Future Trends Project

Group

Joel Chan 2P110

Ren Yuqi 2p123

Marcus Wong 2P131

Calvin Chen 2P202

Lack of online privacy The future scenario states that employers have legal access to their potential employees’ education history, employment history, references from their mentors, as well as their personal life stream published on social media tools like Facebook.

This could be a problem as citizens lack online privacy and their personal safety could be compromised.

Research: Finland Case study

Each year, a thousand people in Finland seal their contact information from the public because they fear for their own or their family’s safety. Roughly half of the orders are sought for professional reasons, and the rest because of abusive family situations. In fact, Finland’s organization for victim support recommends privacy orders to protect personal safety, especially when restraining orders fail to do the job.

“We recommend privacy orders in situations related to abusive spousal relationships – especially when the abuse does not end with divorce,” says Jaana Koivukangas of Victim Support Finland.

http://www.finlandforthought.net/2007/08/22/finlands-lack-of-privacy-has-dangerous-consequences/

Lack of patriotism

The future scenario states that more and more citizens doubt their own love for the country and have no attachment to the country. Even Wan Ching and her friends start to doubt their own love for the country and have no sense of attachment to the country.

This may cause the issue of lack of patriotism in the country and citizens may abandon their country in times of hardship.

Research John Kennedy once said, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

Enoch Powell, a prominent British politician, mentioned once, “I believe that, in order to live a full and satisfying life, a man needs to have a picture not only of the community to which he belongs and of his place in it, but also of the place and destiny of that community in the outside world. If you care to call this patriotism, so much the better.”

Politician throughout history have backed and supported patriotism, love for your country, to be essential in the very success of the country.

Income Inequalities

The future scenario states that the majority of citizens aspire to be self-employed. The future scenario states that Wan Ching is determined to be self-employed in the future. Also, the results of a recent survey by a private company shows that 77% of Singaporeans aspire to be self-employed.

This may cause inequalities in income in society and may lead to decrease in the economic productivity of citizens.

Research

Based on Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes, the disparity of income between self-employed and employed people are quite obvious.

Education pressures

The future scenario states that most of Wan Ching’s high school classmates are groomed from young and strongly influenced into attending universities around the world. Her parents had spent much money in engaging a renowned mentor for Wan Ching to personally guide and develop her talents.

The stress and high expectations could lead to unmotivated students. As a result, students may underperform in their tertiary education.

Research

A critical issue concerning stress among students is its effect on learning. The Yerkes-Dodson law (1908) postulates that individuals under low and high stress learn the least and that those under moderate stress learn the most. A field study and laboratory tests support the notion that excessive stress is harmful to students' performance.

Although some stress is necessary for personal growth to occur, the amount of stress can overwhelm a student and affect the ability to cope.

Research Cont’d

Since World War II, changes in American higher education include growth in the size and complexity of institutions and increased diversity among students. A consequence of that rapid growth has been a loss of personal attention to students. One measure of excessive stress, or distress, in college students is the use of mental health services. A second measure of distress in college students is the dropout rate. Although nationwide figures are difficult to obtain, an estimated 50 percent of entering freshmen do not finish college four years later (Hirsch and Keniston 1970).

Lack of freedom in society

The future scenario states that the government in 2047 coerces their citizens to sign social contracts to perform compulsory duties for the nation.

This may result in lack of freedom in the nation as they are bound to the country by mere contracts, and citizens could become disgruntled as a side-effect.

Research

Based on the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a social contract is an actual or hypothetical compact between the ruled and their rulers and is most closely associated with the writings of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Mainly, social contracts are based and mitigate four important factors, equality of need, scarcity, equality of human power and limited altruism.

Research Cont’d

“So, taken together these factors create real problems in the absence of any social order or moral rules. How can we prevent these factors from leaving us in the state of nature? The strongest incentive is to avoid the state of nature and the “war of all against all” that Hobbes mentioned.

To do this we need to establish that we will not harm one another and second that we will keep our word with one another. These two factors are considered as the primary responsibility of government. Escaping the state of nature has its benefits but the social contract does come with a price. We must be willing to give up some of our liberty in order to secure a stable social context.”

Fundamental Problem

Given the inference that the citizens of Singapore in 2047 are being forced by the government into signing social contracts and face a lack of online privacy on social media , how might we increase the freedom of these citizens so that they will be more optimistic about their future in the year 2047 and beyond? Red = Condition Phrase

Green = Key Verb PhraseBlue = PurposePurple = Future Scene Parameters

Bibliography

1) Finland Case Study-”Finland’s lack of privacy has dangerous consequences”, by Phil Schwarzmann, a Finnish author, 22 August 2007

http://www.finlandforthought.net/2007/08/22/finlands-lack-of-privacy-has-dangerous-consequences/

2) Quotes of John Kennedy and Enoch Powell

http://byrnsweord.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/the-importance-of-patriotism-to-aspiration/

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_patriotism.html#Y5hleQhyhraRICH0.99

Bibliography

3) Self-employment and Employment Income disparities Chart, by Rick (pseudonymous author) of prominent blog FlipChart FairyTales

http://flipchartfairytales.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/why-the-rise-in-self-employment-is-a-bad-thing/

4) Student Stress: Effects and Solutions. ERIC Digest 85-1., by Neal Whitman

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-926/stress.htm

5) Introduction to the social contract theory, by Kevin J. Browne, assistant professor of philosophy at Jefferson Community and Technical College

http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ362/hallam/Readings/SocialContractHelium.pdf

Thank you for your kind attention!

Any questions?