TWC Session 2

Interesting topics were covered this week. We started with defining the difference between innovation and invention. My conclusion at the end of the discussion was innovation was essentially creation, generation of ideas and invention was the physical manifestation of the idea. Hence, as agreed in class: Invention was the subset of innovation. Then we moved on to history of the world. How different societies once dominated the world at different point in time and their subsequent downfall.

One area in particular that caught my interest was Prof's Organizational Behavioral Model which can be applied to areas like the rise and fall of nations and corporations. Prominent examples such as the fall of China and India and the subsequent rise of European nations have been brought up, as it had been the previous lesson. But this time, the model was also applied to corporations, where once industry leaders like IBM and Microsoft have dominated their market have fallen from grace and are gradually replaced by newcomers like Apple and China's Huawei.

I am convinced that this model is extremely useful in explaining in retrospect but extremely difficult to apply in the present. Take Microsoft for example. Microsoft was once the Apple and Google of today. A place where programmers and managers worked towards excellence instead of bottom-line. They saw IBM as the hulking tech giant that was bore down by politics and bureaucracies. Innovation was replaced by internal office politics where potentially revolutionary technologies like the e-book and smartphone technologies was suppressed and even sabotaged by colleagues who were under the impression that they would not only be rewarded for excellence but the failure of their peers as well. It was once cool to work in Microsoft. But over the years, they themselves became IBM, the very thing they despised.

My point here is: Microsoft saw and knew what led to the downfall of IBM and yet they knowingly, and perhaps even willingly followed, their steps. I see the same pattern with Apple nowadays, a once innovative company which came up with revolutionary products such as the iPod, iPhone, iOS have seen far fallen from grace after one of the most spectacular revivals in corporate histories. Many are speculating the end of Apple's innovative streak. Which is kind of true if you look at their recent performance, iPhone 5's sales are staggering behind Samsung's S series smartphones. Its once revolutionary iOS has been losing market share to the Android OS. The Macintosh is still a niche among many users. And investors seems to agree, Apple shares have fallen almost 30% since its peak in 2012. What happened? It was once cool to work in Apple (still is). But over the years, they are slowly becoming Microsoft, the very thing they despised.

The question now becomes: Is the downfall of innovative companies, once they become too big, inevitable? I guess we'll have to look to Google to know that answer.

We then went on to discuss the reading “The Colonial Holocaust and its Legacy”. How wonderful things such as religion, education, civility became excuses for conquest, slavery, genocide. When I read the article, I wept. I simply could not fathom how humanity is capable of such cruelty to members of their own race. How people can glorify a purge and genocide of an entire race with holiday and roast turkey. How we can bear to see a once proud, culturally advanced and innately gentle race be reduced to savages and casinos at the mention of Cherokee. Then I remembered: We are the only race on Earth that would kill each other not for food or territory or self-defense but because we can.

HDI was very interesting.

I would rate this session an 8/10. A broad range of topics were covered that were relevant to our future use. The analysis of the past, present and future gave us an idea on how thing were, how they are now and where they are going.