Solutions

Here is our 10 solutions to solve the Fundamental Problem.

• Solution 1:

We, the Media Development Authority of Singapore, will play the National Day Parade show for the elderly on their televisions in where they live. This will take place on National Days in 2050 and beyond in Singapore. In the National Day Parade show, there will be one part in which a film which shows how Singapore prospers when citizens adhere to rules, elderly people do not exploit the privileges etc. and how problems are caused if rules are not followed. This film will also show the contributions of Singapore’s younger working generations, which will make the elderly feel that they are blessed with their living conditions in Singapore and feeling grateful to their country, they will not abuse their privileges so as to not cause problems to Singapore as shown in the film. This is to ensure that the elderly will know what problems will be caused to the country if they abuse the Elderly Special Rights Act as well as know the contributions of the younger working generation, which will lead them to not abuse their privileges.

Research :

“The success of any project depends on the contributions of every member of the team, but some teams work together better than others. When team members have a sense of personal ownership in the group project, believe that their contributions are valued, and see that the project manager contributes equally and leads by example, they feel motivated to contribute their best work.”

~ Scott Thompson (experienced psychologist)

Similarly, when the elderly see that the younger generation of workers contribute greatly to Singapore, they will be grateful and also want to do their part in contribution by not abusing their privileges as they feel that doing that would help Singapore as shown in the film.

Reference: http://work.chron.com/effective-techniques-encourage-team-members-contribute-project-5121.html

• Solution 2:

We, the Housing Authority of Singapore, will set up social clubs for the elderly in Singapore in the year 2050. These social clubs will allow the elderly to communicate with each other in a common meeting place and will also have facilities such as libraries, coffee shops, lounges, etc. These recreational activities will help the elderly pass time, and they will have more enjoyment in their lives. This is to ensure that the elderly are preoccupied enough such that they will be more contented with their lives and be less likely to abuse the loopholes in the privileges given to them.

Research:

Research has consistently indicated that physically and socially active recreation and leisure activities are related to a higher quality of life in the general population.  This is especially true of activities that help people feel a part of neighborhood life, including such simple activities as eating in a restaurant, visiting a library or walking in a park.

A review of current literature indicates that people who participate in sports clubs and organised recreational activity enjoy better mental health, are more alert, and more resilient against the stresses of modern living. Participation in recreational groups and socially supported physical activity is shown to reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Violent crime also decreases significantly when participation in community activities increases.

- Gillian Street and Ray James: Mentally Healthy WA Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer Control, Curtin University

Thus, if the elderly participate in recreational activities, they will become more satisfied, happy and content, hence decreasing the chances of them wanting to create trouble by exploiting privileges to get greater advantages.

Reference: http://www.dsr.wa.gov.au/the-relationship-between-organised-recreational-activity-and-mental-health

• Solution 3:

We, the Ultimate House Constructors, will limit the maximum housing area which the elderly can own through the subsidised housing scheme in the year 2050. This means that the elderly can only buy up to a maximum of a certain land area of housing per elderly person, and if they want to own more than that area, they would have to pay the normal price. This is to ensure that the elderly do not abuse their privileges to buy, for example, a 5-room flat just for themselves, unnecessarily using up our limited land space in Singapore.

Research:

The HDB in Singapore adopts a similar measure. To control the buying of subsidised hdb flats, they impose an income ceiling. Buyers of 2-room flats cannot exceed an average household income of $5000 a month, buyers of 4-room flats cannot exceed $10000 a month. By doing this, people who live alone, for example, and have less than an average monthly income of $10000 will most likely not be able to afford the 4-room flat, hence they would have to buy a smaller flat. Because of this, land space in Singapore is saved. Similarly, by controlling the maximum subsidised housing land space the elderly can buy, land space in Singapore will be saved.

Reference: http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10321p.nsf/w/BuyingNewFlatEligibilitytobuynewHDBflat?OpenDocument#Citizenship

• Solution 4:

We, Powerbuff Security, will protect and monitor the elderly. The Security company will be making drones which are to be circulating around Singapore 24/7. There would be more drones circulating around places with high crime rates. Once the drones detect a crime, it will immediately use its electrifier to stun the pepetrator while sending a signal to the police station, allowing the culprit to be caught. This helps to prevent crime syndicates from using the elderly as their pawns and also to prevent the elderly from committing crimes at their own will by . This is to ensure that crime syndicates looking to commit crimes without being caught will not be able to do so through the elderly, who will only receive a small fine for committing crimes.

Research:

 In Elgin, the policemen have high-tech tools that are designed to predict crime and prevent harm to cops.

Police decided to park a vehicle -- outfitted with a GPS device -- near Harvey and Hawkins streets last February. Within a day, the suspect took the bait. This is only one of the many tools they have to catch crime offenders.

Reference: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20140626/news/140628945/

• Solution 5:

Ministries in Singapore such as Ministry of national development,  Internal Security Department, Ministry of Manpower, Singapore Police Force etc. will work closely together to form a group of highly trained detectives to monitor suspicious activities that are related to the exploitation of the Elderly Special Rights Act, in the year 2050 in Singapore. Using advanced tracking technology, they will track activities such as elderlies buying several big apartments with subsidies, committing crimes, driving recklessly on the road etc. Also they can lay traps on platforms such as the internet, newspapers, advertisements and observe the people that fall into these temptations. The offenders will then be fined and the fines will increase exponentially if crime is committed again. This is to ensure that the elderly will have a deterrent from abusing their privileges in unethical ways just to greater benefit themselves.

Research:

Terres de Hommes, a children’s aid organisation which is passionately dedicated to stop child exploitation in developing countries, developed a computer-generated avatar to track pedophiles on the internet. She managed to track down 1000 pedophiles on the internet in 1 month.

In addition, an investigation of 27,236 cases of embezzlement and bribery between January and November last year in Jiangsu, China, sentencing 36,907 people, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said in a statement released on Jan. 5. Some four-fifths of those were major cases, or those involving embezzlement of more than 50,000 yuan.

Using the same concept, a tracking system will certainly aid in finding exploiters and serve them their due punishment.

• Solution 6:

The Ministry of Education will educate the elderly against abusing the privileges given to them in the year 2050 in Singapore. Every year, people who are aged 79 years old have to gather at their neighbourhood community centre for a compulsory free course about the privileges of Elderly Special Right Acts. These courses will assign the elderly to different computers for an interactive programme about exploitation of their privileges. This realistic interactive programme will teach the elderly to be ethical with their privileges. It will teach them that should they do otherwise, they would be betraying the goodwill of the government and that they should be grateful for the government’s help. Also there will be some sort of discussion in small groups and collaborative work. This is to ensure that the elderly in Singapore will have a mindset to be ethical with their privileges and will not abuse their privileges for their own benefits.

Research:

The importance of interaction in forms of flexible, online and distance education have been researched (Moore, 1989; Garrison & Anderson, 1998).  It was found that small collaborative groups, when committed to regular online interaction, could learn extremely effectively at a distance.

Group electronic discussion and sharing of resources gave them an environment for actively constructing new ideas and concepts and enabled them to learn effectively. It was found that learning collaboratively through group interaction was achieved by the development of a group consensus of knowledge, through communicating different perspectives, receiving feedback from other students and tutors, and discussing ideas, until a final negotiation of understanding was reached. In this research study, the interactive communication process was facilitated through the computer mediated communication which established a vehicle for socially constructed learning.

By learning through a realistic interactive programme and communicating their thoughts later on, the elderly will be able to process the information better and will also have good memories of it, thus increasing the chances of them practicing what they learn.

• Solution 7:

The government will limit the elderlies’ usage of hospital resources. Elderlies will only receive fully subsidised medical bills for serious health problems, but not for minor problems such as a small wound or slight coughing. If the elderly go to hospitals hoping to receive treatment for small things, they will have to pay a hardly subsidised bill for the treatment or medicine. This is to ensure that the elderly do not waste hospital resources and time for small issues just because they can have it free of charge.

Research:

Our research has shown that regulated pricing encourages the use of unnecessary, costly produces and overuse of diagnostic tests. By having

the subsidies taken away for minor injuries, this ensures the elderly does not waste hospital resources and time for small issues such as minor cuts just because it is free.

• Solution 8:

We, the Powerbuff App Creators, will create an app that will be installed in all phones. This app will allow users to report suspicious activities and the app will immediately report the incident to the police. The police can also immediately track down the culprit. This will ensure that the citizens will be mindful of what they do and not exploit the rules.

Research:

Using A Smartphone App to Report Crimes In West Virginia, if you see a crime, you don’t have to make a phone call now. Just download the Suspicious Activity Reporting Application, which is available for both iPhone and Android. You can use the app to submit a photo, location, detailed descriptions, all while remaining anonymous, if you prefer.

• Solution 9:

The government will make taxi fares such that prices for the elderly are only discounted if there are only elderly on the taxi. If their family members tag along, the full price will have to be paid by the family members. This is to ensure that family members of the elderly do not just bring the elderly along for rides on the taxi just so that they can have a discounted fare.

Research:

“What would you choose if given an option by your neighbourhood super mart: Hike your healthy food purchases or lose monthly discounts? People are more likely to choose healthy options at the grocery store if they are told to risk losing their monthly healthy food discount, said a new research. The data revealed that only the households who volunteered to put their cash-back discount on the line increased their healthy food purchases - by an average of 3.5 percentage points - over each of the six months in the study.” Similarly, the incentive of being able to save money on the taxi trip will encourage the people to bring their elderly relatives or parents along on a taxi trip just so that they can save money.

Reference: http://cooks.ndtv.com/article/show/no-discount-threat-pushes-people-to-buy-health-food-468381

• Solution 10:

The government will limit the use of Google Timeloop. The elderly will only have a maximum of 2 hours a day on Google Timeloop, and once the time limit has been exceeded, the feature will be unavailable for the day for that particular elderly. This is to ensure that the elderly do not overuse this feature and get addicted to it, possibly living a life completely away from the real world.

Research:

Similar to Google Timeloop is video gaming addiction. Gamers enjoy playing these video games and cannot stop playing them, blocking the outside world off completely. Similarly, the elderly could become indulged in their past on Google Timeloop, causing them to separate from the real world. Hence, by imposing the time limit, the elderly will not be cut off from the real world completely.

Reference: http://www.video-game-addiction.org/stories-of-addiction.html