ARW Class Notes 1/22

The goal of this class was to get students thinking about our new theme of Visions of the Future and to launch their group projects researching global issues.

For visions of the future, three questions we discussed were:

1. What progress has been made in Japan (or the world) in the past 100 years?
2. What is "progress"? What should it be defined? What is the goal of human society?
3. What do you predict will happen in the next 100 years? What will a newspaper in 2110 look like?

In particular, the 2nd question to define progress is challenging. Some ideas brainstormed by students or introduced by myself were:

Progress is...

• More convenience
• More efficiency
• Sustainable stability: The ability to avoid major tragedies, catastrophes, incidents
• Security of meeting basic needs for food, water, shelter, medical care
• Greater happiness in society (Bhutan advocates Gross National Happiness as follows)
  GNH encourages individuals to see all things as interdependent with all other things. In order to achieve collective happiness, the principle of interdependence needs to be taken on by everyone. Members of a GNH society would cultivate a third eye, which can elevate our vision beyond individual self-interest to address the happiness of all, as a collective goal. The third eye metaphorically represents our potential to see all things as interdependent across time and space. Equity is central to GNH.
  
• Quality of life - Does more technology lead to better quality of life?
• Greater equality. A smaller gap between haves and have nots.

For more ideas, see this article on What is progress?

It looks like the class will have about 5 winter project groups. I'll look forward to what topics each group decides to develop!