Week 12

We had the group presentation for their web reports today. This was our 2nd last lesson and also a lesson that is conducted almost entirely by our fellow classmates. There were 4 issues covered today namely Urban Planning, Cryonics, Architecture and music.

The project on urban planning was relevant to us as it was a case study of singapore. It was interesting to note the selection of the project despite the team was made up entirely of international students. The  main issue that they tackled was on the land scarcity in Singapore and how urban planning can be a solution to that problem. However, we also saw how urban planning can contribute into building a sustainable model of consumption. There were serveral interesting concepts brought up to tackle those issues such as the hanging garden and the SMART building. They also highlighted the point that the Singapore Government has already showed signs of moving towards such an approach. One example is the construction of "the pinnacle".

The project on cryonics was an intriguing topic as they explored the idea of prolonging life through the use of liquid nitrogen. Even though the possibility of such a technology succeeding at the current moment is small, the prospect of living way into the future was one worth discussing. I agree with the group's view that people should be free to make their own personal choice, so long as they are given information from both sides. As long as cryonics can be controlled in a manner which does not pose as a threat to future generations, it should be an accepted technology when it becomes feasible.

The project on architecture was a somewhat similar issue to urban planning but approached differently.

The last group presented on music and how how ICT has caused a dramatic shift in the field of distribution. Piracy was the most prominent issue in their presentation and again, it is extremely relevant to almost anyone who uses the internet as downloading and uploading data have become part and parcel of our lives. I particularly liked their view that the problem of file sharing should not be seen as a problem but as an element in the music industry.

On the whole, this 4 projects provided us with a lot of refreshing new information in our ever changing world. I would rate this lesson 8/10.