China | Social Issues

Imbalance of wealth
Impacting social and economic issues between regions, urban and rural areas

Environmental
35% of total area hermed by acid rain
40% of rivers polluted
25% drink contaminated water
400/667 cities suffer from water shortage
35% of people living in the towns and cities breathe polluted air
32% of all hazardous solid waste treated
public health and long-term sustainable development seriously effected

Aging population
Since end of 2000, China has become an ageing nation
Result of one-child policy (1979) to control China’s booming population
Just over 10% population are elderly and believe median age will increase from 30 to 45 by 2050.
Scarce infrastructure and social services for the elderly with the young growing resentment towards their elderly relatives as they claim legal rights to protection and security

Employment
Heavily industrialised coastal areas experiencing employment shortange due to the recent years of ecstatic growth

Crime
Increase in corporate irregularity white-collar crime
Organised crime and corruption
Counterfeiting
Alleged fraud and scams

Urbanisation
More people moving into the city as government reduces its population distribution control, labour market development, population censorship methods and the accuracy of the population statistics.
Massive impact on social, welfare state, unemployment and environment

Rise of middle classes
100mil, 250mil and prediction of 700mil by 2020

Gender Imbalance
Male preference in children with deep cultural roots

Corruption
state officials enriching self through bloated government projects and theft
Communist Party’s internal disciplinary organ expelled former Deputy Party Secretary of Sichuan Province Li Chuncheng for suspected bribery and abuse of power

Censorship
Pro-government propaganda into news stories
Surveillance of email chat
Internet police force using firewalls to remove freedom of expression

Globalisation
Loss of tradition from foreign cultures

Education
Pressure to perform in highly competitive schools (Gaokao)
Rural-urban inequality
Poor funding and support for university research

Morality
Social competitiveness
Loss of culture
Excessive materialism
Regional elitism and discrimination

Cathy Luo

The future of sleep

This will just be a few idea I have on these questions further research will be needed.

What is the relationship between sleep and luxury?

I think that sleep will become a luxury that most people in the future will not be able to afford. I don’t mean that people won’t be sleeping at all but most people just won’t have the time to sleep. Hence sleep becomes a luxury which only a few people can afford. The general people will constantly be sleep deprived where as the people who are well off will not.
What is the relationship between sleep and capitalism?

Capitalism will affect sleep in a large amount. This is mainly due to the work force that supports capitalism. Capitalism will be one of the main reasons why the general population is forces to get used to less sleeping hours and being constantly sleep deprived
What is the relationship between sleep and property?

The relationship between sleep and property will main be about the quality of sleep you will be getting. This is mainly due to the problem we have in our scenario which is air pollution. This relates to property because if you are of a higher class in social status you would be able to afford a property in a cleaner and less polluted area which in turn has better air quality allowing for a better sleep.
What is the relationship between sleep and housing?

Housing will also affect the quality of sleep you will have. This is also due to the area you will be sleeping in. if you are sleeping in a smaller house you might not have the space to have a product which cleans the air around you. You are also forced to deal with the pollution that comes from houses around you as well. So for example if you were living in an apartment the air quality would be now where near as good as if you were living in a house by yourself.

Wilson

Future Scenario

It is 2050 in Bejing, China and this is what it looks like. The air is heavy polluted due to the previous government’s neglect of the environment. The rise in technology has also contributed to this pollution. The general wellbeing of the population has declined due to the inhalation of the toxins in the air. 5 years ago the citizens of China overthrew the previous government and elected the current, more environmentally conscious, government. The political figures in the elected party are faced with mounting pressure to find a solution to the air pollution problem.

Due to the increase of seamless technology being integrated into every aspect of life, especially the goods and services industry, humans have become more reliant on this and therefore less social.

The inequality between the lower and upper classes as the upper class can afford air filters for their homes and workplaces and are therefore less affected by the air pollution.

Scenario Points

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1b: Human Technology Relationships

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Image: http://www.lidtime.com/can-technology-and-humanity-continue-to-coexist/

Technology is the application of knowledge to produce machinery and devices that are expected to change quality of life, whether that be good or bad. The genesis of the great technological breakthrough, I believe, was the start of the industrial revolution (18-19^th century) in which Great Britain capitalised globally through the roll over of innovative machinery. Such advancements at the time regarding elementary employment of technology was highly evident in the textiles and agricultural sectors which were only present at the factories.

However, advancements in technology throughout the decades have been incorporated within our daily and personal lives through robotics and computer systems because of greater innovation, accessibility and reliability. Therefore, I believe we have entered a robot reality life, which will be followed by cyborg reality. Too expand, robotics, which is defined as ‘machines capable of carrying out complex series of actions’, as seen in everyday items such as smart phones and computers, are evolving into a highly more sophisticated innovation that are starting to take on human characteristics and think more independently. An example of this, is the development of ‘Atlas’, a humanoid robot developed by Boston Dynamics. Atlas was designed as a responder to dangerous situations such as nuclear meltdowns. Characteristics of this robot include that of ‘sensing its environment, but can also react to it with a dexterity not yet seen in an android robot’.

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Image: http://laughingsquid.com/the-darpa-robotics-challenge-2013-trials/

I believe the future of robotics will develop into cyborgs, where in the future we will definitely see innovations that includes installing artificial accessories to enhance humans. As Roy Woodhead suggests, technology has influenced our life choices without realising, as we tend to lose sight of our ‘human connectedness as we are dictated by artificial system collectives’. Similarly to the novel, do androids dream of electric sheep?, futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil explores and advocates the prediction of the ‘transfer of our minds from fallible, disease prone neurobiology to machines’ with the replacement of neurons with electronic chips, turning our minds into intelligence that is about one billion times more powerful. So the arguments that arise in regards to our ethical and moral compass are huge as the ‘post human’ will choose not to exercise empathy, as we will loose the essence of simple human to human connectedness and potentially, some day develop a conflict. (Agar, 2010, pg. 225)

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Image: http://www.geek.com/news/terminator-genisys-popularity-in-china-might-translate-into-sequel-1632055/

REFRENCES:

Kurzweil, R. 2005. The singularity is near: When humans transcend biology. London: Penguin.
Agar, N. 2010. Humanity’s end: Why we should reject radical enhancement. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Vanessa

1c. A review of a future scenario

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey proposes a future scenario based on the spacecraft, Discovery One, in outer space. In this scenario there are five humans on board Discovery One and one computer, which controls everything on board. Before they left Earth, three of the human crewmembers on Discovery One were put in a state of hibernation, in which they only breathe once a minute. The computer, known as HAL, is capable of speech, speech recognition, facial recognition, natural language processing, lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting and displaying emotion, automated reasoning, and playing chess (Kolker, R, 2006). Throughout the film, HAL becomes more and more self aware and paranoid resulting in the murder of the three hibernating crewmen and the second-in-command Dr. Frank Poole. The film ends with the remaining crewman Dave Bowman lobotomising HAL.

Stanley Kubrick has helped viewers visualise this scenario through the set of the spaceship and the space suits worn by the characters as well as the soundtrack and cinematography. The massive surface of HAL shows the power and significance it holds and its eye-like camera assists viewers in viewing this machine as somewhat human.

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Even though it’s prophetic year has passed, 2001: A Space Odyssey still speaks to us about our past and future, our relationships to the unknowns of the universe, and cautions us about the ways in which we deal with the technologies we invent (Kolker, R, 2006). Video call has developed drastically since this film was made in 1968. In June 2016 founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg live streamed a video call with Tim Peake and other astronauts on the International Space Station, in the first live Facebook video to be broadcast from outer space (Telegraph Reporters 2016). In regards to artificial intelligence, programs like Siri and Cortana, which use voice recognition intelligence, are already very advanced. There was an incident when a twitter chatbot account, TayTweets, created by Microsoft as an experiment in ‘conversational understanding’ became hostile. TayTweets learned from messages tweeted to her by humans and essentially regurgitated whatever it was that was said to her. (Vincent 2016). Many of the ideas in 2001: A Space Odyssey have already become or are becoming reality.

STEEP Analysis

Social

Humans and AI communicate with each other
Video chat is a huge part of human to human communication
Humans have limited social interaction and seems to be only for formalities rather than enjoyment

Technological

Trust in AI to control important space missions (human lives and a lot of money at risk)
Voice recognition to control/instruct spacecraft
AI becomes uncontrollable by humans and commits murderer

Environmental

Environmental cost of creating massive computers like HAL
Gravity is different to that on Earth (humans able to walk up side down and sideways, as if the outside shell of the ship is holding them down)

Economic

Space travel/missions are expensive
Investment in AI technology is expensive

Political

Explaining to the world and mission sponsors why the space mission failed would be difficult

References

Kolker, R, 2006. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey: New Essays. 1st ed. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.
Telegraph Reporters. 2016. Technology. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/06/01/mark-zuckerberg-broadcasts-video-call-to-tim-peake-in-space/. [Accessed 15 September 2016].
James Vincent. 2016. The Verge. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist. [Accessed 15 September 2016].

Britt Neech

1A | The Sleeping Habit

Throughout history, established sleeping environments did not exist until human requirements such as growing crops became necessary. Even then, the importance of sleep was not always acknowledged as certain civilisations like the Egyptians and the Romans devoted very little space to rest [Van Winkles 2016]. However, there was a period when humans prioritised sleep through segmented sleeping patterns, with people sleeping for two hours, waking up and then continuing their second sleep [BBC 2016]. Though during the industrial revolution, people saw the importance of time, which resulted in eliminating the need to sleep in segments and introducing the seven to eight hour sleeping pattern [BBC 2016]. As seen through time, factors such as human advancement and culture are key factors that determine the importance we place on sleep.

In contemporary society, technological advancement and the culture of efficiency and productivity remains a priority. As a result, shifts in sleeping patterns and environments are seen in certain cultures, especially in China. In recent years, China has experienced a booming economic growth that has seen new job opportunities throughout the country such as technological innovation. The result of increased opportunities has seen the need for workers to stay up late to finish tasks, making it a city that never sleeps [Huffington Post 2016]. In the article, ‘Tech Workers who have to sleep at the office’, we begin to see a shift in the places we sleep as a result of long hours in the office. Some companies are beginning to install bunk beds and couches to accommodate midday naps and even provide sleeping areas and beds for workers to rest during late nights [Huffington Post 2016]. Another growing trend in China is sleeping in public spaces as revealed by Eric Leleu’s photographic collection titled ‘Day Dreamers’ [Slate 2016]. In his travels, he noticed that it was a common practice for people to wake up early and nap during the day “It’s just a different perception of body rhythm. People go for a break when we go for a caffeine boost in the Western world.” [Slate 2016] Through Leleu’s work, the activity of private sleep is revealed as an almost desperate communal public need.

As a result, many artists are beginning to highlight the importance of sleep by exploring the effects of limited sleep on the human condition and how far we can push these boundaries before we are unable to function. One example of these artists is Tehching Hseih, who explored time through his work ‘Time Clock’ where he did not sleep for twelve months. Through the art experiment, Hseih realised the lack of sleep presented both physiological and psychological challenges, commenting “It was like being in limbo, just waiting for the next punch.” Therefore highlighting the importance of sleep to a functioning human. [The Guardian 2016]

In all, much of the factors that contribute to the habits of sleep that we see in society have developed from human advancement as we accustom to these changing normalities much of our sleep culture is dictated. Will we ever priorities sleep over our physical doing in the environment?

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