The Future of Tech

In our society the rate at which we develop and implement new technology is astounding. Ne technology comes out every day to make our lives easier and more convenient. take cell phones for example 25 years ago cell phones were not common place as they are today. These new advancements re great but the question is can they be taken too far?

I feel this argument could go either way. I believe that the technology we create in the future could benefit man kind greatly or be its destruction it all depends on how the human race implements this new found tech. This argument about whether or not technological developments will benefit or harm the human race can be traced back to the developing and dropping of the atomic bomb. Many arguments are still fought today over weather or not it was right to create such a weapon and use it against other humans.  With the technology we have today much more powerful weapons could be developed and used to essentially wipe out the human race. However on the other hand technology has also provided us the cures for many ailments and made our lives much more convenient even compared to 20 years ago. So I feel that both sides of the argument have valid points but the only way to see if technology will help or harm us is to see how the human race will use what they have created.

turing test

To pass the turing test would obviously need the ability to understand written language. But there are more skills that would be necessary in order to sucsessfully pass the turing test. The computer would need to know how to understand how to comprehend slang as well as short hand that is used in much of todays contemporary internet chat. Along with this the computer would need to extrapolate and be able to take the conversation further and add new information into the conversation in order to keep it flowing like a human conversation. It would also have to know how to be empathic and express basic human emotions and help comfort its human counter part. All of these attributes combined would allow for a successful trial run of the turing test

Electronic voting

1. Diebold's voting machines have raised many issues in recent years due to the numerous calculating errors that had been noticed during the tabulation process.  Deibold's machines have been found to be easily hackable without being noticed as well as preform calculation errors such as count negative votes and keep inconsistent tabulations of the specific votes for each candidate. As proved by the documentary Hacking Democracy someone with sufficient knowledge of computer programing could in fact hack the voting machines to better suit their parties desires. The question is why can Diebold make secure atm machines but not voting machines which are just as important if not more.

2.If I was in charge of California's election process I would not use Diebold's machines I would push for legislation for State funded, designed and tested voting machines. Since Diebold's machines prove to be unreliable and they will not release their design and program information to the public there is no way to deffinitively know if the machine will be reliable. If the state was to design and create their own voting machines he voting process would become a safer more secure and easily manageable process.

Digatal Divide

The digital divide is a rigt created by the fact that there is portions of our society that have access to modern technology such as computers and the internet and their are large portions of our society that do not have access nor do they know how to use the technology.There are many aspects of our society that are affected by this growing divide:
Education: Many students now rely on computers and the internet for much of their assignments in school but, if a school gets a new computer lab for its students but doesnt train the teachers on how to use it effectively as a tool for teaching it will go to waste and the money spent on it could have been to better enhance the students current learning style.
Government: Our government has progressivly been streamlining some of their services into online forms. The DMV, Taxes, and other such establishments are now all available online but, for those who do not have internet access these processes they are still long and tedious and take up valuable time which could be used to work and support their families.
Health: Much of our modern day health care system can be taken care of online. You can sign up for health insurance and other such things online without having to spend hours at an agency and yet those people who do not have access to computers or internet still face the issue of losing time needed for work in order to do taskes that are no so easily accomplished.
Entertainment: One of the most simple pleasures in our society is our entertainment industry. In our technological era we are moving towards our entertainment being delivered via the internet. IT is not an issue that is necessarily detrimental to any ones health but again its is one of the simple pleasures we have in our society.
Work: The work force in our society today is extremely dependent on the workers ability to use modern technology. For the workers who are now older and yet still need to make a living getting training for a whole new skill set would prove to be very difficult and knowing the information well enough to be qualified for a well paying job would be even harder so the digital divide is favoring the younger more tech savvy generations over the generations of the past.

Web 2.0 lab

1. http://www.mashedtickets.com/- This is a really cool site that mashes up Google maps, eBay, stub hub, and Google video. This site allows you to compare ticket prices for many types of events while simultaneously viewing the venue on Google maps and watching video related to the event on Google video

2.http://www.coverdig.com/- This site allows you to search amazon for covers for books music dvds and games. I like this site because i move around alot and I know I lose or damage my cases for my dvds and games and it would be nice to replace them.

3.http://bonstio.net/google-gadgets/pandora-online-radio.html- This site allows you to listen to Pandora's online music database from your iGoogle page. I really like this because it makes finding and listing too new music more convenient and I am an avid collector of new music.

E-Waste

Electronic waste is a growing problem in many developing countries in our current technological climate. First world countries such as the US and Japan are looking for cheap and easy ways to dispose of the plethora of excess electronic devices. While there are many groups that claim to "recycle" these products a good amount of this e-waste is sent to developing countries like china and Nigeria where they are disposed of in ways that are harmful to both the workers and the environment. Many toxins are found in computer parts that can get into a workers blood stream over time or into the water supply of an area making it undrinkable. These practices are unacceptable and the fact that the US is not more diligent in monitoring the e-waste exports of our country is down right neglectful.
For me I try strongly to buy electronics only when i need them, even though i am a total nerd and new parts for my computer are like toys to me. But I do try and do my part i give my cell phones back to the providers for them to reuse and i try and upgrade my current computer instead of having to replace the whole thing. It may not be much but I feel I am doing my part.

Net Neutrality

The idea of net neutrality is a fairly recent development in our internet dependent society. At its core Net neutrality is a struggle between the content providers and the service providers. The Service providers would like the ability to charge their customers for tiered service when it comes to their internet access, each tier of course providing different services and advantages. To go along with that they would like to be able to charge the content providers fees to make their sites load up. On the other hand the content providers want to preserve the internet as it is now, the service providers are not allowed to differentiate between data sent by one website from another. There are pros and cons for the consumer, content providers and service providers with both options, but the question is what will end up happening to our beloved internet?
Net neutrality is being fought for on many fronts one of which is a group who has started a movement called "Save The Internet". This group feels that net neutrality is key to keeping the internet alive because without it the internet will not a palace for the free exchange of information as it is now, but a construction of the corporate executives who will allow us to see only what they want us to. An example of a content provider/organization fighting for net neutrality is eBay. They have actively sent out emails to inform their members on the subject of net neutrality in order to strengthen its cause. For ebay a company that strictly provides content over the internet Net neutrality is important because money that they are making and the service they are providing will all become dependent on the Service if anti net neutrality laws are passed.
Now for the organizations that are against net neutrality. First off we have a group dubbed "Hands Off The Internet" it is a coillition of "internet users, manufacturers and network operators" who are fighting for the ability for service providers to be able to offer tiered service and preferential treatment to certain content providers on the internet. This group is fighting against the net neutrality laws that are being put forth to congress because they feel that the internet is a growing market that should be regulated by the customers not the government. The service provider Verizon is against the idea of net neutrality due to the fact that they would like to be able to hacve different pacages that offer different levels of service, and that is a natural occcurance in our society since we are in fact capitalists. This is a very delicate subject that could lean eaither way it is easy to c why verizon is choosing to side against net neutrality.
As for me I really can not say whether im against it or not ive read a good amount about the subject but i feel as though everything i have read has had some sort of agenda behind it so it has thrown me off. I think that until I have found information on net neutrality that seems genuinely neutral I can not make an educated decision either way.