Session 1: "Why do white people have so much cargo, but we New Guineans have so little?"

Prior to walking into my very first Technology and World Change lesson, I was clueless about what this course has to offer. I could not fully understand the relationship between the two key ideas and was unaware of how technology brought about world change and/or vice versa. To my pleasant surprise, I walked out of the seminar room at the end of the lesson pretty impressed, and with an enlightened mind.

Connected But Disconnected
Something that got me thinking at the start of the lesson occurred during our ice-breaking session. In one of my classmate's introduction, he commented that '(technology) has made us connected but disconnected'. Immediately, the sentence struck me. Not because of how peculiarly it was phrased, but because of how true it was. Today, with the Internet, it is only common that we are so actively involved on social networking sites. For some (unfortunately, I would say), it has become our way of life. Think about it. Information nowadays is so easily accessible on the Internet. (Then again, I was wondering why we sometimes still have problems looking for the exact information we want. Is the information on the Internet too much for us to handle, so much so that we get lost in it?) We are able to communicate with friends, colleagues and family on the other end of the planet through emails, Facebook, Skype, etc. To add to that, most of these social networking sites include additional perks, for example games, which aim to attract more consumers onto their sites. And simply because we find that these sites are entertaining enough and it also helps us to stay connected with the 'world', we unknowingly find ourselves spending a significant amount of time on them. As a result, we start to neglect real relationships around us and start to underestimate the importance of holding real conversations and keeping physical contact with loved ones. In a video showed during class, it was stated that there are more Farmville farmers than real farmers in the world. Such shocking facts have definitely made me a little worried about what technology holds for the world in future.

Guns, Germs and Steel
It being the first lesson, topics discussed were mostly introductory, where we explored the history of technology and the rise of civilisations. Prof Shahi introduced the topic with a very thought-provoking video about Jared Diamond's book titled Guns, Germs and Steel. In the video, a New Guinean named Yali threw Diamond a question: "Why do white people have so much cargo, but we New Guineans have so little?" This may seem like a pretty simple question at first, but is it? I begin to question how countries have risen and fallen as power houses and what is the most important factor that has contributed to these happenings. In Diamond's work, he focussed on geographical location and plant and animal domestication as the key factors that have resulted in white people being significantly wealthier than the New Guineans. It is true, that countries can do little about their geographical location and the availability of raw materials on their land. Unfortunately, New Guinea's geographical location was not as favourable as Europe's. Therefore, despite New Guineans being as intelligent as the whites, their rate of development falls way behind their European counterparts. On the other hand, while Singapore had no raw materials to kickstart our development, we are blessed with a very favourable geographical location that is highly accessible by air, land and sea. As a result, we were still able to grow and prosper. As I thought further, I became aware that there are other factors, such as political factors, that are important, and can contribute to a country's development. I am then curious to know, if New Guinea's lack of development could be due to other reasons such as cultural identities?

As we all know, we are living in exponential times, and the interval between revolutionary developments are getting shorter and shorter. This means that things that are unthinkable and unheard of now, could jolly well be a reality in a foreseeable future. What then, does this mean for the human race?

Lesson Rating: 6/10
Generally an eye-opener. I now no longer look at things around me just at face value. Instead, I start to wonder and question about how even simple technology, like the lightbulb, has actually impacted my life. It was interesting though, to know that the theme song of The Big Bang Theory actually sums up technology and world change pretty well! I am thoroughly intrigued about the course, but topics in the first lessons were insufficiently discussed. Hopefully as the class warms up, discussions will get more intense and interesting. I am definitely curious to know what more there is to come.