Discussion point
In their discussion point exercises that opens each unit of Skillful, author Rogers and Zemach (2018) present an infographic and some questions to start us thinking about the coming topics and ideas.
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Rogers and Zemach's questions
- Which prediction in the infographic do you find the most interesting, exciting or worrying?
Why does it interest, excite or worry you?
- Many predictions are inaccurate. Why do you think it's so hard to predict the future?
- Make three other predictions about 2050.
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Instructions
We will write three separate comments to share our ideas in response to each of the three questions.For each response in the allocated time, I suggest you plan for 2:00 to 3:00 minutes, write for 2:00 to 3:00 minutes, and revise for another 2:00 to 3:00 minutes before you post your response.
Remember, it's good practice to write for readers who have not seen the question you are answering. Imagine you are writing for someone not in our class. You want that reader to know what you are talking about from your comment alone. This is also a useful strategy in IELTS and similar tests, where the introduction of your written answers should paraphrase the ideas in the question you are answering.
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I thought the prediction that newspapers will not exist in 2050 was the most worrying, but I'm also sure it's wrong. I thought this was worrying because newspapers are a major source of regular information. Things like Facebook and so on are useful, but newspapers are more reliable because professional journalists check facts before they publish, and editors of newspapers also check facts. If there were no newspapers, where would everyone get reliable information about the world? Would we have to trust Twitter, where the looney US president regularly posts his rubbish? Would we have to trust what our friends write and post on Facebook? I often think my own family post a lot of rubbish on Facebook, so I would not trust that for learning what is happening in the world.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the prediction meant that newspapers would no longer be printed on paper. That is probably true, but it's also the case today. The Nation newspaper in Thailand, for example, is no longer available on paper, but the newspaper stilll exists. In fact, I only read newspapers online these days. I have not read a paper newspaper for many years, and I don't want to. But I'm sure that newspapers will still exist in 2050, so although that would be very worrying if true, I'm sure it's wrong.
I think the newspapers should be gone because they're using way too many papers. We use too many papers and we destroy nature. We already have social media and we can use them instead of the papers. We can use technology to save the nature and heal the world. We can save a lot of papers if we use social media instead and we can email for announcement instead of papers.
DeleteIn the 2050 pridicction might be provide the deveropment of the main word's source of energy by solar power. Thus, it would bring more advantages for us since the solar power come from the sun, which means this power is permanents to use. For instance, now we can invent the light, calculaters from solar power. Therefore if in the future we can establish the car that use from solar power that would be good quality for our life.
ReplyDeleteI wish solar car will possible to happen soon since it may reduce a lot of pollution and bring back clean air to a road in Bangkok. When I was in high school my house was far from a bus stop every morning I had to ride a bike to the bus stop and take a bus to school everyday. I was really enjoyed and felt so relax by riding a bike and breathing in fresh air. Moreover, there were trees standing parallel along the dirt road side so the cool breeze and the greenery views made it a memorable time in my life when I was a teenage kid. I really want that scenery back and I hope our future will have more green space with the help of a new technology.
DeleteI like Num's reply to Mo's comment. It not only gives us a bit more detail about why solar cars would be good, but reminded me of my childhood growing up in teh country. Most of my family's land was turned into crops or grazing areas, but my father kept an area of native bush, which I loved playing in with my brothers and sisters, and the land along the river was left undeveloped. As Num says, it really was "a memorable time in my life."
DeleteIt's response writing, so we're allowed to go a bit off topic. When I grade, I worry about whether you wrote sentences organized into paragraphs. If you get a great idea in the middle of a paragraph, it doesn't worry me too much if you jump to something completely different, as long as you were clearly thinking about related groups of sentences organized into paragraphs.
DeleteActually, cars don't excite me very much. I haven't driven for about 35 years, and I don't even have a driver's licence these days. I drove a car in my last year in high school, but it was really boring, and because I like living in the centre of large cities, I've never needed to drive since I left home to go to university in Sydney.
DeleteBut the number of cars on the roads does interest me. I don't like the pollution that is spewed out by cars, although I'm sure that Bangkok's air is better today than it was when I first visited 30 years ago. This is becauese the technology for engines has improved over the last 30 years. So I also agree with Mo that improvements to solar energy for cars would be a good thing. However, I think it would be even better if there were a lot less cars on the roads. I think that driverless cars might offer a better solution here. There could be lots of self-driving cars ready to pick up people and deliver them where they wanted to go, and because they were driven by AI (artificial intelligence), they could communicate with each other more efficiently than humans, which would mean the traffic flowed more smoothly than it does now with independent humans making uncoordinated decisions on the roads, and competing instead of cooperating. I like Mo's ideas about the benefits of solar power for cars, but I hope the future brings even better solutions to transportation by adopting artificial intelligence to drive us around.
I think I agree with Mo because the solor power can improve a quality of life. We can use a sunlight to produce a electricity. The electricity is important to the people life peopl need to use it; and if in the future we has a solar power, I think we will use an electricity in easier than basic.
DeleteIn my opinion, the predictions that many people will live to 120 years old is exciting because normally the almost people live around 80 to 90 years. If many people can live to 120 years It will be good and exciting. Moreover, they will live longer than normal live.
ReplyDeleteI felt opposite from what think since if I have to live for so long in weak body and unhealthy body like very old people that would have been tortured me a lot. I don't want to live that long with no strength. Because I might could do many stuff or go travel to anywhere I like anymore or even eat what I want since it may affect to my health condition as an old lady. As same as my parents now they both old so I have to keep watching them everyday when they having a meal and stop them from eating what usually they like but bad for their health since they health so fragile. You may hear the word " You are what you eat" this phrase is really true you earn healthy life with food you have taken. In contrast, control ourselves to consume only good food even harder thing to do since bad food are more tasty but it lead us to die fast. I prefer to live only 80 years and enjoy what I want to eat rather than live for long but can't eat many stuff that I like since I obsessed with eating delicious suppers.
DeleteI mainly agree with Num. I would only want to live to 120 if I was healthy and could do the things I enjoy. My mum is now 89 (90 next week) and I'm very glad that she is still fairly active, living alone, and enjoying her life, although slower than in the past. I hope that continues, but 90 seems pretty good to me already. If I can be as active when I'm her age, I'll be pleased. Every year when I visit, we have a few meals together, and she can still eat the rich steaks, seafood and other things that she loves, all washed down with glasses of wine.
DeleteIn contrast, another old friend has been confined to a wheelchair for a few years, is always sick, very frail, and can't eat anything delicious, certainly not drink wine. I suspect that if he had the choice, he might tell his doctors to help him die quickly and painlessly.
If some of your family are very ill and they ask family to let them go sleep peacefully with a medical help what you will do ? and why in some country mercy killing are unacceptable ? I had this question because I had read a writing note on a Facebook page last year ago and I had found one Thai guy was writing that he was going to die by the method in German or Swiszerland (I am not remembered) because of his illness and he had been struggled with it for a long time and he did not want to stand it anymore. Once I had read his note that share online I felt sad and cry but I wander myself that should I be happy with him even I respected his decision.
DeleteFood shortages is might be the significant issue in the global and it would become initial issue to led a war happen. Food is the first basic need of human. It is a law of nature, if we don't eat, we would die. For instance, during Covid-19 in Thailand there are some people stocks egg before lock down session until the government have a rule that people can't buy too much eggs for one person. This case would become a big fight if the government have not had an awareness and take any action. It would be much worst in the future if we not have enough land to do agriculture and cause us a problem of food shortage.
ReplyDeleteI almost chose to write about the food shortage idea in the infographic because it sounds wrong to me. Unless something serious happens, it seems to me unlikely that there will be serious food shortages. Agricultural production continues to increase, and the number of people without enough food to eat is lower than at any time in the last 12,000 years or so. Things have been getting much better very quickly over the last 100 years especially. Thailand, for example, is much richer than when I first arrived, and I think everyone is eating more than they used to. I suppose food shortages are possible, but I would like some explanation of how they might happen. Even though during Covid-19, some farming has been disrupted, I haven't noticed a shortage of any of my favourite foods, except that the usual durian vendors were not in front of my condo - I had to walk to Tops to get durian. (I survived. I didn't want to kill anyone.)
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