Session 11!

Group presentations today!

Interesting Observations and Ideas:

It was interesting to note that no matter how different the technologies the groups were doing on, these technologies could be used together for a better future.

For example, the designer babies (group 1) and space travel (group 3). Group 3 proposed that space travel could bring more humans to other planets as a form of holiday or permanent change of place to live. Group 1 suggested that babies that could be modified genetically to adapt to different environments.

Hence, humans may grow accustomed or be able to live under the different environments in the various planets.

This shows how vastly different technologies may be used together. Then, seeing the world today, it dawned upon me that even today; humans have not been fully utilizing the different technologies to produce desirable results.

Hence, the focus for humans to move forward in the present could be that we should not place so much hope in future technologies to solve our problems. Instead, use existing technologies more efficiently.

Key take-away points:

1.   Include references for pictures/videos!

2.   Good to include comment and poll system in blog to encourage more discussions about the issue.

3.   Give clear introduction in the site so that other people visiting the blog will understand what the entire website is talking about. (for example, a simple introduction to the project)

Issues for further discussion:

Currently, most of the technologies that the four groups have presented upon are exclusive to the rich. Hence, they were touted to increase the income gap, increasing the number of ‘have’s and ‘have not’s.

However, could there be a possibility for them to become cheaper? After all, don’t all technologies become cheap in the long run, especially after the patent period? For example, there could be mass production of that technology that drives down the price significantly.

Another question is if the nanomedicine that is suggested by group two can be used to detect the cause of the illness. My group currently is doing on management of epidemics and every time a pandemic strikes, time is key.

Currently, group two only postulates the ability of nanomedicine to cure chronic diseases. But since the micro robots are able to travel within a human’s body to fight or remove the cells that cause the disease, is it possible for them to synthesize the harmful cells for us to come up with a cure faster?

Personal Ratings for Session: 9/10