Session Nine

Today’s session was on Emerging and Future Technologies. The class was all about thinking of the most impossible of technologies and possibilities. Our present must have been the future for many. And would they have been able to imagine such a world, filled with technologies that would have been surreal for them. Innovations one may have dreamt of and others laughed at him. I have realized that to make our future different and filled with more technologies; it is really up to us to do something about it.  

Many new innovations were discussed in class but two stood out for me. First was the use of plastic as a high tech innovation. Many electrical parts were being made of plastics. We discussed the idea of having technology embedded in our spectacles and even contact lens, where we can have a screen like that of a robot. We can have maps, information about restaurants etc. by just looking at the road or restaurant.

This brings me to the second innovation which was augmented reality. A very interesting idea, which is already starting to be used in many applications for phones. But of course there is no technology without a bad side to it. We still have to wait a while longer to hear the complaints coming in.

Another point raised by prof was the difference between sales and marketing. Sales happened when you push the product to the consumer and marketing is when you pull the consumer to the product. A very good example would be the tremendously popular, iPhone. If iPhone was sold based only on it features people may not be interested. They may find them unnecessary. But because Apple was able to market its product so well that those who did not need iPhone were also buying it. And after using it they are addicted to the features also. Reminds me of what prof mentioned about how there are technologies which we didn’t realize we needed until we used them.

But there have been many technologies that have come, failed and left. We revisited the market-driven or technology-driven concept again. And if one is new to the field of entrepreneurship, he or she should definitely aim for market driven technologies.

Presentations for the day were very wide ranged and extremely interesting. We had presentations on trans-humanization, future of aviation technology, the augmentation of robots’ presence and use and augmented reality.

I rate this session a 10/10.

Session Eight

The week’s topic of discussion was Energy and World Change. This is something that has been in discussion for a very long time. We have heard about it since we were in primary school where we started with the basics of the three Rs. Reuse, reduce and recycle. But as time passes and we learn new information, we realize that the situation is becoming worse. Despite being preached about saving our planet and resources for so long, nothing seems to have been done to improve things much.

We have been depending so much on fossil fuels and living in the imaginary world of “there will always be fossil fuels” that we have created a real world where there are depleting resources and rising costs. It may be too use the “reduce” strategy to save our planet. We now need to back that strategy up with other opportunities and alternatives.  

This reminds me of what prof said, “When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability”. It applies in this situation in the sense that, if we are able to create other forms of resources we can actually be able to sustain ourselves. And one such method that really surprised me was that of solar panels. Prof showed us videos of a few countries implementing this method and governments supporting them.

 I feel that governments have a very important part to play in helping us move towards sustainability. And it is not just the effort of one government that can make a difference but the combined efforts of the different governments that will make a noticeable impact. This is a not a problem of one or two countries but a problem that the world is facing. Another reason for governments to work as a team.

Apart from the government, it also is every individual’s duty to put in their own labor to achieve that goal. The farmer who actually invested his own money to put up the solar panels is a great example for all of us. What about us Singaporeans? We can do a lot but we face limitations. Space, money and mentality are the biggest barriers. But that is where the challenge lies and we can try to come up with ways to overcome them.

Now to the presentations. They were all very interesting. Avijit’s article was an eye opener. There is a lot for the governments to think about before they can take steps and measures. There are many pros and cons to consider. But this should not deter them from the goal of attaining a green environment.

I give this week’s lesson a 9/10 as it opened my eyes even further regarding these issues.

TWC Topical Review Draft

Session Seven

This week we were concentrating on Agribiology, Environmental Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology. And it was today I found out that there are four colors to the different biotechnology sectors. I understood why green was assigned to agriculture biotechnology and blue to aquatic biotechnology. But I am wondering why industrial biotechnology was assigned white and human biotechnology red.

We went through very interesting concepts such as farmers vs. farmists, discussed organic and GM foods and the ever dominant issue of food security. What the prof said made a lot of sense, “When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability”. I was shocked to find out that Singapore’s method of sustainability was to produce just to the minimum to save. But what producers might not be realizing is that they are still producing finite resources. So the little they do manage to save will run out soon. And that is not sustainability because to be sustainable you need to be able to be able to do things etc. for a long time. Thus back to prof’s point, if we are able to grow the resources that we need, we would then really be on the road to sustainability.

All the presentations today were about GM food (vegetables and meat). One presentation I found really interesting was that of Michelle’s. She did a presentation on the growth of cows through GM. Gideon mentioned that he ate at a restaurant in Japan. They had a picture of the cow, the cow had a name and even the parents were mentioned. That is related to Michelle’s discussion question about how much information is shown to the consumers. Prof mentioned how the government decides what kind of food is to be brought in the market for the country thus limiting consumer’s choices. This leads to the more specific version of the usual general question we always ask: Is it the government’s job to decide what we are eating? Will they do a good job?

I give this an 8/10 because I learnt a lot on agriculture. But the last two points are lost because of the lack of in depth discussion on Environmental Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology. That was something we could have discussed more.