Technology is changing the world!

Technology has changed the world as we know it. With that being said, what is technology? Technology is essentially using science for purposes to help us in our everyday lives. When you think of technology you may think of phones, computers, cars, watches, etc. However, there are many forms of technology that help us incredibly well all the time. The first video we had to watch for this post showed us a little boy on the futurama. The futurama was a ride that was actually designed and debuted in the 1939 New York World's Fair. However, it was designed as a ride of the future. The goal with it being a ride of twenty years into the future. People rode on it and they were told they were seeing a ride that would look like the world they would see in the 1960s. That is a very cool concept. No wonder the ride was so popular. If someone told me that I could ride a ride and see what the world was like in twenty years I would get on it in a heartbeat. My adrenaline would be pumping to beat the boom. The ride was put up again at the New York World's Fair in the 1960s. This is the time when the video takes place and we see the little boy riding on it. I think the reaction and experience the little boy has is very accurate of everyone's reaction to ride the ride. Everyone wanted to do it. I think it would be the same thing if you took our great grandparents generation and showed them things such as apple watches and stuff. Those are things they not only didn't have growing up. Those are things that were not even thought of while they were growing up. 

The second video we had to watch for this post was a video showing us a remix song. It is a remix of a song that was by the band Tears For Fears. However the remix we are watching is by Moby. The point of you having us watch this video to me is to show us how technology can impact the world. This remix and the visual to go along with it was phenomenal. I'm not normally an emotional person at all, but I have to be straight up and honest and just say this remix and video just about brought me to tears. Whether it is through movies, tv shows, videos, or sound effects, technology has brought new personal power to emotions that would not be possible without technology. I can definitely see how this is a good example of how technology is a great thing and how it has really impacted and changed the world.

Technology definitely has its good and its bad. I know that since social media has become a thing suicide rates have gone up. People are much more self conscious about themselves and their image when they really should not be. I'm not trying to defend social media. I think social media is a cool concept but I honestly think the bad does outweigh the good when we are talking about social media. People are so concerned about how many followers they have on instagram, what their snap score is, how many likes they got on their photo, and what people think of them that they really lose a sense of self. I would agree that social media could definitely be classified as a bad thing. However, I would say that when we are just talking about technology as a whole, technology's good definitely outweighs its bad. The possibilities of technology are endless and it is something that generations before us would have given up just about anything to have access to.

Thoughts on AI

This video was very interesting. The main purpose of it was to give us the facts about artificial intelligence. Before I start talking about what the video told us about artificial intelligence, I think we need to talk about artificial intelligence. What is artificial intelligence? Artificial intelligence is intelligence that is demonstrated my machines and artificial objects opposed to natural intelligence which is shown by animals and humans. What are examples of artificial intelligence in our everyday lives? This article gives us 12 different examples of artificial intelligence we see almost everyday in America. A few examples of artificial intelligence in this article are facial recognition (like face ID on your iphone), self driving cars (such as Tesla), plagiarism (it is ridiculous easy for students to steal information and, either rephrase it or don't, off the internet without their teacher even realizing), and smart assistants (such as Alexa or Siri). These are things that help you tremendously in your everyday life and something generations before us never got a chance to have. 

With that being said why does artificial intelligence matter? It matters because it is changing the world with everyday that passes by on the calendar. The video talked about how it has changed the world on a broad spectrum from relationships and rivalries between countries to jobs to our own personal privacy. Artificial intelligence can be a great thing. I think self driving cars and Alexa are both two things that have really impacted the world in a positive manner. There are also some jobs such as jobs involving math that, let's be honest, computers can do way better than human beings. However, artificial intelligence can also definitely have a negative impact on our world. For example, every job that is taken by a machine is a job less for a human that is trying to make money to feed their family. Alexa and Siri are cool, as are many other new technological advances, but these devices are just giving the government and world more pieces of information about ourselves. Using artificial intelligence for national security is also dangerous because there is much more trial for error than there is if people who are fully focused on their job are doing it. 

What is Gatekeeping?

Today in our modern world we hear two words very frequently. Those words are gatekeeper and gatekeeping. However, I think the average person hears these words and either doesn't care or doesn't know what they mean. With that being said, what do the words gatekeeper and gatekeeping mean? A gatekeeper is someone who is very controlling. They are controlling which leads them to perform the act of gatekeeping. Gatekeeping is the act of controlling and limiting access to something. For example, let's say I get a text from my friends asking if I want to go to dinner. Another friend of mine named Bob is sitting right next to me when I receive this text message. Bob is friends with the friends that I'm about to go eat dinner with. The right thing to do would be for me to turn to Bob and ask him if he wants to go or tell my friends to text Bob and invite him. Instead, let's just say I say yes and tell them to not invite Bob to dinner. I am gatekeeping the information that we went out to get dinner from Bob.

Now, you might be wondering, why is gatekeeping such a big deal? It's a big deal because gatekeeping can cause many problems. For example this article looks into gatekeeping in the business world. Matt Klinman, one of the people in this reading, talks about how gatekeeping led him to almost get fired from his job in 2000 and then how it actually led him to get fired from his job in 2002. You see if you are going with your friends to eat dinner and you and them don't invite me, I would be sad but life would move on. If you don't tell me work that I need to do and I get fired from my job because of it or you prevent me from knowing knowledge that would lead me to gain a large some of money, these are things that will really take a toll on your life, especially in the business world. 

Diffusion Theory

What is the diffusion theory? Diffusion theory is a theory that essentially tells us how, why, and how fast new ideas and technology are spreading. New innovations spread all the time. How do new innovations spread so quickly? Technology spreads new innovations fast in one of three ways. The first way is we see technology used as a founder of new markets. For example, streaming services are really taking on a toll on the business done by movie theaters right now. This is done because a new market of having movies and tv shows at your fingertips was recognized and it has been made possible with technology. The second way technology spreads innovations fast is when innovations use technology as a vehicle for innovation. 3D printing is a great example. 3D used technology as its vehicle to carry its finished product to the finish line. The final normal way technology spreads innovations fast is by when they use technology as an enhancer of human capabilities. For example, architects are now using softwares to take out buildings and place buildings using AR to see how it will look once it is built on the land. 

The first innovation that comes to mind recently that we saw blow up from technology is Tiktok. Tiktok is a social networking service that really focuses on videos as a way of entertainment. A few years ago Tiktok was not a thing and now people spend hours of their day on the app. Whether it is watching dance moves, watching funny videos, or getting tips from a creator, Tiktok has a variety of purposes. While some people think Tiktok has really had a negative impact on the world, I also think it has had a positive impact. It has made another social media platform for people to post their content. There are many people that would not be nearly as successful as they are right now without the app of Tiktok and I'm sure they're thankful for the creation. 

  

Propaganda Today

What is propaganda? I want to start out my post by giving a simple definition. Propaganda is information, normally seen in the political world, that is very misleading and full of false words. Propaganda has impacted the world in a multitude of ways. This article gives us Adolf Hitler as an example of someone who spread masses of propaganda. He was able to convince through his words that he would be a great letter for his country. Men and women in the military were also involved in his scheme. Members of the military community would make up things about the war and their enemies and spread it to the public so the public believed anything but the truth. Why were these leaders willing to do this? The sad reality is they were willing to do it because they really did not see it as doing a bad thing. They didn't see it as doing a bad thing because they had been told to promote a sense of love for their country through propaganda.

However, even though I just spent a good amount of time talking about propaganda from many years ago, let's not forget propaganda is still very much a problem and constant force in our modern world. Let's look at politics for example. What is political propaganda? Political propaganda is something false that is spread to advance or tear down a political agenda. There are two different types of language or information that really make up political propaganda. The first is disinformation. Disinformation is false information that is spread specifically to change people's understanding of an issue or topic. The second is misinformation. Misinformation is information that is spread that is not meant to cause harm or change people's understanding of an issue or topic. We all spread misinformation all the time. Anyone who ever played the telephone games knows exactly what I am talking about. The word never comes out the way the first person said it at the end. 

I know I just explained what propaganda looks like today, but how is it impactful in our world today? Let's think about the whole year of 2020. Fake news made our country be more divided than arguably ever. We know that a house divided by itself can not stand. Therefore why were the Republicans so against the Democrats and the Democrats so against the Republicans. It's because we were in the biggest problem we've been in. Our country has not seen a raging pandemic in quite some time. We were not prepared for it nor were our news sources. With this being the case propaganda was everywhere. It got to the point where people really believed every Republican was racist and every Democrat was completely far left when this was really not the case at all. So often in this world we let our news dictate how we think. We should use the new to gain knowledge or information, but it should not change the way we think on a daily basis because you never really know if the news you are reading is true or not. 

Video Response

I think the issues discussed in these videos affect all of us. We just don't normally think about it because it is very discomforting to think about. The first Ted Talk we watched with Andy Yen is very alarming. He talks about how sending an email is like sending a postcard. Even though the internet has changed the world in many amazing ways, it also has its downsides. Every time we post on facebook, search something on Google, or send an email we are giving the world more and more information about ourselves. One email in the grand scheme of things really means nothing. However, a bunch of emails over a period of time put together can give the world more information than you would really like for it to know. It can tell the world who you've met, where you've been, and even what you are thinking about. The scary part is whatever you send in an email the world can know forever. This is why we need to take a second and step back and think before we post something online. At least in person we know not to say certain things that will cause problems. You never really know the implications of what you can do with your words online. 

The second Ted Talk we watch discussed more information that almost all of us know but prefer not to think about. Finn Myrstad, the speaker we are listening to in the Ted Talk, discusses with us how companies deceive you into giving up your data and privacy. He starts off the speech by giving us a question to think about. He asks if we had a toy that was our companion as a kid. He gives the example of how Christopher Robin had Winnie the Pooh. He assumes that you and your toy companion had endless adventures and what could be more innocent than that? Mr. Myrstad gives us an example of something that is even more innocent. He tells us about a toy known as Kaila. She is girl doll that was voted toy of the year all around the world. The doll even connects to the internet and uses a form of speech technology to answer the questions of your child. However, he tells us that the innocence doesn't really lie in the doll. It lies more with you and your family. While you and your family are innocently talking in the safety of your home, the company of the toy is collecting mass information through what they can hear you say around the toy. It is scary to think how much companies may know about us without us even realizing. 

I think these issues of lack of privacy are a threat to us, our friends, and our family. However, I don't think the world will ever change where people get worried about it because it is happening so much worrying about it could really ruin your life. I don't really honestly think there is much we can do besides just not take or do certain things that clearly look like there are going to be giving away our private information online. However, I do think the government could put restrictions on companies about the amount of information they are allowed to gather from a consumer. While I do think it is possible for the government to do this, it could backlash and then we have a mad powerful company who might just start charging us more for their product. 

What I learned about NETFLIX

In class the technology topic I learned the most about was Netflix. Netflix is an American streaming service that was launched by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings in 1997. Netflix is not something my parent's generation could have even comprehended. You sit down and with one click of a button you have thousands of different movies or tv shows you can choose from to watch your whole Sunday afternoon. In 2022 the company now has over 220 million subscribers. I think it is definitely fair to say Netflix has changed the world in many different ways. 

In the past virtually all hit tv shows and movies were somehow related to Hollywood. Now, when Netflix comes out with a new tv series it is the biggest thing out. "Stranger Things" and "Squid Games" are the first two that come to my mind. As soon as they came out it was the talk of the town in every town. People want to dress like the characters, buy merchandise, and binge watch until they are completely done with the show. Netflix series have become a culture shock that would be hard for me to explain to my grandpa.

However, other companies are catching onto Netflix's games. At least the streaming services part of the company. This is why Netflix has done things recently like begin to make podcasts, make Netflix original series, manufacturer merchandise, and begin the process to adding video games to their app. The founders of Netflix know they have to keep moving forward because there are always going to be companies that are trying to one up you in everything you do.