Week 2

Lessons this week are interesting. We assess the dominant players of the past in terms of medicine, technology, culture. Their rise and declines were split into 3 phases:

1) Rising star
Opennes to change, embracing new things, thoughts, ideas. Adaptating to and making change

2) Dominant Player
Acquired proficiency from past pursuits of technology, ideas. The ones on the forefront in their domain.

3) Falling star
Pessimism, lacking in ability to adapt and change.

I guess the class agreed that the rise and declines of empires were due to a myriad of factors, but many share the lack of ability to change and adapt.

In view of the world, the "white men" were more superior, conquering other continents and countries, destroying the infrastructure and 'technology' in place. The white man put in place policies from his own country and took advantage of the native people. This had been consistent throughout history.

Today, the world in increasingly interconnected. Economies cannot do without each other. Borders have been blurred. We live in changing times, with implications we are only beginning to understand.

I particularly remembered the part about Eugenics as time was short and the discussion could not go on. Eugenics was probably an idea, a study to produce the perfect human race. However, it was taken and applied in extreme ways. For example, laws were established where people could not marry freely. I disagree with the extremism in application of eugenics, and feel that it is unnecessary.

Charles Darwin, a biologist from England in the 19th century wrote a book on  The Origin of Species via natural selection where each species in the wild would survive depending on the key factor of adaptability to their environment. The fitter and stronger within each species would win over more resources and pass down their genes. Over time this results in evolution.

In the context of the human societal fabric, I believe that the strongest and best in each society would naturally be attracted to each other. It is all part of our biological mechanism. Does this happen via emitting pheromones? I am not the best equipped to answer that, but humans having lived through ice ages and evolved gradually to walk upright must have possessed something similar to adaptability to preserve the species. I believe that, naturally, the human species would naturally evolve in an upward trend. In the future, I believe we would still follow some laws of the jungle yet satisfying our conditions for love or prerequisites of 5 'C's (Singaporeans, haha). By placing restrictions upon interracial marriages and reproduction status quo for unworthy individuals, it is a lack of ethics camouflaged in the name of eugenics.

All in all, the session was interesting and we all couldnt bear to leave the class till 3.30pm at least. Just kidding. I rate my session 8/10. I like personal presentations by people. They give a different viewpoint, every time. Challenges our thoughts and perceptions. Looking forward to the next class..