The Frightening Future of Technology

For my New Communication Technologies class, we read an article called, "Mind Control and the Internet" by Sue Halpern, which is a discussion about the not-so-far-away technology of biochips, or in other words, putting a computer in our brains so that at any moment any information you could find searching the internet would be available in your brain. When I first started reading this article, I thought how ridiculous this all sounds, but if I were to read something 30 years ago that said I would someday hold a pocket-sized computer in my hands with more computing power than NASA had getting to the moon, I would have been skeptical too. This technology is very possible and is on its way.

I do appreciate this technology for the medical aspects. It is discussed in the article that work being done at Brown and Washington University suggests the possibility of restoring mobility to those who are paralyzed and giving voice to those who have been robbed by illness or injury of the ability to communicate, which is amazing. Time Magazine published an article in 2005, saying "Applied Digital Solutions won FDA approval last year for what it bills as the "world's first human implantable microchip." A radio-frequency identification (RFID) transponder the size of a grain of rice, the VeriChip contains a 16-digit personal ID number that can be scanned like a bar code, providing health-care workers access to your medical records online." The possibilities are endless.


However, in class we discussed the ethical dilemmas of this new technology. I brought up the point of, if we would hold all the information in the world in our heads, why would anyone go to school? School is also the place where we learn our social skills at a young age. It was also brought up that if we became these cyborgs, we might lose some of our very human emotions. I don't know about you but I'm picturing these emotionless anti-social yet super smart zombies walking around.

To go further, if everyone was able to access any information they wanted and potentially become an expert in all areas, couldn't anyone be a doctor? Or a rocket scientist? Or a professional athlete? Skills wouldn't seem special anymore because everyone would have them. We also might lose our creativity and originality. What would the world be like then? I'm very curious to see how this plays out and it is amazing that I will even have the opportunity to.


Halpern, Sue (2011) 'Mind Control & the Internet', New York Review of Books, June 23.

Fonda, Daren (2005) 'Biochips for Everyone!', Time Magazine, November 9 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1118348,00.html>.

What a weekend

As the title of this post suggests, this past weekend was one for the history books. You see, Saturday was Race Day, which uni students basically plan their year around. You buy a $60 ticket for 5 hours of an open bar, and everyone dresses up in derby fashion. It was a complete transformation--the boys I'm used to seeing with long greasy hair and walking around with no shoes were now freshly showered and in dress pants and button down shirts! And of course for the ladies it was just a big fashion show, everyone looked amazing!

You would think that after 5 hours of free drinks I wouldn't even remember anything about Race Day, but let me explain. You see, Thursday night at the bar was a little rough for me...I may or may not have been crawling on all fours trying to stand up. Anyway, the next day someone pointed out to me in a sarcastic manner that I am a "classy drunk". Hmm..."It appears I need to slow my roll," I thought. So I vowed that I would remember Race Day.

So, I took it slow. And let me tell you--it was AWESOME. I got to watch girls fall flat on their backs, watch girls cry, watch girls get escorted out by security...I'm pretty sure most of these people didn't even realize they were at a horse race. I even bet on two horses! (Didn't win because I decided to bet on the underdog--don't do that). So all in all it was a fun day and I totally recommend being on the other side of the fence once in a while, because it is hilarious. The Gold Coast Turf Club is absolutely gorgeous as well, you can see the skyline of the city in the background as you watch the horses race by.

On Sunday, I finally made it to Burleigh Heads (a beach a bit south from Surfers Paradise). This place was beautiful. As always, the water was crystal clear but there were shells too! There is also a cute town with little shops and restaurants. The best part, however, is the national park, where you can go for a walk up the side of a mountain where you are eventually greeted by a breathtaking overlook of the ocean. At some point I would love to hike there at night and see the stars.

After Burleigh, we headed over to $2 steaks which is probably my favorite thing ever. Basically everyone heads over to a pub called Waxy's, where you can order a steak, sauce, fries and salad for $2 each and $3 Budweiser, all while enjoying live music and hanging out with friends in a great atmosphere.

We all then went out to celebrate Claire and Steph's 20th birthdays at Beer Garden in Surfers. First of course we had to have a huge photo shoot in the bathroom.

Then, since they were getting so many free shots from people because it's their birthday I thought hey, maybe I should play the birthday card. So, my friend Isabelle and I went up to the bar and started shouting about how it's my birthday, and low and behold, some poor mislead boy bought us drinks! ("Thanks man! *runs away*). You gotta do what you gotta do. It didn't stop there either--Isabelle and I also began to scavenge for dropped coins on the ground near the bar. You see in Australia, if you drop a coin, it's never just a basically worthless penny, they don't have those here. Their $2 coins are even smaller than a penny, and their $1 coins are about the size of a quarter. So, if you drop a coin here you drop to the ground and retrieve it immediately (or at least us cheap Americans do--no shame. Yes, I crawled under a pool table to grab a 20 cent coin. "I'm just looking for my phone" I said to some guy who was staring at me with a very confused face.) You can judge all you want but Isabelle and I ended up finding enough to buy a tequila shot.

That's all for now!

Dana

What is the true purpose of communication?

In my new communication technologies lecture, we had a very interesting discussion about the true substance of communication: is it about spreading the truth or creating fabrication? There are countless examples in which communication is used to spread lies--cyberbullying, propaganda, advertisements, etc. We assumed that all of these new communication tools such as Facebook, text messaging, or even online dating sites encourage us to fabricate the truth. It could be something as innocent as texting a friend that you're "on your way" when you really haven't left yet, or it could be something serious like posing as someone else on Facebook. Without that face-to-face interaction it becomes much easier to lie. 

However, Jeff Hancock, a deception analyst, studies how we interact by email, text message and social media blips, seeking to understand how technology mediates communication. He has a completely different view on the subject. He has found that people are not any more likely to be truthful in person than they are on the Internet. In fact, he found that people generally tend to be very truthful online. One way he explored this was by having a person’s close friends describe that person’s personality, and then having someone who doesn’t know the person judge their personality solely by their Facebook page, and the descriptions tended to match up.

Jeff went on to talk about how thousands of years ago, when humans would speak it obviously was never recorded like it is today. Today we record our every movement on Twitter and can look back on our lives through pictures on Facebook. However, humans thousands of years ago spoke in a way that there is no record, and so we have evolved to speak this way. He also pointed out that humans only have about 54% accuracy when trying to detect deception face-to-face. Therefore, a lot of lying goes on in person, we just don’t notice it.

Speaking of new technologies...

People in my generation adapt to new technology very quickly. We grew up with technology. When I first started my internship, my boss asked if I had ever used Constant Contact before, which allows you to create email newsletters and send them to the people in your contacts, and then it analyzes how many people have opened the email and clicked on the links. I had never used it before or even heard of it. They told me to take an hour to just mess around with it and learn how to use it. It took me all of five minutes to figure it out, it's just how our minds work now.

I've been using Facebook for about 8 years, and Facebook and my phone are definitely the devices I use most to communicate with my friends and family. I was still using MySpace when I first heard of Facebook and was very skeptical about it. However, it was very simple to use and was becoming extremely popular. The major downside, of course, is how things like Facebook and Google basically collect information about your life. I just try not to think about it--it's inevitable, they already know everything about me and I can't do anything about it. 

Jeff Hancock-The Future of Lying 2009, video, Ted Talks, 12 November, viewed August 2, 2013, <http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_hancock_3_types_of_digital_lies.html>