Module 13

Module 13

Over the course of the semester, I learned many new facts and new information about how computers affect the world. From computers changing the way fast-food restaurants do business to how technology is making progress in the area of GNR. I was able to realize that we live in a Digital Society and because we do, we have many privileges that nobody in the history of the world has had before. Globalization for example, has made it so that we can go to the store and buy just about anything at a low price because it was made in a different country and shipped at a low price. All of this is possible thanks to fiber optic cables, the internet, and computers which makes communication between long distances fast and cheap.

I never really put much thought into how computers could change the way businesses did business. For example I didn’t realize that computers could take the jobs away from so many people, I underestimated how much work a computer could do.  Now, when I think about computers I feel like the sky is the limit to their abilities.  I liked Friedman’s example about the fast-food restaurant that was using computers to take orders. I have life experience with this because I worked at a Subway fast-food restaurant, and I can definitely see how computers are changing this type of work. My manager wanted to install new ordering-machines where people could type in what they would like and we would then make it to order.  That would change how Subway does business, especially since the customer has always told the sandwich artist what they wanted face-to-face. If a machine takes the order, then there would be no need for an extra staff member who would have taken orders through the drive-thru.  That would mean that at least one person would be out of the job!  

I learned more about Globalization and the effects it’s having with countries around the world. As technology and communication improve throughout the world, more countries will be able to sell and trade goods and even services like the example of Asian Indians doing America’s taxes. It’s really incredible that through computers businesses can discuss their goals or plans without ever leaving their office let alone the country. With more countries able to compete on a global level, competition increases which means the countries that were in the lead can now fall behind the pack if changes aren’t made. Back to the taxes being done in India, where do all of the American tax accountants go when they are out of the job because people in India are able to do what they do, only at a lesser price? With more and more globalization this is going to happen to not only tax accountants, but other jobs that don’t require face-to-face interaction or a specialization in one area.

Technology has extremely influenced larger and smaller businesses. Because of technology, big companies like Walmart know what stores are selling what items and in turn, Walmart tells its suppliers how many more products to make.  There is less guess and check work and less wasted products that don’t sell. Also, because of technology companies are able to make products faster and know the exact second that items will be ready to ship.  Even Shipping has been revolutionized by technology. Just a scan of a bar code on a box can tell shipping companies the information they need to ship the items to where they need to go. Countries like China, which receives a lot of outsourcing from other countries, can make high quality commodities at a lower price than other countries, and transport those items at a low cost back to the previous countries.  All of this process moves like clock-work.

I learned more about the predictions for the future in GNR. Genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics are fields that are learning rapidly from experiments and the more information that is learned, the more that information can be used to better society or destroy society. As more and more discoveries are found, so the ethical questions about what is right and wrong tend to spring up. As this whole world we live on gets to be more advanced, we also rely more heavily on technology. While relying on technology isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we need to remember that it is a tool that we can use for good or bad. In the end, it’s us humans that make and use the technology and it’s up to us to keep this world good.

This class taught me just how much our society relies on technology and what a big tool it is to use. I appreciate technology because it can help me with many things I would like to accomplish. This has been an informative class. Good luck with finals everyone. 

Module 12

Module 12

Are you scared about the future? After reading this article my mind opened up and thought about what it would be like in 2030 and let me tell you, I did feel a tinge of fear. Think about this for a second, this author -Bill Joy- is writing about the future within 15 years! This is not some unproportioned theory about what it will be like in the year 3000, this is practically now! It’s within our lifetime. These advances will affect us in the near future, and their effects aren’t always positive. What is going to happen in the future, is being formed right now.  Technology is advancing astronomically. GNR or Genetic engineering, Nanotechnology, and Robotics are making huge advancements.  Along with them comes questions about what is ethical and what is unethical and sometimes the answer isn’t clear.  Even up to this point, technology has not always been used for good. In the future, it seems like the more technology advances, the bigger the ethical questions are.  

Let’s focus on Genetic engineering for now. What good can genetic engineering do? Well, lots actually. Golden rice which was infused with Vitamin C has helped prevent malnourishment in developing countries (if the population can be socialized into buying Golden Rice).  Crop’s harvest has increased and the amount of pesticides used has decreased. It’s revolutionized cloning and helped with reproduction. It can create unique species of insects, plants, bacteria, and viruses. It’s useful when making cures for diseases and a whole lot more, but not all results come out for the better. Genetic engineering is capable of making terrible diseases, or what Joy wrote as “white plagues”. White plagues could be used to destroy the population in geographical areas or species with unique traits. Terrorists could potentially make some new kind of bacteria in a lab and use if for mass destruction.  What if that bacteria did something unexpected and killed everybody, instead of the selected few?  It’s difficult to predict every outcome in an experiment, even though there can be many predicted outcomes.  One missed prediction and oops earth’s human population is gone.

Nanotechnology is also very interesting. Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers.  Because scientists can engineer on such a small scale, Joy argues that anything can be made, at a lower price.  The big question here is what about those atomic bombs?  When bigger countries are able to make them and war starts out. Are we all going to die over politics? The whole world will just blow up and boom! No more human life. We’re all gone, thanks to some scientist’s great idea of creating nuclear bombs and some crazy politician’s idea of ending a conflict.

Robotics are also making big changes.  The big question for them in the future is if humans should be able to control them, or should we let them make their own decisions.  If humans govern computers, it is inevitable that there will be problems.  We humans just aren’t as great as we’d like to think we are.  On the other hand, what would happen if we let computers govern themselves?  Could they think through the problem and always come out with the best answer?  What if computers realized just how flawed we humans are and decided to exterminate us? What would happen if computers could do everybody’s job?  The computers could work faster and more efficiently, there would be no need for humans to work.  We’d all be unemployed, and honestly I don’t think our lives would mean much if we didn’t work.  What would we do?  Computers would do research and advance themselves, even scientists would be laid off.   I know these questions posed may sound ridiculous, but at the same time, they don’t seem impossible. I believe it’s worth thinking about, even if it never gets to that point.  Which I really hope it will never get to that point. If it does get to that point (which I am not saying it will) we’d better be ready with some ideas.

I have one comment. While reading the article, any computer that I was on took forever to load, it was really annoying trying to read because it needed to load every few seconds.  Did anybody else have this problem? I thought it was also kind of distracting to have all those ads pop up while trying to read the article.