Week 12

Last official lesson! Time really flies when you are studying (much faster than NS). The topics presented were Epidemic Management, Technology & Sports, Crowd Sourcing and Green Technology.

Epidemic Management:

 The group intrigued me with the use of game theory. The question of how it could solve the problem of epidemic management was constantly in my mind as I was preparing for my presentation. Maybe I should read up on Game theory after finals. Sounds fascinating!

The next group was technology and sports, something which lies close to the heart of most guys! (Football!). The group touched on the fact that the sports industry has evolved greatly since historic times. Not only has sports equipment improved (better soccer balls, more efficient swimsuits etc), the athletes have also become stronger, arena more fanciful. In all, the sports industry has turned into a billion dollar commercial industry.

 Next up was crowd sourcing. The idea of crowd sourcing was very new to me. After the presentation, the future of crowd sourcing looks bright and promising to me. No man is an island. The collective efforts and ideas of a community would be an unstoppable element of change.

Lastly it was my group’s presentation. We talked about the various aspects of green technology and how the impacts it had on our lives. The future indeed is green technology when you talk about pursuing sustainable development. By incorporating green technologies in our lives, we can all march towards a bright and glorious future where we can all live in a clean and green environment.

In conclusion, I would like to summarize a few key takeaways for this course:

1)    Change is always constant. We must constantly prepare ourselves for such change. By preparing, I mean take advantage of opportunities and also manage these changes carefully.

   

2)    The future is uncertain. Some say they are optimistic about how technology is going to make our lives better. Some debate that it will end the world, given the rate we are progressing. One silly mistake is all it takes to press the self destruct button.

I had a fun and interesting 13 weeks of being bombarded with technological terms. I thoroughly enjoyed myself for the lessons and learnt a lot of stuff about technology and world change. Thank you prof for the time and knowledge! 

Lesson 11- Group Presentations

The first round of presentations were really interesting and insightful! I was exposed to a myriad of technologies and really learned a lot from my peers.

The topics presented were Designers Babies, Nanomedicine, Space Travel & Tourism and the Plastic Vortex.

In my humble opinion, I really found the designer babies and nanomedicine the more interesting ones. Maybe the other 2 were in the later half of the class so I tend to be less excited.

Designer Babies:

Designer babies are the selective choosing of gametes with genes which carry the desired characteristics to create the ‘ideal’ infant.

Personally, I believe that using reproductive techniques to pick cosmetic traits is inevitable in our democratic society, where freedom and choice is greatly emphasized. The issue is how prevalent would that be in the near future. Can you imagine a society where it is conformed (in terms of looks and talents)? Isn’t it enough with the education system encouraging conformity?

However, it is understandable from the parents’ point of view. They would naturally want the best options in life for their kids. This might include of as Down’s syndrome genes or obesity genes. Every child should be a loved child, but there is no virtue in accident.

Another point to consider is that a super-race of children born to the wealthy enough to afford artificial reproduction.  And that in my opinion is the sort of inequality that would warrant a major cause of concern. Gross exacerbation of social inequality is a grave social harm. In the worse case scenario, it would be akin to a communist world. That is why we need universal healthcare, universal access to any technology which provides a profound enablement.

So where do you draw the line? I believe that a principle quoted by Peter Singer is useful: If you think parents should be punished for taking away that ability away from a child who’s already born, that is probably harm. The issue of ethical relativism then pops into mind. What might be right to some might not be deemed appropriate for the rest of society.

Nanomedicine:

The thought of injecting biochemicals into your bodies permanently would sound gross and inhumanly however, if it would cure the problems and illness. Why not?

The invention of such amazing technology is a blessing to the human race and I think that the people who constantly argue about the ethicality of such issues should put themselves in the shoes of a desperate patient and then ponder and think it through deeply…

Overall I had a fun time in today’s class. I would rate it a 8/10.