3/1/2016; Research Questions

Question 1- Do you see space tourism as a profitable endeavor within the next ten years.

Question 2- Do you think the general public is more or less excited about the possibilities of space and space exploration than they were 5-10 years ago?

Question 3- Do you believe we will have the technology to put a man on mars within the next decade?

 

                To me, space and the technology required for us to expand our knowledge of it is a huge area of interest, but going into this assignment I didn’t think it necessarily had the same effect on others. When trying to formulate my questions, I decided that the technology associated with space exploration was a perfect topic that aligned with both the class focus and my interests. I tried to make my questions accessible to everyone, even people who might not have a lot of background knowledge on the subject. To my surprise, I found that the people I asked generally found the topic of my questions quite interesting and had some fairly strong opinions already formed. I think the increase in space interest within recent years, especially due to the upstart of privatized space companies like SpaceX, has had a strong impact on the way the public now views space exploration. Of the three questions I asked, the third one seemed to return the strongest responses, possibly because it is something that each and every one of us would love to see before we die. I think this last question in particular hits close home with a lot of people, because following in the shoes on the first moon landing of the 1960’s, it is most likely a once in a lifetime event that we will be able to tell our kids and grandkids about for decades to come. I think the key to asking good questions is definitely to ask simple, compact questions that draw interest in many people, not just people who know a lot about the subject.

2/18/2016; Unit 1 Reflection

Technology: Triumph or Time-bomb

                Over the years, technology has managed to capture the attention of the masses like few other things have. Our technological ambitions and visions have inspired images such as flying cars, time travel, inter-galactic exploration and more, but behind every fantasy is an equally mesmerizing nightmare. Almost as frequently as we see the great possibilities that future technology can bring, we also see the other face of ever evolving technology: the idea that we really have no idea what lies behind the next corner in our technological progression. Since the spawn of humanity, man has always feared that which he does not know. Whether it consist of monsters beneath the bed or the rise of robots to take over the world, the general concept is the same. Just as the physical mysteries of our own planet once fueled the wild imaginations of man many centuries ago, technology now serves that purpose. The future of technology is the next great unknown, and only time can reveal our true fate.

                Technology has changed us. There is no doubt it. Whether these changes are good, bad, or just plain neutral, only time will tell, but the fact that we now do things in a different way, think in a different way than we once did, cannot be denied. As outlined in Sherry Turkle’s report on society titled “The Flight from Conversation,” we can see that professionals from around America and around the world are coming to the same conclusions: we are no longer the same people we were even 20-30 years ago. In her article, Turkle gives plenty of evidence as to how we have changed, but the most frightening thing to me about the article is not how we have changed over the past few decades, but that we have changed at all. If we have made such dramatic social changes as Turtle suggests in only a few decades, then who knows how we might change as a species over the course of a historically significant time period like two or three centuries. Changing how we go about our day to day business or interact with the world around us may seem like a minor adjustment, but it brings about the idea that in only a few centuries’ time, our behaviors and mannerisms may be completely foreign to the way we live our lives now. In her article, Turkle remarks that in today’s age, “when people are alone, even for a few moments, they fidget and reach for a device” [Turkle 5]. This one simple line is of particular significance to me because it shows me that the technology we have acquired up to this point is not just the tool we believe it to be. Like a drug, our need for a screen in front of our faces literally consumes us and effects the actions we make on a moment to moment basis. The scary part is that this statement is 100 percent accurate. I notice it in myself and everyone around me: the moment I am placed in an awkward or down moment, I find my hand instinctually being pulled toward my pocket and phone as if by some divine intervention. I wouldn’t go far as to say technology has made us bad people, but it has definitely changed us, and there is only so much changing we can go through before a the changes stop being good ones.

                The changes we as people go through in the presence of evolving technology is one topic, but the very direction of such technological evolution is a different discussion entirely. In the academic world of technology studies, there are essentially two competing theories regarding the final outcome of such evolution, and neither is particularly good. One brand of scholar follows the more conventional belief that at some point, possibly in the not so distant future, the vast improvements in computing and artificial intelligence well lead to what is known as a technological singularity, or a day when robots will be intelligent enough to write and improve their own software, essentially leaving the human race at the mercy of a hyper- intelligent robot race. This idea has essentially been circulating for many decades, but the term itself has gained significant relevance since the turn of the last century thanks to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence research and the influence of writer/technology guru Ray Kurzweil, who controversially predicted such an event in his 2005 book “The Singularity is Near.”

                In the other corner of the ring there is another branch of academia that believes our human greed and tendency to develop only what makes our lives easier will lead us not to a technological singularity, but to a sofalarity. In this hypothesis, a world much like that seen in Pixar’s Wall-e is the proposed future of mankind; a future “defined not by an evolution toward superintelligence but by the absence of discomforts” [Wu, Tim]. This type of world may seem desirable, but once all discomforts in life have been dissipated, what motivation will mankind have left to push forward? What individuality will remain when everybody’s needs are catered without them ever leaving a chair?

               The future of mankind and technology may seem as daunting as it does inspiring, but for now, only time will tell what the true future of technology will look like. As Tim Wu wrote in The New Yorker magazine, "nowadays," he says, "it is not the biological chisel but the technological chainsaw that is most quickly redefining what it means to be human" [Tim Wu]. In essence, the natural selection that lead humanity to where we are today is no longer a considerable factor. The impact of ever evolving technology on man is far and away more significant to the future of mankind than any biological process. From this point forward, we are the only ones in charge of our own destiny, and that's a gig responsibility.

              

2/18/2016; Final Unit 1 Critical Sumarry Portfolio

Critical Summary 1- "The Flight from Conversation"

Flashpoint- “We are tempted to think that our little ‘sips’ of online connection add up to a big gulp pf real conversation. But they don’t. […] They do not substitute for real conversation.”

                In her article, “The Flight from Conversation,” MIT professor Sherry Turkle breaks down and analyzes our societal transition from face-to-face conversation as a means of communication, to communication through snips of dialogue we accumulate throughout the day through means such as email, text, and social media. Throughout the early parts of the article, Turkle tends to stick to more of an observatory approach; simply reporting on what she has seen in her everyday life, and how the communication progression has looked through her eyes. Later on in the article, however, Turkle changes her approach to actually analyze this progression on what it says about society as a whole, and even gives some advice on how we can overcome this social “issue.” To me, as seen in my flashpoint quotation above, Turtle seem like she is trying to dive the point home that, contrary to popular belief, the rise of abbreviated communication methods such as email and social media is not increasing our interpersonal connection, but actually driving us apart and leading us to become more isolated from the people around us. As a MIT professor of the social studies of science and technology, Turkle is more qualified than anyone to dig out the underlying effects of our social evolution within the last few decades to one that revolves around not the people around us, but the screen in front of us. Over the years, our advancement to a technology-dependent society has been obvious and unavoidable, but what hasn’t always been so obvious is what this really means. For this reason, the value of this article, to me, comes not from the societal observations it possesses, but the analysis it proposes. As relatively innocent as social media and the like may seem, it is hard to ignore the disastrous effects that show up during the last half of this article. There is no stopping the ever increasing landslide of technology that lines store shelves year after year, but buyer be weary, with every new version of IPhone that comes out, our society will continue to progress down a path that cannot be reversed.

 

Turkle, Sherry. "The Flight From Conversation." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Apr. 2012.               Web. 24 Jan. 2016.

Critical Summary 2: "As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse?"

Flashpoint- “Will technological evolution take us in desirable directions, as we usually assume biological evolution does?”

           In the article, “As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse?” Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu writes of an all too likely scenario in which our technological ambitions lead us into a life of complacency and ease which could very well spell the end of human civilization. Within the article, Wu contrasts greatly the difference between technological evolution, where we are propelled forward based on what we want, and natural biological evolution in which favorable genes evolved based on what we needed to survive. He says that while biological evolution is still at work, and always will be, the technological variety actually has a much larger impact on the future of the human race because of the rapid pace at which it is evolving. For the sake of his argument, Wu uses the example of the Oji-Cree people, an isolated Canadian tribe that, until recently, still lived according to the ancient traditions of their ancestors. Wu notes how over the past 70 years, a rapid increase in their access to technology and other modern accommodations have transformed this tribe from one of the most physically and mentally healthy cultures in the world, to one of the least. Because of a rapid decrease in required exercise and self-dependence, drug and alcohol addiction now runs rampant amongst these people, and nearly half of the population now suffers from type one diabetes.

            The most important thing I took out of Wu’s article is that there are many very well educated people who believe the current path of technological development will not lead us to the future we imagine, but to “a future defined not by an evolution toward superintelligence but by the absence of discomforts.” In a market economy, the technological path of our society is defined by what we as consumers are willing to buy, and as long as we continue to seek out technology that is only designed to make our lives easier and more comfortable, we will continue down the path to hopelessness.

 

Wu, Tim. "As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse? - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p.,              06 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

Critical Summary 3- Clip from Wall-e

Flashpoint- Scene from 1:00-1:03; when the fat man falls off of his chair and is helpless to do anything about it.

           During this snippet from the well-known film, Wall-e, we are exposed to future much different than the one represented in films like Star Wars, but just as likely. Coupled with my second source, taken from the New Yorker magazine, one can see that if we continue down our current technological path, we could “approach not a singularity but a sofalarity,” or a state lacking any discomforts; as opposed to a state defined by its hyper-intelligence and unimaginable wealth of knowledge. One may wonder what’s wrong with a future where any of our craziest discomforts are magically taken care of, but does this movie clip look like a future we should aspire to? As we continue to become more and more dependent on the technology industry year after year, we are not only asking them to make our lives easier, we are relying on them to point the direction of our evolutionary progression. This clip from Wall-e shows one possibility for the future of mankind, but is it really all that different from how we already are? Over the past half century as technology has become a larger and larger part of our everyday lives, the obesity rate here in America, and around the world, has run rampant. Over this time period, the number of daily steps taken by the average American has declined severely, while daily calorie consumption has increased by as much as 20 percent over the same time period, according to livestrong.com. One step into any large superstore and the dystopian future we see in Wall-e doesn’t look quite so abstract after all; the film characters are, after all, strikingly similar to the stereotype American as seen by many foreigners: morbidly obese men and women riding around on motor scooters drinking big gulps and eating mass produced junk food. Only time will tell what the true technological future of mankind will look like, but if humanity continues to progress down the same path it is currently traveling, it’s hard to ignore this scene as a possible future scenario.

"Human Dystopia." YouTube. YouTube, 30 Aug. 2011. Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1BQPV-iCkU

Critical Summary 4- "The Technological Singularity and Merging with Machines"

http://bigthink.com/dr-kakus-universe/the-technological-singularity-and-merging-with-machines

2/9/2016; Criticlal Summary Portfolio

Critical Summary 1- The Flight From Conversation

Flashpoint- “We are tempted to think that our little ‘sips’ of online connection add up to a big gulp pf real conversation. But they don’t. […] They do not substitute for real conversation.”

                In her article, “The Flight from Conversation,” MIT professor Sherry Turkle breaks down and analyzes our societal transition from face-to-face conversation as a means of communication, to snips of dialogue we accumulate throughout the day through means such as email, text, and social media. Throughout the early parts of the article, Turkle tends to stick to more of an observatory approach; simply reporting on what she has seen in her everyday life, and how the communication progression has looked through her eyes. Later on in the article, however, Turkle changes her approach to actually analyze this progression on what it says about society as a whole, and even gives some advice on how we can overcome this social “issue.” To me, as seen in my flashpoint quotation above, Turtle seem like she is trying to dive the point home that, contrary to popular belief, the rise of abbreviated communication methods such as email and social media is not increasing our interpersonal connection, but actually driving us apart and leading us become more isolated from the people around us. As a MIT professor of the social studies of science and technology, Turkle is more qualified than anyone to dig out the underlying effects of our social evolution within the last few decades to one that revolves around not the people around us, but the screen in front of us. Over the years, our advancement to a technology-dependent society has been obvious and unavoidable, but what hasn’t always been so obvious is what this really means. For this reason, the value of this article, to me, comes not from the societal observations it possesses, but the analysis it proposes. As relatively innocent as social media and the like may seem, it is hard to ignore the disastrous effects that show up during the last half of this article. There is no stopping the ever increasing landslide of technology that lines store shelves year after year, but buyer be weary, with every new version of IPhone that comes out, our society will continue to progress down a path that cannot be reversed.

Turkle, Sherry. "The Flight From Conversation." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Apr. 2012.               Web. 24 Jan. 2016.






Critical Summary 2- Where Will Technological Evolution Take Us?


Flashpoint- “Will technological evolution take us in desirable directions, as we usually assume biological
evolution does?”

                In the article, “As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse?” Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu writes of an all too likely scenario in which our technological ambitions lead us into a life of complacency and ease which could very well spell the end of human civilization. Within the article, Wu contrasts greatly the difference between technological evolution, where we are propelled forward based on what we want, and natural biological evolution in which favorable genes evolved based on what we needed to survive. He says that while biological evolution is still at work, and always will be, the technological variety actually has a much larger impact on the future of the human race because of the rapid pace at which it is evolving. For the sake of his argument, Wu uses the example of the Oji-Cree people, an isolated Canadian tribe that, until recently, still lived according to the ancient traditions of their ancestors. Wu notes how over the past 70 years, a rapid increase in technology and other modern accommodations have transformed this tribe from one of the most physically and mentally healthy cultures in the world, to one of the least. Because of a rapid decrease in required exercise and self-dependence, drug and alcohol addiction now runs rampant amongst these people, and nearly half of the population now suffers from type one diabetes.

                The most important thing I took out of Wu’s article is that there are many very well educated people who believe the current path of technological development will not lead us to the future we imagine, but to “a future defined not by an evolution toward superintelligence but by the absence of discomforts.” In a market economy, the technological path of our age is defined by what we as consumers are willing to buy, and as long as we continue to seek out technology that is only designed to make our lives easier and more comfortable, we will continue down the path to hopelessness.

Wu, Tim. "As Technology Gets Better, Will Society Get Worse? - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p.,              06 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.

2/4/2016; Why Super Bowl 50 will be Peyton Mannings final game

On ESPN’s sportsnation poll, America was asked whether or not they believe Peyton Manning will retire following this Sundays Super Bowl. At the ripe old quarterback age of 38, Manning has already secured his legacy as one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time, but as we have seen in the past, the fame and glory that comes along with the position can sometimes make it difficult to hang up the cleats. With nearly four thousand votes cast throughout the 50 states, a whopping 88% of those believe this will in fact be Manning’s last game in the NFL. This overwhelming majority opinion comes in the wake of Manning’s post AFC-Championship comment to long-time opponent Bill Belichick, where he told the accomplished coach that “this might be my last rodeo.” During this week’s Super Bowl media coverage, Manning has refuted these comments to some degree, saying that he still hasn’t made a decision yet, but the jury is still out. Personally, I believe this will be Manning’s last season whether he wins or loses. Many great professional athletes go their entire careers without playing in a championship game, and to be able to go out with a Super Bowl appearance in the final game of his career would only add to his legacy. I think the reason so many people believe this will be Manning’s final season is because, despite a run through the playoffs, Manning looked old and rusty many times throughout the season, and has battled several nagging injuries over the course of the past couple seasons. Whenever Manning does ultimately decide to retire, the NFL will miss this legend and future Hall of Famer for both his on and off field professionalism.




http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/polls