#7

27 September 2011

Lesson 7

Its agonizing midterms week yey

This week's session was BioBusiness Part 2. We discussed about blue (marine), green (agricultural), red (medical) and white (industrial) biotechnology.

"When we are able to grow the resources we need, we will finally be on the road to sustainability" -Gurinder Shahi

This thought shared by Prof was agreed by most of us in class, and I too hold the same sentiments. Human beings have always been reliant on the available resources that Earth provides, like fossil fuels, and the problem with these resources are that the supply is not able to meet the ever-increasing demand. Especially with the growth in human population, demand will most likely continue spiraling upwards. One day, when all the available resources have finally be drained up, we will find ourselves in a precarious where we have nothing to depend on but ourselves. Thus, what prof said is indeed true; to ensure sustainability, we have to be able to grow the resources we need and that is to be self-dependent. It is heartening to find out through the presentations that day, that many organizations have already embarked on this learning journey to ensure sustainability. For example, gm food, lab grown meat and corn that can replace plastic. GM food has already been part of our lives for some time already, though many of us do not realize this (though we did find out that day during class!). With regards to the debate about whether GM food should be labelled or not, while I think that it really makes not much of a difference because ultimately consumers care more about the price in reality, it might be good to label so as to give people the right to decide and know what they are consuming.

We had a sit-in guest from Unicef for this session and one thing she mentioned about her work was that they focused on developing human resources, for example putting money into educating women as they are central to the family unit and thus more likely to spread the learning to their children. I believe that developing human resources is also very essential. We discussed about food security in class, and it was mentioned that the availability of arable land is shrinking over time, and there may be a threat to food security as one has to decide whether to grow food or biofuels. One solution to this mentioned in the a presentation would be Hydroponics, which have been employed by Singapore. And like our guest mentioned, the empowerment of women also helps in achieving food security for themselves and their families as they gain economic, sociopolitical and physiological access.

On the Facebook group, one of our friends from a different session posted the link to the McDonald's game which was part of her presentation. Basically the game allows you to run you own chain of McDonald's enterprise, which involves making decisions from the beginning of the process like using GM crops or not, how much soy crops or cattle to grow and whether to feed the cows with growth serum so that they become fatter, to the end-stage decisions like how to market the products so that people will consume them and whether to bribe respective people so as to stay out of bad publicity. It was a really fun game and at the same time really insightful to the workings of a corporation like McDonald's. It really made me wonder how much I know about what goes into my very very delicious McSpicy and McNuggets. Yikes!

A 7/10 for this session because I thought that the session could be improved by having more varied presentations that may further broaden our knowledge on this topic!

#6

20 September 2011

This is

Lesson 6.

This session was all about the BioBusiness Revolution - Healthcare and Biomedical sciences. The video that we watched at the beginning of the class really fascinates me. It illustrates a possible future for the healthcare sector, one that enables the professionals to monitor their patients through a touch screen kind of interface and even allow patients to check their own health status. I found the possibility of such a future really intriguing and it would definitely be an exciting change in this particular sector.

Our class had a discussion if such a change would be possible in the near future, say 2020, and I think the general consensus was that yes it is indeed very much so possible! With the current advancement of technology, the required technology for such a future is already being developed, thus I personally do believe that this future healthcare landscape will be possible. There would of course be some resistance to such a drastic change, and the initial implementation costs may be high, but I feel that over time, people will get accustomed and accepting of such changes. Of course it is also important to let them know of the benefits of such a shift, like for example the costs savings in terms of higher efficiency, lesser paperwork and so on.

One of my classmate's concern was that less developed countries would not be able to benefit from such high technology advancements in the healthcare sector and stand to lose out, deepening the rift between them and the more developed and affluent countries. However, Prof mentioned that such technology are actually being tested out in the less developed countries. This was comforting news to me because I feel that they are the people who need the greatest improvement in healthcare first. If by providing such technology to them, their health can be carefully and efficiently monitored, I believe that the mortality rate in these places would see a decline. This would definitely help in moving towards achieving the MDGs.

I also felt that welfare state like Britain would definitely benefit greatly from a healthcare sector that is utilizes technology to provide more efficient services. Because of the free medical services, Britons have always complained about the long waiting time and the substandard care provided. With the possible changes to the healthcare sector in the near future, I would hold the hope that such complaints will become rarer.

One of the readings was about how medical professionals were opposed to disruptive changes in the healthcare sector because they felt that their livelihoods were being threatened with each introduction of new technology that gave patients better alternatives. For example, Reading 4 mentioned the introduction of miniature blood glucose meters for patients with diabetes, enabling them to get far higher quality care more conveniently. This greatly reduced the demand for services by endocrinologists. Similarly, with greater implementation of technology within the healthcare sector, there may be a reduced demand of services for some healthcare personnel because the patients themselves can monitor their own health through an interactive interface and similar concerns may arise, thereby hindering the process of implementing such revolutionary changes to the industry.However, I think that we have to do things for people beyond ourselves and not let our own selfish interests get in the way of a better healthcare system for the people.

With new technology in the healthcare sector, higher quality, greater convenience and lower cost can actually be achieved. Disruption is the fundamental mechanism through which a higher quality, more convenient and lower cost health care system is built. If we all maintain such a mentality, especially the leaders in the healthcare sector, disruptive technology can be facilitated to ensure a greater access to healthcare, and not less. It will in fact enable healthcare professionals to move competently upward.Thus, very much like the rising star and falling star concept, for healthcare industry to be a rising star, industry leaders have to maintain an open minded view, see the possibilities available and not work together to prevent disruptions from happening. Only then will the people be able to enjoy high quality healthcare at a low cost.

I rate this session a 8.5/10! It was an interesting session and I found the presentations intriguing too!

#5

13 September 2011

Lesson 5.

Intrigued.

ICTs and world change.

We started off with the video about Project Natal, which is a really eye-opening innovation. I read Prof's view about this interactive artificial intelligence system and I do agree that there are infinite possibilities and advantageous ones at that. However, one possibility that was mentioned was how one could model the avatar to be like a lost loved one or someone who has passed away. Haha well I think that this would only result in an unhealthy phenomenon of people living in the 'past', unable to move on from their grief of losing a loved one. We are currently living in a society which sees people marrying in online games, marrying their favorite manga character and even someone marrying his own pillow. Thus, I do think that there is a real concern that some may misuse or rather overuse this technology and form unhealthy obsessions with their avatar! I may be over-exaggerating here but take for example, a girl crazy over some guy and she creates an avatar in his likeness. Over time she may think that she has a real relationship with him, and if she is not able to differentiate between virtual and reality there might be some pretty troublesome consequences for the real guy! Also, I feel that letting children interact with the avatar may result in adverse impacts. Sure, it may be good to help them improve their interaction skills especially if they are shy in nature. But they could grow dependent on the avatar and spend all days indoors instead of leading a proper childhood with real-life friends! With all these concerns in mind, I still do acknowledge the positive possibilities of this system. I agree that it is a good idea for old folks to have a system in place to take of them and lessen their boredom. But ultimately, I feel that human to human interaction wins hands down anytime. For now, I think I am only able to accept such a technology perhaps in the gaming world. But that is just the conventional me speaking. Who knows, a few years down the road, this may become so normal (just like how ivf became generally accepted) and every household may have their own avatars!

We also discussed whether we have captured the potential of ICTs.

"Have ICTs been used to eradicate poverty, prevent conflict, and promote freedom?

The evidence is certainly against us, so far. As we invented and deployed communication technologies-telegraph, telephone, radio, television-the tools of ubiquitous one-to-one and mass communication-we created the deadliest century in human history. We developed the technical means to share with every human the most advanced knowledge in health and food production, the provision of clean water, healthy housing, and economic development. But these same technical means of communication enabled global warfare, international crime, and mass mobilization of hatred and prejudice. Today, they enable pinpoint targeting of conventional bombs, deployment of weapons of mass destruction, destruction of personal privacy, and ubiquitous surveillance."

-Reading 2

While reading this article, this particular passage stood out for me and truly I agree that yes ICTs have been used to drive world change, but this is so both positively and negatively. For me, I think that the problems that come along with the use of ICTs is inevitable, its like a double edged sword. I feel that ICTs can be used to overcome these problems, ironic as that is. Say for example, the invasion of personal privacy. People find out actually find out that their privacy is being invaded through the mass media, they then voice their unhappiness through the same mediums; they get a platform to air their opinions. I think one important thing about ICTs is that it really gives people a voice. And it is through that, that we can expect things to change, in this case invasion of personal privacy.

I would also like to highlight the question at the beginning of the passage, "Have ICTs been used to eradicate poverty, prevent conflict, and promote freedom?". I felt that this question tied in really well with Reading 3 which highlights the several ways we can use ICT to achieve the MDGs! I think that there are several good ideas there but they can only happen when there is the appropriate infrastructure put in place. I like the idea of elearning as a way to achieve universal primary education as children don't usually get an education because schools are so inaccessible for them. Thus, elearning would be a good way of bringing the education to them and they can save their traveling time as well. ICT can also be used to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, this I feel is a good thing because hungry people don't learn well!! Yet illiteracy and computer illiteracy may hinder elearning from being a smooth process. However I feel that these aren't as huge an obstacle as mindset is. By mindset, I am referring to the traditional thinking of the parents who regard work on the farm as more important than education. More often than not, these children are expected to work on the farms whole day long with the parents and there might not be time for them to learn. Mindset is something that is really hard to change and I think that is one reason why the full potential of ICT has not been captured yet in such countries. Ultimately, I think that ICT will definitely play a major role in helping these people break out of their poverty cycle and achieving the MDGs, but this would definitely require the appropriate infrastructure and adequate support from the local government.

One question that was posed today was "Why haven't we fully capitalize on the knowledge revolution?"

Answers that came up was that it is still relatively young and ICTs are not so pervasive yet. I agree with these points and would just like to add to them. As I have mentioned, mindsets in certain cultures have prevented the maximization of the potential of ICTs. Also, in less-developed countries, ICTs as compared to getting shelter, food and water, are not as important to them. To fully capitalize on the knowledge revolution there is a need to increase the scale of systems as well as improving them so that there could be an increase in productivity. The problem with this is the high costs and that is also a factor that is holding us back. The knowledge revolution and the usage of ICTs are still evolving, and we never know where the next stage is headed, so I guess we are all still trying to keep up with our understanding of the current technology. My dad often says that he lived in the most wonderful time period, because he got to see the time when there was no mobile phones, to huge blocks that passed off as mobile phones to our tiny compact phones nowadays or when there was only black and white television to color television then to plasma and even 3D televisions now! Perhaps one reason why we haven't been able to fully capitalize on the knowledge revolution is because it keeps evolving and evolving! Much faster than we can catch up with it and fully grasp its full potential. Which I guess, is a good thing?

I rate this lesson a 10/10 because I really thought that this topic, as well as the presentations, were really interesting!! I like the flow of today's lesson as well, it was well-paced and was not too rushed.

Individual Topical Review Paper Outline

Topic: Social Geo-location sharing.

Innovation: Geo-location Technology

Proposed Paper Outline:

1. Executive Summary

2. Introduction/Background/Historical Perspective

What is geo-location technology?

-Geo-location: Identification of the real-world geographic location of people via Internet-enabled devices, determining a meaningful address. Geo-location technology is used to determine the geo-location of the other party.

Rationale behind choosing this topic:

-Rise of mobile social networking. Increasing trend of people sharing their location through geo-location technology on social networking platforms wherever they go.

-Geo-location software has become an issue of concern recently with Google and Apple being in the news for their location tracking apps.

-The controversy is something worth addressing as I feel that the geo-location technology will impact us even greatly so in the future.

-Examples of social networking sites using geo-location technology: Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone apps

Historical perspective:

-Geo-location technology first existed with the introduction of GPS on handsets. It was used mainly for maps, routing and assisted navigation as well as tracking services like traffic and vehicle tracking.

Current situation:

-Recent uptakes of such technology include social media platforms and pervasiveness of 3G networks + GPS enabled smart phones. This resulted in an increasing trend of social networking platforms using such technology (geo-location check-in) -> evolving usage of geo-location software

3. Issues/Challenges

-Threat to privacy:

Privacy is the quality or state of being free from disturbance or observation in one’s private life or affairs; freedom from unauthorized intrusion

Location data are available to a whole web of people if privacy settings are not in place. Companies like Google and Apple have been storing the location data of their users and this means that anyone who steals the phone can discover details about the owner’s movements.

-Threat to personal safety:

Gives rise to opportunities for crimes/stalking/burglary to happen.

Smart phones are more prevalent now, especially among preteens and teens, and social networking sites target that demographic by using geo-location data as part of a game. Preteens and teens tend to overlook the dangers that come with sharing their location.

Pleaserobme website to raise awareness about over-sharing

-Help with criminal investigations:

Help track down criminals, thwart terrorism

4. Discussion and Analysis

-We grumble about prying eyes, yet we love to publish our locations onto the Web for all to see.

Social geo-location sharing, is there a balance between privacy and social sharing?

-“We live in a world where every swipe of a credit card tells someone, somewhere, more than we might want them to know. But until now, the information trails we left behind had always seem more incidental than intentional”.

Now there seems to be a increasing trend of people volunteering information about their location on social networking sites without any concern over how the data may be used. A seeming paradox in media culture which is becoming a globally networked game of show-and-tell.

5. Taking Things Forward

-A need for users to realize the dangers of social geo-location sharing

-Privacy settings need to be enhanced

-Prudent usage of geo-location services is advisable

-Possible opportunities for social geo-location sharing?

Positive commercial impacts: marketers can effectively target customers based on location. People also tend to check out the places liked by the people they trust (shown when they check-in to a particular place).

6. Conclusion

#4

6 September 2011

Hello,

and we're already into Lesson 4.

Today's lesson started off with the video "Who moved my cheese?" I thought that the video's key message about adapting to change (and not just adapting, but also preempting change) was a good food for thought to kick start the lesson about the drivers of world change and change leadership.

I found it interestingly true that it is so very often competition that spurs development. Like the example Prof gave about the man in the moon. If not for the US government being determined to win the space race against the Soviet Union, we would not have the first man on the moon so quickly!

Another point that came up was how ultimately, it is the consumers who benefit the most from competition between companies. When companies try to gain competitive advantage over each other, they have to keep innovating and coming up with products each better than the last. Thus, companies are expected to change and innovate to keep up with changes and prevent themselves from being obsolete. So as consumers, we get to enjoy better technology! However, we too have to keep buying the latest product just to stay relevant as well. It has become a common situation whereby we buy the latest product, say iPhone 4, and then we hear news that iPhone 5 is coming out. It seems as though the technology just keeps evolving at a rapid speed, such that what was once considered new will be shoved aside in a twinkling of an eye and labelled 'obsolete'.

Ultimately, I think that the main point is that we always have to question and challenge the status quo. For example, I was reading up about Google, and it is interesting to note that one of their philosophy is "Great just isn’t good enough."

"We see being great at something as a starting point, not an endpoint. We set ourselves goals we know we can’t reach yet, because we know that by stretching to meet them we can get further than we expected. Through innovation and iteration, we aim to take things that work well and improve upon them in unexpected ways. For example, when one of our engineers saw that search worked well for properly spelled words, he wondered about how it handled typos. That led him to create an intuitive and more helpful spell checker.

Even if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, finding an answer on the web is our problem, not yours. We try to anticipate needs not yet articulated by our global audience, and meet them with products and services that set new standards. When we launched Gmail, it had more storage space than any email service available. In retrospect offering that seems obvious–but that’s because now we have new standards for email storage. Those are the kinds of changes we seek to make, and we’re always looking for new places where we can make a difference. Ultimately, our constant dissatisfaction with the way things are becomes the driving force behind everything we do." -Google

Thus, like the quote by George Bernard Shaw that Prof shared, we have to be unreasonable, dissatisfied with the status quo and persist in changing the world. That is the only way for there to be progress.

In the second part of the lesson we talked about change leadership; responding to change, leading change and managing change.

"The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it" - Warren G. Bennis

The video of the dancing guy was really effective in conveying cool the concept of leadership.To be a leader you got to put yourself out there for public ridicule/criticism and step out of your own comfort zone. But being a leader, you also have to have followers. And from the video, we learnt the very importance of that first follower. I feel that first follower is also a leader in his or her own rights. I mean, not everyone would have the courage to be the first follower and face the possibility of being seen as a joke like the leader. There is so much risk and embarrassment involved that I feel that it is no easy task going out there and joining the leader to be the spark to the flint. The first follower would be the essential key in getting the second, third and so on, followers. I guess what I learnt from this is that, sometimes we have to be brave enough to have faith in the vision of another and take that leap of faith together with him. I think it is only with such a mentality that we can expect exciting things to happen, just like how the the dancing guy eventually had a crowd dancing along with him.

I rate this lesson a 8/10 because once again I felt that the topics covered during the lesson were really interesting and I loved the quotes that Prof shared because they were really apt in conveying the key essence of the themes that day.

Just to end off with a quote,

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

— Apple Computer Inc.

#3

3 September 2011

TWC Lesson 3

and the plot thickens.

The first part of today's lesson was about sustainable development. We watched a portion of a video that really made me think about how we are handling the finite resources that we have. What the video suggests was that a linear method was not possible in this world and I do agree with this statement. There is indeed a need to rethink the way we operate. After all, isn't there this particular saying that "what goes around goes around". Thus, I am for the stand that there is a need to plan our actions in a cyclical way and consider what kind of consequences there are as a result of our current actions.

One question that came up during the discussion was whether sustainable development is just a passing fad and one classmate mentioned that he thinks this is indeed true with regards to businesses. I thought about this question and came to a similar conclusion.

Companies attempt to contribute to sustainable development by adopting environmentally friendly practices as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, their motives for doing so may not be purely for the good of the environment. One article I read sometime back mentioned that such CSR practices enable companies to jack up their prices due to the higher costs involved, and the higher prices will still remain acceptable to the people who support their 'noble cause' resulting in customer loyalty and retained earnings. However, today's lesson made me think further about such business decisions. If such practices have an adverse impact on revenue earnings (after all, price is still the most important factor for most consumers), would businesses still adopt practices that contribute to sustainable development at the expense of their own profitability? I would think that for most, if not all, the answer would be a no. I mean, one can hardly fault them as they have shareholders and stakeholders to be accountable to. Thus, I do agree that sustainable development appears to be that of a passing fad for companies.

Prof mentioned in class that President Obama will stop a clean-air regulation that aimed to reduce health-threatening smog, yielding to bitterly protesting businesses and congressional Republicans who complained the rule would kill jobs in America's ailing economy. I feel that this is a really worrying situation. And an ironic one at that, since without such a regulation, sure jobs wouldn't be killed but perhaps lives would be. If they could focus on green technology, I am sure that jobs will be created! And it would not be at the expense of sustainable development.

I feel that tradeable pollution permits are a good way of reducing pollution. It is whereby the government sets a limit on the amount of pollution which firms can discharge and firms are then issued with permits which they can trade. A firm which can reduce its pollution below the permitted level can sell some of its emission rights to firms which have high pollution levels. Permits will reduce the overall pollution levels because the low polluting firms will have lower costs than firms that have to buy pollution permits. This will give the low polluting firms a competitive advantage and is likely to drive some of the high polluting firms out of business. This will provide firms with financial incentive to reduce pollution thought it must be admitted that there is the possibility that the system may not reduce pollution but merely change its source.

I also went to read up more about the Love Canal incident and such negligence is really shocking. So many residents and babies were affected due to how the waste was not properly disposed of. A survey conducted by the Love Canal Homeowners Association found that 56% of the children born from 1974-1978 had at least one birth defect. A simple mental calculation led me to realize that these children are only, at most 37 years old now; they are still suffering the repercussions of the negligence. Its really heartbreaking upon this realization that the normal lives they could have led have been robbed from them.

One interesting presentation in class today was about Masdar City- a fully green city that focuses on sustainability. It is a fascinating concept and I do hope that the city would indeed be able to function as a proper city because perhaps then other countries could see the strengths and the feasibility of adopting renewable sources of energy , and follow by example.

So I guess the ultimate question that I will takeaway from this lesson is, "Can we create a win-win thinking?" It really boils down to the same problem as I've mentioned in my previous post of how we are always looking after own interest, a 'each man for himself' mentality. If we just focus on a common interest instead of our own personal interest, perhaps we can finally look forward to being on the right road to achieving sustainable development.

I rate this session a 8/10 because I thought that it really made me rethink about the consequences of our actions and where we are headed in the future. An informative session on the whole!