TWC Session 9: Future and Emerging Technologies

Brief Overview

This week's session was about the emerging technologies that can have a huge potential to change how we do things and change our ways of life. Technologies that were discussed included Biotechnologies, Robotics, fuel cells and other energy resources. These are some of the interesting technologies that can be of great benefit to us. 

Interesting Observations

It is also interesting to note that though most innovations are demand driven, some technologies were introduced before there was a demand for it. I observed that most of these innovations are actually society changing ones. Before there was the light bulb, people used fire as a source of light in the dark. No one though that we ever needed a device that can emit light using electricity. But when it was created and introduced, it became one key part of out daily lives. Another example is the invention of iPad. When it was first introduced by Apple, most people asked "why do we need something thats not a phone and not a computer". But far sighted steve jobs probably asked "why not?' And this is the key between creating a mediocre innovation and one with a breakthrough.

Key Takeaway 

The lecture started off with a quote from George Bernard Shaw that goes, "You see things; and you say 'Why?' But i dream things that never were and I say 'Why not'". This quote particularly grabbed my attention because i feel that this is extremely relevant throughout my entire journey. One of the key message that keeps surfacing since the first lecture was "If one refuses to change, one will soon become obsolete." Shaw's quote particularly highlights that one's mindset can play a huge part and it has the ability to change things around us. Opening your mind to new possibilities by asking yourself "Why not", opens many doors to successful technology advancements. It opens your mind to countless possibilities and can help one to think out of the box.

TWC Session 8: Energy and World Change

Brief Overview

This session’s lesson was on energy and how it is constantly being depleted by our excessive usage. According to statistics in the lecture slides, “if everyone consumed as much energy as the average Singaporean and US resident, the world’s oil reserves would be depleted in 9 years”. The lecture then went on to explain the various types of energy sources available and also how sustainable energy sources can be encouraged by various measures for a Green Economy.

Interesting Observations

As the world is starting to gain awareness on the importance of sustainable forms of energy, it is interesting to note that Brazil’s gasohol programme is already almost 40 years old. Brazil is regarded as the first sustainable biofuel economy, and is a policy model for other countries. Burning of ethanol fuel releases significantly less Carbon Dioxide than conventional burning of fossil fuels. According to statistics, can ethanol produces 56% less Carbon Dioxide. This is beneficial to our Earth, which is facing increasing concerns of global warming and greenhouse effect.

However, there is always an argument on how these lands should be used. While Brazil uses a huge portion of their land to farm sugarcanes for energy, many people in Brazil are still suffering from hunger. So the question is always whether food production is more important or energy production is more important. From environmentalist point of view, cane ethanol is definitely viable form of sustainable energy source, however for hunger activists, the planting of sugar cane for energy is definitely a major source of concern.

It is also interesting to note that photovoltaics produce significantly high amounts of electrical energy per square kilometer of land. Photovoltaic is the method to generate electricity form the solar energy by converts energy from the sun directly to electricity. The lecture slides state that photovoltaics can generate substantial amounts of energy; I feel that this piece of statistic does not apply across the board. The efficiency of the photovoltaics varies between different conditions and different geographical areas. In a sunny Singapore, for instance, the efficiency of these solar panels are definitely very high. However, in the places like St Petersburg in Russia, where the city is only exposed to 6 hours of sunlight on some days, this piece of technology can be extremely ineffective.

Despite that, I do agree that photovoltaic is an extremely viable option to look into for our future energy. It provides several key benefits compared to conventional burning of fossil fuels. It is extremely clean with zero emissions of harmful gas. Moreover it is a largely inexhaustible form of energy as opposed to the fossil fuels, which are running out at an alarming rate.

Key Takeaway Points

I learnt in this lesson that sometimes, decisions that are beneficial to the society in the long run may not be perceived as favorable to the general public. It is therefore important for government to help push green technology forward with legislation and other tools. Due the high costs of clean energy, people are often reluctant to change to cleaner sources because they do not gain substantial personal benefits. Thus if the government can create incentives to individuals to change to green technology, it would result in significant increases in the conversion to green energy. For example, officials in Sao Paolo implemented a policy that requires new residential, commercial and industrial buildings to install solar water heating systems (SWH) to cover at least 40% of the energy used for heating water. Regulations like this helps to kick start the acquisition of green technologies. When these green technologies become more widespread, the cost of the technology will be spread over a larger consumer population, causing the price to decrease. Until then, policies are needed provide the incentive to change.

Issues for further discussion

Is biomass and waste energy as energy source cause of concern in the future?

I feel that biomass is definitely an avenue that can be ventured into for renewable source of energy. The cost of this energy source is extremely and thus can be accepted by consumers more easily. The major problem will be to reduce the negative stigmas relating to the use of waste. Like the implementation of clean water in Singapore, there was strong negative reaction to the “sewage water” for drinking. But gradually over time, there was acceptance for this piece of technology when people realized that the water was no different from other water sources.

Personal rating

This lesson provided me with some mind blowing statistics and helped cleared several misconceptions of mine. For example, I once believed that solar energy and waste energy was extremely inefficient, but after the lesson I realized the vast potentials of these energy sources. Thus I give this lesson a rating of 9/10.

TWC Session 7: Agriculture

This week’s lesson basically talks about how technology changes the ways of agriculture, how biobusiness helps in industries, and also how maintaining the environment. We started the lesson by examining the need for greater efficiency in terms of food production. With the rapid urbanization of the world, more people are migrating from the farms to towns in search of better living. Thus for the same human population, there are actually less people to produce these food sources.

One of the largest components of the biobusiness in agricultural sector is no doubt the emergence of genetically modified (GM) food. On the macro scale, genetically modified food has been ongoing since along time ago. Farmers tend to “select” the genes by using the seeds of the fruits with desirable traits and growing more fruits with those seeds. This way, in the long run, the fruits produced will be all of better quality. Farmers knew about the concept of heredity long time ago and the selection of genes had been largely trial and error. Until recent times, with the emergence of genetic engineering, humans are now able to select the favorable genes. To go a step further, some organisms’ genome is altered by insertion of gene sequence from another different species. This has enabled us to create super crops that can be pest resistance, seedless, tasty, huge, and the list goes on.

One interesting issue brought up was GM food labeling. Is it necessary for GM food to be labeled and differentiated from other forms of food? I generally am a strong supporter of GM food and feel that GM food should not be differentiated. It is human nature for people to be worried about things they do not fully understand. In the past, things that could not be explained were often classified as the act of devil, and there are many examples where people are put to death because of the possession of devilish powers when in fact, it was just undiscovered science. The same rule applies here; when people are unsure of GM food, they will just choose to shun it and avoid it. Since the main purpose of GM was to enable food security, the rejection by consumers to this kind of food effectively defeats the purpose. Moreover, with lesser people receptive towards GM food, the cost of this technology will be spread over a smaller consumer base and this will just drive the price of GM food up and causes even more problems to food security,

Waste energy is another interesting issue brought forward in the lesson. Within waste there is always energy that have not been utilized. There is therefore great potential to harness this energy for better sustainability. From the waste, useful sources of energy can be collected such as natural gases and bio oil. One may argue, how much natural gases can waste produce? From what I read before, the amount of natural gases in landfills can be extremely large. In one case there was even an explosion due to the natural gases present in the landfill. Moreover, even if very little energy can be extracted form the waste, it is still better than nothing.

Before this lesson, I have always thought that the biobusiness is mainly about healthcare industries and biomedical sciences, but today’s lesson gave me interesting insights on other aspects of biobusiness and it is therefore extremely engaging for me. As such I give this lesson a rating of 9/10.

TWC Session 6: BioBusiness, Healthcare and Biomedical

This week's lesson on the healthcare and biomedical industry was really informative looking into various interesting technologies in the industry. The lesson covered the disparity in terms of healthcare utilisation between South Asia and the USA. We also talked about the main areas of biobusiness opportunities with some really interesting topics such as biotechnology. With the change in demographics around the world, consumer demands have also changed. This has also caused different health problems.

One area that interest me was the types of diseases that changes with the world demographics. With the advancement of medical services, diseases in developed countries changed from infectious diseases to chronic diseases. For example, obesity is increasing at such an alarming rate in developed countries, and this in turn causes many other health problems such as high blood pressure, heart diseases etc. Comparing this to the developing countries, where people are dying of common flu, minor infections everyday, I feel that there really isn't a best of both worlds.

While we have managed to find vaccines for diseases that caused epidemics in the past, new diseases are constantly appearing. Every time there is a cure for a disease, a mutation in the strains of these virus occurs and we are back to square one. So this actually made me think of a rather pessimistic future, "will there be a day when we can no longer find a cure to this mutated super viruses?"

The idea of the digital wallet with all the relevant cards inside was extremely appealing to me. The fact that you can keep all your cards as softcopies inside an electronic device certainly can cause me alot of convenience. People may argue that if i happen to lose it, i will lose all my credit cards, atm cards, etc etc. But with so many important documents in one device, will you still be so careless with your digital wallet? I guess not. Further improvements can also be made to make it even more compact and useful. The smartphone functions can be fused with this digital wallet, maybe it can be configured to your home and your car, and i am sure there are endless possibilities to this. To relate this the topic of biomedicine, this device can have a "sos" button such that when it is pressed, important health information about the individual can be shown such as allergies, blood type, health conditions, past health history. This could in turn be vital especially for first aid.

DNA genetic engineering and stem cells is an area of constant controversy around the world. I, however, feel that this is an area of great potential and possibilities. Like what we have seen so far, every technology comes with limitations.and any new technology will be exploited in the wrong way by some human beings. Thus it is important to weight these pros and cons and determine if the technology can bring more good to our lifes.

TWC Session 5: ICT & World Change

ICT stands for Information & Communications Technology and includes so many aspects of our lives from our Internet to our mobile phones. ICT is such an integral part of our life that i believe many of us would not be able to survive without it. There are various aspects of ICT, some are already widely used in our daily lives, some are still growing. Nonetheless, ICT has great potential to make our lives even more efficient, more desirable and thus should be embraced with open arms.

One major aspect of ICT is mass media. So how has the mass media changed the world? Mass media is basically any form of relaying of information to a large audience. Over the years, mass media has evolved from passive to more engaging forms. The earliest forms of mass media, such as smoke signals, are mostly uni directional. Means spreading information from one person to many others, and there is no avenue to provide feedback. However as technology advances with the creation of Internet, people are now able to share their views on the internet and this can be really beneficial as views from every individual can now be heard, and this can help companies to gather feedback much easily. 

However with every new piece of technology comes the cons. Due to the ease of disemmminating information using mass media, ideas and thoughs can be propagated easily to large amount of audience. The problem arises when people use these channels for the wrong agendas. Like how extremists and terrorist uses mass media to spread their believes to try and rope in more people for their cause. 

Another huge component of ICT is the World Wide Web. As we evolved form Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, and are now currently looking at possiblities of Web 3.0, there is great potential is this area. Web 3.0 basically focuses on "internet of things" & "internet of services". In the near future, all our devices will be linked to each other and have the ability to communicate with each other. It will become so inteliigent and so wide spread that it will be omnipresent in our lives. Computers that knows yourself better than you do. Computers that knows what you like and what you don't. I would say the first step has already been taken in many sectors, such as the aerospace sector as explained by my classmate Sam. In the automobile sector, i understand that there are few technologies in place that enables cars to "communicate" with one and another. For new models of Mercedes Benz cars, there is this technology called the Distronic Plus, which can sense the environment around it and helps to keep the car in lane. When it senses the car is too close to the car in front, it will automatically slow down. This is definitely a great start and perhaps in the near future we will have self driven cars.

Gaming technologies is one aspect that i did not know too well before this lesson. I learnt that such technologies are deployed to help train surgeons using simulations. This provides the surgeons with better training and definitely makes training more effective. Harnessing this technology is important in other aspects as well, such as in the military. Huge amounts of military expenses can be saved by using these tehcnologies. Soldiers can now practice shooting and other scenarios in a safe, controlled environment. Pilots can also save huge amounts of money by training in simulators instead of flying a real plane up into the sky, wasting much resources in the process.

However all forms of technologies are always double edged swords. With every benefit comes a detriment. The issue of privacy is one key consideration of the Internet dominated world of today. Online personal information can be easily stolen by hackers and put our privacy at stake. Cases of online banking fraud has also been on the rise in recent years. This are several issues that comes as a package together with greater connectivity, easier communications, and influx of information in our daily lives.

There are really very engaging and interesting videos in this lesson and i really enjoyed this lesson. The pace of the lesson was alot better, giving us more time for discussions. Thus i give this lesson a rating of 9/10

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TWC Session 4: Drivers of World change/Change Manage, Change Leadership

Prof started the session educating us on the importance of critical reading. Though we were taught this skill ever since Secondary School, we still tend to be blinded by chunks of evidences and statistics the articles provide such that we fail to question to credibility of the article. The article and agenda of the writer could be to sway your thoughts in his/her direction and thus i learnt that extreme caution is needed so as not to read blindly. I think one important way to do this is to cross reference sources to other sources. If a few sources present the same information, then the information is probably correct.

Next we were posted with a question of who is the biggest driver for world change, and also who drives companies to adopt more sustainable ways of industrialisation. While many of us are pointing our fingers at each other, we always fail to look at our own mistakes. Everyone has a part to play and playing a small part is still better than doing nothing at all. So whose responsibility is it to push this concept of sustainability? Government, individual, or companies. Though a three pronged approach would be the dream outcome, the one who plays the largest part probably depends on the context of the country in question. In a country with high consumerism and great political freedom such as the United States, consumers definitely can play a huge part in pushing for this greener ways of life. If they can hold their stand firm, the companies will be obliged to change their ways, the government will also be pressured to make necessary policies so that they can continue to reign in the next elections. However in a country with little political freedom, standing up against the government is just plain pointless. Nothing is going to get changed, and thus in such a case, the party in the best position to adopt green policies will be the government.

We also talked about adaptability through a quote from Charles Darwin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is most adaptable to change." It is thus important for companies to be able to always adapt, to innovate, and to always challenge themselves. Without being able to adapt, the other more adaptable companies will definitely take over. This is especially true in this rapidly developing world, where things change so quickly day in day out. The inability of companies to adapt to new demands will just make them obsolete. However i feel that being adaptable is only a baseline for companies to survive. In order to succeed, one has to see the change before the change sets in. Companies need to expect this changes and be at the forefront when the change happens.

One video that caught my attention was the video on the guy dancing and thus influencing many others to join him. This taught me several lessons. Firstly, i learnt that in order to succeed, first thing and the hardest thing is the first step. The boy in the video took the first step and starting dancing crazily to the music. Secondly, perseverance is definitely important as well. As shown in the video, the boy was dancing alone for the first half a minute. If he told himself, "no one is going to follow, i am just going to give up", he would have stopped there, and he would not have succeeded in gathering everyone for a dance. Thirdly, one must know what he wants and go for it no matter how other ridicule you, because when you succeed, those who you ridiculed you will become the joke themselves!

In conclusion, this lesson gave me a new perspective on the various drivers of change and also made me realise how everyone can make a difference. Thus i give the lesson a rating of 8/10.

Individual Review Paper outline

Summary

This review papers aims at looking at the evolution of automobiles in our world and the negative impact it made. We look at future possible innovations for cleaner cars to preserve our world for the next generation. I will also examine the various challenges that may arise.

Introduction

Since the era of industrialization, cars have taken a irreplaceable role in our society. It brings about great convenience and made many tasks possible. The increase in the market for cars greatly increased with the decreased production costs over the years. With compact cars such as TATA nano hitting the markets. With such wide spread in the usage of cars, it is thus important that these cars are efficient on our resources and also cause as little pollution as possible to our surroundings.

History of cars (Past)

- Evolution of cars from the first car, and the changes in impact on the environment.

- The trends of evolution and how it culmilated to the trend today.

Current (Present)

- Increasing issues of pollution

- Depleting of conventional energy source (fossil fuel)

- Carbon emission scheme

- Shift in focus to more fuel efficient cars (turbo charged cars, low fuel consumption, low CO2 emission without affecting the horsepower of the car)

- Emergence of hybrid cars (Low emissions)

- Emergence of electric cars (No emissions, however runs on electricity, meaning there is still pollution from power plants)

Problems (Present)

- Still not entirely clean, still pollutive

- People reluctance to change to cleaner cars due to high barriers to entry

- No infrastructure for clean cars

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 Future Tech and considerations

- Possible Hydrogen powered cars and solar powered cars (No emissions)

- More funding from government to build up infrastructure

- Increase awareness for protection of environment, create a bigger market for automobile companies to innovate, invest in R & D

 Conclusion

- Important how everyone plays a part. Look at economic, social and environmental factors.