NEURAL AND SOCIAL NETWORKS

Neural networks (also referred to as connectionist systems) are a computational approach,

which is based on a large collection of neural units (AKA artificial neurons), loosely modeling the
way a biological brain solves problems with large clusters of biological neurons connected by
axons. Each neural unit is connected with many others, and links can be enforcing or inhibitory
in their effect on the activation state of connected neural units. Each individual neural unit may
have a summation function which combines the values of all its inputs together. There may be a
threshold function or limiting function on each connection and on the unit itself: such that the
signal must surpass the limit before propagating to other neurons. These systems are self-
learning and trained, rather than explicitly programmed, and excel in areas where the solution
or feature detection is difficult to express in a traditional computer program.
Neural networks typically consist of multiple layers or a cube design, and the signal path
traverses from front to back. Back propagation is where the forward stimulation is used to reset
weights on the "front" neural units and this is sometimes done in combination with training where the
correct result is known. More modern networks are a bit more free flowing in terms of stimulation and
inhibition with connections interacting in a much more chaotic and complex fashion. Dynamic neural
networks are the most advanced- in that they dynamically can, based on rules, form new
connections and even new neural units while disabling others.
The goal of the neural network is to solve problems in the same way that the human brain would,
although several neural networks are more abstract. Modern neural network projects typically work
with a few thousand to a few million neural units and millions of connections, which is still several
orders of magnitude less complex than the human brain and closer to the computing power of a
worm.
 SOCIAL NETWORKS

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or
organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network
perspective provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a
variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures. The study of these structures
uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and
examine network dynamics.
Social networks and the analysis of them is an inherently interdisciplinary academic field which
emerged from social psychology, sociology, statistics, and graph theory. Georg Simmel authored
early structural theories in sociology emphasizing the dynamics of triads and "web of group
affiliations". Jacob Moreno is credited with developing the first sociograms in the 1930s to study
interpersonal relationships. These approaches were mathematically formalized in the 1950s and
theories and methods of social networks became pervasive in the social and behavioral sciences by
the 1980s. Social network analysis is now one of the major paradigms in contemporary sociology,
and is also employed in a number of other social and formal sciences. Together with other complex
networks, it forms part of the nascent field of network science.

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

The twenty-first century has been characterized as the information age. No

doubt, one of the greatest achievements of this age has something to do with
the technology, especially the increasing power of communications. ICT is
providing an extra-ordinary opportunity to hone our critical thinking and
problem-solving skills. communication skills, creativity and innovation.
How has ICT positively affected the life of the members of the society or the
digital citizens? The following can serve as an example:
Education – Many educators are already using and infusing technology as a
teaching-learning pedagogy through the use of different platforms.
Business – Most entrepreneurs are making use of the internet and different
social networking sites to promote their businesses and products.
Government – In the Philippines, many transactions with government offices
are now possible and available online. Application for birth certificates,
passport, NBI and like are maximized by some Filipinos.
Computers, e-mail, internet, fax machines, mobile phones are only among
the information communication tools that can be considered an integral part of
work activities in almost all companies or institutions in the Philippines and
abroad. The development and access of different technologies like wireless
networking and mobile devices significantly transformed user into content
producers.
ICT and Global Networks
With ICT in our schools, learners are not only consumers but content
creators as they write, edit, publish, participate, co-create and collaborate with
others through the use of technologies. ICT hastens global and democratic
network across the planet. The Internet is an apparatus for causal connection
as well as open spaces where individuals can voice out their issues. ICT can
generate global social awareness through social network sites. Social
networking sites also facilitate the mobilization of grassroot movements and
advocates especially among the younger generation. ICT promotes social
development by sharing knowledge, fostering cultural activity, increasing
democratic participation, and enhancing social cohesion. Technological
advances have improved life and brought the world’s people closer.
DEMOCRATIC INTERVENTIONS

"Democracy is one of the most important principles for a better world. In its truest sense, a
democracy is a community in which all members have an equal say in the running of that
community. Unfortunately in reality, democratic societies have fallen short of this ideal.
Nevertheless, because of its very nature, once a democracy is established, its citizens can work
together to make their society more and more democratic, if they choose to do so." – Robert
Alan Silverstein

POLITICAL CORRUPTION
There is an increase disenchantment of the state of society in our
globalized world. In a study about democratic participation in different
countries in the globe, 44 out of 47 countries that took part in the study
asserted that the conditions of a good society were not met (Barry Knight:
2002, p. 107)
Undemocratic practices breed social ills that haunt societies in the planet.
Dissatisfaction of citizens with their governments include: a. failure to meet
their basic needs that create profound insecurities,b. failure to protect them
from the sweeping winds of economic change where they lose their customs
and traditions, andc. failure to involve its citizens in its policies and programs.
Basic Needs
Failure to meet basic needs is a common complaint among many societies
in the world today. There was a growing gulf between rich and poor droving
the former to extra-legal activities such as theft and prostitution.
Association
 Undemocratic practices undermine the traditional bonds of family and
kinship threatened by the pressures of work, urbanization and migration. The
distancing of government concerns from the lives of ordinary people
weakened customary forms of accountability and led to a highly corrupt, self-
seeking, inefficient, and partisan state.
Participation
Citizens play they part by (1) engaging in collective action to perform
voluntary work with others in order to tackle problems and (2) participating in
political processes to play an active role in relation to the state in order to
ensure that the state opened itself up to the influence of citizens.

PLANETARY NETWORKS: CLIMATE CHANGE

Global Warming
"The ecological crisis is a moral issue…. Respect for Life and for the dignity of
human person extends also to the rest of creation… We cannot interfere in
one area of the ecosystem without paying due attention both to the
consequences of such interference in other areas and to the well-being of
future generations." – John Paul II 1990
One of the most important issues of our time is in relation to the
environment. Humanity has disturbed the fundamental beat of nature. Some
of the problems that relate to environmental issues: air and water pollution,
toxic wastes, improper garbage disposal, destruction of wildlife habitats,
deforestation and mining. These problems were indeed devastating. The
pollution of international waters, the irreversible destruction of the world’s
forests and increased toxic emissions in the air we breathe, among other
things, leave us to ponder our relationship with the environment.

"The most important about global warming is this: Whether humans are
responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left to the scientists,
but it is all our responsibility to leave the planet in better shape for the future
generations that we found it." – Mike Huckabee
The fact remains that people’s lifestyles have largely contributed to some
of the environmental problems that confront the world today remains. One
concrete effect of this lifestyle is global warming. The use of coal and oil in
generating electricity for industrial and residential settings is a big factor in
increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which contributes to the
warming of the planet.

Climate Change
One of the big questions in the climate change debate: Are humans any
smarter than frogs in a pot? If you put a frog in a pot and slowly turn up the
heat, it won’t jump out. Instead, it will enjoy the nice warm both until it is
cooked to death. We humans seem to be doing pretty much the same thing. –
Jeff Goodell
The United Nations Forum Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
defines climate change as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or
indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global
atmosphere.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted
that over the past 200 years, the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of
forests have caused the concentrations of heat-trapping of the greenhouse
gases to increase significantly in our atmosphere. With more of these gases in
the atmosphere, more radiation is absorbed and radiated back to Earth as
heat. Thus, as the concentrations of these gases continue to increase in the
atmosphere, the Earth’s temperature also continues to increase.
Today, the impact of climate change is one of the most significant environmental challenges
facing the global planet.

“Mitigating this impact requires profound changes in energy production and

use, since emission of greenhouse gases from combustion of fossil fuels is
the dominant human contribution to climate change.” – Nick Hanley and
Anthony Owen on The Economics of Climate Change
It is clear that human activities are driving the current rate of climatic
change. When people burn fossil fuels to heat their homes or fuel their cars,
and when land is converted from forests to the other uses, greenhouse gases
are emitted to the atmosphere.
As reported by experts, the effects of climate change will not be the same
across sectors, the world, or even within many countries. Some areas could
have benefits while other could have damages. Some sectors may see
‘positive’ effects while other sectors may see ‘negative’ effects. Effects may
also evolve as climate change continues, altering the nature and distribution
of these effects across sectors and regions.
Climate Change Solutions
 The last two decades have witnessed expanding political and economic
discussions over the ways of reducing greenhouse gases or, at least,
exploring ways of adapting to the predicted climatic changes. In order to avoid
the most serious impacts of climate change, humans will have to significantly
reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions being put into the
atmosphere. There are different approaches to make these decreases,
including optimizing vehicles proficiency, expanding access to and utilization
of open travel, overhauling building protection, supplanting fossils with
renewable energy, and diminishing deforestation. Numerous legislatures,
organizations, and people are starting to execute some of these techniques
and hence gradually decreasing emissions. The use of cleaner production
technologies and change of lifestyle are desired to impact a change in climate.

Global Networks
Understanding Globalization
“Globalization could be the answer to many of the world’s seemingly
intractable problems. But this requires strong democratic foundation based on
political will to ensure equity and justice.” – Sharran Burrow

Clearly, one of the goals of globalization is for the world to become more
interdependent. People and countries of the world are closely woven together
especially in the economic aspect. Globalization is the most powerful source
for change in the world today affecting all societies in the planet. It entails
movement of capital, free flow of goods and services, the increased mobility of
individuals, and the expansion of multinational corporations and transnational
organizations.
Globalization and Migration
The issue of globalization is linked with migration and with movement of
capital and commodities.
Migration is said to be as old as human civilizations, and there is clear
proof that globalization is inextricably related to it. The growing demand for
laborers of the most capitalist countries precipitated the migration of many
families from the unprivileged communities.
According to estimates, more or less 20% of the labor force in the
Philippines want to leave the country in search for a job abroad. Some of them
become victims of illegal recruitment and human trafficking.

What is Migration?
National Geographic defines human migration as the movement of people
from one territory to another for the purpose of taking up either a permanent or
temporary residence.
People migrate for various reasons. The reasons may fall under four
categories:
1. environmental
2. political
3. cultural
4. economic
Within these categories, National Geographic categorized them as “push” and
“pull” factors of migration.
Push factors – are those that motivate people to move from one place to
another because of difficulty, such as food shortage, war, flood, etc.
Pull factors – are those that motivate people to move their place to another
place simply because of some desirable reasons such as nicer climate, better
food supply, freedom and others.
Types of Migration
 Internal Migration – this is defined as the process where migrants look
for a new residence within their own country, state, or continent.
 External Migration – moving in a different country, state or continent to a
new residence
 Migration – leaving one country to move to another
 Immigration – moving into a new country
 Forced Migration – this happens when the state or authorities forced its
people to migrate for a reason
2. Migration, Globalization and Climate Change
The first half-decade of the twenty-first century has been characterized by
incidents of disaster that brought about massive human suffering. Regardless
of location, humanity is threatened by hazards of many types. The World’s
Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for Research on the Epidemiology
of Disasters (CRED) shows that hazardous events have been on the rise
around the world, which include natural and technological hazards: drought,
earthquakes, epidemics, extreme temperature, famine, floods, insect
manifestations, landslides, volcanic eruption, waves/surges, wildfires, and
windstorms.
Natural calamities like earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and floods have
brought varying degrees of devastation around the world. The global
consciousness that climate change may represent one of the most significant
threats of the near future has stimulated humanity’s collective interest in
disaster.
“Migration, forced or otherwise, will undoubtedly be one of the most significant
consequences of environmental degradation and climate change in decades
to come.” – Achim Steiner
Ecological migrants are compelled to relinquish their belongings and escape
for their lives in the fallout of typhoons, tidal waves, tremors and other grave
calamities. They are displaced people who are compelled to leave their
homes. They are the ‘new’ poor people and the most defenseless in the midst
of calamities which are getting more violent because of climate change.
250 million people are permanently displaced by climate change-related phenomena, such as
floods, droughts, famines, and hurricanes.

In the Asian regions, disasters emanating from natural and technological

hazards have occurred with increasing frequency, impacting greater number
of people and financial losses. In the past ten years alone, Asia had been hit
by strong earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons that resulted to the loss of
thousands of lives, and left ens of thousands homeless and in anguish.
Global ecological and environmental movements have rightly observed that a
new poor called climate refugees or environmental refugees emerges out of
this situation. They are the people who had been internally displaced, not
because of war, but by disasters
In 2005, Glen Albrecht created the term “solastalgia,” consolidating solacium
(comfort), nostos (return home), and algos (torment) – the misery, dejection,
or tension brought about by modified situations. He believes that the level of
pain an individual or a group encounters is associated with the loss of an
endemic feeling of place.
Understanding Local Networks

A network is a group of people whom we interact daily. Our relationships are networked. If
you look at nature, networks are everywhere. The cellular network in the human brain, for
instance, is an amazing network that makes human life possible.
 But what are networks? Networks are a ‘set of nodes and set of ties’ (Brass, 1994: 42). The
things that are connected are usually called nodes. A node might be a person, a computer or
even a hyperlinked text. The connections between hubs are called “associations” and here and
there called “edges”. They are relations that bind the tie or even make the ties suffer. It is
imperative for leaders and managers to precisely see the system relations that associate
individuals and to effectively oversee them. Awareness concerning social networks is important
to the extent that people are uncertain who is connected to whom. It is a means of developing
contact and exchange of information. It provides us the opportunity to interact with people
outside of our regular social circle. It is vital also to entrepreneurs, professionals, and job
seekers.

Networks are analyzed in terms of density, hierarchy, multiplexity, interdependence and

embeddedness (Kilduff and Tsal, 2003, pp.3off).

1. Density- The density of a network is based on the number of connections

between and among the actors. According to Kilduf and Tsai, the higher the number, the
denser the system.The density of a network depicts the potential associations in a
system that are genuine associations while a potential connection is an association that
could possibly exists between two “hubs” paying little respect to regardless of whether it
really does.
2. Hierarchy- Actors in the network can pull their investments in social relations by
establishing relations with a diverse set of groups in the community (preferably groups
that are not connected to each other), rather than establishing all of their relationships
with members of one group.
3. Complexity- Complexity is the extent to which a link between actors served a
multiplicity of interests in the community. The more complex relations have considered
have higher tie strength. Complexity also represents the extent to which two people are
bound to each other in different social grounds.
4. Interdependence- The ties in the network can be useful in facilitating change and
reform. The interdependence of social ties in a community produces benefits for actors
and members. Interdependence facilitates cooperation and creates social capital
necessary for the progress of the community. Social capital is the accumulated benefits
as a result of the maintenance of a positive relationship between different groups and
associations in the community.
5. Embeddedness- The networks of relations within each person is rooted include
family, friends, and acquaintances. To be sure, business associations themselves are
held together by formal relations of power as well as by casual connections that interface
individuals crosswise over departmental and progressive limits.
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Understanding Elements and Characteristics of a Trend

WHAT IS A TREND?

A pattern of gradual change in a condition, output, or process, or an average or general

tendency of a series of data points to move in a certain direction over time, represented by a
line or curve on a graph.

MEGATRENDS AND MICROTRENDS

Megatrends entail a major restructing ; they are a larger pattern of broad trends that
reshape and transform our lives.

Microtrends advocate localization as opposed to globalization, recognizing that people

and communities have never been sophisticated and more knowledgeable about the
choices they make in their everyday lives.

EXAMPLES OF TRENDS:
 Facebook – is the most common social network website where you can share
information about yourself and communicate with other people.
 Twitter – it lets you see what is happening around the world, from breaking news and
entertainment, sports and politics to big events and every day interests.
Trendspotting

Trendspotting is attempting to see the future in the present (Rehn and Lindkvist, 2013).
Being able to predict a trend is a valued skill for the global citizen. Trendspotting is sometimes
called cool-hunting and trend analysis.

Trend analysis is the widespread practice of collecting information and attempting to spot a
pattern, or trend, in the information.

Trend spotting is the identification of new trends or attempting to see the future.

Trend spotter is a person who notices and reports on new fashions, ideas, or activities that
are becoming popular.

Differentiating a trend from a fad

Both trends and fads can play an important role in an organization’s success – but they
must be treated differently. If they are not, leaders risk burning out adapting to every fad, and
critical trends required for an organizations’ survival may be missed. Let’s start by looking into
fads and trends individually.

Fad is a new thing that people are doing. The easiest way to categorize a fad is one word:
short-lived. Trends have a much longer lifespan than fads. In fact, trends can continue to be
fashionable for years and even decades.
 Trend is significant, have broad implications in all aspects of society, identifiable and
explainable while fad is transitory or quick, affect only particular group of people without impact
and driven by emotions.