TWC Session 1

I never had much interest in the current technology, just like the kind of people whom Professor Shahi referred to as luddite. I always take things as they are without questioning how these products come about or whether will they make an impact on the rest of the world. This TWC lesson made me think about questions that I had never thought of.


Professor Shahi started the lesson with a short video clip in hopes of getting us interested in the course, stating the rate at which the world’s technology is improving. Before the lesson was started proper, we were asked to do a short introduction of ourselves. We were then introduced to the overview of this course. There were a few topics which we discussed about:

Technology revolution


We watched a movie named "Guns, Germs and Steel" and were shown a timeline of technology revolution. A discussion was sparked off when we were discussing about the differences between the rates at which each country’s technology is progressing. Question like why some countries are so much more advanced than others and why there was a change in the most technologically advanced and powerful country as time progressed were brought up. Before I attended this lesson, I read through some of the notes and asked myself what led to the different rates of progress of technology. I came out with my own answer, resources and demands. Personally, I feel that people are able to invent new things because they have sufficient resources, and there is no need for them to struggle for survival. Hence, for people living in New Guinea, who work hard everyday in order to survive, who would have the time to think of new inventions to improve their lives? During the lesson however, I heard a different answer: trade. Due to the location of certain places like New Guinea, or political reasons (China), these countries have no access to international trade. I believe that without trade, improvements will be minimal.

Creativity, innovation and invention

Creativity, innovation and invention. There was a debate regarding the chronological order of these three terms. Most people agree that usually creativity comes first. I feel that creativity is the spark of an idea that initiates the discovery of a new product. After that, even though Professor Shahi does not agree with it, I feel that innovation comes next. I understand what Professor Shahi meant in class, innovation means coming up with new methods to use a product, in other words, the application of the product. However, in my opinion, in order for a product to be invented from a spark of an idea, innovation is needed. Hence, the process should be creativity -> innovation (developing an idea into a product) -> invention -> innovation (application) -> marketable product.

Technology is easy, people are hard

Regarding this statement, most of us in the class have the same opinion. Technology is easy because it is direct and straight forward. It is the people who are making things complicated by using it for different purposes. For example, a knife is simple; however, people can use a knife to do all sorts of things, such as murder, stealing, cutting, cooking etc.

I wish that we had more time to discuss about the book “Guns, Germs and Steel”. It inspired us to consider many questions that we have never thought of before and it is really interesting and benefiting to listen to different perspectives regarding an issue. I will rate this lesson 9/10.