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.