Bio Business (Medical)

Bio Business is a commercial activity based on an understanding of life sciences and its process. Over the years, technological advances allowed many significant breakthroughs in the Bio medial field.

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A time line on medical advances

In the past, some of the leading causes of death were due to lower respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases and perinatal conditions. These can be classified as controllable causes in present times. Medical advances allowed us to develop vaccines and medications, which will protect and cure us from such conditions. In the 2020s, heart diseases are predicted to be a major cause of death and those 3 major causing of the past were ranked after the top 5. These reflect the improvement in medical advances but also suggest that it is hard of us to keep up with the constant change of nature. Scientists have to continue researching on possible ways to fight new diseases and viruses.

Will it be possible for us to have a medication that will grant us immortality?  If immortality would also enable us to stay young forever will you want to take it?

In my opinions, the reason for people to be supportive of this medication will be that it grants them the opportunity to try out many things that they have longed for. Especially when it comes to extreme sports whereby youth is the limiting factor to your enjoyment. We will also be able to have a slower pace in life, pausing and reflecting because we will no long regard time as money. Hence, it will lead us to a more enjoyable lifestyle.

However, there are many other implications. We maybe able to live forever but Earth resources and land space is limited. If everyone is immortal, competition for resources will increase due to scarcity. In a positive situation, you will be able to have whatever you want and still live forever to enjoy them. But on the other hand, if you are suffering in poverty and chances of breaking through is low, immortality will equate to greater suffering. What if technology became so advance such that scarcity is eliminated? The effects about will not be an issue but there are other considerations as well. Since people can live forever and have unlimited resource, they will no longer think twice before doing anything, people will become more impulsive. Knowing that resources will not be depleted, we will splurge on things, which might result to negative externalities, but we will not care about it. Hence, resulting in more selfish personalities. Cherish also be a forgotten feeling since everything is unlimited. Will we still be considered human?

Bio medical technologies have a significant impact on our life. I feel that it is important to improve our livelihood and develop cures to virus and diseases to increase life expectancy. However, immortality may not be that favorable, as we will lose the traits of being human.

Communication Development

Technology has provided us with equipment that will give people added advantage. These technologies have greatly changed they way we communication. In 3000BC, papyrus was developed as a form of written communication and audio signals such as drums and horn were invented. These are passive systems, which are constrained to interacting with only a few people at a time. Around 100AD paper was developed, it served as a lightweight medium for written communication. Although information on it can be disseminated easily hence reaching out to more people, it is still limited in terms of interaction with each other.

A long time later, in 1400AD the first European printing press came into society, this revolutionary change pave the way to more efficient written communications. It became easier for people to make copies of information in massive quantities and pass them around. There will be more copies of books available hence, facilitating the speed of information transfer. Soon, typewriter and telegraph joined the communication world with the purpose of recording and disseminating information. In my opinion, when newspapers where produced through then printing press and were readily available to the public, that was the birth of mass communication.

In 1838, telephone was invented. Could it be that people started to realize the have start improving on audio communications? With the added convenience and speed, it revolutionized the way people interact with each other. Until today, telephone communication is still one of the most common communication mediums. With the ability to for devices to produce sound, it was a breakthrough to other mass communication device, the radio and television.

When computers were invented in 1897, its ability as a communication tool was limited. However, when the Internet came to light, things changed rapidly! Initially, Internet merely provided people with static information and is non interactive. Emailing services were created, followed my chatting platforms such as MSN, forums joined in by allowing people to voice their opinions. Today, we have Facebook, one of the most interactive mediums for mass communication. People post on wall, send personal messages and its also has a chatting function.

These technologies greatly changed the way we communicate, from passive and limited to several people, till the interactive, massive and far reaching capabilities of today. It has allowed us to communicate with each other 24-7.

In my opinion, the changes improvement in communication tools and technology play a monumental role the development of our current society. Because information and knowledge becomes readily available through various sources, communications mediums grow to become more interactive, these enabled people from all around the world to access the world’s knowledge. Therefore, gaining the ability to research and innovate make further improvements.

Outline of Individual Topical Review Report

Before aircrafts were developed, people used to travel by train, vehicles or sail across the sea. These methods of transport posted much troubles to commuters, which often require them to travel over a long period of time. With the invention of aircraft, it changed the way people travel across great distances. This is an example of a disruptive innovation, with monumental benefits for traveller, allowing them to shorten travelling time. In today’s context, it is common for people to travel around in a plane.

Over the years, there are many evolutionary changes in the aviation industries, planes have increased in capacity, speed and improved on reducing negative externalities. In my opinion, there might be a revolutionary change soon to come. With the invention of unmanned aerial vehicle, will it be possible for people to travel in an airplane without a human pilot but a computer software taking full control of the plane instead?

1) Timeline on significant aviation technology

2) Brief background on how it came about

            History of other methods of travelling before airplanes were invented.

            Include problems and constrains.

3) Historical Perspective

            The revolutionary change that arose from invention of Airplanes

            Benefits and Disadvantages

            Failed revolutionary change (jetpack)

            Why such innovation failed

           

4) Current Situation

Further improvement on Airplanes (evolutionary change)

-       Safety (Blackbox)

-       Capacity (Double Deck planes A380)

-       Speed

5) Future Consideration

            Revolutionary change

-       Possibility of planes without human pilot

-       Benefits and Disadvantages

Evolutionary change

-       Hypersonic planes

Lesson 5

'Change means that what was before wasn't perfect. People want things to be better.'

Esther Dyson

The world has been change in many aspects. The converging new technologies brought about great changes into our live, many process have became more efficient as a result of new innovations. From the first reading, I realized that technological advancement make people richer. However, wealth does not equate to having unlimited resource. Scarcity is what drives people to innovate and improve on current technology, making them sustainable. An important aspect of making technology sustainable will be to look for alternative sources of energy. Our current high usage and reliance on fossil fuel will only lead to depletion. Therefore intensive research on solar power, bio-fuels are done in hope to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel. However, I feel that in order for us to shift towards usage of alternative sources of fuel, we have to change our attitude. We have to fact the face that these alternative energy sources will not be as cheap as fossil fuel, however if we give researches the support and funds to improve, someday we will be able to get sustainable energy sources at an affordable price. Things that are more commonly used will provide more incentive for people to improve on them.

Because we are adapted and specialized in using fossil fuel, it makes it hard for us to change. Similarly, companies that are conservative and having a closed mindset will just be on the road to being a falling star. As consumers’ attitude and value change, the way people do things change as well, hence it is important for companies to be responsive and reactive to the market in order to succeed. Consumers taste and preference can be a major driver of change as companies seek to meet their expectations.

However, there are other companies with better foresight and ability to set a new trend. An example will be the iphone, which greatly influence both consumers and the mobile phone industry on their expectations of a mobile phone. It brought about a revolutionary change. Initially, mobile phones were simply used for making calls and short messages. After the iphone was invented, people changed their perception of how a mobile phone should be. Now, mobile phone are also able to serve the net, download many useful application, taking photos and playing games. It has become an all in one tool for business purposes as well as for entertainment. Such revolutionary change lead to many other companies adopting similar strategy and evolutionary changes in the smart phone industry progressed exponentially. Smart phones these days have sharp quality imaging and are able to multi task without lagging.

Changes require management at well. Firstly, if a company wants so standout among others, they have to be daring to take the risk and make necessary changes. The leader of the company will take on the visionary role while its managers will work towards achieving their aim. However, this distinction is getting blurred, nowadays, the roles of leaders and managers have a significant overlap. They are required to set goals, work towards them and at the same time motivating their employees. We can also see a change in culture of most companies, managers are less dominant and authoritative while employees are questioning more and providing valuable suggestions. However, is it important for managers to realized and acknowledge employees hard work and ideas provided so as to fully them to gain knowledge from employees.  Individuals definitely take pride in their work and will want their efforts to be recognized. Therefore, if managers simply steal their ideas and take credit for it, employees will see no incentive to add value to their company.

With the change in society and technology, it urges us to constantly seek for self-improvement so as not to be left out and stay competitive especially in the labour market. Knowledge is ever growing, all it takes is for us to put in effort to learn and change ourselves for the better.