Week 2 Reflection

It was my first class with Technology and World Change. Before attending the class, I was freaked out, obviously as a result of my limited knowledge relating to technology. However, as you can see, I still survive, at least for now =P, and start to like my TWC class.

Brief Overview

Our class got started by the introduction of newbies, including me. I was quite surprise to know that our 1st class had started last week already, and quite regretful missing all the fun of that - according to my classmates' blogs. But it should be fine, because I still have the whole term ahead to enjoy.

Before dealing with main issues of this session, Prof gave us a brief summary of the 1st class and show us a video named "China could already be the world's largest economy". This video astonished me with the idea that economy should be assessed not only based on GDP but more precisely by "productive capability", which is leaded by China currently. After having a little discussion of this, we moved to the main parts of this session:

A. Technology, Society and Global Dominance

B. Technology and Human Development

These two topic are both appealing to me, as they concerns several ongoing discuss and even controversy all over the world. For each part, we had 2 presentations from our fellow friends: Dickson Chew on "Is Your Firm Socially Networked? Chances Are, It Will Be Soon" and Gabriel Seet on " America's Prompt Global Strike: World Military Superiority Without Nuclear Weapon" for the Society and Global Dominance theme; Dennis Tan on "How Modern Technologies Influence Our Brain System" and Lai Ji Shun on "Singularity and Nightmares: Extremes of Optimism and Pessimism about the Human Future" for the Human Development theme.

Interesting Observation and Ideas

My first impression, as I stated above, was the clip with the theory that China's economy could already surpass America's to become the stand on the top of the world. To clarify this point, the analyst based on his analysis that GDP is only the face of economy, which can be inflated as in America's case - buy $1 resell $10 to gain $9 profit; while productive capability, in the other hand, is the true core of economy, reflecting truthfully how economy are growing and how it can sustain if crisis happens.

The second intriguing idea was the Prof's opinion, that investing in education for females is investing in education for everyone. Although most of us have long recognized the importance of maternal role of women in family, we may neglect the influential effect of this role. As quoted from the Prof’s evidence, when we educate a man, another man will be educated, and that goes on with a new generation of educated MEN. Vice versa, if a woman is educated, she will pass her knowledge to the whole family, as a result of her maternal instinct; therefore, a new generation of educated WOMEN and MEN will be born. What can we learn from this? Seize this, because this is the solution to deal with sexism – the imbalance gender role in society.

Key Take Away Points

1. Don’t judge a book by its cover: this I learn from the case of China v America in field of economy. America may seem to be the leader of the world in most aspects, but if we take a deep insight, it is not as sound as we think.

2. Never sleep on your victory: China was once the biggest giant in 1800s, then what happened? She was too proud of her victory, too confident with her advanced culture and technology that she refused to learn from other tiny country, refused to open the door to the world. Consequently, she never knew other rivals had already caught up with her, and stood out as the new leader of the world. The same scenario would happen to any one of the dominant players, for the past, present and future. Once you stop, you are already behind.

Issues for Further Discussions

I would like to question further about the failure of China in 1800s, when she lost her top position. What really happened to China? Should we consider other external factors? Was it a consequence of social or political issues?

Personal Rating

All in all, I would rate the class at 7/10. That was the first class for about 2/3 of the class, and everybody seemed not to catch up well with the rest. The presentations were a little overwhelming as well. Next week would be better, hopefully.