Week 2

As a recap of last week’s lesson, there was a brief mention of the cause of the Dark Ages – the Plague of Justinian, which contributed to the Black Death that sent the Eastern Roman Empire into a state of pandemonium and unrest – which ironically also led to the Renaissance. It was through the acquiring of knowledge of newer drugs and vaccines as well as innovation that made the cultural movement from the Late Middle Ages to the modern era possible.

Moving on, the technicality of global dominance in the forms of military, social, cultural, economic, and industrial was discussed. To be a dominant player (rising star), it is imperative to exhibit characteristics such as optimism to learn from others, openness to other people’s perspective and to have a keen interest to invest in new ideas.

What caught my attention was the reading regarding “Innovation to the Reset World” by Vijay Govindarajan. His main takeaway message was the need to harness innovation, the key that allowed the recovery from the Black Friday crisis. It is important to “selectively forget the past” while dealing with legacy and existing infrastructure and “create the future”- forward looking projects that will improve the bottom line a decade down the road. Clearly, we should be forward looking, learn from our past mistakes and move on. In this article, he highlights that “the best time to prepare for expansion is during a recession”.

The second article was about human development indicators (HDI) that measure the development of countries. This includes factors such as standard of living, life expectancy, literacy rates and GDP. However, what stuck out was “happyness”. Is this a relevant factor of a country? Evidently so! How can a society thrive if it is fraught with unrest and turmoil?

What perturbed me the most was the video outlining the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

1)      Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger- 1.2 billion people live on $1 a day or less.

2)      Achieve universal primary education- 121 million children are out of school; 65 million girls, 56 million boys.

3)      Promote gender equality and empower women- About 575 million women are illiterate worldwide.

4)      Reduce child mortality- 11 million children aged 5 and below die from preventable diseases annually.

5)      Improve maternal health- 1 in every 16 African women die during as a result of pregnancy.

6)      Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases- almost 42 million people live with HIV/AIDS; 92% are in developing countries.

7)      Ensure environmental sustainability- Almost 1billion people live in squalor and over 2 billion people live without proper sanitation.

8)      Develop a global partnership for development

This shows the huge disparity present in the world today despite our development we have thus far. This is definitely a cause of concern but I believe that it is only after political differences are resolved and diplomatic partnerships forged can we then steer in the correct path to achieve the abovementioned goals by the year 2015.

Hans Rosling’s graphical representation of how countries change over 2 centuries is also an eye-opener. The concept of how independent colonies progress during the Industrial Revolution, overcome obstacles such as the Great Depression is simply fascinating. The West is slowly losing their dominance to the rest of the world. Through the ages, the huge historical disparity between the Western countries and their less developed counterparts is increasingly dwindling. The trend, as shown, is indicating that we are becoming an entirely new converging world. With trade, green technology and peace, it is possible for the world to be moulded into a more equalised place to live in.

Overall, I would like to give this week’s lesson an 8.5/10. Perhaps the concept of the rise of civilization could be further discussed in class? Relating to Vijay Govindarajan once more, it is important to look at the rise and fall of our predecessors so that we will not commit the same mistakes.

Week 1

“Why you white men have so much cargo and we, New Guineans have so little?” Yali, a native from Papua New Guinea laid this conundrum at my feet as I watched the video, ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ and it set me thinking of the disparity in levels of technological know-how between developed countries such as the US and (looking at the other end of the spectrum) Papua New Guinea.

A few reasons came to mind. Firstly, exposure to technology plays a huge factor. If the existence of such gadgets is not known, how could we expect people (tribesmen) to improve or work towards it? Largely overlooked as well is the next-in-line, comfort zone where the aborigines are simply contented with subsistence-based agriculture that they do not feel the need to seek more efficient ways of living. The third being geographic location/isolation. Albeit unfair, the residents have been living as a recluse since time immemorial, shut off from the changing times. As developed countries continue to prosper and evolve, these natives remain at subsistence level, resulting in the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Another topic discussed in class was the future of the human race. Exposed to sci-fi movies such as I, Robot and wall-E, a couple of apocalyptic scenarios are likely. For one, will we grow to be obese couch potatoes who will be too lazy to get out of the chair simply because tasks can be performed with a touch of a single button? Scarily, our future is seemingly approaching this dystopian nightmare. With increased levels of technology, it is easier for consumers to conveniently have take-outs from fast food outlets, compromising their health in the process. More so with the rampant spread of the media with advertisements of fast food franchise and their “finger-linkin’ good” or “I’m lovin’ it” slogans plaguing the world, it’s no wonder our modern day culture is so easily tempted by this ‘siren song’.

Article named Historic Innovation, Modern solutions.

1.            What factors led to the Middle East becoming a major global centre of learning, science and technology a millennium ago (i.e. about 1000 years ago) while much of Europe was still in the midst of the “dark ages”?

·         Science and technology flourished in the Middle East to a far greater extent than in the West.

·         In the field of medicine, much of the knowledge developed by the Muslims was transmitted to the Europeans. Examples include mathematics, astronomy, medicine, pharmacology, optics, chemistry, botany, philosophy and physics.

2.            How did the Middle East contribute to the renaissance in Europe? What factors brought about the renaissance?

·         In the field of medicine, much of the knowledge developed by the Muslims was transmitted to the Europeans.

3.            What useful lessons can we learn from the historical experience of the Middle East? How does the experience of the Middle East differ from that of the other great centre of knowledge and civilization around the same time, the middle kingdom (i.e. China)?

·         The use of modern solutions to tackle problems.

·         Unlike China, the Middle East had access to more sophisticated forms of technology.

Overall, I would like to rate this session 8/10. Perhaps, a suggestion I would like to proffer (that I would like to be addressed in class) would be to place more emphasis on the concept of Luddites/Neo-luddites. As defined by the oxford dictionary, a Luddite is a member of any of various bands of workers in England organized to destroy manufacturing machinery, under the belief that its use diminished employment. I was initially taken aback by this group of people and their way of life and this unusual set of beliefs. This set me chain of questions- what made them the way they are today? How will they adapt and keep up in the present fast-changing world? Will they ever break free from this stigma/misconception?