First Lesson

Today was my first official lesson of Technology and World Change (TWC). To sum it all up, it was a pretty enjoyable experience. Truthfully, I was looking forward to the “ice-breaker” portion of the lesson, and I guess it went better than I had first thought. It was pretty enjoyable knowing the interesting (and sometimes humorous) facts about each other. We then watched 2 videos related to TWC called “Gun, Germs and Steel” and “Shift Happens”, followed by a brief introduction into what to expect from TWC.

The question posed by the “Guns, Germs and Steel” was simple, yet invokes a lot of thought: if everyone was born human, why does inequality still exist among human societies today? Through our discussions, we pinpointed several factors, such as geography, political development, and the receptiveness of innovation of the people, among many others.

Another topic we discussed in class was the issue of change: is change necessarily a good thing, and is it always accepted? I suppose everyone agreed that change is necessary if the society wishes to advance itself in the right direction. However, not everyone is open to change, which could be one of the reasons why there is unequal development among countries today.

I feel that although technology is an extremely powerful tool for the progress of our society and for mankind, it should be managed and handled with care and prudence. We have often heard of the many ills that technology has brought upon our society. Yet, technology can also be the most effective solution to solve all this ills. For example, industrialization brought about by advances in technology has caused increased pollution in our environment. Fast forward to a few decades later, and we have already begun developing just about everything considered “green”, helping bring down pollution levels.

Another point I feel is of relevance is that people should be receptive of change, especially in a society like ours today. In these few past decades, we have developed at such breakneck pace in such a short period of time that if people were to be un-accepting of change, they would clearly be left behind in every aspect of their daily lives. Today, electronic devices, such as handphones and laptops, are used so often in our everyday lives that we would be forgiven for forgetting the fact that just 50 years ago, people are still communicating via snail mail and the like. It is not an exaggeration to say that in the next 50 years, our way of life now may even become obsolete to the people of that generation. Hence, change is a phenomenon that we must attempt to embrace, and not shun it like a pest.

I felt that generally the lesson was well-paced, though some of the readings that were given to us could be discussed more in-depth and not just skimmed through.

As such, I would rate the first lesson an 8/10.