The Future of Technology

As being discussed in the earlier posts, the development of human race is in parallel with the advancement of technology where technology has allow human to manage information efficiently, to defend ourselves against any potential threat and to achieve a modern comfortable lifestyle. Now, everything have been made easier with the help of technology such as phones, computers, internet, satellites and so many more innovations that some people may even think that there is nothing left to be researched on. But, the technology will always progress ahead and as the technology continue to advance forward, it will definitely reshape our life and this planet.

Future Technology (Source: Google)

When imagining about the future, we often visualize robots and space ships but in reality that future is nearer than we think. Robotic technology and aerospace technology are developing in this era such as seen in Japan where they were able to create a fully-functioning combat robot that may change the doctrine of war or in United Kingdom where they are launching space tourism. Although these new futuristic achievements have only been unlocked in the recent years of 2010-2012 but honestly, these technologies might be ahead of their time of 10 to 20 years more into the future. Thus, this shows that the rate in which our technology advance is stunningly and incredibly fast. For quick example, we can see in the development of smart phone. The rate of technology development in smart phone is so fast that a phone that we buy today may be outdated in just under a month as new model with new innovation and the latest technology come into the market.

Japan Battle Robot (Source: JSDF)



Virgin Galactic Space Tourism (Source: Virgin)

Before, all these just seem like science fictions in many movies such as I Robot, Star Wars, Avatar and Gundam  but now we are able to live inside these dream worlds and experience it. Somehow these technologies have made us think that there is nothing that we can't accomplish and this gives us a sense of superiority. But, please be reminded that our knowledge are still limited because the knowledge of the vast universe is limitless for our minds to comprehend. However, this does give us the opportunity to develop and expand our knowledge as there is still so many things to be discovered and explored.

Future Technology (Source: Youtube)

Despite all the advantages that the technology gives us, it does not come without consequences. Some technology does has direct consequences like the advancement in weaponry technology mean that weapons nowadays are becoming more and more deadly. Not to mention the indirect consequences such as shown in movies such as Terminator and Resident Evil where human race was overtaken by the technology that we developed to protect ourselves and to ease our life. Besides that, there are many real scenarios and situations that portray the disadvantages of having advance technology such as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that were destroyed by Atomic Bombs or in Chernobyl that was devastated by nuclear radiation.

Future War (Source: Google)

However, please do not let this disadvantages doubt your opinion about technology because technology is necessary for our survival. The 7 billion human population nowadays is only able to grow and strive because of the technology has allow us to do so. It is technology that allow us to grow crops to support our growing population and it is also the technology that allow us to keep ourselves healthy. We cannot separate human history with technology because it is a part of our history as it helps define us the way we are now. Therefore, what we can do is to carefully develop the technology through a carefully and ethically correct guideline. Well, it is easier said than done because honestly there is no guideline that can be used as a universal guide for technological innovation because history has proved that some of our most important technologies were invented with unethical reasons such as nuclear energy that was invented by the United States in order to destroy the Axis Power in World War II or computer that was invented in order to help data analysis for espionage purposes. Therefore, although the line between right or wrong in technology is still quite blur and is still open for debate but we human need technology to develop in order to effectively survive. So, give technology a chance to develop and we need to start trusting ourselves and our children that all of us will do the right for our own future and the future of our planet. 

Better Future (Source: Google)

"The future belongs to those who prepare for it today"
Malcolm X

IT & Globalisation Part 2

As a continuation from the previous post, this post will discussed about the disadvantages of Information Technology (IT) and Globalisation. Although the IT itself does not really bring any negative value or disadvantage but it is the seed that stimulate the spawn of the Globalisation Era. Before begin discussing, it is important to state that the reason this topic is being separated into two posts. There maybe some speculation reasoning but the real honest reason is to help the readers understand this topic from a different and wider perspective. This is because by viewing an issue from many angles should help the readers to answer the question whether all these really do worth their price. It is important to not just view a story from one point but please search for the whole truth and decide for yourself. It is sad to see people just keep on being ignorant and accept what are being told to them without any effort to justify the truth. OK, sorry for the touching moment. Back to the discussion, globalisation too has it dark sides for those who do not know.

Globalization (Source: Google)

One of them is the usage of Earth resources. According to many sources, the rate in which the human is using the Earth resources has increase dramatically since the Globalisation Era. Many experts explained this situation as an unsustainable usage of resources. This is because as the human life become more complex with the increase in demand for all type of things and the dependability to machinery or technology, the rate in which we use our resources also increase in order to support those increases. This issue is becoming more and more common in nowadays media and in particular is about oil. Oil is one of many resources that the Earth provides to us but it is not infinite. The fluctuation in oil price is a direct result of the disability to produce enough oil that can cater the ever increasing demand. Below is a graph that illustrate the growing in energy usage throughout history while considering population growth.

Graph of Energy Usage According to Year and Population (Source: ourfiniteworld)

Besides that, the increase in the usage of Earth resources also bring another side effect of globalisation which is pollution. As the rate in which we burned our fossil fuel increase, so does the amount of harmful gas emissions. This situation get worse as more and more trees are being cut for various purposes because it reduce the Earth capabilities to neutralize or minimize the effects from the pollution. This situation is also becoming more and more common in the nowadays media such as about global warming. Thus, this creates an environment that in a way even hostile to life-forms such as in Chernobyl where the radiation level is too high or in many contaminate rivers around the world where the water is not safe anymore.

Some people who are optimists believe that human can learn from this mistake because they believe that people will only appreciate things around them when it is gone. It is unfortunately true that human nature works that way but it is also important to understand the severity of the problem when the environment is gone because we cannot live without a sustainable environment. This is not just a case of the environment, the Earth resources are also important for human survival. Some may argue that resources such as for generating electricity are not essential to human life but what about the supply of water and food or even worse air. Human and all life-forms cannot possibly survive without those resources. 

Globalization II: The Downside (Source: Youtube)

Furthermore, besides all the negative effects on the environment, globalisation also has change our social life as well. With the development of globalisation, a new social system has emerge. This new social system is known as individualism. Before globalisation, people tend to work and thrive as a community but now people tend to work and socialize as an individual. However, this does not essentially mean a bad thing because this way people gain more freedom and individual rights but there is still a bad side to this social system. One example is in the family organization where nowadays couples or husbands and wives are priortizing their own needs or ideas over the commitment of sharing together. It is believe that this is one of the reason to why the divorce rate is very high especially in the more globalized part of the world such as the First World Country. Thus proving the point that even in a good decision, there is still some bad effects. It is up to us to decide whether it is really worth it or not.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity"

Albert Einstein

IT & Globalisation Part 1

Most of us especially Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z in particular do not really know about the significance changes that the Information Technology really has brought to our life. This is because most people do not really try to understand how the world really was before the coming of Information Age and Globalisation Era. The beginning of the Information Age can be traced after the Industrial Revolution in Europe took place in the 18th Century. In order to really understand the present situation, we must explore the past. Please understand that before the Industrial Revolution, the average life-expectancy of a human being is only around 40 years which is only half of today and about 80 percent of the total human population are engaging in agriculture whereas in comparison to today, only around 8 percent to 10 percent of human population work in agriculture. These alone should give us the impression of how different our life have change.

Globalisation (Source: Google)

This different is cause by the different in the level of technology available in the period. In the past, about 80 percent of the population are needed to wok in agriculture in order to support the minor 20 percent. However, with technological innovation, less people are needed as machines are used to create a much more productive, effective and efficient agriculture. This has allow more people to wok in other sectors such as manufacturing. Besides that, the technological innovation in the early 1800's has also allow human to fight diseases and this is also supported by the increase in agriculture production where this mean that more people can eat sufficient food. Thus, this increase the life-expectancy dramatically and supported by the reduction childbirth fatality cause the exponential increase in human population such as shown in the graph below.

Graph of Population Growth Throughout History (Source: UN)

This increase in human population increase the demand for innovation even further as every country is struggling to meet the needs of the ever growing population of their countries and the challenges in the global condition. This creates a situation in the 18th Century where the countries particularly European nations are competing with each others in order to benefits from the new industrial and globalised world. This trend continues until the 20th Century with Japan and the United States of America (USA) entering the competition and the human population grow to more than 3 billion people.

Such as stated before, the increase in human population is a direct result of the improvement in the technological innovation and it is this growth that catalyze the spur in the R&D of Information Technology (IT). Great Britain for example in the late 19th Century has colonies in Canada, India, Malaya, Australia and New Zealand. This creates the need for Great Britain to establish a communicative system to interact with their representatives in their respective colonies and it is this need that allow the innovation of telegram and Morse Code. These systems are then even further developed to create an even more efficient communication network and it will later gives birth to the internet. 

Globalization I: The Upside (Source: Youtube)

Exclusively, IT and Globalisation Era has allow human beings to increase the quality of life very significantly compared to before where our life-expectancy have double, less fatality in childbirth, healthy population, more food supply and vast market availability. Therefore, it is without doubt that technological innovation and globalisation have help to support and make our life easier and healthier but it do come with consequences and this will be discussed in the next post.

"Necessity is the Mother of Invention"

Plato

M.I.S. for Security

The application of information management is very vital in any security agency especially since the dawn of Information Age that bring new and more complex challenges to the need of security. In Malaysia, the latest Automaton Enforcement System (AES) is one of the method implemented by the Malaysian government to ensure the security in the road around Malaysia. However, I will not discuss any further about the AES because I am quite sure someone else will write about them. Instead, I will discuss about the application of M.I.S in the military and in particular is about the application by the Malaysian Armed Force or Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) .

ATM Logo (Source: Google)

I choose to discuss about this topic is mainly as a homage to the ATM for their success for entering the Final of Piala Malaysia (Malaysian Cup). Despite their lost to Kelantan in a close match of 3-2, I believe ATM can pull it off in the next season because they are very good in organizing strategy and managing information. Before I begin, I would like to state that some of the information that I am going to discuss will not be very specific because it involves a matter of national security and are considered as classified information. So, please understand that the content of this discussion is definitely not the true capabilities of ATM but just a hint of what ATM can do.

The Roles of ATM (Source: Kementerian Pertahanan Malaysia / MinDef)



Based from many sources on the Internet, ATM is said to operate a centralized Command & Control (C&C) System that combine its three services, Army (TD), Navy (TLDM) and the Air Force (TUDM). Although all of the three services have their own C&C but it will be linked through a centralized network system to the Wisma Pertahanan where the information will be managed by a classified system which is commonly known as Battlefield Management System (BMS) in order to help the process of decision making by government and the top military chiefs regarding any potential security or military activity. This system functioned almost like the Executive Support System (ESS) that are used by the corporate businesses but much more complex.

ATM Radar & Surveillance System (Source: MilitaryofMalaysia)

BMS is linked with several complementary systems that operate the functions such as surveillance, intelligence, logistic and weaponry. These system will be organized by the BMS to support an individual system in the battlefield or combat zone commonly known as Combat Support System (CSS) operated by the field commander. The main different between BMS and CSS is the person whom the information are for. BMS for example is for the commander-in-chief whom organizing the whole aspects of the operation while CSS in for the field commander whom is in the combat zone organizing the combat operation. It is almost like the relationship between ESS for the top managers while the Decision Support System (DSS) for the lower frontline managers.

Example of CSS (Source: Google)

CSS is very important for any military mission. This system will allows the commanders in the field to analyze the situation and report the information back to the headquarter quickly, accurately and most important secretly. All CSS must be equipped with the latest security application in order to avoid counter-intelligence by the enemy. Besides that, CSS also had one very important function which is to create 'Situational Awareness' in the battlefield.

Situational Awareness (Source: Google)

Situational Awareness is a term used by the military for a situation where the military unit has complete information on the surrounding pertaining the geographical landscape, weather condition and enemy position. This will allows the unit to act fast with the right strategy to accomplish the mission or objective given by the headquarter. One must not underestimates the important of Situational Awareness in the battlefield because the military cannot afford any mistake or uncertainty in any military operation as the stakes involve human lives and the national security interest.

"Strategy is an art of making use of time and space"

Napolean Bonaparte

Information Management?

I believe everybody knew what is information but now everybody know how to manage information. According to many historians, the method of systematically managing information can be traced back to many ancient civilizations such as Ancient Greek, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Chinese, Ancient Babylon and the Indus Civilization. However, maybe the most popular and well-known is the method of information management in Ancient Egypt. When people talked about Egypt, they will always picture the Pyramid but what most people don't know is that Pyramid is one of a tool used by the Ancient Egyptians to managed and stored information.

A Pyramid (Source: Google)

Don't be surprised that the drawings inside the Pyramid contained a lot of information and some of that information can even challenge our beliefs of how ancient people really live their life. Many scientists and archaeologists are stunted by how effective the Ancient Egyptians manage their information such as how the make beer or bread by systematically drawing them at the wall of the Pyramid. Today, modern people can accurately recreate the exact beer or bread with the same process used by the Ancient Egyptians. Please be noted that the method of producing Egyptians beer was lost for about 3000 years until the archaeologists managed to uncover the secret of Ancient Egyptian' hieroglyph language using the Rosetta Stone in the 19th Century.

Beer in Ancient Egypt (Source: Youtube)

While the Ancient Egyptians are popular for their method of using drawings to manage information, the Ancient Chinese are very popular for managing information such as the accounting information. This achievement is said to be driven by the invention of papers by the Chinese. The invention of paper has allow the Chinese to record and manage information easily with lower costs and smaller space for storing compared to the Ancient Egyptians. The lightweight of the paper has allow human to exchange information and manage information easily rather than by writing them in the wall of a building. This trend of exchanging and managing information is getting lighter and smaller especially since the dawn of Information Age.

Technological innovation has allow human to manage information even more effective and efficient than before. For example, human nowadays can just exchanging information virtually via Internet without even need to carry the information personally and if they do need to carry information, the information can be stored inside an USB or even into the person's phone where he/she can transfers the information via Bluetooth. Furthermore, technological advancement has also help human in managing complex information quicker and easier although it may require complex calculation or strategic long-term forecast that may involve millions or billions of data.

(Source: Google)



It is not even aggravate to state that the people in this modern society especially in the business society may not even survive without information technology. This is because technological innovation also bring new challenges into the modern society where it creates a very stiff competition for new innovation and sustainable operation. People especially in the business society nowadays depend upon information that are accurate and fast. This put a new responsibility for the organization to install an information management system in order to ease the information management process. However, the installation of the system does not guarantee success, the businesses themselves must learn on how to operate the system effectively in order to fully utilize the potential of information management.

"You better adapt to your surrounding or you may lose"

Thomas Edison