Final Post

 Evolution of Technology

    Technology, as defined by Britannica is, "the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims
of human life," encompassing any tool ever used by human beings and their ancestors. In fact, human evolution is defined by the development of new and improved technology: from fire to the printing press to the Internet, and everything in between. It is now and always has been an integral part of the human experience; however, the modern day application of technology seems more significant than that of the past, at least in the way it impacts how people relate to one another. Past technological advances propelled us into the future with tools and machines that improved efficiency and quality of life. Conversely, current advances focus less on the physical application of technology and more on how preexisting technologies can be improved to expedite information exchange, perhaps even to the detriment of human connection.

Societal Significance

    On the one hand, a positive effect of digital technology is how computer advancements and instant
communication help people communicate, especially through social media. People are connected more than ever before through the instant exchange of news, art, music, and ideas across online platforms and physical distance. People can engage in debate from across borders, social movements can promote change, and old friends who lost touch can find each other again, all through technology.

    

    On the other other hand though, one major problem associated with increased connection on social media is addiction to technology. Lives are lived through phones and apps consume our time and energy while simultaneously collecting information on us to be sold to marketers that draw us further into the cycle of digital preoccupation. Additionally, efforts to stay connected online can very easily
contribute to becoming disconnected in real life.

    In fact, in a past psychological study about how cell phone use during face-to-face interaction related to how satisfying those interactions were, researchers found that people felt less socially connected when using their phone during a face-to-face interaction. They also found that such mixed interactions (combining phone use and face-to-face communication) were still more beneficial than interaction done solely through social media. Essentially, they confirmed that there is a correlation between face-to-face interaction and overall satisfaction with social interaction that is diminished with the incorporation of an electronic device. While technology may enable us to make more connections across farther distances, it doesn't necessarily enable those connections to be meaningful.

Personal Experience

    Personally, I don't have much of an online presence because I don't post information about myself online and the only social media account I have is TikTok, which I only use to watch videos, not to create content. That being said, technology is still integrated into pretty much every part of my life be it using a laptop for research for classes, playing games on my phone, watching Netflix, or texting friends and family. Most often, I have at least one electronic device within reach, and while this is certainly something to be aware of, I think its also important to recognize that this may simply be an unavoidable consequence of the culture we live in, where technology is prevalent in most, if not all, aspects of society. As a result of the extensive presence of technology within society, I think that, for the most part, consistent use of technology is a reflection of the adoption of main stream culture, and it is really only a cause for concern when it becomes detrimental to social functioning.

Final Thoughts

    Altogether, technology has always been a vital component to human experience, influencing the ways we interact with the world and each other, but for all its benefits it is also important to be cautious of how much time you spend using technology, what you use it for, and just how much it affects your life for the good or the bad. Furthermore, we should always remember that technology is meant to be a tool to enhance our authentic experience of life, rather than a means to turn that experience from authentic to artificial.

Living in the Age of AI

    The Frontline PBS video, "In the Age of AI",  delves into the subject of Artificial Intelligence and its role in our lives, analyzing both its positive intentions and its negative consequences. At its core, AI is simply set of tools used by businesses to increase efficiency and create revenue, which, ultimately, seems like a neutral function. However, AI's neutrality depends on how it is employed and for what purpose. Oftentimes, AI is advertised as being used to tailor the online world to the interests of the individual, but in order to create such an individualized online experience, the software must first collect and analyze scores of personal data, usually without the user's awareness of just how much information is being collected on them.

AI does this through a process called machine learning, in which a computer is able to "learn" by analyzing data sets, recognizing patterns, and using that knowledge to make decisions. This can be very beneficial for businesses in areas such as data mining, predictive analytics, product recommendations, marketing, and pricing strategies. Machine learning gives businesses the ability to filter through large collections of data and make predictions on human behavior for marketing and sales. That being said, machine learning also has unintended consequences when human biases are built into the algorithms, causing the AI to learn offensive language on social media sites and provide polarizing content in ads.

Additionally, machine learning has contributed to the phenomenon of surveillance capitalism where data on people's movements and behaviors, that is often collected without the user's knowledge, is sold to third party companies. Some examples of surveillance technologies used widely today are smart home devices that may record conversations without any user interaction or Bluetooth devices that use cross-app tracking. 

Finally, not only can AI predict human behavior, but it may also be able to control it through something known as emotional contagion, which is the tendency to behave a certain way based on the emotions a person interprets from someone else. This phenomenon can occur without any in-person contact and simply through the types of media a person is exposed to like in ads, videos, or comments on social media. With this knowledge, AI can influence people's behavior by controlling the type of content they consume, impacting their emotions and how they might act on those emotions over time.

Considering just how much data AI can collect and what it can do with that knowledge, it is important for us to remain aware of what information we are putting out into the world and where that information is going.

Propaganda

 
 Propaganda is the dissemination of information to acheive the deliberate goal of manipulating other people's attitudes and behaviors. It involves the presentation of facts, arguments, and symbols in such a way that it influences the viewer to believe in and further spread the message being portrayed. In order to be effective, propaganda takes into account variables that affect human behavior such as predisposed attitudes towards specific symbols; economic, physical, and emotional motivations; and social pressures. Considering all of these factors together, a propagandist can produce the most persuasive message possible to induce their target audience.

    While the term propaganda began having widespread use during World War I, its efforts have persisted since early in human history. For instance, in Ancient Greece, specifically in the city of Athens, citizens were very conscious of their beliefs over religious and political matters, which led to the spread of propaganda, primarily through word of mouth. Additionally, they would use public locations like the theater, assembly, law courts, and religious festivals to share their messages. Propaganda was also used during the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and in both World Wars.

Propoganda Examples:

    In the present day, propaganda is spread through all available media sources including press, radio, film, computers, posters, speeches, monuments, books, music, etc, and it is used consistently for political and social persuasion through things like election commercials and social media posts. 

    Furthermore, propaganda can have both positive and negative uses. On the positive side, propaganda can be used by governments and organizations to promote positive messages and lifestyle habits like in the cases of messages against smoking and drugs. However, it can also be used to spread false information, damage reputations, and create animosity towards a certain country or group. As a result, propaganda is an incredibly powerful tool for manipulation and persuasion that poses a risk to the unsuspecting viewer.

EOTO #2: Net Neutrality

 Definition

Net neutrality is the principle that all data on the internet should be treated equally and be freely available to all users regardless of the device, application, or platform they use. In particular, it prevents Internet service providers (ISPs) from discriminating between online content by blocking content, speeding up or slowing down internet speeds when accessing specific websites, or charging extra money for customers to access websites that that ISP is not affiliated with or does not own. 

History

    In the United States, stringent net neutrality rules were first put in place in 2015 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implemented the Open Internet Order, which established guidelines to protect the open Internet. The Open Internet Order prohibited blocking or paid
prioritization of online content, prevented website access from being unreasonably reduced, and provided for transparency into network practices. Additionally, it allows for these regulations by reclassifying Internet access service as a common carrier, or a service that is open to the genral public for an initial fee. 

    Later, in 2017, these rules were overturned when the FCC implemented the Restoring Internet Freedom Order that became effective the following year. The Restoring Internet Freedom Order reclassified internet access service as an information service that requires only light regulation. It found that transparency regarding network mangaement practices, performance, and terms of service would be sufficient to ensure an open internet.

  

Pros and Cons

    In the net neutrality debate, supporters of net neutrality include much of the general public, human rights organizations, consumer rights advocates, software and technology companies, and large internet technology companies. They believe that the internet should be free and open and argue in favor of its positive effects. Among these are the preservation of free speech, the protection of consumers from unfair pricing, greater competition by creating a more open market, and greater incentive for innovation. 

    Meanwhile, opponents of net neutrality mainly consist of ISPs who argue that government regulation of internet access service is an unnecessary and burdensome barrier to economic growth. They believe that net neutrality would actually decrease innovation and increase costs for consumers because of the expense of providing equal access to the full capacity of the internet. Often, they favor an internet service model that allows ISPs to charge a premium fee for faster internet speed on their affiliated websites, which they claim is similar to the existing choice that customers have between slower internet service or a faster service over broadband. Also, they note that the so far the internet has developed very well without any sort of net neutrality rules, which may indicate that such rules are not needed. 

Implications

  

 Overall, the absence of net neutrality poses a danger to freedom of speech and idea sharing for society as a whole. By allowing ISPs to regulate the ease of accessibility to certain websites and charge more money for websites that they do not consider preferred, they have the power to control what information their users can receive. Additionally, it creates a disparity in information access between the rich and the poor because some people will be prevented from accessing certain content simply based on there ability, or lack thereof, to afford a specific service plan or service premium. 

Privacy Issues

    There are two significant privacy issues raised in these TED talks: Catherine Crump: The small and surprisingly dangerous detail the police track about you and Christopher Soghoian: How to avoid surveillance... with the phone in your pocket. In Catherine Crump's video, she talks about the mass surveillance technology utilized by local police departments across the United States that enables them to track people's locations by recording the license plate of every vehicle that a police car will pass. Separately, in Christopher Soghoian's video, he addresses the issue of telephone companies having wire-taping and surveillance capabilities programed into their service so that they can provide the government with the means to monitor phone calls when requested.

 

    Both of these videos bring to light issues that have drastic privacy implications. In particular, the existence of surveillance software that has the capabilities to monitor the actions and behaviors of every American citizen is a dangerous tool that can easily be abused. When these devices are used for their prescribed purpose of monitoring illegal activity they are very beneficial. However, these benefits are easily outweighed by the privacy costs placed on everyday people whose whereabouts can be tracked and whose daily actions can be predicted.

    In light of this, we should all take steps to protect our private information from cybersecurity threats and surveillance efforts using tools such as encryption software and VPNs. Encryption is vital to securing digital information and ensuring that it remains confidential. As a result, it is important to use devices, applications, and websites that use encryption to protect users' data and keep private information private. Additionally, VPNs or virtual private networks provide online privacy by hiding a device's IP address and making the users online actions untraceable, thereby protecting them from being monitored.

   

     

Diffusion of Innovations Theory

 

   The Diffusion of Innovation Theory is a theory developed by E.M Rogers in 1962 to explain how a product or idea spreads throughout a society, ultimately resulting in the adoption of this product. In this process, there are five categories of the types of people that will adopt the product and when they will adopt it. First, innovators or pioneers will take the risk of using the untried innovation, then early adopters will follow and act as opinion leaders by not shying away from necessary change. After this, the early majority will begin adopting the innovation once they have evidence that it works, and the late majority will follow after early majority approval has been given. Finally, laggards will gradually adopt the innovation, but it will take them a long time, since they are naturally skeptical and resistant to whatever change this innovation will cause.

 

 One example of the applicability of the Diffusion of Innovation Theory is the adoption of the telegraph after it's first successful transmission in 1844. At this time, the electric telegraph was a novel idea in the eyes of the American consumer, but eventually it developed into a successful market.

   

 The Pioneers of the telegraph include Samuel Morse and his business partners: Amos Kendall,
Leonard Gale, Alfred Vail, and F.O.J. Smith. Morse, Gale, and Vail were the contributing inventors of the telegraph and Kendall and Smith handled the business affairs. These men intiated the spread of the telegraph, building the first telegraph lines and introducing the invention to new areas across the country.

 Next, early adopters appeared in the form of rival telegraph lines that were built along the same routes as Morse's lines. They were built from the use of new patents that improved upon Morse's design. For example, the telegraph device used by the Royal House had higher quality wire, more insulation, and a keyboard. Altogether, by 1851, there were 75 competeing telegraph companies with 21,147 miles of wire.

  

  In that same year, the Western Union Corporation was built, which became the largest provider of telegraph service in the United States. This company's dominance in the telegraph market contributed greatly to both the early and late majority adoptions of the telegraph, with their construction of the first transconinental telgraph in 1861. Additionally, between the years of 1866 and 1900 the yearly messages sent over Western Union's telegraph lines increased from 5.8 million to 63.2 million, showing their influence in the market.

    

Between the years of 1900 and 1945 the telegraph drew in the last customers it possibly could (the laggards) before it declined in the face of competition from the telephone. In these years, the telegraph had success as an inexpensive form of long-distance and international communication, especially with the development of the teletypwriter in the 1920s. The teletypewriter enabled people to send and receive telegraph messages without the use of Morse code. In 1945, 236 million domestic messages were sent, the most messages ever sent over a telegraph network in the United States. After this, the telegraph lost its prevalence because of the emergence of other innovations.

      

The Radio

The radio was invented by Gugielmo Marconi in the 1890s and it began as a type of wireless telegraph, enabling people to communicate using Morse code without needing a wired connection. Later on, in 1906, a physicist named Reginald Fessenden sent the first transmission of human voice and music. From this development, the demand for radio began to rise and entertainment broadcasting began in 1910; however, radio was most impactful during the Golden Age of Radio between the late 1920s and the early 1950s. In this time period, comedies, dramas, games shows, and popular music drew radio listeners from across the country.

    Additionally, there were a multitude of impacts from the radio in the areas of music and politics. The radio jump-started the music industry, expanding artists' audiences across the country and across the globe, and it brought people together to listen to their favorite types of music and explore genres they hadn't been exposed to before. The radio was also incredibly impactful durring WWI as a means to inform the public of what was happening in the war, and to spread wartime commercials and propoganda. Furthermore, radio was famously used by President Franklin Roosevelt in his fireside chats where he spoke to the public about what the government was doing during the Great Depression, and later, during World War II. It acted as a means of connection between the White House and the general population and was a form of reassurance for many people during trying times.

    

    However, while the radio had many positive impacts, it also had some negative effects including the spread of false news or unwanted opinions over radio stations, the decline of live entertainment as more people listened free radio broadcasting rather than buying tickets for shows, and the development health issues related to radio wave exposure that were revealed over time.