BioTechnology

Bio technology is a really interesting topic; it covers everything that is living – from the microscopic cell inside your body to the bio diversity in the planet. We may never solve the mystery of how did life ever form on earth, be it a sheer chance of chemical compound in the sea in the ideal situation, panspermia , or  god’s creation, but we can study and improve on what we know.

We know that our health is a study of the human biology, and the lifespan of human is getting longer and longer. As technology in the medical field advances due to Research and Development as well as the availability of electronic products and information sharing, people get to enjoy the fast pace of medical marvels that was previously considered far-fetched. However, will this make humans grow reliant on such technology that they would adopt the “do what you want now, repair broken parts later” attitude? When times were difficult in the past, humans get by with what they have and work harder, leading a much healthier lives than our present desk workers. Right now, we are either too busy or lazy to maintain a proper diet and exercise regime that we grow so reliant when we fall sick.

It is a good thing that modern medical devices as discussed in class actually provide pre-emptive solution, as the saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”. These devices monitor the person’s health, checking for tell-tale signs of the development of any diseases with its database of information. It will then update the hospital via the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. This way, people are able to lead a healthier life by doing more of what is good for their health and avoiding pitfalls. With that said the user must accept this system and use it on a regular basis for it to work. Technology is easy, humans are just plain lazy.

Another thing we discussed in class is Genetic Engineering. Chimpanzees is said to have 99% similarity (the figure has dropped to 96% ) in DNA and banana 50%. Then it occurs to me that since banana is 50%, I believe a large percentage of the genetic codes are information on life itself – like cell structure, multi-cellular organism, binary fission, etc. The remaining information would then determine your physical attribute, behavior, intelligence, etc. Although the codes of biotechnology are hard to break, scientists are working on it. Hopefully humans are able to decipher the genetic codes and give superhuman ability such as the regenerative tissue of plants.

One thing that really amazes me is the guest lecturing section where our classmate introduce us the formation of a synthetic beating heart from cells. Cells are put in a regular inkjet printer and start printing out a 3D heart. Amazingly, the heart works. With such technology, soon people are able to find body part replacements or even do cloning with the transfer of their conscious mind to the clone. Who knows what the future hold, technology is always changing. We might even live like other social creature in the future with telepathic/psychic abilities when we unlock and use more than the 10% of our brain – the physical manipulation with the mind. 

Digital Divide

Although there are 6 billion people in the world, only a third or 33% have access to the internet. (Sources from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm ) So why is there such a huge digital gap, where a country like Singapore of 5 million people has over 77% internet penetration and 4 billion people without? This is just an illustration of the digital divide, where other factors such as digital communication and mobile technology are limited or unavailable to people around the world. I feel that information technology is an important factor that helps a country to grow in terms of sharing of ideas and knowledge. However this is not an easy task for the people, if the government is unable to provide the infrastructure.

As we take information technology for granted, and organizations have to operate with it in order stay in competition with their rivals, information technology has become a common tool in our lives. As mention above, some countries that do not have the mean to provide information technology to their people will lose out, as they are unable to give them the basic tool for societal improvement. Libraries and school in such countries are either overcrowded or too expensive, leaving a large population without access to education. Education is the distribution of knowledge to the people and without knowledge; the people will be “stagnant” in their way of life and ideas, unable to improve. Information technology is a medium that aids is the distribution of knowledge as it can be cheap if the infrastructures are available. So in a way, I do agree with Prof. that “ICT is the catalyst that facilitates the knowledge revolution”.

I do believe that ICT will bridge the gap between the rich and poor, however as the say goes, “a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”. Someone has to bring in ICT to them, because they don’t know what they don’t know. They do not know ICT exist, or have the means to bring it to the people. It is when organizations like One Laptop per Child (OLPC) aim to bring ICT to the people of third-world countries at a low cost. This will allow them to have access to vast knowledge around the world, where archives of science, mathematics, history, geography, bioscience and more information lie there waiting to be used. With the knowledge, the people can build windmill and generate electricity like a video I watched, or even power the village. It is these small steps that eventually move the country towards a change.

I find that as people chase the speed of processors, be it core 2 duo, quad core or i7, they are willing to pay more and more for faster technology. This makes me wonder why manufacturers can’t create another arm, and maintain the speed of these processors and bring down the price to make it cheaper and cheaper. Like this technology is more affordable to more people around the world, and crowd sourcing, a very interesting idea, would be more effective. Having the minds of 6 billion people around the world with access to the internet, the web will then be truly ubiquitous and harness the power of different culture, ideas and thinking.  

One article that wasn’t brought up in class is Reading 2. It intrigues me not because of the P2P (peer-to-peer) data sharing, or the merging of car wipers and GPS data to provide weather reports to news station. It is actually how machines are not beginning to “talk” to each other, with another machine. Previously, machines merely just obtain information like RFID tags, or make basic transaction. However, the article now suggests that future technology will allow machines to share information, and eventually learn from other machines. This brings automation and artificial intelligence to another level. Even though I m not like Will Smith in iRobot where he is in constant fear that robots will take over the world, I do think that if machines ever attain such intelligence and to “think” for themselves, the human population could be in danger in terms of jobs and lifestyle. 

The Ultimate Driver of Change

There are 3 ways to cope change as discussed in class as quoted by our Prof, namely:

• Making it happen.
• Respond when it happens.
• Be surprised.

Firstly “making it happen” is to lead the change, where leaders of tomorrow revolutionize the world we live in by bring change. Then there is those who “respond when it happens”, being the reactive ones. Finally for those who are surprised are the ones who don’t really care much about the changes in the world.

However I think there is another class of people, who falls in between the “Making it happen” and “Respond when it happens”, and they are the “I think this is going to happen”. I believe that there are people who embrace technology, keeping themselves open and constantly updating themselves about the changes in the world. Although they are proactive, they don’t lead the change and neither is they reactive and waits for things to happen. An example I can think of is people who are in the Green movement, where Global Warming is going to cause some damage to earth and they are taking the green approach before real damage is done. Yet they don’t lead any changes, just their own lifestyle.

It is interesting that the bubonic plague has cause people to turn to religion. I suppose when education and medical science are not so advance, people will turn to the next best thing that explains their situation. Human beings love to be in control, they want to know that they are able to explain things and either say it’s the wrath of god or there are witches amongst them. Science is the religion of today, even though people don’t really see it as a religion. It is the worship of modern marvels, and from science people can have many returns. It also seeks to explain the origin of the universe, and the way of life. By 1918, the Spanish flu claimed more than 50 million lives; hospitals and clinics rush to find a cure. It is then prayers gives way to modern medication where the world has changed after the age of enlightenment. 

When the class was having our guest lectures on drivers of change, I find that trade is more of a driver than water. Although it is true that water brings life and aids in the movement and transportation of human, trade drove those human to move. Water is merely just a medium, where trade drove people to travel far and wide in search of rare item from different world. If that is true, the true driver of the world is money. The desire to make more money drove people to search different places, so that they are powerful in their own homeland. That brings us back to dominance. To feel powerful and to have more purchasing power over your neighbours, you wage war and conquer their lands. You compete with them in the arms race. Ultimately, the drive of change boils down to one need, dominance. I believe that change is spurred by an individual idea, which is empowered by an organization. 

One Earth

When I read up on corporate responsibility, most text agrees that pollution and other impact on the environment are no longer considered externalities. As the human population grows to be more informed of our natural environment, we begin to be more responsible over the land we call home. This is more prevalent in developed countries where the industrial phase is at its optimal, unlike developing countries where boosting its economy is their priority. We have to take a circular thinking approach, where linear thinking has to be review over and over to refine the process. When the country decides on boosting the economy and go all out to do it, however when they take the circular approach, they would realize that there are externalities affected, and bring those into consideration.

Sustainability is a worldwide issue, and it is not only reserved for the developed countries. At the rate of human development, it would need 3 to 5 Earth to sustain human activity (source from readings). We only have 1 Earth. The Earth and its inhabitant does not depend on Humans to survive, we depend on them. [video on Life without People] There are several ways in which the government can do its part to enforce some regulations (like the IPP Toolbox) to help sustain the environment, but it would be up to each and every individual organization to adhere to the rules. I believe that education is the most important investment in our time as resources are depleting. When the new generation of people take over, they would be armed with corporate responsibility, and sustaining the environment that we live in. When you teach something very detailed and long enough, the brain will register it and actions will be carried out. See Entry #5 on how memory works by repetition

It is interesting that Japan had always remained the top spot in Asia as a developed country and a technological hub. Previously western countries have always seen themselves superior to Asian countries, until Japan broke the psychological barrier by defeating the Russian in 1903. One of our readings on the “Advantages of Backwardness” by Adam Szirmai from the United Nation University gave an insight on how developing countries have an advantage over their neighbours who are innovation leaders. In class, we discussed on how industrialization by countries like Japan and Korea followed by Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia swept through Asia in different phases or waves. I feel that although backward countries gain from getting knowledge from developed countries without going through the trouble of huge investments, they still don’t stand to gain as much. The reason why it seems alright to be backward now is because the developed countries do not use their advance technologies against the backward countries, like how the conquistador used against the Native Americans. Being the forefront of innovation allows the countries to first use the technology and sell it to other countries, which they would make a break even or even more money they had invested in the first place. Backwardness will always be following, going to whatever direction the leaders pull them to and unable to lead on their own, thus either keeping up or face “elimination” in the economic race. So although being backward gives you some advantages, the benefits of being in the forefront are much more.

One the topic of “should developed countries provide lower class with green technology”, my view is a definite yes. Developed countries should provide the developing countries with green technology so that they have the option to use it or not. If the developing countries can compare from a range of technology they have and if find that the green tech is viable, they can apply it. Looking at the big picture of sustainability, no one gain or lose economically when green tech is given away “for free”, the whole Earth and its inhabitants stand to gain. However the situation is overly ideal (just like communism) and would work if we live in Utopia where free green technology researchers get funding. A solution I would suggest is that every country participating in the Shared Green Technology Program will have to contribute a certain amount from their GDP, and the fund would be used for research and development. Those countries in the program will stand to gain the technology.