Week 2 TWC
This week's TWC lesson was largely on global dominance in addition to several of my course mates' presentations.
An interesting observation that caught my eye was Prof's triangle model which he used to explain the dominant parties through their behavioral traits and attitudes. I agreed with the model that the dominant organizations in a particular field or industry would fall into a decline if they ever adopted a closed perspective, or marginalized their Research and Development sector. While on the other hand, one with an open attitude and a hunger for new ideas given the right conditions, would definitely be on the path to success. One example that immediately came to my mind was the smartphone market. From the start of the 21st century, Nokia had the leading share of the smartphone market with its N series phones which had a technological edge over most of the other competitors' products at the time, until Apple released its first Iphone in 2007. Nokia were quick to dismiss it as a mere fad, but what they failed to realize and change was that their complicated Symbian software would be pushed aside by app manufacturers and consumers for the user friendly Iphone operating system, and instead focused on churning out more N series phones. Samsung was quick to catch on and had a major revamp of its smartphone operating systems and produced the S series phones. Today. Apple and Samsung hold the largest share of the smartphone market with Nokia a mere shadow of its past.
The graph showing the regions of the world and their stake in the world's economy at different points in time was another thought provoking stimulant. Major powers in the 16th century like India and China saw their share in the world's economy dwindle away. While Prof's earlier triangle model can be used to explain the fall of China during the Qing dynasty due to the Empress Dowager Cixi's closed perspective and anti reform stance, I felt that the downfall of a dominant party or organization could be due to other very important factors as well, which was not in the model. For example, throughout the Qing Dynasty, uprisings and plots of rebellions were abound, which split the country into 2. For India in the 18th century, it was the war between the Mughal and Maratha Empires that allowed the UK to intervene and seize control of India.
The presentations afterwards by my course mates were very informative, but I liked Sylvester's presentation on eugenics best. Today, eugenics is a largely taboo topic, with Hitler's Holocaust and his extreme policies, advocating the extermination of what he deemed lesser beings, and thus, hardly discussed. While there are studies and research showing that indeed, this will lead to an advancement of the human species, there are definitely violent objections from many sides, not to mention that the racial aspects of eugenics today falls under the international crime of genocide. Another negative aspect of eugenics would be the declining birth rate as demonstrated by the empire of Sparta. Their practice of infanticide by killing off babies which they deemed to be weak at birth was one of the earliest forms of eugenics. It led to a militarized state with an army of widely feared soldiers which they deemed as the strongest of the human race. Many theories are given today as to why the empire fell into decline, but the most common and widely accepted one is that over time, the birth rate fell, and slowly, they had a smaller army which would be outnumbered by its neighbours in the future.
The key take away points from the lecture would be firstly, change is the only constant. For a country or organization to stay at the top of its game, it would have to keep an open mindset for improvements, as well as continuously reinventing itself to stay ahead of its competitors.
Secondly, technology is a double edged sword. Overall, it has done wonders in improving our daily lives, but as Tianbai's presentation pointed out, cyber crime is one of the negative effects that have come out of the advancement in computer technology and the internet. Colonialism was another negative product of the advancement in technology, where a country more technologically advanced sought to dominate and conquer other rest developed countries. An example being Spain's expeditions to Latin America, where they brutally massacred the natives in their search for gold.
Overall I would give the lesson a 9/10, with the only regret being not having enough time to fully explore the interesting issues covered like eugenics. I definitely look forward to my other course mate's presentations next week!
An interesting observation that caught my eye was Prof's triangle model which he used to explain the dominant parties through their behavioral traits and attitudes. I agreed with the model that the dominant organizations in a particular field or industry would fall into a decline if they ever adopted a closed perspective, or marginalized their Research and Development sector. While on the other hand, one with an open attitude and a hunger for new ideas given the right conditions, would definitely be on the path to success. One example that immediately came to my mind was the smartphone market. From the start of the 21st century, Nokia had the leading share of the smartphone market with its N series phones which had a technological edge over most of the other competitors' products at the time, until Apple released its first Iphone in 2007. Nokia were quick to dismiss it as a mere fad, but what they failed to realize and change was that their complicated Symbian software would be pushed aside by app manufacturers and consumers for the user friendly Iphone operating system, and instead focused on churning out more N series phones. Samsung was quick to catch on and had a major revamp of its smartphone operating systems and produced the S series phones. Today. Apple and Samsung hold the largest share of the smartphone market with Nokia a mere shadow of its past.
The graph showing the regions of the world and their stake in the world's economy at different points in time was another thought provoking stimulant. Major powers in the 16th century like India and China saw their share in the world's economy dwindle away. While Prof's earlier triangle model can be used to explain the fall of China during the Qing dynasty due to the Empress Dowager Cixi's closed perspective and anti reform stance, I felt that the downfall of a dominant party or organization could be due to other very important factors as well, which was not in the model. For example, throughout the Qing Dynasty, uprisings and plots of rebellions were abound, which split the country into 2. For India in the 18th century, it was the war between the Mughal and Maratha Empires that allowed the UK to intervene and seize control of India.
The presentations afterwards by my course mates were very informative, but I liked Sylvester's presentation on eugenics best. Today, eugenics is a largely taboo topic, with Hitler's Holocaust and his extreme policies, advocating the extermination of what he deemed lesser beings, and thus, hardly discussed. While there are studies and research showing that indeed, this will lead to an advancement of the human species, there are definitely violent objections from many sides, not to mention that the racial aspects of eugenics today falls under the international crime of genocide. Another negative aspect of eugenics would be the declining birth rate as demonstrated by the empire of Sparta. Their practice of infanticide by killing off babies which they deemed to be weak at birth was one of the earliest forms of eugenics. It led to a militarized state with an army of widely feared soldiers which they deemed as the strongest of the human race. Many theories are given today as to why the empire fell into decline, but the most common and widely accepted one is that over time, the birth rate fell, and slowly, they had a smaller army which would be outnumbered by its neighbours in the future.
The key take away points from the lecture would be firstly, change is the only constant. For a country or organization to stay at the top of its game, it would have to keep an open mindset for improvements, as well as continuously reinventing itself to stay ahead of its competitors.
Secondly, technology is a double edged sword. Overall, it has done wonders in improving our daily lives, but as Tianbai's presentation pointed out, cyber crime is one of the negative effects that have come out of the advancement in computer technology and the internet. Colonialism was another negative product of the advancement in technology, where a country more technologically advanced sought to dominate and conquer other rest developed countries. An example being Spain's expeditions to Latin America, where they brutally massacred the natives in their search for gold.
Overall I would give the lesson a 9/10, with the only regret being not having enough time to fully explore the interesting issues covered like eugenics. I definitely look forward to my other course mate's presentations next week!
