Module 13: Reviewing what I learned

              With this assignment I will recall what I have learned throughout the semester.  Probably the biggest thing I have gained has been a new perspective looking at the world.  Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat gave me new eyes to see the modern world.  Usually at the end of the semester I will return all of my school books.  However, I am going to choose to keep this book so I can look back on it at occasion.  Friedman helped me realize how I need to be more successful in today’s world because the world is so flat and interconnected. 

                I enjoyed the computer based movies and short stories we watched and read.  Those gave me new perspectives as to why it is important to be human.  I watched Minority Report and learned why it is important to have a human perspective, and not just computers.  Now, when I watch movies I try to learn from them.

                We read a couple articles in this class.  The article that I really enjoyed was called why the future doesn’t need us by Bill Joy.  Whenever I heard about robots taking over, or about robots taking the places of human beings I felt that it was always intended that the robots would all of the sudden perform a hostile takeover on the humans.  In this article Bill quotes a man that says in if robots or technology do take the place of humans the most likely way that it will happen is that us humans we slowly allow ourselves to drift into a position where we depend on machines to make every decision in our lives.  I thought that was so cool! I printed off the article and am going to keep it.  Perhaps why I like that part of the article the most is because I see it a lot in today’s world.  It is almost impossible to avoid it.  I have gone to google to make many of my decisions, just as many other people have.  It is hard for me to imagine machines rising up one day to take over the world and perform a hostile takeover over the human race.  It is much easier for me to imagine this type of switch of power between the human race and the machines.   

                I really enjoyed the structure of this class.  This was by far my favorite class so far in my college education.  I liked how we read a book and learned how to apply and interpret what we learned.  I like how everything I learned in this class will help in my future as a successful businessman. 

Module 12: Rise of the machines!

         Wow, what a cool article! Bill Joy, who wrote the article about his fears on robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology, speaks about his fears for the future.  Bill starts off the article by talking about how ever since he began to be more involved with technology breakthroughs he has become more and more nervous for the future.  I really liked how he mentions that he really did not have that much fear until he read a little talk from a person he really respected-Ray Kurzweil.  Ray was the inventor of the machine that allows blind people to read.  Why did I think this was a very important part in the story?  Perhaps Bill had just heard rumors of technology advancements so far as intelligent robots, but none of them really stuck with him.  However, now he was hearing these talks about intelligent robots in the near future from someone he respected.  Not only did Bill respect him, but Ray had a solid track record of success.  Ray had proven his worth. 

         Bill accounts an excerpt from Ray’s book The Age of Spiritual Machines where Ray explains outcomes that he foresees in the future.  He assumes that machines take the place of humans because it is better at finding truth than we are.  Two outcomes will occur 1) They will make decisions without the guidance of humans or 2) Humans will be able to maintain power of the machines. 

          With the first outcome Ray explains a concept that I really liked.  He explains that for this to happen humans don’t necessarily need to voluntarily give up power to the machines in an overt way or even that the machines will seize power.  He suggests one of the ways this could happen is that the human race allows itself to drift into such a dependence on machines that every “decision” that a human would make would really be the outcome of a machine.  I think this is really cool because I see it happening today.  We think we have all the power, but I don’t think we have enough power as we think we do.  Hardly anyone that I see each day can put their phone down.  Who is in subjection?  Really cool concept he brings up!  We also rely on machines to make complex decisions for us that seem too complex for us to solve.  This is another way we allow ourselves to drift into a dependence on machines.
                With the second outcome he proposes that if humans can retain power of machines then it will eventually become only in the hands of the elite.  Then depending on the hearts of the elite they will either use the machines to replace the labor that humans provide rendering the human race purposeless and eventually only the elite would survive.  Or perhaps if they have a different heart they would use machines to create the “perfect” society.  But if this was the case life would be pointless and humans would not have things such as work to give them purpose.  Machines would give humans a hobby to keep them busy and they would go on in life, if it could be called that.  Honestly, the second half of the story was a little over my head.

Minority Report-Module 11

Going along with the theme I was asked to do an essay about a computer based movie.  I chose to write about the movie Minority Report.  I loved watching this movie.  It is about a team of “pre-crime” police officers that arrest felons, through a few psychics, who commit murder.  Or better said they arrest them before the crime happens.  These three psychics can basically tell the future and see murders taking place, they then communicate these events to the pre-crime police and they rush to put the pieces together and put an end to the murder before it takes place.  I think this plot is really cool. 

Without a deep look into the movie it could seem like the perfect solution.  No more murders.  And even into the movie everything seems to be going perfect for the main character John Anderton (Tom Cruise) and his team.  However the psychics soon produce a murder that John Anderton commits.  He leaves the team to prove his innocence. 

There is a flaw that I saw with having this kind of computer type justice system.  It is a topic with many people on both sides I’m sure.  The problem I see with it is that with a computer generated justice system it is very hard to say someone is going to do something.  Especially when it is such a drastic choice, such as killing someone.  It is one thing to say that a person will do something when the consequences aren’t high, but when they are, our emotions get in the way.  Emotions that computers do not have.  During the first murder the pre crime team solved the man that was convicted said “but I didn’t do anything”.  Maybe he would have let anger get the best of him and followed through with the murder.  Or perhaps he would have chosen a different path. 

 Maybe it is the difference between a pre-meditated murder and non-pre-meditated one.  If it is pre-meditated then there is a higher likelihood that it will happen.   However even with this it is still hard to know 100% if they will follow through with the act.  It is interesting to note that as the suspected time gets closer and closer to the murder the dream of the psychics comes closer to true.  If the pre-crime police stopped the murder days, weeks, or even months before it happened it would be a different story than if they stopped each act just a few seconds before.  I thought this was a great movie!

 

 

 

 

Module 10: Joe, the early Google

        That was a tough article to read.  I think I understand it, but I end up rambling for the next few paragraphs about something completely different, I won’t be surprised. 
         I found it humorous when the guy punched in the logic ”how do I get rid of my wife” and it responded “is she a blonde or brunette?” “Blonde”, he replied.  Then the logic or Joe answers back about giving her some kind of poison that is green and mixing it into some frozen soup that he could make her when she got home.  “It is improbable that you will be suspected” Joe says.  This, along with other example like “how can I hide the fact that I drink been from my wife” are questions people had that the logic, Joe, could answer.
        The vibe that I got was that as far as the logic went, it really wasn’t too educated, at least compared to today’s logic’s-computers.  I mean, I am no expert on poison but I would think that a type of poison that would kill a blonde woman would kill a brunette one just the same.  And I am sure you would still have a high probability of getting caught either way.
        There was a common theme throughout the story that I was able to find though.  The theme was that when anyone had a question, whether sincere or not, they would turn to the logic and ask it.  The logic would then reply with an answer.  Fast forward to today when you are likely to hear the phrase “I’m not sure, why don’t you Google it?”  It is the same concept.  Whenever someone does not know an answer they can pull out a device and Google the answer.  Questions from health, finance, various hobbies, news, history, disease, and various others are answered daily.  One of the questions a person asked the logic in 1946 when it was just beginning was “how to win the lotto”.  It is funny because when you start to type in the beginning part of that sentence in Google today, it comes up with “how to win the lottery” as the first subject.
        My personal opinion with Google is I think it is a great tool to find out cool information on a variety of subjects.  I use it every day, and I feel my life benefiting from the use of it.  However I feel that you shouldn’t listen entirely to Google to execute life decisions.  Google is a great guide, but it is not the only guide.  For instance, type in Google the phrase “what are healthy foods to eat”.  Most of these will be beneficial, but it still depends on the person who consumes the food.  To put a long story short, you need to weigh in allergies, and probably some other factors that I am not aware of.  All in all I thought it was a really cool story!

 

Module 9: Making of the Dell laptop

       In chapter 16 of this book Thomas describes the process that went into purchasing and building his dell computer that he wrote this book on.  Wow!  I felt like I had to read through the process a couple times just so I could begin to wrap my head around the complexity of the procedure.  I had never thought about contacting a company you purchased a product from and finding out the back story, but this got me interested in trying that for some of the products I will purchase in the future. Dell has many suppliers that they work with who, when an order comes in, they are notified of what specific parts they need to ship out in order to fulfill the customer’s order.  They do this as a sort of back-up.  Just in case there is a supplier that runs into a problem or does not have the product in stock it won’t set back Dells orders as much as other companies.  When one of their suppliers does not have a product in stock they are able to receive it from another supplier.  Friedman write’s down where all of his parts came from on pg. 582. There are too many to write down, but I would recommend looking them over to get a better idea of the concept.  This leads to another question posed which is: Does al-Qaeda have a supply chain?  The answer is yes.  Because of the flat world it makes it easier for terrorist groups to have supply chains.  Although they are not dealing so much with products as they are lives, the skeleton is very similar.  Through the use of the internet and media al-Qaeda was able to recruit individuals of the same mindset to participate in suicidal acts of terror.  Not only could they recruit but they were able to film executions, beheadings, and murders; then post them on the internet for everyone to see.

How computer's have furthered my education

      I have enjoyed reading The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman.  I have gained a new view of how technology has been useful in my everyday life.  Today I am taking a break from reading and giving an overview of this book.  I am going to talk about how computers have been beneficial in my life, and how they have been used in furthering my education.  I am glad that I am talking about this after I have read most of Thomas Friedman’s book.  I feel that if I would have been asked to talk about how computers have been beneficial in my education before I had read this then I think I may have been pretty naïve and ignorant to the ways it has really benefited me.
      First,  I will explore how computers have been useful in educating me throughout my schooling.  Since, probably around the 5^th grade I have been asked to use computers.  Starting with small assignments and eventually growing to taking online classes in college.  I do remember that in elementary and junior high school they were kind of secondary.  We learned mostly through lectures or articles that were printed then gave to us.
      In High School and College, computers started to become more primary for my education.  We were asked to research various assignments online, and then submit them online.  This brought in a new era for me of how education could be.  Instead of receiving assignments, taking them home, completing them, and bringing them back to turn them in.  Now, I could complete assignments anywhere.  Not only that, but I was able to do as good on assignments as my discipline would permit.  If I receive an assignment and I do not understand a concept, I am able to research it and become educated in that subject.  So, in a sense, computers were a means to helping me get better grades.
      Other than benefiting me in school they have been a very good tool in helping me become educated in subjects that are not so openly taught in schools.  It is an incredible thought to think that there is a device that has what seems to be unlimited knowledge about millions of subjects.  I am interested in entrepreneurship, so I have a lot of subjects that I want to explore and learn about.  I can get on the computer and become educated about anything.  Wow, talk about incredible!  Once you understand this it becomes harder to waste your time with degrading activities that don’t get you anywhere.  Knowledge truly is power. It seems today that the most powerful and influential people are those who have the discipline to continue their learning through computers.
  

Module 7. Ch. 10-13 Friedman's The World Is Flat

Why are some countries or regions better at doing things than others?  Well there are a few reasons.  One reason is known as introspection.  We all know that introspection is a tough thing to do.  It is hard to look at ourselves and specifically point out the various ways that we could improve.  In chapter 10 of The World is Flat Friedman points out that this is an important step that separates the mediocre countries from the thriving countries.  He argues that progress is halted if a country is not continually performing introspection on itself.  I agree with him.  I know from personal experience that introspection is tough, and I feel that you need a specific kind of attitude to have it turn out to be a benefit rather than a hindrance.  If you look at successful teams, people, and business you will find that they each perform some kind of introspection and are constantly working to improve their weaknesses.  He lists a few other ways countries can stay ahead.  First, is to have the right infrastructure to connect more of your people with the flat-world platform-cheap internet and mobile phones.  Second is to have the right educational system to get more of your people innovating and collaborating on a flat-world platform.  Third, have the right governance –from fiscal policy to the rule of law to the quality of the bureaucracy-to manage the flow between your people and the flat-world platform in the most productive way possible. (The World Is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman. Pg. 408).

A phrase that many of us hear today is that the customer is king.  This phrase has been proved more correct as the world has become more flattened.  As the world has flattened more and more, the power that the consumer has, has grown immensely.  They are known as self-directed consumers.  Back in the “older days” There were not as many resources open to the consumer at an ease that there is today.  If the consumer was unhappy with their bank for example it was harder for them to switch and move on.  However, today it is a lot easier to switch banks, or to go shopping somewhere else for a product.  Business’ can lose consumers right and left if they are not careful.  Loyal consumers are very valuable, and it is tough to keep them in today’s world because of the many tools that they have to “take their business somewhere else” if they are not happy.  I am a self-directed consumer.  I do understand that mistakes are made and people have bad days, so I may not change as quickly as some, but if it continues, I will take my business somewhere else.  This flattening globalization is not and Americanization as Friedman says, it is open for everyone.  As discussed in previous chapters it is clear that anyone can contribute and share their ideas, their culture, their beliefs, and their stories.  It is clear that the whole world is getting affected by the flattening event.