Legal and Ethical Issues

It is very sad to hear about the circumstances of Aaron Swartzes death. The article "Aaron Swartz, A Data Crusader and Now, A Cause" goes into detail about how he was attacked with extreme prejudice by a supposedly fair judicial system, which crusaded against him simply because he sought to share information with others. While I cannot say that I believe all information should be free (indeed wouldn't that be quite an anti-capitalist idea?) it is blatantly obvious that much more than there currently is should be. Additionally, there is strictly no reason that a man who shared some documents should be punished with more brutality than some seasoned murderers are. I believe that the current copyright laws are critically flawed and overly strict - hopefully lawmakers will re-adress this situation in the near future.

Privacy and Security

As the Internet grows, so grows the problem of privacy. As the article "US, British Intelligence Mining Data From Nine US Internet Companies in Broad Secret Program" reinforces, nothing that we say or do online is really private. Even the places that claim to give us privacy, such as Facebook, disregarding the fact that it shares information with the NSA and CIA, has such complex protocols for privacy that it's almost impossible to really understand if you are protected or not. "Facebook Privacy is so Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isnt Private"Facebook Privacy is so Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isnt Private". In these dark times, I believe that Internet users have had enough of being spied on, and will soon organize to destroy the ability of perpetrators to violate their privacy.

AI And Robotics

Can robots do what humans can? To be frank I'm not sure that they will be able to for a long, long time. Robots can act with strength, precision, and speed far superior to any person. However, the computers that power them are in no way equal to the complexity and advancement of the human brain. In "Should We Put Robots on Trial?", the idea was floated that, since a robot or machine can act independently from its creator and essentially without a moral compass, we should not hold its creator(s) responsible for its actions. When you think about it... how would you even go about programming or teaching a machine to have feelings? a moral compass? Any of about 1000 other states that are crucial in separating what is human from what is not? Until this core issue can be resolved I believe that robots will not be able to act in a way even remotely near human.

That being said, there are some instances where robots absolutely outclass people. Jobs such as precision welding, bomb diffusal, and even stock trading. Machines excel at these jobs because they can act much more quickly and accurately than a person, allowing them to make exponentially less errors. It is noteworthy, however, that if the circumstances deviate even slightly from what the robot knows how to handle, it will quickly become essentially useless - and this can have catastrophic consequences.

In the article "Driverless Cars Get California License", it was revealed that automated vehicles are currently being developed for civilian use. I think that a car of this fashion could be much safer than a traditional one; however I'd still prefer to drive a normal car so that I have complete control over my travels.

Social Media

Social Networking

I am currently on 5 social networking sites. While my favorite is Facebook because of its familiarity (I've been on it since the very beginning), I found the classroom application of Twitter (as highlighted in the story Professor Encourages Students to Pass Notes During Class - via Twitter) to be very interesting. In the past, I have done some internet marketing, and one of the tools that I used was a twitter monitoring suite that allowed me to accurately see current trends and predict where they would head.

Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds are digital constructs where people can come together, albeit represented as avatars. They have a host of practical uses including facilitating meetings (such as stated in Going to the Virtual Office in Second Life), teaching dangerous subjects such as welding safety, holding decentralized seminars, and many more. In a virtual world, I would probably simply be myself.

Professor Encourages Students to Pass Notes During Class — via Twitter - See more at: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/professor-encourages-students-to-pass-notes-during-class-via-twitter/4619#sthash.GVdtrOdT.dpuf

Professor Encourages Students to Pass Notes During Class — via Twitter - See more at: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/professor-encourages-students-to-pass-notes-during-class-via-twitter/4619#sthash.GVdtrOdT.dpuf

World Wide Web

"The cloud" is a reference to a new style of computing. In cloud computing, data and even applications are distributed through multiple computers connected by the internet. I believe that in the future, the web will be accessible anywhere in the world, including third world countries that don't always have access now. I believe that conventional HTTP will find competition from more private protocols such as TOR. I believe cloud applications such as Office 365 (as outlined in The Windy City Teams with Microsoft on Cloud Strategy) will take precedence over individual use applications. As the article Google’s New Director Of Engineering, Ray Kurzweil, Is Building Your ‘Cybernetic friend states, more and more data is being collected about internet users. In the future of the web, I see this data being used not only for helpful purposes such as improving search results, but also for less than moral purposes such as building digital profiles in order to track individuals. Tying in with what was said earlier, reasons like the previously stated would be an excellent reason that could cause internet users to switch to privacy fostering paradigms such as TOR.

I think blogs can be integrated into classes very easily because many students can already operate them effortlessly. It would seem that their most beneficial use in this setting would be for class discussions.

Ben Einersen