TRENDS, NETWORKS, AND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY 2ND SEM, FOURTH QUARTER, REVIEWER
LESSON 1: NEURAL NETWORK
THE HUMAN BRAIN AS THE NEURAL
NETWORK
Daniel Shiffmann
HUMAN BRAIN
● Can be described as a biological
neural network - an interconnection
web of neurons transmitting
elaborate patterns of electrical
signals. Dendrites receive signals,
and based on those inputs, fire an
output signal via an axon.
● In 1943, Warren S. McCulloch, a
neurologist, and Walter Pitts, a
logician, developed the first
conceptual model of an artificial
neural network. In their paper "A
Logical Calculus of the Ideas
Immanent in Nervous Activity " they
described neuron as a single cell
that receives inputs. processes
those inputs, and generates input.
NEURAL NETWORKS
● Individual neurons cannot carry
enough information to determine the
taste of a bite of food or the color of
an object.
● Processing requires complex
networks of neurons; neural
networks are groups of neurons that
function together to carry out a
process. Neural Networks are where
the most complex neutral processing
- the "computing" work of the brain is
carried out. Sometimes, these
networks involve a relatively small
number of neurons in a single area
such as groups of neurons in a part
of a rat's brain called hippocampus.
SCIENTISTS LOCATE "INTERNAL
COMPASS" IN THE BRAIN
Xinhua
● The latest study led by researchers
from University College London
(UCL), shows that the strength and
reliability of "homing signals" in the
human brain vary among people and
can predict navigational activity
● The part of the brain that signals
which direction you are facing, called
the entorhinal region, is also used to
signal the direction in which you
need to travel to reach your
destination
● our "sense of direction" comes from
in the brain and worked out way to
measure it using Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI)
"OUR RESULTS PROVIDE EVIDENCE TO
SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT OUR
INTERNAL 'COMPASS' READJUST AS
YOU MOVE THROUGH ENVIRONMENT"
Dr. Martin Chadwick
NEURAL NETWORKS AND SOCIAL
NETWORKS
● "No man is an island"
● Individuals are similar to a neuron; it
requires collaboration with other
people in order to acquire
knowledge, process information, and
commit on our decision-making
● Interconnections provide directions
and distinguishing behavioral
patterns
LESSON 2: OUR CONNECTIONS AND
RELATIONSHIPS
THREE MAIN IDEAS
● Collaboration is a skill to survive
 TRENDS, NETWORKS, AND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY 2ND SEM, FOURTH QUARTER, REVIEWER
in the 21st century world
● It is imperative to discover roles in
an interdependent connection
● The 21st century world brings
enormous challenges in the way
people see their connections to
others
THE STORY OF THE RAINBOW
(Based on Indian Legend) Anne Hope
Green
● Sign of life and hope
Blue
● Sign of peace
Yellow
● Sign of laughter gaiety and fun
Orange
● Sign of health and strength
Red
● Sign of danger and bravery
Purple
● Sign of royalty and power
Indigo
● Sign of balance, contrast, prayer and
inner peace
EXPLAINER: WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY
AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
BIODIVERSITY
● collectively describes the vast array
of approximately 9 million unique
living organisms that inhabit the
earth, together with the interactions
amongst them. The concept includes
every species of bacteria, virus,
plant, fungi, and animal as the diversity of
genetic material within each species.
WHY WE CAN'T BY WITHOUT IT
● Without these organisms,
ecosystems and ecological
processes, human societies could
not exist. They supply us with
oxygen and clean water.
● They cycle carbon and fix nutrients.
They enable plants to grow and
therefore feed us, keep pest species
and diseases in check, and help
protect against flooding and regulate
the climate.
● Research suggests that natural
environments have direct and
positive impacts on human
well-being, despite the
highly-urbanized modern lifestyles
that most of us live.
● Mental-health benefits from
exercising in natural environments
have been greater than those gained
by exercising in synthetic
environment of the gym. Mood and
self-esteem benefits are even
greater if water is present
BIODIVERSITY IN DECLINE
● The explosion of the human
population from 2 to 7 billion in just
100 years has caused the extinction
of many species.
● Scientists have agreed that the earth
is experiencing its first
anthropogenic climate-driven global
extinction event. It is happening at a
rate too fast for species to adapt.
CSIRO research shows that by
2070, the impacts of climate change
on Australia's biodiversity will be
widespread and extreme
WE HAVE THE SCIENCE: POLICY
IS THE NEXT STEP
● To halt the decline in biodiversity
across the continent, we must
translate accumulated knowledge on
biodiversity into government policy.
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This can be done through programs
and on-the-ground management.
Tough decisions need to be made
about where to invest what to
manage, and which approach to
take
GOOD RESOURCES FOR GOOD POLICY
● The environmental decision hub of
the Australian Government's
National Environmental Research
Program is tackling gaps in
environmental decision-making,
monitoring and adaptive
management. One of the hub's
projects assessed approaches to
species relocation in Australia.
Relocation is becoming more
prevalent as species experience
habitat loss due to impacts
such as climate change
● The "Atlas of Living Australia" brings
together Australia's biological
information online, making it quicker
and easier to undertake biodiversity
assessments. It has 33 million
records and is growing by the day
● A collaborative project between
Indigenous Protected Area (IPA)
managers, traditional owners, the
Australian government, and CSIRO
developed guidelines for IPA
management plans. These connect
traditional knowledge, law and
customs with international systems
for protected area management
LESSON 3: SOCIAL NETWORKS AND
ITS DRAWBACKS
Aren't Medicine and Water
More Important Than
Telecommunication?
By: Alex Blum
ICT4D is a small, but growing community
working on the massive challenge of
bringing internet connectivity to the world
designed and deployed by the Rugged
Communications founded by Alex Blum
Why does telecommunications matter?
● Telecommunications is about
connectivity. Connectivity then, is a
lifeline to healthcare, education,
economic opportunity, political
freedom, and creative expression.
Without it, people are isolated and
face massive impediments to
progress. Studies from the World
Bank, World Health Organization,
McKinsey & Company, and other
shown that connectivity dramatically
change people's lives
Aren't Water, Latrines, and Medicines
More Important?
● Sanitary living conditions,
sustenance, and basic health
services are human needs and
rights. However, to ensure that
communities have access to those
needs, connectivity, in the long term,
is the best solution.
Can People in Emerging Markets
Afford Cell Phones?
● Throughout the world, people have
shown that they will find a way to get
their hands on a phone and the
communications capacity it offers.
For example, in Africa, mobile
connection penetration rates have
increased by about 4,000% since
2000. With Moore's Law, noting that
computer capacity increases
exponentially in capability and
 TRENDS, NETWORKS, AND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY 2ND SEM, FOURTH QUARTER, REVIEWER
decreases, the ever-decreasing cost
of device more feasible each day
Why Don't Large Telecommunications
Operators Already Provide Services
There?
● By and large, telecommunications
operators have developed a
business model and accompanying
technology to address urban
populations with high average
revenues per user in densely
populated areas. As a result, they
have not been able to profitably
service many rural areas with this
same model. New, low-cost
equipment has emerged that offers
the possibility to develop new
approaches to business that can
address new markets.
What New Technology Do You Have That
Will Solve This Problem?
● New hardware and software
continues to make connecting the
planet easier and easier. Before new
technology gets introduced,
agreements with government
officials, local people, and operators
must be in place, training programs
must be developed, and logistics
must be coordinated. Connectivity
is about people, not just
technology.
What New Technology Do You Have That
Will Solve This Problem?
● Effectively communicating what we
actually do is what makes it possible
to do it. It is easy to get lost in grand
visions and plans and new
technologies, but leading others in
the same directions presents the
only possibility of these ideas
manifesting in the real world.
● "I believe we are at critical juncture
in the ICT4D ecosphere with people
finally beginning to see the
relevance of connectivity for
development"
LESSON 4 The Energy that
Keeps Us Connected
Enormous volumes of literature and
research studies generally state that
petroleum oil is the most important
mineral deposit of the century. The
percentage of the world's energy
supply is derived from oil
Coal has been used since the
industrial revolution but only in
the last 100 years have huge
quantities of oil and gas been
removed from underground
Reservoirs.
Oil and Gas are used as fuel
energy in combustion engines
and as "feedstock" for other
industries - raw materials for the
manufacture of other chemical,
such as plastics and agricultural
fertilizers
There is a limited amount of fossil fuel.
It is not renewable and there is no
known way to make more. The energy
stored in oil is significantly greater than
in any other currently available source.
There is no equivalently cheap and
powerful energy available from nuclear
energy, natural energy, wind power,
hydrogen, biomass or coal
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WHY OIL'S COST IS AS IMPORTANT
AS ITS PRICE?
by: Spencer Jakab
● Varying geographically and
geologically, it has become cheaper
nearly everywhere. And that has an
impact on where the production
declines will occur that are needed
to balance oil supply and demand.
● In North America there is a relatively
expensive but abundant shale of oil
fields that transformed the market in
recent years; costs are down
sharply.
● Technical advances may have
caused the shale production
cheaper
● Oil field services companies have
had to slash prices to keep
customers - an unsustainable
condition
● A temporary decline in service costs
is also aiding more traditional oil
production where reinventing the
wheel is not really an option. But the
change in some places is not
enough whereas in others it is
allowing producers to defy
expectations
● In Russia, oil output hit a post-soviet
record despite low prices and
economic sanctions. While oil is
priced in dollars, it is worth about the
same in rubles as when oil prices
peaked two years ago.
LESSON 5 INFORMATION AND
AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
Technology has revolutionized
the limit to obtaining information,
social interaction, and access to
digital content. In this context,
learners can utilize technology to
Create an engaging And customized
environment to meet the emerging
educational needs of the 21st century.
Conole et al. (2008)
● investigated how university
students' learning Patterns are
influenced by the availability of
Technology-enhanced learning
environments. The
technology-propelled Society has
opened a lot of opportunities to
learn.
● He said that these require combining
old and new methods, and higher
order thinking skills that are
necessary to make sense of their
complex technological-enriched
learning environment and proper use
of tools in a combination of ways to
suit individual needs
SEVEN SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS
These predictions are based on ID Media's
perception of the marketplace
and how it will shift over the upcoming
years.
● FUELED BY NEW TECHNOLOGY,
MARKETERS WILL BECOME
EVEN MORE OBSESSED WITH
DATA
● PROGRAMMATIC BUYING WILL
BECOME SECOND NATURE
● BANNER ADS ARE NOT GOING
ANYWHERE
● MEDIA PLANS WILL SCREEN
AGNOSTIC
● MOBILE WILL FINALLY GROW UP
● NATIVE ADVERTISING WILL
EXPLODE
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● ONLINE VIDEO WILL CONTINUE
TO EXPAND
CHAPTER 5
Lesson 1 Global Networks: Globalization
The Revolutionary Globalization
Christopherson, Garretsen, and Martin
(2008) one of the contested aspects of
Globalization concerns its geographies and
especially whether globalization is rendering
the significance of location and place
redundant and irrelevant
How does scholarly authors view
globalization?
● O' Brien (1992) Marks the end of
geography
● Cairncross (1997) The onset of
"death distance"
● Ohmae (1995) Emergence of the
"borderless world"
● Scholte (2000) Deterritorialization or
supra-territorialization
● Reich (2001) Vanishing the distance
(Friedman, 2006)
● The most provocative among these
claims is Thomas Friedman's recent
pronouncement that as a
consequence of Globalization, "The
world is flat"
● He contends that the ICT revolution,
the deregulation of markets by
states, and increasing economic
integration have contributed to a
marked time space compression of
economic processes. The alleged
result is that there is no longer any
"friction of distance" in economic
relationships
The Virtues of Deglobalization
By: Walden Bello
Walden Bello
● is a Filipino academic who served as
a member of the House of
Representatives of the Philippines.
He is an international adjunct
professor at Binghamton University
The Virtues of Deglobalization
By: Walden Bello
Global poverty is increasing with the most
poor countries showing little to no economic
growth. Globalization has been terminally
discredited in the last two years. As the
much-heralded process of financial and
trade interdependence went into reverse, it
became the transmission belt not of
prosperity but of economic crisis and
collapse
End of an era
● Governments quietly shelved
export-oriented growth, long the
driver of many economies, though
paid the usual nostrums to
advancing trade liberalization as
countering the global downturn by
completing the Doha Round of trade
negotiations under the World Trade
Organization
● A whole raft of restrictions will
almost certainly be imposed on
finance capital, the untrammeled
mobility of which has been the
cutting edge of the current crisis
Neoliberalism , with its emphasis on free
trade, the primacy of private enterprise, and
a minimalist role for the state, continues to
be the default language among policy
makers
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Deglobalization is a term that economist
attributes as a development that the
magazine, the world's prime avatar of free
market ideology, views as negative.
Deglobalization is an opportunity. Focusing
on the Global South first forwarded
globalization as a comprehensive paradigm
to replace neoliberal globalization almost a
decade ago, when the stresses,
strains, and contradictions brought about by
the latter had become painfully evident.
Deglobalization paradigm is not without
relevance to the central capitalist
economies
Eleven Pillars of the Alternative
1. Production for the domestic market must
again become the center of gravity of the
economy rather than production for export
markets
2. The principle of subsidiarity should be
enshrined in economic life by encouraging
production of goods at the level of the
community and the national level if this can
be done at a reasonable cost in order to
preserve community
3. Trade policy - that is, quotas and tariffs -
should be used to protect the local economy
from destruction by corporate-subsidized
commodities with artificially low prices
4. Industrial policy - including subsidies,
tariffs, and trade - should be used to
revitalize and strengthen the manufacturing
order
5. Long postponed measures of equitable
income redistribution and land redistribution
can create a vibrant internal market that
would serve as the anchor of the economy
and produce local financial resources for
investment
6. Deemphasizing growth, emphasizing
upgrading the quality of life, and maximizing
equity will reduce environmental
disequilibrium
7. The development and diffusion of
environmentally congenial technology in
both agriculture and industry should be
encourage
8. Strategic economic decisions cannot be
left to the market or to technocrats
9. Civil Society must constantly monitor and
surprise the private sector and the state, a
process that should be institutionalized
10. The property complex should be
transformed into a "mixed economy" that
includes community cooperatives, private
enterprises, and state enterprises, and
excludes transnational corporations
11. Centralized global institutions and World
Bank should be replaced with regional
institutions built not on free trade and capital
mobility but on principles of corporations
LESSON 2 LABOR AND MIGRATION
The Constitutional Provision on
Protection to Labor
The State shall afford full protection to labor,
local and overseas, organized and
unorganized, and promote full
employment and equality of employment
opportunities for all. It shall guarantee the
rights of all workers to self organization,
collective bargaining and negotiations, and
peaceful concerted activities, including the
right to strike in
 TRENDS, NETWORKS, AND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY 2ND SEM, FOURTH QUARTER, REVIEWER
according to law. They shall be entitled to
security of tenure, humane conditions of
work, and a living wage. They
shall also participate in policy and
decision-making processes affecting their
rights and benefits as may be provided by
law.
The State shall promote the principle of
shared responsibility between workers and
employers and the preferential use of
voluntary modes in settling disputes,
including conciliation, and shall enforce their
mutual compliance therewith to foster
industrial peace.
The State shall regulate the relations
between workers and employers,
recognizing the right of labor to its just share
in the fruits of production and the right of
enterprises to reasonable returns to
investments, and to expansion and growth.
MIGRANTE International:
International Alliance of Filipino Migrant
Organizations
The migration of Filipinos abroad is a
product of extreme poverty and joblessness
in the country that is brought about the
decrepit social system perpetuated by US
neocolonialism. The deepening economic
crisis in the Philippines has simultaneously
aggravated the migration of Filipinos abroad
to gargantuan proportions. More than 2,000
migrant Filipinos leave the country each day
and approximately one-third of these are
composed of unskilled workers. They can
be found in 182 countries worldwide.
Filipinos are driven abroad since the
government cannot provide them work. This
is not surprising since the Philippine
"
LESSON 3 GLOBAL CONNECTIONS
ASEAN:
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Ten Member Countries:
1. Brunei Darussalam
2. Kingdom of Cambodia
3. The Republic of Indonesia
4. The Lao People's Democratic Republic
5. Malaysia
6. Union of Myanmar
7. The Republic of the Philippines
8. The Republic of Singapore
9. The Kingdom of Thailand
10. Socialist Republic of Vietnam
ASEAN:
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Quality education is the key that keeps
Southeast Asia at pace with the changing
world while maintaining a stronghold of its
regional identity. Ensuring Human
Development; Social Welfare and
Protection; Social Justice and Rights;
Environmental Sustainability; Building the
ASEAN Identity; and Narrowing the
Development Gap
Strategic objectives:
1. Ensuring the integration of education
priorities into ASEAN's development agenda
and creating a knowledge-based
society
2. Achieving universal access to primary
education
3. Promoting early child care and
development
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4. Enhancing awareness of ASEAN to
youths through education and activities to
build ASEAN identity based on friendship
and cooperation
ASEAN:
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
The challenges are quality, access,
equity, relevance, and along with it are
the following:
1. Internalization of Early Childhood
Education in the ASEAN countries
2. Strengthening cultural identity through
curriculum and instruction
3. Developing common standards of quality
4. Development of cultural understanding /
literacy
5. Early Childhood Education as a tool for
poverty reduction and development of
human resources
6. 21st Century Skills
7. Function and Multiple Literacies
8. Life Skills
The Philippines' Digital Boom:
Five key trends for 2014
● Booming digital in the Philippines
create unprecedented opportunities
for investors and companies of all
sizes in 2014, according to Perfect
Digital Storm: Philippines, a new
report by Tiger Cub Digital
The full report is intended primarily for
industry stakeholder that require the
most comprehensive current, and
reliable data, as well as actionable
insight on how to use it
Five of report's key takeaways:
1.Internet access is on the rise- but still has
limited reach.
2. Mobile penetration now exceeds 100%-
but smartphone penetration
remains low.
3. Social media usage rate are off the
charts-but this does not guarantee
Conversions.
4. Filipinos are bran-friendly and ready to
buy- but this will not last long.
insight on how to use it
5. Innovative startups shop disruptive
potential- but this is no silicon valley.
Oliver Segovia, a leading Filipino
entrepreneur who runs e-commerce startup
AVA.ph, believer that the Philippines has a
unique advantage of being a "microcosm of
emerging market" and thus " can be a
testing ground for solutions that scale
across the developing world"
THE "PERFECT DIGITAL STORM"
The digital boom in the Philippines
today owes much of its force to " Perfect
digital storm" of increased digital
engagement, strong economic growth,
and favorable demographics. On the
economic front, the country posted GDP
growth rates of 7. 2% in 2013, despite
suffering one of the worst natural
disasters in the world that year. On the
 TRENDS, NETWORKS, AND CRITICAL THINKING IN THE 21ST CENTURY 2ND SEM, FOURTH QUARTER, REVIEWER
demographic front, half of the
Phillippines's household population
under 23, it is also one of the youngest
countries in Asia
Young people with increasing levels of
disposable income are a key target
market for many digital technologies
and services, so these demographic
factors provide fertile ground for digital
enterprises of all sizes and shape.
All signs indicate that the Philippines'
strong growth rates will continue in the
coming years, but emerging markets
are fragile an prone to mood swings in
global capital flows
Important Insight About ASEAN
● If were single country, the combined
land areas of ASEAN would make it
the seventh largest country in the
world
● ASEAN is on its way on becoming
the fourth largest economy by 2050.
● ASEAN is more populated than
Europe, with the world's largest labor
force.
● Sixty-seven million ASEAN
households are currently in the
consuming class; it could double to
125 million by 2050
● Total ASEAN Facebook users make
it the world's second largest
Facebook community.
● Inter-ASEAN trade is less than 50%
that of North-America Free-Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) or the
European Union (EU). The ASEAN
Economic Community (AEC) aimes
developing trade, by freeing
movement of :
-Goods and Services
-Skilled Labor
-Capital
● ASEAN hosts 227 of the world
companies with more than 1 billion
USD in revenues, which is only 3%
of world's total
● ASEAN governments' debt is under
47% of GDP, well below the UK or
the US.
● ASEAN is the word's fourth largets
exporting region, behind the UK, US,
and China.
● Income difference between ASEAN
members states are seven times
higher than the EU's.
● ASEAN aims at creating jobs,
prosperity, and a single production
base to become more than just
sums of its 10cc members.
LESSON 4: DEMOCRACY
A Seemingly Deluge of Problems:
Methodist Former Chief Justice
Challenges University Church in the
Philippines
MANILA, Philippines-- At the 4th Founding
Anniversary of Wesleyan University United
Methodist Church on Dec. 1, former
Philippines Chief Justice Reynato Puno
declared that it is only servant hood “on this
gloomy world”. In a short interview after the
worship service, Puno urged getting people
out a state of indifference. “We don’t lack
suitable men and women, he said. “ It is
matter of calling and inspiring them to serve
people.”
The occasion also was attended by the
Manila Episcopal Area Bishop Dr. Rodolfo
Juan,
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Wesleyan University--Philippines (WUP)
President Hon. Pacifio Aniag, Metropolitan
District Superintendent Dr. Wilfredo Pronto,
and former Judicial Council member Atty.
Rodolfo Beltran. Other members of the
WUP Board of Trustees as well as
academic heads of Wesleyan
University--Philippines also attended.
Deluge of Problems Puno highlighted the
“seeming deluge of problems cascading
in the Philippines” and bringing a lot of
gloom:
◼ Global warning, which is spawning
superior typhoons;
◼ Extreme grinding of poverty of the Filipino
people;
◼ Migration to foreign countries, which
results in a terrible brain drain; and
◼ Unrelenting graft and corruption.
Puno mentioned the spread of civil unrest in
other countries. He pointed out that people
are rising against oppressive rulers; there is
grumbling of people’s discontent; there is
breakdown of rules, even shutting down the
entire government such as happened in the
United States. “Emphasizing gloom all over
the world with its disastrous effect crossing
boundaries”, Puno said “more and more
people are losing hope.
Unrelenting Corruption
For Christians, these are not known
problems, according to Puno. “A Christian
knows the past, is aware of the present, and
knows the future,” he said. He encouraged
everyone to be courageous in the minds of
adversities.
Chief Justice Challenges University
Church in the Philippines
God Can Work Wonders
There is a need to balance the environment.
God intervenes and works in mysterious
ways”. Puno said there is a need to strike
down the pork barrel in the hands of the
Philippines president and legislators. He is
pushing for the people’ Initiative set down
by Section 1 & 32 Article VI of the Philippine
Constitution to abolish the pork barrel. He
said people should speak out their opinion
in a real democracy.
A Moral Issue
“The Methodist people should speak on this
because this is a moral issue”, said Puno.
The former chief justice’s proposal that may
lead to scrapping all forms of pork barrel,
including the controversial Priority
Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and
Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
“Transforming the world shall be visible in
one’s own life. Without this, all our efforts
will be in vain,” the Chief Justice
emphasized.
Democracy
Democracy Defined Democracy is a form of
government in which people choose leaders
by voting. A country is democratic if every
one of its citizens is treated equally and has
equal rights. Democratic government is a
government in which the supreme power is
vested in the people and exercised by them
directly through a system of representation
usually involving periodically held free
elections. In short, it is government by the
people: rule of the majority
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