Technology and World Change
Session 13
As Geoffrey Chaucer puts it, “All good things must come to
an end”. In a twinkling of an eye, we have come to the end of our Technology
and World Change. I remembered on the very first day of lesson, Prof asked us
all to define the meaning of technology. I recall saying that technology
infiltrates all aspects of our lives, and it helps us to perform many of daily
tasks. To clearly define it, it is the method of doing things. Of course,
technology is more than that; it encompasses much more than just “the method of
doing things”. It has helped to shape how we develop and advance in this world.
Throughout the course, we were on a search for answers to Yali’s question. “Why
is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had
little cargo of our own?” Hopefully, the following pointers that I have picked
up over the course of this module, I would have managed to answer at least part
of it.
Society, Global Dominance and Human Development
How do we ensure that the societies built are dominant
leaders in their respective field? We learnt in TWC about the mindset of a
rising star or a falling star. The kinds of characteristics that go with the
different mindsets and the attitudes that helps to differentiate one from the
other. I have learnt that in some instances, these societies may be at
different stages of development such that it can either hinder or improve the
process of development. Do these societies encourage Innovation? In which we
have already clearly defined in class as the ability to think ahead of what we
already possess, to make it even better and develop something, such that it is
for the better good. It is also with the quality that separates the leader from
the follower. How can we someone lead if they are not going to take any chances
and make a difference?
Human development too makes an impactful difference.
Development here refers to the change in status quo, no doubt development can
either be positive or negative (even though development is often linked to
positive improvement with negative consequences lying on the side line). The
world is changing because development itself drives the change. We have
different processes of development, cultural development, economic development,
sustainable development and many more. In this case then, how do we development
such areas? For me, I think the roles of education is imperative in helping
societies, especially developing nations. Because, with education, comes a bulk
of human resources that are more learned and knowledgeable, you have a
workforce whose skills (in terms of the ability to learn, think and perform)
are transferable. Of course it isn’t the only way to hasten development, but it
sure is one option.
Drivers of World Change
My understanding of drivers of world change basically refers
to some of the factors that have so heavily impacted us that we would change
our way of life. In our lessons, we have discussed several drivers of world
change such as environmental driver, scientific discovery and technology
innovation, commercial or business innovation, competition, globalization. For
example, with globalization comes about changing expectations because of an
increased purchasing power and also because of new and merging markets, the
opening of new ones, and elimination of barriers to the movement of human,
intellectual and financial capital. Or even environmental change such as global
warming, pollution or contamination has drastically hastened and widened the
renewable and sustainable energy market such that more and more opportunities
for greener products are more apparent today than ever.
ICT and World Change
Having personally done the individual presentation on ICT
and World Change, with my focus being on ICT in education itself, I have come
to a realization that ICT is something that requires greater attention today
than ever before. When we talk about ICT, it is more than just using technology
as a tool, but it is going to be a medium through which students can better
cater to their own learning needs. This further builds up an arsenal for
learning.
But its not just with education, ICT has been implemented
all throughout all systems such that there is increased connectivity,
productivity and better access to information. Of course, this also presents
with it a whole other basket of problems that comes along with using technology
into systems. Invasion of privacy, overdependence are just the tip of the
icebergs. What about those countries that seem to lack access to technology at
all? Poor Internet connection seems to be disadvantageous that has brought much
inequality between the developed and developing societies.
Energy and World Change
A hot topic nowadays, renewable and sustainable energy is
getting only more important in the coming period. With different possible
avenues where energy can be garnered, instead of the conventional,
air/land/sea-polluting use of fossil fuels which are depleting at an
exponential rate. We turn to the possibility of using wind, thermal, solar, nuclear
fission so on and so forth. We also talked about the case study of Germany who
implemented the Energiewende Program where the decided to eliminate the use of
nuclear energy and fossil fuels to turning to the use of the solar panels to
harvest energy.
How are we supposed to integrate these great ideas into our
daily lives? Despite its giant potential in using solar panels, why is it that
we have not maximized it? Places like Singapore where it is geographically
advantaged in terms of receiving maximum sunlight, it is still not being
largely encouraged or used in the first place. Even though there are baby steps
being taken to try this out, I am not quite sure if that is enough. Several
reasons such as high start-up costs, high costs of maintenance, or simply that
it is still currently quite pricey. Hopefully, with the advances and
improvements made with technology, these problems can be solved soon.
My Thoughts
Even though I may not have the exact answers to Yali’s
questions, I do hope that throughout of all my TWC lessons, I would have at
least understood the various and different reasons for why Yali had asked the
question. And in some ways, at least try to make an attempt to answer his
question. What are some of the challenges that they would have faced that would
make one society less well off than another, what are they doing different that
puts one country or society above the other? Hopefully, with all my analyses of
the various segments, I would have shed some light.
My TWC module has indeed come to a close, but the journey
doesn’t end here!
-The End-
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