Session 1 (16/8) Reflections

Brief Overview of the Session
The first session was an introduction to the Technology and World Change course. The readings assigned were related to technology and the rise of civilizations. Two videos were shown in class, namely Shift Happens and the first part of the interview series with Jared Diamond.

Interesting Ideas

I felt that the article showing how agriculture lead to the rise of civilizations and the growth of technology was particularly fascinating. Previously I would never have linked agriculture with technological advancement, except perhaps in the context of genetic modification and the Green Revolution. However, now the idea of how agriculture allowed people to abandon their nomadic lives, generated surpluses and encouraged specialization helps me understand how technological progress was brought about.

The historical timeline was also rather enlightening and served its purpose as a brief summary of key technological advances and roughly showed which civilizations were most advanced at a particular period. Several inventions were invented earlier than I expected and by people that I did not expect. Similarly, I was not aware of progress the Middle East had achieved in the past until I read the article.

Key Take Away Points 

From the article on the Middle East as well as the experience of China, it is clear that the mindsets of leaders play a crucial role in the growth or decline of the sharing of knowledge and the advancement of technology. In modern times, this means that government policies such as education expenditure and support for cut-edging industries can influence the technological progress of a country and its future. Can the US keep up its position as world superpower known for innovation and progress, if it continues to cut back on spending on education?

The video, Shift Happens, shown at the start of class left a deep impact on me. It set me thinking about the constantly changing world and how technology plays a part in pushing changes. It seem to reinforced the point that countries and civilizations may rise and fall. In particular, at 1:53, “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist using technologies that haven’t yet been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.” I felt that this line very accurately described the purpose of our course. 

Issues for Further Discussion

There was a rather in-depth discussion relating to the concepts of “technology”, “innovation” and “creativity”, however I felt that more time could have been spent on the discussing the concept of “world change”. As observed by Jared Diamond, technological advancement is not uniform. In some communities such as the New Guineans, it seems to have completely by pass them. What then do we mean by “world change”? What implications are there if the technological divide widens? 

Rating

8/10, for the enjoyable and engaging start to the course as well as to the new school term. The screening of the Shift Happens video was a great way to start the course.