Blog Post #11: Someone else's EOTO 2

Machine learning is a rapidly growing topic and it will only continue to have a growing impact on our lives. Machine learning at its base is the process of a computer using software to complete human tasks and learn to think like a human without any human interference or help. The main purpose and goal for machine learning is to have AI become knowledgeable enough of the world in order to allow AI to act as a human and solve intellectual problems that normally a human would be solving. While there is certainly a possibilty of machine learning and AI go too far and become a sort of doomsday scenario, we are definitely not there yet. The main goal of machine learning is to deploy AI that exhibit intelligent and human like behavior. While AI certainly is and can be a good thing, we do definitely need to be careful in order to not go too far and lose control of our lives to the hands of AI

(I do apologize for there not being photos, but for some reason any time I try to upload a photo it fails and says it can't process the upload. Not sure why it's not working.)

Blog Post #10: Age of AI

 AI has continued to grow over the past 10 or so years. The first mainstream AI that I personally remember was Siri. Siri and Alexa are the two leading mainstream AI when it comes to household "names". While AI can most certainly improve our lives, they can also make things harder and more complicated. One of the big AI driven softwares that is being used right now is the camera system in China. These cameras are being used to track people's activities throughout the day and give them a social credit score. A good/high score can lead to benefits across daily life. However, a negative score can lead to throttled internet speeds, travel bans, and even blacklisting. Getting blacklisted can make it harder to get jobs, harder to leave the country, etc. It is estimated that around 600 million cameras will/have been deployed in China by 2020. The government will use these cameras to track their citizens activities. A few things that can help you get a good score are: volunteering for any charities, taking care of elderly and family members, and positively influenceing your neighborhood. A few of the things that can negatively influence your score are: traffic violations such as jaywalking, illegally protesting against the government, not regularly visiting your aging parents.

Blog Post #9: EOTO 2

Transhumanism

Transhumanism in its simplest form is a movement that pushes the study and research of human-enhancing technologies. These technologies would boost our sensory reception. First coined in 1957 by English philosopher and biologist Julian Huxley, Transhumanism is a relatively new idea when it comes to being mainstream. Although the term was first used in 1957, it wasn't until around 9 years later that Transhumanism would be first defined. The Great Encyclopedia Dictionary defined Transhumanism as surpassing, transcending, going beyond. However, even though the term was first defined in the mid 60s it wasn't until the age of the internet that the movement would really start to gain traction. The introduction of mass media and social media really gave the movement a boost when it came to spreading its ideals and beliefs.

However, although it may sound great to increase our sensory ability (I mean who wouldn't want to live longer?), it raises some serious moral and ethical questions that we still don't really have the answer to. I want to reiterate a comparison I made in my presentation to the designer baby issue that is going on in China right now. Simply put, designer babies are babies whose genome has been altered or tampered with in order to give that baby more desirable traits (blue eyes, clear skin, etc). Not only is this procedure morally and ethically questionable, it's certainly not even close to being cheap. The augments that would appear with Transhumanism would fall under the same category. They would be morally and ethically questionable, and they would be anything but cheap. Many philosophers worry that the introduction of Transhumanism would only futher the already apparent gap between the rich and poor. Death, the only thing that money can't solve. Well, with Transhumanism maybe it can. Another really big problemthat would arise with the mainstream introductin of Transhumanism is the creation of what you could consider two entirely different species. It is likely that those who have been augmented by the developments of Transhumanism would consider themselves to be genetically and physically superior to those who have not been altered. There is a scenario in which the world becomes a sort of doomsday scenario in which the "superior" humans only marry eachother to try and keep their genes superior. And yes while all of this is a little far fetched, I do think it is more of a possiblity than people think if Transhumanism were truly to become the norm.

One last thing I want to talk about when it comes to Transhumanism is, at what point has modern medicine gone too far. The main purpose of modern medicine is to cure diseases and help prolong life. While it is obvious that modern medicine is an absolute blessing and it saves countless lives every single day, year, and month. I do think there is a limit to what should be done with medicine. There is a point, like I mentioned before, where everything starts to get a bit gray and we must question if it is really the correct path. At a certain point, we will need to come to terms with the fact that humans are not meant to live forever and that death is just a natural part of life. 

Blog Post #8: Privacy

 Privacy is a big and extremely serious issue in the world today. When I was young I thought that one of the things American did better than almost anywhere was give the people their privacy. I now know that this is very clearly not the case. It's as though technology has almost entirely gotten rid of our everyday privacy. Most people seem to know that their phones have a GPS and are essentially used so that the government can track where you are. However, I don't think many people truly know how far this invasion goes. One reason I have always warned my family to not get an Alexa for the house is by posing one question "How do you think Alexa knows when you call her name?" Everytime I said this to someone new I saw it click in their brain that she is always listening. Most people seem to think that our privacy looks like that photo. When in reality all those locks should be opened and unlocked due to how much access we give to any and everything without thinking. As we talked about in class, not many people pay attention to what information they are giving over when signing up for a new account. Many companies/websites will ask for your street address or your phone number. This can be a serious privacy risk as often companies will then sell that data to other sources. 

One of the main ways to protect ourselves from an invasion on our privacy is to limit our exposure of key information online. Try, when possible, to avoid entering your phone number, address, or any other key information when signing up for a new website or anything like that. Another easy way that we can protect ourselves online is to use a VPN. What VPNs do is they make sure your computer has a secure and encrypted connection to the internet anytime you browse

Blog Post #7: Diffusion of Ideas

 VR has been absolutely exploding recently. Not only has this been seen in the gaming sphere, but also the world and movie scenes. The NBA has introduced a free service for Meta's Horizon Venues platform that allows anyone with the proper hardware to "sit courtside" and watch an NBA game. Your digital avatar will appear courtside and you will be able to watch live NBA games. Not only does this already exist for NBA games, Meta (formerly Facebook) is hoping to expand their reach into WWE as well as English Premier League soccer matches. While watching a game virtually, you will be able to see and interact with other peoples digital avatars.

Not only is VR exploding in the corporate world, but it is booming even more in the gaming scene. Some projections have the VR market growing from $7.92 Billion in 2021 to $53.44 Billion by 2028. One of the main advancements that is going hand in hand with VR's increasing popularity is cloud gaming. Cloud gaming in the next step in "next-gen" gaming. Cloud gaming is a type of "on-demand" gaming that allows the user to essentially stream a game to their console or PC. This makes it so that the user does not need to install the game on their local system in order to play it.