GE143 Science and Technology for Life

Session 0: Introduction to the course

Dr R Batzinger

Payap University

2023-08-15

1 Welcome…

to the first day of class!!

1.1 Self-Introductions

Who are you?

Speed round: (4 questions < 1min)

  • Your name and how you would like to be called
  • Where are you from?
  • What are you studying here?
  • Where and what do you want to be in 5 years time?

1.2 Your Instructor

linkedin

email: robert_b@payap.ac.th
Office: PC314 (Office hrs by appointment

1.3 Signing Up for the Class Resources

2 Course venue

Classroom Venue
  • PC 419
  • 9:30 - 11:00 Mon, Thu

3 Course description

Learning scientific processes and information technology for daily life. Safety and ethics in information technology, judgment in using information technology. Technological impacts on human and society.

3.1 A strategic choice

  1. Talk about current state of IT development in Thailand

    • Discussions will be outdated before you graduate
    • Many are familar with more advanced IT services

  2. Focus on new Tech on the 5-10 yr horizon.

    • Truth is hard to find; opinions and fake news abound.
    • Skills to understand and assess the value and risks of new technologies are valuable.
    • Sorting between reality and the hype is a critical skill.

3.2 Your preference

  1. Option A: Current technology?

  2. Option B: Future technology?

4 Course Objectives

On completion of this course, students will be able to do the following:

  1. Explore new technology

    • Undertake a practical study of new and developing technologies
    • Understand and explain the basic principles that make the technology work.
    • Sort between the hype and reality of new technologies.

  1. Judge the appropriateness of a new technology

    • Appreciate the value and risks of IT Technology on modern living and local culture
    • Evaluate the appropriateness of IT applications and make rational decisions to manage their use.

4.1 Course syllabus

0. Introduction
1. Accelerating rate of technical change
2. The nature of the near future
3. Rise and use of intelligence (human vs machine)
4. The Mobile Revolution
5. Futuristic developments in robots
6. Use of embedded applications
7. Security applications
8. Emerging trends in data analysis and applications
9. Quantum computing

4.2 Group Homework Workflow

Homework Workflow

  • A series of short videos by prominent scholars on the subject
  • You are to meet with your group to discuss the video topics and develop a slide presentation
  • The group will have 5min to present the material
  • Grading will be based on your presentation

5 Case 1: Interface to Walk after spinal cord injury

  • Requires an array of 64 brain implants under the skull
  • BlueTooth to transmit signals.
  • An impulse generator
  • A set of embedded 16 electrodes
  • A portal AI computer to calibrate and translate the signals

5.1 Spinal cord interface : Pictures from the paper

Henri Lorach et als. 2023.
Walking naturally after spinal cord injury using a brain–spine interface.
Nature 618 : 126–133 (2023)

5.2 Brain and Spinal cord signals

5.3 Improvements with time

5.4 Discussion

  • What makes this report so remarkable?
  • What shortcomings does this technology have?
  • What was the role of AI?
  • Is this technology repeatable and scalable?
  • How long before it will become affordable?

6 Case 2: A nanoscale motor

  • Self-assembled motor uses an ‘origami’ technique
    • a long DNA strand is folded into a complex shape
    • fixed in place by dozens of short DNA strands
  • consists of a pedestal, a platform and a rotor
  • Obstacles on the edges of the platform creates a ratchet that restricts movement of the rotor to 1 direction
  • Alternating voltage applied across the sides of the motor spins the rotor.

6.1 Illustration from the original paper

Self-assembled DNA Motor

Anna-Katharina Pumm, 2022. A DNA origami rotary ratchet motor. Nature 607,492–498 (2022)

6.2 Discussion

  1. What applications do you see for this technology?

  2. What risks do you see?

  3. What would convince you to allow doctors to inject this in you?

7 Case 3: Three-D Printing

  • 3-D Model
  • Media: Hot plastic, ceramic, microbeads
  • X-Y plotter
  • stage elevator

3D Wireframe

3D Printer

7.1 3-D Printing in Ukraine

3-D Printers for Ukraine

7.2 Applications for 3D Printers:

  • Medical devices
  • Artificial limb components
  • Broken parts
  • Weapons
  • Drones
  • Bombs

Drone war in Ukraine

7.3 What are the ethics of 3D printing?

  1. Mass production of emergency medical equipment vs weapon
  2. Cost reduction for medical treatment vs weapon production
  3. Saving lives vs taking lives.
  4. Intelligent weapons vs massive general destruction

8 Course Outline

  1. Introduction to the course
  2. Accelerating rate of technical change
  3. The nature of the near future
  4. Rise and use of intelligence (human vs machine)
  5. The Mobile Revolution
  1. Futuristic developments in robots
  2. Use of embedded applications
  3. Security applications
  4. Emerging trends in data analysis and applications
  5. Quantum computing

9 Homework Assignment 1

1 - Sign up for CANVASinstructure course

2 - Answer the self-introduction questions

3 - Ensure that your photograph is on file at the Registrar Office.


God bless you and keep you,
God smile on you and gift you,
God look you full in the face
and make you prosper.

Num 6:24-26

GE143 Session 0