"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!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Lesson #6 The BioBusiness Revolution 1: Healthcare and the Biomedical Sciences: Past, Present, Future
1. The BioBusiness Revolution has the potential to WILL transform our lives (our health, our food, our clothes, our energy sources etc.) and our economies.
Definitely, I will agree with this statement put up on the board by Prof. It is afterall a revolution, like the Industrial Revolution. As the term suggest, revolution is s a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.
2. BioBusiness may well be our best hope for achieving sustainable development.
This is yet another phrase from Prof. As we talked about in earlier seminars, sustainable development is what we're all aiming to achieve now.
There are 4 main biobusiness: the biomedical biobusiness, the agri-veterinary and food biobusiness, environmental and industrial biobusiness and other biobusiness activities.
We had 3 presentations today:
First was by Qi Yang on Medical Tourism, whether or not medical tourism is actually helping or harming those in the developing countries. Next was by Cheng Wei on Surgery without the slicing; he talked about NOTES, a new method of surgery, other than open surgery and laproscopic surgery. I found this particularly interesting, as it gave me a whole new insight on the medical industry. There was also a short discussion about doctors' ethics, whether or not they are out for money or really for the purpose of saving lives. Lastly, we had Kai Liang talking about Beyond Philantrophy, and the healthcare scene in 3rd world countries, and the policies like pricing policy and patents.
We watched a video: Medical Revolutions
The biomedical sciences is evolving to such high-tech levels that such possibilities in the past may not seem realistic, but in actual fact, are coming true now. A discussion about cloning was fairly interesting to. Cloning, should it merely be used for medical issues or can it be used for social issues? This is a question of ethics once again. If a person or an animal dies, and it is cloned back using the same genetics, will it really be the same still? Away from this question of personal gains (like missing a person or a pet), what about cloning animals for food? Is it also ethical? To clone the dna, to get more cows for example, grow them and eat them? Apart from the fact that complications may occur and the product may not end up what it is supposed to be, but should we really do it, or do we leave it to nature. Cloning animals to solve our food shortage problems is not a real solution, I feel.
New vaccines and new medical technologies are rapidly on the rise, targeting the infectious and non-infectious diseases. Every second, a life may be lost in developing countries, but a new life could be given with the amount of research and the progress of medical inventions. This biobusiness industry is blooming all the time, the staggering pace is revolutionary. Advancements in the medical world really changes our lives, and my mindset of certain things. Like in the past, many things were thought to be impossible and even ridiculous. But now, at the rate we're progressing, there could possibly even be a cure for aids and cancer in the future!
Today's topic on biobusiness is a really broad topic, which we'll continue part 2 next lesson, more on agriculture. I would rate today's lesson a 7. I think more can be learned about biobusiness, especially the biomedical part and the life sciences part. Overall, lesson was good as usual. Thats it for Week 6! On to topical review paper and group project!
Definitely, I will agree with this statement put up on the board by Prof. It is afterall a revolution, like the Industrial Revolution. As the term suggest, revolution is s a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.
2. BioBusiness may well be our best hope for achieving sustainable development.
This is yet another phrase from Prof. As we talked about in earlier seminars, sustainable development is what we're all aiming to achieve now.
There are 4 main biobusiness: the biomedical biobusiness, the agri-veterinary and food biobusiness, environmental and industrial biobusiness and other biobusiness activities.
We had 3 presentations today:
First was by Qi Yang on Medical Tourism, whether or not medical tourism is actually helping or harming those in the developing countries. Next was by Cheng Wei on Surgery without the slicing; he talked about NOTES, a new method of surgery, other than open surgery and laproscopic surgery. I found this particularly interesting, as it gave me a whole new insight on the medical industry. There was also a short discussion about doctors' ethics, whether or not they are out for money or really for the purpose of saving lives. Lastly, we had Kai Liang talking about Beyond Philantrophy, and the healthcare scene in 3rd world countries, and the policies like pricing policy and patents.
We watched a video: Medical Revolutions
The biomedical sciences is evolving to such high-tech levels that such possibilities in the past may not seem realistic, but in actual fact, are coming true now. A discussion about cloning was fairly interesting to. Cloning, should it merely be used for medical issues or can it be used for social issues? This is a question of ethics once again. If a person or an animal dies, and it is cloned back using the same genetics, will it really be the same still? Away from this question of personal gains (like missing a person or a pet), what about cloning animals for food? Is it also ethical? To clone the dna, to get more cows for example, grow them and eat them? Apart from the fact that complications may occur and the product may not end up what it is supposed to be, but should we really do it, or do we leave it to nature. Cloning animals to solve our food shortage problems is not a real solution, I feel.
New vaccines and new medical technologies are rapidly on the rise, targeting the infectious and non-infectious diseases. Every second, a life may be lost in developing countries, but a new life could be given with the amount of research and the progress of medical inventions. This biobusiness industry is blooming all the time, the staggering pace is revolutionary. Advancements in the medical world really changes our lives, and my mindset of certain things. Like in the past, many things were thought to be impossible and even ridiculous. But now, at the rate we're progressing, there could possibly even be a cure for aids and cancer in the future!
Today's topic on biobusiness is a really broad topic, which we'll continue part 2 next lesson, more on agriculture. I would rate today's lesson a 7. I think more can be learned about biobusiness, especially the biomedical part and the life sciences part. Overall, lesson was good as usual. Thats it for Week 6! On to topical review paper and group project!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Lesson #5 ICT and World Change - Past, Present and Future
"ICT is the catalyst that facilitates the Knowledge Revolution"
-Prof Shahi
Today's topic was on ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and how it affects the world. I find this topic particularly fascinating as ICT is so rapidly changing today, and it is has become our main form of communication. Everywhere we go, ICT is prevalent. On the Networked Readiness Index, Singapore ranked 8 out of 75 countries! Our telecomunication technologies has risen to such a great extent that the usage of internet technology is so common. Everywhere on the streets, you see people of all ages, typing, or should I say tapping on their mobile devices furiously. And why do I use the word tapping? Our ordinary mobile phones have evolved. No longer do we use the buttons, now most of them are touch-screen. From Reading 2, I found the phrase 'Technology is easy, People are hard' as encountered in the 1st seminar. I learnt that ICT can help achieve one of the MDG, but it is near impossible to expect those goals to be achieved by 2015, which is like only 4.25 years from now. Not realistic, but I certainly wish for it to come true in the near future. ICT is transforming our world into a borderless one, and if we make it sustainable, it can connect everyone from different parts of the world, and eliminate the differences and the divide. National boundaries will not be so vast anymore, with the expansion of ICT.
We watched a video, which was also from our readings of the week. Project Natal Milo Demo-it is about a new technology that allows us to communicate with a virtual boy called Milo. Milo shares and understands all the emotions we are experiencing. It is realy cool how technology has progressed, and I find it pretty freaky to a slight extent, like how Milo received the drawing that Claire gave him, through some instant scanning. Here's the video!
Out of all the ICTs, like Mass Media, Internet, Gaming, Wireless Technologies, Interactive Telecommunications, Information Systems, Cloud Computing and Knowledge Management, I find cloud computing quite interesting. I don't really have much prior knowledge on it, but after researching, it proves to be something really interesting. 'Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid.' according to Wikipedia. We then watched a video on the Web 3.0 about cloud computing, which provided much insights.
"Today's real borders are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated." -Kofi Annan
I think that what Kofi Annan was referring to is the digital divide. The divide between those who have access to digital technology and those who do not. National boundaries are not the ones hindering our connection with the world. Instead, it is this divide that splits us up. Is is the same vicious cycle, the rich gets rich, while the poor gets poorer. In this case, those with original access to technology, gets even better and improved technology, while those developing countries with no access, remains with no access. They do not know about the iPod, iPhone, much less say the iPad.
We had 5 presenters today.
Tracy presented on ICT and its Impact on the Economy.
Xiong Wei presented on Wireless Technology.
Jonathan presented on Knowledge Management.
Raymond presented on User Interface.
Another Jonathan presented on Interpersonal Communcations.
These 5 presentations were really interesting and provided a great insight into these topics. User Interface is really cool actually, imagine if we could just utilise such technologies, the world will be such a convenient place. ICT really changes our lives, as Tracy compared for us, in the past, we progressed from letters to dial ups to smart phones and wireless technologies. Wireless technology is the main link that connects for example Singapore to the United States!
We had a short discussion about which is better, face-to-face interaction or communication via ICT. For me, I would definitely prefer face-to-face interaction as it is more personal and sincere. Through ICT, like instant messaging, online text or emails, miscommunications may arise if the words or emoticons are interpreted differently. However, I must admit that ICT has definitely made life much easier, in the sense that we can just send out a text message and do impromptu meetings, rather than having to dial up or walking over to arrange a meeting. I guess ICT has both its pros and cons-like all things do. I would like to hear more of my classmates' views on that, but due to time constraints, it was not possible. However, the short discussion was sufficient still.
I would rate this week's seminar 5 a 9/10 as I find this topic on ICT very interesting! I guess it is because of how it relates to us, like facebook skype etc. The new generation toys, in our world today.
-Prof Shahi
Today's topic was on ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and how it affects the world. I find this topic particularly fascinating as ICT is so rapidly changing today, and it is has become our main form of communication. Everywhere we go, ICT is prevalent. On the Networked Readiness Index, Singapore ranked 8 out of 75 countries! Our telecomunication technologies has risen to such a great extent that the usage of internet technology is so common. Everywhere on the streets, you see people of all ages, typing, or should I say tapping on their mobile devices furiously. And why do I use the word tapping? Our ordinary mobile phones have evolved. No longer do we use the buttons, now most of them are touch-screen. From Reading 2, I found the phrase 'Technology is easy, People are hard' as encountered in the 1st seminar. I learnt that ICT can help achieve one of the MDG, but it is near impossible to expect those goals to be achieved by 2015, which is like only 4.25 years from now. Not realistic, but I certainly wish for it to come true in the near future. ICT is transforming our world into a borderless one, and if we make it sustainable, it can connect everyone from different parts of the world, and eliminate the differences and the divide. National boundaries will not be so vast anymore, with the expansion of ICT.
We watched a video, which was also from our readings of the week. Project Natal Milo Demo-it is about a new technology that allows us to communicate with a virtual boy called Milo. Milo shares and understands all the emotions we are experiencing. It is realy cool how technology has progressed, and I find it pretty freaky to a slight extent, like how Milo received the drawing that Claire gave him, through some instant scanning. Here's the video!
Out of all the ICTs, like Mass Media, Internet, Gaming, Wireless Technologies, Interactive Telecommunications, Information Systems, Cloud Computing and Knowledge Management, I find cloud computing quite interesting. I don't really have much prior knowledge on it, but after researching, it proves to be something really interesting. 'Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid.' according to Wikipedia. We then watched a video on the Web 3.0 about cloud computing, which provided much insights.
"Today's real borders are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated." -Kofi Annan
I think that what Kofi Annan was referring to is the digital divide. The divide between those who have access to digital technology and those who do not. National boundaries are not the ones hindering our connection with the world. Instead, it is this divide that splits us up. Is is the same vicious cycle, the rich gets rich, while the poor gets poorer. In this case, those with original access to technology, gets even better and improved technology, while those developing countries with no access, remains with no access. They do not know about the iPod, iPhone, much less say the iPad.
We had 5 presenters today.
Tracy presented on ICT and its Impact on the Economy.
Xiong Wei presented on Wireless Technology.
Jonathan presented on Knowledge Management.
Raymond presented on User Interface.
Another Jonathan presented on Interpersonal Communcations.
These 5 presentations were really interesting and provided a great insight into these topics. User Interface is really cool actually, imagine if we could just utilise such technologies, the world will be such a convenient place. ICT really changes our lives, as Tracy compared for us, in the past, we progressed from letters to dial ups to smart phones and wireless technologies. Wireless technology is the main link that connects for example Singapore to the United States!
We had a short discussion about which is better, face-to-face interaction or communication via ICT. For me, I would definitely prefer face-to-face interaction as it is more personal and sincere. Through ICT, like instant messaging, online text or emails, miscommunications may arise if the words or emoticons are interpreted differently. However, I must admit that ICT has definitely made life much easier, in the sense that we can just send out a text message and do impromptu meetings, rather than having to dial up or walking over to arrange a meeting. I guess ICT has both its pros and cons-like all things do. I would like to hear more of my classmates' views on that, but due to time constraints, it was not possible. However, the short discussion was sufficient still.
I would rate this week's seminar 5 a 9/10 as I find this topic on ICT very interesting! I guess it is because of how it relates to us, like facebook skype etc. The new generation toys, in our world today.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Lesson #4 Drivers of World Change & Change Management and Change Leadership
Without continual growth and progress, words such as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. Today's session hit on the topic of drivers of world change and how to manage them.
"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."
-John Wooden
Adaptability is one important step to success. Success in what? In this ever-changing world. When adapting to change, we must first dare to accept and try, without the fear of failing. As the quote says, its okay to fail, but failing to change is not okay. Drivers of world change include a whole range, like climate change, technology, governance etc.
This was written on the board once more in today's lesson:
There are essentially 3 ways to cope the change:
Option A: Make it happen
Option B: Respond when it happens
Option C: Be "surprised" when it happens
'A' makes the leader, by being proactive, one initiates the change. 'B' is for the reactor, who can adapt to the situation and in certain ways makes one the leader as well. 'C' is for the plain ignorant and blur sotong, who never knows what is going on, and can only fall behind further and further into a deep spiral.
First presenter was Kang Sheng on the 12 Pillars of Change. Followed by Nadia on NGOs and MNEs, and how NGOs should put MNCs in check by stepping in. Lastly for the first session was by Lucas on Web 2.0. After the break, Xun Kai presented on Positive Deviance, and Kai Lin on How Great Leaders get Results-the traditional role in management vs Ghosn's cross-functional approach.
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
- George Bernard Shaw -
I feel that this quote pertains well to Xun Kai's presentation on Positive Deviance. To be the unreasonable man makes you the positive deviance. We need more of such positive deviances in the world to drive change. If everyone were to be a follower who follows blindly, then who do we have to lead us?
We then watched a video on this guy who started dancing like a fool in front of a big crowd. Everyone just watched him until the first brave soul stood up and joined him. His actions sparked off a whole change in the environment which ended up with everyone dancing together on a random day like that! It takes guts to be a leader, but it definitely takes more guts to be the first follower. Yes it is true that a leader needs guts to dare to step out and be that first guy to say 'I need to change things around here' (just like Xun Kai's Positive Deviance). However, it takes a big step for the first follower to dare to try out that new idea as well, without fearing failure or resistance from other potential followers.
The pessimism-time curve that prof showed us was pretty cool. It relates to our everyday life. For example in our first year in SMU, we get pretty excited about starting uni life for the first time-uninformed optimism. But when the projects start coming in that we hit the informed pessimism stage and we complain about SMU life and the workload. Then we come to the informed realism part where we decide that we have to embrace such changes in our life, for the sake of moving forward, getting a good GPA and hence career or future, and so we take it into our stride and move on. And finally, we get to completion.
In life, in society, in the world; we all go through changes. It is how we face it and manage it that counts. Whether or not we embrace changes, or we want to be the laggards and sceptics that only changes at the very end (when there is no other choice).
These are the two models we learnt today when a decision is made to change:
1. Tradtional model: freeze-unfreeze-refreeze
2. Modern model: continuous monitoring and renewal (about being constantly aware and fine-tuning the new ideas always. Need to have clear goals and be flexible)
Obviously, the modern model is what we all strive for to achieve now. Thats what new leadership is about.
I would rate today's lesson a 9/10. There were many presenters today, and many avenues for discussion topics. A whole new insight to drivers of world change and it certainly broadened my perspective. However due to the time constraints, we couldn't discuss more about the 3rd presenter, Lucas's questions on the link between perfect information vs moderation, and anonymity vs open communication; which I thought was pretty interesting.
Drivers of world change: I need to take the lead to make things happen.
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