TWC Session 12

This session signified the second round of the group presentations.

First up was a presentation where the site was named as "The Health Herald", which included educational medical information to the general public without the intricacies of medical jargons. The site presented plenty of information which was previously difficult to comprehend due to the medical jargons. The most interesting thing which I had taken away from their presentation was about the IPhone and how it can become the new medical tool of the future. Since there are plenty of updates for the IPhone, as well as the ability to create an app for IPhone, the possibilities available are boundless. It is hard to imagine our lives without a smart phone when just 3 years ago we deemed them as unneccessary.

Next was a presentation by A(b)CDE, the topic which they did on was about "Language & Communication". Half of the world's languages are on the verge of extinction, mostly in the less developed areas. The overall flow of the presentation and the website was very clear, bringing us from how did various languages come about to the current drivers of why people are learning different langauges. Language is indeed a very powerful tool, both to identify oneself as well as to develop a sense of belonging to one culture and we cannot allow this diversity we have now to dissapear. This however does not mean that we are not allowed to have a universal translator since this will only help to bridge the gap between different cultures and increasing understanding as well as tolerance.

Lastly was a presentation on the internet, how we are so indulged in the internet or so called "webbed in the web". There are many benefits which the internet has provided for us thus far, but there are also many dangers of the internet which we should look out for, such as pornography and extremist ideals being posted online. Internet is somewhat similar to a double edged sword, the benefits are far too many for us to pose huge restrictions on it, we have to be educated about the dangers and how to avoid them instead. Internet may be replaced in the future by other technologies such as virtual reality, but the concept of it will never be replaced since it is indispensable to our lives.

This round of presentations was very insightful as well, I took away a substantial amount of information about the various technologies which we can no longer live without. The end of this module only signifies a new chapter for me, where my perspectives have been broadened such that I can apply the concepts here to innovations or news which I had simply ignored in the past.

TWC Session 11

This session marked the start of the group presentation, I shall recall some of the things which I have learnt, both from other team's presentation and through presenting my own as well.

First up was a presentation by the SMUrbans, they did a case study on urban planning in Singapore. The headings in the website had a very clear flow, it felt as though I was reading through an essay, from the conventional dimension all the way till the game plan. The game plan featured several interesting suggestions, such as introducing "Smart" climate control system to minimize energy usage. With more focus being put into sustainable development, the "Smart" system could be the driving catalyst for the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy sources since this means that the amount of energy required over a period of time would be reduced.

Next up was the presentation done by my team, it was very fun and exciting to present our website in a unique way through debate. The suggestions given by Prof Shahi, Pavan as well as the rest of our classmates were very helpful in my opinion, they will certainly help to make the presentation of our research clearer and more interactive.

After us, the Architechs presented on architecture, they were spot on regarding several pressing issues that we currently face, such as overcrowding caused by the ever growing population. Since our population is expected to hit a plateau of 10 billion by 2050, we cannot rely on the traditional style of architecture, radical approaches have to adopted instead. I found one of the future ideas suggested, which were the 'water lily' style of man made islands to be the most interesting, the fantastic sketch done perhaps being a large factor in my preference. The only issue that I would have with extra-terrestrial or the 'water lily' islands would be the difficulty in moving to another exact island, and the only viable solution I can think of is teleportation, which frankly isnt that feasible now as well.

Lastly, the TingTongs presented on the history of the music industry and the piracy issue threatening the existence of the industry. They were very frank in stating education as a probable solution but not an effective one, the only way would be legislation which prevents an individual from even having access to pirated music, or a very elaborate monitoring system which could locate every individual indulging in piracy and fine them.

I learnt a lot from this round of presentations and I am looking forward to presentations done by next week's groups.

TWC Session 10

Brief Overview/Summary

The session was about technology assessment and forecasting, we were shown two videos, one of which was about Siemens, how they were looking at megatrends and responding towards them. Some of these megatrends include road congestions due to the increasing number of cars which can be solved with intelligent control systems that can regulate the flow of traffic. The demand for healthcare is also increasing, as such there is a growing role of quality, innovative standards have to set up, an example would be the digital hospital which records everything electronically thus it saves valuable time and can cut costs. By focusing on these megatrends, Siemens sees itself as an infrastructure company, as such they are well-placed in looking at changing needs and it can do to be at the forefront. The concept here is that how you see yourself as an organization plays a big part in shaping your core competencies and the way you move forward.

After several more quotes, we were shown another video about the top 3 inventions for the future. The first one was Nokia morph, which uses nanotechnology's ability to bring about bendable material, self-cleaning and morphing ability for anything. The second was Google Earth, but the 2020 edition. Lastly, there was the salt water fuel, which has been claimed to have been invented already. This is done when radio waves were aimed at salt water, the salt water actually burned to produce energy at very high temperatures. There were several other videos that were shown as well, but this video as well as the Siemens one stood out in my opinion.

Interesting Observations/Ideas

From Reading 2, it was shown that there were some similarities that existed between futurologists and science-fiction writers, in which they were both looking at the future. I felt that the differences were really insignificant, science-fiction writers were trying to entertain their readers, but like futurologists, they also look at present trends to visualise what the future would be like. That being said, the vision that science fiction writers have tends to deviate quite a big from what the actual future is like, possibly because as the reading suggested, science fiction is the result of individual efforts, hence the writers usually do not have a second opinion to turn to so that their vision is more accurate.

The Delphi method was also discussed in reading 2 which fascinated me, the name Delphi has its origin in Delphi's oracle, who was the most well-known oracle in ancient Greece. The method involves asking a set of questions to a group of experts; then refining the questions and posing them again to another group of experts recommended by the former, as well as administering the questions again to the former. The process is repeated many times to achieve clarity.

Given that Singapore started out as a poor country which had to struggle for survival, we are traditionally more frugal in contrast to European countries. However, it now appears that starting out with a humble background turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the European countries are now attempting to do the same to keep their economy going, albeit not without resistance. There have been riots in the streets of France due to longer working hours and lower pension fees.

 In the 60s and 70s Xerox invented a lot of new things but other people took their ideas and produced real world applications, notably Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who visited Xerox when they were younger. Just because you started an idea does not mean that you will sustain your success, there will always be people around who will take your idea and bring it to the next level so it is up to you to continuously improve as well.

Key Takeaways

"For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future"- John F Kennedy
"It is said that the present is pregnant with the future."- Voltaire

From these two quotes, it can be seen that change is the natural way of life, and we should not neglect the future by only looking at the past or the present. However, this does not mean that the future is more important than the present, because the seeds of the future are already present in the present. In order to be a true change leader, we have to look at the past, present and future, which is similar to what we are doing for our topical review.

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it"- Alan Kay

A true change leader should have this quote embedded in his head at all times, the present was not shaped by change leaders of the past simply standing idly by and predicting the future to happen. Change leaders of the past, be it inventors or idealogist, had a vision of what the future would be like and took affirmative action to make it happen. If a vision floats around in your head, don't simply wait for it to happen, make it happen.

All too often, there is a need for humans to experience a particular disaster, be it natural or man-made before we incorporate it to future scenarios. The September 11 attacks are a good example, prior to that, airport security was much more stringent and lax. However, after the attacks occured, even simple things such as water were barred from being brought onto the plane. As for me, I am glad that my approach thus far has been correct, I have always treated other people's experiences as my own, learning from their mistakes or any successful methods that they may have adopted.

Many of the major trends right now are major because they can combine together to attract a wider demographic, such as face recognition which contains both the trends of convenience and safety. Smartphones are also another example, utilising the trend of multi-purpose and convenience, which partly explains for the huge success that smartphones have thus far. There have been instances of new trends killing off old ones, such as MP3 players killing off CD players, but there are also instances where old trends adapt to become new trends, the television is one example of a product that has been reinvented many times over. Even after pinpointing a trend which you may want to focus on, to ensure success and reduced competition, a cloud opportunity has to be found.

Relative poverty will always be there. But as humans, we cannot allow absolute poverty. It is indeed possible to eliminate absolute poverty in the midst of the corruption that may prevent help from effectively reaching the people. There has to be a change in mindset of charity to helping the people to help themselves. As the proverb goes "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." The reason why global charity has so far been largely ineffective is because people are focusing on the wrong source to help the less fortunate.

Issues for further discussion

It was stated in the lesson that gaming was not ready to be used for forecasting but it is expected to be a big thing in the future. I felt that more elaboration could have been given on why was gaming not yet ready to be used for forecasting.

Personal ratings

I rate this last "official" lesson a 9 as it brought the everything to a close very nicely, I took away plenty of insights from both the videos as well as the quotes used.

"Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today"- African Proverb

TWC Session 9

Brief Overview/Summary


The lesson was about emerging and future technologies, we discussed about the drivers for the development of such technologies, such as to tap into opportunities and needs as well as mass media. The drivers can be divied into two groups, technology driven and market driven, while mass media has the power to influence our wants and needs. Several videos about interesting new technologies, like claytonics and plastic electronics were shown.


We could also think about sales and marketing as push and pull respectively. Sales is similar to pushing the products to the customers while marketing is trying to draw the market to you. We talked about the confluence of the 4 smarts, smart people can come up with smart ideas, but without smart money and smart alliances and partnerships(advertising and marketing people, as well as legal people for example patents), they can't do anything as well. Some sort of smart money and partnerships such as legal ones must be there in order to translate the idea to the market.

Interesting Observations/Ideas

One of the videos shown was about these two students in Japan who developed a robot in the form of a woman with artificial intelligence and was named Lisa. Lisa had vocal, tactile and visual recognition. Some of the benefits listed was that there were so many single men in the world, this can help to curb the loneliness of those men. Robots are gradually becoming more human like while humans are starting to become more machine like, it will become very hard to differentiate between humans and machines in the future. These robots with AI could even be designed to fit the tastes and whims of those who demand them, would it be possible to have virtual love in the future, where a person and a robot are both aware of the fact they are in love with each other. This idea is not inconceivable in the near future, but it is albeit a very disturbing one.

Proponents that support such an idea state that it is similar to with the idea of homosexuals, which goes against the very idea of being human and reproducing the next generation. Robot human marriage have been allowed in Massachusetts already, these changes will soon make us question what it truely means to be human since the definition of humans are going to change over time. However, I feel that there has to be a certain line drawn between what may be more acceptable as time passes and what will never be acceptable. For the instance of homosexuals, the two parties that are in love are still humans, regardless of whatever definition of humans one may use, while that between a robot will not fall into all the definitions of what it means to be a human not matter how man-like 'it' may seem. Maybe the next generation will be more open to this, just as how our generation is more open towards homosexuals compared to the previous generation.


Table 1 of Reading 2 gave a summary of the major nanomaterials currently in research and development, such as quantum wells, catalytic nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes. It is fascinating to imagine that something so small is able to impact numerous parts of our lives. Carbon nanotubes have the potential to become 50-100 times stronger than steel at one sixth of the weight. This opens up to doorway for faster spacecrafts and aircraft, since the materials used will soon be lighter and stronger. As for catalytic nanoparticles, it can draw a little skepticism since it was mentioned in class that it is better to augment our own cells to be able to perform such functions than to introduce artificial nanoparticles into our body. Why look beyond the horizon when the answer is simply right before your very eyes?

Augmented reality is where you start with reality and use technology to augment what you have so that you can evaluate how good it is. Our smart phones is one place where augmented reality could be used, imagine taking a photo of yourself and then being able to fit yourself with various clothings and items before seeing which one is best suited for you and buying it. The question then arises whether traditional retail shopping and blog shops will be replaced by shopping done by augmented reality. Personally, I feel that blog shops have the potential to complement augmented reality and even help to increase the success of augmented reality. In light of this, retail shopping certainly seems doomed, but there will be times when people just want to do retail shopping to meet friends and family or even to get some fresh air even if it is more convenient to do it at the comfort of their own homes.

Key Takeaways

Plastic electronics has the potential to shake the computer industry worldwide and trigger the next industrial revolution. A flexible display could be made of plastic instead of silicon, which is lighter and cheaper. If the development of plastic electronics is successful, every silicon material in the future can be replaced by plastic. Imagine a flexible mobile display for mobiles and ebooks, and since the plastic display is most likely less brittle than silicon ones, displays can now be used for purposes which were previously deemed unsuitable for silicon displays.

The Virtusphere is one application which can benefit from plastic electronics, and since my topical review paper is on virtual reality, rather than having the hassle of wearing head mounted displays, the entire sphere could be filled with plastic displays. Since the plastic displays will be cheaper than silicon ones, having the displays instead coupled with highly realistic graphics can really help the user believe that he is in an actual environment. This will coincide with the trend of convenience, even though it is done at a higher cost.

GPS is a blessing as well as a curse, on one hand it is very easy for a person to know where he is exactly, however it is very easy for others to track you easily. Hence begs the question of the lack of privacy. There are certain times where we prefer to be alone so that we can process our thoughts properly, and GPS will actually prove to work against us in such instances. In the future, it will certainly make me think twice before I think about carrying my phone around when I simply want some time for peace and quiet.  

Issues for discussion

The greed of man is endless, and as we continuously try to innovate based on our wants and needs, we are beginning to intrude upon the boundaries of what it means to be human. Is there a need to fall back on our traditional values and beliefs instead? To look back before we continue to look forward? Should religion step in and urge everyone to pause and think before we proceed, will the once great enemy of science become its greatest ally?

Personal Ratings

I personally rate this lesson a 9 as many of the emerging technologies that were shown have been an eye opener, it has certainly made me look forward to what is in store for the future.

"When it comes to new emerging technologies, we are limited only by our imagination (or lack thereof)."-Gurinder Shahi

TWC Session 8

Brief Overview


The lesson was about energy and world change, how the need for energy is changing our world and the various breakthroughs currently happening in the sector. We discussed about some drivers of global energy change, such as rising energy consumption and need for economic development, as well as the new technologies and approaches that surface. In particular, the rising energy consumption has proven to be a very pressing issue to urge change to happen, China is currently using 25% of oil compared to US, but consumption is growing rapidly, the country used to be known as a net coal exporter but it is now a net coal importer.


Suprisingly, despite all the talk about rising energy consumption, last year was the first time that there was a reduction in primary energy consumption, largely due to the economic downturn last year.


We also talked about the important factors that needed to be considered before changes can be implemented, such as energy security and biotechnology. We have to increase efficiency of current energy sources including fuel, in addition, we have to diversify our energy sources, rather than focusing on one, we have to look at other sources like solar and wind energy. As for biotechnology, it has been said that it is the sector with the biggest potential of possibly being the next big energy source, but the only concern pertinent is the health issue, prolonged exposure to biowaste may lead to the an increased tendency to fall ill.


Interesting Observations/Ideas

When the steam engine was invented, wood was the required raw material for it to work, since wood is a renewable resource, renewable energy sources were 100% utilised in the past. However, soon enough the forests depleted too fast to be regrown. Fortunately, fossil fuels helped to prevent this from occuring further, but there is another side to this, humans became too addicted to using fossil fuels and there is a need now to turn back to renewable energy sources. This is because renewable energy sources are likely to have minimal negative impact to the environment as compared to fossil fuels. Thankfully, there are plenty of visionaries around who have foreseen the need for this and have been working day in day out just to create alternative energy sources which can be used by the masses efficiently.


From reading 2, it states that up to 2050, known technologies can be readied to achieve deep cuts in CO2 but more fundamental changes in energy technologies will be required beyond that. This means that we must start thinking up of more radical ways to alter our usage of energy rather than just doing minor modifications on the surface. Perhaps as one of the videos shown mentioned, we can build solar plants in the middle of deserts such as the Sahara, where sunlight is abundant through majority of the day. Thus, we can turn something which is supposedly of a hassle to us (the desert) instead to something which is invaluable to us. The reading also states the possible routes that the transport system can take in the future, whereby vehicles can run on electricity or hydrogen or even very-low-emission biofuels. This is something which may very likely happen in the extremely near future, hybrid cars are already partially running on electricity, the hydrogen fuel cell is commonly used on spaceships while the biotechnology industry is known to be one of the most booming industries at the moment.


As Ren Liang had mentioned in his presentation, which was about using osmosis to generate an energy source, this idea has the potential to become a huge success in Singapore by using fresh seawater and processed saltier water in desalination plants. Given that Singapore is an island surrounded by seawater and the fact that we have desalination plants here, this idea is simply waiting to be set into place here, with the only potential roadblock being the cost involved. There might be substantial cost involved to incorporate the two together, as well as the fact that currently the partially permeable membranes have to be replaced periodically due to the salt and dirt particles that accumulate. Although this may be the case, but Singapore is one of the leading countries for developing such membranes, in the future there may be a new type of membrane that can be cleaned and hence the cost required for replacing it will be non-existent.

Currently, 95% of Nigeria's GDP comes from the petroleum industry, but this is not going to last forever. They are trying to use the wealth that they generated from the petroleum industry to build research institutions and industries to develop alternative energy sources. This is because countries such as those in OPEC understand that when the oil runs out, they will need to find other forms of income and what better way to do it than energy sources, the sector which they are already in. The effectiveness of such initiatives, are limited to a certain extent due to the corruption that exist within the countries.


Key Takeaways

Every year, 3.85 million EJ of solar energy falls onto the earth. Wind and Biomass energy constitutes 2,250EJ and 3,000EJ respectively. If we can trap such energies efficiently, we will have enough energy to meet all of our needs. However, only 487EJ is for primary energy use and 56.7EJ is converted to electricity as of 2005. We need to devise of new approaches that can enable us to capture such energies effeciently, and not just relying on the efficiency of the devices used. For far too long have researchers been too focused on getting solar panels to absorb and convert more solar energy into electrical energy without thinking of how best to capture the rest of the solar energy which is not captured and wasted daily. As stated earlier, placing solar plants in the desert is one way, wind turbines have also been placed in the middle of oceans which I felt was a good idea as well.


Germany is not the hottest place in the world, the country has four seasons which means that it does not receive that much sunlight during winter, but yet so much has been invested into solar energy. Due to the success of solar energy there, they can even attain the achievement of having renewable resources of energy constituting 30% of energy supplied by 2020, surpassing the 20% mark set by the EU themselves. Given that Singapore does not even have four seasons and thus potentially has more sunlight annually compared to Germany, why are we not adopting such an approach and instead standing idly by and choosing to be dependent on others.

In order to get countries who are choosing to stand idly by to join the cause, activist may have to come up with a feasible model and framework that can ensure that choosing to adopt the approach of using more renewable energy will be successful. Germany's framework can be seen as an ideal model as it adopts the tactic that the world is very receptive to, which is through monetary means by giving monetary incentives to ensure that the public at large instead makes more money from installing the solar panels and thereafter selling the energy to the government. Singapore can also adopt such a tactic for private houses, and even for HDB flats where the entire building can be installed with solar panels and the residents there can receive a monthly income for selling the energy to the government. It seems as though the reason for why some governments choose to stand idly by is because they are unwilling to sacrifice a portion of their budget for something which is not gauranteed to succeed. However, if the governments can convince the people to install it on their own accord as they themselves would benefit from it, then no budget will have to be sacrificed.


Issues for Further Discussion


The pertinent issue of health concern from usage of biotechnology was briefly discussed, but what are some of the ways instead that we could adopt to resolve this issue? I felt that this was important given that biotechnology is currently touted as the next big energy source.


Personal Ratings


I rate this lesson a 9 as I really learnt plenty of interesting facts and took home some useful information which was closely related to Singapore as well, in addition to the fact that renewable energy has never failed to pique my interest.

TWC Lesson 7

Brief Overview/Summary

The lesson this week was also about BioBusiness revolution, except instead we touched more about Agribiology, environmental life sciences and industrial biotechnology. First off we started with a quote from Norman Borlaug, about how an adequate food supply was indispensible to the growth of civilization. We then talked about the various colours associated with the BioBusiness industry, red signifying biomedical sciences, green for agriculture, blue for marine biotech and lastly white for industrial biotech.

For agribiology, we discussed about how the farmist has a greater set of skills compared to the farmer, we debated on whether should we continue on with genetic modification(GM). Food security was also touched on, having adequate food supply to meet our needs, given that Singapore is totally dependent on it's neighbours, could agribiology possibly be a feasible solution? We also talked about the reason why most of the food we eat are not labelled with GM, due to the US being a economic giant forcing other countries to adopt the same policies even though some are not following suit.

Next up, we touched on environmental sciences, we learnt about the potential and possibilities that waste management has, how it will become one of the biggest markets in the future. This was followed by bioremediation, which is any process that uses microorganisms, fungi, green plants or their enzymes to return the natural environment altered by contaminants to its original condition. Industrial life sciences were next, we talked about related technologies such as flash pyrolysis, taking human/plant remains and compressing them under pressure to create biofuels, whereby the cost for a barrel of biofuel is around $60-65.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

Reading 5 stated that the world's population is expected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050, but the main concern is whether there would be enough land, food and water for everyone. Technology and innovation has always managed to stay ahead in the game of feeding the world, but we should not take it for granted and additional steps have to be taken to ensure that this continues. Policies and institutions have to be created so that there is sustainable global food security. If there isn't enough food supply for everyone, then it is likely that the food supply would be dominated by developed countries, leaving the rest to suffer and we cannot allow this to occur.

I felt that the presentation by Anneliese about 'The tower garden' was very applicable to creating a sustainable food supply for everyone. Some of my peers in class pointed out several issues with it's feasibility, such as the culture in Singapore will not generate much success for this idea. However, given that Singapore is beginning to have an ageing population and there will be more people who are retired, why not encourage them to start their own tower gardens? Every 7-8 weeks when the vegetables are grown, a person working in public service can come to collect them. At the end of every year, they could possibly get monetary rewards from the government. It may seem like a small and insignificant effort, but if we can be pioneers of this idea and possibly influence others to follow suit, it can create a ripple effect that may prove to be beneficial to humanity as a whole.

One of the phrases mentioned by Prof Shahi, "It is not inconceivable that we may one day develop efficient home bioreactors for converting household biological wastes into energy for powering our household appliances" was one that I found very interesting. This was a perfect example of a circular model, utlising what we no longer need to create energy that we need. No longer will we have to dump our wastes into the environment leading to environmental degradation. This can be coupled with other alternative energy sources such as solar power, if there is a concern that the power generated may not be sufficient, solar power could power the house in the day, while biofuels could do so at night.

One of the videos showed that humans were no more than parasites, we only destroy rather than create. It was not so obvious in the past before the industrial revolution, but it is becoming more apparent now. There may come a time when we can reduce the amount of resources we consume and wastes that we dump onto the environment, but for now I will have to agree with the video.

Key Takeaways

If you do not experiment, test or validate, we will never grow and learn. Monsato is a very fine example of this phrase, they were responsible for the production of RBGH, which increased the production of milk in cows, but side effects included infection which created pus in milk. However, they are also responsible for the many innovations leading to increase in agricultural production in USA. Innovations like these are exactly what we need to generate global food security, even if they may go wayward at times.

The world has seen a rise in urban population from 29 percent to 61 percent, mainly brought about by Latin America, Asia, Africa. There are too many people in the rural environments, more people need to move to urban environments. Before this lesson I always though it was the urban environments that were too overcrowded and rural people should continue staying at rural environments. However, I was proven wrong as the people at rural environments have even lesser space compared to those in urban environments and this in turn is affecting the agricultural productivity. The reason why urban environments are seen as overcrowded instead is because there urban environments can only grow so fast to cater to the urban population.

The whole world would probably be more efficient if everyone was vegetarian, 70 percent is used as feed but only 25 percent of meat is provided. Many people, in particular meat lovers, would probably disagree with this approach and I am no exception. However, what if we could put animal cells into crops, such that the crops would taste like meat?

Issues for Discussion

In the late 70s, there was an oil shortage due to OPEC, and oil prices rised significantly, hence people started looking at alternatives and the electric car came to my mind instantly.However, when oil prices dropped the impetus faded. Were there any similar occurences happening after this incident? How about last year when the oil prices skyrocketed again? I felt that this issue was not addressed in the lesson.

Ratings

I would rate this lesson an 8 as there were many things I learnt from the lesson itself, the readings and the presentations, one of which is that GM promotes monoculture farming and the same crops would drain on the same nutrients.

TWC Lesson 6

Brief Overview/Summary

The lesson was about the BioBusiness Revolution, the impacts it had on various sectors. BioBusiness is already an important part of the global economy, constituing 25% of global GDP and employing 40% of the global workforce. This may be so, but more than 50% of the employees in the BioBusiness are engaged in low wage subsistence farming, something which the world leaders need to look at in order to maximise the actual benefits that BioBusiness can bring.

BioBusiness is a summit based opportunity, with the potential to bring relevant fields to the same level which may originally be in the valley. Turn low value industries into high value industries. This lesson also had plenty of videos, one of which depicting how people in the future will deal with medicine based on plenty of touch screen. Dr Shahi talked about how most people would had laughed at this idea being implemented in the next decade before the IPhone and IPad was marketed, showing how people's perception can change easily simply with one innovation, or one which was kept secret from the masses.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

From reading 5, there are plenty of direct benefits to be dervied from the continued funding of biomedical technology. These benefits are not taken into account in standard measures of aggregate economic output. Despite new medical technology, there is increased spending on health care, this is because the benefits of innovation is rising slower than the cost. Dr Mark is also concerned about the threat to innovation as the process of medical innovation has become more lengthy and costly, as shown by one of the youtube videos, when the time taken for a drug in research to go out onto the market will usually take 14 years. This means that people will still suffer from the lack of the drug while money is continuously poured into the project. Even when the drug goes out onto the market, there will still be lag time due to the lack of knowledge on the part of the consumers.

New policies will have to be implemented to review our current procedures, consumers will have to be better informed by setting up of guidelines and initiatives, as well giving consumers a more rapid access to generic drugs. We have to encourage high value innovations and get more value from our current products. We must find better ways to keep modern care affordable, while still encouraging medical innovation. As Dr Shahi wrote at the whiteboard, BioBusiness is likely to be the means to which we achieve sustainable development and we have to capitalise on such means.

Among the various sectors of BioBusiness, Biofarming is one which has plenty of potential for growth. First of all, it can enable rural farmers to have better farming output by using modern Agro-Equipments and technical knowledge. Secondly, as it was mentioned in class, we can use living plants and animals to produce the drugs or materials we need via Biofarming, such as producing the material for spider's web from a goat.

Key Takeaways

The saying "prevention is better than cure" has probably been heard of thousands of times, but it can not be more applicable for the medical industry than now, when so much money is being pumped, just so to make drugs accessible to people. Billions of dollars can be saved, simply by promoting a healthier lifestyle through exercise and better eating habits, which could be spent elsewhere such as helping the rural farmers or developing biofuels to the next level. The reason why this is not being done in the US now is because of the lobbying that the pharmaceutical companies do to the politicians, therefore the agendas that should be forwarded are not being done so.

The presentation done by Elaine was about NanoMedicine, one which I found extremely intriguing. Most of the smallest cells in our bodies are nanoscale objects, thus with nanobots the effectiveness of treating a particular ailment without damage to the rest of our bodies could be much higer. Such technology is not simply limited to treatment, diagnosis could also be improved by leaps and bounds, while such nanobots that could help to repair tissues could also be made available on ambulances, thus increasing the chances of survival of the patient before he reaches the hospital.  However, one of the arguments mentioned in class was that the functions that such nanobots can perform can possibly be achieved by our own cells, is there really a need to generate such unnecessary technology and introduce something artificial into our body? Would it not be better to find ways rather to stimulate the cells in our very own body to do the functions that we intended the nanobots to achieve?

I feel that nanotechnology has immense potential in other areas than medicine, where problems can arise like how to remove the nanobots from our body after their work are done. Nanotech is already at use in consumer products ranging from stain-resistant and anti-wrinkle textiles in clothing, smart clothing can be developed that could measure our heart rate, blood pressure, sugar levels and vital signs. Nanotechnology can also be used to protect our environment, nanobots can be programmed to eat up or break up particles of pollutants such as oil spills and turn them into harmless substances.

Issues for Discussion

In one of the videos that we watched, Bioindustry Organization, the leading bio organization in the world has the belief that biotech is capable of feeding the world, fueling the world, using nature to change the world, improving the human condition. I was very interested in finding out more about how biotech can use nature to change the world, which was not really or directly addressed in the lesson.

Personal Ratings for Session

I rate this lesson a 7/10. The lesson talked about the BioBusiness broadly and all the areas it has influenced, but I felt that it did not go indepth adequately. On the whole, I still enjoyed the lesson and I was extremely amused by a certain skype incident which happened during class.

TWC Lesson 5

Brief Overview/Summary

The lesson this week focused on Information and Communication technologies(ICTs), how it has developed and will continue to, shaping the world in the process of doing so.

We discussed about the various forms of ICT, before talking about why they have the potential to become an important driver for world change This is due to the fact that they had now become more interactive between individuals, thanks to the emergence of the internet. We also talked about some of the dangers and problems of ICTs, such as security/privacy issues.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

I found one of the topics of the individual oral presentation very interesting, it was on the topic on netspeaking. As a person who used to game regularly, I thought I understood most of the internet lingo that was used these days. However, when some of the sentences were displayed on the screen, I had close to no clue on what some of them were trying to say. Although throughout the course of this module we have been constantly talking about having a future where everyone could understand each other, what if it comes to a point in the future where people who speak the same language may not even understand what the other person is trying to say? A fine line has to be drawn for a person's use of internet lingo, when it is too excessively used more time is actually used to type it out, as well as for the person to decipher the sentence.

 Another interesting thing I found was in reading 2, when it was talking about several new technical capabilites that are now emerging, and their uses must be matched to needs. One of them was precise local spatial data, it can create new possibilities for engineering and market efficiencies. The article talked about linking a sensor in an automobile air filter to the network, to give a precise guide to the sources of various pollutions. What if such a technology was used in every aspect related to pollution? It will be much easier for the governments to implement taxation for such pollution, this might be key to a circular model for sustainable development.

Key Takeaways

From reading 2, I realised how empowered I was by the internet to help those who are less fortunate. With Facebook, Twitter or a Blog, I can complete the job of ubiquitous connectivity and access, form a local microcredit organization to transfer money or find a sponsor to provide for the neccessities of the less fortunate. Many such similar projects have already been initiated, but every individual's efforts goes a long way into changing the world.

I learnt the proper definition of Cloud Computing, how I am using it without knowing I am, and how it has the potential to change the way businesses work in the future, as well as the dangers attached to the benefits.

The world of the future may still be separated by physical boundaries, but it will become more connected than ever before by ICTs, people who are situated in a particular place may no longer be of the same nationality, but of the same interest.

Issues for Discussion

We are currently unable to realise the full potential of the ICT revolution as management techniques are still suited to industrial revolution, in the sense of a command and control structure. Unless we start changing the way we work with people, we will not capture the full potential. What are some of the ways in which we can change? I felt that this issue was not adequately addressed.

I felt that reading 2 had a lot of issues to be discussed, one of them was about learning how to reform education to match complex systems arising through ICTs. In a society like Singapore where almost every average household has more than one computer, what are some of the changes we can implement to the education system?

Personal Ratings for Session

I felt that this lesson was a 9/10. Going in depth into a specific topic has certainly helped me gain more insight into the current issues that are forcing a global change, whereas the previous lessons were more broad based and skimming through certain issues.

TWC Lesson 4

Brief Overview/Summary


The first half of the lesson was about drivers of world change. To start out, we discussed about some drivers of world change. There were some that caught my eye, such as Germs as well as competition. Next to them were certain quotes by famous people of the past, where the class debated on what they truly meant.

We moved on to the readings for 4a after that, reading 1 talked about the various drivers of change to 2060, some of which were similar to those already mentioned in the powerpoint slides, but there were others as well like food security and demographics. Demographics is becoming particularly important, as Prof Shahi mentioned in class, in 2007 almost 50% of the global population were living in urban areas. The demands of people living in urban areas are certainly different from those in rural areas and this will definitely drive a change in the world, possibly to reduce wastage of resources for sustainability.

The individual oral presentations were next, Maneeha gave a presentation about how carbon dioxide may actually not be the cause of global warming, which many of us had extreme reactions towards, but it was a very interesting perspective to bring in nonetheless.

The second half of the lesson was about change management and change leadership. A leader is the one who has a vision, a leader does not have to be detail oriented, but a manager does. For responding to change, Prof Shahi talked about 3 options for change, we can be spontaneous and make it happen, or simply react when it happen, or wonder what happen only when it strikes us. We also discussed briefly about how to lead a change and how to manage one, in which a pessimism time curve was shown.

We were supposed to talk about the readings next, but many of us did not have the chance to read the articles in detail so a very brief summary about every reading was given instead. The last oral presentation followed about leadership and change management. In my opinion, I felt that if change management was being promoted, the entire context of it is meant to be surrounded by innovation and to be receptive to ideas. If a leader or manager chooses to be closed minded, they are simply contradicting the entire concept of what they are trying to do thus they are bound to fail. As 4b reading 1 showed, 75% of all organizational change programs fail, largely due to the fact of employees feeling left out and lacking the motivation as a result. If such the ideas of such employees are well received rather than being thrown out of the window, they will feel a sense of belonging as they are contributing something.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

One issue got me thinking deeply, it was about Germs and how it was a major driver of change, namely the black plague, responsible for both the dark ages and renaissance of Europe. However, it got me thinking about how different societies tend to undergo major changes whenever something disastrous happens. For example, the great depression of the 1930s, led to the rise of the keynesian theory, which gave governments a solution for economic downturns, though it has been proven in the 1970s that it does not always work for all instances. It also gave a reason for the United States to join World War 2, beginning the process of turning them into the superpower of the world. When darkness engulfs you, it is only the beginning and not the end, the light(or in this case change) will come eventually, I inadvertently thought about this phrase.

I thought about China as well, how it is now booming after spending most of last century as a communism driven and closed off country. It appeared very similar to the case of the dark ages and renaissance of Europe. The both of them were cases of falling stars, closed perspective, not interested in learning from others, or investing in new ideas. After opening up, they profited immensely, Europe became a dominant power and China is now a threat to the throne held by United States. Does this mean that in order to have changes shift hugely in our favour, we have to become falling stars first for a prolonged period of time? I would think that such cases no longer apply to our modern society, where it is increasingly competitive and it will be very difficult to catch up once you have fallen behind.

Another interesting observation was that in 4a, reading 4, our common perception of Africa would be that the countries there are largely undeveloped, and even if they are, they are lagging behind the rest of the developed countries. However, what I found out was that Zambia was developing very fast, ideas and changes happening there were occuring over a span of about 10 years, whereas it took Singapore about 40 years to do so. This could be because Zambia had many models of countries which successfully developed to follow, or because it had many endowments such as land as its main resource which Singapore lacked. Some of the drivers of changes affecting Zambia were also affecting other developed nations, such as sustainable construction, skills training and development for staff, as well as making the supply chain management more efficient.

Key Takeaways

The phrase by George Bernard Shaw "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." was one that really stuck onto me. I finally understood why there were times in the past during projects, when my group decided to ignore my idea for another person's proposition, simply because he was being unreasonable and did not want to give in. When you become unreasonable, you can force people to think about things in a different way. There will be times when using such approach will be more effective than being reasonable instead, such as when the group is going round in circles during discussion and it is imperative to reach a conclusion fast. However, drawing a line on when to use or not to use such an approach is difficult and requires practice as well as experience.

Knowing about the pessimism time curve in 4b can really help in the process of doing projects. During the uninformed optimism, it is important that we still keep our feet on the ground. When the informed pessimism arrives, possibly due to the realization of how much work actually has to be put into the project, we have to strive on as it will only get better. As informed realism arrives and our pessimism is reduced, we will know that the finishing point is near.

Issues for Discussion

I was really intrigued by Maneeha’s presentation on global warming as it offered another perspective from a different school of thought. Although some time was already was already devoted among the class to discuss the topic, perhaps we could go more in depth into the topic and find out about the other school of thoughts on global warming.

Personal ratings for session

I rate this lesson a 9, I was able to grasp all the concepts being mentioned in class and there were many interesting issues brought up. The presentations also provoked plenty of discussion among the class and I got to hear to opinions of many others.

Brief Overview/Summary


Tuesday was my first TWC lesson with Prof Shahi, and I must say, it was certainly different from anything I had experienced before.

For the first part of the lesson we went into the topic of building a sustainable model for technology and industrial development. How the old economic model of industrialisation used by so many developed countries must cease to be used, as the emerging economies will attempt to build on their previous examples. The United States accounts for only 5% of the global population but consumes 30% of the world's resources, this is a largely disproportionate amount. As the need to create technologies that can sustain the environment increases, it will also lead to the green tech revolution picking up more steam.

Next up was the individual presentation, Bernadette brought up a very interesting topic on Urban Aquaponics, which was an example of the cyclical industrial model brought up at the start of the lesson. It showed how much potential was inside the area of sustainable technology, and that more innovation and expertise was needed.

Yu Hui was second with her presentation of the new clean technology in Israel, which was vital to the country as it was surrounded by middle eastern countries and could be forced to provide their own energy in times of war.

The 2nd half of the lesson was about technology and innovation management. We generate large amounts of ideas everyday, but only a minimal amount of them will have to potential for great success. Innovation is all about doing something different, and it must be done consistently as well, because others will constantly want to emulate your example. A process which was unheard of by me, the R-D-A process was mentioned as well, it represented a much more realistic picture of the mindsets of successful businessmen and entrepreneurs alike. The R and D process is commonly known to everyone, but the application process was something implicit but yet indispensible in order for the product to be highly demanded in the economy.

Leon then gave a very unique one word per page presentation on the growth of google and how it has come to impact our everyday lives. We went on to discuss about how google has all information on our searches, which places the company in a very powerful position, be it to do good or evil. Currently, google has used the information to do good, but there is no telling what may happen should a malicious 3rd party get their hands on it, countless people will be victim to exploitation.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

The phrase on the whiteboard "Sustainability requires a shift from linear to circular thinking" brought about somewhat of a revelation to me. It finally dawned on to me that degradation problems still persists because we are unable to break out of the old linear industrial model, where economic development and environmental thinking were at loggerheads with each other. In this model, as an unaware consumer, I might just utilise several thousand pages of paper without realising how many trees were cut down from it. Every individual in the linear chain were simply concerned for their own well being and not for the whole big picture.

A new circular model, where every party is responsible or will feel the repercussions for the actions of another party has to be come into place. Either a middle ground has to come into place between the need for economic growth and environmental conservation or we have to wait for green technology to develop to the next level. Developing countries will have to start finding ways to head to the service based industries without going through industrialisation.

One of the queries for the presentation of Urban Aquaponics was also of great debate, the feasiblity of such an idea in Singapore. Singapore is a place with many fish farms, both fresh and saltwater. Should we adopt the technique for these farms, we could definitely save on the consumption of freshwater and increase the production of vegetables. It is different from hydroponics in a sense that it does not simply involve plants, but fishes as well, so to write the idea off simply because hydroponics cannot work in Singapore is wrong. Of course, this will not be sufficient to sustain Singapore on its own, but we will be less reliant on others. Granted, as my peers had pointed out, the issue of cost still has to be sorted out, with the most possible solution via further innovation to cut cost.

Key Takeaways

Perceptions have to be changed in order to create a sustainable planet for the future, as individuals we can do our part, but not without the help of the governments and large corporations. This has to work both on a micro and macro level.

The valley, summit and cloud opportunities concept was one I am sure everyone in the class would take back. We always look to the sky as the limit, it will be where dreams and ideas are formed, amidst the clouds, yet to be truly completed. The summit is currently where some of the world's most successful innovators, such as Apple stand. The world is their oyster, they control large amount of the various industries they operate in, or even multiple industries. However, should they cease to innovate, their competitors will soon catch up with them and squeeze them down to the valley, where everyone is clamouring to stand out and it is tough to do so. Examples of valley to summit, such as the French fighting for the rights for the term "champagne" are far and few between.

Research is like a giant tank that is stored in our head, constantly growing exponentially with ideas, many of our ideas remain in the embryonic stage. Sometimes all our ideas will remain in that stage if we do not voice them out or attempt them. The trick is to sieve out the diamonds among the giant piles of ideas, and work on them, this can only come with experience, through the process of trying to make an idea work

Issues for further discussion

Those in power are always resistant to change, that is why the world's most powerful leaders rarely get anything truly fruitful done on environmental issues, be it due to fear from suffering an economic backlash or pressure from large corporations. What are some of the ways in which we can change this? Will developing a circular economic model and asking them to adhere to it be sufficient, what if they refuse to change for profit reasons or they are unconvinced?

Having technology as well as being market driven are the main drivers of innovation, but in the lesson we discussed them as seperate entities. If you have funding, then you can afford to come up with an innovation based on technology. However, are they really two seperate entities? Looking at some of the most highly demanded innovations in the world recently, such as the IPhone, it was created based on both market demand as well as technology. Will technology alone be sufficient as a driver of innovation?

The hot-air car which was brought up in lesson reminded me of the electric car in the 1970s, even though it was invented then, the large corporations which still relied on fuel based cars bought over the idea and kept it secret. This carried on for the next few decades until the need to be more environmental friendly became more apparent. Are there currently any ideas that mirror that of the electric car in the 1970s which are being kept secret by large corporations?

Personal Ratings

I rated the lesson a 7, a broad spectrum of topics were covered, it was my first lesson so the influx of information was too great at times and I could not absorb everything. I hope that in subsequent weeks when I get used to the pace of the lesson, I will be able to absorb useful insights from both the prof and my peers.