An essay about the “Fundamentals”
This article was written in August 2020 as part of my application to the European Forum Alpbach (EFA) Taiwan Scholarship. EFA is an international conference for young people to discuss the current global issues in science, politics, business and culture. The title for the EFA 2020 edition was “Fundamentals”, and therefore in the application we were asked to write an article about the “Fundamentals”. Here I am showing you the most artistic essay I have ever written:
A fundamental is a basic truth or principle; a central component or a fact on which other aspects are built. More assumptions or conclusions can be drawn only after the fundamentals are well established.
But why do we discuss the fundamentals now? The fundamentals evolve with time, usually alongside the progression in science and technology. But these days, from many examples that I will list below, it was observed that the fundamentals have often found it difficult to keep up with the advance in different fields, and therefore they are constantly being challenged.
Two years ago (2018), the first genetically modified human was born. It was done by a biological tool called CRISPR-CAS9, a new technology that can change the genes of biological cells easily and precisely. The baby, as claimed by the research team, was genetically engineered such that he/she will be HIV resistant. It caused a huge controversy. Many frown upon the notion of designer babies; to play God, to edit the genes of humans, seeing it as “unethical”. But it could potentially save that child’s life too. Here we see how the fundamentals of human ethics are challenged, but who decides what is right and wrong? Who decides on the fundamentals?
To give another example: only a year ago (2019), it was discovered that the consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica had played a huge role in manipulating the elections and referendums in many countries, including the ones in Taiwan. The two most notable groups targeted “hacked” were the 2016 US presidential elections and the EU membership referendum in the UK. Cambridge Analytica was first to collect the users’ data from social media, for example, Facebook, and feed the data to an AI algorithm to find those who are “indecisive” and send those people information, again, through social media, to persuade them to sway their vote, based on their clients’ agendas. This manipulative technique was military graded and has been used to suppress terrorist activities in some parts of the world. Here again, the fundamentals were challenged, but this time, of politics and laws. If human and community decisions are that easily manipulated, or exploited, then, can we look at the system of democracy the same way as we did before? Maybe not. Clearly, a new standard or fundamentals must be established to redefine the nature of democracy and judge the rightfulness of such operations.
Recent advances in AI has changed the structure and fundamentals of society. AI has been made much easier to use than before, and many jobs which used to require human forces are automated. AI and its combination with robotics become a more reliable source of labour as AI is becoming more powerful and prevalent in society. There is no going back. What are the fundamental skills that are necessary for us, especially for young people entering the job market to have in this rapidly evolving environment?
This is the age of globalization, which was demonstrated by how fast the COVID-19 pandemic was able to spread across the world in just a month or two. Many international and local activities were suspended over the past few months. In many parts of the world, the lockdown has already started easing, and society is on its way to hitting the restart button. What did we learn from this pandemic? How would our lives be fundamentally altered? Do we go back to our usual ways afterwards, remaining vulnerable in the case of another global viral outbreak? The current situation with viral infections has also made this year’s EFA edition, Fundamentals, as an urgent topic to discuss. What are the fundamentals when it comes to dealing with a viral outbreak? This is an issue that hasn’t really been thought of by the general population until now.
I am graduating this year (2020) with an MSci degree in physics. I saw the world rapidly changing, and the fundamentals of things have been rapidly evolving and challenged. What is out there waiting for me? I hope to be part of this forum and find out more and share opinions about what we are and what we will be facing, and what new fundamentals will arise in this ever-changing world.