Thursday 4 February 2016

Inspiring 2045


Diehard fans of ‘Back to the Future’ would still be finger crossing for the moment Marty McFly taking another time travel into 21 October 2045! It would be really interesting to see how wonderful our world will be 30 years later, and our kids would have been living comfortably in a near perfect society with the aid of the unimaginable technologies … a utopia of sorts.

But what if… instead of 2045, the journey takes another cruel twist into 2045A, the ‘alternate future’ as known by the trilogy followers due to someone messing up with something at the present time … with the world in chaotic imbroglio, a complete opposite of the idealistic world. Unrealistic of course from the scientific point of view, but the real point here is that we are actually the master of our destiny and the grim future could be our own undoing.

What would be the causes of the bleak future? There are at least 1001 probable reasons. While most are beyond us, let’s take one which has been rightly said by Dr. Robert Hormats, the Vice-Chairman of the US-based Kissinger Associates, “Our kids are interested in using new technologies but are not interested in the science and engineering behind them.” But the problem is not just in a land 14,000 km across the Pacific Ocean, it’s a global issue indeed.

The generations of the dot-com era in the 90s and into the new millennium were passionate in the digital technologies, creating wonderful apps, hi-tech gadgets and other ‘life-made-easy’ devices. Unfortunately, the younger generations of today are more interested in using the technologies to their amusement but not to really learn how they were made of. Most of them are gizmos when it comes to gaming and updating their social media status but they (well, mostly) are rather clueless on the software and hardware side of it. 


Imagine of what would happen when these new generations take over the world in 2045? Marty McFly would be flabbergasted for sure and there would be no more Doc Brown, the stereotypically eccentric scientist, to help him. With lacks of interest in the science behind the new inventions, these kids would be left behind by the technologies they inherit from their parents … worst, at the mercy of the machines their parents created during the post-apocalyptic future. (Any fans of ‘The Terminator’ here?) What‘s our collective role as a community to elude this 2045A? What would Marty McFly do the moment he came back from 2045A?

If the root is indeed the fact that our kids are not interested in the learning process, then we should drill right into that very critical issue of inspiring the kids to learn it… no shortcut whatsoever. If the school curriculum does not suffice, then the informal learning institutions such as Petrosains will play a crucial complementary role. From coast to coast, east to west Malaysia, even to restive regions such as Iraq and during the earthquake in New Zealand, Petrosains has been there doing what we are adept at the most, which is creating wonder and inspiring people through our various CSR programs. It’s in our DNA since 1999.


We have ‘Inspire Together! A platform for the corporate citizens to invest in a meaningful CSR initiative focusing on enhancing creativity and inspiring innovation, a foundation for the nation to develop holistically. Some of the more popular CSR programs are ‘Visit-to-School’, ‘Tinkering Workshops’, ‘Creative Science for School’, ‘Camp-In’ and ‘Creative Teaching Workshop’.



Besides these readily available CSR packages to choose from, we can also customize our in-reach and outreach programs to suit the partners’ needs and requirements. To the partners, it’s a cost effective CSR program and to us, we would be very happy just to reach out to more people. Come rain or shine, we will still be there with the community, even if we have to take the 4WDs and 2 wheelers into remote Orang Asli settlements and long boat trips to other ‘faraway’ lands.


We have had some socially responsible organizations in the past such as PETRONAS, Bank Islam, Maybank, Khazanah Nasional, Carigali Hess, MAA Takaful, ALCOM, ECER, and Yayasan Peneraju, just to name a few, which partnered us to engage with the community members, some them are orphans, physically challenged, urban poor, and less privileged students.


We would need all the necessary supports from the relevant authorities, the communities and the financial commitments from the corporate citizens to keep on reaching out to the people and in giving back to the nation. To the corporate partners, please do contact us to explore how we can best leverage on our cost-effective CSR programs and, together, we can inspire the community… as we begin our 30 years of journey into our wonderful future in 2045 and beyond!  

As Doc Brown rightly said in his parting words, “Nobody knows their future, so we must make it a good one”. Join us in building a legacy for our future!




Shared by Hasnan
Guest Blogger

hasnan.kadir@petronas.com.my  


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