Summary of lecture 2: RISK HONGKONG

1. The concept of risk:
when? appeared in 16th - 17th centuries
Who? by Western explorers
Where? Their voyages across the world
How? It refers to sailing into uncharted waters --> banking and investment--> a wide range of ohter situations of uncertainty
Which language? Spanish or Portuguese --> English

* Risk = hazard or danger= future possibilities (future-oriented)
* Risk = the condition of excitement and adventure
* Risk = involedd a number of unknowns
2. Two aspects of risk:
A- Negative: affect health--> to reduce as far as possible --> insurance
B- Positive: It is involed in modernity --> a way to regulating the future--> attemps to control the future --> force us to look for different ways of relating uncertainty
3. Types of risk:
A- Extenal risk:
risk experienced as coming from the outside, from the fixities of tradition or nature.
risk from external nature: bad harvests, floods, plagues, famines (environmental risk)
B- Manufactured risk: created by the very impact of our developing knowledge upon the world.
Risk situations which we don't have much historical experience to deal with.

ex: environmental risk<-- global warming<-- globalisation red wine: although many people know that red wine is harmful for their health, they still drink. That is a risk created by themselves. --> To cope (reduce) the rise of manufactured risk: to limit responsibility by adopting 'precautionary principle' (copying with problems of risk and responsibility)
4. Conclusion:
- Our age isn't more dangerous (not more risky) than those of ealier generations.
- The balance of risks and dangers has shifted.
- Risks (hazards) we creat are more threatenting than those from outside.
- Some of these affect us as individuals much more directly.
- Active risk-taking is a core element of dynamic economy and an innovative society.

Lecture of globallisation

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith1999/lecture5.shtml

what is globalisation?

I found some reliable website for this topic:

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/oct/31/globalisation.simonjeffery>

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6279679.stm>

<http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2001/09/dollar.htm>

<http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=206&contentID=2201>

Globalisation could connect to some areas:

1. Accountability (responsibility, awareness)

2. Terrorism (violent action for political purposes)

3. Shrinking world

4. Technology/ the internet

5. Free trade

6. Culture

7. Capitalism (successful organizations and people in both politics and economics)

8. Monopoly Power (completely control of something)

9. Environment

10. Integration of economics

11. Equality/ Inequality

12. Communication

13. Recognition

14. Trade versus aid (trade comepared to aid-help)

15. Outsourcing (out of source?)

16. Brands

17. Exploitation (using someone/ som unfairly for their own advantage)

18. Growth

19. Poverty

Final writing 2

Essay Question:

‘The advantages of a “surveillance society” far outweigh the drawbacks’. to what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Burglary, car theft, assault, drug use, drunkenness, and even decimation are unavoidable social evils in each country. These problems seem to suggest the crime and social control policy in both theory and practice and to be the reason of the exceptional development of technology and science such as CCTV, DNA databases, biometrics. The modern technology is a means of crime prevention and standard of measurement the level of crime for responsible authorities to govern society logically. The ‘surveillance society’ is absolutely supervised by a large number of cameras every where. A sophisticated technology connected to these cameras system can record the process of dangerous criminals’ transgression as un-refutable evidence. Some people consider that they obtain more benefit than drawback from a surveillance society. It partly explains for the Britain‘s goal of being ‘the surveillance capital of the Western World’ (Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, 2006). However, he also said that we were saturated in a world of surveillance. What did he mean “saturated”? So that the question is how much effective these modern technologies work in scrutiny society and whether so-called society is really proficient for the people or not. This essay will weigh up two aspects of a “surveillance society” in detail and answer the above mentioned questions.

Many people complain how much inconvenience they feel under ten thousands of cameras installed in public place such as: on the street, in supermarket, shop, car park, workplace...They have to be very cautious every time, every where and even at their owned home. Nevertheless, we must recognise that the social evils have been decreased significantly since the system of cameras is operated in residential areas (Survey 2002, Home Office). The more CCTV is installed, the safer they feel. Moreover, it is very beneficial in favour of companies who want to monitor their employees from a far distance to eliminate wasted time, cut necessary cost to do business more efficiently.

(320 words)

References:

1. Adam Harcourt (Webster), 2006, ‘Is business a real Big Brother?’, viewed August 10^th 2008, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5015826.stm>
2. BBC News Channel, 2007, ‘Home Secretary hails CCTV usage’, viewed August 10^th 2008, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6900807.stm>
3. Privacy International, 1997, ‘CCTV Frequently Asked Questions’, viewed July 31^st 2008, <http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-61925&als[the>
4. BBC News Channel, 2005, ‘DNA database Big Brother warning’, viewed July 31^st 2008, < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4166559.stm>
5. Angela Spriggs et al., Home Office on-line report October 2005, ‘Public attitudes towards CCTV: results from the Pre-intervention Public Attitude Survey’, viewed August 10^th 2008, <http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/cctv/cctv43.htm>

Friday's exercise on Steve's blog

I am improving my poor logic of my essay's style by rewrite this topic in my own language based on note-taking. I hope it will be helpful for my final assignment.

The impact/ importance of education

1. Education teaches literacy + numeracy.
2. Literate people - trained for many roles:
· Industrial sector
· Service sectors
3. Literate people - learn - themselves.
4. Simple economies (agriculture) – educate women = dramatic improvements - family welfare
5. Developed countries need more skills
· Languages
· Engineering
· Computing
6. Good education: not passive.
7. Good education skills, people ask questions, make improvements.
8. University education: research technical advances + social advances

Literacy and numeracy are the basic background of education and very necessary for everyone’s life. What benefits education brings to us is to learn ourselves and to provide us with both simple and complex skills. With these simple skills trained from education could help us building our family's welfare, working in industrial or sevice sectors in developing country whose economy is mainly based on agriculture. Even in developed countries such as United Stated, United Kingdom, Japan we can still meet the higher requirements of languages, computer skill, negotiating skill, engineering. Good education seems to literate us the way of thinking logically, actively to obtain improvement considerably. On the one hand, university education connected to research technical and social advances push us in progress.

Enrich vocabulary

I found this website by mistake when i try to make my essay more academic after receiving Steave's feeback. We can find many synomymous words and know how to use them in different situation.
http://encarta.msn.com/thesaurus_/stricken.html
How to find synonymous word ?

my poor draft

‘The advantages of a “surveillance society” far outweigh the drawbacks’. to what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

The development of science and modern technology such as CCTV, DNA databases, biometrics has been leading to the trend of rising subtler criminals recently. The society with the minimum of crimes is probably happened when everything is supervised selectively and considerably. An ideal society is as “a world of surveillance” (Simon Davies, director of Privacy International). Surveillance society is absolutely monitored by a large number of cameras everywhere. Therefore some dangerous criminals will be very stricken because their sins is recorded every as an un refutable evidence. It is often said that the people obtain more benefit than drawback from a surveillance society. This essay will weigh up two aspects of a “surveillance society” to know whether it is really good for the people or not.

Many people complained how much inconvenience they feel under ten thousands of cameras installed in public place such as: on the street, in supermarket, in shop, in car park, in workplace...Nevertheless, we must recognise that the social evils, for example, car theft, burglary, assault, drug use, drunkenness, have been decreased significantly since the system of cameras is operated in public places. Moreover, it is very beneficial in favour of companies who want to monitor their employees from a far distance to eliminate wasted time, cut necessary cost to do business more efficiently.