TECHNOLOGY

Weekender

Technology and state underscore growth

Michael John Uglo

WHEN you can read and comprehend this article, the surest thing you know is you cannot live for the next 50 to 100 years. This inherently shows that whoever you are, you are a miniscule droplet in a pond for an institution to take charge of all activities for generations after generations to come long after you are gone. This is the rule of thumb you should know.
The world’s real time encyclopedia defines institution as a social structure in which people cooperate and which influences the behaviour of people and the way they live. It further states that “an institution has a purpose and that institutions are permanent, which means that they do not end when one person is gone. An institution has rules and can enforce rules of human behaviour. This brings to light the idea of an institution as a nation state.
When you are counting your chicks before or after they hatch it can enable you to obtain a qualitative data. In contrast when you are counting your chicks knowing the fertility period of your hens of various ages in a continuum then it is a quantitative data you are contemplating to manipulate.
You probably heard of inverters in electronic devices. They come in the form of discontinuous to indiscrete signals and vice versa. These devices take charge of all the electrical nature of the energy that contains information packets and or messages that come from electronics of the hardware. The modulation and demodulation devices operate to effect digital signals through an analogue transmission and reception line for information consumption are the qualitative and quantitative data respectively that are being biased in reference to electronics.
“Information technology research can benefit from incorporating institutional analysis from organisation studies, while organisation studies can benefit even more by following the lead of information technology research in taking the material properties of technologies into account. This is stated in a report by Wanda J Orlikkowski of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge and Steven R Barley MIS Quarterly of Department of Management Science, Engineering, Stanford University, CA , June 2001 Volume 25, Issue 2 on Digital Library.
The report further suggests “that the transformations currently occurring in the nature of work and organizing cannot be understood without considering both the technological changes and the institutional contexts that are reshaping economic and organizational activity.”
Thus, technology is interwoven in the institutional and the organisational fabrics of a nation state’s running of its affairs like PNG to lead it into prosperity or into its demise. Without understanding this matrix will surely take a huge bulk of our economic time to squander it all in petty politics to see that we have meandered in vain amounting to a gigantic wastage and not accomplished much in a mega space of time.

The most innovative economies in the world. -Picture from visualcapitalist.com

State as an institution
In the The Druk journal by Mark Mancall, it talks about State that institutions “changed with the gradual development of capitalism beginning most discernibly in the 18th century. Frederick the Great is often cited as the historical figure who best personifies the emergence of what we now think of as the modern state.
Mark further states that “first, commercial activity, including cultural and industrial production and the exchange of goods, begins to assume a conceptual and even a practical existence apart from the institutions and power of the traditional state. The struggle for the control of the economy continues down to this very day, but the struggle itself is an artefact of the emergence of the modern state.” We are jealously working for our modern State in PNG that in its truer sense is fulfilling but overall with a devilish selfish motive consumed by greed, pride and arrogance as injustices, suppression and oppression are still evident in decision making by our elected MPs, and bureaucrats. There is no self-accounting mechanism in place to confidently say someone is doing better. It is all a waste as its glossy proclivity.
Mark Mancall secondly states that “the state begins to assume an existence in and of itself, apart from traditional social hierarchies. This means that it collects taxes itself, organizes its own police and military power, and reaches directly down into local society to exercise the powers that it defines for itself. It is no longer dependent upon the lower orders of society for its existence.” In the entanglement of this organisation, massive rots and decays are seen whereby elites endeavour to gain wealth using this haven under the banner of nationhood and its legal constructs to buffer and justify themselves.

Structural changes, growth and technology
Elsevier, Volume 11, Issue 4 (December 2000) suggests that “countries that specialize in technologically progressive industries will enjoy high rates of growth compared to other countries” It further states that “structural change on average has not been conducive to productivity growth, countries that have managed to increase their presence in the technologically most progressive industry of this period (electronics) have experienced higher productivity growth than other countries” where it speaks of efficient communication accomplishment.
It can be discussed in analogy with a character taken for a variable, then a bit or a byte will map to an enumeration. Once the numbering is affixed as in a Godel numbering system named after the German mathematician, a user can synthesise computer programs for specific applications.
Those applications can run in synchronisation modes to effect advanced computing programmes or run in asynchronous modes with the protocols and the interfaces of a communication hierarchy like through the seven layered communication protocol. This can establish communication from application to application after messages has traversed down a communication pathway from higher level of specific application to the lowest level of physical electronic linkage and effective communication is established.
As in technology and to expounding the economic rot and decay in PNG lived with since independence to this present day, it carries with it an abundance of massive and colossal junks. I have a picture in mind that when Indonesia can have only one gold mine in our neighbourhood in West Papua and can run a nation of over 450 million people and still have left overs, we have many mines in PNG with only about 8 million people and have financial hiccups and shortcomings with running of the nation of PNG. Where is all the money?
Something is seriously wrong, for heaven’s sake! Do our elected leaders know about this fact at all and are they doing anything about it if they know it? Don’t tell me they are trying to take their share and step aside to build their empires. This is a very wrong mentality and you are under nature’s watch if you have this mindset. If you are reaping vulnerable people’s wealth or the nation’s wealth and if there is ever a God, He will be the defender of the defenceless as we know it intuitively.
The report from Elsevier as mentioned in this segment points us to technology in order to utilise its virtues in order to be progressive. That is simply because technology is about discontinuity and we have to be transparent and accountable first under the surveillance of the technology camera in order to do things right and account for everything.

Innovation and technology
The monetary accumulation to drive growth is a misnomer in the neoclassical approach to economic growth. That was the culprit that led the world into believing that it will be the driving force in the economy and caused the world economic recession.
Now if you are still engrossed with this ideology, you now have to switch to technology to revolutionise development in PNG and no more wastage and stealing. Do the right thing so that all our people regardless of their affiliations and ethnicity are served from an institution as a nation. As always, my prayer to see our people live a happy and fulfilling life is “true happiness is when all the people are happy.”

Next week: Institutions like property rights, law and money are allocative institutions that maximise exchange in a given economic structure with technology. Note: If you are not sure with any content in any of the lecture on the series on Technology and Digital Economy and need explanation, please place an order for the entire series to be sent to you with elaborations.
You can also send any comment for the next article to: [email protected]

  • The author is a lecturer in avionics, auto-piloting and aircraft engineering.

Which said the Victure VD300 transmitted its owner’s wi-fi name and password unencrypted

Smart doorbells ‘easy targets’

MAJOR security flaws in popular smart doorbells are putting consumers at risk of being targeted by hackers inside their homes, according to Which.
The consumer group says devices being sold on marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, could easily be hacked or switched off by criminals.
It is asking the government for new legislation to safeguard consumers.
Amazon has removed at least seven product listings in response to the findings.
The watchdog tested 11 devices which were purchased from popular online marketplaces in the UK. Brands included Qihoo, Ctronics and Victure.
It found that among the most common flaws were weak password policies, and a lack of data encryption.
Two of the devices in the test could be manipulated to steal network passwords and then hack other smart devices within the home.
Amazon UK’s current number one bestseller in smart doorbells, the Victure Smart Video Doorbell, was found to send users’ home network names and passwords unencrypted to servers in China.
The BBC has asked Victure for comment.
Convenience v Security
Lisa Forte, a partner at Red Goat Cyber Security, which specialises in cyber-security testing, said consumers may inadvertently be putting convenience before security.
“Generally speaking the more convenient something is, the less secure it is,” she told the BBC.
“The more connected devices you have in your home, the more ‘doors’ there are for cyber-criminals to open. This investigation highlights how many brands aren’t putting the security of their customers first.
“If you have decided to purchase a smart doorbell, make sure it is from a well-known, trusted brand. When you set it up change the default password to something long, and if possible enable two-factor authentication in the set-up,” she added.
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is when a secondary step is introduced to the log-in process, such as a code sent as an email or text.
While Amazon removed several products from sale, eBay told Which that none of the findings violated its own safety standards.
A spokesman for the marketplace said the flaws represented “technical product issues that should be addressed with the seller or manufacturer”.
Kate Bevan, Which Computing editor, said better regulation was needed.
“Government legislation to tackle unsecure products should be introduced without delay and must be backed by an enforcement body with teeth that is able to crack down on these devices.” -BBC