11-02-11

Everyday you learn something new. What is your projection of the future? In my time there have been so many projections of where we are headed. It's something people think about all the time. I saw a documentary not to long ago about climate and how they predict it will cause sociological, economical, and ecological breakdown. In my research I'm writing about how the computer technology may change us in the future. In a math report I did not too long ago I learned about Chaotic Systems. Chaotic Systems are described as completely random, amplifies what happens outside of it, and spreads its chaos to other systems. Society seems to be like a Chaotic system. It changes all the time based on an invention or an economical change or a disease. This may not seem random, but if you think about it we don't know when those things will happen. They just happen. And of course society amplifies the problems outside of it. If somebody invents something lots of people will buy it, weather it ends up becoming a common or important thing in the end or not. And of course just as society amplifies what happens what happens outside of it, it also spreads to things outside of it. If there was a major sociological breakdown there would be a major economical breakdown. So with that what will the future be like? I cant predict it because it is random. I'm not saying everything is going to break down, I'm just pointing out that even though we cant really predict the future. There are too many variables, too many possible outcomes. Each of my earlier examples focuses on a single thing. There are a million other thing that can play a part in that projected future.

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

Progress so far:

Computers and the human race

By: Zephyr Smith

Desert Mountain School

Computers and the human race

Humans have always been shaped and changed by the technology around them, computers were no exception. All kinds of technologies have come up from today’s computer technology.. We have changed the way people talk to each other. The way that money flows through business is vastly different than it was before. Even the physical makeup of people is different than it was B.C (before computers).

The History of Computers
Computers in the past were far different then they are today. Computers were designed for doing advanced math calculations. They were like gigantic calculators, most taking up a large room. Computers took off in the 1940’s with huge developments made by individuals and organizations in Germany, Britian, and the U.S. Eventually the computer became more compact, more complex, and more disposable.

      SixthSense
New technologies are being created everyday. With the technology we have available today a group of students from MIT created a technology that they call SixthSense. It was created with a camera, a smartphone, marker caps, a projector, and a mirror. SixthSense allows its user to be connected to the Internet with ease and use that connection to help the user interact with the world around him/her. For example if you were trying to figure out what type of ketchup to buy you could let the camra see the ketchup and give you its suggestion based on data you have already put in, like if you prefer cheap vs. healthy or vice verse.
     Our Choice E-book
As we have seen in the last 5 years e-books have become extremely popular, even more popular than regular paperbacks. Our Choice is the next step in the evolution of e-books. Kind of like an electronic pop up book Our Choice features many animations, videos, and bits of narration. With this kind of technology behind them books can do things we have never seen them do before.

    Disposable technology
As Jesse Schnell (2010) states technology is becoming disposable. We will be able to pick up our mini c and throw it away. Imagine when every box or bottle is capable of the amount of processing a modern desktop can do. With the use of that disposable technology producing computers will become faster, easier and, cheaper.

     Too Much Data

     What could this mean?
This technology is only the beginning of what is to come. We’ve gone from calculators to computers, so what might be next. We could have robots or extreme supercomputers. The possibilities and their effects are endless.   

Social effect of computers
     Internet Communication
The Internet has become the major social tool in the 21th century. People don't send things through the mail anymore. Sending an email or a Facebook message is much more efficient. Things like this give us the ability to instantly communicate with people around the globe. Society is slowly pushing out non-computerized communication. Eventually all people who wish to be socially active will need to have a Facebook and Google account. The Internet has become integrated into everything.

     Facebook
When I first got my Facebook account I was 10. In the 3 years I have had it Ive had it I’ve accumulated 207 Friends. Some people get even more than that. There are people out there that use Facebook as their main form of communication. What if Facebook were to crash? Would we have people who become lost without it? What if Facebook was hacked? I have heard all kinds of things about how unsecured Facebook is. There was also a report on the radio about how Anyonymus planned to hack Facebook. So if Facebook were made to release viruses there would be hundreds of thousands of crippled computers.

     The psychology behind facebook gaming
Why do people even play games? I always though it was because they thought they were entertaining. For most regular video games that is true. Facebook games are a different story. Schnell (2010) explains how Facebook games are designed based on competitiveness between you and your Facebook friends. You play them to prove what you already know, that you are better than Joe, Bob your roomate, and that weird guy who you added as a friend yesterday. Then you play for a long time or you pay 20$ to make sure of it.

     Gaming
Today kids have been highly exposed to gaming. Games are everywhere. Kids grow up seeing video game advertisements and wanting to get them. They hear things from their friends and want to get games Soon they become addicted to games. Their games become more important then everything else. There are already people like that out there. As a society we should try to stop ourselves from losing our grasp on life.

     How far is too far?

     Reality in the virtual world     


     Life is a game and you have to play
With the development of disposable technology that was mentioned earlier games are moving closer to our real life. The technology allows almost everything you touch to be connected to the Internet, display something on a screen, process your interaction with it, and watch what you do. It will probably come through mainly in advertising to see how many times you buy something or how much you pay attention to ads. The games are just a trick to make you pay more attention to the advertisements within them, but still they are hard to avoid. Everyday we see the billboard advertising Diet Coke. Eventually we’ll be seeing the electronic tattoo advertising Diet Coke.

     2+2=?
When somebody asks you to do a long math problem like 24x67x137 what would you do? Most people would want to get a calculator. As a society we are devaluing the ability to do math on our own. Computers were developed on the theory that we need something to do our advanced math  but it has gone too far. A simple problem like that should not require a calculator. It doesn't seem like we are using calculators for speeding up calculation, we are doing it because we aren't capable of doing the calculation, or we are just too lazy to do the calculation.

        Emotion vs Logic
Judith Perrole (1987) writes of the ideas of the ides of Daniele Belle. Belle (1980) believed that computers were going to take over the logical processing people have. When somebody has a machine doing all the logical thinking for them then they wont need the logical processing ability. Without the logical processing emotion takes over. That prediction was made in 1980. I think it is holding true. From the stories I’ve heard people in the past were far less emotional then they are now. They also held a higher valut to logic then we do.


     Computers vs Culture
In the book Computers and Social Change: Information, Property, Power, Judith Perrole refrences Joseph Weizenbaum (1976) and his opinion on what computers are doing to our culture. He predicted that with the de and popularization of computer technology would cause people too forget their culural values.

     
Economical affects of computers
     Internet Gaming
Do you play Farmville? Well a lot of people do. In fact there are more Farmville players then Twitter accounts. In fact Farmville isn't the only Facebook game. There are hundreds just like it. With the use of their Facebook connection the corporations behind these games are making lots of money. Zynga makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and most of the games aren't really that fun, but for Zynga and all the other companies the games arent really important. What matters is the money.        

10-31-11

Everyday you learn something new.  Today I watched a show called Curiosity. The show will ask a question and then go into their version of the answer. It seemed very similar to our research and driving questions. In the episode I was watching the question was "How Evil are You?". The show discussed a test run in 1961 called the Milligan test. The test has 1 person (the teacher) who is asking questions to a 2nd person (the learner). The teacher is always being tested. The learner(who is an actor) informs the teacher that he has heart problems. The test will have the teacher ask the learner questions. If the learner gets them wrong the teacher will flip a switch that gives the learner a shock. The test will go until the teacher stops and completely refuses to go on or the learner becomes unresponsive. The results in the 1961 test showed that 65 percent of the people tested would complete the test. The test was repeated in 2011 and 77 percent completed the test. I found it really shocking to see that so many people were willing to do something like that to a person. I don't think I could, I don't think many of my friends or family could. In the past 50 years society has become more evil, even with all the things people learn to keep them from committing terrible acts, and the punishments for doing so. I don't want to see the day when everybody is that evil.

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

Here is my progress on my report so far. I would love to get some extra feedback.

Humans have always been shaped and changed by the technology around them, computers were no exception. All kinds of technologies have come up from today’s computer technology.. We have changed the way people talk to each other. The way that money flows through business is vastly different than it was before. Even the physical makeup of people is different than it was B.C (before computers).

The History of Computers
Computers in the past were far different then they are today. Computers were designed for doing advanced math calculations. They were like gigantic calculators, most taking up a large room. Computers took off in the 1940’s with huge developments made by individuals and organizations in Germany, Britian, and the U.S. Eventually the computer became more compact, more complex, and more disposable.

      SixthSense
New technologies are being created everyday. With the technology we have available today a group of students from MIT created a technology that they call SixthSense. It was created with a camera, a smartphone, marker caps, a projector, and a mirror. SixthSense allows its user to be connected to the Internet with ease and use that connection to help the user interact with the world around him/her. For example if you were trying to figure out what type of ketchup to buy you could let the camra see the ketchup and give you its suggestion based on data you have already put in, like if you prefer cheap vs. healthy or vice verse.
     Our Choice E-book
As we have seen in the last 5 years e-books have become extremely popular, even more popular than regular paperbacks. Our Choice is the next step in the evolution of e-books. Kind of like an electronic pop up book Our Choice features many animations, videos, and bits of narration. With this kind of technology behind them books can do things we have never seen them do before.

     What could this mean?
This technology is only the beginning of what is to come. We’ve gone from calculators to computers, so what might be next. We could have robots or extreme supercomputers. The possibilities and their effects are endless.

      

10-26-11

Computers and the Human Race
 Humans have always been shaped and changed by the technology around them. When computers came along there were lots of changes. All kinds of technologies have come up from simple calculating. We have changed the way people talk to each other. The way that money flows through business is vastly different than it was before. Even the physical makeup of people is different than it was B.C (before computers).

 "Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

10-24-11

Everyday you learn something new. Today we watched a TED video called Weird or Just Different. The speaker, Derek Silvers compares things from 2 different sides of the world, like how in the US streets have names and in Japan blocks have names. I never knew that, which is probably important to think about, because in the discussion we had about the video later the class talked about how some people are "in a box" and don't care about other perspectives on things. I do have many Western Ideals but I never thought myself to be "in a box" until now. I never really thought too much about how simple things work in other places just complicated things, like the form of government, or the views of leaders. I would love to actually be able to go to some other place just to be able to see these differences, and get out of my box. I don't understand why others wouldn't want to get out of their box. It is so interesting to see the way things work in the rest of the world, and be able to understand other people. If we want to fix global problems we have to work together as a whole planet.

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land among the Stars"- Les Brown

10-21-11

Everyday you learn something new. Today I learned how much I despise Windows Movie Maker. Trying to do some simple video editing caused it to constantly crash. After about an hour of complete failure I decided to just  try to find a new software to do the editing with. I figured that might take forever but it didn't. In 10 minutes I had a program that was 10x better. That made me think about the vast amount of technology that is out there. If you need some kind of program for something it is probably out there on the internet somewhere. It might not be the best version (ex. OpenOffice vs. Microsoft Office) but you can get anything, even complete operating systems, like Ubuntu or Fedora.    

Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land among the Stars. - Les Brown

10-19-11

Everyday you learn something new. Today I finally found my real opinion of what The Secret Lion is. I think it is a problem that the kids have with authority. I really enjoyed the discussion we had to talk about it but I wish it would be a little bit longer. I also decided that I think that it is a good idea to do blogging on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Its easier to write about your day when it isn't over. Lately I have felt a huge interest in the way that society works, the way that people interact with each other and the different affects they have on the person. I hope to base a future project around that. I also wanted to say that I put that quote on my blog because it has been my favorite quote for years and it seemed really appropriate in this class, my schooling, and my personality. I was also curious to find out more about are next project as well, anything you could tell me would be great! Thanks for all the nice things in my conference!


"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land among the Stars." - Les Brown

10-17-11

Everyday you learn something new. Well I have to admit that today was pretty shocking. It was actually pretty scary to hear people treating Advanced Language Arts like it was boring. Everything started slow but it's still a lot better than normal classes. In my technology research I found a lot of amazing new things. This video, Did You Know 5.0 was created in Iowa to inform people about the rapid expansion of technology. There is one section that discusses how we've gone from VHS to Blu-Ray and the file size of any simple movie has gone around 500mb to almost 40gb. I always thought that the purpose of creating new styles of movie presentation was to make them smaller, not bigger. Instead it seems the entertaining things become larger and the capacity of computers grows with it to keep up.

I also watched this episode of Criminal Minds witch made me think about how the things from Social Networks are like an archive of our lives. I watched a video a long time ago about a program that takes all your Facebook posts and saves them and a program that will take a pre written message and put it on your twitter if you die. Nobody knows every single detail about the day of their ancestors but their descendants can look through these archives and learn everything about them. The Internet Never Forgets.




"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown