Module 13

            I really did enjoy this class, more than I thought I would. I felt like everything really worked well together. The World is flat, was really good and did a good job describing about how the world has changed and, really opens your eyes to what is going on in the world. Of course we had to have some science fiction in for good measure. To show what the potential for the future is. Just look at that article the intelligences, the things that they thought were science fiction are now real every day thing. It is interesting to think about, if we could talk to someone from 80 years ago I wonder if they would say that we had crossed a line that they thought should never be crossed. When technology keeps advancing, you have to wonder what if have crossed the line only we don’t realize it because of how steady and slowly we approached it, that we as society keep pushing that line as to what is okay to create or not.

            As far as anything that could have been better, I don’t think anything. The work load wasn’t overbearing or anything. The assignments aren’t very hard to write. Overall this was a very good class. Especially for an online class. The only thing I would say is, if participation are going too added for comments on other students blogs are going to be added, that those are added for each assignment so that it’s not a surprise at the end. I honestly did forget some weeks to comment on others blogs. I was in a big hurry to just hurry and get it done. If it was posted every week, it would have helped me to comment on more peoples blogs.

            The book itself was really good. There are some parts that were a little dry, but overall it was very informative and not a bad read. I did learn a lot more then I originally anticipated in the beginning of this class. The author did a good job. Also all the other articles we read were very good. They made sense and helped me to understand more about this subject. I really enjoyed learning about offshoring and outsourcing. In a recent call to my current internet provider, I was talking to a man who had a very thick accent. After he helped me with my problem I asked him if the call center in which he was working was located in the U.S. He told me that it was not. I remember something funny about this call he was asking me question about the super bowl but you could tell he was reading a script and had no idea what he was talking about. It was still fun. He was working in a call center located in the Middle East somewhere I can’t remember now. He was a college student and asked me some question about school in the U.S. And I in turn asked him questions. I just remember it was a really cool talk.

            It is also very smart of the companies to organize the calls they are receiving to different areas. In another call that I was very frustrated and called customer service, my call was connected to a person in the U.S. I’m not sure if companies do this on purpose where the calls generally about a complaint where the people that are calling are probably frustrated, if those calls are sent to people with no accent, so that the already angry people don’t get more angry with the language barrier, if it is on purpose I think that it is very smart. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to get something you are paying for to work and you can’t understand a person or they can’t understand you.  

Module 12

            This was a good article that was very interesting. In the first page he talks about the two different ways that computers could take over, one is us incorporating robotics into our life to replace human parts and becoming more and more dependent on them.  The second is willingly letting them take over, by letting the computers/robots do our jobs and rendering the human species as we know it useless and pointless. What would you do if you never had anything you had to do? The first one I can’t help but think about how we already are dependent on computers and robots so to speak. I mean try and take away a teenagers phone. I’m sure it would cause quiet the uprising. What happens as technology gets more and more advanced?

            GNR is genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. The author is afraid of this because one, the robotic will then be able to build themselves. Two, they can cause a whole class of accidents and abuses. Third, it won’t require large facilities to run these machines. This is a problem, because if we are able to create a robot that has the capacity to think for itself then what is to stop it from creating a robot armor, I realize how science fiction that sounds, but in the past we have done things that we thought were only science fiction.

            It almost feels like we need to take a break from creating new software for a little while get ourselves caught up on what we have now. We need to make sure that everyone is ready for the next stage of robotics and computers, before we start creating new ones. Unfortunately I doubt that will ever happen. With all the companies competing against each other the think of the greatest newest thing. They aren’t going to want to take a break and lose out on profits.

            People by nature want to always grow and be more powerful, the author shows this by describing what it is like to hold and use a nuclear weapons and the power you feel when you fire one, and you feel invincible. Like nothing can stop you. Just like a drug power can drive you to change to become something else then you always were. So is all of this a real concern? I would say yes in our lifetime maybe not but I would say in the future it is possible.

Module 11

                The movie I watched for this assignment is the Matrix, this film is about people who created an artificial intelligence. Which in turn creates more robots and eventually leads to war, computers vs humans. At the time most of the computers ran on solar power, in an attempt to defeat the robots the humans darkened the sky. The computers came up with another idea. To use the energy from the human body. The artificial intelligence began to grow humans. While they would do this they would entertain the mind of these people by putting their thoughts and self-views into a digital world. That’s the computer side of the movie the rest is that some of the people were able to wake up and are fighting against the machines, and the main character is supposed to be able to save the world.

            The characters in the movie are able to jump in and out of the program world. They are able to see what the machines are doing. The technological side of this movie is like so many others we build a software that eventually can think for itself and doesn’t need people to run it. As to whether this is possible. Sure it could be. I don’t know as far as programming and designing a computer that thinks for its self. I am sure that people that people will attempt to do such things as to whether it happens or not only time will tell. This does seem to be common theme in movies that the human race invents the innovative computer and it begins to take over. I don’t know how you could teach a computer greed or love or hate. I do know that we are always moving forward.

            Also think about video games, you always hear that the next generation of video games are going to be software and hardware that put you into the game and give you that virtual world experience. If there ever was a machine take over isn’t that side of it possible.

            I don’t understand either what you would do with a computer that could think for itself why would anyone need it too? Maybe at some point in the future maybe there is a use for it. I have always wondered, are we ever done with inventing things? Are we ever just satisfied with everything that has been created? Or do we just keep pushing forward and hope we never create something that the world isn’t ready for.

            It is also interesting to think about if computers can talk and think, how much social skills will decrease. If people don’t actually have to leave the house to go and do things or to get information what will happen to us? Even now just with texting, or games on phones how often you see people only paying attention to the phone. Now what if you could talk to your phone and it could talk back. Would you still even talk to people?

            As far as culture issues, will there even be any more culture you could have a computer do everything for you. How much will culture stay intact? I can’t help but to think of the movie Walle, where everyone just has there hover carts and no one walks anymore and you just wonder what the point is.

            It is also interesting that we never think of the positives of all this technology we could have machines do jobs that are life threatening. Machines could world longer periods of time. We never hear about the good that can come from all of this technology.