TWC lesson 12

Brief Summary

The first presentation was about prosthetic. Talked about the history of prosthetic, possible economic, social issues of modern prosthetic, proposed solutions and possible improvements to the technology. The second was somewhat similar to the first with many additional fields like Bionic eye. Third presentation was about the different preservative methods of food, in-vitro meat and the future consideration of such a technology. Fourth was about sex and advertisement. A interesting and eye-catching presentation about the timeline of sexual education, the implications and the future consideration of it. The last presentation was about virtual reality. It talks about virtual world, how meetings can actually take place online in a virtual reality. Augmented reality and how it has already been incorporated into our lives. Ikea has been using it to allow people to know how the furniture could look in your house.

Interesting observations

The presentation was very interesting and the prospects of mind controlled prosthetics are very exciting.  The part of how war created demand for prosthetics was a very interesting part as well. It was exciting how prosthetics could create a permanent solution to paralysis and the impacts of such a technology is wide and far reaching.

Economic effects- The group mentioned that mind controlled prosthetics cost 8m dollars now. However I do not think that this is a problem as the initial cost of technology is always expensive. I believe that as more research and innovation occur, the cost will plummet and it would be made available to a larger proportion of the population. For example, 3D  printing technology actually helped lower the cost of mind-controlled prosthetics to 500USD dollar. As further development occurs in the 3D printing fields, it could be possible that the cost for prosthetics could decrease further in the future.

Social effects- However it does make sense that if the prosthetics were actually stronger than our original limbs, people might want to amputate their arms just to replace it with the prosthetics. This would thus create many social problems. However, such a technology would also mean that the older generation would have the ability to regain some of their abilities to carry on with their daily lives.

The second presentation was somewhat similar to the first. However, Cedric’s group talked about more fields such as the Bionic eye and the improved hearing aids. It is exciting how technology has provided solutions to diseases that were previously thought to be untreatable. As technology advances, what other diseases could be treated? Would there be a time where technology has advanced so much that immortality is no longer a myth?

The group also mentioned that space race can actually be a good thing for humanity. I do agree on that part, and that I believe that competition is one of the best sources of motivation. However, such competition is usually a race to complete a certain weapon and to protect national interest. If we are able to channel such competition into developing technology that helps humanity on the whole, I believe it could greatly benefit mankind.

One problem I have identified with In-vitro meat was that there could be a disparity between the rich and the poor.The rich will continue to eat normal meat while the poor will have to settle with meat that is made in labs. Golden rice was mentioned, however I have read an article about how golden rice is actually not very effective. The beta-carotene in golden rice can only be activated in the presence of fats, and the person that actually requires such rice normally would have a healthy diet that consists of fats. There might be hidden implications in such GMO food and extensive research and technological assessment should be carried out before allowing it to be commercialized.

Meat is a very inefficient form of food. Interesting point as a large amount of corn is used in the process of making the meat. Poor storage leads to almost 10% loss in the total yield. Poor storage leads to spoilage and pest like rats could damage the harvest.

Key takeaways

The world is rapidly changing and technology is rapidly being innovated. From the different presentations, it actually identifies many implications of the technology that is not known to me. It is important to try our best to identify such implications so that disasters such as the Monsanto or Ecaudor disaster does not repeat itself.

Rating

8/10 as it presented much different indepth analysis of technologies such as the mind-controlled prosthetics, virtual reality or the use of sexual advertisement. Greatly broadened my perspectives of the technologies discussed.