The 2 topics that were covered in this week’s lesson were industrial development: towards sustainability and innovation management. These 2 topics are largely related to multinational corporations and commercialisation. The main themes covered in this lesson were the shift from the old industrial model to a sustainable one and the importance of innovation management.
Something that captured my attention was the video of the story of stuff and how it shows the consequences of extreme consumerism in the developed nations. Although I have watched the video a few years ago, I realised that I am better able to understand the concepts this time round. The situation of a linear system existing in a planet with finite resources is clearly not a feasible one. And the fact is that most business models today are non-sustainable.
Another interesting concept that I learnt was the term partisanship which is the use of individual craftsmanship instead of mass production. I believe a valid consideration would be that the viability of such a principle in our technologically empowered and heavily industrialised world. Is there still a market for partisanship and are there people who still appreciate it?
The key takeaway for me in this section of the lesson is that government and corporations or all sizes must acknowledge and promote the shift to a sustainable industrial model by creating cyclical businesses and models that allows innovation, growth and value creation.
In my opinion, the two models introduced to us, namely the RDA model and the valley-summit-cloud opportunities were very useful in identifying industries that we should focus on (summit) and what should be done to move to a summit opportunity. The RDA model showed us how to put research to practical use and the increasing value proposition as we move down the pipeline. I feel the key takeaway for me is that the key to successfully bring about an innovation is to focus on science and technology and/or focus on marketing and commercialisation at the right time.
Again, there is plenty more that I learnt but I will stop for now as if I were to list everything I learn, that could take a while
Personally, I would rate. this lesson 7/10. The ideas and concepts discussed were pertinent and the oral presentations were interesting. However, I feel that the time management of the lesson can be better as we have been unable to end our lesson on time which can be unfair to students who have a subsequent class.
-Zhishu of G22
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Week 2
The topics discussed for the 2nd lesson of our TWC course is "Technology, Society and Global Dominance" and "Technology and Human Development". The lesson started off with the new students introducing themselves. Its nice to see we have a variety of people from different cultural and educational background. Thereafter, a short video was shown on China's economic status and a healthy dicussion followed as the lesson proceeded with the individual oral presentation and slides prepared by Prof Gurinder.
The short video showed how China could already be the biggest economy in the world as GDP is not an accurate representation of one's productive ability. It is said by the year 2020, China's GDP will overtake the US. Such a shift just highlights to us the different dominant players at different periods throughout human history. From China to Europe in the 18th and 19th century to the Americans and now perhaps the superpower status might go back to China soon. Prof Gurinder also brought up the his model of identifying innovation leaders and dominant players. It is interesting to note that as history has shown, any nation or civilisation becomes a falling star once it shuts itself out of the outside world.
The reading on the colonial holocaust and its legacy was definitely a facinating read as it provided different albeit negative depiction of colonialism. Research has shown how the founding of America and the the expansion of Europe's dominance are actually a bunch of savage massacre and cruelty. These major events have been unjustly glorified and people ought to be ashamed of such a record going down in the book of history.
On the topic of human development, we learnt that sustainable development could be explained by, 'using options available today that would not limit options in future'. The subject that immediately comes to mind would be the burning of fuel and the consequences that comes with it. Typically, one would address whether we are using our limited resource of fuel most efficiently.
One key takeaway for me would be that countries could never survive in isolation
Given the competitive nature of economies due to the many different dimensions of globalisation, nations have to be willing to allow the flow of information, knowledge and investments to faciliate growth of an economy and also the productive capability of its resources(knowledge of people, technology).
There are several issues I think deserves further discussion. One student brought up the question that if the US is already so far above everyone in terms of military power, why do they still continue to exhaust so much of their resources on military development? I feel that the US naturally would want to remain as the superpower of the world for self interest. However, it is not feasible economically due to population and resource restraints. Eventually, China would overtake them in that aspect. It seems to me that they are ensuring their status of AT LEAST a military superpower of the world to retain their political will in the international arena. Realistically speaking, the richest and the most powerful always have the most say in international issues. Even there comes a day when they are no longer have the biggest economy, their military capabilities would definitely be an intimidating factor and would "deter" any state from "offending" them.
Gabriel, a fellow student, brought up during his presentation a concept that the US military takes, that is to create before required. If such a concept has enabled the US military to be so advanced over the other states, should corporations employ such an idea for commercial purposes as well?
This lesson was an insightful one and personally I would rate it 8/10 for the lively and valuable discussion we had. There is much more to say and reflect about from this lesson but I will stop here for now.
-Zhishu of G22
The short video showed how China could already be the biggest economy in the world as GDP is not an accurate representation of one's productive ability. It is said by the year 2020, China's GDP will overtake the US. Such a shift just highlights to us the different dominant players at different periods throughout human history. From China to Europe in the 18th and 19th century to the Americans and now perhaps the superpower status might go back to China soon. Prof Gurinder also brought up the his model of identifying innovation leaders and dominant players. It is interesting to note that as history has shown, any nation or civilisation becomes a falling star once it shuts itself out of the outside world.
The reading on the colonial holocaust and its legacy was definitely a facinating read as it provided different albeit negative depiction of colonialism. Research has shown how the founding of America and the the expansion of Europe's dominance are actually a bunch of savage massacre and cruelty. These major events have been unjustly glorified and people ought to be ashamed of such a record going down in the book of history.
On the topic of human development, we learnt that sustainable development could be explained by, 'using options available today that would not limit options in future'. The subject that immediately comes to mind would be the burning of fuel and the consequences that comes with it. Typically, one would address whether we are using our limited resource of fuel most efficiently.
One key takeaway for me would be that countries could never survive in isolation
Given the competitive nature of economies due to the many different dimensions of globalisation, nations have to be willing to allow the flow of information, knowledge and investments to faciliate growth of an economy and also the productive capability of its resources(knowledge of people, technology).
There are several issues I think deserves further discussion. One student brought up the question that if the US is already so far above everyone in terms of military power, why do they still continue to exhaust so much of their resources on military development? I feel that the US naturally would want to remain as the superpower of the world for self interest. However, it is not feasible economically due to population and resource restraints. Eventually, China would overtake them in that aspect. It seems to me that they are ensuring their status of AT LEAST a military superpower of the world to retain their political will in the international arena. Realistically speaking, the richest and the most powerful always have the most say in international issues. Even there comes a day when they are no longer have the biggest economy, their military capabilities would definitely be an intimidating factor and would "deter" any state from "offending" them.
Gabriel, a fellow student, brought up during his presentation a concept that the US military takes, that is to create before required. If such a concept has enabled the US military to be so advanced over the other states, should corporations employ such an idea for commercial purposes as well?
This lesson was an insightful one and personally I would rate it 8/10 for the lively and valuable discussion we had. There is much more to say and reflect about from this lesson but I will stop here for now.
-Zhishu of G22
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Week 1
The first lesson of the TWC course naturally covered the course requirements, objectives and other administrative issues which is prudent as it allows students to know what we are supposed to learn from the course and the mindset that we should have. Thereafter the topic 'Technology and the Rise of Civilizations: Historical Timeline and Technology “Revolutions' was covered. As the title implies, it provided us with historical facts of every major shift and developments of the human kind.
I guess the purpose of this lesson is to provide us with some foundation knowledge as a pre-requitsite for subsequent lessons. However, it was not purely taking in of information. The idea of the the evolution of mankind from ape-like ancestors to current day "macdonald's" men who are too pampered with technology created a lively discussion. The question of whether technology is to be blamed was an intriguing one.
I guess the general agreement was that men are the cause of an increasingly unhealththy society. We are in a generation where the current life expectancy is lower than before. The discussion on how to prevent such a phenomenom from continuing was also brought up. However, I felt that the question of whether we should prevent this phenomenom, should be discussed. I felt that the creation of fast food, automobile and all the other technologies that made our lives so comfortable is the very process of man's evolution. If we were to view such current day technology as a bane, what difference is it during the times where man started using simple tools, which is actually just a variation of today's technology?
My key takewaway for the whole lesson is that we are here to learn how to approach technology and how can we use it effectively in a dynamic world. This was a takeaway for me as originally I thought this course was literally to give us technical information on current day technology. Another takeaway was that as what Prof Shahi has said, 'technology is easy, people are hard'. The process of understanding the technical aspects of technology is easy, however the implementation process and how we use them is challenging.
Rating for the session would be 7/10.
I felt that material and content provided was very enriching. However, the pace during the lesson proper could have been slower and more time could be spend on it.
-Zhishu of G22
I guess the purpose of this lesson is to provide us with some foundation knowledge as a pre-requitsite for subsequent lessons. However, it was not purely taking in of information. The idea of the the evolution of mankind from ape-like ancestors to current day "macdonald's" men who are too pampered with technology created a lively discussion. The question of whether technology is to be blamed was an intriguing one.
I guess the general agreement was that men are the cause of an increasingly unhealththy society. We are in a generation where the current life expectancy is lower than before. The discussion on how to prevent such a phenomenom from continuing was also brought up. However, I felt that the question of whether we should prevent this phenomenom, should be discussed. I felt that the creation of fast food, automobile and all the other technologies that made our lives so comfortable is the very process of man's evolution. If we were to view such current day technology as a bane, what difference is it during the times where man started using simple tools, which is actually just a variation of today's technology?
My key takewaway for the whole lesson is that we are here to learn how to approach technology and how can we use it effectively in a dynamic world. This was a takeaway for me as originally I thought this course was literally to give us technical information on current day technology. Another takeaway was that as what Prof Shahi has said, 'technology is easy, people are hard'. The process of understanding the technical aspects of technology is easy, however the implementation process and how we use them is challenging.
Rating for the session would be 7/10.
I felt that material and content provided was very enriching. However, the pace during the lesson proper could have been slower and more time could be spend on it.
-Zhishu of G22
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