End Semester Post

Brief summary
Over the course of 13 weeks, we have covered almost every single branch of technology, from the ICT, to energy, to bio businesses. Some of the memorable technology or lessons learned, one of which is the possibility to create food from our waste, the different trends moving our society currently, where everything we do online is getting "smarter" or more augmented. 

Bringing Forward, Lessons Learned
Some of the most important lessons i have learned in this course would be the different analysis tools, such as the SWOT analysis, which is very useful in my other subjects so far. The importance of ourselves to keep changing, and reinventing ourselves, so we are always rising stars, not falling stars. The impacts of technology and the future direction in which our society is moving towards, would help us in identifying many opportunities ahead in our lives.

Rating the Course
9/10, the course is fun, we have one of the best TA, Victor who was willing to assist us in any way, and the amount of knowledge we gleam in each lesson.

Week 13

Brief Overview/Summary
Due to my group presenting, i got to hear the other 4 presentations, which include mind-controlled prosthetic, food for the future, Sex and adverts, and virtual reality. 
Interesting Observations and Ideas

• The 1st presentation did a similar topic to my group, however, our focus was mainly on the future implications of technologies which alter the physical body. The issue with mind-controlled prosthetic at the moment, is there is a lack in control with the amount of pressure asserted, if this is solved, and there is a way to send the sensation of touching back to the body, do we still require limbs or we should just replace them.
• The second group focused on genetic manipulation techniques, in order to solve global hunger. However, is such technology really good for solving world hunger, as we have seen from a previous presentation on terminator genes, the impact of such technology seem to be negative rather than positive, and if we have to solve it, would the governments in the developing countries have the ability to?
• The 3rd group was on sexual adverts, which was pretty distracting throughout the presentation. As they have stated, using sexuality to market brings many problems, however, it is inevitable that more attention is given if they are put in the spotlight for being bad, such as Ashley Madison became known only after the public outcry about the website itself.
• The impact of virtual reality to me as a gamer is huge, however, i am reminded of a animation series which i watched, where the virtual life has become the true reality for many people, and they refuse to forsake it, so remaining entrapped in it. This is due to the possibilities of deciding what you want, and having freedom, much like computer games.

Key Take Away Points

• The impact of genetic technology in our food supply is a very viable option to consider, despite the fact that there are many problems in regulating and sharing the technology.
• That is seen as taboo is most wanted, as it sparks curiosity, or sensuality in our current society.
• The impact of Virtual reality in helping to perfect skills in a surreal setting, which can reduce training risks for many occupations.

Issues for Further Discussion

• The possibility of one choosing to live in a virtual world instead, do we or should we have the right to prevent them from doing so.
• Since sexually related adverts are seen as bad, why have there not been more drastic measures in order to reduce it coming from corporations
• Should global bodies and government be more concerned with the distribution of genetic manipulation technology to developing countries, instead of continually researching?

Personal Ratings for Session
8/10, the lesson brought many insights in many different fields, and the presentations were very interesting.

Week 12

Brief Overview/Summary
The lesson began with an emphasis on proper citations and crediting in our individual papers, and the importance of respecting the works of others or intellectual property.
We moved on towards the presentations, with the presentations on three websites, futuristic buildings, clean energy and nano technology.
Interesting Observations and Ideas

• The presentation on futuristic cities was similar to an individual presentation which was about living underseas. The similarity of these 2 ideas is that they have predicted land loss due to global warming, and are thought as ways to counter the situation.So to reconcile the two ideas, is it better to live under water or over it, or is the best buildings which maximize space by allowing both?
• The presentation on nano-technology was interesting and overall was easy to understand and the impact of nano- technology could be big, since it can be applied to many fields, such as medicine to aid in treatments, military as weapons, or just aid in improving existing technology, however, would the potential harm from misuse of nano-technology malicious purposes curb its distribution even it is developed.

Key Take Away Points

• Group one shared how has the different requirements we need, has impacted the architecture of buildings currently and in the future, through the demand for green technology, and forecasting potential hazards in the future.
• Group two shared in their case studies, some of the reasons why there is a reluctance to embrace green technology, when based on pure figures it is a better choice.

Issues for Further Discussion

• Possible avenues for the countries in the case to increase their uptake on green technology?
• The challenges which nano-technology face in production, and in distribution.

Personal Ratings for Session
7.5/10, the first and the third presentation was good, however, the information in the second presentation was not well-organised, and i did not manage to gain much from it.

Week 11

Brief Overview/Summary
The lesson was about forecasting technology and assessing technology. Where current and future technology are assessed for their potential and possible implications. Whereas technology forecasting, is a look at how trends affect technology, and drives the change in the direction. Interesting Observations and Ideas

• Technology forecasting is usually built upon two premises, where there is a huge possibility to commercializing, and a need for future survival.
• The need for consumer participation within the shaping of the direction of technology, as many technologies are developed for government use first then adopted for civilian use.

Key Take Away Points

• A multitude of methods for assessment are available for technology, however, the best for me would be the SWOT analysis, and trend extrapolation.
• Even though technology has been forecast, not all of them would be as predicted, such as Artificial Intelligence, which has been seen as a forefront of technological advancement has been stalled.

Issues for Further Discussion
The lesson could have been tied in with the previous topics for more discussion, such as looking closer at how certain important industries, such as ICT have been assessed and forecast in the past and future.

Personal Ratings for Session
8/10, the lesson was interesting since the techniques for assessing and forecast would come in handy in many of our work.

Individual Paper

Electromagnetics-Ticket to a better future[1]

 Lwee Yong Xin Michael (michaellwee.2013@business.smu.edu.sg), 1st Year student, Bachelor of Business Management, Singapore Management University 

Executive Summary

"I happen to have discovered a direct relation between magnetism and light, also electricity and light, and the field it opens is so large and I think rich” -Michael Faraday

Electromagnetism as stated by Michael Faraday, is a wide field whose developments has changed the way we test and develop new technologies from various fields, due to the interactive nature of the field.

This paper examines the way electromagnetics have been used as the basis for many technologies in the past, and how it's application has improved, allowing the incorporation into current and future technologies to make more efficient machines.

1. Introduction

Electromagnetics is a broad field, which consists of the studies of electricity and magnetic, this is due to electricity, and magnetics being intricately related subjects, where one would always observe both of them at work simultaneously (Woodhouse, 2012). As such, many of nature's phenomena have relation to electromagnetics, such as lightning. The study of the subject started since ancient times, where people tried to find ways to deal with the common phenomena such as lightning (Muljadi, 2013). One of the world's oldest lightning rods can be found in Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura Kingdom, which was made thousands of years ago, in order to protect buildings and monuments (Muljadi, 2013).

The field is also the basis for many important inventions, which have laid the foundations for our modern lives, such as the light bulb by Edison (Lusted, 2013). The ground work laid by this field, such as electric circuits, conduction, or even the study of electromagnetic fields has been incorporated into almost every single facet of our lifestyles, which range from gadgets to industrial production processes. The wide and varied use of this field includes plating, metal extraction, and wireless communications.

One of the most important discoveries which have helped to shape this field is arguably Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic, which started to breach the gap in between electricity and magnetism. His works has been investigated, and further expended by Maxell resulting in the Maxwell equations (Tweney, 2011). This has resulted in the birth of other important scientific theories, such as the electromagnetic spectrum, to the quantum theory (Tweney, 2011). However, it is also important to note that, the discovery of electromagnetics and its application might far predate our expectations. Arguably the world's first battery was discovered in 1938, near Baghdad, evidence of a clay jar with a copper cylinder encased with a iron bar was found, traces of acidic agents has also been found in the jar which dates back to around 200 BC (News.bbc.co.uk, 2013). Thus, the study of the field might be more advanced than we could possibly think in the past.

2. Historical Perspectives

The history of electromagnetics is filled with many theories, which have wide applications in many fields. Thus, many of the world's revolutionary inventions have roots in this field.

2.1 Electrical Telegraph

The electric telegraph is a revolutionary technology; one of the first was created by Samuel Soemmering in 1809. He used 35 wires, with the ends, electrodes 3.5 kilometres away immersed in acid. Gas bubbles would be formed in the acidic solution corresponding to the letter or number (Jones, 1999).

Figure 1 depicting “Samuel Soemmering’s Telegraph” reproduced from Jones, R. (1999).

This was subsequently improved upon when new technologies were discovered, in this case, it was when William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet in the early 19th century, allowed practical use of magnetic fields in inventions (Electromagnets, 2013).

The most successful and well-known electrical telegraph was arguably built by Samuel Morse, which was put into practical use in 1844, when he transmitted the famous message "What hath God wrought", from Washington to Baltimore (Samuel Finley Breese Morse,2013).

The invention of the telegraph helped to bridge communications over long distances, and was highly successful as it expended worldwide, making world communication possible for the first time. The telegraph was widely used until the birth of telephone networks, capable of transmitting voice.

2.2 Radar

Radar stands for RAdio Detection and Ranging, which uses radio waves as a medium for detection of other obstacles, be it ships at sea or aircrafts in air. The technology uses the echolocation of radio waves, with pulsing radio waves from an antenna and allowing them to rebound and be picked up by the same device (Woodhouse, 2012).

The invention of radar did not present any technological advances, or rather it was a practical realisation of many theories, such as Maxwell's electromagnetic waves theory, and Heinrich Hertz's subsequent experiments to prove the theory laid the ground work for the invention (Woodhouse, 2012).

Guglielmo Marconi succeeded in 1901 in transmitting radio waves over the Atlantic, and helped establish the ground world for radar, especially when he presented his description of radio echolocation technique, which became the first detailed radar concept (Woodhouse, 2012).

The world's first patent for a radar system happened in 1935, by Scottish scientist Robert Watson-Watt, who invented the world's first operational radar, which was capable of detecting aircraft (Woodhouse, 2012).

Figure 2 depicting “Chain Home” reproduced from TheTimeChamber. (2013). 

However, during that period when there was high risk of war, many countries also channelled much funding into the research of such systems. One of the most notable would be "Chain Home", which was constructed on Britain's eastern coastline, consisting of tall towers with radio transmitters and receivers built in 1939 at the outbreak of World War 2 (Woodhouse, 2012).

3. Current Applications

The modern world is a highly interconnected world, which has leveraged heavily on the advantages which electromagnetics have bought. There are still many avenues of electromagnetics which can be improved on, and the theories in the field could still be applied to better existing technology.

3.1 Maglev

Magnetic levitation or Maglev for short is a branch of technology which has been gaining support in recent years. The technology is best known for its uses in transportations, particularly maglev trains.

The implementation of such technology in railways has resulted in significant improvements, such as using less energy and space, able to travel faster regardless of terrain, with more comfort (Yaghoubi & Ziari, 2013). These also give rise to the possibility of implementing such technology into other fields in transportation, and possibly move beyond that.

Maglev works by generating magnetic fields, which suspends an object without any other support. This allows objects to achieve a low friction state, which in turn would help in many industrial processes, or equipment, where the reduction of friction is vital (Thompson, 2000). The reductions in friction in railways have seen a drastic reduction in travel times, where currently, the L0 series maglev trains testing in Japan can hit 500km/hr (Steadman, 2013).

The viability of applying the maglev technology to other fields is huge, such as in launching rockets; NASA has a magnetic levitation track at Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, America. The magnetic levitation track has the advantage of using electricity to accelerate a rocket to 600mph, allowing it to break free of gravity. This allows better efficiency as compared to the traditional method of using rocket fuel in the launch, thus help reduce the weight and the costs of the craft (Yaghoubi, 2013).

Figure 3 depicting “NASA’s magnetic levitation track at Marshall Space Flight Centre” reproduced from Yaghoubi, H. (2013).

Maglev technology has been highly effective in improving many technologies, by making them less energy consuming, and efficient, while being easy to transplant into other industries such as medicine, where starting plans for maglev technology to be integrated into artificial hearts (Yaghoubi, 2013). The plans would improve artificial hearts significantly, as the technology is integrated inside would help overcome issues of friction, sealing and lubrication in traditional heart pumps by reducing the damage to blood cells, thus improving the safety and lifespan of the artificial heart (Yaghoubi, 2013).

The ability for Maglev to be applied on many fields, while being highly cost effective, due to the amount of research which has already been conducted, could make it a technology which we would find in most of the devices in our machines in the future, due to the positive effects it brings in lowering costs.

3.2 Electromagnetic Jamming

Electromagnetic jamming is the act of trying to create devices which aim to disrupt, or prevent any electromagnetic signals from watching its intended targets. The use of such technology has been restricted to mainly the military domain for now.

The history of such jamming started at the same time when radio was first invented, with cases of attempted corporate espionage, such as in 1899, the rivals of New York Herald tried to jam their reporting of America's Cup race results (Rounds, 2004).

The act of jamming has widespread effects on the outcome of war, during the 1905 Russo-Japanese war, the failure to jam the signals sending the location of the Russian fleet back to the imperial navy, led to a loss where 80% of the Russian fleet being destroyed (Wilson, 2013).

A main aim in electromagnetic jamming, especially during the period of strife, targets at radar systems of ships and aircraft. There is more than a way to do this, and the methods of doing such have evolved to be more efficient and creative.

Some of these techniques in the past include cover jamming, where the target aims to create "noise" wavelengths, to obscure or disrupt the returning signal to the radar, such that the target's location is harder to acquire or track. Another technique used is barrage jamming, where jamming signals, are sent throughout numerous frequencies simultaneously, with the aim of trying to cover any used frequencies (Adamy, 2010).

The techniques used to jam radars has changed with more creative methods and better jammers, rather than to impede, now aim to deceive the enemy radar by sending false signals. One such technique, the range gate pull-off uses a jammer which receives radar signals, replicates it and return it with greater strength but with a longer time gap in between, in order to deceive the position of an object to the radar (Adamy, 2010).

Moving forward, the scope of jamming equipment now can be easily applied to most other devices which use electromagnetic waves, such as cell phones (Silva, 2007). Thus, the effects of jamming technology might still remain an issue, as the impact of the interference of our daily lives now is huge.

3.3 Wireless Technologies

Wireless refers to the telecommunications without any wires, where electromagnetic waves are used to transmit signals to other devices. The telecommunication industry is worth one trillion US dollars, with 1 billion mobile phone users as of 2003 (Karlson, 2003). This shows us the impact of wireless technology in the starting phases of the widespread adoption of such technology, and how it has changed our lifestyles, for example 20 billion SMS messages are sent daily as compared to the start of the mobile phone industry from 1978 (Karlson, 2003). This figure is set to increase, whereby seven trillion wireless devices would be used by seven billion people, by the year 2017 (Fitzek & Katz, 2007).

The current level of development of wireless networks in our society is at the 4th generation or 4G for short. This level of development is defined as have advanced high performance wireless communications system, which are integrative, and are able to cover most, if not all aspects of communications (Fitzek & Katz, 2007). The type of wireless technology which is most commonly ultilised now are the short-range wireless technologies, which consists of  wireless local area networks(WLAN), wireless personal area networks (WPAN), wireless body area networks (WBAN), wireless sensor networks (WSN), car–to–car communications (C2C), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Near Field Communications (NFC) (Fitzek & Katz, 2007). These technologies are integrated into devices which we carry around, which are usually connected to others which we hold, thus turning them clusters to interact with other networks (Fitzek & Katz, 2007).

Wireless technologies are now able to perform a variety of functions; wireless sensor networks are used in harsh terrains, such as volcanoes and glaciers, where it can also be utilised successfully in hospitals (Gaura et al, 2010).

The Scalable Medical Alert and Response Technology (SMART) system was deployed in Brigham and Women's Hospital’s Emergency Department in Boston for eighteen months, from June, 2006, to December, 2007, monitoring 172 patients in total (Gaura et al, 2010). The system consists of four parts, the patient monitoring subsystem, the central computer, the caregiver subsystem, and the location subsystem, where the monitoring system will detect changes to the patient, send it to the central system, then send the location and alarm to the caregivers closest to the patient (Gaura et al, 2010).

The increased application of wireless technology would continue to be a large part of our lives, as the technology aims to improve and integrate all aspects of our lives into a connected one.

4. Future Applications

Electromagnetics is an integral part of our lives, where the technology has revolutionised the way we are living as compared to 2 centuries ago. The field still has much potential which remains to be explored, despite the significant contributions and advances in the field.

4.1 Electromagnetic Railguns

Electromagnetic railguns is not a new concept, as the theory which acts behind it and the designs for the railguns have been around for more than a century (Bajkov, 2013). The first recorded railgun tests were conducted during 1944- 1945 during world war 2 by the Germans, under Joachim Hänsler  in a railway tunnel near the town of Klais in Upper Bavaria (Bajkov, 2013). The tests proved to be fruitful, as the prototype was able to accelerate a 10 grams aluminium cylinder to 1,080 m/s, as compared to the best anti-aircraft gun of the Germans which was only able to reach 880 m/s (Bajkov, 2013).

The principle behind electromagnetic railguns is to use electric currents to generate a magnetic field, which will in turn help to accelerate the shell within the railgun, instead of gunpowder in traditional firearms (Lee, 2012). The technology now is able to reach a range of up to 100 miles, as compared to 5 inch guns on destroyers which can only reach 15 miles (Lee, 2012). As for speed, the railgun is able to reach 5,637 mph, which is seven times the speed of sound, an improvement as compared to the speed of naval shells of 2000 mph (Lee, 2012).

Figure 4 depicting “How a railgun works” reproduced from LEE, M. (2012).

The prototype testing results have been successful; however, there still remains many limitations before this technology can become a reality. Currently, the railgun is cannot be fired rapidly, and the ammunition also disintegrates during the firing process (Lee, 2012). This is due to huge forces generated during the firing of the railgun, where the heat from the acceleration causes the ammunition to expand, and damages the rail, the recoil from the firing also causes the rail to be split, and after firing the friction of the shells with the air at high speeds would cause disintegration (Bajkov, 2013).

4.2 Wireless Charging Roads

Wireless charging, or inductive charging to be more accurate, which works on magnetic resonance coupling, where two copper coils are tuned to resonate at a frequency, one coil is then subjected to electric currents, which creates a magnetic field to resonate with the other coil, resulting in the transfer of energy (SHWARTZ, 2013).

This technology is currently being adopted for charging of smaller objects, such as mobile phones, whereas, for transportation roads with the same properties are being built in Korea, Germany, Netherlands and Italy for public transport, such as buses (BARRY, 2013). The application of these roads has been successful, as technology has improved to allow the 85% power efficiency when charging at 100 kW, with a space of 6.7 inch between the bus and the road (BARRY, 2013).

Figure 5 depicting “Wireless charging buses and roads in South Korea” reproduced from BARRY, K. (2013).

However, to implement this smoothly, there are still obstacles on the way. The roads do not give full power efficiency, so there is still the risk of the lost power being converted into radiation, which might be harmful (SHWARTZ, 2013). Another obstacle would be the costs taken to implement this technology, as this would require entire highways to be overhauled, which might not be as practical in the end (Kelion, 2013).

5 Future Implications

Electromagnetics has revolutionised many industries, and have many impacts on our lives, some desirable and some which should be reduced or contained.

5.1 Positive Implications

5.1.1 Lowering Accident Rates

The advent of better wireless technologies has changed the way our devices interacted with one another; this gives rise to the possibility of incorporation into other fields to make our devices “smarter” (Pierce, 2011).

Due to this, car to car communication has been developed on vehicles, as a method to reduce road risks significantly (Pierce, 2011). This technology is incorporated heavily in autonomous driving, where cars are linked and send information to one another, allowing cars to avoid collision, detect obstacles ahead of time and move away earlier (Pierce, 2011).

When this technology is implemented within vehicles, it would help to increase our road safety significantly, as it would reduce the amount of risky road behaviours, such as drink driving, speeding, and resulting in lower accident rates all around (Pierce, 2011).

Another of such technology, which has worked well in ensuring safety, would be radar technology (Woodhouse, 2012). Due to the implementation in various air craft and ships, the chance of collisions has been reduced significantly, as they are now able to detect obstacles ahead of time, and avoid each other.

5.1.2 Increased Efficiency

The wireless induction technology brings several advantages, as it helps to solve the problem of limited battery capacity on electric cars, as electric cars like Nissan Leaf, takes a long time to get charged while getting less than 100 miles on that, so there is no need to run out of power, since you are charging while driving (SHWARTZ, 2013).  Another advantage would be a smaller battery would be required, this would help to bring down the weight of the vehicles, and make them more efficient, where buses only use one thirds of a car's battery in the system (BARRY, 2013).

As discussed above, maglev technology implemented in various fields have the possibility of becoming more efficient, due to the ability to reduce surface contact between 2 objects, resulting in less friction, so less energy is lost as heat to the surroundings. Thus the technology is now more energy efficient, the decrease in friction would also lead to a decrease in wear and tear, so maintenance costs are lowered, making machines more efficient (Yaghoubi, 2013).

5.2 Negative Implications

5.2.1 Addiction from Wireless Technologies

Due to the rise of telecommunications, the position of these technologies is getting higher, and the roles they play in our lives are more important. Thus the amount of time we spend on them has increased exponentially over the years, as telecommunication networks become more advanced, though more and more people are spending a disproportionate time on them, and becoming addicted at the end.

Currently in South Korea, young teenagers aged between 9 to 12 have an internet addiction rate of 14% (Lee, 2011). Due to the difficulty of identifying and curing such addiction, adding to the increased integration of telecommunication technology in our lives, the rate of addiction in the populace will continue to rise, as the current young grows up and a new breed of youngsters would undergo the same culture and subsequently end up addicted too.

Thus, the South Korean government has tried to curb the problem by imposing a "shutdown" law, blocking online games for children under sixteen after midnight (Lee, 2011). This would possibly help to reduce in their young, and help to reduce the addiction rates by limiting the time they could spend on their computers. However, parents have spoken against the regulation, forcing the government to relax the regulation, where children under eighteen with the approval of their parents could set their own time limits (Kang, 2012). This move has shown the emphasis of parent's role in their children's education and formative years, to prevent such habits from forming, as children could just bypass this regulation using their parent's information (Kang, 2012).

5.2.2 Health and Safety Risks

Every technology which we have in our daily lives, such as mobile phones, televisions and computers, generate electromagnetic fields of different strengths, which could affect our body in a harmful manner (Fahmy et al, 2013).

The fields affect our health in various ways, such as severe headache, tumour, brain cancer, sleep interference, allergic reactions, heart disease, infertility and Alzheimer's disease (Fahmy et al, 2013). Electromagnetic radiation has a negative effect on cells, and would affect embryos more strongly, resulting in different degrees of cellular damage at the various stages of development, with more serious effects at the early stages (Fahmy et al, 2013).

A study has shown that women staying in urban areas, which are better educated and not working end up having pregnancy related problems, due to their wider exposure to electromagnetic radiation, by their environment and their usage of the technologies (Fahmy et al, 2013).

5.2.3 Geo-Political Implications From Military Development

Technology is a cat and mouse game, especially in vital technologies which give a key advantage in survival; this is especially true in the military sector, as at this age, the level of technology one's military has could determine the outcome of a war.

Thus, when the world saw the nuclear bombs being fired at Nagasaki and Hiroshima for the first time, it has lead to an arms race between the superpowers, America and the USSR which lasted throughout the whole cold war period. Terms such as mutually assured destruction (MAD), the ability for the 2 powers to potentially destroy the world, has defined geo-political relations at that era, where the two powers kept their conflicts to proxy wars, where they merely supplied and attempted to influence developing countries, or tried to outdo one another in terms of advancements such as space exploration.

The sheer threat of such a technology has also defined global politics; where countries attempt to create nuclear bombs, such as North Korea, often have high geo-political tensions when they attempt testing for the technology, as compared to South Korea which does not have the technology.

Similarly, the invention and practical use of the railgun could in many cases become a huge military threat which could affect geo-political relations, as it has the ability to increase the range of all of a country's weaponry significantly, making those who possess the technology a big threat to their rivals, or countries which they are not on good relations with (Lee, 2012).

6. Conclusion

Electromagnetics has brought significant benefits to humanity, by allowing world communication, and has been a significant driver in shaping our world today. The theories behind electromagnetics are still relevant, and are still being applied currently with the aim of making our technology more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Technology for the field has been applied onto virtually every single industry in our world, and is part of our lifestyles, despite the flaws and risks which come with utilising these technologies.

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Peer reviewed by: ALISTER AZRIEL ONG TJOE

                                 CHONG HUI QI

Week 10

Brief Overview/Summary
The lesson explores technology which would be incoming, or are still in development, where many of the technologies would change the way our world works.
Interesting Observations and Ideas

• Many technologies are viable, but are not implemented or commercialized due to their high costs
• The idea of smart investments, like Warren Buffett who attempt to recognize a product's value when it is still in the development stages
• The idea of technologies improving our ability to process information or communicate in a more efficient way, when technology effectively resulted in a processes which are way too fast, is there a need for more technologies to do so.

Key Take Away Points

• Technology is largely focused on areas where commercialization is more possible, where the products would be better received
• The influence of technology on our lives is large, sometimes scary. Issues such as accidents due to hand phones, social recluses who prefer to form relationships with A.I., cyber bullying and loss of privacy.
• New technologies aim to make our lives more interactive, but we lose interaction in the process.

Issues for Further Discussion

• Technology progress should be determined by what we need to survive, or what would make our lives better?
• Technologies which have been proven to be impractical such as A.I., should funds still go into the area, or is it better to use resources on other areas with greater potential?

Personal Ratings for Session
7/10, there are many technologies which are showcased, but most of the technologies are most towards improving our lifestyles, and have little impact to our survival, which will not affect our lives as much.

Week 9

Brief Overview/Summary

The lesson reviews the global energy trends, past, present and future, by looking at our energy expenditure from the former, where there is general inefficiency in production due to pollution and other effects, to an increasing expenditure, causing a overuse of resources, to the movement to a sustainable model.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

• Most renewable resources take up space, where many have argued to be able to fit into many of the small unused pockets of space within architecture, to attain more space efficiency.
• Space is a resource which is vital to use properly, especially in smaller countries like Singapore, so to save space in their own country, desertec is thought up
• Need to speed up the process of sustainable energy, so fossil fuels can be used at a lower rate, for more useful products
• Singapore needs to step up, since it would be easier to adopt the infrastructure in a small country, so we have a chance of becoming the first completely energy sustainable country

Key Take Away Points

• BRIC countries such as China are actually the greatest proponents of Green Technology
• The movement for sustainability is gaining momentum, such that everything including trash is being reused and utilized fully.

Issues for Further Discussion

• Reason for investing in green technology for developing countries might go beyond the practical benefits of energy sustainability in the future, it might also help change the way they design and do their infrastructure, so that there will be lower costs as most of the technology has been incorprated during development
• Pollution and environmental problems have shifted to developing countries, is this due to the development of the countries, or is it due to corporates shifting to this countries instead?

Personal Ratings for Session

8/10, the lesson takes a critical look at our energy consumption, and shows the improvements we have to make, if not we will perish.