent in developing countries, and we want to spread awareness through our website, so that people will be more aware and know the preventative and curative measures to undertake. Role playing again, we had Nickolas as the businessman, who is the CEO (Chief Everything Officer) of SHABABIES Medical Wing and wants to create a website that has all these info on infectious diseases. Hence his IT man Xun Kai sets up the websites. Tracy the historian talks about the timeline, the two doctors KangSheng and I did on case studies and current technologies, while Matthew the (mad) scientist did on future technology. I really love my group, and I felt that we did well as a team. By the way, SHABABIES stands for Spreading Health Awareness, Bringing About Better Implementation to Educational Sustainability.
Next group did on Technology and Art, and how technology has helped revolutionise the art world today, and yet some might think it is spoiling it instead. To be honest, I felt that their presentation was a little too long and monotonous as well. However, the topic is sure unconventional and interesting to note.
Lastly, the group surprised me with another unconventional topic that is bound to interest me, Women and Technology. They made use of a lot of videos that they produced by themselves as well, and the topics covered were really interesting. So was their website, as they had a lot of women related stuffs, like even polls, blogshops etc. They talked about the traditional stereotype view of people that women are not good with technology, which they already proved wrong as they are a all female team! (:
Well, that concludes TWC lesson this sem. It was surely an interesting module, and I learnt a lot about Technology, and how it changes the world. Every second, something new somewhere else in the world is created, by a change leader. We CAN be a change leader, if we dare to take the step forward and lead, rather than following the changes. Technology? I'm not so afraid of it, and less of a noob now! (:
First group did the topic on The End: Technology and Armageddon. They had role playing too, a darth vadar guy, a guy in thrash bag, and the others. If armageddon were to stike Earth, obviously we would all die, hence they introduced the idea of having cyborgs apart from us humans and robots which exists today. Cyborgs would survive all these, and is at the top of the pyramid, hierachy-wise.
Our group went next, we did on Diseases and the technology related to combat the spread of disesases. More specifically, we did on infectious diseases like Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS as they are more prevalent in developing countries, and we want to spread awareness through our website, so that people will be more aware and know the preventative and curative measures to undertake. Role playing again, we had Nickolas as the businessman, who is the CEO (Chief Everything Officer) of SHABABIES Medical Wing and wants to create a website that has all these info on infectious diseases. Hence his IT man Xun Kai sets up the websites. Tracy the historian talks about the timeline, the two doctors KangSheng and I did on case studies and current technologies, while Matthew the (mad) scientist did on future technology. I really love my group, and I felt that we did well as a team. By the way, SHABABIES stands for Spreading Health Awareness, Bringing About Better Implementation to Educational Sustainability.
Next group did on Technology and Art, and how technology has helped revolutionise the art world today, and yet some might think it is spoiling it instead. To be honest, I felt that their presentation was a little too long and monotonous as well. However, the topic is sure unconventional and interesting to note.
Lastly, the group surprised me with another unconventional topic that is bound to interest me, Women and Technology. They made use of a lot of videos that they produced by themselves as well, and the topics covered were really interesting. So was their website, as they had a lot of women related stuffs, like even polls, blogshops etc. They talked about the traditional stereotype view of people that women are not good with technology, which they already proved wrong as they are a all female team! (:
Well, that concludes TWC lesson this sem. It was surely an interesting module, and I learnt a lot about Technology, and how it changes the world. Every second, something new somewhere else in the world is created, by a change leader. We CAN be a change leader, if we dare to take the step forward and lead, rather than following the changes. Technology? I'm not so afraid of it, and less of a noob now! (:
Lesson # 11
Today was filled with presentations, from 3 groups.
The first was on How Air Transport Changed the World. I felt that their presentation was pretty cool and interesting, as they each took on a role of captain, co-captain, stewardess and steward. Their presentation was clear and in-depth, about future cars that can fly, like planes. That is a pretty fascinating idea, just imagine if cars could fly? When there is a traffic jam, we could just fly over the jam to get to our destination quicker. However, all cars could fly, there might even be a jam in the air; or accidents in the air might have a greater negative impact on us.
The second group did the topic on Storm Troopers: Cleaning Up Space. This bunch of intellects amazed me with their theories and formulae and scientific explanations on the whiteboard. There is a lot of space junk, like broken satellites etc. However, I felt that what this group lacked was presentation skills, which was a little monotonous and hard to follow.
Lastly, the third group did a presentation on Spacemen: Technology in dealing with space constraints. Their presentation was fun to watch as well, they made use of a lot of videos which they produced by themselves, and they had two parts to their presentation-the past and the future. They talked about the lack of space and this group incorporated much of what we have learnt in the past few lessons like biobusiness agriculture and ict etc.
I felt that the three groups did amazingly well, and the websites are just fantastic. Technology and World Change, a module that teaches us so much more.
Stay tune next post for my group's turn to present, along with three others (:
The first was on How Air Transport Changed the World. I felt that their presentation was pretty cool and interesting, as they each took on a role of captain, co-captain, stewardess and steward. Their presentation was clear and in-depth, about future cars that can fly, like planes. That is a pretty fascinating idea, just imagine if cars could fly? When there is a traffic jam, we could just fly over the jam to get to our destination quicker. However, all cars could fly, there might even be a jam in the air; or accidents in the air might have a greater negative impact on us.
The second group did the topic on Storm Troopers: Cleaning Up Space. This bunch of intellects amazed me with their theories and formulae and scientific explanations on the whiteboard. There is a lot of space junk, like broken satellites etc. However, I felt that what this group lacked was presentation skills, which was a little monotonous and hard to follow.
Lastly, the third group did a presentation on Spacemen: Technology in dealing with space constraints. Their presentation was fun to watch as well, they made use of a lot of videos which they produced by themselves, and they had two parts to their presentation-the past and the future. They talked about the lack of space and this group incorporated much of what we have learnt in the past few lessons like biobusiness agriculture and ict etc.
I felt that the three groups did amazingly well, and the websites are just fantastic. Technology and World Change, a module that teaches us so much more.
Stay tune next post for my group's turn to present, along with three others (:
Monday, October 25, 2010
Lesson #10 Technology Assessment and Forecasting; Developing a Framework for Understanding What Comes Next
"My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there." -Charles Kettering-
This quote holds much truth, in the sense that where else can we spend our lives besides the present and the future? We can't stay holed up in the past that is for sure. However, dealing with the future is a tricky situation, there is much uncertainty in the future. Building security is vital, in all aspects like healthcare and sustainable infrastructures. Benjamin Franklin once said: "Look before, or you'll find yourself behind". Imagination is the only limitation, and our capabilities are so much more, if we would just tap deeper into it.
So many people have come up with ideas for the future; GPS embedded into our bodies, controlling devices with our minds, augmented reality as mentioned in previous post and so many more! Lives will be made so much more convenient, with greater access and innovations to spur our lives to greater heights. We can be more eco-friendly with e-papers and nanotechnologies, that allows us just ONE equipment that can last us forever. For example, one electronic newspaper, which news can change by itself everyday, or every minute. With the use of augmented reality, we can diss brochures and fliers already, as the device in our hands can tell us much more infomation required about the unknown object.
This is a video of a parody of Microsoft vision of the future:
The whole idea that has been incorporated in us since day one of this course: To be a change leader. I too believe that empires of the future..are empires of the dream. I sourced YouTube and found this video below, which has tonnes of pictures about visions of the future-the new types of vehicles, buildings and infrastructures, planes and nanotech-strips, technology about DNA and bionic motions. Take a look!
Presentation One was on Ethical Technology Assessment by Hannah
Presentation Two was by Bryan, whose slides were pretty interesting.
Hannah came up with a checklist approach to ethics:
Dissemination and Use of Information
Control, Influence and Power
Impact on Social Contact Patterns
Privacy
Sustainability
Human Reproduction
Gender, Minorities and Justice
International Relations
Impact on Human Values
A point was made in class about the privacy issue. Some harp so much on privacy, when they have no qualms about putting up their own personal issues on Facebook and their blogs. However, when this invasion of personal space is brought to another level, when the 'publicising' of personal infomation is not voluntary, then it is a violation of privacy rights.
Tools to assess technology is also crucial, but the concepts and basis of it is far more important. The basis forms the foundation and provides the route to our future, which is the key to it all before we even use tools.
I would rate today's lesson a seven. Future technology sure is interesting and can confound us at times, but yet intrigue us much more. However, assessing future technology can kind of bore us to certain extent, as we are always much more interested in dreaming about whats possible, than whats probable. To end it off, heres another video I found, that is on Siemen's Limitless Possibilities.
The future is in our hands; it is for our future generations to reap or to wreck. We can keep on dreaming, but dreaming will take us only so far. We have to incorporate our dreams with tools to access and assess these dreams and technologies that can take us higher and further. Change is accelerating exponentially, we have to continually change our mindset and adapt to changes before we get left behind.
This quote holds much truth, in the sense that where else can we spend our lives besides the present and the future? We can't stay holed up in the past that is for sure. However, dealing with the future is a tricky situation, there is much uncertainty in the future. Building security is vital, in all aspects like healthcare and sustainable infrastructures. Benjamin Franklin once said: "Look before, or you'll find yourself behind". Imagination is the only limitation, and our capabilities are so much more, if we would just tap deeper into it.
So many people have come up with ideas for the future; GPS embedded into our bodies, controlling devices with our minds, augmented reality as mentioned in previous post and so many more! Lives will be made so much more convenient, with greater access and innovations to spur our lives to greater heights. We can be more eco-friendly with e-papers and nanotechnologies, that allows us just ONE equipment that can last us forever. For example, one electronic newspaper, which news can change by itself everyday, or every minute. With the use of augmented reality, we can diss brochures and fliers already, as the device in our hands can tell us much more infomation required about the unknown object.
This is a video of a parody of Microsoft vision of the future:
The whole idea that has been incorporated in us since day one of this course: To be a change leader. I too believe that empires of the future..are empires of the dream. I sourced YouTube and found this video below, which has tonnes of pictures about visions of the future-the new types of vehicles, buildings and infrastructures, planes and nanotech-strips, technology about DNA and bionic motions. Take a look!
Presentation One was on Ethical Technology Assessment by Hannah
Presentation Two was by Bryan, whose slides were pretty interesting.
Hannah came up with a checklist approach to ethics:
Dissemination and Use of Information
Control, Influence and Power
Impact on Social Contact Patterns
Privacy
Sustainability
Human Reproduction
Gender, Minorities and Justice
International Relations
Impact on Human Values
A point was made in class about the privacy issue. Some harp so much on privacy, when they have no qualms about putting up their own personal issues on Facebook and their blogs. However, when this invasion of personal space is brought to another level, when the 'publicising' of personal infomation is not voluntary, then it is a violation of privacy rights.
Tools to assess technology is also crucial, but the concepts and basis of it is far more important. The basis forms the foundation and provides the route to our future, which is the key to it all before we even use tools.
I would rate today's lesson a seven. Future technology sure is interesting and can confound us at times, but yet intrigue us much more. However, assessing future technology can kind of bore us to certain extent, as we are always much more interested in dreaming about whats possible, than whats probable. To end it off, heres another video I found, that is on Siemen's Limitless Possibilities.
The future is in our hands; it is for our future generations to reap or to wreck. We can keep on dreaming, but dreaming will take us only so far. We have to incorporate our dreams with tools to access and assess these dreams and technologies that can take us higher and further. Change is accelerating exponentially, we have to continually change our mindset and adapt to changes before we get left behind.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Lesson #9 Emerging and Future Technologies
George Bernard Shaw once said this: "You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?" Certainly, curiosity is the key to our vast and limitless innovations; children are perpetualy curious, asking the simplest question "why?". However, what Shaw is trying to say is that, instead of questioning the existence of things, why not ponder about things that aren't here yet? That is probably the main root to how things came about in the first place, and can also be applied to future technologies, things that will will change our way of life permanently.
Prof's quote of the day:
"In terms of the development and application of new and emerging technologies, we are limited only by our imagination-and, all too often, the lack thereof." -Gurinder Shahi-
Today's topic of emerging and future technology is one that interest I would say, the mass population. After all, who doesn't enjoy a dosage of day dreaming and letting their imaginations run wild? The future is ours to make, future tech holds such great potential for us to tap into. Just think back of how much our world has changed since the Neolithic times, from carvings to paper to the computer to smart phones. Now there will be a whole new realm of claytronics, virtual reality and even augmented reality.
As today's topic is on future technologies, and the future is hard to predict much less describe in words, I shall post more videos, as a picture paints a thousand words, imagine how many more words can a video speak of. I was 'youtube hopping' and found several interesting videos of future tech, none that was discussed in class. Take a look at this 'Computers of the Future' video, this technology is really cool and would make laptops and ipads seem redundant and bulky and impractical if such technology really existed.
Today's reading 4 was pretty interesting, about the Ten Most Important Emerging Technologies for Humanity.
#1 The Global Electronic Library (A Global Electronic Library would combine all the available knowledge on the planet -- all books, periodicals, newsletters, journals, newspapers, web pages, spoken word, and more -- into a single, searchable resource available to everyone on the planet.)
#2 Hydrogen Economy Enablers (By shifting to a hydrogen economy, we will solve a long list of problems resulting from the oil economy while creating a cleaner and more productive society.)
#3 Augmented Reality (Like many technologies, augmented reality holds both tremendous creative potential and a truly horrifying potential for abuse. Augmented reality can either enslave the world, or it can set it free)
#4 Practical Robots (Practical robots can greatly enhance our collective quality of life by freeing us from daily labors, serving as true companions and multiplying the realization of our creativity and intentions)
#5 High-Density Portable Power (Today’s chemical batteries are holding back promising applications for emerging technologies, and only a breakthrough in portable power can overcome those limitations)
#6 Fuel Cell Vehicles (Fuel cell vehicles hold the promise to clean up our cities, halt the chronic disease caused by air pollution, slow global warming and once again make personal transportation an enjoyment rather than a burden on society.)
#7 Genetic Engineering of Humans (With the proper technology, maturity and ethics, we could accomplish tremendous outcomes through genetic engineering.)
#8 Computer/Human Interface Systems (Breakthroughs in computer / human interface technologies will multiply the speed of personal computing, eventually approaching the speed of thought.)
#9 Vibrational Medicine (Vibrational medicine is the future of healing. While the eras of physical and chemical medicine are now fading, vibrational medicine is emerging as a far superior model for accelerating healing in patients everywhere.)
#10 Superlearning Systems (Superlearning systems will allow our civilization to take a quantum leap in the transfer of knowledge and wisdom to each successive generation.)
We had 5 presentors enlightening us on future tech today:
Presentation #1: Electronic Paper-Changing the Way we work by Yi Rong
Presentation #2: Touch Technology by Shuna
Presentation #3: Future of Biometrics in Enhancing Security by Darren
Presentation #4: Gaming as an emerging technology by Rebecca
Presentation #5: Smart Cards by Peiting
Shuna's presentation on touch technology was pretty interesting, she mentioned that in our world today, everything is gradually becoming touch screen. Majority of the population own some form of touchscreen device, be it iPhones, iTouch or even normal phones like Samsung. The QWERTY keypad days are more or less losing its phase. Even the newer malls like ION, its shopping directory is touchscreen, instead of the traditional board with all the info chucked onto it, and people scrutinizing the small words carefully to look for one shop. The touchscreen directory at ION makes our lives so much easier, as we can easily source for the shop we're looking for.
I found these 2 videos on youtube, they are ads on blackberry and apple that never came out on TV. They are pretty funny, just showing how the blackberry phone wants to take apple products like the iPhone out of the market, and apple's strategy to fight back. It is humorous as they make use of the blackberry and apple fruits literally.
Future technologies are really fascinating as we never know what the future entails for us. Who knows, 10 years down the road, we will all be using touch screen for everything, user interfaces and virtual reality; books will be replaced by electronic paper etc; the gaming technology that Rebecca showed us in her presentation will exist, and takes over playstation, xbox and even wii. That concept was really really awesome, as it allows you to play games at anytime, without a remote. All you have to do is stand in front of the screen, let it scan your data, and you can play anything, as though it is real. Our lives would really change by then.
However, on second thoughts, all these talks about future technology..none of these are in line with what we have been talking about the past weeks, about helping the developing countries catch up with the rest of the world in this global technology rat race. None of this talks about sustainable development. None of this assures us that the environment will not be harmed at the same time, that it will not widen the poverty cycle and inaccesibility cycle. Technology and World Change, Technology is rising, yes that is definite. What about the part about World Change? Is it on the rise too? Yes, only to certain parts of the world, that have the capital to allow such changes. Food for thought I guess, are we progressing in the right way? Will these changes benefit the poor, or is it only for our convenience, to make lives better for us, without giving two hoots about those elsewhere? Personally, much as I think these future technologies are really great and interesting, and would love to get my hands on one of these, I still stand for my grounds on sustainable development and helping the developing countries get back on this global technology race first. I feel that solving the issues of hunger and poverty elsewhere takes precedence over additional convenience in our already-very-convenient lives.
I would rate today's lesson a 8/10 as future technology is one very interesting topic, and the videos watched today were really an eye opener. I will definitely watch out for these gadgets and changes in the years to come. Hopefully, they will emerge within the next 50 years, so that my generation and I can still live to witness such changes. I feel that my generation is already lucky enough to be in the midst of change from the pager-era to smart phones-era, who knows we might live to be in the midst of paper-era to e-paper-era too!
Prof's quote of the day:
"In terms of the development and application of new and emerging technologies, we are limited only by our imagination-and, all too often, the lack thereof." -Gurinder Shahi-
Today's topic of emerging and future technology is one that interest I would say, the mass population. After all, who doesn't enjoy a dosage of day dreaming and letting their imaginations run wild? The future is ours to make, future tech holds such great potential for us to tap into. Just think back of how much our world has changed since the Neolithic times, from carvings to paper to the computer to smart phones. Now there will be a whole new realm of claytronics, virtual reality and even augmented reality.
As today's topic is on future technologies, and the future is hard to predict much less describe in words, I shall post more videos, as a picture paints a thousand words, imagine how many more words can a video speak of. I was 'youtube hopping' and found several interesting videos of future tech, none that was discussed in class. Take a look at this 'Computers of the Future' video, this technology is really cool and would make laptops and ipads seem redundant and bulky and impractical if such technology really existed.
Today's reading 4 was pretty interesting, about the Ten Most Important Emerging Technologies for Humanity.
#1 The Global Electronic Library (A Global Electronic Library would combine all the available knowledge on the planet -- all books, periodicals, newsletters, journals, newspapers, web pages, spoken word, and more -- into a single, searchable resource available to everyone on the planet.)
#2 Hydrogen Economy Enablers (By shifting to a hydrogen economy, we will solve a long list of problems resulting from the oil economy while creating a cleaner and more productive society.)
#3 Augmented Reality (Like many technologies, augmented reality holds both tremendous creative potential and a truly horrifying potential for abuse. Augmented reality can either enslave the world, or it can set it free)
#4 Practical Robots (Practical robots can greatly enhance our collective quality of life by freeing us from daily labors, serving as true companions and multiplying the realization of our creativity and intentions)
#5 High-Density Portable Power (Today’s chemical batteries are holding back promising applications for emerging technologies, and only a breakthrough in portable power can overcome those limitations)
#6 Fuel Cell Vehicles (Fuel cell vehicles hold the promise to clean up our cities, halt the chronic disease caused by air pollution, slow global warming and once again make personal transportation an enjoyment rather than a burden on society.)
#7 Genetic Engineering of Humans (With the proper technology, maturity and ethics, we could accomplish tremendous outcomes through genetic engineering.)
#8 Computer/Human Interface Systems (Breakthroughs in computer / human interface technologies will multiply the speed of personal computing, eventually approaching the speed of thought.)
#9 Vibrational Medicine (Vibrational medicine is the future of healing. While the eras of physical and chemical medicine are now fading, vibrational medicine is emerging as a far superior model for accelerating healing in patients everywhere.)
#10 Superlearning Systems (Superlearning systems will allow our civilization to take a quantum leap in the transfer of knowledge and wisdom to each successive generation.)
We had 5 presentors enlightening us on future tech today:
Presentation #1: Electronic Paper-Changing the Way we work by Yi Rong
Presentation #2: Touch Technology by Shuna
Presentation #3: Future of Biometrics in Enhancing Security by Darren
Presentation #4: Gaming as an emerging technology by Rebecca
Presentation #5: Smart Cards by Peiting
Shuna's presentation on touch technology was pretty interesting, she mentioned that in our world today, everything is gradually becoming touch screen. Majority of the population own some form of touchscreen device, be it iPhones, iTouch or even normal phones like Samsung. The QWERTY keypad days are more or less losing its phase. Even the newer malls like ION, its shopping directory is touchscreen, instead of the traditional board with all the info chucked onto it, and people scrutinizing the small words carefully to look for one shop. The touchscreen directory at ION makes our lives so much easier, as we can easily source for the shop we're looking for.
I found these 2 videos on youtube, they are ads on blackberry and apple that never came out on TV. They are pretty funny, just showing how the blackberry phone wants to take apple products like the iPhone out of the market, and apple's strategy to fight back. It is humorous as they make use of the blackberry and apple fruits literally.
Future technologies are really fascinating as we never know what the future entails for us. Who knows, 10 years down the road, we will all be using touch screen for everything, user interfaces and virtual reality; books will be replaced by electronic paper etc; the gaming technology that Rebecca showed us in her presentation will exist, and takes over playstation, xbox and even wii. That concept was really really awesome, as it allows you to play games at anytime, without a remote. All you have to do is stand in front of the screen, let it scan your data, and you can play anything, as though it is real. Our lives would really change by then.
However, on second thoughts, all these talks about future technology..none of these are in line with what we have been talking about the past weeks, about helping the developing countries catch up with the rest of the world in this global technology rat race. None of this talks about sustainable development. None of this assures us that the environment will not be harmed at the same time, that it will not widen the poverty cycle and inaccesibility cycle. Technology and World Change, Technology is rising, yes that is definite. What about the part about World Change? Is it on the rise too? Yes, only to certain parts of the world, that have the capital to allow such changes. Food for thought I guess, are we progressing in the right way? Will these changes benefit the poor, or is it only for our convenience, to make lives better for us, without giving two hoots about those elsewhere? Personally, much as I think these future technologies are really great and interesting, and would love to get my hands on one of these, I still stand for my grounds on sustainable development and helping the developing countries get back on this global technology race first. I feel that solving the issues of hunger and poverty elsewhere takes precedence over additional convenience in our already-very-convenient lives.
I would rate today's lesson a 8/10 as future technology is one very interesting topic, and the videos watched today were really an eye opener. I will definitely watch out for these gadgets and changes in the years to come. Hopefully, they will emerge within the next 50 years, so that my generation and I can still live to witness such changes. I feel that my generation is already lucky enough to be in the midst of change from the pager-era to smart phones-era, who knows we might live to be in the midst of paper-era to e-paper-era too!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Lesson #8 Energy and World Change: Past, Present, Future
Al Gore once said in his speech in 2008, "We can't negotiate the facts. We can't negotiate the truth about the situation. And for those who are too fearful to finish, it can be done and must be done. Make sure we succeed,...It is wrong for this generation to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every future generation."
I watched the show 'The Inconvenient Truth', which is basically about him, Al Gore, talking about global warming, and how we need to start finding sustainable resources for our planet, and what is being done and so on. I find it a really interesting show, and his points are clear and well planned. Moreover, he is an amazing speaker too. Today's topic covers the aspect of Energy and World Change. Our resources are being depleted at a fast rate, much quicker than they can be grown again, hence the term 'non-renewable'. Like what Al Gore said in his quote above, it is our responsibility to make this planet sustainable not only for us, but for the future generations as well. We do not owN this planet, neither does the planet owE us. The onus is on us, especially our generation to think up of new inventions, new methods to renew resources such that they are sustainable. Gone are the days of traditional biomass energies, but instead newer ones like modern bioenergy are taking over. Not only is it burning of wood and coal, we now turn to gasification and hydrolysis and many others. Incorporating new technologies into olden methods, a good sign of improvement I reckon.
Once more, Prof's quote for today: "The days of fossil fuels are numbered. Renewable energy will drive the Green Revolution." I agree with him on this, as I feel that the world is also becoming more globally aware. Besides the implementation of the MDG, there is also the Kyoto Protocol and many countries are urging their people to start recycling and using less energy/stop wasting resources.
Video: Animation: Climate change, energy & action
This video is an interesting one which shows animation of how much energy we are consuming and how it hurts the earth, until we go green, which the colours will then change from red to green, and the animated buildings will smile. It is a simple yet powerful message being sent out. Another video below is about how Germany started tapping into renewable energy resources. Although I feel that this is an extremely good and efficient method, and that it will work really well in Singapore I can foresee, as Singapore is near the equator, we have sunshine all year round, solar panels are a good investment. However there are also limitations to it-Singapore lacks the land to install solar panels on open areas like farms etc, just like Germany in the video. Countries like Germany have much more land, and more landed properties, hence each house can have a solar panel on its roof. However, Singapore is mainly high rise buildings and HDB flats, thus the number of houses to install solar panels on are limited in that sense already. Moreover, I feel that it is pretty unsightly to have solar panels paving our streets everywhere. We are supposed to be a green city, I guess the literal meaning of green as in plants and trees, and not environmentally friendly 'green'.
One of the readings mentioned that solar energy is most widely available, as compared to wind and biomass etc. If we were to use the same policy as Germany government, using monetary incentives to encourage people to install solar panels on their roof, this would firstly be a great start in getting the countrymen involved. The onus isn't on the researchers or the govenrment alone, everyone should play a part in this as long as we stay on this planet.
We had 5 presenters today:
The Nine Challenges of Alternative Energy by Randy
Fusion Energy by Sweeney
Nuclear Energy, a better Alternative Energy for the World? by Thiha
Selecting your Energy Source by Marvin
Carbon Capture and Recyling by Patrick
I felt that Randy's presentation on the nine challenges was pretty good, he even came up with abbreviations for us to remember them by: TWC SMILE E. Patrick's slides were really cool, I just started using Prezi not long ago too, and it can do so much more than Powerpoint. Anyway, his topic on CCR was interesting, about how car exhaust fumes can be instantly recycled to be used as fuel to power the car, so its a close loop process.
All in all, I thought today's topic is one that is being discussed globally, and is a hot topic given our current state of the rate we're comsuming resources. I am all for using renewable energies like wind, solar, wave, hydroelectric powers etc. I would rate today's lesson an 8 out of 10, as this topic is widely relevant to our society and our life.
I watched the show 'The Inconvenient Truth', which is basically about him, Al Gore, talking about global warming, and how we need to start finding sustainable resources for our planet, and what is being done and so on. I find it a really interesting show, and his points are clear and well planned. Moreover, he is an amazing speaker too. Today's topic covers the aspect of Energy and World Change. Our resources are being depleted at a fast rate, much quicker than they can be grown again, hence the term 'non-renewable'. Like what Al Gore said in his quote above, it is our responsibility to make this planet sustainable not only for us, but for the future generations as well. We do not owN this planet, neither does the planet owE us. The onus is on us, especially our generation to think up of new inventions, new methods to renew resources such that they are sustainable. Gone are the days of traditional biomass energies, but instead newer ones like modern bioenergy are taking over. Not only is it burning of wood and coal, we now turn to gasification and hydrolysis and many others. Incorporating new technologies into olden methods, a good sign of improvement I reckon.
Once more, Prof's quote for today: "The days of fossil fuels are numbered. Renewable energy will drive the Green Revolution." I agree with him on this, as I feel that the world is also becoming more globally aware. Besides the implementation of the MDG, there is also the Kyoto Protocol and many countries are urging their people to start recycling and using less energy/stop wasting resources.
Video: Animation: Climate change, energy & action
This video is an interesting one which shows animation of how much energy we are consuming and how it hurts the earth, until we go green, which the colours will then change from red to green, and the animated buildings will smile. It is a simple yet powerful message being sent out. Another video below is about how Germany started tapping into renewable energy resources. Although I feel that this is an extremely good and efficient method, and that it will work really well in Singapore I can foresee, as Singapore is near the equator, we have sunshine all year round, solar panels are a good investment. However there are also limitations to it-Singapore lacks the land to install solar panels on open areas like farms etc, just like Germany in the video. Countries like Germany have much more land, and more landed properties, hence each house can have a solar panel on its roof. However, Singapore is mainly high rise buildings and HDB flats, thus the number of houses to install solar panels on are limited in that sense already. Moreover, I feel that it is pretty unsightly to have solar panels paving our streets everywhere. We are supposed to be a green city, I guess the literal meaning of green as in plants and trees, and not environmentally friendly 'green'.
One of the readings mentioned that solar energy is most widely available, as compared to wind and biomass etc. If we were to use the same policy as Germany government, using monetary incentives to encourage people to install solar panels on their roof, this would firstly be a great start in getting the countrymen involved. The onus isn't on the researchers or the govenrment alone, everyone should play a part in this as long as we stay on this planet.
We had 5 presenters today:
The Nine Challenges of Alternative Energy by Randy
Fusion Energy by Sweeney
Nuclear Energy, a better Alternative Energy for the World? by Thiha
Selecting your Energy Source by Marvin
Carbon Capture and Recyling by Patrick
I felt that Randy's presentation on the nine challenges was pretty good, he even came up with abbreviations for us to remember them by: TWC SMILE E. Patrick's slides were really cool, I just started using Prezi not long ago too, and it can do so much more than Powerpoint. Anyway, his topic on CCR was interesting, about how car exhaust fumes can be instantly recycled to be used as fuel to power the car, so its a close loop process.
All in all, I thought today's topic is one that is being discussed globally, and is a hot topic given our current state of the rate we're comsuming resources. I am all for using renewable energies like wind, solar, wave, hydroelectric powers etc. I would rate today's lesson an 8 out of 10, as this topic is widely relevant to our society and our life.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Lesson #7 The BioBusiness Revolution 2: Agriculture and the Environment: Past, Present, Future
"There is enough on this planet for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed."
This was a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, on food sustainability on earth. The rich has the money and accessibility to over consume, whereas those in poorer countries lack the ability to do so. Most would be grateful for just a bowl of plain rice, whereas people like us these days, are complaining about the quality of food. Should it be our time to complain when there are still people in some corners of the world facing starvation? I see people talking about this issue all the time, like during meal times when there is food wastage, someone would pipe up: "Finish your food, the children in Africa are starving." However, how much of these 'talks' are actually being transformed into action? This brings me to the point of today's topic. The biobusiness Revolution pertaining to agriculture. Last week we talked about the medical aspect of things, this week would be on agriculture. Biobusiness has impacted agriculture through genetically modified (GM) food, a.k.a genetically modified organisms (GMO). To me there are 2 sorts of GM food. One is the type that we're eating all the time, for example bread wheat is a hybrid of 3 genomes, which came about long before human started artificially modifying them. Another type would be what the scientists are trying to do these days, picking out the gene of a durian and putting it into a papaya for instance. I don't know exactly what kind of new GMO are they trying to put together, but I know for sure after today's class, that it is not widely welcomed yet.
From today's class, I learned that the biobusiness has different colour codes! Red biotechnology is the biomedical side of things. White biotechnology is the industrial part. Green biotechnology is the environment and how we clean it up, make it sustainable. And lastly, blue biotechnology is with regards to the marine life.
When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability.
-Gurinder Shahi
Another day's quote on the board at the back of the class by Prof. He went on to have a discussion with us about having bioplastics, which are biodegradable, and having our furniture made from renewable resources etc. This is what he would really call 'sustainability'. A really cool idea that I thought Prof came up with would be having a personal bio-reactor in everyone's house. All our waste products like the peeled skins of potatoes, bananas and even plastic bags used to contain sandwiches, if they could generate energy for our homes and cars after being put into the bio-reactor, how great would that be! It is such a good way to clear the garbage rather than having it incinerated and polluting the air with soot and carbon.
We then watched some videos in class:
Video 1: Norman Borlaug on Agribiotechology and the Environment. This man wrote an article too about World Hunger, which was one of our readings for this seminar. In his video, he mentioned a line that I remembered :"There are a lot of dormant crop land that can be put to use." In essence, I think he meant that we are wasting a lot of land, when they could be use for farming and growing more food!
The 2nd video was by a Green revolution leader, and the 3rd video which I found particularly insightful, about Industrial Enzymes and Biotechnology. I learnt that enzymes are prevalent everywhere in our lives, our homes etc. It is naturally occurring and biodegradable, and it can replace synthetic chemicals in many things. Prof enlightened me, he said that in the past, people used papaya skins to treat wounds, as the enzymes on the papaya skin can cure infections. Here's the video:
The term bioremediation is a pretty cool term, with good meaning. I mean that it is good because it doesn't do anything harmful to the earth or the environment, but instead helps it. Bioremediation, by definition, is the process that uses microorganisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition.
Next we moved on the presentations of the day.
Presentation 1: Grace on biofuels like cellulosic and algal.
Presentation 2: Cherrie on saving corals and fisheries
Presentation 3: Annabel on food and water security
Presentation 4: Melina on genetically modified food
Presentation 5: Daryl on transnational biotech companies colonise the food chain
Cherrie's presentation caught my attention, as it was about coral reef and marine life. Having been diving once recently, I took great interest in the coral reef and I think it is a great pity that corals are dying. Seeing bleached corals really makes me sad. Corals beautify the place and makes the sea home to the underwater creatures. So she talked about conserving them by introducing the idea of BioRock. We should all aim to protect corals and marine life. Being underwater is a luxury like no others, and it is just a whole new world out there!
I would rate today's lesson 9/10. The presentations were interesting, I learned a lot from my classmates today about GM food and biofuels etc. One thing I took away for sure is that now I know that all of us are eating GM food almost everyday! Like the food that Prof likes to eat, and we all do too actually, coca cola and nacho chips are all genetically modified! That's all I have to say for today. Till after the break!
This was a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, on food sustainability on earth. The rich has the money and accessibility to over consume, whereas those in poorer countries lack the ability to do so. Most would be grateful for just a bowl of plain rice, whereas people like us these days, are complaining about the quality of food. Should it be our time to complain when there are still people in some corners of the world facing starvation? I see people talking about this issue all the time, like during meal times when there is food wastage, someone would pipe up: "Finish your food, the children in Africa are starving." However, how much of these 'talks' are actually being transformed into action? This brings me to the point of today's topic. The biobusiness Revolution pertaining to agriculture. Last week we talked about the medical aspect of things, this week would be on agriculture. Biobusiness has impacted agriculture through genetically modified (GM) food, a.k.a genetically modified organisms (GMO). To me there are 2 sorts of GM food. One is the type that we're eating all the time, for example bread wheat is a hybrid of 3 genomes, which came about long before human started artificially modifying them. Another type would be what the scientists are trying to do these days, picking out the gene of a durian and putting it into a papaya for instance. I don't know exactly what kind of new GMO are they trying to put together, but I know for sure after today's class, that it is not widely welcomed yet.
From today's class, I learned that the biobusiness has different colour codes! Red biotechnology is the biomedical side of things. White biotechnology is the industrial part. Green biotechnology is the environment and how we clean it up, make it sustainable. And lastly, blue biotechnology is with regards to the marine life.
When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability.
-Gurinder Shahi
Another day's quote on the board at the back of the class by Prof. He went on to have a discussion with us about having bioplastics, which are biodegradable, and having our furniture made from renewable resources etc. This is what he would really call 'sustainability'. A really cool idea that I thought Prof came up with would be having a personal bio-reactor in everyone's house. All our waste products like the peeled skins of potatoes, bananas and even plastic bags used to contain sandwiches, if they could generate energy for our homes and cars after being put into the bio-reactor, how great would that be! It is such a good way to clear the garbage rather than having it incinerated and polluting the air with soot and carbon.
We then watched some videos in class:
Video 1: Norman Borlaug on Agribiotechology and the Environment. This man wrote an article too about World Hunger, which was one of our readings for this seminar. In his video, he mentioned a line that I remembered :"There are a lot of dormant crop land that can be put to use." In essence, I think he meant that we are wasting a lot of land, when they could be use for farming and growing more food!
The 2nd video was by a Green revolution leader, and the 3rd video which I found particularly insightful, about Industrial Enzymes and Biotechnology. I learnt that enzymes are prevalent everywhere in our lives, our homes etc. It is naturally occurring and biodegradable, and it can replace synthetic chemicals in many things. Prof enlightened me, he said that in the past, people used papaya skins to treat wounds, as the enzymes on the papaya skin can cure infections. Here's the video:
The term bioremediation is a pretty cool term, with good meaning. I mean that it is good because it doesn't do anything harmful to the earth or the environment, but instead helps it. Bioremediation, by definition, is the process that uses microorganisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition.
Next we moved on the presentations of the day.
Presentation 1: Grace on biofuels like cellulosic and algal.
Presentation 2: Cherrie on saving corals and fisheries
Presentation 3: Annabel on food and water security
Presentation 4: Melina on genetically modified food
Presentation 5: Daryl on transnational biotech companies colonise the food chain
Cherrie's presentation caught my attention, as it was about coral reef and marine life. Having been diving once recently, I took great interest in the coral reef and I think it is a great pity that corals are dying. Seeing bleached corals really makes me sad. Corals beautify the place and makes the sea home to the underwater creatures. So she talked about conserving them by introducing the idea of BioRock. We should all aim to protect corals and marine life. Being underwater is a luxury like no others, and it is just a whole new world out there!
I would rate today's lesson 9/10. The presentations were interesting, I learned a lot from my classmates today about GM food and biofuels etc. One thing I took away for sure is that now I know that all of us are eating GM food almost everyday! Like the food that Prof likes to eat, and we all do too actually, coca cola and nacho chips are all genetically modified! That's all I have to say for today. Till after the break!
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