Who Are the real Savages? Lesson 2

"There are many humorous things in the word, among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages."
  - Mark Twain

This week's TWC class was focused on technology and human development. And surprisingly, there was a major difference from the first class. However, it was interesting to understand so many different things in a span of three hours. With five presentations and two session-class, it was always going to be a content heavy class.

Good thing it was an afternoon class, and I was fresh and attentive, which made the class all the more better and fun. After Prof. revised the previous weeks topics, we were asked a rather simple question. Is innovation a subset of invention, or the other way round? I was pretty confident when I said Innovation is a subset of Invention, but sadly I was mistaken. Prof. explained how if there was no innovation in ideas, people would never be motivated to invent new things. The rest of the session was focused on the different dimensions of global dominance and Profs. Organizational Behavior Model which helped us understand the difference between rising, falling and dominant players. 
          The second session was focused more towards development, as we understood the different development indicators and what development actually means, which is a change in a positive direction. 

Out of all the readings we had to do (which I managed to do :p), the one I found most interesting was the article on colonialism and the impact it created on millions of human beings. An era which destroyed individuality and freedom, and instead advocated hatred, slavery and discrimination.
Sitting in that TWC class, all I could think about was about my country India, which was one of the victims of colonialism. And even though they spread education, road systems, communication, etc., they stripped nations of their wealth and never gave them a fair chance to promote their culture and develop themselves, which is probably why my country is still suffering today. This part of the lecture became very personal at one point, which got me very involved in the discussion. And this question arose in my mind on "who are savages really?". Is it because the indigenous tribes of Native America were friendly and naive, that they invited Columbus's crew onto them for genocide. Or the fact that the Indians and Africans didn't speak the language and offered their spices for trading, that they were captured and made slaves. 

A particular video which was both funny and painfully true was this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWedTbuAtR4&feature=related 

My key take away points from this class would be that human development has been a long ongoing process, which will continue on for generations to come. In some regions, where countries were colonized, they are heading towards a period of development now. The question at the end of the session was "Can we afford to remain indifferent?"

Individual Oral Presentations 
There were five very intellectually challenging presentations that brought the class alive with discussions and points of view. Each of them very unique and interesting. We looked at different aspects such as the Rise of China and the awesome new translation app, to the role of technology in early childhood, Eugenics and the Dark Side of technology. Each presentation had a challenging question posted to us, which really made us think, question and understand. 

Gross National Happiness (GNH), supposed to be an effective method of measuring happiness by the people of Bhutan, which I found so touching and humane, that finally some one was interested in less materialistic things. 

Im still very interested to exploit further into the effects that colonialism had and the different development around the world and how technology has aided this development. I can't wait till the next class, and all the other presentations. 

Rating: 9/10

Waiting for the viral to hit again :)

Breaking the Ice, Lesson 1

The excitement of walking into your first class at university is a feeling indescribable. Anxiety, fear, excitement, curiosity; it envelopes you. Lucky for me I had the chance of walking in to my first class at SMU in the School of Accountancy for Technology and World Change (TWC) with Prof. Gurinder Shahi. Everything about that room and the atmosphere suggested that it was going to be a different and exciting learning experience. And boy was I right about that!

Prof. began the class by introducing himself and a little bit about TWC, and then asking each and every one of us to introduce ourselves through "Ice breakers", which in the most literal sense, help us break the ice between new, tense faces. With a couple of jokes and learning about different people and their opinions and interests really helped me feel more comfortable about the class. Along with a short background and interests of ourselves, each of us were asked to answer the question, "What do you know about technology?". The reason I chose to go into detail about this point is because the name of my blog stems from this incident. When it was my turn to answer, I simply said that I feel technology is "Viral". On asked to elaborate more by Prof, I went on to explain how technology is everywhere around us from the roads to the rooms we sit in, to the communication we use, to even capturing our memories in the form of photos, its everywhere, and its spreading!!! Henceforth, I do believe that this is the most apt term to describe my TWC blog. 

The rest of the session included Prof. going into details about a very important aspect of human development, the timeline of inventions and rise of civilization. 
One thing I understood very clearly form the moment TWC started was that this class wasn't about technology and I wasn't here to learn how to become a "tech savvy" person, or get good with computers; but actually understand the larger picture through the immense application of technology in our lives. 
Some notable moments of the session included watching two videos:
- Shift happens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdTOFkhaplo) 
- Guns, Germs and Steel (Documentary) 

These topics drew my attention immediately as it is interesting and important to understand how change in inevitable. While Prof went through a list of important inventions including fire, gunpowder, etc., another important observation I made was that even though technology has helped transform the life of million people and helped our world advance; it has caused equal or significant amount of damage and destruction, which brought me to my next notable learning point- that technology has to be balanced. Too much or too little can be disastrous. Prof. even gave us examples of how ignorance causes lack of development and invention of ideas and very soon I felt like I was sitting in a history or psychology class. :)

What interested me the most about this class was the variety it had to offer, inculcating so many different areas, aspects and perceptions. It was amazing how within those four walls, I could capture information from all over the world to study and learn about. What I do look forward to is learning more about future inventions and also the harm technology can cause. I believe it is necessary to look at everything with a holistic view, and can't wait to discuss more on that.

Overall, I was nothing but amazed when I walked out of that classroom. Feeling excited and enthusiastic about everything that TWC has to offer this term. TWC has also given me the unique experience of writing a blog for the very first time. I am truly excited and hope this works as a forum for not only sharing my knowledge, but gaining much more from others.

Ratings : 8/10

Waiting for the Viral to hit again :)