'Hybrid Reality'

Ah no, the lecture didn't provide notes. I brought my own, and an iPad. Lousy SingTel 3G connectivity at SMU though. Too many humans on it.

It's always a pleasure to see daily things that one associates with float into a codified format flashed onto the big screen in an easy-to-digest 2-hour lecture. While it's an academic discourse with many theorists and papers put forth by different essayists, there're plenty of concrete examples we see and do often, and to many of us, 'hybrid reality' is not a new concept, but rather something we sink into every wakeful moment. Like I said, I'm not interested in a work-life balance. In a job that I love and a respected boss, work-life integration fits better. But it is an uphill struggle to separate online and irl identities. Ironic, even.

In the summary lecture for a new book, Dr Parag Khanna brought us through four main pointers in a new book co-authored with his wife Ayesha Khanna, 'Hybrid Reality: Thriving In The Emerging Human-Technology'. There's another whole segment on robotics and scenarios of how the West will lead in research and development or the East will lead in its willingness for a more rapid commercialization of products. The technical jargon isn't unfamiliar to economists, scientists, industry practitioners and avid readers of science fiction.

I was merrily typing away, streaking through intarwebs throughout the lecture. Hey, multi-tasking okay. I filled up two pages of relevant information extracted from the slides. We were taken through some scenarios, positive and disruptive. The Blue School was mentioned, along with Coursera, Etsy and Hatsune Miku, Kinect-Princess-Leia-Coachella-Tupac, and 3D printing, and crimes. Confessed I was totally distracted at this point. Too many debatable issues popped up in my head. Like the spat between Niall Ferguson and Paul Krugman, and recent criticisms of Blue School having an unstructured program (umm...isn't that the point?), thinking about my current course on Coursera and wondering which to take next, etc. You can't mention popular culture and expect my 100% attention. I'm fluffy that way.

What I'm really intrigued by, is the proposed (not exactly new, but an amalgamated) '(desired) values of generative cities', based on various statistics calculated by different organizations (for purposes of various forums on sustainable living) including the United Nations that have placed 70% of the world population to be living in cities by 2050. Living in Singapore has of course made me keenly aware of the (accelerated) pace of urban development and its ripple effects.

There're seven desired values in a generative city- 1) shared civic commons; access to smart infrastructure as a human right; 2) Transparency of government and citizen. (I leave it to your reading of the book and your analysis for further discourse); 3) Economic and creative productivity i.e. cultural soft spaces; 4) Sustainability, renewable power; 5) Public efficient and effective services (don't start this debate on my blog ah), and in the private sector, say open data APIs; 6) Stakeholdership, the rights and responsibilities of residents and migrants (Ho ho ho. Let's not get into this either); 7) Connectivity, global physical and digital pathways, and resilience.

A good afternoon lecture. Adjourned for drinks with a couple of familiar faces whom I hadn't seen for months. The various topics and themes covered kept us very awake. Some points raised disturbing spin-off scenarios that would be best discussed offline, face-to-face. The topics made for great conversation while all of us were still sober. Hurhurhur.