Technology and World Change Lesson 9

"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.

This week, we looked at emerging and future technologies which included that of robots and artificial intelligence, autonomous transportation, surveillance technologies, genetic engineering and nanotechnologies. We also understood what were the drivers of these technologies and how we could tap on these technologies to bring about change in our practices as well as understand how these technologies would be disruptive to our current practices which would enable us to use these technologies for our businesses.

Interesting Observations/Ideas
Another idea that I found interesting in the lesson was that of plastic electronics. These are plastic items which can electronic functions embedded into them.

An example of this would be the packaging of medicine which could have an electronic display to show when you have to take the medicine, how many times you have to take it and whether you have taken it at the stipulated times, if not it could post a reminder for you to take it.

Moving forward, the technology could be used for food packaging where the packaging could show the price electronically which could in turn be changed by a remote control and this would save menu costs.

Further into the future, this could be embedded into clothes which could calibrate your temperature and contact lenses which could reflect information such as the position of certain buildings away from one's current location, functioning as a virtual map and merging augmented reality technology into the lenses, something which Google glasses aims to achieve.

This is likely to be highly beneficial as this would significantly lower the costs of all the printing that we do currently when we try to change things like menus and it would be rather environmentally friendly as well as reduce the amount of paper wastage. Also with its introduction into more sectors, I feel that this is a technology that will change the ways things operate to allow it to operate in a more efficient and convenient manner.

A point raised against this in class which was rather relevant in my opinion was about how the world is trying to reduce the amount of plastic used, whereas a development in this manner would significantly increase the amount of plastic usage. Hence, like Prof pointed out, it would be important that this plastic would be produced of renewable resources and that the plastic would be biodegradable. As this a new product it would be a good opportunity to make sure that when this product is produced it is renewable. As this product would be of high demand, people would be willing to pay the higher costs to have it renewable which would contribute to the shift towards renewable resources.

Another interesting idea that was raised in class was that of augmented reality. The augmented reality as described in the video was that of one which you could use a phone or in the future the Google glasses to look at the world around you and there would be words above buildings that label them as well as a virtual reality map on how to get to the place you wanted.

However, we soon realised that there could be more serious implications of such a technology instead of being just merely a tool to help people access information when they needed it. Moving forward, the technology could be used to label people around you, even strangers that you meet for the first time, yes I am talking about that cute guy that meet at a party and this would allow you to know everything that you wanted to know about him even before you start speaking to him. This could have serious impacts on maintaining privacy and knowledge of the person's characteristics even before the person has the chance to meet him properly could affect one's treatment of the other and lead to discrimination, causing a breakdown in social relations.

That said, it could be used by countries to counter terrorism as the criminals would be able to be identified on sight.

Thirdly, Prof told us about artificial intelligence and how it is being used to power robots and may even one day take over human intelligence. I think this is entirely possible as the one of the earliest artificial intelligence computers, that of the Deep Blue computer which was originally created to play chess with a human opponent and predict its moves was later developed to the extent where it can now predict a significant number of moves ahead. As such it is only a matter of time before artificial intelligence will take over human intelligence. The question is when and how we are able to manage the artificial intelligence. We as humans have to manage artificial intelligence such that there will still be safeguards to protect humans when artificial intelligence starts to surpass human intelligence so that we will still be able to prevent it from getting out of control and dictating our actions instead.

Key Takeaways
One of my key takeaways was that of the 4 smarts that one has to have in order to have a successful business.

The 4 smarts include

• Smart People
• Smart Ideas
• Smart Money
• Smart alliances and partnerships

Firstly, one has to be educated in the arena that they want to explore to put themselves in the position to make an informed decision. Then, they would have to have smart ideas. This could be ideas that are likely to gain mass market appeal or ideas that no one has every heard of before. Next, one has to have smart money where they invest wisely in opportunities that nobody has seen potential in yet. Lastly, one has to make smart alliances and partnerships where they are able to spot the people who are able to advance their cause and finding ways to tap on their expertise to improve their position.

Another key takeaway I had from the lesson was how supply can create demand. It is often said that one has to do market research to find out what it is that the market wants and then create a product that fulfils that demand to capture the market. However, it may be wiser still to find out what people need but do not yet know that they want it and produce it hence using its presence to create a demand for it in the market. An example of this was the iPhone as well as the Sony Walkman which was later improved upon and developed into the iPod.

Before the Sony Walkman came about, no one had the concept about being able to carry around the music that they wanted to listen to around with them. At most, they toted a portable radio which in all practicality is not a very light item to bring around. Similarly, the iPhone introduced a new phone entirely as no one before the iPhone could imagine a phone with a single button or perhaps two technically and a volume control button with everything else operated on a touchscreen interface.

Here we can see that indeed these companies managed to think of what it was that people would want before they knew they wanted it and provided a supply for it, creating a niche market for themselves that would take a long time for their competitors to catch up with as their competitors were still doing market research and trying to find out what was the demand that they people were expressing at that point of time based on the products they knew to be in the market.

That said, I think that it is important to note that it may not be as easy as we think to find a want that the market has not realised for itself. Sometimes in trying to be ahead of the crowd, it may be likely that we fall behind and instead create a product that no one has a need for or that the market is not ready for yet and this may have adverse consequences. It is best to do market research to find out what the market wants as well as the problems that are faced with the current products to exists in the market to see how to change it or improve on it. Also, one should rely on producing some conventional products to ensure that they do have a certain level of market share to keep them afloat and fund their research whilst trying out one or two other products which are less conventional to get the edge in the market.

Issues for discussion
One issue that I thought could have been raised for discussion would be that of how we would be able to discern the future implications of any technologies that we want to implement. As the technology has not been designed yet, there is a need to see if there are any adverse implications such that they could be controlled or if the adverse implications outweigh the benefit of the item then the technology could be scrapped altogether before it is allowed on the market.

Another issue that could have been raised for discussion would be that of how we could manage the future implications that these technologies would bring about and whether moral and ethical concerns should be sacrificed in light of the improving technology.


Responses to the presentations
One of the questions that was raised in the presentations was whether jet packs would be a reality in the future and if the need to have it was justified.

Here I felt that jet packs were a rather unnecessary expense. If the public transport system was already sufficiently efficient there would be no need to hover over everyone else. Moreover in the jet pack that the presentation introduced to us, the jet pack had a pipe that had to be constantly pumping water from a water body to power it. This would make travel rather difficult except over sea where possibly a boat would be faster. However, I do think that hovercrafts are likely to be useful in the future because they are airborne and do not require any connection to the land.

Personal ratings for the session
I was quite intrigued by this lesson because it talked about some very interesting technology and the direction in which our world is heading. I have always liked to think of ways in which our world could advance technologically and this lesson showed a glimpse of the inventions that have been created or are in the making.

Indeed as Prof says, "We are living in exciting times!"

I would rate this session an 9/10.

Next week, we will be looking at how we can come up with a framework to predict what kind of technologies will come out in the future.

Cheers,
Amanda Tan

Technology and World Change Lesson 8

Professor Shahi started off class with this shocking statistic which was 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!"

This was a particularly sobering statistic because being a small country like Singapore, one could hardly imagine that we could contribute to world usage of energy to such a large extent. Also, it was a poignant reminder that even though we think that we may not have a large impact due to our size, our actions and habits could be so harmful to the extent that it could have a severe and wide-ranging effect on the world, something that we would then quickly escalate out of control. This is a poignant reminder that even as we go about our daily lives we should be aware of the harm that we are causing and try our best to alleviate it or limit it.


Interesting Observations/Ideas

Firstly, I must put it out here that the sun actually provides more energy to the Earth in one hour than humankind currently uses in an entire year! This is important in showing that solar energy is definitely the way forward for renewable energies and we should focus on thinking of new and sustainable ways of obtaining solar energy.

The second interesting idea that was raised this session in my opinion was an extension of the application of the first idea, that photovoltaics is the type of renewable energy that can produce the highest amount of electricity as compared to other forms of renewable energies. This may affect whether we choose to use this method of obtaining renewable energies moving forward and if we should prioritise land use for this method of obtaining renewable energies compare to that of other methods.







Key Takeaways
A key takeaway I had from this session was that of the different policy tools that can be used for facilitating change to a green economy. These included that of education campaigns, subsidies, investments, tax credits, taxation, voluntary industry agreements and compulsory standards.

Another key takeaway I had was that solar panels is not the only possible way of obtaining solar energy  was through solar panels. There is also a possibility of obtaining it through algae that photosynthesizes using the solar energy and converts it to electricity.

The third key takeaway I had was that there is currently being developed a method of obtaining energy for the poor such as that of biomass stoves and solar refrigerators. These are good because they help to alleviate inequality and provide the poor with energy especially in this critical time of the rising energy costs. If these methods of obtaining energy are useful, energy saving and sustainable, it may be the new way forward for renewable energies.

Issues for discussion
One issue that I thought could be raised for discussion would be how we as the population and a collective whole could come together and using the forces of consumer demand pressurise the corporations and governments into agreeing to move towards more renewable energy as the energy that we used is largely provided by one utilities board and by cutting down on energy usage, it would not directly lead to the government changing the current sources of energy to that of renewable energy.

Another issue that I felt could be raised for discussion would be how we could manage our spaces to make more room for renewable energies that may take up more space. For example, if we were to have wind turbines or solar panels or even biofuel, this will all be competing land uses especially for agriculture and I would like to know how we as a country would like to apportion our space and prioritise the competing land uses to achieve the best possible composition of land use. Already in Singapore, it has been suggested to use the top of the HDB flats to grow algae which can be used to produce energy during their photosynthesis where they absorb solar energy.

Responses to the presentations

One of the rather thought-provoking questions that my classmate asked in the presentation was whether we would want to increase Singapore's waste-to-energy ratio. I think that this is a very viable solution as a small country we would need find ways of processing our waste as we would have limited land space to contain the waste and converting it to energy seems a win-win solution.

Personal ratings for the session
Previously, I only knew the most basic of renewable energies such as that of solar power, wind energy and biofuel but I found out through this lesson that there were so many other types of renewable energy in different states of development which could substantially rival the capacities of the preliminary ideas of renewable energy that I knew about. This certainly piqued my interest and the idea that there could be so many more possibilities to renewable energy made me interested to delve into the topic further! The idea that solar power could substantially change the provision of energy really made me curious to see how this will develop and will be watching the future of such energies closely.

I would give this lesson a rating of 8/10.

Next week, we will be looking at various types of future technology. I am writing on the topic of underwater cities for my Individual Topical Review Paper and I am finding the insights and knowledge that I gain from my research to be nothing short of mindblowing and I constantly tend to say "Wow!" when I find a new idea or prototype of underwater city that has be proposed or is being suggested. As such, I am very excited to see the types of new technologies that will be introduced next week and plan on being amazed by the interesting future technologies that will be touched on in the next lesson.

Cheers,
Amanda Tan

Individual Topical Review Draft Paper

Topic: Underwater Cities

Amanda Kimberly Tan Hui Ting (amanda.tan.2013@law.smu.edu.sg), 1^st Year student, Bachelor of Laws, Singapore Management University

Executive Summary

This paper seeks to understand the need for construction of underwater cities, the feasibility of such construction and the viability of adoption of this alternative underwater living method in the future with the aim of looking at this as an solution to worsening global warming levels. To explore these three issues, this paper will look at the purposes of underwater cities, the historical development of these cities and how they have come to the level that they are today. It will also argue the case for Singapore to have underwater living as an alternative to living above ground to deal with the future problem of global warming which is particularly dangerous for Singapore as we are an island. Lastly, it will examine the future considerations that we have to take into account if we eventually stay in underwater cities and how to target any problems that underwater cities may pose.

Introduction

Global warming has been worsening which is posing a grave threat to low lying cities such as Holland and the Maldives. Seeing this, it may be necessary to consider other forms of habitats either as a emergency alternative living space or as a long term habitat should global warming continue to worsen.

This paper would like to propose the solution of an underwater habitat, a structure which is built beneath the sea with the full facilities to accommodate human life, as one of the key alternative habitats that should be considered in light of worsening global warming.

Underwater habitats are not solely used as a solution for alternative living in light of global warming. It is can also be used for scientific research such as Jules Undersea Lodge and as a hotel as part of a tourist attraction for those who would like to experience undersea living such as the Poseidon.

Historical perspectives

The research for these alternative habitat is believed to have begun with Project Genesis led by Dr. George F. Bond in 1957 who began research on proving that humans could overcome the difficulties of deep diving and have a lengthy time at depth by saturation diving. (Bedolfe, 2012)

Through this research, one of the first underwater human habitats, known as the Conshelf I (Continental Shelf Station One) was built by a team headed by Jacques Cousteau and was placed 10 (30ft) below the surface near Marseilles, France and had two inhabitants for a period of seven days. (Bedolfe, 2012)

Subsequently, Conshelf II, built in 1963 continued to use the concept of saturation diving. It was structured with main compartment at the same depth as Conshelf I with six inhabitants for a period of one month. It had a further addition of a deep cabin, where two men spent a week at 30m (100ft) deep, allowing their bodies to become fully saturated with a helium breathing mixture. They also had a hangar for a submersible known as the Diving Saucer making it the first time a submersible could be operated from an underwater base. (Bedolfe, 2012)

Since then, more than 65 undersea marine labs have been built around the world. The more notable of such labs include Helgoland built in 1968 which was the first lab built for colder climates La Chalupa research laboratory which was subsequently converted in 1986 to Jules Undersea Lodge now an underwater hotel in the Florida Keys. The only undersea lab still in operation now however is Aquarius which located in a “research only” are of the Florida Keyes National Marine Sanctuary, which houses scientists who study there in two-week intervals from April through November as long as the hurricane season allows. (Bedolfe, 2012)

Current situation

Currently, there are prototypes for underwater living but making larger habitats with multiple components made of steel, glass and special cement used underwater would be easier than trying to create one giant bubble. These smaller structures could be added or removed to create living space for people as necessary. (Nuwer, 2013)

Future Considerations

Moving forward, we have to look at the advantages and disadvantages of such underwater cities when evaluating its usefulness.

Firstly, we can consider the advantages to creating such underwater cities.

In Singapore particularly, it removes the need to reclaim land, forming an alternative form of sustainable living in a country that faces space constraints.

It can also form a new form of tourism such as the underwater hotels Poseidon and Jules Undersea Lodge. This could come with the introduction of more extreme deep sea sports carving out a new market of recreational activities for the more adventurous.

Thirdly, it could help to alleviate over-population problems.

There could also be a significant increase in the amount of undersea research.  According to Tom Potts, director of the Aquarius Reef Base, divers from the surface have about an hour-and-a-half per day to do all their work. However, if they were able to inhabit the bottom of the ocean for 30 to 60 days, it is likely that their productivity could increase exponentially. (Nuwer, 2013)

However, there are also several disadvantages.

These include the   lack of sunlight which is necessary for humans to absorb the necessary minerals such as vitamin C and beta-carotene.

There is also a higher cost associated with living underwater as the underwater structures are still very expensive to build. This may later become the preserve of the rich and the poor would have no choice but to live above ground and suffer from the increasing levels of pollution

There may also be an inability of certain types of people to stay in such accommodation such as the disabled and the elderly until better and more convenient methods of deep sea transportation are constructed

Criminals may also capitalize on vulnerabilities such as there being only one source of food, water or air, they could attack that in acts of terrorism.

There is also a possible inconsistency of pressurization. If the pressure of the underwater city is not maintained at a constant level, 1 atm, the level of Earth’s atmospheric pressure, people may suffer from deep sea sickness. Also if it is not constant with the water pressure of the water body, then the whole structure could be crushed by the external pressure of the sea.

There is also the risk of natural disasters such as that of floods and tsunamis. For example, in 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami destroyed many houses near the shore. If a tsunami of similar magnitude occurs, the underwater homes would be beached and crushed with the force of the wave washing it upon the shore.

Evaluation of the feasibility of these cities especially in the Singapore context

The feasibility of the construction of these cities is highly likely in the Singapore context because our government has direct control over the agencies that control the use of the sea hence would be smooth implementation of any of the goals that they want to carry out which allows them to carry out their administration efficiently.

Moreover, Singapore is a research and development hub and is quite likely to have the technological know-how to be able to develop underwater living to the extent that it is fully sustainable. Already, the Hilton Maldives Undersea Restaurant on Rangali Island was built entirely offsite in Singapore.

However, there are also challenges to the feasibility of setting up an underwater habitat.

Firstly, there is a limit to how deep undersea these underwater structures can be built as building deeper than 1,000 ft (300m) would cause the structure to experience very high pressure at such depths and hence would need to be enhanced with very thick walls. (Nuwer, 2013)

At such a depth, there may also be excessive periods for those that may want to return to the surface. (Nuwer, 2013) Although there is currently ample underwater space as this space is still untapped, having a limit to the depth that can be built for the underwater space would result in the space constraints that countries experience on land to be translated to the underwater space. Moreover, as every country would want to capitalize on this underwater habitat to build an alternative living space in times of disaster, this will exacerbate the problem and we may be merely moving the overpopulation problem from above land to below land.

There are also territorial considerations which may be raised as each country is allowed a differing amount of territorial jurisdiction over the sea in relation to their land.

Thirdly, there may be difficulty in the provision and distribution of essential services for the people. One such service is provision of food and water. Cooking underwater is possible but is often avoided because of its smell and that the fumes seem stronger in static air. (Nuwer, 2013)

Currently it has been proposed to transport freshwater from the surface or create it through condensation or desalination. (Nuwer, 2013) This however, may not prove to be a very sustainable water source and may run out especially in situations of nature disaster where freshwater from the surface is not readily available.

There are also the difficulties in obtaining a sustainable energy source to provide electricity to power the city and with the removal of human waste. Human waste could however, be treated and released into the environment or cooked down to a fine ash, the feasibility of which would be dependent on the size of the colony. (Nuwer, 2013)

There could also be a severe environmental and ecological impact especially on the marine life because by introducing a foreign component to the ecosystem, it may disturb the balance of the ecosystem and conversely increase the likelihood of natural disasters of the sea and the ocean.

As the infrastructure is still largely undeveloped, there will be a high cost of construction as the start up cost of the research to refine the specifications of the construction to produce a safe reliable underwater habitat would be very high. This may be blocked by the lack of government and government agencies coordination over the usage of the underwater space as some governments may not see the relevance of the underwater habitat as they would be under pressure to accord more government funds to the more pressing concerns such as social welfare for the lowest income bracket.

Future Habitats

The body needs different amounts of the various air components when at pressure causing the air composition that is necessary to support any given underwater habitat to be determined according to the depth of the habitat. (Nuwer, 2013)

Hence, below a certain depth, more measures may be necessary to maintain a certain ratio of oxygen to other gases in the air such as that of nitrogen at 500 ft (150m) and helium at less than 1000 ft (300m). (Nuwer, 2013)

Provision of oxygen may be through the growth of plants using natural or artificial light used to generate oxygen. (Nuwer, 2013)

Residents may also explore the places by using hookah lines which are hollow tubes up to 400 ft long which is connected to their face masks or helmets and their living quarters. This allows both breathing and communication or scuba tanks can also be used. (Nuwer, 2013)

Future habitats could use satellites to communicate this important information. (Nuwer, 2013)

Assessment of what can be done to improve the infrastructure such that underwater cities can be more viable

According to Ian Koblick, further technological advances may be needed to expand the current infrastructure to be able to support a larger population as this will be required to expand the emergency evacuation systems and environmental controls of air supply and humidity. (Nuwer, 2013)

Conclusion

In conclusion, underwater cities are likely to be viable but we would need to do more research into the necessary improvement of infrastructure before it can be implemented on a large scale.

Bibliography

Nuwer, R. (2013, 09 30). BBC. Retrieved 10 2013, from bbc.com: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130930-can-we-build-underwater-cities

Bedolfe, S. (2012, 7 12). One World One Ocean. Retrieved 10 19, 2013, from One World One Ocean: www.oneworldoneocean.com/blog/undersea-labs-50-years-of-living-underwater#.UmHX8RBI6V