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.