Technology and World Change (Session 7)

Technology and World Change

Session 7

Brief Overview

Today was all about BioBusiness Revolution in Agribiology, Environmental Life Sciences and industrial Biotechnology. We talked about the benefits of GM food and how it could reap potential benefits for us all although we do realize that there is still room for growth and improvement.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

One point were taking note of is the increasing trend of urbanization in different regions. Overall, it has been predicted that we will have more than half, or more specifically 61% of the world population living in urban areas. One interesting observation to highlight is that Latin America is facing the largest increase in urban population. I feel, that what is more pressing is the consequences of having an increase in urban population. People move to urban areas in search for better jobs or better prospects (for example receiving better education) to increase their standard of living and quality of life. And once this is achieved, their lifestyle changes because they are now able to afford more things. They start to consume more energy as they obtained more electronic products such as phones or computers, which require charging or some even possess cars that would require fuel for power. Furthermore, most jobs that are offered in cities are often not as physical as one would face working in less urban areas. This sedentary lifestyle then poses more issues such as obesity or even coronary heart disease just to name a few. Furthermore, as more people move to urban areas, this might lead to the problem of overcrowding.  And this, in addition, creates more challenges such as placing greater strain on resources, or greater health implications such as increasing the susceptibility to disease and so on and so forth.

Another point worth highlighting is the growing proportion of Genetically Modified (GM) crops present in the world. According to the data given in reading 1, the market for GM food would have had exceeded $25 billion since 2010. We have to recognize the many potential benefits that come with GM crops. For example, one GM crop would be the Golden Rice where 2 genes have been inserted into the genome to restart the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway for the production of beta-carotene, a precursor to Vitamin A.  The lack of vitamin A could lead to many health implications such as night blindness especially in children. With the help of this GM food, golden rice can be given to countries that lack access to foods with sufficient nutritional content. Another example would be the AquaAdvantageÒ Salmon which possess a gene that would allow it to grow twice as fast as a regular salmon and also an anti-freeze gene that would allow it to grow even in winter so that their growth process will not be hindered. This allows more fish to be produced within a shorter period of time and this could also mean that there will be less wild fishing and lessens the chances of humans actually harming the ecosystem. Other benefits of some of the GM crops could include pest-resistance or weather-resistant crops that withstand harsh weather changes (which means lesser chances of losing their harvest), this also means using less pesticide on our food, which is good for the environment and for us as we are consuming less of these toxins. All of which has huge benefits on the environment as well as the economy.

Key Takeaways

One very interesting thing I can takeaway from this lesson is that there are many forms of biotechnology such as red biotechnology, blue biotechnology and green biotechnology.

Red Biotechnology

Using organisms for the improvement of medical processes that includes designing organisms to manufacture pharmaceutical products like antibiotics and vaccines. Also, it engineers genetic cures through genomic manipulation, and is also used in forensics via DNA profiling.

Blue Biotechnology

It is concerned with the application of molecular biological methods to marine and freshwater organisms for increasing seafood supply and safety, controlling the proliferation of noxious water-borne organisms, and developing new drugs.

Green Biotechnology

Deals with the use of environmentally-friendly solutions as an alternative to traditional agriculture, horticulture, and animal breeding processes. An example is the designing of transgenic plants that are modified for improved flavor, for increased resistance to pests and diseases, or for enhanced growth in adverse weather conditions.

Issues for Further Discussion (Presentation)

Could such a technology be used for countries, which are facing food shortage?

With regard to the Meat presentation, I feel that this sort of technology could potentially be one method of solving food shortage. This is because waste is always present and is in a way “readily available” at any time that it is needed. However, the presentation did not mention how long it will take for scientists/researchers to turn waste into food, furthermore, I really doubt the economic prospects for such a technology. It may very well be revolutionary in the far future, however, as Yiting did mention in her presentation, there is still a need to overcome a psychological barrier of eating your own derivatives. In many cultures, or I can safely say most culture, it is taboo to consume your own waste unless it is for survival, even then, that is difficult to swallow.

How do we resolve this problem of limited resources vs unlimited wants in the context of land scarcity?

In order to solve this problem, I feel that we have to be innovative and motivated. When we are driven, we are constantly being pushed to find new ways to alter the status quo such that situations would be in favour of our situation. We can think of ways to reconcile the fact that we as humans have unlimited wants but yet only limited resources. In the context of land scarcity, I am thinking along the lines of producing more crops within a shorter period of time such as producing GM crops such that they are able to grow even faster, pest resistant and be more resistant to harsh weather changes using biotechnology.

Personal Ratings

I would rate this session an 8 because I feel that we are able to reconcile the different concepts we have learnt over the past 7 weeks into answering Yalli’s question. Furthermore, I felt that this session was really fun with the different presentations!! 

Technology and World Change (Session 6)

Technology and World Change

Session 6

Brief Overview

This session was all about the BioBusiness Revolution: Healthcare and Biomedical Sciences. We looked at the different aspects of the BioBusiness and how this was an important sector in the market and how it acted as a driver of value creation. Furthermore, we looked at some of the evolution of certain pieces of medical technology, the prosthetics to be more specific. In addition, the healthcare revolution and biomedical science revolution.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

One interesting observation was also how in reading 2 ( the author talked about a time where Intellectual Property (IP) should be changed. The article mentioned how the old IP was full of flaws and it failed to recognize the importance of sharing knowledge, which could ultimately lead to better product and idea generation. This is somewhat similar to the concept of “CopyLeft” I have mentioned in my earlier blog about allowing certain concepts to be shared to allow other people to gain access to knowledge attained by others and working on it to develop new and possibly even better ones for the good of the whole community. In addition, the article also developed some points we could consider to adopt such a change in the way we view patents. One such example was to have governments take the lead on issues such as creating independent trust builders to mediate disputes or public health care systems could work with funding bodies and universities to manage health-related data to encourage innovation and collaboration.

While reading article 4 titled “Will Disruptive Innovations Cure Health Care?” it talked about the certain advantages and disadvantages of healthcare innovations. To me, “Disruptive Innovation” is defined, as innovations that greatly improve the way things are currently achieved thought this could lead to negative consequences. One example stated in the article was how an English entrepreneur managed to develop a system to customize eyeglasses for a cost of just $5. The author mentioned that this is a disruptive innovation because it allows people to perform tasks originally only possible with the help professionals and their tools. Because of the cheap production, many established professions then start to discredit this method like how many eye diseases might be undetected if people did not check their eyes or make the eyeglasses using the conventional way. Furthermore, this occurs even to people because it affects the livelihoods of people who are directly involved in the profession. For example, nurses and doctors’ assistant are now capable with diagnosing certain illnesses with the advent of advancement of therapeutic and diagnostic technology. But there are many states that prevent nurses from diagnosing illnesses because they are often deemed as less skilled and also because it might threaten what doctors have to offer. In all of this, we have to recognize the need for such disruptive innovations because they allow procedures that were once considered tedious, difficult and expensive to one that is easier, cheaper and more convenient. This could also mean that patients can now monitor their own progress and improve the quality of life for those affected.

Key Takeaways

While watching the Video, Health Future Vision, it shows just how much can be achieved! The video showed just how our healthcare system or our lifestyles could be like in the future. We could perform video conferencing with our doctors without the need to actually visit them physically. This could benefit a lot of people such as the disabled, elderly or even people who live far from hospitals, as they now do not have to worry about the need to travel just to receive medical attention. With video conferencing, they can receive immediate help whenever needed. This can greatly improve the way people are receiving healthcare because of the development of such technology and enhance the quality of life. In the video, it also shows different technology that might be available in the future such as the electronic wallet where all your credit cards are condensed into just one card, gone would be the day where you would need a bigger wallet just to fit all the possible cards you will ever receive. As a wise man once said, we are indeed “Living in Exciting Times”! The possibilities are just endless!

Another takeaway message from this session was about the major drivers for innovation and change in healthcare and the biomedical sciences. In class, we discussed about the changes in patterns of disease and the different level of care rendered for them. Patterns of disease changes as demographics changes so in developed countries, there are more people who die because of chronic disease although deaths by infectious disease seems more apparent in less developed countries because of the lack of clean water and sanitation. We also recognized that as science progresses, we do more research and that leads to validation and then we invent new technologies that can help to capture the possibilities. Also, with the help of ICT, we can further share our knowledge and this creates a more efficient process.

Issues for Further Discussion

With the advancements of technology we experience everyday, our lifestyles have completely changed from our earlier ancestors, we are definitely living in times where we have a better quality of life and standard of living. But because of our changing habits we have also created more problems for ourselves such as obesity. We know that there are health implications that come with obesity, we know that there are programmes in place to curb the problem of obesity either in children or adults. We also know how some sorts of lifestyles can lead to obesity, or the different foodstuff that is not good for us. But why is it that even with such information so readily available to us, we are still facing such a problem? There are many questions to be answered. Does the programmes implemented to help curb this problem effective, and if it isn’t, how else can we improve on it? Or even if we encourage a change in diet, how can we ensure that we stick to it and sustain the change in lifestyle? That is my question to ponder upon this week.

Personal Ratings

I would rate this session a 9 because I found it very applicable to our healthcare and the myriad of possibilities we might face in the future which was very encouraging. I also enjoyed the presentations! It was informative and relatable to our everyday lives. It also poses some challenging thoughts for us to think about. 

Technology and World Change (Session 5)

Technology and World Change

Session 5

Brief Overview

It this session, it was all about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and world change. ICT is gradually changing and improving and has infiltrated all aspects of our lives and we are utilizing it everyday, sometimes even without our knowledge. We looked into how ICT has evolved from when it first started and delved into the many facets of ICT and how it has enabled the world to change over time. Some of the articles also mentioned the potential future of ICT and how it can be used to resolve some of the very pressing issues we face in the world today such as world poverty or achieving education for all as part of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

While watching the video on the evolution of the web titled “Evolution Web 1.0, Web 2.0 to Web 3.0”, many drastic changes and improvements have been made. The first generation of the web was actually used to provide information, whereas the second generation of the web looked toward transforming how the information is given out, it became more interactive such that it was the user who produced the information. It was also the era of blogging and social networking, which ultimately led to the formation of Web 3.0, a continuum of currently established techniques. The video talked about how as more everyday appliances become more connected to the internet and to each other, the web becomes “more present but less and less visible”. This is because we no longer need to employ the use of the large, bulky separate computers. Appliances are connected and operated through the Internet via the exchange of information. Web 3.0 will be about semantic web, personalizing searches, mobility, and artificial intelligence. Searches will know our search patterns and possibly make some suggestions and recommendations for us. The video talked about last.fm as point of reference about the type of music we are interested and how the website is able to recognize our preferences and link us to other music types based on that. Although this is still fairly new, it is an ongoing process that I believe has a lot of potential for.

Furthermore, reading 3 introduced the notion of how ICT can potentially be used to address some of the social issues that we face today such as to eliminate poverty or to enhance education and to build a better healthcare system. Even when many initiatives had been implemented, most of them failed because there were too many entities involved from governments to research institutions, none of which had a clear direction and a proper way of interaction. ICT, if used correctly and appropriately, can be a catalyst for both economic and social development. The paper talked about in reading 3 recognized that ICT development should be based on 6 axes: strategy, regulatory framework, implementation, capacity development, partnerships, and measurement. Identify and develop a national strategy to address a national vision and goal. Then review policies that must be put in place to support the plan. Ensure that the plans that are to be implemented avoid duplication; check if they are in line with any existing policies and always align to make sure that implementation follows original objectives. Build on the infrastructure and manpower needed to sustain the policy and include the private sectors, society and educational institutions in the planning and implementation process because they would be able to help a great deal. Ensure that progress can always be measured so that progress can be tracked and followed up with.

Key Takeaways

One component of the lesson was about identifying ICT as a driver of world change. Today, I also gave a presentation on ICT that is used in education with regard to Singapore’s ICT Masterplan 1, Masterplan 2 and Masterplan 3. My question for discussion was whether or not the plans that were put into place were actually effective in guiding us with our education. In my honest opinion, the masterplans had minimal impact on me even though I was able to live through and experience all components of the 3 Masterplans. Even though we had IT lessons in school, there was really no educational value in the lessons because we were not able to properly synthesize the information, think critically through it, argue or debate about certain topics. ICT was about using the information that we have attained and communicating them with our peers and discussing about it so that we are able to learn from one another because it is during this process that we are able to acquire a whole other set of skills from collaboration skills, analytical skills and synthesizing information. Furthermore, some of the other classmates have recounted the experiences that they have actually had the opportunity to use laptops in class as part of ICT learning experience but they too admitted that instead of helping them with their lessons, things backfired because the laptop became a source of distraction more than anything else. One key takeaway for me was that ICT is only involved when we are able to process and learn the information we attain, the act of using technology does not mean that we have truly understood the means of using ICT as part of education.

Another key takeaway for me was that of reading 4 where it explored using ICT to support an eco-efficient economy. The article said that ICT has brought about a fundamental shift in our economic and social lives such that the relationship between producers and consumers are more interactive. In the light of this, I believe that it will be easier to create a green-movement such that more consumers are able to find out more about green ICT products and services market, understand and explore the various options that they are entitle to. Furthermore, these consumers can also talk about what they would like to see and give more feedback about the different products out there in the market and perhaps even lend a hand in improving all of this.

Issues for Further Discussion (Presentation)

Can we survive without the Internet?

To me, with the advent of technology alone, we are not able to survive at all if we were to be hit with a technical error such that it renders systems useless. Technology has infiltrated every aspect of our lives from the way we communicate, to the way we work or study, or even as we relax! We use emails as a form of communication, we use computers to get our work or assignments done, we use our smart tablets to unwind. All of the abovementioned are almost impossible to complete if we did not have the Internet. In many ways, I feel that we are almost limited by what the Internet can do for us or what we choose to use the Internet for. So I believe that we cannot do without the Internet because that affects our way of life.

With ICT constantly developing and advancing, is it the government’s responsibility to ensure that these developments and benefits are accessible to the majority of people?

The government holds a huge responsibility when it comes to ensuring that majority of the people are able to enjoy the benefits that comes around with the development of ICT because they have to power to affect everyone, especially the younger generation – students. They can instill several legislations or implement certain policies that could help to integrate ICT into lessons such that digital literacy could be heightened. They have the ability to influence the way future generations use ICT to their advantage. Although, it is not only the government’s responsibility to do so, I feel that everyone can play a role, no matter how small.

Personal Ratings

I would rate this lesson a 9 because I really felt that this was a part of TWC that was applicable and something that I could relate to in real life. Furthermore, because I finished my individual presentation in this session, I feel extremely proud of myself!! 

Technology and World Change (Session 4)

Technology and World Change

Session 4

Brief Overview

In this lesson it was on what drives the world, what influences the economy, the world. There were many factors that we concluded during the discussion like globalization, environmental factors, governance, demographic factors just to name a few. And for the other half of the lesson, the discussion was focused on change management and leadership. How leaders can implement change within their workforce and how they could go about doing it to optimize results without any backlash. And how change is a good thing, it is necessary.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

Article 1 gave a good but brief introduction to a series of drivers of change. For example, the author mentioned “Mobility”. He expounded on it and said that with the increased travel experiences, communication between people will improve tremendously. Transport and the associated vehicles and infrastructure and its systems will also be improved and stand to benefit a great deal. I believe that the overarching cause of this would be globalization. Globalization, as explained in article 2, is defined as “a process of economic integration of the entire world through the removal of barriers to free trade and capital mobility, as well as through the diffusion of knowledge and information.” With mobility, comes brain drain where a lot of countries such as India are facing. Brain drain occurs when a significant number of well-educated or talented people decide to migrate to other countries in search of higher ground and better future prospective. Brain drain is only but one of the many dire consequences of globalization. Other negative impacts of globalization could include growing inequality between countries and even within countries, environmental degradation, more difficult for some companies to enter international markets due to stiff competition. However, there are advantages to globalization as well. There is greater connectivity around the world such that it creates better understanding and cohesion, standardization of many products, prevents saturation in a specific market and much more.

In another article entitled “Human Change Management: Herding Cats” they talked about the implantation of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The system contained all the benefits that many companies sought after such as “seamless integration of critical information flows”, however it lacked one critical element that is the human element. It talked about how many companies, which have adopted this system ultimately, failed because their employees could not adapt well or were resistant to the changes that were in place. There were several reasons that explained this. For one, when a company implements a new system, their employees are not made known the reason for implementing the system and they choose to ignore it thinking that it may not be necessary. What they do not know is that other departments require the information that is closely linked to the system. This continues in a vicious cycle and eventually even a successful system may turn out to be a flop.

Key Takeaways

One key takeaway is that for companies to adjust well to changes, everyone should be made clear the goals and objectives of the company. Allowing their employees and everyone on their payroll to see from the management’s perspective would allow them to know why certain changes were made and how that could lead them along the same path and towards achieving their goals. They might also like to introduce some sort of incentives that could help their employees into achieving these new goals such that they can better and more quickly adapt to these changes. Certain on-the-job measures too can be implemented too to help employees along the way to track their progress. For example, it was stated in the article that 11 most successful companies gained an average of 143% of their expected returns just by understanding “corporate objectives and the ways in which their jobs contribute to achieving them”. This has very much to do with leadership and what the top personnel can do to lead their workers to go onboard with them to achieving corporate objectives.

Issues for Further Discussion (Presentation)

WikiCells will ask for different amounts of consumer adoption or change of behaviour, where changing the way we eat means challenging the throwaway culture. Most consumers are resistive to taking a step out and trying new things. What is your take on this? Would you dare to try it?

With regard to this, in my opinion I think many people are resistive to change because it is something new and WikiCells is something that is very novel. Furthermore, it is replacing something originally taken to be trash and transforming it to something edible. That thought could possible deter people from doing it even though it is innovative and probably has the potential to curv the problem of our throwaway culture; it is still something people have not heard much about. So it is perfectly understandable if someone is still not quite willing to give it a go. Perhaps, if one day this becomes more widespread, and more people are introduced to it, then maybe due to peer pressure or other social reasons, more people would start trying it. But for now, I for one am still not willing to eat my wrappers.

Personal Ratings

I would rate this lesson an 8 because it was really interesting to see the many facets of the world that could possible transform the way in which we do things. The drivers of world change really were thought provoking because it provided new insight for me, especially hearing the discussions. Furthermore, change management and leadership was the one I enjoyed most because you get to see how the human interaction and leadership could affect the way in which a corporation is run and how it could affect the success or failure of the company.