Week 3

The Venus Project
Jolene gave a thought provoking review of The Venus Project, the brainchild of Jacque Fresco, as a possible answer to unsustainable development. The Venus Project is a utopia, built and managed with advanced technology to efficiently use resources, ensuring there is enough for everybody. However what captured my attention was that resources are shared equally amongst everybody without the use any form of currency.

McKay, G. (2013, March 10). The Venus Project [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://misfitsarchitecture.com/2013/03/10/the-venus-project/

While the prospects of the Venus Project seemed attractive at first, anyone could quickly realise that with human self-interest, it is likely that such a society would crumble eventually.

We can see in historical examples such as the agrarian communal society of Jonestown (which I have put a link and a brief description to in the Facebook group), or the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR. It is worth noting that China, while technically still a socialist state, only managed to achieve such spectacular growth after it adopted market-based economic reforms, which I have covered in the previous blog post.

Market Driven or Technology Driven
Professor Shahi went further on to prompt the question of whether innovations are market driven or technology driven. It reminded me of the quote:

"Necessity is the mother of Invention"

~Plato

Yet, it can be seen, more clearly in recent times, that Invention can also be the cause of Necessity. In other words, people innovate and create new products when there is no prior need to it. Their innovation instead creates the demand for such a product.

Professor Shahi used the smartphone as an example, which Apple pioneered when Steve Jobs announced the iPhone in 2007, thereby opening a whole new demand market for the smartphone. 

Wearable Technology

It got me thinking that the possibilities for future consumer technology is virtually limitless. 

Miller, J. (Photographer). (2013, September 04). Samsung Galaxy Gear [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.cnet.com/8301-35205_1-57600744/samsungs-galaxy-gear-smartwatch-clocks-in-at-ifa/

Just several days ago, Samsung announced the Galaxy Gear smart-watch, which together with Google's soon to be released Google Glass, will open up a whole new market for wearable technology. We are truly living in exciting times.

Concluding Thoughts
I would rate the session an overall 8. Many interesting thoughts were put forward although I wished that we could have discussed more on Kartika's presentation: "Is the Singaporean Soil Fertile for Creativity". I felt that, since many of us in the room had essentially been through the Singaporean education system, we could have given a more personal opinion on the matter.