Week 2: Technology, Society and Global Dominance (Economic, Military, Cultural) / Technology and Human Development

Once again, it's time to blog!!!

The class started with the discussion on the different dimensions of global dominance. And in the slide there was this question which I found relatively interesting. 

"How do we build societies/companies that are dominant leaders in their respective arenas?"

My personal take on this question is simple. Being forward looking.

if the management have a direction which the companies are working towards, in the long run, the company would definitely be dominant leaders in the respective arenas.

We went on to the discussion on the rising star, dominant player and falling star, which i found really interesting. especially with regards to the big companies like apple and google and where they actually stand.

after which, we went on to the presentation done by our classmates. And I am really impressed with the year one's presentation. I was especially interested in the topic on human cloning. 

And here comes the debatable question, is human cloning ethical?

To me, my answer would still be no. simply because it should not be this way. humans and special because of the way we are. cloning humans should not be the way no matter what great reasons there maybe.

Even though prof did mentioned about IVF, which was not accepted years back. but i see this 2 issues as 2 separated  ones. IVF would insert a human sperm into the egg and plant the fertilised egg back into the female's womb, but human cloning works on a totally different idea.

i feel that more discussion on human cloning would have made the class more interesting and more participative as different people have different views on such controversial topics.

i have enjoyed the class tremendously and i would rate it a 8/10. its really interesting to see how individuals present on their topics and the different types of topics we would be touching on.

till next time!

Week 1: Introduction to TWC!

It has been really long since I last touched blogger. Frankly speaking, if it was not for TWC, I doubt I would ever blog again. HAHAHAHAHA.

Anyways, yesterday was the first lesson for TWC, which stands for Technology and World Change, and technically, it was the first lesson for the week (and the start of my life as a Year Two in SMU).

Technology and World Change. Personally, I am not a tech-savvy person, even though I am from the School Of Information Systems. Despite that, I appreciate how technology improved efficiency. Change, as cliché as it sound, is the only constant and it is something inevitable in our lives, as well as around the world. I believe that technology place a great part in driving world change and vice versa.

Interesting observation and Key Takeaways

 Class was relatively interesting; from the introduction of each member of the class to the videos that Prof Sharhi shared. Something which caught my attention was the video on “Shift Happens” and also the video on “Guns, Germs & Steel”.

Shift happens

I am really impressed with the producer of this video as he/she was able to bring a very strong idea across just using words. Something that came to my mind during the video was how technology had improved over such a short period of time. And it fascinates me to think about how the world might be in years to come. Maybe... like this?

Guns, Germs & Steel

"Why do white people have so much cargo, but we New Guineans have so little?" 

-Yali

This question got Jared Diamond thinking. Geographical location, access to resources and opportunity was what the class discussed as possible answers for Yali’s question. I think that, other than these reasons, the whites are able to learn from people that they come across in the people they see (sounds like networking). In comparison, the New Guineans lack in this aspects thus affecting the amount of “cargo” they have.

Personally I had enjoyed the first class of TWC tremendously and i am looking forward to the next lesson. WOOHOOO~