New Beginnings

 Technology is undeniably a big part in our everyday lives, be it traveling from place to place, to something as simple as just telling the time. Where would we be without technology today?

Today's Lesson (Brief overview/summary)

 RESEARCH, REPORT AND REGURGITATE

Those were my initial thoughts when I first bidded for the TWC course. Myself, I am not the biggest fan of embracing the latest technological trends such as the iPhone and Facebook. You could hardly blame me for having the Monday blues when i entered the class!

Surprisingly, my introduction into this new world, was not what i had imagined.

We started off with introductions throughout the class. It was a nice touch that helped to relieve some tension from the classroom.We watched a video entitled Shift Happens, and moved on to look at the looooooong timeline of technology, every single breakthrough from prehistoric times until now.

That was when it hit me. I had never given a second thought as to where it came from, had I?  Technology had always been there for me, ever since I was young till now. I basically took everything for granted. That is why, today being the first lesson, I feel it was only right that we delved into the history of technology, where the very basis of technology came about. Where would we be now, without having had the wheel invented? We should not only recognize the success that technology has brought us, but the efforts of the inventors before them.

However, the highlight of the session, for me, had to be when Professor Shahi showed us a video based upon the book Guns, Germs and Steel. It depicted the major imbalances across the world, and dug deep into the past to try and find the root causes of this said divide.

"What factors do you think resulted in this huge technological difference?"

Class discussion started and a few good points were pointed out.

Firstly, one classmate suggested that the transfer of knowledge and materials through the overseas  expeditions. This is something I find to be very true, as it might have led to an influx of new technologies that gave the Europeans an unfair advantage over others in development.  Whatever the Europeans lacked, they used barter trade to obtain it from other countries, trading sacks of barley for domesticated animals to help pull their ploughs. Any inventions they needed, they looked abroad to other countries and copied the designs, and brought them back to their home country. These cultural exchanges of entire countries took not the best materials and practices out of each country, but more importantly the most relevant to them at the time, what they needed to continue their progress in the technological chain. This ultimately manifested into their technological supremacy over the rest.

Secondly, it was brought up that there was a lack of writing in Papua New Guineans (PNGs) to express their own ideas to their own communities. I believe strongly that an idea starts off as being nothing more than thoughts and dreams of the future. It only can only be considered an invention, after rounds of refinement and tinkering with the initial prototype. How useful would it be to chop down a tree with a blunt axe? The idea of using a tool to help chop trees down is there, but it is just not efficient. This is where brainstorming comes in. Unfortunately, that is where PNGs fail at. Having no way to make notes on what the idea might be, there can be no input from their fellow tribesmen to help improve the idea. They themselves might even forget about the idea after awhile! They ended up only operating in their own comfort zones, and "killed" creativity and innovation at a time crucial for technological developments. This inability to express their ideas clearly, and communicate within their society ultimately led to a standstill in the technology front, regardless of how ingenious their people might be.

Key take-away points:
1. My view of technology has changed drastically.
2. Technology is not an entity by itself, it is the big driving factor behind major socio-economical changes.
3. Technological developments inherently imbue a snowball-effect, be it decades or centuries down the timeline.

(issues for further discussion) One issue which I would like to have seen discussed was the importance of the inventions created at that particular point of time.

I would rate this session a 9 out of 10, for the interesting and relevant use of materials (Youtube), along with the clear direction of lesson as well as class involvement in blogging and facebook. It has really piqued my thirst for knowledge and I cannot wait until the next lesson starts!

I think my stance as a luddite has changed for the better.