Session 6

Brief Overview/Summary

The sixth TWC lesson was about Biobusiness Revolution, notably in the areas of healthcare and biomedical in the past, present and the future.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

Prof Shahi started the lesson by sharing a few interesting quotes. The first one is from Albert Einstein, which stated

“There are only two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

This quote talks about how we humans have the choice to how we can lead our lives. We can live jaded, not caring or ‘giving a damn’ about what happens around our environment. However, with such a mindset, we will never learn and understand the changes that happen around us. However, if we choose to live our lives with an open mindset and be interested in changes in our environment, we can gain much knowledge. This is also very related to the “Rising Star” vs “Falling Star” mindset that Prof shared a few weeks earlier.

The next quote that Prof shared is a Greek Proverb that says

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose
shade they know they shall never sit in.”

This quote explains the need for future orientation, which requires people today to plan for the future. However, this quote does not talk about sustainable development. Instead, this quote tells us that if we plan ahead, we are helping to ensure the sustainability of our society.

Prof Shahi then defined BioBusiness as a commercial activity based on an understanding of life sciences and its processes, such as biomedical, agri-veterinary, environmental/industrial, and other areas. The BioBusiness industry already constitutes over 25% of global GDP and employs some 40% of the world’s labor force. With these shocking statistics which is not known to many, it must be understood that these numbers will continue to increase as the BioBusiness and biotechnology industry expands.

Prof then showed us a video illustrating Microsoft’s vision for the future of healthcare. In this video, Microsoft introduced the digital wallet, which combines all of a person’s cards into their smartphone. It also showed the ability for patients to be able to speak to their doctors on broadband and thus, it is unnecessary for them to physically travel to the clinic or hospitals.  This can benefit patients who are old, or have difficulty travelling and walking. People can also save on transportation fee. With tele-consultation, doctors can understand a patient’s situation by simply asking the patient to perform certain tasks and the doctor can capture it through the webcam. With e-banking, doctors can also legitimately charge the patient for online consultation fees.

Prof also introduced the different drivers for innovation and change in biomedical sciences

1)   Demographic and Epidemiological Change

As countries advance from rural to urban, or see the growth of an aging population, or population increases, they can see the changing patterns of disease, shifting from infectious to chronic diseases. Infectious diseases arise from poor water supply and sanitation, generally low and poor living standards. On the other hand, chronic diseases tend to arise as people age. Examples of chronic diseases are such as diabetes, high blood pressure or heart problems.

25 years ago, 60% of diseases in the world were infectious diseases. Thanks to the growth of the Millennium Development Goals and decreasing rates of poverty around the world, we now see a more drastic pattern change in diseases from infectious to chronic.

2)   Translating the Findings of R&D into Clinical and Commercial Application

New technology today has helped people capture possibilities and research that was not possible before. They are such as the advancement of X-rays to CT scans, and imaging technology for people that is not radioactive. These are results of biomedical research translated into practical uses.

3)   Advances in Information and Bioengineering Technology

With the birth of computer and information systems, making comparisons is now a much simpler process than before. This progress can be attributed to the availability of advanced tools and resources to help analyze, model and create new technologies for development in the research and health services level. With bioengineering technology, it is able to lead to advancement in genetic engineering, which is crucial for the advancement in eugenics.

4)   Changing Consumer Needs, Demand and Expectation

Around the world, people’s expectations change as society changes. People today are wealthier than before, causing lifestyle and dietary patterns to change. With this, people are able to gain certain benefits, but at the same time suffer some consequences.

Prof showed us a video about how obesity is becoming a global pandemic, which allowed us to have a sense of how big a problem it has become. According to the video, in Mexico, 7% of adults and 30% of children are overweight.  Also, WHO has predicted that by 2015, 2.3 billion people will be overweight, 700 million people will be obese, and 22 million children will be overweight.

With these statistics, peoples’ changing consumer needs and demands has made obesity a global pandemic, which requires medical intervention to reduce the causes and impacts of such problems. Without medical intervention, such pandemics such as obesity can lead to an unsustainable society, where future generations will not be able to lead lives as long as previous generations have.

After which, Prof also introduced and discussed the different sectors in healthcare and biomedical sciences, which have revolutionized in the previous years, and will continue to revolutionize in the years to come. The case study of the advancement of prosthetics to bionics also gave me a new, fresh and interesting perspective to the history and future of prosthetics, which is closely related to my group project.

One of the class presentations that impressed me was Rebekah’s presentation on gene sequencing. She introduced the benefits, limitations, response and concerns from different groups of people regarding this new technology. According to Rebekah’s research, doctors can now recognize disease-causing genes in 25 hours upon birth of a child. However, such information may be rendered useless and merely informative as with 7500 known diseases, only 3500 are detectable, and only 500 of such diseases have treatment. Gene sequencing is also very costly, which exacerbates income inequality as only the rich can afford such technology, and the poor is excluded.

However, the key argument is whether parents would like to purchase such technology for their newborn child. Firstly, the knowledge of a child’s disposition will cause an impact on the child’s lifestyle, whereby his/her parents will restrict him/her to participate in activities that may aggravate their dispositions. For example, if a child has a disposition for heart disease, the child’s parents may impede him/her from participating in many forms of physical activities, thus limiting the child’s true potential in sports.

At the same time, such dispositions are merely calculations of chances of getting the illness. There is still a chance whereby the child will not be diagnosed with this disease or sickness predicted when he/she was born. Parents’ reaction to their child’s disposition is therefore highly crucial. Therefore, the knowledge of a child’s disposition should merely be used for parents and child to be mentally prepared for future illnesses, rather than restricting one’s personal abilities.  

Key Takeaways

1)   The BioBusiness is a growing industry that will soon many up a large proportion of a country’s GDP and labor force.

2)   The change in peoples’ consumption and demand will lead the way for changes growth of the biomedical business as the biomedical industry will meet the needs for demanded areas, such as obesity.

3)   The future of the biomedical industry is very optimistic, as it aims to simplify medical processes through research and development.

4)   The growth of the biomedical industry may in turn also be harmful to people in areas such as personal growth and unnecessary knowledge.

Issues for Further Discussion

1)   How long will it take for the biomedical industry to advance to the stage illustrated in the video by Microsoft?

2)   Is tele-consultation really useful or necessary? Or does it make a practitioner less accurate or precise in his findings?

Personal Ratings

I rate this class 8/10 as it looks into future findings in the medical industry, which is a large concern in all our futures. However, I feel that there should be more discussions pertaining to how these biomedical advancements can benefit the elderly given that Singapore is facing an aging population today.

Session 5

Brief Overview/Summary

The fifth TWC lesson was about ICT and World Change, notably in the areas of mass media, the Internet, Wireless and Interactive Telecommunications in the past, present and the future.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

Prof Shahi started the lesson by talking about the different areas of interest regarding ICT and World Change.

The discussion of mass media involved its advancement from the use of bongo drums and smoke signals, to the use of radio, television and the Internet to spread knowledge and information. The use of mass media was actually very passive in the past, where it was from one to many, rather than many to one. Today, mass media has become more interactive than before. The spread of information is less passive, which moves from many to one.

With regards to the Internet, in the past, Web 1.0 was a one-way street with information reaching out from one to many passive recipients. It has now advanced to Web 2.0, which is a two-way track where people are both providers and recipients of information. Such platforms include Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter and MySpace. The world is now moving towards Web 3.0, where the Internet is becoming interactive and ‘invisible’ at the same time. The Internet will be running without people knowing, and different appliances will be used through the Internet. This works through the Semantic Web, which is the extension of the World Wide Web (WWW) that enables people to share content beyond the boundaries of applications and websites. The use of Web 3.0 will be able to simplify our lives and make us more productive today.

Through social networking sites today, people are able to see connections that are hidden in the real world. They are able to find mutual friends, and are able to reach out to people whom they never expected to. For example, through Facebook, people are able to meet mutual friends or friends from the same community. Also, people are also able to ‘follow’ and comment on celebrities’ posts that can be seen from anyone. This has never been possible before the emergence of social networking sites.

Crowd sourcing refers to looking out for information and solutions from people outside of your networking circle. A good example of a company, which uses crowd sourcing, is Wikipedia. They depending on others’ knowledge and understanding to upload and share information, approximating nearer and nearer to the truth.

Cloud Computing refers to the ability to access information not in one’s device by taking advantages of resources outside the device to store information. A cheap browser with access to cloud computing is very useful. This works through multi-tenancy. In a multi-tenant app, there isn’t a copy of the app for each business using it. It is one app that everyone shares, but it is flexible enough for everyone to customise it his or her specific needs. It is like a giant office building, where everyone shares the infrastructure and services, such as security, and each business can customise their own office space. This means that apps are elastic, and can scale up to tens of thousands of users, or down to only a few.

Knowledge Management means making sense and filtering all the information that we have today by seeing patterns and big pictures that help organisations make right decisions for its own growth.

Have we captured the potential of ICT?

1)   ICT promotes greater access to information and knowledge. (Google, Wikipedia)

2)   It promotes the knowledge economy, where people are rewarded for the work they do with their minds.

3)   The advancement of ICT has not helped to alleviate poverty.

4)   It has not helped dealing with the digital divide.

5)   It is a limited driver for healthcare, agriculture and modern democracy.

6)   Although it is used as a ‘reader’ for education, it does not engage people to grow and learn.

Prof Shahi also showed us a video – Project Natal Milo Demo from E3, which features a fictional character, Milo, who is able to communicate and interact with people. Milo is able to express emotions and feelings, and was able to recognise human drawings. This shows how the gaming industry has evolved through the years.

The gaming industry has advanced rapidly in the recent years. They now have new and dynamic storytelling devices categorised for all ages, in-game chat, and are able to create many different scenarios to help people cope with real-life situations. For example, mental gymnastic games are available to help senile people; military scenarios in games help soldiers’ experiences war-like scenarios, and surgical scenarios help train surgeons. Through gaming, these activities are able to leave a psychological impact on the different people and help them improve in their respective roles.

I was also very impressed with Daniel’s presentation on what would happen if the Internet crashed. His presentation also led to a discussion in class: Is access to the Internet considered a human right?

In countries such as Finland and France, the access to Internet is already declared a human right. The access to Internet allows people to grow the right seeds and to receive knowledge. The benefits of it far exceed the cost of making it accessible to the people, thus important to provide satellite access to everyone in the world.

So, the question is, is access to water more important the one’s access to Internet?

Through the Internet, people are able to gain knowledge and education (because the internet is a powerful sources today), and thus are able to figure out ways of livelihood such as how to get access to water and food. However, it must also be argued that the access to Internet may not be able to alleviate poverty in poor countries if it is not utilised the right way. The rights to Internet when used may also cause political turmoil and social problems in many countries if people are exposed to corrupting influences.

Key Takeaways

1)   There are many forms of ICT, and all of them have rapidly advanced over the years.

2)   Although the advancement of ICT is beneficial to developed countries, it is unable to reduce the digital and economical divide present in today’s society.

3)   The advancement of ICT also posits some risks. They are such as security concerns, espionage, invasion of privacy (cloud computing), and identity theft.

4)   YALI’S QUESTION: The uneven development of today’s world is exacerbated by the advancement of ICT, which widens the digital divide between the developed and underdeveloped countries. The widening of the digital divide has a detrimental impact on the knowledge gap, worsening the uneven development around today.

Issues for Further Discussion

1)   Is it possible for the Internet to be considered a basic human right all around the world?

2)   How is the importance of access to Internet as compared to other basic human rights?

3)   Is it possible for the future advancement of ICT to move towards a more secure and private technology?

4)   Are people putting more trust, or being more wary of the advancement of ICT? (Cloud computing, Wireless technologies)

Personal Ratings

I would rate this lesson a 9/10 as I felt that I learnt a lot from this lesson, and the presentations were very interesting and relatable.

Session 4

Brief Overview/Summary

The forth TWC lesson was about Drivers of World Change, followed by the topic on Change Management and Change Leadership.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

Prof Shahi started the lesson by defining “Drivers of World Change” as factors that play a direct role that brings about a change in the world. He also introduced the quote:

“If everyone in the world used oil at the same rate as the average Saudi, Singaporean or US resident, the world’s proven oil reserves would be used up in less than 10 years”.

Many of us are aware of the fact that the US consumes a lot of energy today. However, we must also realize that we, Singaporeans are also consuming much more energy as compared to our neighbors, such as other Southeast Asian countries. Simply looking at most of the shopping malls in Singapore, most of them open at about 9am in the morning, and close at about 10pm daily without fail. This means that for 13 hours per day, these shopping malls use energy to provide lights, air conditioners, elevators and escalators to the shoppers. Although the energy used by shopping malls only constitute a small fraction of the total amount of energy used in Singapore, it provides a good example to show that it is not shocking to know that Singapore, despite being much smaller than the US, consumes a large amount of energy too.

Prof also talked about the different drivers of change today, the different impacts they have on the world and the probability of the expected results. This is very closely linked to Reading 1 of Session 4a. According to Prof Shahi, the different drivers of world change are such as:

1)   Environmental Drivers (Evolution, Environmental change and “germs”)

2)   Scientific Discovery and Technology Innovation

3)   Social, Demographic, Cultural and Ideological change

4)   Competition

5)   Globalization

6)   Changing Expectations and “Tastes” with Changing Times

Prof also introduced different types of change that can arise – Evolutionary, Revolutionary and Disruptive. Evolutionary changes refer to gradual development and improvement of a certain technology. Revolutionary changes refer to a sudden, complete or marked changed. On the other hand, disruptive changes may sometimes be considered revolutionary, but they are not radical. They refer to the outcome of change, which is different from the expected outcome.

During the second part of the lesson, Prof Shahi started the discussion on the difference between leaders and managers. Leaders have a long-range view, and they create a paradigm for change. On the other hand, managers have a short-range view that works well within the paradigm of change.

Prof Shahi also introduced to us the Pessimism-Time Curve.

The Pessimism-Time Curve has four sections.

Uniformed optimism – One is excited and intrigued by change, and is looking forward to it with anticipation, building a positive and optimistic view.

Informed Pessimism – One finds that not all have fallen into place, and things are not as easy as they expected. This ushers in a period of gloom when they realize that change and perfection is not easy to attain.

Informed Realism – Original optimism starts to reassert itself, tinted with the reality of the situation.  One makes realistic plans and move forward with optimism.

Completion – One reaches a relatively steady platform of realistic and workable action.

Lastly, I was very impressed with Chermain’s presentation. Her presentation allowed us to look “behind the scenes” on the leadership of the late Steve Jobs in Apple Inc. The Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model has simplified the rights and wrongs of Jobs’ leadership in the world leading firm, and allowed us to understand the breakdown to successful leadership.

Key Takeaways

1)   Drivers of world change can only come into effect if people are able to accept and improvise on these changes instead of just being satisfied with what they have and not moving on. (Eagle, ostrich and Dodo bird analogy)

2)   With the current usage of energy, people must look for sustainable sources of energy for future generations.

3)   Followers are as important as leaders. Without followers, leaders are just “lone nuts”.

4)   People should follow the modern model of continuous monitoring and renewal instead of the traditional model of freeze-unfreeze-freeze in managing and leading world change.

5)   YALI’s Question: The uneven development in the world today is caused by peoples’ acceptance of world change and the type of leadership in each country.

Issues for Further Discussion

1)   What are basic characteristics of a good leader?

2)   Is constant change of leadership necessary?

3)   What are the certain drivers of change that people do not wish to accept?

4)   Why are some leaders in countries less effective than others, leading to uneven development in the world?

Personal Ratings

I give this session an 8/10, as it was very relevant to today’s world, especially the changes in leadership, which is rampant today. I have learnt a great deal about how the drivers and people of today’s world must work together to achieve greater development for future generations to experience what we have today.