Luddite and neo-Luddite arguments

It is crazy to think that computers are going to become something so complex as Ray Kruzweil and Bill Joy are talking about. I fell like both of them are talking about very extreme cases but one day it might be possible that these kind of things could happen. I think that Bill Joy tends to right except for the idea that one day these machines might take over the world we live. Many of the things that Ray Kruzweil well mentioned aren't very likely to take over the life we live rather they enhance that we already experience. Some of the things Kruzweil do seem very strange though and I personally wouldn't want to experience them but one day they may just become popular culture like he is saying.

Societies concern should be on the use and ethics behind many of things that come out. For instance the internet was a great invention but many bad things get connected to it like credit card theft, identity theft, child predators and a constant stream of advertisement. I think that it the future may people will use these things for their own purposes and will take way from the purpose of the kinds that are invented. Imagine having a image cast onto your retina like Kruzweil but in the corner of your vision having a Coca-Cola or Visa ad in your sight every where you go.

AI Testing

I always thought that when IBM started to roll out Deep Blue of February of 1996 computers have gotten a lot of press for now being "intelligent." I very rarely think that a computer could be intelligent.

The turing test isn't an effective way of determining a computer's intelligence because the test often limits what a person has the ability to say. Sometimes during these test people aren't allowed to try and stump these computers. To me a intelligent being is thing or someone I can have a conversation that makes progress. Maybe a more effective test would to have someone try to learn about history from one of these machines or get taught a math problem with Q&A during the session. It seems like all the chatbots out now are only good at relating what it is you have to say with other world in a huge database or changing around the syntax of worlds. Intelligence is the ability to grasp concepts or ideas that are not already known. If a computer isn't programed to know what an apple is it should be able to draw a picture of this in it's own "mind." It should be able to understand what an apple tastes like from the description a human gives it, or better yet, from another computer. It should also be able to some remotely related to the key aspect that distinct us from other animals: communication and understanding of ideas. The Turing Test can't weigh these kinds of distinctions. The difference between a computer having computer like comprehension and linguistic skills with human like inteligence is too broad of a gap for a simple test like the Turing Test. It should also be pointed out that this testing method was composed over 50 yeas ago. I think that now, in todays technological world, the test for AI intelligence should have a much higher standard to be met.

Danish Cartoons of Mahammad

After reading the cartoons and learning the feeling behind them I don't believe that they were as much of an exercise of free speech as they were discrimination against the Muslim faith. I've always felt that there is always grounds to disagree with a person's faith, especially America where we value the right to choose a religion. It seems like many times political cartoonist get away with many controversial cartoons because the art is often very faceless and excepted. I don't think this would go quietly in the states though and certainly wouldn't make it into a national newspaper. It seems though that on the Internet bad things like this can have powerful followings unfortunately.

Some people say that Muslims, especially non-Danish Muslims, have no right telling Danish officials that they should censor or punish the people that made these cartoons. But where would be be if countries just ignored each others religions and didn't respect their believes. Countries have a duty to represent their country as a positive nation that promotes goodwill and officials not making a stance on an issue so dear to Muslims as their religion doesn't promote prosperity and fellowship between nations.

Although what happened was wrong and the cartoonists and publishers of the cartoons shouldn't have done it Muslims shouldn't hold offensive protests against the Danish. Muslims shouldn't burn the Danish flag like they are in this photo. I understand their anger and frustration but there are never grounds to this or cause violence.

I think that some people on both sides of the argument were in the wrong. For countries to reach common ground they've got to be willing to hear out the other side and hold resect for their opinion.

Net Neutrality

I am totally for net neutrality. I think that looking at different things such the telephone and television a person can start to understand the difference between the two, and the advantage of having the internet be equal.

With telephones it is rather easy to get good and cheep telephone provider plans. My brother and dad go back and forth telling each other about lower and lower plans. With televisions I think it is much different. Usually it is very hard to get a decent television bill because only a few companies are able to compete for your business. To get basic cable with about 40 or 50 channels it's around 40 dollars.

That's why I think the internet must be kept open. It isn't right to have a large company dictate terms between another large company and decide in essence how many people choose a product or a web site based on how fast it goes. I think that is an unfair advantage. What is really bothersome about the topic is that in large newspapers and websites that the focus is on the politics about the issue and not resolving the issue. Most articles are full of statements by congressmen about "how they feel" and statistics who voted how. I want to know about net neutrality. For the general public this mostly is out of their consciousness because it is out of their interest and that is troublesome with some as special as the Internet.

Web 2.0

There were a lot of cool mash ups and some really weird ones. These three were my favorites:

http://www.mapulator.com/
This is a map up that combines Goggle maps and network utilities such as traceroute and whois. It was really interesting to get a visual of how the web works by seeing it on a map. Sometimes it doesn't work because the computer doesn't get all or any of the locations.

http://www.wikimapia.org/
This is a site that combines with Google maps that lets anyone without being registured or anything to make little books that when clicked on give a description of the site or building. I liked it a lot. Most of the time it is a definition straight from Wikipedia but sometimes it's just people that let the world know "this is my house."

http://www.sergeychernyshev.com/maps.html
This map up simply puts Google maps right along side Yahoo maps. You really get to see differences in the two maps and especially in the satellites see which is more up to date. You also quickly realize that Google's is way better.

It also shows a very distinct difference between the two imagery machines in the views of New Orleans before and after Katrina from the looks of it. I think that Google had the post-Katria pictures but I'm not sure. I read in the Chronicle that they took them off the web for a while because they weren't up to Google's standards of picture quality but it seems they put them back up.

File sharing and misicians rights

I don't really think file sharing is a bad thing. It is an offense to laws that are in place but I don't think that the goal of making music should be to make tons of money. For the small artists that make try to make a name for themselves a little pirating of their music can only hope to spread them and make them bigger names.

I've downloaded some music before from P2P networks like Kazaa and Limewire and never really though much of it. Most of the bands I downloaded are really well known and have been played tons of times. Recently I downloaded "Home, Home on the range." Songs like this have been played so many times that the originally artist isn't really the one gaining from the sale of it. Big companies, like Virgin Records, advertiser, like Yahoo, and distributors, like Apple, are. For those small struggling artists it is not the reality that can and always will be broken. I feel for those people but don't think they will be much worse off without my financial support. For those making great music must of them already have what they need to do it.

From a different prospective If had the talent to make music I would want it to be open source. I would want anyone to take keep it and give it to others. I think that music is going to be much the same way the Internet is in the future because the ethical practice of regulating music distribution is impractical. Advertisements will be all over free legitimate p2p systems. Artists will make their money based on how many downloads they get and everyone will make money. For virtual things like music movies the Internet and software their is no practical way to regulate their distribution.

To me the serious ethical dilemma is what kind of music we are being exposed to. Today most of the highest selling records all are totally shameless. Tons of rap songs and rock song don't hold any values that Americans should be proud of. So lets not get angry at people downloading songs illegally, lets mad at what kind of detrimental behavior they are endorsing when they do.

RFID

<- I also don't think everything needs RFID

But most of the time it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Honestly I never really though of RFID as a threat to my security or privacy until it was the topic in class. I never thought that RFID could be used as threat but after class I got a lot my nervous. I don't think that for the time being RFID will be used to track me but very soon it could.

IT was really funny because my friend from across the hall came over and some how without me mentioning it he started talking about. He said that once he went to the mall and every time he walked in or out of a store be would see the alarm off. He said he hadn't bought anything the whole time it was going on but he still set it off each time. The moral of this story is that RFID can at times be a hassle sometimes. I would thinks its kind of funny.

Every once in a while when I'm at the library the person checking me out doesn't get the book deactivated right and it goes off. For a library sometimes it can be the worsting thing that be put in but it makes sense. I've read that they are starting to replace bar codes but I could see it being useful because people can change the call number without un-shelving the book. I think that could make things great but really bar codes have worked for a long time and teaching people about these really isn't necessary especially in smaller libraries.

I don't think we will have anything as drastic a minority report but life will be less private if we want convinces like credit and spending cards. I'm reading a book called The Darwinian Left and it makes me think of all the problems that are clear as day with capitalism. I think it should be an option when people set up accounts to have ads show to you and have buying cards like with your name and things that are going.

For a while much of everything will stay the same. Everything has positives and negatives. RFID is one of those things and in my eyes will always be much more of a positive. I think putting one in a animal is a very smart thing and useful to help find their owner. On the other hand putting them in people kind of weird. Today I kind of questioned that though. I lost my OneCard and still haven't found it and have been thinking about having it in me so I could never lose it. I lose a lot of stuff and wouldn't having RFID just in case I lost stuff.

Heres what I mentioned in class about them replacing bar codes with RFID. I think it would be cool if they did. I've flown almost twice a year each year since I was 10 years old. I've gotten lucky and never lost a bag. Hopefully they will lose less of them once this technology is put into place.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/1949/1/1/

protection from surveillance

As for me personally there are few thing that I find personal. If some of my e-mails to my girl friends got into the wrong hands I just think whom ever got them would get a good laugh. I don't think its good that I might have e-mail and some information flowing around but am not personally very angry about things like this.
With such a big company like AT&T I could see something like this happening. If it weren't for private foundations like the EFF corporations like AT&T would do even more harm than they already have and I really think that is a scary thought.
On top of all this AT&T letting this go on allows the government to do terrorist profiling and detain honest citizens for long periods of time. Compared to Internet security, Internet privacy is so much harder to guard against. I think keep a close look on credit cards and checking accounts its hard to know who to and know not to trust and to even know where any of your information is being router. Right now I'm in the main San Francisco Public Library and I'm pretty sure this blog is going through AT&T's system some how. This isn't anything important and there really isn't anyway to get around using them to get my blog done and this is the really scary thing about the Internet and protection from surveillance.
I'd like to change a little how I use e-mail but its very to find out how. I never send my banking accounts and things like that but not send my girlfriend e-mail about us, stuff we talk about or political feelings I have. One of those political feelings is about this but I might get locked up if I mention it on my blog. Her an I do more normal postal mail than e-mails and we still plan to especially after knowing things like this. She says she likes postal mail more and that it "means more to actually write it out rather than type it" but I do it for the comfort of know her eyes are the only ones that look it.

Tech Jobs

I always think that jobs exported from this country can be a good thing. Some poor counties really need the help and can use the support that globalization can bring and make the country self-supported. I always hear stories from my brothers about their trips to India where they see how much of the country has taken on aspects of American life. In American we are given so much and from a little hard work and often good luck people can do well and need to know much about any particular thing. Those countries in the East that need help to find an economy are benefiting from us.

I don't think how ever that we should import people from other countries to help our tech industry. If American companies keep issuing visas to people from the East ours will lose it's power as a leader of teaching. I can see in my head the possibility of Tech Colleges sprouting up all over the countries of India and China. If Americans want people to enter the IT field then companies better given them great incentive be willing to pay them.

My e-Waste, Good question?

You know I never really though about e-waste until we talked about it class. I knew trash was a problem but never specifically thought about electronic waste.
My dad doesn't know anything significant about computers but he and I had always had a love for going to goodwill and buying all the old stuff they had. That's part of how I got hooked on roller coaster tycoon. Be bought so much but never really got rid of any of it. My parents are total pack rats and almost all the computer equipment we have that we don't use is sitting under more computer equipment in the garage. I know one day they are going to move out and since the discussion in class it's dawned on me that I need to get rid of it in the right way. May my generation will get better at this kind of personal responsibility. At least I hope we do. See those pictures is sad and thinking about were this laptop, that I'm poking at right now, will be in 20 years is on the top of my mind. Hopefully it won't be there.
This got me think about other waste. So many people know that they have ways to recycle and why, but still don't care enough to do so. Large encyclopedia set always come to mind when I think about those things.

Maybe it is coming full circle. Each year the government and tax payers save the time money and most importantly trees by e-filing their tax return but in the end many of the computers that they file on turn up in toxic land fills anyway.
Computers have done a lot for the government. Government depository libraries are starting to print less documents and have more available, in different formats, on-line. Although librarians don't like to have less print material, the majority of Americans are fine with using the Internet in government depository libraries and at home on their own couch, something they couldn't have done 15 years ago.

E-waste isn't going to go away but maybe more can be done to open eyes about the problem of it as mine were opened for me.

cybersquatting

In nearly all things it's the governments right and responsibility to protect our safety before protecting most our freedoms. Therefore cybersquatting for purposes of fraud are wrong and should be taken down or changes. I think that companies that intend to deceive people and trick them into giving them money when aren't that company need to be shut down. One example that I am aware of is the governments financial aid website for the FAFSA. There are many websites that are look a likes of FAFSA and for a family that doesn't regularly use FAFSA it can be tricky find the real one. The concern should be websites like this that scam money from hard working people.
Some should be all to obvious. Anyone that doesn't know virizonsucks.com is not a part of Verizon should not be allowed to touch a mouse ever again. This leads to the argument about the right to protest. I feel that a group or person should be able to voice their protest and concern about any business that they want to online. People protest all the time here downtown in San Francisco in front of big stores like Macy's and likewise should be allowed to do it on the Internet.
Also any large company that isn't willing to pay someone fro the name of the business website that they want doesn't have the right to bring it to court. If Sears doesn't get sears.com and some guy in Pickiniy, Idaho then that man has the right to keep it or sell it as he wishes. What if that mans name was Steve Sears. He would have the right to keep the name as long as he wants to and he would have a lot of hits that would find out when his family reunion is.

My Security

I never really was very concerned with how secure my information is. There are times that I am cautious about what kind of information I give out and what kinds of things I don't. To me any government agency should be able to be trusted despite the kinds of things the bush administration has been caught up in lately. I think it's important to separate privacy into three categories. Personal, like phone conversations or emails that could be embarrassing, financial, like getting something charged on your credit card and just annoying, like spam in email and door to door salesman one after another.
I don't find financial fraud to be very treating to me because I have so few finances. I know this sounds immature but if someone did get all of my information there would be very much to do with it and would be easier to clear up than it would be for someone with a lot of money. I only usually trust large corporations that usually are trusted. I kind of have a go with the flow philosophy when it comes to providing information. I use EBay and Amazon on the Internet and only bank with one company. I never open credit cards and when to optout.com to stop getting a lot of credit card offers that I totally don't need. Also I think it is a good habit to keep on top of credit card statements and check at least each week online banking accounts.
After listening to our lecture in class I've started to be weary of who and why I am giving out information to corporations. For instance I started to sign up for Webster dictionary online but stopped because they asked for a address. I figured that I didn't need any publications from Webster just the convince of using it online when I needed it but I never got it. Also I started to forward my mail (normal mail) to a new address and did it on USPS.com but they asked for a $1.00 service fee. It seemed strange but I did it anyway. They also have a lot different companies and magazines that they try to have you sign up for throughout the mail forwarding process.
Things like the AOL slip up do happen but I think that's the risk that should be taken. I'd compare it to odds of getting robbed or being in a burning building. Yeah it can happen but its the risk you take.

A little something about me

Hi. My name is Mike Colello. I moved here from Round Rock, Tx the headquarters of Dell Computers. I have 2 brothers both in computers. One works down there for Dell and the other here in California works for Oracle and my dad worked at IBM. When I was younger I'd always take apart compters and swap in and out drives. My dad always tells me that computer science is "in my blood". My brother tells me programming is a good, well paying, stable job I should consider. That is, for themost part, why I am taking this class. I want to really learn if it is "in my blood" or if I do have an interest or talent in computer science. Currently I am a psychology major but most likey will change to philosophy. I certainly may consider computer science as a minor.
In my spare time I like to play many different video games such as Doom 3, Command and Conquer, and most importantly Roller Coaster Tycoon. I also like playing basketball, going bowling and reading. I also think food is very good. I've learned that college offers good food and much of it. This isn't a very good reason or my reason to go to college but it certainly doesn't hurt.