General Paper by GP.sg

TikTok’s CEO (who is Singaporean btw) is in front of US Congress right now, live: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_E-4jtTFsO4 Congress is asking questions regarding safety and privacy, with fears of China’s potential influence or ability to secure US citizen data on the app, as well as raising questions on safety measures for children on the app. This will be extremely key content for themes of media, technology and governance/politics.

(A prisoner’s bedroom in Norway’s Halden prison)

Crime and Punishment (Social Issues) https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/singapore-prison-service-to-study-costs-and-benefits-of-imprisonment-amid-greater-use-of-community-based-corrections 'Rehabilitation, not punishment, should be the purpose of the justice system.' Discuss. (A-Level 2017) Consider: Norway’s preference of rehabilitation and view against retributive justice has led to them seeing jail time as just “preventive detention” i.e. not to punish, but at most to prevent them from harming others. For that reason, Norway’s jails are well-furnished and comfortable. Compare this view with that of countries like Singapore and many others.

New post up! Today, we examine the poverty traps—a useful concept for questions on social issues. https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAL20bLmro/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

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The flaw for the latter argument is often highlighted as the “tyranny of the majority”. Similar is the idea of populism covered here https://www.instagram.com/p/CE0YyhoANrl/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Pope Francis referred to homosexual acts as sinful & “intrinsically disordered”, reiterating the teachings of the Church but also stated that the laws criminalising it are "unjust". http://bit.ly/3kQwFve (Source: Mothership) Relevant questions: How far should religion influence political decisions? (2009) Does religion still have a role in the modern world? (2022) Food for thought: When we consider the general question of whether religion should affect politics/laws, there are various points. It’s said to be “religious freedom/rights” versus others’ rights. We can consider how rights of different people conflict. Of course, you may question whether this is really the case (religious freedom =/= the right to impose on others, just to practice as individuals?) In countries where religious groups make the majority, it’s argued through lens of “democracy”—that the majority have a right to decide the country’s laws. It is also argued they have the right to determine the country’s “socio-cultural norms”.

Diversity, Inclusion, Equality Girl Guides of Canada drop ‘Brownies’ Name The name 'Brownies' does not have a racial origin and instead came from the name of a type of fairy in folklore. However, it is said that some girls of colour experience teasing when they join the Brownies. The Girl Guides of Canada thus dropped the "Brownies' name. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64243976?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-bbcnews&utm_content=later-32275251&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio Consider: Can prejudice ever be eliminated? (A-Level 2011) Food for thought: When are moves like this “hypersensitive” rather than just being “progressive” or vice versa? Does the majority have the right to label a move as “hypersensitive” when it is not them who feel affected? On the other hand, where is the line drawn (as one commentator noted, would chocolate brownies, the baked confection, also need to be renamed one day)?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnTtgeyr7NC/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Check out some of our tuition reviews here and at https://GP.sg/tuition ! I have re-opened weekly and crash course sign-ups; sign up now if you feel you need an extra boost!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnCK2lqrZNy/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Check out our latest post on the harm principle, by J.S. Mill—highly relevant in assessing the “fairness” of policies and laws, and highly applicable to many GP questions (showed in the post)!

[#Environment and #Business] Deloitte Cuts UK Office Temperatures By 20°C To Save Energy Deloitte is reducing temperatures in its UK offices in a bid to cut costs and carbon emissions. Deloitte told its 23,000 UK staff that its offices would now be heated to between 19 and 22C as part of new energy-saving plans. It comes after several other big consultancies such as KPMG and PwC temporarily shut down some of their offices in the UK over the festive period to cut down on energy consumption. Mr Houston added that Deloitte had seen calls from many of its staff and clients to "Work more sustainably". Deloitte said on Thursday that it aims to cut its emissions from business travel by 50% per full-time employee by 2030, in comparison with 2019 levels. It recently announced a pledge source 100% renewable electricity for its office buildings by 2030. —> corporate social responsibility + food for thought: how individuals (customers and employees) can influence businesses to change environmental practices [Relevant questions from schools/past years] To what extent is tackling climate change the responsibility of the common man? Is it true that morality is no needed for businesses to attain success?

https://www.reddit.com/r/SGExams/comments/zyu7jf/alevel_free_general_paper_notes/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf I have updated the notes to include more updated info, making this most likely the most updated set of notes available for GP rn! Hope it helps!

#Media 📰 🌐 Son sues Meta for $2 billion over father's killing in Ethiopia Facebook's algorithm helped fuel the viral spread of hate and violence during Ethiopia's civil war, a legal case alleges. Abrham Meareg, the son of an Ethiopian academic shot dead after being attacked in Facebook posts, is among those bringing the case against Meta. They want a $2bn (£1.6bn) fund for victims of hate on Facebook and changes to the platform's algorithm. ——— Twitter suspends several journalists and account that was tracking his jet He suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who recently wrote about its new owner Elon Musk, with the billionaire tweeting that rules banning the publishing of personal information applied to all, including journalists. Some believe the ban is due to these journalists having been critical of Musk. —- Consider: • Both cases this week touch on the idea of social media self-regulation. The lack of self-regulation in Facebook’s case which allowed spread of disinformation proved harmful, whereas in the case of Musk, some question whether Musk’s use of Twitter to ban accounts that are against him is bias and question whether he should be doing so. —> of course, while this seems like a comparison of not regulating versus regulating, what it is happening here could be more of a case lack of regulation versus biased regulation—and neither of these may be desirable.

Science & Tech 🤖 A.I. has advanced significantly in recent years—you have probably stumbled across posts by people showcasing artwork created by A.I. (such as Midjourney or OpenAI’s DALL-E)—and questions are raised over potential for abuse and how governments will respond. China's Cyberspace Administration recently issued regulations prohibiting the creation of Al-generated media without clear labels, such as watermarks--among other policies. The new rules come as part of China's evolving response to the generative Al trend that has swept the tech world in 2022, and they will take effect on January 10, 2023. Some advanced A.I. includes ChatGPT. Check out how ChatGPT can even be used to write poems—over here, a poem about A-Level General Paper 👀 https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8FdCkrK/

#Science & #Technology 🔬🥼📡 / #Ethics Neuralink, co-founded by Musk in 2016, is a company which plans to implant devices in human brains that would allow people with neurological disorders to control computers or robotic limbs with their minds The video above was released last year showing the progress it has made, featuring a monkey playing a game of pong with its mind. Ethical implications: Just this week, it emerged that an investigation on animal abuse is ongoing after reports that 1,500 animals have been killed since 2018 as a result of experiments. Staff have complained of rushed testing causing needless suffering and deaths, as Neuralink tries to go to the next stage of human trials as soon as possible to get on the market. —— Can the use of animals for scientific research ever be justified? (A-Level 2017) 'Human need, rather than profit, should always be the main concern of scientific research.' Discuss. (A-Level 2016) (interestingly, the above e.g., could be argued to be fulfilling both)

On a side-note, quick shout-out to @ThisCounted (at their request), a student discounts platform founded by some students at Singapore Polytechnic. Do give them a follow if you’re looking for student deals! 🎓💵

#Media 🗞️🌐: The U.S. attempts to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which would give publishers and broadcasters greater powers to collectively bargain with social media companies for a larger share of ad revenue. A similar law was introduced in Australia which requires Facebook to pay news outlets to host their content on the platform. News outlets argue that social media platforms like Facebook have stolen much of the advertising revenue (because people browse on their Facebook feed rather than entering the news sites where their advertisements would be), but Facebook argues the opposite—it claims it has given increased traffic to struggling news outlets as their articles get shared on the platform. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, threatens to remove US news content from Facebook if the law is passed. Consider: New media vs traditional media and the challenges faced To what extent can the regulation of scientific or technological developments be justified? (2014) To what extent should the State involve itself in the world of business? (2005) ——————————— #Governance / #Rights / #Marriage 🏛️ : Indonesia - Indonesian lawmakers unanimously passed a sweeping new criminal code on Tuesday that criminalizes sex outside marriage, as part of a tranche of changes that critics say threaten human rights and freedoms in the Southeast Asian country. United States -The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday gave final congressional approval to legislation that provides federal recognition of same-sex marriages, a measure born out of concern that the Supreme Court could reverse its support for legal recognition of such relationships. Consider: How far and in what circumstances has the state the right to restrict the freedom of the individual? (1981) Is the idea of having one partner for life still a realistic one? (2001) How far should religion influence political decisions? (2009)

Hi everyone! Since video/animation is better for learning, check out our new TikTok account (and do give it a follow!): https://tiktok.com/@generalpaper and our first video ! The first tiktok is on the 'slippery slope', which is especially relevant since just today, Parliament discussed the repeal of Section 377A and arguments in favour of keeping it often take such a form.

If you are taking your A-Levels in 2023 or after and still need an extra hand, head over to https://gp.sg/tuition/ to sign-up for lessons (or check out some of our stellar testimonials) today! Our sign-up form is closing soon! 💪🏻