2nd Lesson

As one of presenters for this week's lesson, I had to find an article that was able to depict the topic on Technology, Society and Global Dominance. After much consideration, I decided on researching about China and America, since they are the mega players in the global arena now.

Using the characteristics that were listed about the falling and rising stars, the Shahi Organizational Behavior Model has been a great help when I relate to my article- Think Again, American Decline. For example, the formation of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) consists of strong and emerging stars, whereas Western countries like Europe, USA and UK have been declining significantly after the recent global economic crisis. Not only that, I feel that we can actually apply this model into our daily lives to spur us to be more open-minded and hungry for knowledge. 

In one of the readings- "The colonial holocaust and its legacy", I found it fascinating because the article provided a totally different perspective of the European colonial masters. Though I cannot deny that the article is slightly biased, it portrayed how the countries were exploited of their resources and the suffering of the locals. All along, I have been always taught the positive effects of colonization. However, we have forgotten how the weaker countries have been helpless and robbed of their choice to decide for themselves, but only to surrender and succumb to the stronger powers instead. 

After watching the youtube video of The Millennium Development Goals for 2015, I felt quite emotional. Like what Prof has mentioned, we definitely have the ability to make this world a better place to live in. It is saddening to see that most of the times, we dedicate these resources into profit-making opportunities instead. As quoted from Albert Einstein, "It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity." On the other hand, we should also acknowledge the efforts put in by some commendable individuals and organizations, who have contributed much to this great cause. Hence, the idea of giving back to society, like philanthrophy and corporate social responsibility should be strongly encouraged in today's world. 

I also thought that the video by Hans Rosling- 200 countries, 200 years, 4mins was very interesting, especially his way of presenting the statistics in 3D. Imagine incorporating this style of learning into the education system, I am sure lessons will definitely become more exciting for the students.

For this week's lesson, it was rather interesting as we kicked off the individual presentations by "guest lecturers". Having enjoyed the youtube videos shown and presentations given by my fellow classmates, I would rate 8/10 for this lesson, as it had been quite thought provoking for me on some of the issues raised during discussion. 

1st Lesson

Initially, I did not have much clue about what this topic was really all about. From the required readings and video "Guns, Germs & Steel", I had a very brief understanding that this module was probably just like what the name stated, the interlink between technology and world change. Or simply put, globalization. Hence, like the most of us, I stepped into the first TWC class with an open mind.

During the introduction of my fellow peers, I noticed that most of us were for change, only if it would bring positive benefits. However, in reality, we have seen some of the negative impacts, for example- pollution causing detrimental damage to the environment. On the other hand, like in one of the discussion topics, change has become something inevitable in our daily lives. 

The facts in Youtube video clip "Shift Happens" that was shown in class left a deep impression on me. I am sure most of us were definitely aware of facts like China is the up and rising country in the global arena and we are living in a fact-paced society. However, it is the extent of these facts that really surprised me. For example, as quoted in the video- "25% of the China's population with the highest IQs is greater than the total population in North America" and the estimation of more than 1.5 exabytes of new information will be generated yearly. 

The other video "Guns, Germs & Steel" held an important question of inequality with Yali asking Diamond "Why you white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans, have so little?" There is so much to the answer as reasons could be due to geographical location, availability of resources and more. In one of the required readings- "Timeline of Time", it was fascinating to see the list of milestones of what have been discovered and invented, starting from the existence of mankind. 

In fact, I found this module to be quite brain-stimulating. It made us consider of how the lives of human race have transformed significantly over the years and how things would change in time to come. Now, with advanced technology and knowledge, the focus should be on how to improve lives and make the world a better place to live in.  

Not only that, the active discussion at the Facebook's group was also intriguing. I saw many interesting articles and videos contributed by the Professor and peers. I also thought that commenting on the postings was a good way to air our differing views to have more perspectives on the issue. In my opinion, this was better than using the discussion forum on Elearn!

For this lesson, I would rate 7/10. It would have been even better if we could have more time to discuss about the video- "Guns, Germs & Steel" of Jared Diamond's discoveries. 

Looking forward to the next class! (: