Innovations and New Perspectives

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November 28, 2019
Innovations and New Perspectives
           The human society has gone a long way from where it started. From a simple collection of individuals who uses stone tools and forages around, we have possibly become one of the most advanced civilizations in the entire universe with our creations reaching interstellar space. Yet, innovations do not always lead to progress. As we could see these days, advances in technology have caused severe effects on our planet and posed a threat to the very survival of our species. This simply shows that progress cannot be achieved with innovation alone, but also with an increased sense of responsibility, foresight, and adaptation to things that are happening around us. In this article, the idea of innovation and progress would be discussed in greater detail. Particularly, we would discuss concepts such as sustainable development, adaptive learning, and complex systems. All in all, I believe that to fully reap the benefits of innovation, human beings like us must be able to make the most efficient and sustainable use of the limited resources that we are given with. But before we address it, let us first look at the ‘dilemma of progress’.
The Dilemma of Progress
           From an evolutionary standpoint, we could see that progress has always been defined based on the improvements in how we make use of the resources around us. For example, when humans have learned how to create and use bronze after relying on stone for millions of years, we called it progress. When we have learned how to run steam engines to exponentially improve our transportation, we also called it progress. And when we have turned cameras that weighed tons into something that fits at the size of our pocket, we also called it progress. However, as humans continued to exploit the environment and create things that have detrimental effects on others, in the name of Capitalism it led to certain repercussions. The environment was degraded and humans have developed more complex illnesses than what was present before. In line with Siebert’s discussion about the relationship between man and animals, we could see how the elephant population has suffered as circuses and zoos have increased in size in a short period of time. In other words, balancing innovation with environmental sustainability as well as the welfare and future of humanity constitutes the dilemma of progress. In the succeeding section, we will discuss about how to address such dilemma.
           Addressing the kind of dilemma that we face requires us to take a proactive and strategic approach on how to efficiently create and use the resources that we have. For example, one of the most studied negative effects of mobile devices is the decrease in the attention span of children. However, as aptly described by Davidson, in her article entitled Project Classroom Makeover, one of the reasons why this happens is because there is a failure to effectively integrate technology in the educational system of the country. To illustrate this, she cited how it took iPods a long time before it becomes integrated with the concept of Instructional Technology (IT). Even these days – nine years after the publication of Davidson’s article – a study conducted by Hwang, Lai, and Wang, suggests that there still exists a gap between the effective integration of technology into the classroom setting. Additionally, Davidson’s article talked about the need to tailor-fit the educational system to highlight the strengths of each student and prepare them for future advances them in society, rather than merely focusing on their capacity to pass ‘standardized’ tests. In turn, this creates an educational system that is progressive enough as it balances the demands of innovati...