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