Week11

Week 11 is the last TWC lecture. The discussion held in this session was on Technology Assessment and Forecasting: Developing a Framework for Understanding What Comes Next. The focus was to forecast what may be the future technology and the methodologies we can used to predict the trend of emerging technology.

One interesting quote from the lesson is "Look before, or you'll find yourself behind" by Benjamin Franklin. I am deeply convinced by the truth in the statement. Foresight is essential for us to catch up with the progress of technology. If we are only content with where we are currently at, we may find ourselves to be disconnected from majorities with the presence of the state-of-the-art technology.

The video Prof Shahi showed about Siemens really amazed me. I did not realize the wide range of areas Siemens has been involved in until watching the video. The developments in sectors such as railways, water purification, healthcare and environmental compatible energy are really impressive. It is hard to imagine a company known to be close to me as manufacturing household appliances can contribute much more to society than we usually see. This is also the reason why we should not just stand on the spot and wait for things to be crystal clear on their own. Rather we need to explore and to venture into the world where technologies are more advanced than those we are normally experiencing.

There are various methodologies to assess technology and predict the emerging trends. What are top in the list are "analyzing the future potential of technologes", " supporting policy/strategy development" and "network building". These measures also facilitate the development in R&Ds as they allow the research to tap into vital arenas and set priorities to the relevances.

The methodology does give one a reference to where we will be heading in the coming future. However, it does not have a finite answer to the future. Besides the tools in helping us seek for the relevance, we have to have our own judgement on what we believe may come true in the days to come. Only what we believe and the actions taken will realize our imagination and foresight.

Like Alan Key says, "the best way to predict the future is to invent it."

Session Rating: 8/10

Week10

This week's focus was on Emerging and Future Technologies.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."

 - Albert Einstein.

It is clear to us that creativity knows no boundaries and it is always one of the the driven factor that makes impossible turn into possible. Technology is the product of creativity when people obtain the ability to convert the strong desires into reality. 

Key takeaways from the session:

1. Market-driven research and development
2. Supply can sometimes create demand.
3. Mass media influence

The class had a discussion on some upcoming technologies such as biotechnologies, nano technologies, robotics etc. An interesting video shown during class that attracted my attention was the AI Robotics - the perfect woman. However, disputes on such technology was brought up. Despite how amazing this robot is, concerns on exploitation for use in acts of terrorism and the repulsiveness from certain region due to the manipulation of what human beings should originally be were set on the table. 

From my point of view, the creation of new technology is unstoppable unless people cease thinking wild and trying. We have no means to prevent the technology from emerging. But we do have the chance of get the use of technology on the moral path. It is unknown as to what is in the future. Why do we criticise and worry about what is around us now to avoid the possibilities of negative impacts of technology ?Why do people spend effort and time on arguing if a technology is justifiable when rather they could put in more emphasis on how it should be corrective use? 

It is true that we have to evaluate what a technology may bring to us. But giving it a NO is not going to solve the concerns and worries. Worse, despite the protest of  the presence of emerging technology, most protester just stand there and wait for the worries to happen. Therefore, I am suggesting negation is not the key to the threatens embedded in an emerging technology. We should rather work on how to improve the technology to make it more catered to what we really desire with cautious and care.

Session Rating: 9/10

Individual Report DRAFT

Hey all,

Here is the link to my individual report DRAFT!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C_hp4oJfgTG_Sbwus1uK_sjs5udgYXGsq2M76UxJS2Y/edit?hl=en_US
Thanks for your comments in advance=)

Week8

This week, this class had a discussion on the energy consumption and the approach towards sustainability and greener environment.

The most memorable quote of the lesson from Prof. Shahi is that "if everyone consumed as much energy as the average Singaporean and U.S.Resident, the world's oil reserves would be depleted in 9 years". How much truth in this statement! It is indisputable that more natural resources will be formed along the years pass by. Moreover, it is undeniable that the ultimately disproportion between the amount of energy resource consumption and the amount of new natural energy resources formed within a short period of time will speed up the process of farewell to natural sources.

Energy consumption has been increasing rapidly along the economic development. The rising use of fossil fuel and coals has led to deep pollution and the energy sources are not fully utilised. A survey has shown that renewable energy took up only 19% of the global final energy consumption in 2008. There are more to be done by the people so as to achieve a sustainable and green development. Hence, in-depth considerations of energy resource usage and measures to increase energy efficiency and pollution prevention have to be taken.

An interesting video that depicts the incredibility of mankind:

Mankind really has to be innovative in order to seek a way out of such difficult position. With so many concerns and worries circulating around, the only way to make us through these is innovation. We have many alternatives of renewable energies beside fossil fuel, natural gas and coal. We can have solar energy, wind energy and water energy. However, due to the early stage of such technological discoveries, the high cost of implementation results in people's reluctance of supporting green energy and turning back to using the relatively low cost resources.

We, human being, always know we have to take a greener approach and focus more on sustainability. Often, we forget that there is a cost to realise the strategies and this cost is worth us investing in. Eventually, it is not solely the government's responsibility of undergoing the dilemma of such investment but also the people playing in a part in being supportive and acting more environmental friendly by consuming less.

Session Rating: 9/10

Week7

This week, the class looked into the other aspects of Biotechonology - Agribiology, Environmental Life Sciences and Industrial Biotechnology.

Takeaways:

1. Genetic engineering realises the tremendous increase of crop supply and the advancement of nutritional quality.
2. The wonderful techniques have brought benefits to those who can afford.
3. Concerns on food security issues are raised and questioned.

The Promise of Agribiology

Genetic modification technique can speed up the process of harvesting and increase the supply of crops produced every year. It allows us to improve the nutritional quality of our food crop species. This seems to be a solution to world hunger in the Third World countries. Recombinant DNA techniques also enable the transgenic crops to have higher tolerance to some serious insect pets and ameliorate the soil degradation issues. The reduction of herbicide usage has greatly lower the costs of production while alleviating soil degradation problems raised by excessive chemical usage.

The Applications of Agribiology

Is agribology really the key to eradication of world hunger? For now, I guess the answer is NO! 

Those resource-poor farmers are unable to gain access to the product of biotechnology as most genetic modification research is done by private enterprise, which patents its inventions. It is understandable that intellectual property rights have to be issued to the contributors in consideration of their research effort and the high research and implementation costs incurred. However, public sectors should also step in, take into account of the reasonable duration of patent rights and legislate policies that not only protects the private sectors, but also benefits the people and the less fortunate ones. Only when intellectual property rights and regulations are more mature, then will the elimination of world hunger come into the picture.

Besides the genetic engineering and the governmental organisations playing a role in surviving those people from starvation, people from the developed countries such as America should be constantly reminded of their over-consumption of food. As the supply of food production increases, the demand for food increases excessively in the rich countries. Plus the patent rights and the affordability for genetic modified food, we should say that the supply of crops IN THE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES increases to meet the rising demand. People take the sufficient amount of food for granted. Food wastage is common seen. Eventually, the problem on world hunger is barely touched on.

Food Security of GM Food

The potential risks of consuming genetic modified food are still under question. How safe is the artificial food? Do its benefits outweigh the risks the society has to take? There are a lots of uncertainties to which agricultural scientists could not give a finite answer. 

I am not the expert here and I do not know much about the complexities of modified genes. However, from the consumer point of view, I believe there is no risk-free thing in the world. Without the presence of GM food, we may now worry about the chemicals used for agriculture and how those chemicals may potentially threaten our lives. There is also going to be something we will raised our doubts about. Either it is the non-organic food or the non-organic food or perhaps other stuffs we have yet to uncover. Researchers are here to provide more choices for us. What we should do is to choose what we think is best for us instead of criticising researchers' new findings. Therefore, I am also on the side of food labelling. 

Another thought in mind: GM food may be to showcase Darwin's theory of evolution - "Survival of the fittest". Our body may evolve and adapt to the changing of food varieties as time goes by.

Session Rating: 9/10

Week6

The focus for this week was on the revolution of healthcare and biomedical sciences and the issues imposed along the process. Prof Shahi started off with the definition of Biobusiness – about life and businesses.

On this planet, the life form we are aware of uses the same architecture code. It is amazing how same building blocks could move in different directions. The various desire and needs of living things and diversity comes from responding to them.

Main Takeaways:

• Biotechnology generates revenue at a proportion at a slow pace. Currently, biobusiness sectors such as Agriculture and Healthcare are still more valuable and take up a larger percentage of GDP either regionally or globally.
• The imbalance utilisation of healthcare services and facilities. 
• Although there is a major improvement in the healthcare sector, people's health condition has no progress due to the hectic working culture. As the occurrence of chronic diseases reduces, the problems of communicable and nutritional conditions arise. 
• Not everyone can have access to the advanced medical equipment and techniques. 5% of the world is consuming 50% of the availability of healthcare.
• BioInnovation is a driver of Biobusinesss value creation. The presence of patent rights help secure the originality of biotechnology, in the meantime, allows monopolization to happen. This results in the higher pricing of new medicines and equipment which only the rich can afford to enjoy the advantages from the state-of-the-art healthcare provisions.

My voice on patent rights:

• The acquisition of patent rights is a long process. It takes years before an application to be approved. Many may be disqualified along the process of applying. Apparently, this involves challenge against time. Unlike the large pharmaceutical companies, small enterprises could not afford such a long waiting duration without any active cash flow. Eventually, this will results in a monopolised stage.
• In fact, patent right creates a lopsided ownership and unequally distributed benefits.Large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly take patent right as an advantage. I recalled there was once a dispute between international pharmaceutical corporations and the Brazilian Indigenous people over the creation of medicine. After all, large companies extracted the Brazilian Indigenous people's contributions and knowledge to the world's medicine to manufacture drug products of their own and seek for patent approval. The companies are earning hulk amount of money while the indigence gain nothing. 

Session Rating: 9/10. Interesting and familiar topic. 

 

Week5

This week, we focused on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and world change. We contemplated on the past, present and future of ICT and the possible risks and dangers it could impose.

In class, we covered various areas of areas of ICT –mass media, internet, wireless technologies, cloud computing etc. To me, many of these are so near, yet so far. So near is because we are mainly revolved around mass media and internet. However, to many of us, we are far from the construction and build-up of ICT. We can deploy such technologies despite the abstraction and complications behind-the-scene. We can get in touch with people everywhere in seconds. We can convey and retrieve data in real time context. We can be instantly well-informed as long as we are in an open society. As artificial intelligence gets more advanced, ICT seems to simplify our world with a complex methodology eventually.

The introduction of ICT is the turning point of which people are more connected to the world’s happenings and the economy functions in an unrelenting pace. People’s working efficiency is up by many levels with the accessibility of various information and knowledge. The interaction between static information and dynamic brains is more responsive. We do not just stare at the data on paper or from books with no means to express our own opinions to many strangers.  In fact, people nowadays actively receive information from others, digest it and produce their approach of viewing things back to the others. 

 ICT never fails to provide information. But to think broader, how much truth is there in the information provided and how much simple is our life now?

 Indeed, we have gone through a period when people are indulged in the convenience that ICT has brought to us. There were moments of satisfactory before the abuse of such advancement. Nonetheless, issues and concerns are raised along the familiarity of ICT. Increased exposure of information can be a double-edged sword. Funny to say, we thought that our life was tough as many things had to be done manually and we were manipulated as information were highly censored and tailored with the politic power. Now, we think we are lucky but we are just living in a bigger pool of lies. When information is over flooded and others can contribute their personal or prejudiced opinions anytime anywhere, we ought to be a filter machine – distinguishing the truths from the lies. There can be many other concerns such as espionage and identity theft. The word “hacker” also is not something new due to the emergence of internet and wireless technologies. While internet provides entertainment and convenience to us, we have to be aware of security issues especially during activities when privacy is highly involved.

We once thought we would be more humane in the era of information technology. In fact, we are turning less human.

Session Rating: 9/10. No rush in presentation. More informative. 

Individual Review Paper Outline

Plastic Surgery – Redefinition of Beauty

Executive Summary

# In the 20^th century, plastic surgery has evolved remarkably as a specialty in US.

The report focuses on developed countries and developing countries. It talks about the change in standard of beauty along with the emerging market of plastic surgery.

Introduction

• The rationales of the choice of this topic
• Definition of plastic surgery & its brief history
• Definition of beauty (“Beauty is the truth.”)

Historical Perspective

1. People’s perception

• Could not do much to their appearance at that time (the variable was inner beauty)
• Higher acceptance of what they were born with.
• The standard of beauty changes over times. (Still it was not so much artificial then.)
• Enhanced themselves through lifestyles (reading books, connecting with people)

2. The function of plastic surgery

· A reconstructive surgery

· Merely fixing functional impairments and traumatic injuries etc.

Current Situation

Plastic surgery comes to a peak point when the focus shifts to cosmetic surgery. (e.g. nose job, liposuction, breast implant)
            1.On the bright side

· Bringing hopes to people with low self-esteem or to people hoping to look as perfect as the celebrities on TV

· Overall people are more beautiful (“enhancement” of appearance)

· Have an illusion that we look younger than we actually are by reducing the effect of aging (e.g. botox injection, lifting)


2. Pros

a. Society

· Lift up the expectation on people’s appearance (must be presentable?)

· Increased discrimination in applying jobs and during socializing (Judge a person by its book cover)

· Near-to perfectionism in appearance.

b. Individual who has gone through plastic surgery

· Intense plastic surgery obsession (higher risks, more money spent)

· More emphasis on appearance (less attention on building up better personalities and characteristics)

· Depend on an external source for self-esteem (over-reliance, lack of self-confident)

c. Individual who has not

· Undergoing going stress and tension (especially peer pressure)

· Possible to go with the flow reluctantly

Future Consideration

Concerns:

• Over flooded - The trend of overwhelming plastic surgery taking place.
• Who is the real you? -False illusions everywhere.
• Family Lies - Change in appearance does not mean change in genes.
• Ugliness of society – Looks outweighs inner beauty.

Solutions: (Culture Revolution!)

• Policies and regulations have to be made.
• Surgeon should be more responsible instead of money-driven.
• Individual should be well-informed of the consequences.

Conclusion

Week4

This week’s topic was on the drivers of changes and change management. When it comes to change, everyone is clear that change is constant and nothing will remind the same. Change can be a result of scientific discovery and technology innovation. It can also be due to the increasingly competitiveness among organizations, societies and countries. There is never a clear cut on which specific factor leads to a particular transformation. This is because there is no individual in the world context. Everyone and everything is part of the construction. One changes, the other follows/reacts. Every entity plays a part.

Change may be either evolutionary or revolutionary. Examples of evolutionary change are the increased bacterial resistance and natural selection. These changes are in the course of nature. Revolutionary change, on the other hand, changes the market place and the ways thing is done in a rapid motion by human’s self-interest. It can be disruptive but can sometimes turn out to be in a good cause. We could not stop evolutionary changes. Instead, we can rethink the current strategy to tackle revolutionary changes.

Session Rating: 8/10

During the reading discussion, the issue on food security was brought up. It set me thinking about the debate of genetic modified food. With the boost of genetic engineering in recent years, there are controversies from different stakeholders with regard to the transgenic plant products. The inception of GM food is to eradicate world hunger. However, the creation of GM food is embedded with the risks of health such as gene transfer and human exposure to pesticides. In the meantime, to meet the demand for food in the developing countries, the use of GM crops is increased. Policies are made and mandatory of labeling is legislated in certain places such that consumers are notified of the choice of their food. The emerging changes could not be stopped and so is the revised strategy to be carried out.

“Who moves my cheese?” is a very interesting story illustrating how different people react to changes differently and their preparation for change is. When watching the video, we were rational enough to determine who makes the brightest choice in the face of changes. The essence of being adaptable to change has rooted deeply into us. Often, it is easy to be a critic. In today’s society with much better education, we are already nurtured to have the realization of responding to change. However if we are going to talk the talk, we have got to walk the walk. The crucial part is who can create the framework/paradigm and who can realize the framework and ensure that it is achieved. This is why leader and manager are seemed to be playing a critical part nowadays in the arena of commerce or politics.

Generally there are three attitudes towards change – creating change, ostrich approach and no sense of what is going around. There is no definite right or wrong with these three attitudes. “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory”- an interesting quote from W. Edwards Deming. Yes! Not everyone wants to change. There are people who are just willing to be falling stars as they are not interested in the competiveness around them. Therefore, they choose to ignore the transformation happening. Instead of criticizing how wrong/right individual/organization is towards change, we should scrutinize and figure out those who are grumbling about the unfairness of life and how things do not go according to their way. Because those are the ones who need to learn that we should adaptable to changes around us.

Week3

This week, the first session’s focus was on the sustainability in the face of technology and industrial development. To go deeper into this topic, we firstly watched a youtube video called “The Story of Stuff”. This video talks about the possible extreme destruction of the world’s nature resources in the result of America’s over-consumption and the behaviors of the government and the private enterprises. Though I regard myself as eco-conscious and not that I am against the avocation of protecting our Earth, I find that, at a certain level, the reasoning in this video is fallacious and extreme. Example mentioned is the “planned obsolescence” – designed for the dump. Is this really how the society is operating now? We make stuffs to be useless as soon as possible? We chuck them and buy new ones? I disagree. Despite the replacement of computers is rapid, how could we say the creation of computer is USELESS when it brings better efficiency and productivity?

One fact we could not deny is that we manufacture more than our share. The manufacturing process indeed exemplifies how selfish Mankind is. Love Canal, Great Pacific Garbage Patch and excessive use of fossil fuel are the results of the absence of the consideration of consequences before any action taken. Everyone is just looking after their own interests. Fulfilling their level of satisfactory is what concerns them most.

However, I do not think that the selfishness of everyone is the main cause of the negative environmental impacts. When human is not going for their own benefits but others’, the world becomes even more complex. Economics hardly comes in place and maximization of utilities becomes unrealistic. It is near to impossible that equilibrium can be reached in the premise of taking every single entity into account. Hence, a certain extent of self-interest is essential to keep the world relatively simple. Being ego-centered is not wrong, but we ought to have win-win mindset too. This could benefit every individual greatly.

Additionally, EVERYONE IS SHORT-SIGHTED. THEY ARE TOO EAGER TO OWN WHAT IS PRESENT AND ALWAYS FORGET THE WORD – SUSTAINABILITY! We should think of the environmental well-being in parallel to the economic well-being. Have a cyclical methodology of creating value to society. Besides the legislations to protect the irrational use of resources and to set constraints to the exploitation of the environment, review of manufacturing process and environmental awareness is also vital.

The second session went into the discussion on technology and innovation management. Due to the limitations of time and resources, not every innovation can be realized. Sometimes, the long reaction time makes innovation hard to be recognized. Therefore, one measure we can take is to increase the efficiency of translation and maximize the utilities of the innovation.

We need to manage our existing technology to ensure its greatest potential is unleashed. A funny phenomenon is people who have access to certain technology may not need it and vice versa. Developed countries spend hulk amount of capitals on R&Ds such as medicines for HIV/AIDS and to increase immune tolerance. Despite so, diseases are still easily spread around in less developed countries. This question is the transfer of technology so as not to reinvent to build. The ideal stage is when less developed countries could benefit from receiving advantages.

Another point that brought to my attention during this session is The Shahi Landscape Model for Technology Assessment: Conceptual Framework. In this model, opportunity is classified into 3 types – valley, summit, cloud. The suggestion from the powerpoint slides from session 3 is to “focus on summit opportunities – putting people, technologies and resources together to capture the value proposition”. I partially agree with this approach. The type of opportunity to grasp depends on which perceptive we are looking at. Summit opportunity indeed benefits entrepreneurs with deep pocket and it continues to maintain the premiere that people are going to pay. For valley opportunities, the existence of the product sometimes creates the market. It is a market-driven opportunity for starters with short-term projects and immediate returns. If we incorporate the consideration of environmental well-being and the development of sustainability, cloud opportunities should not be missed as people are required to foresee things in the long run, to predict the development of future and to develop a viable model.

After all, we should create values without limiting options for future generations.

Session Rating: 8.5/10

Week2

This week, the class discussed on the dominance of technology in global and social perspectives during the first half of the lesson. “Nobody is ever superior forever,” said Prof Shahi as he began the lecture. There are ways of being dominant – exercising direct control and authority over others, being either positive or negative influencers. However, one being the dominant player is not an eternity especially when one fails to selectively forget the past and create the future while managing the present. Sometimes, it is merely that people lose interests in the status quo and hope to seek for something fresh and more attracting.

Through some readings and contemplative work, I have concluded a few factors that contribute to the rising stars and the falling stars:

• Attitude

Besides having an open perspective, the eagerness to learn and invest in unfamiliar fields and the optimism, it is the corporation which seeks for hidden opportunities during difficult times that counts for a rising star. Instead of looking at the dark sides, companies see the slightest possibility of bringing themselves to a whole new level in the face of recessions, unexpected crisis and a change in their target audience’s interests. Companies that stand out do not easily get beaten down since they are mentally prepared to accept what is given to them and break free from elements that may drive them away from success.

• Action

Knowing the behavioral traits and operational attitudes does not guarantee the future prospect of the organization if no action is taken. Nowadays, having a positive attitude is universally known as the key to the company’s growth. Nevertheless, what it should deploy is a more relevant question to the corporation’s survival. Hence, company should spend more effort on analyzing the current trend and predicting the future. Draw out a realistic plan, implement it and tailor the initial project along the time of changes.

• Assets

Monetary asset determines how much the organization can invest into its future development and the ability to handle unprecedented risks. Other assets such as labor, human capital and technological knowledge are also vital to the companies. Certain times, corporations with valuable assets and fully utilized resources could reach the monopoly stage in their respective fields. Examples are Microsoft OS like DOS and Windows. Despite the threats imposed by the increasing popularity of Apple products, Microsoft still manages to find its position in the IT industry.

From my own perception, the listed factors are inter-linked. None of the elements should be missed out while climbing up the dominant ladder.

The second part of the class carried out a discussion on the impacts to human development through technology. It is prevalently seen that technology brings advantages to our lives. Despite so, the disadvantages along should not be neglected.

A point to note is that technology brings merits to a particular group of people from mainly the developed countries and the developing countries. It maximizes the potentials of people by providing us more options. Social networking platform is also available for us to interact with people from around the world where internet is supported. However, the wonderful miracle technology has brought to our lives has its down side. There are still people who live on less than US$1 a day and those who died of starvation. Additionally, due to the global culture, several dominant cultures are drowning the cultures of the minorities. With that, I have to say that the focus of current technology is widening the disparity of the poor and the rich. Technology indeed does good to the rich while taking advantages of the poor.

Eventually, what is the inception of the revolutionary technology? To improve the lives of ALL mankind or just of the rich who can afford the cost of current technology?

Through this, we will come to realize that a long-term perspective is essential in the face of innovation. We ought to make sure that the option given people today does not limit the options for people who come after that. Technology should be a tool that meets the needs of present and future under the consideration of the whole world as one.

Session Rating: 9/10

Week1: Introduction

Technology. World. Change. Literally, these three words can be easily understood. But how much more do we see behind these words? This course TWC makes me start to ponder a lot. Why do countries that were once on the cutting edge of trends are not the dominating ones? Despite the world making unrelenting progress along with the innovations and technologies these years, why not every region catches up with the fast pace?

This week, the class started off with the "ice-breaker". A self-introduction of myself made me realise how little I knew about the internally mutual relation between technology and the world which leads to what we have achieved so far. I guess this is one of the reasons that I am attending TWC, besides it being compulsory, to study how we come about throught the technological changes and how we should response effectively in a dynamic world.

Two videos were shown in class, namely "Do you know?" and the beginning of "Guns, Germs and Steel". I was impressed by the former which illustrates that shift happens by showcasing facts that we usually hardly notice such as supercomputer can take over human brain's capabilites in the future. The later brought up the issue on the imbalance development of countries and regions around the world. The lesson went on with an intensive discussion on the evolution of the world and the start-up and impacts of civilization based on three articles the "Timeline Of Time", the "Argiculture and the Origins of Civilization" and the "Cutting Edge Science in the Middle East". The last two articles clearly depict that innovations and technological changes are vital and evitable so as to do good to the societies. Nonetheless, the last article brought me to think that the constant emphasis on technology some times leads us neglecting the sustainability of the development. A typical example mentioned is the Aswan Dam built in the Nile. The dams did control the water flow, but in the meantime, resulted in the accumulation of rich silt which caused the downstream farmers compelled to use hulk amounts of artificial fertilizers, which eventually pollute the river, to substitutue the scarcity of rich silt as fertilizers.

Key Takeaways:

1. Some countries, such as China and India, have been blessed with rich natural resources and pre-matured skills. Despite so, they are not in the dominant position like America nowadays. A few crucial factors are civilization and the urge of innovations. Their late realization of industrial revolutions and urbanization put them behind their competitors. While they retreated toward the reliance of their labour supplies, America has worked its way toward technological changes.
2. The ability to access new technology parallels the disparity of lifestyles around the world. This can be seen through people from developed countries who are earning a living through technology while others are still amused with perhaps outdated technology. However, technological change could be a double-edged sword. Hence, as the latest technology is emerging, we should not neglect the sustainability and feasibility of such development.

Session Rating: 8/10