Week 10 - Emerging technology

Week 10 - Emerging technology

Global warming, depleting fossil fuels, increasing air, land, water pollution, rising sea levels, increasing intensity of natural disasters are the trends of the 21^st century. The future seems bleak. Some even predict the world will end in 2012. Nevertheless, we can be possibly living in the best era of mankind now. We still have enough resources to last through another few decades, sea levels are still not rising fast enough to consume our land and we are recovering from natural disasters faster than ever. Best of all, our technology are still advancing at a rapid pace, if not accelerating faster than ever. Boundless of possibilities are open to us, from robotics to biotechnology and sustainable living.

Living today is undoubtedly exciting with the possibility of new technology. The latest iPhone Siri is unquestionably a breakthrough in voice recognition technology. It brings a virtual personal assistant from cloud imagination to the hands to every single individual. Siri is so sophisticated it almost has its own personality and is able to communicate with the owner in almost a life-like manner. It is not surprising in the next few years; we could have a PA organizing our lives at only few hundred dollars.

With this advancement of the world move towards knowledge-based economy, human resources are becoming increasingly valuable. This can be very advantageous for Singapore who prides itself for its highly-skilled workforce. Unfortunately, despite massive investments into cutting-edge industries, it has yet to develop a dominant power in in global market. It is not that Singapore has never developed any life-changing products when in fact, Singapore has produced many. The thumb drives we rely on so heavily today, the first MP3 and the infra-red sensor used worldwide to detect fever during the SARS crisis are examples of ingenious works of Singaporeans. All these products could have potentially created a Singapore-based superpower corporation, comparable to Apple, Microsoft or Google. Regrettably, they did not manage to become more than just a brilliant product.

A knowledge-based economy will require more than good education and skilled labor. A knowledge-based economy will require visionary leaders and convergence of various expertise, may it be Arts, Technology, Science or even Religion. Steve Jobs could only create his Macintosh because of his background in calligraphy as he managed to merge these two fields of expertise. And it is truly a challenge to hold more than a field of expertise, let alone being able to cross-breed them.

Although Singapore has yet to produce any revolutionary leaders, it is well-poised to do so. Located in the heart of South-East Asia, loaded with huge capital and a stable climate, the necessary factors for blooming creativity is there. It is very much up to us now to capitalize on the opportunities we have now for Singapore to shine for the next century. In particular, we have huge opportunities in solar power, biotechnology and information technology. Solar power because we are in the equator, consistently receiving sunlight throughout the year. Perhaps one day, we can become energy exporter to the rest of the world instead of an importer by converting solar energy into fuels for exporting. We have already invested billions in biotechnology and hopefully in a few years to come, we can see good returns from these investments. Lastly, information technology in particular as we develop optic fire throughout Singapore, the entire country can potentially become the next silicon valley of the world. These ideals might actually ensure the survival of Singapore for the next century.