It looks like another lovely day in Singapore. It is only 7:40 am here and while I have been up for a couple hours catching up on emails, I am just getting ready to start my day and wander about.
We have been busy! There is far less free time than I thought there would be. Yesterday, we went to this place called Fusionopolis which is a collection of buildings housing state-of-the-art research facilities related to the physical sciences, engineering and IT. The Singapore government is recruiting top researchers to come here and their hope is that there will be a lot of cross-pollination of ideas and great things will be developed.
Personally, I think there are difficulties and flaws with the plan--any plan which tries to carefully coordinate and control invention and innovation but it is a pretty cool place.
They wouldn't let us take pictures inside except for in the garden on the 23rd floor but that was pretty amazing.
Last night the boys and I decided to try to recreate our Tuesday night study night and we went to a German restaurant for beer and brats. Normally, it might seem weird to have a German restaurant in an Asian city but downtown Singapore is so western that it is almost difficult to convince yourself that it is not Southern California.
It is such a young country. They are only 44 years old and while it is amazing what they have accomplished in that time, there is a part of me that questions if it is sustainable. I guess I now understand better how the Brits and Europeans feel about us---I am happy that everything seems to be working out but I also think they are being naive to think that they can continue this.
Talking to people around here is a bit like talking to Pod People (Invasion of the Body Snatchers---the old one, not the stupid remake). It is like they have all been brainwashed to believe the exact same message. Everyone one you talk to gives you the exact same facts and figures, the same history, the same examples of success---they all have partaken of the Kool-Aid. But it makes one wonder about the power of the government which can broadcast a single marketing message so effectively to so many people.
OK...enough for now. I am going to get ready and start my day. This morning I am going to go to the Botanical Gardens and wander around. I am taking a bunch of our Carlson undergraduate students who are studying here out for brunch and then after a couple more hours of site-seeing, I am going to come back and work on my capstone for the rest of the day.
2 comments:
The pictures are impressive but I hear you on the "manufactured" feeling of all of it. I think it does work for a while (look at Japan of the 80's, for example), but I think it does hit some bumps down the line.
So, you have one week left... time is flying! I hope you are getting everything you need out of the trip! Your boys are surviving back home but they miss you. Schnuffy, apparently does not so much.
Which stupid remake are you referring to; the 1978 remake with Donald Sutherland, or the 1993 remake with Gabrielle Anwar...ah, Gabrielle. Or, are we also considering The Invasion, with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman?
Post a Comment