Blog #10: In The Age of AI

One of the first things the documentary highlighted was the impact of automation on both individuals and society. Job loss due to automation not only leads to economic stress but also has severe ties to mental health concerns. Those who lose their jobs to automation face a higher risk of suicide, depression, and unhappiness. This situation often carries on to the next generation, as their children are more likely to drop out of school. 

Traditionally, the image of job loss to automation has been associated with men working in factories or driving trucks. However, I was surprised to hear the documentary talk more about the automation of jobs mostly held by women, like cashiers and waitresses, becoming a bigger issue. 

The documentary also made it a point to talk about AI's predictive ability, specifically Google's invention of pre-determined search results. This innovation set the stage for AI in our daily lives, as social media platforms like Facebook quickly adopted this technology, allowing the internet and AI to gather information about individuals through subtle online cues. 

“We gave technology a spot in our lives that it did not earn.” I pulled this quote from the documentary because of how it stood out to me. It’s crazy to see how far technology has come to invade our personal lives, when we never gave it permission to do so. Our every moves are being monitored and searched through without us ever knowing, its scary to think how that will evolve in the future. 

Something I found shocking while watching the documentary, was the level of surveillance and data collection smart speakers have on us. These devices not only respond to voice commands but also analyze the tone of our speech, such as detecting sneezes or voice tremors, to make inferences about our health or emotional state. This level of intrusion into our personal lives raises many concerns about privacy and the power of technology companies.

In response to these privacy concerns, the documentary mentions the efforts given to pass a bill aimed to establish privacy standards and protect individuals' private information. This move is a step in the right direction for our privacy needs yes, but I know more needs to be done. With the growing and quickly evolving technology I believe our privacy will become more at risk, therefore, more needs to be implemented in protecting our rights.

Blog #9: EOTO Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in simple words refers to the ability of machines or computer systems to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. It is a field of study and technology that aims to create machines that can learn from experience, adapt to new information, and carry out tasks without explicit programming. AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. 

In 1956, the word "Artificial Intelligence" was first adopted by American Computer scientist John McCarthy at the Dartmouth Conference. Ten years later in 1966, researchers emphasized developing algorithms which can solve mathematical problems. Joseph Weizenbaum created the first chatbot this year, which was named as ELIZA.

The first AI winter happened between the years of 1974 and 1980. AI winter refers to the time period where computer scientist dealt with a severe shortage of funding from government for AI researches. During AI winters, an interest of publicity on artificial intelligence was decreased.

In the year 1997, IBM Deep Blue beat the world chess champion, Gary Kasparov, and became the first computer to accomplish winning against a human being. Here we are starting to see the strong potential this machine is starting to have and gaining more recognition.

AI didn’t come into the Business world till the year 2006. Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix also started using AI. From this point forth, AI as we know it has continued to rapidly evolve and has begun to quickly take over our world. 

Some examples of AI today are chess-playing computers and self-driving cars, that are all heavily based on deep learning and natural language processing. There are several examples of AI software in use in daily life, including voice assistants like Siri and Alexa and face recognition for unlocking mobile phones that many of us use without even realizing.

AI software mimics human brain function to assist society in advancing with the digital revolution. AI systems perceive their environment, deal with what they observe, resolve difficulties, and take action to help with duties to make daily living easier. 

Some positive ways that growing AI technology are effecting society today, is that this technology reduces human error, its available 24/7, it can handle repetitive tasks, and its fast and efficient. It is quite possible that we could use AI technologies to improve people’s health and longer lifespans by creating better prosthetics, helping in finding cures for cancer, or by making organ donation no longer necessary by using small, intelligent machines to replace failing organs. 

Mentally, AI could take a lot of stress and small tasks off our brains, creating more brain space for us to do and think about the things we really enjoy. Socially, it can make us even more connected to other people than we are now, creating positive communities of people around the world, and again, if we don’t have to worry about many of the small, difficult, individual things in life, we will have more time to engage with others.

On the contrary, many people, including myself, believe that there are far more negatives to AI invading our society. It’s costly to implement, it can’t duplicate human creativity, and people can become overly reliant on it. 

The most immediate effects are likely to be experienced at the workplace, with many people losing their jobs to automation. In a new report, investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts that up to 300 million jobs worldwide could become automated. 

The rise of technology capable of generating convincing fake content is also raising more concerns. As it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between what's real and what's fake, people could be use this technology to amplify disinformation online.

One thing AI has proven to be very good at is enabling the measurement and manipulation of people. If we live our lives through relying on the fact that “AI does it better,” or shy away from thinking on our own because AI claims to be at a higher standard, or do not take independent action because AI calls it risky, our lives will not improve. 

Looking at the history of AI and how quickly is has evolved, I expect nothing less for our future ahead. There are plenty of concerns that come with this, but when looking at the effort of researchers to make AI a positive impact, I am very eager to see what type of world awaits us.

Blog #7: Innovation

During each generation, there usually is some big innovation that changes the way people live their way of life. By looking at the innovation of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat through the lens of The Diffusion Theory, we can understand why these trends caught on with the public. 

At first, there were the innovators. These were the people who were willing to take risks and were typically the first to adopt new technologies. When the product first came out, they were the ones who saw the potential and what it could be. These social media platforms caught on so quickly because it was a new way to communicate and access information. This was a big step in the 21st century and was a big factor in how our future will be different than our past. 

There were different adopters to this new trend. Some early adopters were people that have a higher degree of opinion leadership. There then is the early majority and these people adapt to the new technology right before it becomes mainstream. They have above average social status and are influenced by the early adopters. 

Then there are the late majority members and they are more skeptical about adopting innovations and do so after the majority of society has already adopted. There finally are the last people. They may be influenced by their close social circles. 

The benefit of this technology is that it gives people a choice. It also gives people a way to be more connected, to stay more updated with the current news, and could even help professionally with jobs. People will see the benefits and the good use of the product and choose and have the option to use it, but some may not which still makes it acceptable. 

There are benefits and negatives to adapting to a new technological advancement. Ultimately, the decision to adopt a new communication technology, like social media, should be based on a careful consideration of the benefits and drawbacks in a specific context. Weighing the potential advantages against any potential negative consequences will make a decision that aligns with that person in the best way.

Blog #6: Anti-War

The mainstream media today has become almost a circus. It is hard for people to find a way to agree on how the news should be presented or what information should be shown. The absence of strong antiwar voices from mainstream news outlets while they thrive on websites like ANTIWAR and The American Conservative can be attributed to several factors, which reflect how the mainstream media acts today. 

One reason why it is not common is because the mainstream media often prioritizes a narrative that aligns with the interests of the government and corporate interests. Many major news networks have extensive relationships with government officials which can influence their decisions about what is posted and how it is edited. 

On the other hand, they may avoid critiquing any calls made by the military to avoid backlash from the government and to keep their ratings up. In today’s media, conflict drives mainstream news ratings and revenue. Stories promoting peace may not attract the same level of attention as those centered around conflict and war.

Another reason why antiwar perspectives are not too common in the media is because the commercialization of news media has led to journalism that is run around profits. To maximize revenue, mainstream media often prioritize content that appeals to their target demographics, which may not include antiwar activists. Because of this, the demographics of certain media sources are very narrow.

The last reason why antiwar views aren’t seen is because people rely on the mainstream media's story pattern. People are interested more in what is occurring in the world, and even though it unfortunately is heavy news, it is better than many opinionated pieces like ANTIWAR. Once certain narratives are established, they can be difficult to challenge, and alternative perspectives often do not succeed. 

The rise of social media has allowed smaller websites like ANTIWAR and The American Conservative to flourish. These platforms offer alternative viewpoints and can attract similar-minded individuals, which can form groups. While these websites might be considered "obscure" compared to major news outlets, they provide a valuable space for different perspectives.

Blog #5: Wi-Fi

Something I found very interesting while listening to my peer's presentations, was the evolution and impact of wifi. Because of the remarkable progress our society has made with technology, I’ve been able to reflect on how these advancements affect my day-to-day life.

In the past, staying connected to other individuals required patience, as messages traveled slowly through various ways. Today, the evolution of Wi-Fi has transformed the way we interact with the world. It allows people to seamlessly access information, communicate with others, and work from just about anywhere with an internet connection.

We use Wi-Fi so often, that it’s become second nature to us. We don’t ever think about it unless it’s not working, because we always assume we’ll automatically connect to internet everywhere we go. 

Understanding the way Wi-Fi actually works and how it was created was fascinating to me. It always has been, but it’s crazy to think about everything that constantly runs behind the scenes for us to have access to internet. Wi-Fi networking uses radio waves to produce high-speed internet. Once a transmitter receives data from the internet, the data is then converted to a radio signal that is received by Wi-Fi enabled devices. 

Wi-Fi was invented to bridge the digital divide in rural and isolated areas. The main goal that still stands today is to have everyone and everything connected all over the globe. The evolution of this technology ensures easy and convenient communication all the time, but what about its negatives? 

We as humans have become very used to having access to internet all the time, and it seems we may depend on it way too much. We really can’t make it one full day without using the internet, which causes our attention span to decrease as well as our immediate knowledge. 

My hope is that we can find the balance between the use of technology, and that people won’t forget how to look up from their phones and enjoy the beautiful world around us.

Blog #4: The Fountain Pen

The development of the fountain pen didn’t occur until the late 1820s, which meant before this, there were different techniques that were used. Dip pens were once the writing utensils that people most popularly practiced. Because of how much skill went into making one singular pen, they were primarily used by wealthier individuals.

They consisted of a quill that was then dipped into ink to write. Goose feathers or large swan feathers became the material of choice for quill pens which were whittled into the necessary shape. This may have been the primary approach to writing back in the day, but there were many problems with this method.

 
Quills required constant work and skill to make. In fact, the ability to cut a good quill was just as important as the ability to write. Each quill could write for a few pages before needing to be retrimmed, and a good quill would only last about a week. Dip pens also required constant, dipping, which meant inconsistent ink flow as the ink would run out every few words and have to be re-dipped.

Furthermore, these pens also constantly leaked, were prone to ink clogging the pen, and were messy to refill. It made the writing look uneven with dark and light ink on the paper, and it took a very long time for someone to write out everything they wanted to.

 

All of this to say… there were lots of problems with this style of writing, that is, until they discovered how air pressure affects airflow.

Understanding the role of air pressure made the first invention of the fountain pen possible in 1884. For years, individuals produced a variety of patents, but Lewis Waterman was the one who created the first successful patent for the modern pen by using the science of airflow. From there, it started to become manufactured and used worldwide.

 

The fountain pen completely changed our world of writing, as it was an unending flow of ink that needed no interruption. They were invented to create a writing instrument that would provide continuous writing without constantly having to dip the pen in new ink. A continuous writing pen would also allow anyone to write without having to acquire skills in cutting quills.

This invention was the basic foundation for the ballpoint pen we all know and use today. The discovered structure of the barrel of the pen was crucial in understanding how to get a perfect flow of ink.

Many people say this form of writing works to actually improve handwriting as well. There are many elementary schools in countries that actually require students to use a fountain pen today, and through my research, I learned that many individuals will choose to use these pens on their own. It is also popular in today's world to use fountain pens to form calligraphy to create a decorative style of writing.

Ultimately, the invention of the fountain pen was the writing revolution that changed our world of communications and made a significant impact on the way we write today.