I find all the quote examples given by the Prof interesting and rather relevant to the current society. “My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there” by Charles Kettering is really applicable to the current situation. We should actually emphasize in creating a better future because we are going to spend the rest of our lives in the future. Whatever we do in creating a better future will benefit us when the time comes. The next quote by African Proverb is “Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”. This is so true as well. People who prepare the future now can then enjoy their lives in the future. For people who do not prepare for their future, they are less likely to see what is in there for them in the future. It is also similar to the idiom, “You reap what you sow”. Therefore, everyone should start to prepare for the future now so as to enjoy whatever the results of whatever we have done now.
Prof showed us a few videos which I find them interesting. One of the inventions in the video is an interactive newspaper. I think that it will be helpful to us because we can find out anything we want from the newspaper. The interactive newspaper can serve the same function as we search online. The news will also be reported immediately in the newspaper. This will make lives much easier for us as we get to know all the information immediately. One video states that all the high technology invention will only be available in about 984 years’ time. I think that this is quite impossible. Even though we should have confidence in our future, I think that this is unlikely to happen. We can imagine all we want, but some things are really not likely to happen. I find that all these happenings are like asking humans to fly which is quite impossible. Probably I might be wrong as if all these happen one day, but I really look forward to that day. If that really happens, life will be so much better. Another video is about the summary of all the inventions and technologies such as teleportation, cyber generation, virtual reality, interactive mind gear, Global Positioning System, robots, nano-robots and energy electric. The speaker summarizes the information about all these inventions and technologies in just one short video which I find it quite remarkable.
I learnt that to assess technology and forecast the future, we will have to understand what kind of changes will a new technology innovation brings about. We also have to know when and whether we should implement new technologies with a limited amount of resources. I learnt about the reasons why we should have strategic foresight such as analyzing the future potential of technologies, strategy development and public engagement, some commonly used foresight methodologies such as Delphi, backcasting, technology roadmapping and etc, and some common used for foresight output such as policy recommendations, analysis of trends and drivers and technology roadmaps. I never really heard about all these information and I am glad to learn more about it in this session. I also learnt that we should always have strategic planning and foresight to avoid surprises in the future.
The class then discussed about working back from future versus working toward future. Working back from future can frees us from past and allows us to work with less constrains. It also prevents us from just dealing with current situation and we are more likely to really work for future. However, estimates and foresight may be inaccurate. On the other hand, working towards future can be good in a way that we can rely on experience to bring us further. However, when we work towards future, we may face restrictions. We may consider all the various restrictions for any idea that we come up with. This will limit ourselves and we cannot really go far. Hence, I find working from future more beneficial for us. Even though we may not have prior knowledge and experiences, but we are allowed to really come up with something that is new and innovative without much constraints.
Prof then mentioned about seeds of tomorrow is already here, it is just a matter of finding them. I agree with him. We are able to start growing the seeds now so as to enjoy the harvest in the future. If we are able work hard for the future, we will be able to find the route to take and thus be able to plant the seeds now. Thus for now, we will have to think of what to do which will allow to find the seeds that we want.
Next, I learnt from one presenter about the differences between predicting versus shaping. Predicting is you will know about something while shaping is you will decide something. In shaping the future, we can use the technology available to create the future that we want. We are able to minimize the bad and maximize the good. Thus, we will have to identify the bottleneck to make things go and shape the future that we want. Prof then ended the session with a recap about the three different birds, dodo bird, eagle and ostrich. I hope to be like an eagle!
I will rate this session 9 out of 10 because I get to know more about assessing technology and forecasting.
No comments:
Post a Comment