Biotechnology and World Change

Biotechnology and World Change

We had a pretty interesting lesson on Monday; one that revolved around biotechnology and biomedicine.  Prof mentioned that biobusiness compromised a large percentage of the economy. For example, I would like to touch on biotechnology in the agricultural aspect. In a primary sector such as agriculture, quite a substantial amount of research has gone into developing seeds which can be resistant to some viruses. This form of biotechnology is related to genetic engineering. There are many advantages to such genetic engineering however there are also disadvantages such as the trans gene can also be spread to bacteria or plants which were not supposed to have them, thereby creating a problematic situation. Another cool example of genetic engineering is the anti-freeze gene in the Atlantic salmon. By genetic engineering, the Atlantic salmon can be farmed in cold areas which could provide a source of food for that particular region. One thing which I thought was really interesting was when Prof said that bananas were 50% similar in gene make up as humans.

A presentation we had was about the electronic medical records (EMR). This electronic way of recording data of the patient would do without the traditional paper and clipboard that doctors and nurses use in hospitals. I believe that there are pros and cons with regards to the introduction of this new technology in hospitals. Obviously the medical records would be updated faster and more efficiently (from what was said about the doctor’s handwriting). However a problem brought up was the issue of privacy and whether patients would be comfortable with their records on servers. Furthermore, the hospital would have to provide many layers of back-up to the electronic records of the patients to ensure nothing is lost. Also, I foresee that there would be resistance to the change in the way records were handled.

Another presentation talked about the increase in clinical trials in India. I found Vince’s presentation pretty interesting albeit really long o_o. For class discussion we talked about how to prevent the exploitation of people in India to these clinical trials. I believe that the people there go in with their eyes wide open and understand that there are inherent risks in all the clinical trials conducted. Unfortunately the people who go for these trials are those who are desperate either health wise or financially. I believe that the most important point is to make sure that the clinical trials do not wilfully harm the participants. To battle this problem the relevant authorities in India must take charge and employ people of integrity.

Prof also touched upon the idea of designer babies and what is ethically acceptable. I believe that there should not be an instance where a parent chooses the aesthetics of their baby. Once allowed to choose the eye, hair and genetic make-up of a baby, a huge can of worms will be opened. I am in support of genetic engineering where if not used, the baby’s quality of life will be reduced, e.g. Down syndrome or various diseases.

Lastly, there was a very interesting presentation on organ printing. The gist of it was that we are close to being able to print organs that will be available for transplant. This is potentially amazing and we could be virtually immortal other than having dementia and going senile. A downside of this could be like the movie “the island” where humans are cloned to provide “backup organs” for their rich doubles. The world is advancing steadily and where once we were amazed by the “ear mouse”, we are now looking forward to creating new organs from scratch. In conclusion I found this lesson extremely fascinating and give it an 8/10. I look forward to more lessons like this.

Technology and World Change – Information and Communication Technology

The lesson began with yet another inspired quote by Professor Gurinder (other than the technology is easy, people are hard one haha) “ICT is the catalyst that facilitates the knowledge revolution.”

We started off the morning with a really interesting video about Project Natal. I thought the video was really cool due to the interactive nature of Milo. I especially like the part where she drew a picture and scanned it in and Milo was able to take it. What are the implications of the project? Prof talked about how in the future the use of immersive technology can help with taking care of children or interacting with senior citizens who have no one to talk to. I’m really not sure whether I agree with this. Although this immersive technology has come a long way, I am pretty sure I will not want to talk to a computer when I’m a geriatric. The immersive technology has its benefits but it could make us increasingly reliant on it. I believe the future is bleak when parents choose to let immersive technology coupled with surveillance functions raise their children. No doubt that immersive technology can have so many benefits; however, in this aspect I think it should not apply.

Next we talked about how the ICT age has benefitted us. One example is the ability to communicate with family and loved ones who are hundreds of thousands of miles away with a simple click of the mouse. One program used is Skype. I remember the first time I used video conferencing personally. That was when my sister was an undergraduate in America when I was in primary school. That time we had to go to a venue where they linked us up so we could contact her (which I believe was quite a bit of work). Fast forward a couple of years. My sister is doing her Masters yet again in the U.S of A but now I can video conference her from the comfort of my own room. John Marshall’s wife was quoted in the newspapers saying how much she appreciated the computer as it lets her talk to her grandchildren who are all overseas. This is just one benefit that ICT has given us. It allows us to break down borders and distance with a mere click.

In addition, we talked about technology in the Mass Media and how the printed media is losing out to the electronic kind. There is now a shift in how people are getting their daily dose of the news. Instead of the scene where a white collar worker is reading the business times newspaper, there are more and more workers who are reading the online versions of it in their office. Is it more convenient and easier to search online for backup information when reading an article? Yes and yes. Coupled with e-readers such as the kindle and ipad, and with the use of netbooks, the popularity of the printed media looks like it’s on the wane.

Furthermore, we also talked about whether there should be ICT provided for people in third world countries. I’m pretty sure of Prof’s stand on this and I do agree that the internet should be made available to everyone. However this is hard to do as many people in third world countries are struggling for the basic amenities and I believe that the internet and its many capabilities are far from their minds. I believe Imran was not trying to say that the people themselves should be deprived of the wonders of the internet and such, however that their more pressing needs should be taken care of by the government first. There will be no such thing as free usage to the internet provided in third world countries. There is a trade-off whereby I’m willing to bet that food or clean water will outweigh the availability of the internet. Although all it takes is one person to expand his mind and realize that there are better ways of doing things and that the world is so much larger than he once thought for ICT to accomplish something, it is tremendously hard in third world countries to achieve this one laptop for every child scheme successfully. I do believe though that education is the only way out of poverty for these children, hence I fully support the scheme.

Another thing that piqued my interest was the website Kiva, where you can donate money to budding entrepreneurs with the promise of repayment. I think the person who thought up Kiva is pretty much a genius. I would so much rather donate money to someone who actually has a plan on how to use the money to get themselves out of poverty, even if the loan is not repaid. This is much better than the Crowd rise website I believe where prizes are up for grabs.

Lastly, we talked about the wonders of cloud computing and how everybody can benefit from its use. We watched a pretty informative video which allowed me to better understand what cloud computing is. In conclusion, the lesson on ICT only further impressed upon me the importance of ICT in our present day and age. We need to embrace it and help it along to those who are denied it; by doing so, we are sure to progress. I give the lesson a 7/10 and look forward to future lessons.

Drivers of World Change; Change Management and Change Leadership

Drivers of World Change; Change Management and Change Leadership

He who rejects change is the architect of decay.  The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.  - Harold Wilson

The first part of lesson 4 was on drivers of world change. The lesson was really interesting and I especially liked the part about germs being a big driver of world change. Before the class the subject of germs as a driver of world change did not even occur to me. Prof mentioned the various epidemics such as SARS and H1N1 and also the black plague. He also explained the link between the plague and religion which served to support epidemics as a driver of world change. Prof also mentioned the 3 ways to make a change, which are:

a.         Make it happen

b.         Respond when it happens

c.         Be “surprised” when it happens

A is basically the one in the forefront of change and is the proponent of change. B is the one who sees and acknowledges the change, and goes about to embracing this change. C is just one who is pretty much ignorant of the changes. I would think most of us fall under the category of B whereby we see the change and try to adapt and find out how to benefit from the change. A makes up a small handful of leaders who think out of the box and are open to new ideas (rising star falling star model?)

We touched on information and communication technology whereby someone pointed out that could an increase in the ease of acquiring information be used in the spreading of terrorism. They can do this by providing a source of extremist ideas that might influence the naïve people reading it. One suggestion to eradicate terrorism was to educate the people who are susceptible to being influenced by these ideas. I believe that this is a valid however I would like to also point out that not all terrorists are uneducated with a narrow vision of what the rest of the world is like. It is true that the uneducated are more easily influenced but there are many cases of terrorists who had a more than average share of education. http://frontpagemag.com/2010/01/20/the-educated-muslim-terrorist/ - the article is quite interesting and is a good read. 

For the second part of the lesson we talked about Change management and Change leadership. The difference to put it simply I believe is that a leader is one who has foresight and puts forth new ideas. The manager is the one who gets down to it and implements the idea. A manager is more of a nuts and bolts kind of guy as opposed to the leader. On the other hand, a Manager can be a good Leader and a Leader must also have a “managing” trait. One of the presentations was on the roles of a CIO in our changing world. Some of the responsibilities CIO’s have to take on are

 1) Ensuring the "IT house is in order."

 2) Leveraging the CIO's unique position to create business value.

 3) Becoming an expert on your industry's value chain and competitive dynamics.

 4) Influencing your CEO to create the proper climate for change.

I believe this goes to show that jobs in our ever changing world will not have a set of roles and responsibilities cast in stone as one always needs to be able to adapt and improve his repertoire of skills. Leaders and good managers will be able to do just that and by having an open mind and responding to that change it will put you in good stead.

In conclusion the lesson was quite informative although there was not as much discussion as in week 3, however I think previous lessons were more interesting and engaging. I give the lesson 7/10.

Technology and Sustainable Development

The third session started off Technology and Sustainable development. Prof had some interesting points about how sustainability requires a shift from linear to circular thinking, and how the old industrial model had the role of economic development pitted against environmental well-being but how the sustainable industrial model has economic development working with environmental well-being. I think in the past there was really a strong mindset that economic success overruled everything including the environment. I believe that this mindset is slowly changing and that there are some instances whereby big companies are taking a stance towards taking care of the environment.http://green.yahoo.com/news/afp/20100902/ts_alt_afp/indonesiausenvironmentcompanysinarmasburgerking.html. This article is a perfect example of how large companies are looking towards environmental well-being, not just economic development.

 US fast food giant Burger King said Thursday it would no longer buy palm oil from Sinar Mas or its subsidiaries after Greenpeace campaigned against the Indonesian group's land-clearing practices.

Burger King joins the likes of Unilever, Nestle and Kraft in shunning Sinar Mas in a move that will increase pressure on other corporate buyers of its palm oil products, such as Pizza Hut, KFC, and Dunkin' Donuts.

Indonesia is the biggest producer of palm oil which is used in everything from biscuits to cosmetics, but environmentalists say plantations are driving deforestation blamed for habitat loss and greenhouse gases.

Burger King said a recent independent audit of Sinar Mas palm oil unit SMART's land-clearing practices -- commissioned by Sinar Mas in response to the Greenpeace allegations -- revealed activities "inconsistent with our corporate responsibility commitments".

"We believe the report has raised valid concerns about some of the sustainability practices of Sinar Mas' palm oil production and its impact on the rainforest," Burger King said on its Facebook page.

I do not think much explanation is required here as by reading the article one gets the idea of the shift from the linear to the circular thinking. Also we talked about the advantage of backwardness whereby the backward countries have just to wait for the more developed countries to innovate and come up with new technologies and just adopt it in time. Basically the slower countries would just let the faster ones come up with the technology, watch them implement it and improve on it, then just adopt it in their own country. This way they skip out on the costs of researching new technology and the costs that failed technology would bring. Prof coined it “The Advantage of Backwardness”. In addition, one of my questions in my presentation provided quite an insightful discussion I feel. The question was whether Green technology should be given freely or at a price. The argument for both sides is simple yet the answer is very complex. If Green technology is not given freely to less developed countries, it will not be possible for them to have sustainable development as economically they are weak. However, if you do give Green technology to them freely, there will be no benefit to the countries that have spent money on research and innovation. This will discourage the advancement of Green technology and in the long run we will lose out. The answer requires much thought and insight although I am more inclined towards supporting Green technology that is priced. I believe that less developed countries should then be helped financially to be able to afford the Green technology. I understand this is not a simple task but just giving Green technology will hinder the growth of the industry to a large extent. My key takeaway for Sustainable development is that there definitely must be a shift in thinking, from linear to circular thinking. Burger King, Nestle and Kraft Foods have taken steps towards caring for the environment and if others can do the same, we are surely on the right track for sustainable development.

The second part of the lesson was on innovation. Prof went through his Landscape Model for Technology which I found very interesting. Basically Prof went through the various opportunities along with their technology and barriers to entry. There was a presentation about Google wave which I thought was quite interesting. The key point I took away from that presentation was that Google really encourages innovation and creativity, even though it might not always pan out. Furthermore, Google was quick in establishing that the Wave was not going to work and withdrew it when they did realise. I think thus you can tie in the rising star falling star model when looking at companies like Google. They are open minded are willing to take risks, even though they failed in the Wave, they had the courage to get in the market which I believe is good attitude. I would like to share a story (not too sure about its authenticity though) about failure which I think is very interesting.  When Tom Watson Jr. was chief executive of IBM in the early 1960s, he summoned an executive to his office after the man lost $10 million in a venture. Watson asked the man, "Do you know why I called you here?" Knowing of Watson's legendary temper, the man replied: "I assume you're going to fire me."

"Fire you?" Watson asked. "I spent $10 million educating you. I just want to be sure you learned the right lessons."

Prof mentioned that innovation is market driven and not technological driven. Basically he said that there should be market demand before you start to innovate. However, I disagree with that. If Humphrey Davy and Thomas Edison had thought that way I think instead of having the light bulb, we would have a really advanced candle. Although I agree to some extent that innovation is market driven, it can also be technological driven. I believe for the most part that innovation is market driven, however sometimes new technology can create its own market demand. In conclusion, innovation is something that has to be resistant to failure and like the rising star mentality, the people behind it must be open to ideas and be open to taking calculated risks. The class was enjoyable and the discussions intellectually stimulating. I rate the class an 8/10 and hope we can have just as insightful debates in the future lessons.