Week 10 - Nanotechnology

Brief Overview

Nanotechnology - tiny things that can bring a huge change. Nanotechnology is the field that will bring technology to the next level, that will make impossible possible. Nanotechnology focus on microscopic materials and leverage them to help human in almost every aspects of life, from Information Technology, Robot technology and Entertainment to even Food and Health.

Key Takeaway

Prof Shahi shared a lot of interesting videos, that make me personally amazed by the concept and innovation in the Nanotechnology field. All of the videos and presentations opened my eyes of how the technology, particularly nanotechnology has advanced further. One of the presentations that is quite controversial for me is the development in the technology that allow our mind to control computer without using any physical involvement. Yes it's kind of creepy in some way, but I believe that is the way for us in the future. In the future, I agree that human will be 'integrated' in some way with the computer to increase the efficiency and productivity. However I don't agree with the current idea of implanting circuit board to human brain in order to do that, because after all it is for human, so I think we should not adjust so much, instead the computer itself that should accommodate human. What I mean by this is that, the sacrifice that is done by human(brain implant) is just too much for the sake of the integration with the computer, instead it will be just fair if the computer that adjust itself to accommodate the integration without requiring much sacrifice from human. One way to do this is by making use of the human brain waves. Each person emits different brain wave according to their brain activity and so computer can catch this and use it as a command for them. The subject of brain wave is not covered much these days, but I think this is one of the best way that we can explore to bring computer and human to the next level.

Another video that amazed me was the video about 3D printing of human organ. With the manipulation of protein, chemistry, laser and printing technology, researchers are now on the way to create a successful human organ 'printing' method. The video really blow my mind, because with this development, we can save a lot of life. People with cancer, victim of accident and disabled people, all can be saved with this technology. Although for now we only have a vague understanding of the technology, but I can foresee that this technology is the real breakthrough in technology, one of many technology that brings us closer to the 'sci-fi' world that gives us the most controversial ability, to be immortal.

Last week class was really interesting, a lot of interesting concept and technology was introduced. Thus I would rate last week class 9/10.

"Technology can be either a boon or a bane, it all depends on us, human, depend on how sensible we are."

Week 9 - Energy & World Change

Brief Overview

Energy - World have changes rapidly in the last decades in ever aspect of it, and this take toll on our current energy reserves. Because with the advancement of technology, more activities could be done and this lead to the rapid growing of global energy consumption, and if we keep don't do something with the way we do it, we will finish up our current oil and gas reserves in the near future. Search for renewable and sustainable source of energy needed to be done to amend this. Wind, Solar and Wave current have been explored, but are we ready to implement that is still a big questions.

Key Takeaways

I'm actually surprised by the video that Prof shared to us. The video that showed Germany Government effort to attain renewable energy in a sustainable way to achieve the E.U. target of replacing 25% of their energy with renewable energy. Germany Government takes this really serious, they have been a big supporter of renewable energy, one example of it is the incentive given by government for setting up a solar panel. How this work is that the government are willing to give certain percentage of incentive to those who are setting up solar panels whether on their roof or even on their farm. The electricity produced by the solar panel will go to government and in return government will pay certain incentive to them. What I'm impressed is actually not really on the government initiative, but about this farmer in the video that are willing to set up a solar farm on his farming lands. He take this really serious, that he even willing to abandon his farm and take the solar farm as his new 'farm'. He thinks that this is a 'hot' prospect right now, and this is actually is. This make me of the future, where there will be no crop/livestock farmer, instead there will be a lot of energy farmer.

Personally I think solar energy is the next major energy that we'll use compared to other renewable energy. It is the most sustainable energy with highest potential to be used and I think this is the time for humankind to take the use of sun to the next level. Imagine in the future when, we don't farm solar power from earth anymore, instead we deploy satellite with solar panel to farm the solar energy, which will be transmitted back to earth wirelessly, whatever you might think, but truly believe that this will happen.

The class last week is really thought provoking for me, really make me think and imagining, thus I would rate last week class 7.5/10.

Week 7 - BioBusiness Revolution: Agribiology, Environmental Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology

Brief Overview

Agribiology - BioBusiness industry has affected our lives in many ways. One of its field that affects our lives significantly is Agribiology. Simply say, Agribiology is one field of Biotechnology that focus on agriculture, on how we can improve both the quantity and quality of agriculture products in an innovative way. One popular feature of this technology is Genetically Modified (GM) food, which basically modify agriculture product genetically and duplicate or grow similar product from there.

Key Takeaway

Prof Shahi threw an interesting discussion around GM food to class last week. The discussion is about, is it safe to consume GM food? Because there is a concern that, as a genetically modified food, this so-called 'mutant' food will cause a negative effect to human. The tricky part is actually that we don't know yet, as it takes 10-15 years for us to know if this genetically modified food will cause negative effects to us. Not only its potential harm effects, but some people also reject GM food due to ethical reason. They argue that GM food is against very basic of nature and thus its not ethical for us to consume it, even to produce it in the first place. However, to see it from the other side, GM food is actually one of the most effective & sustainable way to solve food production issue that may arise in the future, as we know that population of human grow exponentially, that there might be more than 9 billion people in the world in 2050. So, I think GM food is the solution for that as it is very sustainable that we can produce a large amount of food from a smaller place (laboratories), within a much shorter time, with a higher quality and without emitting much wastage and pollution. However, certain procedure and stringent method need to be implemented to make sure that the food won't cause any harm to human in the future. Some people might arise concern about farmer, how can they cope up with it, how will they're live be as their job are now being taken in the laboratory. For me, that's the consequences, world changes, and thus we need to adapt with it. Because I believe that in the future human will do more brain work and less physical work as we'll have machine to help us in such activities.

The class was fun, there is a great topic and good discussion going on, so I would rate the class 8/10.

Week 6 - BioBusiness Revolution

Brief Overview

BioBusiness Revolution - Prof Shahi's started last week lesson with one interesting video from Microsoft. The video, which Microsoft targeted to take place on 2020, showed how we can access our health record, be reminded of our upcoming appointment with doctor, consult with doctor face to face, be reminded to take our medication with only a single touch from our home. This target that Microsoft plan to attain 9 nine years from now, will surely bring healthcare to the next level, where we can efficiently access healthcare almost everywhere. Can we really achieve this in 2020? Yes, I would say. If we recall the first lesson, we'll be reminded that we're in an exponential time now, where change can happen within a very short time. So, I'm very confident actually, that tis can be attained in the near future.

Key Takeaways

One of the presenter actually bring about a very interesting question that make me thought of it even days after the lesson itself.

'Should we continue on inventing more cures for deadly diseases or should we shift our focus to provide a better sanitation and clean water?'

This question left a deep impression in me, because the most logical answer for this, the answer for almost the whole class, is to shift our focus to provide a better sanitation and clean water. This answer is only logical, because if we can provide a better sanitation and clean water, we will eventually kill the diseases from its roots, which will be effective in the long run. However, while we focus on providing a better sanitation and clean water, we are letting millions of people, who already infected with the disease, die because we are not putting effort to cure them anymore. And how about people in the developed country (have access to a better sanitation and clean water) who are infected with the disease? We will also let them die by not inventing a better medication for them. The best scenario is being able to focus on both of them and make a significant progress simultaneously. However, we are living on earth, where best scenario is rarely happen.

So how should we go about it?

My Opinion, we should not shift our focus to provide a better sanitation and clean water, at least entirely, yet. We should still focus on inventing a better cure to deadly diseases, while simultaneously, in a way that is not distracting our focus on inventing cure, putting effort on providing a better sanitation and clean water, and eventually as time goes on, we will increase our effort on this and decreasing our focus on inventing a better cure for deadly diseases. So, we focus on curing the diseases while putting acceptable effort on providing better sanitation on the short run (hopefully) and make full access to a better sanitation and clean water as a long run target.

The class last week was really provide me with much insights and thoughts. The topics discussed and argued were really interesting to me, so I would like to give last week class overall 9/10.

Week 5 - Information and Communications Technology

Brief Overview

ICT - Last week class was the first class that we discuss only one topic, the evolution of information and communications technology, and how it changes the world. We covers some areas of ICT, which includes: Gaming, Mass Media, Cloud Computing, Internet, Information Systems, and Wireless Technologies. Prof Shahi's started the class with an eye opening video of 'Milo'. Milo is basically a program, made possible with help from Xbox Kinect. What make Milo different is that he can not only express emotion but also sense human emotion and interact accordingly. Technology nowadays, has made that interaction seamlessly possible.

Key Takeaways

There is a question that asked after we watched the video of 'Milo', "is there still distinct differences in humanity between 'computer' and human?". I found this questions really interesting, because back then in 2000 we used to believe that although computers are becoming more advanced, they won't be able to take over human, because we have something that computer won't ever have, humanity. However now, our belief is challenged, and even more, with this there is a bigger questions ahead, what more can computer do in the future?

Another interesting things that Prof Shahi discussed is that the concept of increase in productivity gained after each human revolution. Human gained 25 times increase in productivity, gained from moving from hunter-gatherer society to agriculture & domestication of animal society. Same increase in productivity gained when we move from agriculture to industrial revolution. However, until now after moving from industrial revolution to the ICT, we only gained 5 times of increase in productivity. Is this it, the maximum increase that we could get from technology? No. Some people see it from that perspective, but I choose to see from the other side, I see it this way: this already advanced development in technology is only the beginning, only 1/5 of the way to go, so can you imagine how technology will advanced more in the future?

Last week class was really content heavy, some of us even struggle to catch up with the topic. A lot of concepts relating to ICT was discussed, however, one areas of ICT that I think worth to discuss more is the Cloud Computing. Cloud Computing is a trend now, in the near future I believe that most of our system will move to cloud, as the most efficient and effective way, nowadays. Another interesting topic that was raised, but I think could be great if we can give more air time to discuss it more is that how the advancement of technology could help the poor and forgotten people in the third world countries.

I would rate last week class 7/10. The class was really content heavy, Prof tried to cover a whole lot of areas in technology, however this made us not focus, some more important areas could have been given more attention to help us understand it better.

Individual Topical Review Paper Outline

Innovation: The Invention of Personal Computer (PC)

Rationale for choice:

In the 50's computer used to be a huge mainframe system, that need a large room to store only one of it. It was very expensive, and consume a very high voltage of electricity. Because there are no more than 10 computers worldwide, it usage was also limited to only a few people for a limited amount of time. However since the invention of Personal Computer, everyone able to enjoy and use their PC as much as they want. This significantly affects many aspects of human, especially the way they do business, which will be my main focus.

Proposed Approach:

Executive Summary:

To gain a better understanding of how PC affect business, first I will touch on PC's hardwares and softwares that are specifically designed for business. Moving on from there, I will focus on how those things change the way people do their business.

Background / Introduction:

Brief overview of computer history and the development of personal computer will be discussed at the start of the paper. Specifically I will touch more on PC's hardwares and softwares that are specially developed for business. I will also give a summary of how business was done back then when PC wasn't invented yet, so reader can see the differences distinctly.

Historical Perspective:

Computer used to be a huge mainframe system that consume much resources and can be afforded only by few organizations. So its effect wasn't as significant as it is now.

Current Situation:

Since the invention of personal computer, it has developed much until now. The role of PC has become more integral to business than ever. Almost all businesses use PC nowadays, it has been very important to business, because it changes the way they do business.

Future Considerations:

PC still and will develop to become more and more sophisticated. Recent development, which may be the future trend is the Tablet PC, which is more portable and accessible. Seeing the future of PC and its impact in business, there are a lot of improvement that will occur, and seeing this through business perspective, PC will be inseparable to business.

Conclusion:

The invention of PC affects many aspects of life, especially the way we do business. With a rapid development of PC, we don't know what the future behold, but one thing for sure, with the invention of PC, business never be the same.

References:

I will research on the related articles, news and papers mainly from Internet( Library Database, Google Scholar) .

Week 4 - Drivers of World Changes & Leadership Management

Brief Overview

Drivers of World's Change - This topic was a very interesting, Prof Shahi started the lesson with an important topic, difference between two kind of changes, Evolution and Revolution. Evolution is change that happen in a comfortable way, such that people who are not ready for it have sufficient time to adapt to the change. Whereas Revolution is a "radical" as in sudden changes that bring about a considerable impact to society. Moving on from there, we discussed some of the drivers of world changes, which include: Environmental Drivers, Commercial & Business Drivers, Scientific and Technology Drivers & Social and Cultural Drivers.

Leadership Management - To be able to bring about a revolution, extraordinary leaders were needed to lead the changes. However before going into the concept of leadership, Prof identify the difference between leader and manager. Leader is the one who set up the vision and framework, and one needs followers and maintain trust with one's followers. In contrast, manager is one who follow leader's vision and responsible to carry out goal that was set by the leader by overseeing the operation in one's department. Stepping up from this, Prof began to introduce us with the concept of leadership, and one that I find interestingly true is the analogy of leaders and birds.

Key Takeaways

The class last week was very interesting from me, especially when prof introduced us with the analogy of birds and leaders. The analogy was interesting, humorous but meaningful. He said that true leader is like an eagle. Eagle will observes everything with its accurate bird eye-view, and when it find an 'opportunity', it will make strike it with its lethal move. While leader is like an eagle, followers is like a normal bird who just follow the leader. Lastly, humorously true, people who are resistant to change is like a dodo bird. Those who resistant to change will struggle in their life and eventually be left behind.

Another interesting concept to me that was introduced through a youtube video, is the 'lone nut' video. It it very insightful for me. The video was started with one guy dance alone in front of a crowd, and he looked like an idiot. However as more people joined him, in the end those who didn't join him dancing look like an idiot. This is an interesting yet insightful video, at first leader who bring out a revolutionary changes might look silly, but as time goes and people become more receptive, it is those who resistance to it that look silly, and eventually be left behind.

The lesson last week was interesting, however it would be much better if we discussed more on the Drivers of the World's Changes itself, instead of the World's Changes only. On top of that overall the lesson last week is interesting enough with all the interesting concepts that were introduced. I would rate last week class 8/10.