We’re close to the halfway mark now! 6^th lesson of TWC just ended. Another lesson filled with many lessons to be learnt.

The main topic of discussion was on the rise of bio-business, in particular that of the bio-medical industry.

What I find interesting were the changes in major global diseases since 1990, before the start of the bio-medical revolution. According to a table shown in class, the top 3 causes of death in 1990 was lower respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases and perinatal conditions, all of which are diseases. Yet, in the predicted causes of deaths in 2020 using current data, the top 3 causes are ischaemic heart diseases, major depression and road traffic accidents, 2 of which are not medical related diseases. We can see that with the advent of bio-medical science, mortality due to diseases would greatly reduced.

The class also discussed on the availability of medical innovations to the public. While it is a entirely human to want to attain wealth, to what extent would we be willing to put others at risk in our pursuit of wealth? This was the question that went through my head when we were discussing on the issue of patents and copyrights of medical innovations. There are 2 sides to this issue that I find equally rational. Critics of patents argue that should medical advances be patented, it would not be widely available to those who really need it. This would then be a huge stab to our conscience as human beings. Yet, supporters of patents counter by stating that should there be no patents for medical advances, innovation would be stifled, as the monetary incentive for advancing our medical expertise would no longer be available. I personally feel that a line should be drawn to be ethical yet realistic about this issue, though in reality, the boundaries of this line is a lot harder to be defined.

The highlight of this session would be the ethical issue regarding the advancement of medical innovation. We should know that while the idea of providing cheap and easily available medical services are noble, the hard truth is that it is definitely not easy to persuade profit motivated individuals to contribute their expertise pro bono.

Pretty happy to say that most of the major issues have already been discussed adequately in class :). I would give a 9/10 for this insightful lesson.

5th Lesson

Another lesson of TWC just ended. Today's the first time we focused on only one topic instead of 2. Pretty content heavy, but at least we didn't need to stretch our brain cells for 2 topics :).

The issue of ICT was the topic of discussion, with the class looking at the various forms of ICT, the various applications of ICT and their implications on society. Most interestingly was how gaming was considered in itself a form of ICT, seeing as the majority of people considered it more of a recreational pastime that's largely irrelevant to our daily lives. Yet, we were shown a video in which the Kinect system of the Xbox 360, its software named Project Natal, was able to simulate an entirely virtual world and allowed us to interact with it. The video showed interaction with a boy created entirely out of the software, yet had emotions and reacted like a normal human being. The most fascinating observation I felt was when the boy invited the tester to touch the "water". The Kinect system device picked up the tester's movements and translated it accordingly into the virtual world, with ripples forming and fish moving away when the tester touched the screen.

I also realised that productivity increases from ICT developments, originally very high, have been slowly decreasing as each development is met. The diagram showed that our productivity gain from hunter societies to agriculture and the domestication of animals was 25 times, similar to that from an agricultural society to the industrial revolution. However, the productivity gain from the industrial revolution to our current ICT developments, labelled the "Knowledge Revolution", only increased by 5%. This got me thinking: could it be possible that our rapid developments into ICT have already stretched any more productivity gains in the future? What I mean is that any further developments in ICT would result in a less than proportionate productivity gain. We may very well have reached the limit of our IT innovation.

From the discussions of this lesson, I learnt that while the possibilities and advantages of technology may be limitless, we must take care in employing such technologies. This is because the future implications of current innovations can hardly be predicted in current times. For example, no one would have expected that advance in social media such as Facebook would eventually become so dominant today. As such, the lesson that we all should realise would be to always be wary of the current technologies we have today.

As for other issues for discussion, I feel that the point that I raised above, about the declining productivity gain, could have been an interesting discussion topic.

I would rate the lesson an 8/10. Issues are getting more intriguing each passing lesson…

4th Lesson

Another lesson of TWC! Personally a really fruitful lesson in terms of topics and issues discussed. And it was the first time we voted 10 for some presenters ;).

The issue of drivers of world change seemed to be a very hotly debated topic in the class, with the many opinions and debates that flew about when this topic was discussed. Professor Singh also mentioned on the difference between revolution and evolution. He defined evolution as change that comes progressively in a comfortable pace, such that most of those involved would be given time to adapt to the change. Revolution, in contrast, is the sudden change in beliefs that have considerable impacts on all fabrics of society. For revolution to occur, certain extraordinary leaders would have to lead it, and this was the issue discussed in the 2^nd half of the lesson.

The 2^nd half of the lesson focused on the issue of leaders of change and innovation. Professor Singh used the analogy of birds to explain his point, which I find pretty meaningful. Professor Singh believed that those who are leaders are akin to eagles, who soar high in the air to observe everything around them. When the opportunity arises, they would strike down with lethal accuracy. The followers tend to be normal birds, while those resistant to change were described, humorously although true, as dodo birds. Unwilling to adapt to new situations, this group of people would eventually find themselves lagging far behind others in society. While they would not die out like the dodo bird, the truth would be that this group of people would experience much difficulty in living in a changed society. A video on the concept of leadership was also shown, which I find very insightful. In it, a so-called “lone nut” decided to dance in front of a group of people. At first, he may look like a complete idiot; yet, as more and more people started to join in along with his dancing, those who were not dancing eventually became the idiot. This, in some aspects, bears resemblance to the start of a revolution of sorts.

The concept of leadership was an important factor that we learnt in lesson today. Without leadership, change would not have been able to occur. Yet, it must be noted that solitary leaders would never make a difference in society. To be a good leader, the individual must have the capability to attract people to join his cause, thereby helping to bring about the change.

On a whole, the recent lesson was carried out in very smooth manner. I do feel that maybe a few more videos can be shown to illustrate a concept more accurately.

I would rate the lesson an 8.5/10 again. Looking forward to next week’s class.

Individual Topical Review Paper Outline

Individual Topical Review Paper

Executive Summary

- Innovation to discuss: Genetically Modified (GM) Food

- Talking about:

o Development of GM foods

o Uses of GM Food

o Implications of GM foods

o Future Considerations

o Conclusion

Background

- GM Foods: crops produced for human consumption using latest biotechnology methods

- Modified in labs to enhance desired traits such as increased drought tolerance and increased resistance to pesticides

- Certain GM Foods have genes that makes them healthier than their organic product

Implications of GM Food

- Positives:

o Solution to global hunger

§ Possibility of growing vital foods in countries of the third world, where water is not available for large crops

§ Also likely to provide an all-year round supply of food

§ Foods can also be grown in a variety of harsh environments

o Increased Nutritional Content of foods

§ Nutritional enhancement

§ Food crops now have a larger concentration of specific types of nutrients

§ Especially important in developing countries where malnutrition is a serious issue

o Economic Benefits of GM Foods

§ Most GM foods have a longer shelf life than organic food

§ GM Foods tend to be more resistant to pests, herbicides and pesticides, and also have a shorter maturation time

o Environmental Benefits

§ Reduced usage of pesticides

§ Soil erosion would be more controlled

§ GM Foods can also help clean up the environment

- Negatives:

o Health Risks

§ Introducing a foreign gene into the crop may create a new allergen or make susceptible individuals more vulnerable to their allergies

§ Unknown health risks as well

§ Antibiotic resistance may develop for certain life-threatening viruses

o Increased tolerance by pests against pesticides and herbicides

§ Sometimes pollen of GM crops may be blown to non-target plants

§ Cross-breeding may occur, resulting in organisms that have the same herbicide resistant traits as that of the GM crops

§ Introduction of a natural biopesticide in crops could eventually produce a strain of pests that are resistant to this natural pesticide

o Environmental risks

§ GM crops can be so productive that they can overwork the soil and require vast amounts of resources, like water, to survive

§ Biodiversity could be affected

o Economic Impacts

§ GM food corporations have patented many of their products in order to generate as much profit as possible

§ Possibly lead to a monopoly by these corporations, imposing unfair terms and conditions on farmers purchasing GM crop seeds from them

§ Prices of these GM seeds would be unfairly high

Future Considerations

- GM foods would eventually become an essential part of our lives

- Food supply will never be infinite

- Will have to use our ingenuity to find new food sources

- Huge amounts of cash pumped into GM foods research

- Will seek a solution to all the controversies that GM Food has brought about currently

Conclusion

- The possibility that GM Foods would be part of our essential diet is not a fantasy

- Shortages in organic food and high prices would drive people to eventually consume more GM Foods

- Economically, GM Foods would be more appealing for farmers to cultivate than organic food

3^rd lesson of TWC! First time coming back on a Saturday as well. Went through the issues of sustainability and how to manage technology in a way that is ethically justified as well as beneficial to the user.

One interesting point to note would be the issue of sustainability. This was the topic most hotly debated in class today. The idea of sustainable development is a popular issue among most of the developed countries today, and even in some developing countries. The concept of sustainable development would be to develop the country in such a way that future generations would not be troubled by the lack of resources available, to put it simply. The key debate issue was that if sustainable development is a feasible situation in such a selfish and greedy world as today. One of our classmates presented on the first sustainable city in the world, Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. The city had many features that encourage sustainability, such as a “No Cars Rule” and a waste disposal facility that converts all waste back into usable green energy, among others. Furthermore, the positioning of the city is such that the city would remain cool, along with wind turbines, as the city has a “no air conditioning” rule as well. While the prospect of a fully green city has stirred up lots of interest and praise, I felt that it might be difficult to implement such a project. This project is only feasible due to the large cash reserves of Abu Dhabi. The push to develop such sustainable cities would largely be unlikely in many developing countries today, which also happen to be the countries that are the most heavily polluted.

Professor Singh also introduced a new concept today: The Landscape Model of Technology. 3 key words were introduced in this model: Valley, Summit and Cloud. Technology located at the Valley portion are often those which there is low investment interests, and there are low barriers to entry. Summit portions tend to have greater barriers to entry in investing in innovation, but the returns tend to be large as well. Those in the cloud portion are currently unattainable, yet if breakthroughs are possible, the returns are huge. According to this model, the type of innovation is interchangeable between the 3 categories. This is an interesting observation, as it seems to resemble somewhat the Pyramid Model of the previous lesson.

I feel that the most important takeaway from this lesson would be that sustainable development, while a very attractive prospect, is largely unfeasible currently. The rarity and difficulty in employing green technology has caused the costs of constructing and maintaining a sustainable city to be extremely high. As of the current situation, this would be largely unfeasible for most of the countries, even some developed countries, today. Hence, I feel that the development Masdar City is not necessarily a huge breakthrough in the pursuit for a sustainable city.

Another point I would like to take away would be that innovation should be widely encouraged, especially in a constantly changing world such as ours today. Yet, judging by the rapid pace of developments in technology, we as a society must also be responsible in managing these developments, ensuring that it does not harm the Earth excessively.

I felt that in most aspects, today’s lesson went without much of a hitch. However, the portion of sustainability could have been spent in discussion longer.

I would rate today’s lesson an 8.5/10. Most parts of the lesson was explained in sufficient depth, and we had ample time to discuss on the issues posted by the presentations today.