And so this module has come full circle and at the very last post for this very special module, I feel it would be only appropriate to consider Yali's Question, the first question posed in the first module that I had on my first day of my first year in SMU.
That is "Why is that you white people have so much cargo while we have so little?"
That question is essentially asking us why there is so much inequality in the world, a question that we have encountered countless times throughout this module and hence, I see fit that I should analyse the week's sessions which I thought were more pertinent in relation to this question.
Introduction to Technology and World Change
The first lesson when Professor Shahi first introduced the idea of technology to us, it was a startling concept. That the idea of technology was NOT about all the gadgetry that we had come to know but instead was about knowledge and how we apply it was something quite fascinating to me and that has underpinned the idea of technology that has been articulated throughout the lesson. Perhaps it is how the different countries have been applying the knowledge that they have that has led to the inequality throughout the world and the lack of expertise that they have due to them initially sticking to traditional methods and not opening their doors to others. This will change quite easily though because as Prof has often mentioned, people are best at copying and it is clear that it is a matter of time before people will be able to apply the knowledge that they have in ways similar to others once they see how others have applied their knowledge, something that is no doubt being greatly facilitated by globalisation.
Technology, Society and Global Dominance (Economic, Military, Cultural)
Global Dominance examined the different parts of a country that inequality could result due to that countries various social, political and economic factors. This is subject to the various countries and it is due to the countries particular practices that causes them to fall behind, such as having a falling star mindset. To alleviate inequality, it is about every country having the rising star mindset and this will inform their decisions such that they can choose to make decisions that are beneficial for their country's expansion instead of sticking to the old ways that hold them back.
Technology and Human Development
This part of the lesson focused on the Human Development Index and the United Nations Millenium Development Goals and how we can enable each person to live to his or hers fullest potential. I feel that this is about the measurement of the amount of inequality that currently exists in the world today. It also sets the standards that we should achieve to try and alleviate the issue of inequality and this will in turn give the countries an idea of the standards they have to meet and the steps they have to take to reduce inequality in their country and in relation to other countries.
Drivers of World Change
There are definitely many drivers of world change, from the political arena to social mindsets, to large corporations and environmental concerns. But the most important driver of world change ultimately is each and every person on Earth. There may be factors that cause us to change our minds about our choices but it is us who makes the change in choices. We must understand that if we ever want to alleviate inequality, it has to start from us. We cannot be sitting around waiting for the government or the corporations to do something about us. It is our voices that they respond to and we have to make a collective effort even in small ways to be the change we want to see in the world.
Change Management and Change Leadership
One of the most pertinent things I remember about this is that leadership is about trail-blazing and defining a new direction for people to follow while management is about working within this new direction to ensure that the leader's vision is carried out. I feel to alleviate inequality, it is necessary to have a leader that will come up with new ideas to bring the country forward, but at the same time it is important to have a group of people that is managing the development and ensuring that it is moving slowly and one should assess their own abilities to see which category they fall in and try to fulfil their role, this is especially for the government or any form of leadership.
ICT and World Change
ICT is one of the technologies that is most able to cause change and reduce inequality in the world in my opinion. In the Arab Spring revolution in 2011, it was social media that allowed the people to voice their common dissent with the then ruling government which emboldened them to work collectively to create change and reduce their perceived inequality. Also now firms can advertise on social media websites reducing much of the initially significant cost of advertising and giving even small and medium enterprises a way to market their products to a large audience. It is by capitalising on ICT that we will be able to spread messages of change and galvanise people into action to bring about change. Also it will be a platform which will showcase levels of development, around the world, between companies at the click of a button and this increased awareness is what will result in people learning from others and capitalise on their skills to improve themselves.
Biobusiness Revolution: Healthcare and the Biomedical Sciences
Healthcare and the Biomedical Sciences is another avenue of technology that can level the playing field. Making healthcare accessible to people around the world is one of the main factors that can help alleviate inequality because people will not be plagued by easily curable or preventable illnesses that we have now developed vaccines for. Telemedicine for example can also be used by doctors to see patients in inaccessible areas that may be far from the main town and they would be able to diagnose the patient and provide them with the necessary medicine rather than having them travel all the way to the town and aggravate their condition in the process. As such one of the main aims of healthcare technology is not only to increase the accuracy of the diagnosis, procedures and ensure that each patient has the best healthcare service, it is also about making it accessible to as many people as possible so that each person can benefit from it and live their life to the fullest.
Biobusiness Revolution 2: Agriculture and the Environment: Past, Present, Future
One of the closest topics to my heart and one of the main divisive factors between the rich and the poor is the amount of food that they have. Just like healthcare, it is not enough to come up with ideas such as the genetically modified food that can increase yields. It is equally important to ensure that this food is available for all and is accessible to the poorest people who need it the most. This is why I think that under this section, what I find is extremely important in facilitating ability to obtain the money to purchase food is that of microfinance. With microfinance, people without collateral would still be able to purchase the high yielding variety seeds to increase the yield and health of their produce and this will make their produce more marketable, helping them to break out of the cycle of poverty and start to be self-sustainable without the need or having a minimal need for extra funds. Of course this needs to be well managed. However, if it is implemented well, these people will be able to generate their own income and hence reducing inequality and closing the rich-poor divide that is seen in the world today.
Energy and World Change
The way forward for energy is definitely sustainable energy. Countries that embrace this idea and work on ways in which they can move their energy production towards renewable energy resources will definitely benefit as they will be the ones that will have developed their technologies to extract sustainable energy to the extent where it can be patented and sold to other countries, gaining them an advantage while the rest of the countries deal with the sky-rocketing prices of the currently available sources of energy such as that of oil. This advantage is clearly what will lead to the inequality stated by Yali or could bridge the gap for the poorer countries who take initiative to move ahead.
Emerging and Future Technologies
This was by far my favourite part of the whole technology and world change module. It really showcased the variety of technologies that could be possible in the future from underwater cities to flying cars and jetpacks, and opened my mind to a myriad of possibilities. What I can see is that these will be the new technologies that will bring the advantages to the people who are able to see the potential in these technologies and tap on their uses quickly and this will once again define the comparative advantage that these people will have over others which will once again lead to or accentuate inequality.
Technology Assessment and Forecasting; Developing a Framework for what comes next
This aspect of technology is a part of technology that is highly arbitary and inaccurate because there is no way of affirming whether the prediction is correct or how much the actual outcome will deviate from what is predicted due to numerous factors working together to produce the desired outcome. Hence, it will require countries to refine their forecasting processes such that they will be sure which of the technologies will be most relevant to them in the future which will enable them to keep up with the other countries. This will be the factor that could lead to inequality in the future.
Overall Course Ratings
I would rate this TWC module a 9.5/10. Professor Shahi has definitely provided a different perspective to me on various world issues which enlightened me and the course as a whole gave me a chance to explore areas that I would not have otherwise thought of going into such as future technologies and I found the results of my research to be very enriching. I had the benefit of making some of my closest friends this semester in my TWC class whom I still stay close to and my classmates were all very participative making class discussions an intellectual process filled with interesting new ideas. I truly enjoyed my TWC journey and if I had a choice I would go through it all over again.
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