Science and Technology

         Science and technology have advanced to another level that we have never seen before. In the late 1990's, people could only dream of mobile cellular phones from Star Trek, flying cars, surfing boards, etc. But some of them had came true, and we now live in a world full of technology. We have inclined them in our daily use, and human kind would never be the same if there weren't any advancement in the field of technological science.

       We do not truly pay attention to the objects that are around us, but they are the technological advance that many people in the past did not have. Laptops, smartphones, wifi, internet, air conditioner, earphones, smart watch, 4K TV, etc. These inventions helped our lives get easier in so many ways. That help us work more efficient, be more productive, and more transcendent. Since the 20th century, thousands of inventions were invented, and they drastically changed our lives. One of the most popular innovations was the television.

In 1925, John Logie Baird showcased the first working television. The television evolved through periods of time, now we see the most advanced TVs with various display panels (LED, OLED, etc.)

Amongst these popular inventions, there is one exceptional, peculiar innovation: Instant noodle. Instant noodle can be misunderstood as a product of China since they are famous for noodle. But instant noodle came from Japan. A brief history of the product is when Japan was trying to recover their country after World War II, the government tried to subsidize the population with bread for food. But the Japanese people are inclined to eating ramen noodles, they refused to eat bread. There would be a long line of people waiting for noodles. Momofuku Ando saw this scenario and thought of instant noodle. He invented it under the brand Nissin. At that time, instant noodle was sold for 35 Yen, and was considered a luxury.

Without instant noodle, Japan might have been crippled with its work force too starved to work. Instant noodle saved lives, and when the Japan was asked which invention was the pride of their country, Japan said: "Instant noodle." As fascinating as inventions are, there are detrimental weapons that have been developed and could one day eradicate humanity.

After World War II and the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US had introduced to the world the beginning of nuclear warfare. Followed up after the World War was the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. They developed many different kinds of weapons and methods of defense against one another, in fear of a mass invasion. Now many countries possessed nuclear weapons, and it is estimated that each person on Earth, including children and infants, are living on 10 megaton of TNT.

Many more weapons of mass destruction are produced and experimented everyday. They could keep us safe, but they could be our demise. Humans have created weapons that would help them defend, but also help them destroy what they want to defend. We all need to be careful of what we fiddle with, for it will come back and bring us utter fear. Technology and Science can help us have an easier life, but not necessarily a better life. We will abuse these inventions. We will protrude our limitations, and surely we will face the consequences that we do not know.

Piracy

Piracy has been around for a long time, tracing back to 14th century BC. But piracy has two forms: Physical and Intellectual. Physical piracy involves robbing and killing people at sea. In the old days, pirates used ships with cannons to take down other ships, along with boarding that ship and raiding for goods. Infamously, Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart) was the most successful pirate in history. He successfully captured 470 vessels in the Golden Age of Pirate.

Now, in the modern world, pirate is mostly associated with Somalia. Since the central government collapsed, and the Somali Navy was disbanded, pirates decimated the sea of Somali. The pirates target any ships that slip into their zone. Hollywood had brought this situation to us through the movie "Captain Phillips" which truly gained the attention of many viewers as well as emphasizing the severity of the situation in Somali.

Next is Intellectual piracy. This is the piracy which people steal from producers of programs, movies, etc. and publish them for free for the programs require payment to access. ThePirateBay is a notable example of intellectual piracy. Started since 2003, ThePirateBay has established a network that specialize in pirating any programs, movies, music, etc. out there and release them on the internet so everyone can access them. 

Piracy has led to companies losing millions of dollars. Pirates have a belief that materials should be free on the internet for everyone to use. For example: An Adobe software package would cost 1000$, but go to thepiratebay.se right now and get it for FREE! The founders of the site had been trialed and imprisoned for mass piracy. They are Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij, and Carl Lundstrom. Although they have all been imprisoned, the site kept on living since the founders have established servers all around the world, meaning that it would go on to live forever. The government had tried to take down the sight but failed miserably. In the US, piracy is fought immensely by many companies, but they have the largest number of people pirating: 3 million people.

Failing to fight the trend, companies changed their tactics to adapt to the situation. Nothing could stop the army of piracy, even the government. Piracy, although considered a crime, if used with innocuous purpose would be a boon to many people that do not have suitable condition to pay for these products. In our lives, we probably had pirated a product from the internet, one way or another, so are we all criminals that have committed a "felony?"

Unfair Distribution of Wealth

Unfair distribution of wealth has created a big difference between the rich and the poor. 80% of the world population has only 20% of the wealth, but 20% of the world population has up to 80% of the wealth.

There are no actual cause, but the difference of wealth between rich and poor people started to increase after the Industrial Revolution. Rich countries say that they invest in poor countries and help them develop, but in fact, they take out from developing countries 2 trillion dollars each year. The top 20% of the wealthiest people have almost all the wealth, while the bottom 20% do not have enough money for medications, education, etc.

 Some people might say a CEO that makes 1 million a year works harder than a construction worker that makes 40,000$ a year, but that is a misunderstanding that people do not know about. CEOs do not necessarily work harder than construction workers. A CEO might sit at their office for 8 hours a day, have other people do their work, and still get paid with top notch salary. While the construction worker works 8 hours a day, that person does not make enough to pay for their basic needs, which leads to this person working overtime, summing up 12 hours a day. The construction worker has to work in harsh condition under extreme weather. There are also risks of getting injured, or lost of life. Why do CEOs get paid higher than construction workers while clearly the workers do much more work? CEOs need high demand of intellectual knowledge to be able to run a company and control the people under them, while a construction worker just receive an order and do as the higher ranking commander says. Impecunious has lead people into poverty, and without any proper needs provided.

The government steps in to somewhat bring balance to society. The government taxes rich people a higher rate. The bigger the salary, the bigger the tax. Charity could be opened to support people in dire needs. Many other solutions have been provided to extricate the bottom 20% from poverty.

Unfair distribution is a problem that is debated in the world at the moment. It is a necessity that we take it with utmost seriousness and obligation. We need to act now, for every second we waste, more people are falling under the poverty line, and the people that are under that line are despondent for our aid.

Update: Our class has started a donation campaign and we have raised 1,085,000 VNĐ along with 1 dollar. Some of the members had been very generous with their donation and showed great elan towards this project. Thank you all.

Political Compass

There are 4 political view of the world based on the Political Compass: Authoritarian left, Authoritarian right, Libertarian left, and Libertarian right. They are divided into 4 corners.

It is hard to explain the concept of each corner, so I would like to quote examples that were given by the website. Each of the examples will represent each corner respectively. They may not be precise but they should be able to give you a general idea of the 4 corners.

On the top left, there is Authoritarian left. The representative for this corner would be Stalin. He's furthest to the left, showing a commitment of totally controlling the economy. Stalin would be at the top, controlling the whole economy. Gandhi has a view of a more free market, a liberal person. Hitler and Thatcher are the ones who are on the top right with a view of strict authority. Friedman, similar to Gandhi would leave the market untouched but with some order established to maintain its stability.

There would be different response from each of these individuals. This is where we see ideas looked at by many points of view. The test could be accurate and somewhat show your state of mind but only ourselves can surely know what we want.

World Policies

1. World Bank (WB)

The World Bank is a United Nations international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs.
The World Bank was created at 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.
Millennium Development Goals:
1. Eradicate extreme Poverty and Hunger
2.Achieve Universal Primary Education
3.Promote Gender Equality
4.Reduce Child Morality
5.Improve Maternal Health
6.Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases
7.Ensure Environment Sustainability
8.Develop a Global Partnership for Development
One of the problem that WB is aiming to solve is energy generation requires water to produce energy.
Why Does The Energy Sector Need Water?

Here are the reasons and graphical demonstration:

Energy section requires water to produce energy. By 2035, the world's consumption of energy would increase by 35%. This would lead to the water consumption by 80% more and the withdrawal of water by 20% more. Water is a resource that producing energy requires. To main the viability of energy to the world, we need to invest more water resources to energy producing to harmonize them.

2. International Monetary Fund (IMF)

It is an international organization that was started at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference but it was officially created in 1945 by 29 members countries. The IMF's goal was to reconstruct the world's international payment system-post World War II.

Stabilizing Ukraine's Economy

Ukraine's internal conflict is all over the news, and surely it would affect their economy. The political tension and separation would lead the economy in to a downfall. IMF is there to assist Ukraine in maintaining their economy. A program is established to aid them. They have received till now 4.6 billion. There are many uncertainty about the program since the conflict might affect it, but IMF is making sure that Ukraine would still receive support from them as much as IMF can.

A country's economy is a vital key to that country's survival. A country would go bankrupt if they are not careful. Especially with the situation that Ukraine is facing, it is crucial that we support them, a country in dire need.