TWC Lesson 9

Brief summary

This week’s lesson was about new and emerging technologies and world change. This was a very interesting lesson that talks about the different drivers for emerging and new technologies and the interesting technologies like nanotechnology and artificial intelligence system.

Interesting observations

There was a discussion on facial recognition abilities of augmented reality devices in class. I found that to be quite a creepy thought, and to think that such technology has already been researched and implemented in some websites like Facebook. It’s a scary thought because strangers could easily find out a myriad of information about you just with one look at you. There is no question that we have revealed way too much personal information on the internet, at least on my part. If someone really wanted to, I believe they could find out many things about me just by looking at my facebook pictures and activities. If such a technology was widely implemented, would that not cause a situation where privacy is easily breached? There are many pros and cons to this augmented reality technology and I believe that an adequate amount of effort should be placed into balancing the benefits of the technology with the social issues it could bring.

Another interesting observation I made was on the future of plastic electronic technology. The video that was showed was really insightful and provided a lot of possibilities plastic electronics could entice. It is hard to imagine a contact lense that could display images directly into your sight and the fact that such a technology could be made available in the near future is an exciting thought. The idea that prof brought up where the newspapers could be made obsolete with a permanent plastic one was a great idea in my opinion. Everyday, tonnes and tonnes of paper are wasted to print the newspapers which are only used once. It is such a waste of resources! If we could have one universal plastic newspaper for every household in which individuals can go online to pay for the newspaper, it would greatly reduce the wastage of paper.

The purpose that artificial intelligence are being used in japan is a scary thought though. I have seen documentaries where Japanese guys are marrying this “online wifes” through some specialized hotel where a virtual marriage would be held. If the artificial intelligence system could now be incorporated into humanoids, the consequences might be quite dire for the Japanese society. Japanese teenagers might be opting to marry a humanoid other half and the fertility rates might plunge. Furthermore, I can foresee a lot of social and ethical issues arising. Would these humanoid dolls be considered human? What are the penalties if they were to do something wrong? It is a very tangled issue and I believe that governments in question should really proceed with caution and care when dealing with the issue.

One of the presenters also brought up the idea of nuclear fission as a possible method of obtaining energy. The technology does indeed sound very promising, as its raw materials are hydrogen which can be found all over the atmosphere. However, the question is whether the cost of perfecting this technology will be worth the effort. In my opinion, it sounds more feasible to invest in coming up with new and better methods of harnessing the sun as a source of energy. The sun provides so much energy to earth, and if a country like Germany could successfully make use of solar energy, I don’t see why the rest of the world couldn’t. The solution to our energy crisis is right there infront of us, why are governments around the world not putting in 100% to perfect the techniques for capturing solar energy? Such is some of the questions that really puzzle me at times.

Key takeaways

Technologies are rapidly evolving and renewing itself in current times. It is imperative that despite all the benefits and convenience such new technologies can bring, we do not overlook any possible social, economic, environmental or ethical issues that might entail. It is important that we, as the consumers, are able to see the big picture of any emerging technologies and not just be blinded by the immediate benefits that the technology can provide.

Personal rating

7/10. I felt that some of the topics were not discussed in depth. However, I blame the lack of time as emerging technologies is a really broad and wide topic that a short discussion of 3 hours would not be enough to cover.