TWC Lesson 2

Brief Overview/Summary

Due to the fact that we are living in a modern society, technology has begun to have an unprecendented amount of impact on our everyday lives.

The topic in the first half of the lesson was about the societal and global dominance of technology. The rapid growth of technology in the last 50 years has certainly changed the way people have functioned, be it the way we behave towards others or the methods we use in which to get the job done. Even the wants of an average person has also altered dramatically compared to before, the changes that technology had instilled upon the various dimensions of global dominance has certainly not been small.

The topic in the second half was about development, how development was related to world change, as well as the various dimensions of development, which was not simply about human development. There were many others such as cultural, economic and industrial development, all of which had an direct impact on human development.

One of the recommended readings was about the 2009 Human Development Index Rankings, followed by some questions which sought to understand how the rankings were derived and to promote deeper thinking about this issue.

Interesting Observations

I found the Organizational Behavior Model for Identifying Innovation Leaders and Dominant Players to be very interesting. It was not something I have not heard of before, but seeing it put in a form of diagram was certainly an eye opener. I thought about those corporations and societies who were dominant players and whether they had indeed adopted different behavioral traits and operational attitudes.

In the end, I felt that this was very true, but it is to my contention that even such groups of people take in every piece of new information they get with a pinch of salt. There would be such immense conflict and contradiction within themselves if they simply take in every bit and piece of information they receive.

The various indicators used for the Human Development Index was also something worth debating about. There were three dimensions used, namely life expectancy at birth, knowledge and education, as well as standard of living. All these were material indicators, but what about the immaterial indicators, such as spiritual or moral development, do they not affect the way we as humans develop as well?

Key Takeaways

Technology has indeed shaped our societies in ways we could never imagine in the past, but is it truely for better or worse? In 2a reading 3, Peter Mcmahon highlighted the fact of the rising global popular culture. This culture, mostly American in origin, has led to to masses of people having the same likes and dislikes. Do we really want media with little to no education value at all? Are we such people that would rather watch a film with its only contents as special effects, violence and sex?

A most recent example was the film avatar, film critics and even people around me praised the film immensely, some even resorted to calling it the movie of the year. However, I did not watch the movie, as I felt that the story was too similar to the disney film of Pocahontas. My school of thought was that the story, and not special effects should be the main drawing point of a film. I thought that I was a person with an odd point of view until I read Mcmahon's article.

Another point that I had grasped was the famous phrase of "no man is an island". No matter how smart or creative you are, you still need the input of perspectives and ideas from others, be it people around you or people that are halfway across the globe.

Issues for Further Discussion

I was not at the lesson, but I felt that the issue of colonialism was a very debatable issue. Although there is already a reading on it, but I thought that it was only the tip of the iceberg.

The evolution of colonialism was also something worth talking about, although they supposedly do not exist today, but what about MNCs who dominate almost every single developed society in the world, not to mention developing societies with labour?

Personal Ratings

Same comments as lesson 1 as I did not attend the lesson, but this will finally be the last entry which I did not attend the lesson for.

TWC Lesson 1

Brief Overview/Summary

Although I did not attend Prof Gurinder's first two lessons of TWC, I will still give a summary based on powerpoint slides as well as course readings.

Something struck me when I went through the powerpoint slides. Simple things that we, as people living in modern societies take for granted such as paper, writing, irrigation etc were regarded as breakthroughs that could shape human history at that time. What would happen if paper was not actually invented? Would many of today's technologies even exist? Would Einstein have been able to complete his theory of relativity had he not have paper to work on?

Interesting observations

I was extremely intrigued when I saw a particular page of the powerpoint slide, titled "The Future of the Human Race?". Assuming that people who read this do not entirely write off Darwin's theory of evolution, we can see that from the very first picture on the left to the second from the right, homo sapiens have certainly progressed by an incredible amount. However, as we begin to see more and more obese people resembling the person on the right corner, is this really the future that humans are destined to be trapped in?

Can technology, which we as humans, turn into friend or foe at will, aid us in avoiding this foreseeable disaster?

Key Take Away Points

Looking at the revolutionary developments in human history, I thought about another revolution which happened in between the Industrial Revolution and Agricultural Revolution, it was the Aviation Revolution.


The Wright Brothers had, in the early 1900s, invented the world's first successful airplane. This may be the case, but human attempts to fly had already dated all the way back to a few centuries ago, when a famous person by the name of Leonardo Da Vinci had made real studies of flight and sketched out a design of the ornithopter.

I came to a conclusion that you need not be the first to think of an innovation, but in order to be remembered as the inventer you have to be the first to succeed in that idea.

Putting myself in the shoes of a person living in an era before some of the innovations shown in slide 22 were invented, I would probably think of people who dreamed of them as crazy. However, because they had a vision that no one else could share, they dared to dreamed and try, etching themselves forever in history as great contributors to humanity. It got me thinking about some of the things that I dream about sometimes and whether they could indeed turn into reality in the next 10 or 20 years.

Issues for Further Discussion

I felt that the question by Yali which Jared Diamond had faced was one with many possible answers, and Diamond had only one answer, which was geograpical location. If the class had went into a collective discussion, even more avenues of answers might surface which could provoke even deeper thinking.

Another question I had in mind was, after reading of Guns, Germs and Steel as well as reading 4, why did the dominance of the middle east diminish? They had the best quality of crops and animals, as shown by the fertile crescent, and they were frequently one step ahead of their European counterparts in various fields such as medicine. I have several answers in mind, such as religious issues, but I would definitely like to hear what my peers have to say.

Personal Ratings for Session

I did not attend this lesson so I am unable to give a rating, but judging from the issues that the course readings and powerpoint slides raised, I am definitely looking forward to lesson 3.