Session Twelve

Another week of presentations.

PRESENTATION FIVE

The first presentation of the week and fifth of the series was about music. A very interesting topic chosen by the group. The website was done up really well.

PRESENTATION SIX

This website was on vaccines. I feel it is another interesting topic to be chosen. The site was simple and to the point.

PRESENTATION SEVEN

This group presented on food and technology. They were informative and had very detailed example to share. Website was very simple and to the point once again.

PRESENTATION EIGHT

Last presentation of the week and series. This was about tracking crime. Very interesting information shared.

It is very obvious each week that each group put in a lot of effort and research to create their websites. Again a round of applause for this weeks group. I rate this session as 10/10 again.

Session Eleven

PRESENTATION ONE

The first presentation was about e-commerce. The website was extremely interesting as they followed the theme of a blog shop. However, the layout of the blog shop may make it a little difficult for visitors to know which section is under which tab. Also due to limitations of wix the pages were loading really slowly.

PRESENTATION TWO

This was my group’s presentation. We are already working on improving the website.

PRESENTATION THREE

This group presented on kinetic technology. They had a very attractive website and the presenters were prepared. Unfortunately only one of their videos could work but they still managed to put their point across.

PRESENTATION FOUR

The last presentation of Session Eleven was on GM food. Their video was funny. The website also was well done. The section on having a blog shop where GM food could be bought was interesting.

The groups put in a lot of hard work on the website and I would like to congratulate each of them. I give the session a 10/10.

Session Ten

Today’s lesson consisted of some revision of the past few weeks. Our main focus was on technology assessment and forecasting. We are moving ahead very fast and we have to keep up with the changes. More than just keep up, we should be ahead of the changes so that we will not be caught with a surprise. That is where forecasting comes in. If we are bale to forecast the future with some accuracy, we will to some extent have the power to make that change instead.

Forecasting, I feel, is especially an advantage to business as it helps them stay ahead of competition. But with the way we have been using earth’s resources we have to be very careful about the decisions we make. To be able to do this we need to consider every aspect of that change and the consequences or benefits that will come with it. As mentioned by prof in class once, and I am starting to agree with this, is that not all technologies or innovations we think of will definitely work. There is a time to everything and we need to consider that fact as well. Is everyone ready for such a change now or in the future?

A technique to forecast future and to evaluate it was discussed. Would it work if we set a particular goal for the future and slowly work backwards till where we are today? This would allow us to not only forecast the change but also predict the issues that might come along the way so we can be prepared for it. Thus, when we finally start on the plan we would have a more sound and tight project in hand. This method has its pros and cons. The biggest problem may be the fact that what if we predicted or guessed a very important part of the whole process wrongly, everything planned may go down the drain. But that is where research and careful consideration comes in. If we can try to cover as much issues as possible the chances of anything going wrong will decrease each time.

As I mentioned before, forecasting can be very handy for businesses. But how far each business can go in predicting or reducing risks for that prediction may be affected by their size. R&D costs money and how air-tight their plans are depends on how much they can spend.

I enjoyed the class a lot as it was a very nice way to tie everything up. I give this class a 9/10.

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.