TWC end of semester blog.

An overview of what we have covered:

Technology, Society and Global dominance
We learnt what about technology, which was the usage of tools and techniques to enhance the way we do things. That knowledge was, and is being generated at an exponential rate, of which we will soon which a point of singularity, artificial intelligence would have progressed beyond our human intelligence and information is generated at such a rate that it is impossible to keep up with. For global dominance, we learnt about the effect technologies and its related changes have on companies, and exerts a pressure on these companies to reinvent themselves constantly rather than stagnating. Concept of dominant player, rising star, falling star, etc.

Technology and Human Development
An eye opening lesson where we learnt about the harsh realities of colonialism in america and british colonies. My preconception of colonialism being a positive catalyst for change was challenged as the readings spoke about the economic loss and outflow of resources that the colonised countries suffered as a result.

Technology and Industrial Development - Moving towards sustainable development
It talked about the need for sustainable development in view of the surge in industrial development in many developing countries. As a result technology has been of increasing influence and brought greater impacts, of which most were negative, on our earth. Consequentially we need to shift from the traditional linear method of production into a cyclical one. An interesting concept was the theory of backward advantage, which seemed to nullify the benefits of being the first to innovate, but also served as an unintentional force in solving the problem of inequality. In fact, as we look back, what Prof constantly asked was about the ethical issues that a technology brings up, with the most common one being "the rich getting access to the technology first, while the poor are unable to afford it, thus marginalising the poor. However the counter argument of technology becoming cheaper as more people use it, as well as the expertise and resources needed, all show the importance of backward advantage for the equal progress in technology for countries.

Technology and Innovation Management
How copying is not essentially a bad thing, it is something that has been used by humans ever since the dawn of time and perpetuates the spread of useful technology and ideas. The RDA process - Research, Development and Application. The 4 smarts - Smart people with smart ideas with smart money and smart partnerships. I understand this to be because of the difficulty to complete the RDA process, only about 5% of innovations complete the cycle. Not all innovations fail because they are bad per se, but because the market does not recognise the need for it. I attribute this to be a form of market failure, where consumers incorrectly match the benefits conferred to the price of the good. As we have learnt in later lessons, many technologies are pretty useless on their own, but because of other newly emerged technologies it has found its place in the market. This brings about the need for smart money- investors with the ability to recognise such potential.

Drivers of world change
What drives world change? Competition between companies, globalisation, environmental factors, development of new science and technology, changing tastes and expectations. Recognising these factors, as well as the varying importances of each factor for different industries, plays a part in the topic of prediction and Future assessment of technology.

Change management and change leadership
Greatest takeaway would be the change in business perspective from the traditional "freeze-unfreeze-refreeze" model to one that constantly adapts itself to the market. Although not an easy feat, it emphasizes on the importance for companies to be adaptable to change. Importance of leadership and not just management in order to bring a company forward. Management, i felt, embodied the concept of sitting on your eggs and protecting what you have ie. a conservative approach, while leadership meant breaking new grounds and exploring new horizons together with the people under your management.

ICT and world change
With the advent of the internet and mass media, methods of communication has changed and vastly improved. How technologies such as Cloud computing allows for easier access of information and software, levelling the playing field for many, as well as the provision of information to enable knowledge to be shared among many, alleviating inequality.

Biobusiness - Healthcare 
Increase in population, urbanization and the ageing population requires the healthcare sector to place more emphasize on developing methods to cope with the related changing demand

Biobusiness - Agriculture
Agriculture, although traditionally thought to be a menial job, things are different now. The greatest producers of agricultural products rely on technology to do so. While the force has been decreasing, production has increased, highlighting the impact that technology can have on production, such that Yali asked " why you white people have so many cargo when we have so little?" The mechanization of agriculture then requires for more specialized skills. The millennium development goals, and how the agriculture industry can help achieve it.

Energy and World Change
Solar and wind energy was identified as the likely sustainable sources of energy to be used in the future, given their efficiency. The role of the government in propelling such energy use into the mainstream, as seen in the case of  solar power in germany.

Technology Assessment and Forecasting
By considering current applications of technology, the history of successful technologies today, the market for the technology in question, we can attempt to forecast successful technologies that will emerge in the future. Technological Assessment considers the applications of the technology today and the implications that it can have to the current and future markets.

Some of these topics, as i have mentioned, are able to address Yali's question of inequality. I feel that the change in type of energy usage could be a fresh slate for developing countries to create a niche. By recognising the important factors for technological progress, we can thus better answer Yali's second question, of how to overcome the vicious cycle of poverty and inequality.

TWC has changed the perspectives i have on technology and our progress as a civilisation. I previously viewed technology as something which merely created unnecessary demand for goods which no real intrinsic value, but the lessons we had this semester has really widened my knowledge of technology and the very real and useful impacts it has on our lives. The concept of adapting to change and being forward looking is one that is applicable to our daily lives, and as such TWC has made an impact on how i view life as a whole.

TWC Lesson 12, 11/11/2013

Today was the final class, with 5 groups presenting.
group 1- mind control prosthetics, group 2 transhumanism, group 3 food for the future, group 4 sex and advertisement, group 5 on virtual reality.

Interesting Ideas and observations

Mind control prosthetics originated from very long ago, and the limbs were actually not meant to be functional. Things like fake eyes were used only for aesthetic purposes, but with the advent of technology they could  fulfil the organ's actual role. They also mentioned on how the loss of limbs was seen as a disability now and also in the past, the use of robot prosthetics with superhuman strength could actually make such equipment be sought after, and some people desperate for such strengths may actually amputate their limbs, etc. Group 2 subject, transhumanism, was closely related to this subject as it was about human modifications to the body in order to improve it, as well as the future applications of such technology. There was also concern about the threat posed by humans who had robotic limbs etc and could be a proponent of violent behaviour.

Group 3 talked about foods of the future, through the use of GM foods for greater food production, food distribution, and food preservation. I thought it was interesting that they brought in the idea of food preservation - in our classes debate was mainly about the pros and cons of improving distribution vs increasing production, never had we thought about preservation which was another way to prevent wastage of food

Group 4 talked about sex and advertising. It discussed about how sexual advertising has evolved along with the developments in technology, such as originally in print form but now pervading social media, as well as being much more obvious into today's advertising compared to the subtlety of the past. I felt that it was an interesting choice of topic as well as the way they tackled it. It is interesting that with all the developments in science and understanding of psychology, sexual advertising, especially those irrelevant to the product to be advertise, have actually became more prevalent, a prove of human's irrationality.

Group 5 talked about the historical perspective of virtual reality and its current uses. They mentioned on how VR had been hyped up but not lived up to expectations, one reason i believe is what prof mentioned a few weeks ago, as people have to prepare themselves for interactions using virtual reality, which essentially destroys the purposes of convenience that VR attempts to provide.

Key takeaways and observations

I felt what sam said with regards to bionic athletes having to be segregated from  regular athletes was quite true, and it reflects the need by governments as a whole to recognise rising technologies and quickly employ experts and common people alike to identify possible loopholes and possible consequences of the new technologies and such creating legislature to restrict such possibilities. It is important to curb the negative effects of new technologies as fast as possible so as to help the technology become more socially acceptable.

The use of sexual advertising may seem to become a huge problem in the future, with companies perhaps being able to use virtual reality which would make it much more ethically complicated. However again with the rise of other new technologies such as advanced facial recognition, proper care can be provided. This reminds me of the crumpled paper example - we have to plan ahead and not just work around the problems of today, so as to be better poised to take advantage of new technologies and benefits that can be offered in the future.

Issues for further discussion
 I would have liked group 4 to explore other areas of sexual "advertising", not just in advertisements, but in entertainment and media.

Personal Rating for the class
I would rate the class 9/10, impressive presentations today!

TWC Lesson 11, 4/11/2013

Brief Overview/Summary

First class started with Prof started with our individual review paper with regards to plagiarism. He shared about the importance of recognising the work of others through citations and shared about the case of the german chancellor(i think) who lost his job because it was found that one of the books he published was completely plagiarised. While acknowledging this, to be honest i think plagiarism would become too widespread in the future that it would be regarded as a problem too economically taxing to solve, such as the piracy of music or electronic games today. With operations of systems such as internet 3.0, information would be shared with so many people so widely that the matter of citation (even for research journals), which would probably be done by automated robots, would be too troublesome (such as those with no authors, different formatting) and as such plagiarism would be too common to control.

three groups today was presenting,
Group 1 on futuristic buildings, group 2 (mine) on clean energy, group 3 on nanotechnology

Interesting Observations and Ideas

Group 1 presented on the buildings of the future. One thing i felt they missed out was that buildings have been getting taller over the years due to the need for more space for the increasing population. Things i felt interesting were

The importance of buildings being resilient and less susceptible to damage. With the increase in population fuelling the need for taller buildings as well as greater number of natural disasters caused by climate change, it is important for buildings to be built of resilient material, with hempcrete and flexible concrete ( i think? or was it steel) among the suggestions. 

Speed of contruction

To be honest i disagreed with their view on the importance of speed of construction; i felt that it mattered little in the large scale of things. Temporary shelters would already suffice for victims displaced from their homes due to natural disasters. Prevention (use of studier material) would be more important than cure (building more homes at faster speed) here.

Sustainability

The group shared about our dependence on more and more sources of energy, and as such the need for buildings to be sustainable. Indeed, with the population increasing at an exponential rate it would only be a matter of time where most of land, and possibly sea, would be inhabited. The idea of integrating energy producing systems into buildings and structures is already in place today and certainly would see much demand and opportunities in the future.

Scarcity of land

Here i was surprised that the conclusion they arrived at was underwater living. Personally i feel that underwater living should only be a last resort. If i am not wrong the sea also experiences much stronger risk of earthquakes (the natural disaster that damages the most buildings) as well as collapse of structure leading to far more casualties than above ground or underground. I feel that futuristic buildings should consider taller buildings (the carbon fibre, as well as the space elevator come to mind)

Group 3 presented on the field of nanotechnology, which showed interesting methods of the application of nanotechnology, such as in the area of medicine, energy, cancer, etc. 

Key takeaway points

From the two groups presentation, i learnt that one of the key aspects of making a successful innovation would be for it to be easy to integrate with other co-existing technologies, for example nanotechnology and the very wide applications it has, as well as all the sustainable technologies and how it can be integrated together with our living environment.

Nanotechnology is particularly important to us, i feel, because it expands the horizons of which we are able to make an impact in. Current technologies are actually hugely inefficient, for example most machines or energy production methods work at around 20% efficiency or lower, and this is because of inefficient material, which we havent been able to change because we are breaking down products to create new products, not building them up. Nanotechnology greatly changes this.

Issues for further discussion

I felt that group 1 could have included other areas of development for futuristic buildings such as underground or taller buildings

Personal Rating : would rate today  8/10, the presentations were pretty enjoyable.

Individual Review Paper - Telekinesis, made possible by BCIs

Telekinesis, made possible by BCIs [1]

Joseph Tam Chun Kit (joseph.tam.2013@accountancy.smu.edu.sg), 1^st Year Student, School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University (SMU)

Executive Summary 

The paper will cover on the development of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology throughout the years, and examine the two major focus of BCI research today: Invasive BCI, and non-invasive BCI.  It will address the applications of BCI in our current situation, and examine the shortcomings of each of the two major areas at the moment. Lastly it will analyse the future applications that such a technology would have, as well as the limitations and issues that it would face.

1.      Introduction

The idea of being able to control objects with our mind seems like something that is right out of a science fiction novel. The principle which makes BCIs possible are the electrical activity that occurs in our brain and the changes in electrical potential generated by brain activity with regards to stimulation (Lebedev and Nicolelis, 2006), had already been discovered close to a 100 years ago, but it has only been in the past 20 years where developments in the technology of BCIs have occurred.

EEG technology is based on obtaining readings of electrical activity detected on the scalp, of which the basis that non-invasive BCIs are developed upon. Invasive BCIs on the other hand require surgery to implant the BCI device into, or near, the brain. As such non-invasive BCIs offer the advantage of being more convenient for use as well as socially acceptable and thus offer greater applications in the future.

As we can see from revolutions such as the i-phone which offered bought convenience to the users by being able to have many functions and operate a multitude of applications, and the internet which introduced a new method of communication compared to the traditional media, innovations in such areas have more potential to be revolutionary because it is application to everyone.

This paper will cover the introduction of BCI’s through the developments in the use of EEG which then led further developments of BCIs itself. It will then cover the current applications and uses of BCIs in our industry, which would be mainly the healthcare sector and the entertainment sector to a lesser extent. It would examine the limitations that BCI technology faces today in its sectors of influence, and contemplate the factors that are holding it back. Moving on to the future, the sectors whereby BCI would be able to influence, as well as the new problems that would inevitably arise. Finally, the paper would weigh the positive and negative effects that BCI technology would bring about in the future.

2. Historical Perspectives

2.1 Electroencephalography (EEG)

In 1875, Richard Caton reported his findings about the electrical nature of the brain, whereby the brains of dogs and apes were found to emit electrical impulses on the surface (Caton, 1875). In 1929, citing Caton’s research, Hans Berger was able to record brain activity from a closed skull using EEG and found that brain activity varied according to the functional stages of the brain (Tudor et al., 2005).

In 1934, Lowenback and Fisher demonstrated the existence of  epileptiform spikes (Nielsen, 2009). In 1935 Davis, Gibbs and Lennox discovered interictal spike waves and the patterns of seizures, which began the field of clinical electroencephalography (Gibbs et al.,1935). The usefulness of EEG in understanding epilepsies increased the funding provided for EEG which bolstered further research in the area.

In the 1950s, William Grey Walter discovered a method, which is now known as EEG topography. It allowed researches to better map the electrical activity found on the brain. It gave researchers a more accurate view of the location of alterations of rhythm and amplitude of the brain waves. (Collura, 1993)

2.2 Brain Computer Interface

The first BCI was demonstrated by the same William Grey Walter in 1964. A patient was made to press a button to advance a slide projector while having electrodes connected to the motor area of his brain at the same time. It was shown that the slide was able to advance before the patient pressed the button (Dennett, 1993). This proved the possibility of creating a desired action in a device by thinking about it without actually having to carry out the action itself, which is what BCI is about.

Another major breakthrough was in 1969 where monkeys where shown to be able to successfully operate a biometer arm through their neural activity through the use of auditory and visual feedback coupled with positive reinforcement methods such as providing food (Fetz, 1969) This showed that electrical activity in the brain could be voluntarily modified which is the basis for the operation of BCIs.

In the 1980s, Apostolos Georgopoulos from Johns Hopkins University observed that the direction in which the test subject (rhesus macaque monkeys) moved their arms had a mathematical relationship with the resulting electrical activity occurring in their motor cortex neurons. He was also able to identify the groups of neurons in the monkey’s brain that was responsible for the control of motor commands (Georgopoulos et al, 1989). This gave greater insight to researchers on the required motor actions that were needed to be thought (such as to imagine clenching your left fist) in order to create the desired electrical activity.

Current situation

Research on BCIs in recent years has increased greatly. An example of the recognition that BCI have started to garner would be the BCI award (Bci-award.com, 2013).  There are now at least 100 BCI research groups today compared to the past century as well as increased BCI related articles and talks as well as products, most notably being the Epoc neuroheadset, designed by Emotiv.  This increase in research arises from several factors. The prices of required computer hardware needed for the operation of BCIs have dropped drastically over the past decade, and the ease of access to the software needed have been increased by new developments in information technology such as cloud computing. The advances in related medical fields such as neuroscience have also introduced new and improved methods of recording the electrical activity from the neurons.

The practical use of BCI in today’s context mainly centres on the use of invasive (implanting the BCI into the grey matter of the brain) and partially invasive (implanting the BCI within the skull but not in the brain) techniques. The non-invasive use of BCI which is made possible through the use of Electrocephalography although offers greater potential to be commercialised and commonly used, is a relatively new technology and most of the applications it has today merely offers potential for the future instead of for practical purposes.

3.1  Invasive and Partially-Invasive Brain-to-Computer Interface(BCI)

Despite the greater potential that the non-invasive usage of BCI offers for the future, at the moment the practical uses of BCI such as in the medical field relies on invasive methods of implanting the BCI devices into either the grey matter of the brain or partially invasive methods of implanting the devices within the skull but not in the brain itself. The use of such methods allows for clearer signals to be received and used, because although the electrodes in the BCIs measure the same signals used in EEG, the electrodes are now closer to the brain. In addition to this, signals no longer need to travel through the dura and the skull which have dampening effects on the signals. Thus the signals obtained in invasive BCIs have “greater signal amplitude, wider detectable frequency range, and better topographical resolution” (Mak and Wolpaw, 2009). More information can thus be transmitted to the BCI which allows for a greater number of movements and more complex tasks. Currently it has been used in the vision science area through partially restoring vision to blind people, and in neuroprosthetics by restoring movement in people such as through computers or robotic arms (wiseGEEK, 2013). The dangers posed by Invasive BCI methods such as the increased risk of developing scar tissues as the body’s immune system reacts to this new device in the brain (of foreign origin) which will cause the signal to weaken or become completely undetectable. Implantation surgery, and the presence of a foreign object within a human’s body, can create scar tissue in the area around the implantation. Scar tissue build-up can even cause the relatively stronger signal to weaken or be lost altogether (Kennedy and Bakay, 1998) which would defeat the purpose of using an invasive BCI in the first place. There is also the risk of the BCI implant malfunctioning or lose operational capabilities, in which case brain surgery might need to be performed again (which presents significant risk and cost in the use of invasive BCI’s) compared to non-invasive BCI’s used by patients which can undergo consistent maintenance and upgrades. Because of such disadvantages, development of BCIs have been primary non-invasive in areas such as the EU and Asia.

3.2 Non-Invasive Brain-to-Computer Interface (BCI)

The non-invasive type of BCI is made possible through the use of EEG whereby intracranial electrophysiological signals are recorded using electrodes and then interpreted by the device in order to decode the intent of subjects and the corresponding action be used to control external devices (Lebedev and Nicolelis, 2006). The successful use of this type of BCI has been demonstrated by a group of researchers in the University of Minnesota where a flying robot has been successfully controlled. The thoughts of the researcher controlling the robot were interpreted through the use of an EEG cap and using this, the robot was capable of being manoeuvred even through hoops (LaFleur et al.,2013). The ability to execute such relatively complex movements is a significant one because it was previously thought that only invasive BCI’s could do so.        

The ability of non-invasive BCI to demonstrate capabilities similar to that of invasive BCIs is crucial due to the numerous problems posed by invasive BCIs. The need of implanting the device into the grey matter of the brain poses significant risks due to the need for brain operation, and as such invasive BCIs can only realistically be used as a solution for serious health issues such as blindness and paralysis.

Non-invasive BCIs have been successfully used in patients both partially or severely paralyzed, allowing them to have basic forms of communication and control in their interaction with the external world. The EPOC headset today is an example of the application of non-invasive BCI in today’s world, whereby it can be used as a form of art, aid medical patients, used as a form of market research and most importantly in the area with the biggest market, gaming.         

3.3 Brain-to-Brain interface (BBI)

The field of BBI is still in its early stages whereby different methods of transmitting the data are being used in different studies. A technique known as focus ultrasound (FUS) has been found that a low-energy blast can be able to trigger activity in the tissues of the brain without any harmful effects. Using this technique, rats were able to be controlled with the human mind by connecting the rat to a FUS-based computer-to-brain interface (CBI) and the human controller is linked to an EEG-based BCI. The human is then given a specific visual cue which generates electrical brain activity of corresponding frequency to the aforementioned visual cue. The brain activity triggers the BCI to send a unique command to the CBI that deploys the ultrasound blast to the motor region of the rat’s brain (the area responsible in controlling the tail), which leads to the mouse moving its tail under the control of the researcher. (Starr, 2013)

Another more well-known experiment involved a researcher being able to transmit brain signals to his colleague via the internet causing his hand to move. The researcher attempting to “control” the subject with his brain signals was connected to a non-invasive BCI device and the signal was sent over through the internet to another computer which controlled a transcranial magnetic stimulation device. and the signal was sent to the receiver via the Internet to a computer connected to a transcranial magnetic stimulation device (which, if used on the motor cortex of the brain, can create muscle activity)  placed on the precise area of the brain responsible for movement for the right hand. (Rao and Stocco, 2013)

3.4 Limitations that BCI technology is facing at the moment

A significant limitation of using non-invasive BCI & BBI by the use of electroencephalography (EEG) is the corruption of EEG data by electrical signals that are picked up by the sensors that are actually not coming from the  cortical neurons, such as through eye movement, blinking, and the use of surrounding muscles and tissue as well as from insufficient contact between the electrodes and the scalp (Rowan andTolunsky,2003). This makes it impractical to use EEG based remote control in practical situations because rarely will there be such controlled environments to prevent the corruption of the electrical signals. The distortion of electrical signals by even the use of muscles makes it hard to be used while on-the-go, which defeats the purpose of convenience intended for the user. However there are ways to overcome this, by reducing such distractions and “noise” through the use of reference electrodes placed in locations where there is little cortical activity so as to filter out correlated patterns (Ludwig et al., 2009)

Another problem  of EEG in the use of BCI is that much of the signals are lost due to overlapping electrical activity generated by different cortical areas as well as the passive conductance of these signals through braise tissue, bone and skin( Lebedev and Nicolelis,2006). As a result, the signal is insufficient for the control of highly complex equipment. For example in the case of a prosthetic arm, the signals necessary to control the arm , including the closed loop controls between the brain,  arm and fingers, would be too blurred for the necessary arm movement (Dietrich et al., 2010)

Lastly, the use of EEG based BCI requires the individuals to be trained for a significant period of time. In research conducted by Bin he, the individuals were trained extensively over a couple of months to be familiar with the mechanics of flying the remote controlled droid as well as practicing the thoughts needed to create the brainwave required to control the droid. Similarly, in the BBI experiment by Rao and Stocco (2013), subjects had to spend time training their minds so as to emit the correct brainwave responsible for movement of the right-hand such that it could be recognised by the computer. This seems to be a rather pressing issue because people are not receptive to devices which require lots of effort to master when the current form of remote control is a more convenient alternative.

The testing and research that is needed to be done in the field of invasive BCIs require brain surgery and as such is limited to patients undergoing treatment to engage in studies on a voluntary basis, as well as lab animals such as monkeys and rats. The patients who would volunteer would normally be fixated positive aspects of the BCI technology and would not be fully aware regarding the side effects and complications that could arise. An example would be in the case of Johnny Ray who was a patient who “locked-in” after suffering a brain-stem stroke. After receiving the implant he was able to establish a certain level of communication through the use of computer devices such as being able to control a computer cursor. However, he died of brain aneurysm 4 years later (Kennedy & Bakay,1998)

Because of the complexity of the human brain compared to other animals, the use of less controversial animals (such as rats, mice, dogs and rabbits) would be less desirable compared to using Non-human primates because their brains share similar structural and functional features to our human brain. However, such experimentation is controversial because the similarity raises the possibility of the animals being able to have emotions and feelings comparable to what we feel (Nuffieldbioethics.org, 2013). As a result research conducted on Non-human primates has been the subject of many animal rights attacks and limits the progress in the field of invasive BCI.

4 Future considerations

The use of BCIs offer great potential, especially its non-invasive form due to the lesser constraints it faces in testing compared to invasive BCIs which would require operating on animals or get medical patients who are willing to volunteer. The ease of using noninvasive BCIs opens up many areas that it could influence, however we would have to have to be aware of the possible problems that could arise as a result of its possible widespread use in the future.

4.1 Possible Applications in the future

The use of EEG based remote control provides the opportunity for patients suffering from paralysis to operate equipment around them and interact with their surroundings through the use of telepresence robotics, enabling them a certain level of independence that they would otherwise not achieve.  Combined with the ability to express their thoughts in a simple form (Morrison, 2013), this greatly improves the quality of life that these patients will enjoy.

In a study by Cruse et al (2011), a small percentage of patients known to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) were shown to be able to generate appropriate EEG responses in response to various commands. This presence of brain activity could offer the possibility of using the EEG based remote control which will allow these patients to lead a more normal life.

As mentioned before, the use the EEG based remote control reduces the time lag between thought and action. An example of where this would be useful would be for medical robots controlled by doctors to perform operations. Robots are being increasingly used for medical operations because they allow for smaller and more specific movements to be carried out and access to the areas of the body which are harder to reach (Urmc.rochester.edu, 2013).In this context, it is important that the actions carried out by the robot are as synchronised as possible to the surgeon’s intentions because a very low margin of error is allowed. This form of remote control makes humans to be more connected to machines, allowing for better reaction times reduce accidents from occurring. The potential to generate faster responses would also be an extremely useful asset in the field of competitive gaming.

The ability to control equipment without physically doing so offers  convenience in scenarios by offering users another method of control. It also allows for greater multitasking, an example would be in warfare scenario whereby soldiers could be carrying weapons on both hands and the background noise makes audio communication impossible, the ability to communicate through the use of BCIs would be very useful. In scenarios where the user suddenly loses his physical capabilities such as in the case of traffic accidents or sudden health conditions like heart attacks, EEG based remote control provides the means for the victims to seek for methods of escape by still being able or communicate to others for help.

BBI, which makes brain-to-brain communication possible, offers a host of possibilities in the future. Animals, some who possess a small size capable of entering small nooks and crannies, and others with acute sensory mechanisms, could be used in search and rescue operations as well as environmental surveillance. As shown in the experiment Rao and Stocco (2013), BBI can be used to induce actions in the receiver. The ability to control movements of other people would be a useful educational tool especially for the teaching of complicated movements such as for skills like dancing, self-defence and sports manoeuvres. The role of internet in BBI also opens up the potential for physical interactions to occur through virtual networks which would be a new element of communication

BCI, combined with the capabilities of BBI through the internet, offers great potential in the gaming industry because it brings in an additional physical aspect in the world of virtual reality. Its relevance and potential for the gaming industry is significant because of the large amount of people it could reach out to, compared to the medical field, and thus the large market of the gaming industry will attract resources for further development of relevant technologies and developments in its medical applications would benefit as part of its spill over effects.

4.2 Ethical issues

With further developments in BCIs and BBIs, there will inevitably be concerns regarding ethics such as the invasion of privacy such as in cases where the patient does not have means of expressing consent due to various forms of communicative disorder. As a result, it is unclear if it would be ethical to either implant BCI’s or to subject them to non-invasive BCIs which would be tapping into their minds without prior consent, amounting to a breach of privacy.

The availability of medical BCI usages also creates new problems regarding the distribution of such medical devices. The technology of BCIs is relatively complex and requires certain qualifications and hence people in rural areas would be left out of the benefits. With healthcare being something that is supposed to be a public right in some countries, but yet with a limited number of BCIs, ethical issues may arise on the priority given to different types of patients; The patients requiring BCIs are mainly the disabled with varying degrees of paralysis, both which could be in-born or as a result of accidents.

The ability to control the minds of animals and use them as tools for human activities may also outrage animal rights activists and face public condemnation, despite the many benefits it may confer. Brain-to-brain communication might also give rise to the possibility of mind control without consent, such as in the case where researchers were able to control the actions of the rat.

4.3 Social Issues

The high cost of EEG related technology means it would not be accessible to the poor. With regards to the medical benefits that could be derived, funds channelled into its research could arguably do more good in being used to address the basic needs and concerns of the common man instead of providing specialised healthcare that only the rich could afford.

Should non-invasive forms of EEG become popular in the future, its popularity might compel the government to make it compulsory for everyone for administrative purposes due to the convenience it brings for everyone to be under the same health plan, even though some people may actually be opposed to it.

The usage of non-invasive BCIs in the gaming industry, although poses many benefits such as offering gamers a whole new experience, can pose significant threats. The proliferation of BCIs may gradually lead to getting information from the internet itself (instead of only sending information) which would definitely lead to new kinds of internet viruses that may have disastrous consequences given that they can “hack” into a person’s brain, not just his computer. The potential for such activity to occur is shown through studies which show that the brain activity can be influenced by external sources, such as the internet. In other words transference of information can be two-way as displayed by the experiment of Rao & Stocco (2013). This could mean that should the use of BCIs be mainstream, large amounts of people could be “brainwashed” by a virus transferred by BCI which will lead the to birth of new elements of cybercrime and terrorism.

4.4 Issues relating to privacy

Present studies have also discovered the possibility of obtaining the private information of its users through the use of a cheap BCI gaming device (Martinovic et al.,2012). Although such extraction of information could be potentially useful in webpages and search devices to greater understand the user’s needs, this would amount to an invasion of privacy.

The issue of privacy has been raised in recent years in response to counter terrorism measures such as x-ray scanning in the airports. Despite complaints that their privacy was breached, full-body scanners are used in the airports of many countries (Crislip, 2013). Similar disputes are likely to arise when BCIs could introduce an additional layer of detection but again at the expense of revealing personal information of the travellers. Privacy would again most likely be compromised for the purpose of security. This could raise the question of the legal liabilities of an intention to commit a crime, even though the action has not been committed.

4.5 Legal Issues

Despite the convenience that non-invasive BCIs offer, invasive BCIs have an advantage of being used in secret. BCIs have been shown to be capable of enhancing motor capabilities and brain performance in healthy individuals (Warwick, (2011). Controversy would arise in the area of competitive sports because this would constitute to artificial enhancement.

Conclusion

 There has been much recent developments and interest in the field of BCIs which would continue into the future. The realm of non-invasive BCIs offers significant advantages as its ease of use offers the potential for it to be applied not just in the medical field, but in areas for the common man such as communication, gaming, as well as possible social applications. Hence in my opinion non-invasive BCIs will become a revolution in the future. However, it also presents to us many new problems should it become a reality. Issues of mind control become an actual reality which we could face decades later, and we may need to ask the question whether BCI, with the risk that it offers, should be commercialised and be used for recreation or for the sake of convenience instead of the main medical usages currently.

References

           

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[1] This paper was reviewed by Grace Tay and Tan Ho Yee.

TWC Lesson 10, 28/10/2013

Brief Overview/Summary

Today's lesson was on the importance of technology assessment and forecasting. The lesson started with a video by Siemens on the trends of the future such as the shift of the world into becoming more urbanised with a greater number of people living in cities. As a result the quality of life would improve thus energy and water would be in greater demand, as well as healthcare. There will be a shift from basic healthcare to more advanced medical needs which would mean that healthcare would be more about quality than quantity. Urbanisation would also generate a need for improved transport systems such as through "intelligent" communication systems. The improvement in the technology available as well as greater congregation of people would also mean the need for more sophisticated security which would be needed. There is also the need for more efficient and convenient methods delivery systems in the future.

There was discussion on Siemens strategy in displaying their plans for the future through a public youtube video. Through the use of online media, they could gain feedback from customers, as well as get publicity and attract other corporations or investors with similar aspirations to collaborate together and support their aims. However there are obvious drawbacks to this, because their competitors would now know their business strategy for the future and thus make plans to compete against it or even just simply copying their strategy.

We learn that technology assessment would be to assess current technologies, analysing its strength, weaknesses and thus the reasons for its proliferation in the current market thence moulding future innovations accordingly. It also considers implications the technology has on the society and for the future. Technology forecasting would be to predict future technologies that would be mainstream based on current technologies and trends. Through identifying potential bloomers, the company will be able to make informed decisions on the areas of the market which they should explore.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

With such rapid change in technology in the past decade, it is imperative that companies have an idea of what the future holds so that they can keep up with the change in technologies and make constant adjustments to their production goals. Technology forecasting is important given the large number of ongoing developments such that it is impossible to accurately predict future trends in technology with merely a layman's knowledge. Expert knowledge needs to be employed to do so.

The example of the crumpled paper vs the new sheet of paper. Companies who adopt a rising stars mentality develop plans on a "new sheet of paper". They plan the future according to what they want, and then make adjustments accordingly.As a result they will progress, compared to the "crumpled paper", where the plans for the future are made to address the problems that they are currently facing and are limited by current limitations and issues.

With globalisation and the decreasing income gap between countries, western countries no longer hold the monopoly in advanced technology and research & development. A number of technological developments are taking place in the lesser developed countries and it is important to take into account such developments when attempting to forecast the future.

While TA and forecasting have traditionally be a "talk to the experts" session, with evidence on the importance of crowd sourcing and communication between stakeholders, technological assessments should now include customers and regular citizens into the picture. By only consulting the experts, they would tend to miss out on the more obvious weaknesses as to the practicality of the innovation that the actual intended users would pay more attention to. This is seen in the rise in the number of citizen panels, questionnaires/surveys and interviews used.

Key takeaway points

The current technological climate is rapidly changing and TA and forecasting has increasing relevance to companies. To maximise a product/innovation's relevance to the consumers, technological assessment would need to be done with respect to not just expert opinions but also the reviews of customers (given the ease of access the opinions of many customers can be consulted within a short period of time and give rise to more practical and well-rounded products). Understanding the future technological climate is imperative for the survival of companies and should be of significant priority in any companies planning and outlook for the future.

Issues for further discussion

How do companies engage in getting the opinions of citizens? Then what about privacy itself? Wouldnt seeking the opinions of the general public mean disclosing the companies' strategies for the future to its competitors? Would such an undertaking be worth the potential rewards?

I would rate the class 6/10, as important as TA and forecasting is, unfortunately not as interesting as other topics that we have previously covered.

TWC Lesson 9, 21/10/2013

Brief Overview and Summary

Today's lesson focused on emerging and future technologies. We discussed on the creation of various innovations and the implications of newly emerging technologies. Drivers for development of such technologies consisted of:
market driven research and development
technology driven research and development
creation of demand from supply
mass media and advertising
confluence of the 4 smarts :"smart people, smart idea, smart money, smart alliance and partnerships
The lesson also covered on some of the emerging technologies that held a high probability of being applied widely in the future, such as nanotechnology, artificial intelligence as well as robotics.

Interesting Observations and Ideas

The majority of innovation are market driven and seek to address consumer wants and needs of the present. A reason for this would be the higher chance of the innovation to succeed. Other types of innovation would be to create a demand from supply, such that it addresses a need in the consumers that they previously did not know they had before. An example would be 3-d printing, or the iphone.

A 

With the increase in affluence of countries and through globalisation and increased interconnectedness, there is an increase in scientific knowledge available as well as the technological know-how. This provides an environment for new technology to grow and be value-added. This interconnectedness(such as through cloud computing and crowd sourcing) combined with technological knowledge has shown to be useful in solving problems such as mentioned in class today regarding the gamers who collaborated together to solve a problem regarding the structure of the HIV virus.

The innovations today are more of the innovative usage of a number of technologies, such as the use of robotics combined with nanotechnology in the claytronics video shown, or the genetic modification used in biotechnologies in the areas of medicine. The use of nanotechnology has particularly many applications. As mentioned, most of the products today are made by breakdown large materials into the desired shape. Nanotechnology has already been applied such as in the area of claytronics whereby the material is made up of independently operated robot particles. The use of nanotechnology together with claytronics could make it possible for products to be converted to its required use and help to reduce wastage.

Key takeaway points

One of the key points this lesson was the importance of the extent to which a technology or a new innovation could influence the economy and other societies rather than what the technology does itself. An innovation could be useless on its own but new or existing technology could be applied together with the innovation in novel ways. For instance, electric cars might not be viable currently due to issues such as lack of charging points and the weight of the battery, but then with the development of wireless charging through the use of magnetic conductivity electric cars could be viable in the years to come. As such we have progressed in such a way that the way forward would be more on how we could use existing technologies and combine them together for practical solutions as well as focusing on increasing availability of such electronics such that the powers of crowd sourcing and cloud computing can be harnessed.

Issues for future discussion 

I felt that the implications of technologies such as surveillance technologies and biometric technologies could have been discussed in greater detail. Also, the methods and policies to nurture such emerging technologies, in light of current technologies such as solar energy which have their developmental potential limited due to vested interests of groups involved in competing technologies.

Today's class was interesting especially the part about wireless charging and artificial intelligence, it fascinated me. 8/10 for this class!

TWC Lesson 8, 14/10/2013

The first interesting point of discussion was how China, despite have a population much larger than that of United States, is consuming 25% of the oil that USA is consuming. This is a significant piece of news, because it means that even when the population in china are consuming so much less oil than the people in america, we are already facing environmental problems and climate changes. How much so, given China's rapid rate of development, such that in maybe 15 years time everyone in china is consuming as much as the people of usa, our growth would truly be unsustainable. It struck me then that countries need to take action to move towards sustainability immediately, instead of wait for more developments in sustainable technology until it becomes economically feasible to do so (an opinion i held a few weeks ago). It was mentioned that China's government recognised this problem and realised the means for future growth would have to rely on sustainable energy and technology. As such, they have been subsidising the provision and production of sustainable energy as well as heavily investing in clean energy (34.6 billion in 2009, a 148% growth). This shows the impact that government subsidises can have.

In my presentation regarding the use of solar energy in the 3rd week, i mentioned on the amount of government subsidies for fuel and diesel in many countries, caused partly by significant lobbying by politically influential groups, as well as the populations reluctance to switch to equipment (vehicles, plants) that can operate on sustainable energy due to various reasons including the higher costs. A significant issue currently is that the negative externalities produced by the usage of such unsustainable energy is not taken into account of the cost. This reflects that even when it is not economically feasible to use unsustainable energy now, government are still subsidising it. It reflects that there are other forces at work here, not simply market forces of demand and supply. It shows that the subsidies are misplaced, and change of mindset of both the people and the government is needed. The attitude of the people is important, because if they understand the importance of sustainable production, they will vote for governments who support such a cause, or at least induce the current government to do so.

Thankfully, environmentally friendly practices have been on the rise, such as the Gasohol Programme in brazil as well as policies and mindsets of energy conservation (eg. how filament lightbulbs have been phased out due to its energy inefficiency) and pollution prevention. However, i think it is important that awareness be created regarding the various forms of sustainable energy and in-depth analysis of its methods of production. Similar to how the good intention of food aid has caused detrimental effects in its recipient country, consumers and environmental conscious companies should not blindly adopt certain forms of green technology. The marketability of biofuels have been playing on the green-mindset of consumers while it has in fact been a cause of food shortages in the poorer countries where land to grow edible crops have been instead converted for the production of biofuel.

Another important point discussed was the superiority of solar energy as the sustainable energy source for the future. It was shown that from a 1km squared plot of land, photovoltaics were the vastly superior option, 3 times that of wind and 85 times that of biomass. The energy superiority of solar energy coupled by the ability to put it on many different equipment and objects hence not limiting it to countries with lots of available land (unlike wind energy)  makes it a very attractive energy source. It already has been adopted large scale in countries such as germany, and also bangladesh, showing that its viability and economic viability.

There was a slide showing the different types of energy consumption by countries, and it reflected that the poorer and lesser developed countries such as those in the middle east, africa, and asia pacific have a significant portion of their energy produced by natural gas, coal, and oil. It shows that such countries have not progressed from traditional sources of energy. This reflects that the usage of sustainable technology as well as environmental consciousness may seem like a luxury in the eyes of the poor, and steps need to be taken to change that. For a country to embark on sustainable technology, it demands much expertise and resources in order to maintain and properly harness its energy. In my opinion the method for sustainability in poorer countries should be that of enhancing energy efficiency and preventing wastage, as that can help them save costs instead of adopting renewable energy sources that they can scarcely afford.

Countries who are "oil-rich" due to their reserves face an "oil-trap" due to their dependency on oil as their major source of revenue and as such their other revenue producing sectors are underdeveloped. As there is a limited amount of oil left in the world, some of these oil rich countries are trying to diversify their economy so as to reduce reliance on oil, while countries such as nigeria who is finding it hard to do so. This re-iterates the point about the importance of being adaptable to change in order to survive, one of the factors which is to not be overspecialised in one sector.

Key takeaway points from today's lesson would be on the importance of adopting sustainable technology as soon as possible because even now when much of the energy consumption are by developed countries we are already facing energy shortage, the problem would be much more severe next time when more countries become more developed. The government play a important part through delegating the sectors where research ought to be done as well as nurturing industries of choice through the use of subsidies. Peoples mindset also need to be changed so as to induce policy changes in the government by being able to vote for the government they want. While sustainable practices are something to be encouraged, consumers should be made aware of the side effects some of such practices create. The method of adoption of sustainability also defers from countries, with developing countries more apt to adopt energy saving methods and practices rather than having to take on the financially daunting task of adopting new energy sources.

Issues for further discussion would be on the issues of financial pressure exerted by firms such as oil and diesel producing companies on governments to continuously subsidise fossil fuels and the methods through which it can be combated. Should organizations such as the UN step in, or is it purely an issue to be settle domestically. Although solar energy has been shown to be the most effective sustainable energy source, should the idea of biofuel be abandoned totally, given that some biofuels (such as Hemp, as mentioned in one of the presentations) also provide alternative uses?