Pornography

Pornography is an extremely interesting topic. From my perspective, it is creating a moral chasm in America. There is a growing population of those who view and therefore support it, and a growing movement of those who object it. It is impossible to have one foot on each side, and will likely soon be impossible to stand in the middle. Many object to pornography in their own homes, but do little to slow its spreading elsewhere. I believe this passive objection to pornography will not stand against the terrible epidemic. Phones in our pockets, computers in our backpacks, and tv's in our rooms make it more accessible than any drug ever. It is a pending disaster. If there is any serious intention of minimizing pornography's tragic influence, we must actively pursue a different course in society. The website fightthenewdrug.org has a mission to, "drop knowledge on the harmful effects of porn." It is a prime example of what I believe America desperately needs. A proactive effort to promote love, humanity, and community is perhaps our only shot against pornography.

Vlog: Technology, the Environment, and Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall: Technology can help save environment

The World Without Technology

Technology is more than an object with electricity. It has been around since man was found upon the earth. Kevin Kelly, of Wired Magazine, defines technology as, "anything useful that a human mind has made" (Technology's epic story). Thus tools, weapons, and clothes are technology. He asserts fire to be the key technology that enabled humans to rise to dominance on earth. He argues the modern PC chip to be nearly as powerful. I agree emphatically. No species ever has been able to perpetuate knowledge, connect socially, and have access to near-infinite amounts of data the way we do. Furthermore, I believe we are still in modern technology's infancy. As its exponential progress continues, its power will astound us. We have already seen modern technology's application for both good and evil in society. I predict the spectrum of future innovations to grow only wider. The pornography, video game, and general media addictions will become worse, while uses in education, social connectivity, and the dissemination of knowledge will bless humanity immensely.

The Innovator's Dilemma: When new technologies cause great firms to fail

I want to solve social problems using technology. Poverty, disease, and lack of education are problems that have remained rather unfazed despite the technological revolution. I understand my ignorance in supposing some technological invention will magically rid the world of these trials. Yet I dream big and I am optimistic of future days. I am very interested in entrepreneurship and innovation in a computer science context. Clayton Christensen discusses many tools for effective innovation in, "The Innovator's Dilemma: When new technologies cause great firms to fail." He argues that technology is changing traditional business models. What were thought to be wise management choices in the past now lead to a company's demise. Companies have to be quick to pivot and adapt to ever-changing technology. They must listen to customers, but also know, "when it is right not to listen to customers," according to Christensen. Innovation is change. And because the world is changing, even the way we change is changing. Anticipating and making correct decisions based on this change will lead to more effective innovation. In my case, I hope this will lead to more effectively finding solutions to problems in society. My vision is to apply technology in out-of-the-box, unconventional ways to help people. Who knows, maybe technology can help alleviate poverty, eradicate disease, or educate the uneducated. Using tools learned from, "The Innovator's Dilemma: When new technologies cause great firms to fail," I will strive to see it happen.

Technology is Humanizing

Amber Chance says that in using technology "we're just increasing our human-ness and our ability to connect with one another" (We are all cyborgs now). This is hard for me. My natural disposition is to reject technology because I feel it distracts us from reality. However, Amber Chance's TED talk "We are all cyborgs now" may have found a crack in the wall I have built against technology. Maybe technology is actually the embodiment of our humanity. We have constructed it to digitally replicate our existence. Inside devices we have stored our thoughts (in notes and journals), our words (in texts and emails), and our actions (in photos and videos documenting our activities). It is the means we use to record our personal world and communicate it to others. It is different than any mode in the history of the world. Turns out technology has power to help increase our capacity to create relationships, retain memories, and develop self. The user dictates if this power will be used effectively or not. Like nearly all things, technology is what we make it.

I am a CYBORG

I am a cyborg. This means I add components to adapt to my environment. For many of us current cyborgs, this means adding technology. Devices. We have adapted to our environment by stuffing our bags and pockets with devices. I have long since hated these devices. I find it saddening to pass people on campus wearing headphones drowning out the humans around them. It's disturbing to find myself at church surrounded by people farming on facebook, scrabble-ing with friends, or mastering whatever new version/modification of tetris. And I am shocked to hear stories of parents who neglect to tend to their children and instead quiet them with an iPad or computer game. Technology is taking the human out of us. An article at casacolumbia.org states that 1 in 7 people is infected with technological addiction. Humans are losing their jobs, corrupting their marriages, and letting their lives decay. I need to remind myself sometimes what is to gain? I do firmly believe lives can and are being improved by some implementations of technology. But will somebody please show me how? casacolumbia.org

Maybe we are just big data

Humans are diverse, complicated, and often un-calculated. Computers are our antithesis. Yet we unceasingly try to meld our worlds into one. Susan Etlinger in her TED talk "What do we do with all this big data?" argues an interesting point. She claims as we have more statistical and numerical representation of reality we are not getting closer to the truth. We don't know why people stop smoking, or what causes actually causes cancer, or what in our genes makes us behave differently. We quantify things, but don't know how to critically think about them yet. I believe technology can be harnessed to unveil problems and build solutions, but the human element is still critical. Etlinger argues this same point by emphasizing the necessity to critically think about our big data. The data is only numbers until we make it something more, but if we make it the wrong "more", it is useless just the same.
What do we do with all this big data?