Brooke Lim Plagiarism Scandal

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Relate also to apology AQ in 2020 'A' level Compre....

Qn: ‘Honesty is no longer the best policy.’ What is your view?

Govt’s focus on policies encouraging kindness: Ong Ye Kung

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Note the three examples cited:

=returning of trays

=digital payment

=zero tolerance towards abuse of service staff....

For the Government, we can have policies that bring out kindness in people. In the past, it had mostly been about proscribing what you could not do, for example, do not spit, do not litter, or you will be fined. However, we should focus on policies encouraging kind acts.

Why gender diversity in innovation matters

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Note the interesting anecdote here and the opening BANG:

Can you imagine life today without Wi-Fi, electric water heaters and windshield wipers? These are some of the things that bring us great convenience, but that we take for granted. That they exist speaks to the power of innovation and creativity – the twin engines of economic growth and improvements in our quality of living. There is another thing that is common to all three products – they were invented by women.

For qns on gender.....

Qn: Should girls and boys be given exactly the same type of education?

Primary 1 registration: Where alumni privilege and distance rules can accelerate inequality

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Qn: In your society, how far is equality for all a reality? (Cam. 2012)

It’s not the end of work; it’s the end of boring work

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Software is supposed to make us faster, but often it makes us slower. We spend a half-hour clumsily filling out PDF files that we could have done with pencil and paper in a minute. We spend an hour bouncing e-mails back and forth to clarify a point that could have been nailed down in 30 seconds on the phone. The digital era has made a lot of everyday work more complicated and less efficient than it was 30 years ago.

The huge productivity gains of the industrial age did not happen just because someone invented a new technology; they happened because people also figured out how best to re-organise work around that technology. A steam engine, for example, would have been no use to textile manufacturing if textile workers had remained a scattered network of independent farmers, as opposed to a group of employees gathered under a single factory roof. 

Qn: Do you agree that the promises of technology are exaggerated? (RI J2 Term 2 Timed Practice)

To protect our health, protect our planet

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Consider the damage we have done in the last 50 years. As a result of human actions, the earth has lost one-third of its forests, 90 per cent of its large commercial fisheries, one-fifth of the land suitable for agriculture, one-fifth of its topsoil, half the coral reefs and 80 per cent of its wetlands.

As a result of deforestation across the world, wildlife is losing its habitat. As wildlife comes into closer contact with humans, this can accelerate the spread of zoonotic diseases, such as Sars and Covid-19. 

If the beneficial insects did not flourish, most of our land ecosystems would collapse and a good part of humanity would perish with them. One of the beneficial insects ...is the bee, which is responsible for not only producing honey, but also the pollination of an estimated one-third of all plants or plant products eaten by humans. ... declining bee populations pose a threat to global food security.

About half of prescribed medicine comes, directly or indirectly, from natural sources – plants, animals and microbes. Traditional Chinese medicine relies on plants and animals even more than Western medicine.

Qn: Since the extinction of species is a natural phenomenon, is there any point in trying to prevent it? (Cam. 2022)

Current generation must invest to keep Singapore sustainable for future generations: Grace Fu

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At least 78 people killed in aid stampede in Yemeni capital

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For some Singapore context, think of Little India Riot, New Year Countdown, F1 race...and every time a popular new product is launched (think the latest iphones or the crazy queues over Hello Kitty plush toys at McDonald's).....or freebies....

 Some of us recently did the ACJC prelim 2021 compre on the effects of crowds....make the connection....

AI-generated song imitating Drake and The Weeknd yanked from streaming services

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Training AI software without artistes’ permission “begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artistes, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artistes their due compensation”

The use of AI in music is the subject of debate in the industry, with some denouncing copyright abuses and others praising its prowess.

French producer David Guetta recently used AI to add a vocal in the style of rapper Eminem to a song for a live show...Guetta compared AI to instruments such as the electric guitar, bass synthesizer, drum machine and sampler that led to musical revolutions including rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop. 

Qn: To what extent is artificial intelligence replacing the role of humans? (Cam. 2019)

On-trend and kind to the planet: Why fashionistas are opting for old clothes

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Qn: "Young people are slaves to fashion." Do you often follow trends?

Elon Musk plans to launch rival to Microsoft-backed ChatGPT

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Mr Musk also reiterated his warnings about AI ...saying “AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production”....“It has the potential of civilisational destruction,” Mr Musk said....He said, for example, that a super intelligent AI can write incredibly well and potentially manipulate public opinions.

For qns on AI and tech...

Education Minister Chan Chun Sing lays out potential pitfalls of meritocracy and how to avoid them

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For qns on meritocracy and equality....

No action taken against NCMP Leong Mun Wai following his apology and withdrawal of allegations

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None of these rules inhibit robust debate,” she added. “Robust debate and a contest of ideas are expected. The rules are there to ensure the focus remains on making points of substance. Making false or unsubstantiated statements or casting baseless aspersions only serves to erode trust and undermine our democracy.

For qns on rules and obedience....

Italy is set to ban lab-grown meat – here’s why it should think again

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Note:

=some of the very good arguments for lab-grown meat, of which Singapore is in the forefront....

=opening with  BANG using an interesting eg....

=the CO2 argument:

growing meat from cells can have a similar – and sometimes even worse – environmental footprint. Cellular food technologies generate more carbon dioxide or CO2 (up to 22.1kg of CO2 per kg of meat) than conventional cattle farms at present (which produce up to 5.4kg CO2). This is largely because maintaining the right conditions for cell growth in a laboratory consumes a lot of energy. Lab-grown meat does, however, produce substantially less methane than conventional cattle farming. 

Regulation of medical technology must keep people safe while not stifling innovation

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Note the use of an interesting eg to open with a BANG!

Qn: To what extent should scientific research be regulated?

The new ‘star wars’: China’s battle for satellite information space

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Qn: Can space research be justified nowadays? (Cam. 2011)

1 in 3 online shoppers in Singapore opting for reusable packaging: Study

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Note difference btw recycling vs reusing:

reusing, which uses the original item again without changing it, should be prioritised as more sustainable over recycling, which breaks down the original item into raw materials that can be made into something new

Sometimes the argument is that it’s okay because the carton boxes are recyclable – some people even equate that to a circular economy. But actually, the circular economy is not just about recycling...Recycling is always the last resort. Not generating waste in the first place is the most important. So in the circular economy, we should always look for ways where we can reduce, if not reuse or recycle.

Are we ready for a post-trust world?

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Note the opening BANG using a series of examples.....

Note also the useful idea that AI has made it more difficult to tell the truth from the fake since it has the ability to mimic language, voice and images....

When my father got Alzheimer’s, I had to learn to lie to him

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Qn: ‘Honesty is no longer the best policy.’ What is your view?

Moderna says vaccines for cancer, heart disease could be ready by 2030

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Qn: Do you agree that the promises of technology are exaggerated? (RI 2023 J2 Timed Practice)

The legacy of international sports competitions

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Qn: ‘Staging major sporting events brings nothing but benefits to the host country.’ Discuss. (Cam. 2021)

Tesla workers shared sensitive images recorded by customers’ cars

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But between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees privately shared, via an internal messaging system, sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras

the computer programme they used at work could show the location of recordings – which potentially could reveal where a Tesla owner lived.

Tesla has employed hundreds of people in Africa and later the United States to label images to help its cars learn how to recognise pedestrians, street signs, construction vehicles, garage doors and other objects encountered on the road or at customers’ houses. To accomplish that, data labellers were given access to thousands of videos or images recorded by car cameras that they would view to identify objects.

To develop Autopilot, Tesla hired data labellers to identify objects in images and videos to teach the system how to respond when the vehicle was on the road or parked.

Good eg on how tech/AI infringes on our privacy.......

Russian tourist deported from Bali over half-naked photo on sacred peak

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yet another example of how tourists can be disrespectful of local culture....

For qns on tourism.....

Sorry, not sorry: Tips on teaching your kids to apologise

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Relate to 2020 AQ on apology....