the learning student

Craziest Semester Ever… no doubt about it; for a simple reason that although it was recommended for us to take 5 modules, I simply decided to go against the “recommended” and took 6 instead, lol. The design module took up a lot of our time, right up to the reading week. The management module video take up at least a week full of filming and editing.  And the time I had left for revision in the end was far less than the previous semesters. Yet, I felt that this is one of the most satisfying semester ever… =)

fAVORITE module of the semester? hmmm, I can’t really pinpoint to one unlike the previous sem but I think now is a good time to conclude the loose ends that I left behind in the previous posts throughout the entire semester……

disclaimer: Its not that I agree with the following ideas, its juz “application” of what is taught, you know its an attempt to get the essence  of the learning moment of the  modules taken kinda thing…..

Finding The Right One

In Economics, everything boils down to cost-benefit analysis. You don’t make “mistakes” and settle down for something that in the end will give you a lower utility than what you actually can maximize an optimize. So in other words do all you can till you can really really find someone who can give you the highest utility. However the manner the professor showed the idea of utility in “finding the right one” may be offensive to some. He say, imagine that person DY-ING… how much are you willing to pay? 1 million dollars? That means if the operation costs 1 million and 1 dollar you say: Go and Die!…hahahaHAHAhaha……. SOooo in other words,  wait for “the one” who you are willing to pay the most of your money according to economics, otherwise your have a large opportunity cost, and you are not being economical in that sense.

Now that we know we should find “the one” that gives you the highest utility, then how do you value people? She can cook, so okay, I’ll pay a million dollars for her, ouh, wait the other lady can drive too so hmph, 2 million then. Does this make sense? Then her beauty? According to dating experts, the common man go crazy over beautiful women, so in other words, the more attractive a lady is, the higher her demand, and the higher her demand, the higher her “price”, so does this mean you should choose an ugly wife, so that the opportunity cost is lower?

According to the Contemporary Malays module though, if you ask the local Singaporean Malays, the number one priority that they look for I guess given their general religious orientation is “ta’at” i.e. the more loyal you are as a wife, the higher you are valued. Does this makes sense? Hmph…. I don’t know… Up to You to decide, lol. ( I beg to differ though, hahaha)

My management module on the other hand, illustrates that human beings are boundedly rational; they try to be rational but due to their limited attention, they tend to satifice rather than optimize i.e. they are not homo economicus!  When it comes to finding the “right one” for example, they stop when they found someone “good enough”. I remembered how prof David quipped that the day you propose to her you should be totallay open about it and tell her ….

Marry Me Please, Cause you are really, Good Enough For Me!!

So don’t stop till you get enough!! He says… Go and date every single lady possible and choose the best. Bad Advise? you decide.. hahaha… But I guess the moral of the story is, don’t give in to your heart too easily, and like what my CSM in the army always say ” don’t be so calculative!”, satisficing is sufficient at times after consultation, and observation, cheh… I don’t take I am making sense… hehehe

The Intellectual Property (IP)  Dilemma

Engineering Professionalism though only touches on the general idea of how to register a patent, what makes your work copyrighted and the whole idea of a trademark, I now understand the importance of I.P. While at the individual level, you may be noble enough to disclaim any IP rights to your own work, at say national level, without IP rights, people and firms won’t put in money into R & D to develop new technologies, tools, software and hardware that will in the end benefit mankind as a whole.

There exist religious teachers who denounce the idea of IP rights completely. I wouldn’t say they are wrong, but the contemporary Malays modules will tell you that the existence of such “modes of thinking” is attributed to the traditionalistic religious orientation of the religious elites, who cherishes so much of the past. No where, they say can you find in the old books an evidence that say that there is such a thing as a copyright! I do recall that a segment of a book (that I recognized) was photocopied and stapled, with a front cover that did not even mention the original work being distibuted and “sold” by one of the local [religious] groups. RIght or Wrong, again you decide.

I feel that the entire issue here goes back to how you frame what is right or wrong.  I remember how one of my teachers taught me to not claim your own “rights” , but when it comes to others, be very aware of what their rights are. I think even if someone do not believe that IP rights exist in his/her religion, he doesn’t need to be so legalistic but look at things from the point of concern, and care for the feelings of other individuals. make sense? hehehehe, like what the eng prof lecturer will say, you don’t just grab your friend’s trousers and wear them, but you do that all the time with people’s intellectual property!!

Okay, I am tired now… perhaps I’ll continue with this post some other time, or maybe I’ll leave this alone………

I know, i breached people’s copyrighted images in this post already, now for the record, a video hahaha :