Technology (Final Post)

    I do not think technology is healthy. Back in the day there were a lot more physically and mentally healthy people. I think it 100% makes life easier but we do not need it to survive. I believe we were doing just fine beforehand. Although I know nothing will change going backwards, the things that do need to change is how we use technology in the future. Cyberbullying, hacking, and porn are three huge problem in the world today. You could probable pin point others or rearrange them, but in general that's what we deal with. People steal information, hurt people and expose people, all things that can be and should be prevented over time. I think that these are some of the worst things possible and technology is the factor, as well as all the new technology coming out. I believe focusing on safety and privacy should be the focus, not seeing how many people can see how well your doing. 

    I do not see technology as taking up time in my life, I say that most of my life revolves around technology. I would consider it more of a tool than it is to be a getaway. Yes people use it to escape reality, but in reality it is a tool that can be used in a lot of different ways to get what we want from ourselves or others. Technology is everywhere and it helps people with everything. The problem is, how open it is and how people can be impacted bad or good. Mentally technology puts a toll on everyone. From work, to school, to politics, technology is the focal point for a lot of things going on in the world right now. When it comes to social media, it is 100% taking up too much time of everyone's lives and it has definitely put long lasting effects on people.  

    Technology is the center of misleading information, one thing I grew up thinking was, "don't believe anything you see on the news." I knew that obviously there were some things I could trust. All in all everyone is trying to get you to think a different way, instead of thinking for yourself. I find that technology is how we get smarter as a race, although it is making us equally incompetent and dumb. As our technology gets smarter and easier to use, and things get easier in our lives. How do you think we will be impacted by easier lives? I guarantee we won't be walking around creating any billion dollar companies anymore. When it comes to what information you gain from technology, it is solely based on where you look and what you are looking at. Some things can't be understood online, they have to be seen in person. While other things can be said online and are well easy to believe. 

    Everyone should be worried about what technology will turn into in the future. We create and create until there is nothing to create anymore. When things like this happen, we tend to make things to good for their own good. AI, automobiles, cellphones etc. All things that keep getting better and better, but are they really? We say electric cars are good for the environment, yet there are factories all over the world doing worse things to create these lithium batteries than it is to burn fossil fuels. Quick alternatives also lead to long lasting bad outcomes. I worry about a lot of things that go on in the world, I think the rest of the world should be worried as well. It is accepted and is widely accepted, that's the problem.  

EOTO Peer Presentation #2

     As a class I thought a lot of individual presentations were more interesting than the whole group. Although I think the first group had the most interesting as well as informing presentations as a whole. I think the propaganda and the disinformation ones were well put together and most importantly I think they are vital to society and how we go upon each and every day. 

    Whether that is false information or the government telling us one thing even though another is actually happening. There is usually a reason, it may not always be a good one or one that we agree with. When it comes to the project as a whole, I think that they went into depth very well and I believe that it was the most question raising presentation. I definitely found myself more engaged with this presentation than the others. 

    If we are talking specifically, I think that being aware, misinformation and disinformation, as well as propaganda all go together and create an aspect of people are out to get us, or the government is out to get us. When that is not the case. There will always be people trying to gain information for their own well-being, as well as people who want to keep everyone safe in the long-run. Sometimes there is a fine line about that and the people who should cross it. 

    When it comes to being aware, I think it is necessary to know all the facts before jumping to conclusions. When it comes to the government, you never really know what is the truth. You have to do your own research and find out the best options for you. Not everyone is going to tell you the right thing or the best thing for you. That is for you to decide and that is where being aware comes in. That also ties into things like propaganda and disinformation, because everyone is trying to get you to think a certain way for a certain reason. It is again your decision to make up your mind for yourself. Do not look at things one way, but look at them from all different points of view.

Artificial Intelligence

     A.I. is going to change the world, it already has. Every step people take further and further in technology, it is a step closer to a world that's easier, but that may cause some problems.

   

Already A.I. has taken a huge toll. In the future it will be at every corner of every company to make them more efficient. To be more efficient, you need to eliminate the variables that cause hardship, in this case it's us, humans.

    There are things that A.I. has made a bad impact on as well, like equality in the workplace and how the economic benefits are distributed. The wealthy get wealthier and the poor get more poor and A.I. is going to make that gap very vast. This is one of the long time cons of A.I. In the same category of cons of A.I. it is one of those things that will continue to grow and grow until it is uncontrollably powerful, just like how militaries are and oil companies. They use their tools to get richer and more powerful while pushing everyone away to get there.

    One thing I thought was interesting was the quote, "we thought we were using the internet, but did not know the internet was using us." This being said, they also talk about all the data that comes off people. Every action we do and the decisions we make create data that the internet, apps and companies use to make the world more fitted towards each individual. 

    Privacy and national security are all in our heads. Everything we do and everything other countries do is well-known by the government. The government takes tabs on every person and what they do. No matter who you are and what you may symbolize. There are huge pros and cons, being you don't know who has what information and if it may get into the wrong hands. When it comes to national security, it is very interesting. If you think the government has a huge amount of information on you? Then you could only imagine the things they keep tabs on all over the world. They say it is for our safety but in reality it is for their own. 

    I think that there should be regulations about how much information and data is gathered. Although tech keeps on building and evolving for the good, it may not always stay good. Over time there will be more cons and more problems with technology. It is definitely scary the companies we trust and put faith into are constantly gathering info and selling it. It is also scary the sheer amount of information that is being gathered and consumed by companies and people who make money off of our decisions. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ_lvDgevk

https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence

Citizen Journalism

    Citizen Journalism is considered to be any individual who reports and informs the general public without being called a professional. People who report, document and share news through digital and paper outlets. This has a lot of benefits within the world of journalism and news. 

    They give unbiased opinions towards the events or circumstances. It also helps communities report incidents that usually go under-reported. In the long run this helps communities' hold individuals accountable for the things going on or the things not being changed.

    In some countries where the government controls parts of the media, apps and websites like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter became huge in countries where there were not a lot of news being spread. First hand account videos and pictures are very important when it comes to wars and crisis' happening on the other side of the world. One example would be Ukraine and most of the wars in the middle east. Without first hand information from these accounts, we would not truly know the things going on. 

    Citizen Journalism over the years has been one of the main defenses against propaganda and false information being spread. There are always pros and cons, it depends on if you are benefiting or being hurt by the unbiased opinions and stories being shared. I feel like this would be more of a tool for the poor or the minorities or anyone who is a victim. Where they can use their information and story to inform others and find solutions and ways to fix the problems. 

    With the blog post that I am currently doing right now, it is a kind of Citizen Journalism. Sharing information that I have learned and giving my opinions on the things I learn about. That is what it is all about. I think most people find themselves doing some sort of this. Whether that is posting an opinion online or writing something, most of what we do can be considered Citizen Journalism so I think it affects me daily. As well as my family and friends in this day and age.

In the 1920s there was discussion between Walter Lippman and American philosopher John Dewey where they debated the role of journalism in democracy. 

    Also they talked about the extent the public should participate in the news gathering and collection process. This also came up as a topic again in the 1990s. Where people started taking advantage of the low-cost social computing devices and technology with no ties to any company or organization. Scholars have sense discovered that the quality and content of Citizen Journalism has been very well made and portrayed. 

    I believe that there are a lot of important sections in the Mediasphere, but Citizen Journalism may be the most important if not top 3. Over the years it has risen and created all different kinds of solutions and ways people can inform the community and general public. Without this I think that we as Americans would have our rights violated. So with that I do believe that this is apart of everybody's life pretty much every day. Most of the time we have something to say, in class, online or maybe you wrote it down in and sent it out. 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/citizen-journalism

https://nieman.harvard.edu/articles/citizen-journalism-and-the-bbc/

https://reporter.rit.edu/features/citizen-journalism-whats-deal

Online Privacy

    In the first video it talked about things like electronic tattoos. Pictures of your face, pictures of you with people and anything on the internet. It will always be there, he says something interesting like, "maybe we are that closer to immortality." I think this should resonate with everyone. Specifically because we as people usually post things online or are included in pictures or activities online. As well as cameras all over taking pictures and videos of us as well. this is very important nowadays, because we are always being watched no matter what we do. We are no longer private citizens with all the technology being put out to watch and record what we do and how we do it.

    The government is one of the biggest supporters of surveillance and watching people. I think that changes need to be with made with them and that is the issue. Although, if they were doing their job correctly they would crack down on the usage of these websites, apps and footage and prevent them from being leaked all over the world. Also prevent the private companies from gaining all these peoples valuable information. 

    I believe laws should be put in place to make sure that there are no extra or unneeded footage of people. If their is any information that is not absolutely necessary to a website, app or the law enforcement, it should be destroyed to prevent people from gaining that information. It should also be destroyed incase other countries gain this information and use it against us. I think there are already cases of this happening and apps that were created on the app store. I also believe the least social media and the least things you accept online will genuinely help you. It will prevent companies from gaining unnecessary information and selling it to other companies. I think steps just need to be put in place to make sure everyone is more safe. Over time and over the years the websites and companies gaining money off information have only grown stronger and developed new ways to do so. 

Diffusion Theory Innovation

     The innovation that I believe really had an early impact on people through technology was YouTube. I remember as a kid I would always use YouTube to figure out solutions to problems, watch new things that came out, or watch influencers (Although that term wasn't used at the time). It definitely made an impact on my education, family and friends growing up. I remember having teachers use it to show the class lessons, my friends would use it to watch funny videos and we would talk about them in school. 

I think the earliest adopters of YouTube were little content creators and people posting compilations of videos of sports and other things of that nature. I also used to see a lot of people using the platform to play video games. They would post hours of gameplay of them talking and playing with friends. Overtime people starting streaming on YouTube. 

People loved and still love YouTube, it is easy to use and has a lot of useful information. I still constantly use it for entertainment and for information on things. I would believe that people adopted it slowly overtime, because most of what people wanted to watch, would be needed quickly and easily. YouTube provided that. I don't think there was a lot of hate for YouTube other than they did not pay very well. If anything I think that early adopters decided that they could make something better and eventually branched out to their own things like YouTube. Being Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, etc. 

    This is definitely another one of those websites where they track what you watch, and then show ads for similar things on your feed in the future. I do think that this is one of the most useful tools or the one I use the most. I think that YouTube has done a lot more good than bad. I do not find them making any situations where consequences were needed. They often have a strict reviewing process and most inappropriate videos get taken down pretty rapidly. 

    In this case I believe the positive definitely outweighs the negative, and the cost over time may be worse, but in real time I believe it is very useful. 

https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories4.html

American Government & War

    I find it very interesting that these websites have been held from us. Being shown these couple websites has definitely made me wonder what else is being kept from the general public.

    For the Antiwar.com it is very noticeable that there are links to other sources that are probably not well known sites, but they have a lot of information on the wars going on at the moment, as well as the wars that have gone on in the past. It explains all the news going on that is not really portrayed and it tells us about a lot of different countries, not just the problems going on in the United States, but all over the world. It also gives insight on how other people in the world see war and see the U.S. Diving into the Antiwar website it was very interesting seeing all the different things that are currently going on. I had no idea that countries in the middle east were constantly going at it with weapons, money and anything they can do to get the advantage. The thing that I was most intrigued to read about was the point of view of people who consider the Ukraine war to be a giant arms race. People on both sides making money on the same thing, so why would they stop the war? It feels like a lot of the points that were made were about how some countries profit and others crumble and how everything is done for power or advantage over others. 

    The constant wars going on in the world is something that we should know about and be apart of. Hiding it from the general public like the government does is not what we need. Some people might be mad or some people may not like the outcomes, but that is life and we are a lot better off nowadays than when the World Wars were going on in the 1900s. 

    The research I gathered from The American Conservative was that most of the writers were not well known, but their work was extremely well written and ties a lot of the things that the government keeps from us, and puts them all together for us to understand what is really going on behind the scenes of American politics. The interesting thing about this website, besides from the little knowledge I had beforehand, it seemed like there were arguments for both sides. It was very well explained and allowed the reader to make their own decision based on what they thought. 

https://www.antiwar.com/

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/

https://www.usa.gov/about-the-us

Peer Presentation

    I think that over time Motion Picture has became one of the most important things to people. Not always for the best reasons, but everyone wants to be like the people we see in movies.

Going hand and hand with my television presentation, my peer did their presentation on the History of the first Motion picture which I believe had a very big impact on life. 

The first motion picture was a mid-19th century design and it was a very new thing to a lot of people. They originally started photographing war time pictures and the things they documented began to coincide with what people wanted to see at home. They began making techniques and new inventions to view pictures in rapid movements to see moving picture. 

There were different examples all over the world of different experts making their own motion picture with multiple pictures moving fast. Leland Stanford and Eadweard Muybridge were one of the first. They ended up showcasing the photographs the following year in San Francisco. In Paris, Etienne-Jules Marey experimented with 12 pictures to create a moving object. 

    In 1933 The Crooked Circle was the first film to be broadcast on Television. This happened March 10th in Los Angeles. If you go back in time to how much motion picture has changed, how shows and movies have impacted us and the way we think about things. You understand that most of what we do is influenced by actors, celebrities and people that we have never met. After the creation of the television broadcasting and giving people shows or stories to think about or base their life upon became so big, this allowed so many people to make money and caused a lot of us to change our lives because of these inventions and what they show us.

History of Supreme Court

     I learned that in many cases lower courts may not have gotten the right ruling or someone just does not like the ruling, therefore it has to be sent to the Supreme Court to go through and decide if it will go to a higher court or if the ruling was correct to begin with. I did not know that there were stages to the process or cases getting through lower courts all the way until the Supreme Court. Obviously, I know that there had to be some type of procedure, I did not know that most of the time the cases are read all the way through and genuinely checked out before giving a decision on if it should be sent up or kept the way it is. 

    The supreme court balances power of the states, congress and the President, telling them what they can and can not do. I feel like without this the government and the country would have fallen apart a long time ago. I think the balancing of powers by the Supreme Court is single handedly the most important thing. Yes, they take the most important matters into their own hands, but the biggest most important issues fall right into the laps of the Supreme Courts Justices. Without this basic balance then one section of government will find ways to gain more power and overcome the restrictions that are being held upon them. 

    One of the most surprising things I heard was the sheer amount of cases that are sent to the Supreme Court. I know that they are very powerful and one of the most powerful courts in the world. I assumed that they would have less cases and more time to go over them and get the exact response to each and every one. Although by doing so they would weave out the cases that should not be brought to court and that should not be wasting time of the most powerful court in the world. I also found it surprising that most of the cases sent to the Supreme Court are about how lower courts may have gotten the ruling wrong, and that not a lot of those cases ever even see the Justices. I also did not know how many people were working hand in hand with the Justices to make sure everything goes as plan and they follow the right procedures as well as just helping out in general. 

    The video definitely made me feel like there was something that I could put my faith into. In hopes that someone and somebody is always doing the right thing to keep everyone else in the country safe. It was abundantly clear that the Justices had their own work and wanted to get it done to the best of their ability, no matter what it was. Although there were also things in the video's that made me feel uneasy. Like if a President was to appoint a Justice, then the Justice is available to serve the court way after the President has left office. Making it kind of seem like there will always be a bit of that President still in office. I feel a sense of understanding and hope for the Supreme Court all in all.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/historyandtraditions.aspx

https://www.history.com/news/supreme-court-justices-number-constitution

https://www.britannica.com/story/why-are-there-nine-justices-on-the-us-supreme-court

The Television

The Television was created by a series of inventors and engineers who were initially doing other experiments, but ended up finding new waves, frequencies and sequences varying on type of metals and types of radiation being exposed at the time. Joseph May realized in in 1872 that selenium wire was very prone to sending different electrical conducts than other metals at the time period. In 1880 a French engineer, by the name of Maurice Leblanc, published an article in which formed the basis for television.

    It was proposed that a scanning mechanism take the place as an active retina. In short terms, it means that there will be light bouncing back and forth to create and image portrayed on a screen. In which it transmits signals and other things through wires and into a screen to the audience. Although LeBlanc was never able to make his own working mechanism, soon after a German engineer took his basic models and ideas and created his own scanning disk. In which one revolution of the disk would consist of a full picture.

Britannica.com

    Tv is constantly giving out information and news to the general public. We always know what is going on and usually in a timely manner. Television makes news and gaining information a lot easier but also allows there to be other mass broadcasting, such as TV shows, award shows, and movies. They are always on and being broadcasted to a series of people. After creating the television, from around the 1940s to 2000s, commercial television was a huge aspect. It changed the way people thought about things going on in the country, whether that was race, gender, pay, and class. It played a crucial role in shaping campaigns and increased American materialism overall. Besides from all these ways people have made money off of TV, there was also a huge boom in how people all over the world were treated. The American culture took off and people all over wanted to come to the U.S. even more. It allowed countries to be more in tune with their sports, things like the Olympics were huge. Also TV commercials, such as ads and other paid partnerships were becoming a massive thing in culture. It allowed people to see new products as soon as they came out as well as see things that they may need or make their life easier overall. 

    The biggest side effect of TV and broadcasting things to mass amounts of people were the actual people being picked and used in these films and other broadcasts. In the early days of television, the people airing on TV were predominantly white or Caucasian. The few minorities that were portrayed on TV were seen as stereotypes and usually generalized negatively. That being said it wasn't until later on towards the 2000s where minorities were dominating different aspects of TV and music and other things that were being used to portray information. Whether that was sports, news, communication and life in general. Things took a turn for the better and although life is not perfect there are always steps being taken in the right direction. 

https://www.history.com/news/who-invented-television

https://stephens.hosting.nyu.edu/History%20of%20Television%20page.html

Values of Free Expression

    Freedom of Speech and other freedoms of expression were big topics when creating the constitution. If they were not important then there would be no reason to include them and push for their rights. Although, they are important and lay down the basic points of the constitution.  

    I resonate with the 8th expression the most. While most of the expressions I can resonate with. I feel like protect dissent might be the most important to me and all people. For the most part, I think that being able to freely disagree with the government and the suspicious rules and regulations being passed and taken down is my most important. Expressions 4 and 5 are also very important for many reasons. #5, Check on Governmental Power or checks and balances are what keeps the government in line. Without checks and balances the government would surely fall and crumble, starting with one section of the government gaining too much power and then creating a system in which they control all the power. The leveraging of the branches of government has been used forever making sure not one side gains too much power and or pushes a law that would do the same.

    For expression #4, Individual Self-Fulfillment it speaks upon free speech and how every individual has their own life and can use freedom of speech to express themselves and who they want to be. This is definitely my most personal expression. I feel like everyone has something they want to say or someone that they want to be. The expression that allows us to be ourselves is 100% important and for someone that feels like they have a lot of creative ideas, it makes it a lot easier to be able to talk about them and have people see from a different point of view. Without this big factor, we would find ourselves all being the same, not being able to express anything. We would all search for the same goals and not aspire to be different. 

    

This brings me into #6. Promote Tolerance. It mentioned how the freedom of speech also allows there to be upsetting or intolerable expressions which allow us to grow. Without the intolerable we wouldn't learn how to be tolerable. It may seem counter-intuitive but it teaches us to be a more tolerable society. This is the most used expression in society I believe. There is always something going on where another person doesn't like what they are saying. Learning to grow up and disregard the not important things is very important. In the world right now there will always be something someone doesn't like being said. Growing from these intolerable expressions makes everyone grow as a community and a country. Without going down there is no way to go up. I think that these four expressions are the most important. Without a doubt every expression has it's own important distinction on why it could or may be more important than what I gathered. Although I feel like these are for the people. They resonate with me the most because I can see these being integrated in my life over time. Nowadays with technology and a computer in your pocket it is a lot more difficult to go unnoticed and or not make a name for yourself if you speak up. 

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment

https://www.hoover.org/research/free-speech-1