http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM
Started off the lesson after recapping the previous class with a video about the story of stuff. I find this video interesting though it's long. (we only watch the first 5 mins of the video)
It introduced us to what is a materials economy, which starts from
extraction --> production --> distribution --> consumption --> disposable.
1/3 of the Earth's resources are gone, people are using too many stuff at a fast speed. We're running out of resources! Take US for example, the people are using more than what they need, they only make up to 5% of the world's population but consuming 30% of the world's resources and disposing 30% of the world's waste! What an impact will it have on the Earth and the world's population if it continues at the speed? We would require 3-5 Earths! However we only have 1! that's why we have to think of ways to ensure the sustainability of resources for our future generations.
The only solution to the problem will be transforming the linear system to cyclical system through adopting different ways of doing things, through the use of green technology, renewable energy and etc. One of the ways would be recycle. It's able to reduce the waste that people disposed by changing them into new products. That's one of the many ways that countries around the world has been doing to reduce raw material consumption. RECYCLE, REDUCE, REUSE! ZERO WASTE!
The role of technology:
- How can we make sustainable development if the technology applied takes jobs away from people?
I think that technology does not necessary takes jobs away from people but rather creating more jobs that might not be possible in the past without the advancement of technology. People will be able to spend more of their time on valuable stuffs that is efficient and improves their productivity level that will be able to boost the economy. There will always be advancements after the current improvement in whichever area. The drive to new innovation/technology would always be from the current innovation/technology as people would always want to be better than before. Thus with the advancement in technology, impossibilities in the past might not always still be impossibilities in the future.
Landscape Model for Technology Assessment : Conceptual Framework
- Valley Opportunities
- Summit Opportunities
- Cloud Opportunities
Though the approach is to focus on summit opportunities where there's few competitors and having high interests from investors, and there's value for it in the market, if people are able to explore into cloud opportunities that's creating more value and introducing more products into the market for consumers' selection. It might in a way be opening up more routes for everyone, but it needs to be able to take the risks involved and be determined enough to convince people and be confident in their products.
Market Driven Innovation - requires a shorter time as there's already a market for it.
Technology Driven Innovation - needs to create a market for it, requires a longer time and more expensive in general.
I find Prof Arai's perspective of R-D-A interesting through Dream, Nightmare and Reality.
Dream: through researches, it will always seems to be unrealistic as there's yet to have something similar in the market, and thus would be as though it's a dream.
Nightmare: however from the researches to development would most of the times require a long long time for it to be true, and a large proportion of it would turn out to be different from what it was meant to be.
Reality: after surviving through the nightmare stage, it's finally a reality after the product physically and selling off for consumption.
Quite a number of issues and questions raised and discussed in the class. I would rate this class an 8/10. :)
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