I guess I never really revealed the bigger picture that I've been having for a long time in my head. I talk about environmental change, social change, education, Singapore, external challenges and all, but I've always done it in bit pieces - every topic in isolation, without regard for its context with respect to many other things. A few days ago I had this epiphany that it would be simpler for my life and others, if I'd just tell them what is exactly on my mind. So here it is:
I am afraid for Singapore.
Now why am I afraid? Simply because of India and China. Their growth will be THE story of our time, of the 21st century. But what will it mean for Singapore? It means a loss of relevance in the world, the loss of relevance to China and India. What happens, around 2050, when China and India become fully developed? What will happen to Singapore?
What's happening now.
Singapore is trying to position itself as a point of entry into China's markets. That is losing its point, because investors can just stream into China directly, bypassing Singapore totally. We are exporting public administration to Chinese government officials - but in time, they will establish their very own Zhu Rong Ji Institute of Public Policy, so even LKYSPP will lose its shine. We are using exporting our developing model for their industries and economy as a whole, but in time, they won't need it, when they're done learning our lessons. They will eventually find their own way, and we'll be left in the dust of their development.
The only hope then is that we would have moved on in our development.
But how?
The only way to do that is to INNOVATE, and I cannot emphasize itself. We need an education system and a society that encourages innovation, and does it by the truckload.
My friend, Shaun, and I agree, that Singapore is really good at being efficient and sometimes, adaptable. Because we are small, we can push through with projects faster than almost any other country. That is something we need to keep. Our education system is superb at churning efficient people - and that's a good thing too. We are very good at doing the things TODAY, but we suck seriously at innovating.
The main point is, we need visionaries - people who can see beyond today's situations and anticipate what lies ahead in the future, and create innovations for tomorrow - not just incremental changes, but something radical, even game changing, something disruptive, like the Internet, the wheel, the iPod, and more...
And more importantly, we need to link visionaries with the efficient people that we have today. We need to be fast at what we do, and at the same time, to be able to innovate something completely new. We need a society that can nurture visionaries and match them with the suitable efficient people to create innovations that will keep Singapore just that little bit ahead. If we start now, we will enjoy another say, 20 years of growth, before China and India match up with us again. Until then, what?
Thats for the next generation to think, and we have to prepare them for that moment. Meanwhile, we have challenges like sustainable growth, urban planning, and all... SIngapore needs to seriously innovate, and come up with sustainable models for future growth - how do we retrofit our buildings to become eco-friendly, cradle-to-cradle style...
and an idea that can help make the innovative, dynamic society into reality...
and an IDEA CAFE!!! now that would be great! a place where people could talk freely about their ideas, get together and discuss them, and maybe even come up with something...
forgot to add that the Ideas Cafe will be different, because when people are discussing, they will decide whether they want people to just come in and contribute to a discussion... and then hopefully, this will allow different people to meet each other and come up with immense synergy they can take to... whatever their dreams take them...???
then we can set up a community, where people can continue their discussions online and further develop their ideas into full-blown projects of potential social change - all these for changing the social landscape of singapore into something really more dynamic than what i have here.
It does not need a new cafe, any cafe today can implement these things if they want to...
Monday 28 January 2008
the idea that i've been having about singapore...
Sunday 27 January 2008
ten years
I was looking at the young people in my neighbourhood today, and started talking to them for a very short while... and after that I went back home and I thought of something.
Ten years ago, people my age would have hardly the opportunities that I have today. I expect that ten years on, people my age would have opportunities I can hardly imagine today. So I think one of the challenges is, how do we prepare our young people for those opportunities that would otherwise blow our minds today?
Ten years on, we'll see even more innovations about the social-technosphere, and more opportunities for growth. Then... what will we do with our young people?
What kind of education will exist for them? How will the social landscape look like? How will the world have changed? Will the education catch up with the global transformations by then? Will our young people be ready for all these?
Saturday 26 January 2008
Innovation from a previous age
Was at this conference about start-ups and alternative energy. There were 5 men seating as panelists and a crowd of people with money in their eyes, all trying to catch ways to earn money and strike it rich youtube-style, you know, the kind where eventually you hope to see your company to google and earn billions.
Which is...
I won't be judgemental this time, but let me just say that, well, this kind of conferences, discussions, and all... they seem rather, old, like we're still stuck in the previous generation of talking about enterprises and start-ups. The dot-com boom was like, ten years ago, and I would like to believe that we have moved on since.
I don't think its possible to discuss 'alternative energy' by itself, and even when you're thinking about bio-diesel (which has its own conceptual problems) or solar power, I think that all the same, we're still in this stupid mindset. I think that in reality there is really a really large issue and where opportunities are really all just there. It's whether we are capable of this imagination to actually see these opportunities. The field I'm talking about is sustainability, building bright green cities and all. How do you turn Singapore green? How do you implement things like cradle to cradle concepts - everything from alternate energy to matierials recycling, and reusing them for top-quality products - how do you design pollutant-free products - all of these, will become vital for the future, yet there is scarcely anyone in Singapore looking at them. And I think, this is a tragedy...
Oh, and something from yesterday... the thought of chronicling Singapore's green spaces and and cool buildings, and then further on to see how Singapore could develop to become a sustainable Bright Green City that is able to minimize its impact on the environment as well as letting people feel more satisfied about the environment...
It's going to take more than bio-diesel to change our consumption...
Wednesday 23 January 2008
an epiphany 23rd jan
This whole idea just struck me as I was searching for the book, Stuff, The hidden lives of everyday Things. Then I found, Cradle to Cradle, a book by William McDonough, whose presentation about his development of 12 green cities in China was... simply... jaw-dropping. Then I found, Worldchanging: The User's guide to the 21st century.
Today, we are witnessing the intersection of politics, social technologies, and the environment. I believe that we are entering into another Enlightenment more enlightened than the previous one. I think today, we are in the Green Enlightenment. Our era will be defined by how we were able to tap on all of our technologies to solve issues of sustainability. Because I think, even the issue of climate change pales in comparison to the isse of sustainability. What must we do in order to survive this century and the next? Climate change is only part of the problem - there is this entire disaster that stems from our immense consumption of the resources of the planet...
I'm not Thomas Friedman, so I can't fly around the world asking for the opinion of TEDsters and other movers and shakers of the world. I do not believe that all these problems are too big to solve - it is rather, that the size of the problem should make us want to solve it even more. All the more we have to take this problem to the global level.
Just maybe, this is what our generation will have to do...
brainwaves on 23rd janueary - adaptive software and... the NS reflection
Is it possible to have software harmonising with the hardware environment for better performance, without external inputs? Is such programming possible? Is it possible for all software in a computer to adapt, by themselves, with each other and with the hardware environment, to produce better performance for the user?
And something else. Today I felt resolved to write out the NS reflection and the meaning of living in Singapore. This is going to take a while, I'll be trying to write it as soon as possible, and have it out during uni time. Hope this time, things will work out well...
Sunday 20 January 2008
after watching too many ted videos...
My 'TED' wish, is to set up a TED community in NUS. This community will come together to share ideas, about the things they are passionate about, and it'll be held like every month or so at some lecture theatre there. This thing will be entirely voluntary, the most difficult thing is to publicise this thing.
Anyway, here's something else - its slightly bigger and many more times more ambitious. My second 'TED' wish is to transform Singapore into a leading edge global city that does not merely want to catch up to other cities, but carve a place for itself in the world. Get what I mean? Its going to be about technological literacy, getting more tech companies to set up centres here, not just for marketing, but for research and all.
Here are some ideas - consolidate our education system - education should be more dynamic, not only restricted to schools, and teachers should not be limited to the classroom. Give our teachers more space to do their work. Who joins the teaching profession to do things other than teach? Schools should be seen as a public good. We should revise our ranking systems - seems to commercialise schools. Ranking system has become counter-productive. Schools emphasize ranking over the education of their students - which sucks for our kids. What we need may only be some indicators of areas schools are good at.
If the children of a village in Peru can all have laptops, why can't we do the same? OLPC!
Implement the open-source learning for teachers (from TED).
We cannot just mouth words like 'innovation' and 'creative'. Watching TED videos have seriously revitalised my belief in the power of innovate and create. but in order to do either, we must first open up ourselves to possibilities. I believe Singapore can be a cutting edge city. Do others believe? The world will move faster and faster....
Saturday 19 January 2008
Singapore is Not Green Enough
I was walking along Orchard Road today, and I was surprised at the developments that are going on there already. Ion Orchard is being built, and some other construction projects are ongoing, so there's this sense of development, that yeah, things are moving, and hopefully, are being improved. In the past, I would have been excited at the developments. But like I said, that would have been in the past. Right now, I'm concerned about the environmental impact of all of these and I'm concerned about whether new sustainable technologies are being used, whether environmental considerations are being factored in the construction of these new projects. The thing now is that we are merely going after the aesthetics - that the building should JUST look nice. But here's the deal, looking nice ain't enough no more. We can't just keep putting concrete blocks arranged in some nice way. If Singapore really wants to be a leading global city, if it really wants to be a world-class city, then, it should take that Garden City concept, and push it to the next level - really becoming a Garden City, not just in terms of aesthetics, but in thinking and in outlook. The question today is, how do we continue our growth, and at the same time, how do we do it in a green fashion, that doesn't add to our ecological impact?
The technologies are all available today. We need only today to look at the TED presentations, and look, for example, at the innovative architectural designs established for 12 Chinese cities that are being built along ways that are designed to limit the impact to the environment. Gardens on rooftops, closed-loop cycling of waste products, using our sewage to feed methane-producing bacteria, using incentives to implement wider recycling schemes. If we can have dish out Baby Bonus, why we can't we dish out a Green Bonus? More importantly, we need to invest more in greentech, not just in terms of researching on alternative sources of energy, but how to make our daily lives more energy efficient in terms of usage. Every little bit will count.
Making Singapore the foremost green city in the world is only the beginning. We need to share this know-how with the region, with India, Indonesia, the rest of Asia, with the rest of the world. I hope I'm wrong, but I believe its already too late for climate change. I believe its now a matter of sustainability, of how we can survive and grow despite climate change, despite diminishing resources - all these without killing each other and ourselves. This is the foremost challenge for all of us - to survive the 21st Century.
The first post
This is the first post of the blog thats supposed to be... more serious. See how it goes...
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