Blog Post 10

I found this documentary on the rise of AI and the new mechanical empire, very insightful. I have found myself recently wondering how all of this became the forefront of our lives so quickly. It felt as though it happened overnight, and I was glad to realize that I wasn't the only one who felt this way. 

The documentary gives insights on the timeline of AI, starting with Google being founded in 1998. Since then, they have been trying to be innovated to keep their relevance and to stay on top in their own global market. The documentary explained that the founders needed a way to save the company from a downfall, so they decided to use algorithms to keep it appealing to consumers. However, this meant tracking their data to personalize each person's experience and keep them interested. Each time you browse or search for something, you leave behind digital traces of your behavior. These little movements have allowed Artificial Intelligence to grow so quickly. They didn't reveal this until much later, in 2004. When they emphasized the importance of privacy and how their company was going to uphold that value, their revenue increased substantially. 

 

In the early days of Artificial Intelligence, during the trial and error period, researchers in China had programmed a machine to learn and process algorithms through the Chinese game of "Go". This started the rise of AI and truly showed people the power it had when it began making moves no one had ever thought of. However, AI's power has had some good implications and positive outcomes.

    By welcoming Artificial Intelligence in our lives, we take out uncertainty and allow the unpredictable to be predicted. The presence of AI in everyday life was inevitable, it is just a matter of learning to use it to your advantage. AI has also led to National Security in enhancements, through scanning the country for signs of unrest and has had the ability to predict people who are prone to terrorism. In order to do o, however, countries, like China, have deployed 6 million cameras as of 2020, and who knows how many since then. These cameras allow AI to scan everyday people going through their daily lives to look for possible threats. Many states have placed laws to increase privacy safety because of these countries habits. In California, people have the right to go to any company and ask what data of theirs has been collected. This can only help so much. Many companies and states have made rules or laws to enforce transparency, but how much of the transparency is only there to cover up what they don't want you to know?

    China's age of AI is much newer than the United States', but has gotten much more advance. They are

moving at a quicker speed than anywhere else in the world. The documentary mentions that this may create a Cold War because of the technology advancements. While the US tries to be on the same level as China, instead of colliding, it only has created a larger divide. Because of this, the documentary predicts that one day the world will have to choose between technology and ideas from the Chinese Tech Sector and the American Tech Sector. The idea of AI was to make life easier. The idea is that one day, we will be able to do what we love because we love it and that AI will push us to do what we love and allow us to reevaluate what it truly means to be human.

This documentary is five years old, and quite a lot has happened in this amount of time. Reflecting on this and seeing how these people didn't even know about the pandemic that was quickly approaching them, I have noticed how much has actually played out that they talked about. The world has been taken over with AI and AI's like chat GPT, Meta AI, and Apple Intelligence, are found everywhere in day to day life. Not only countries, but almost everyone, has had to create guidelines to prevent overuse or misuse of these tools. Teachers and Business managers have had to make sure their students or employees don't use these to do their work for them. 

Ultimately, AI is the future but knowing its limits and using it to your advantage is the key.

 

 

FINAL BLOG POST: The World's Relationship with Technology

The Futurama ride at the World Fair, showed the high expectations that the world had for the future with technology. The world had an excited outlook on what was to come and everyone in the video was filled with awe just thinking what their future would hold. Many of the Futurama ideas have become true in a sense but with their downsides. As predicted, technology has taken over everyday life. It's become such a necessity for society to do everyday chores. However, by infiltrating everyday life, it has also created people to be more distant from each other and changes the function of society.  

In video two, the main focal point is on a person who feels alone in such a crowded space. They are shown to be ignored by the world because everyone is so distracted by technology. It shows the world as desensitized to horrors an dark situations and everyone has become mind numb and zombies who are devoted to their devices. It is shown to bring the worst out in society and emphasized people's lack of the ability to live in the moment. It ultimately shows technology as what will be everyone's downfall. 

I have often found times where technology use of those around me or even myself makes me feel lonely even in crowded rooms or even catch myself forgetting to live in the moment because I need the "perfect shot". I always notice at concerts there is a sea of cell phones trying to record and many end up forgetting their own experiences at these concerts. I know I have fallen victim to this on many occasions. I have also noticed times where I may be out to dinner and my family is all on their phones at the table, even if just for a moment. At this point, I always make an effort to set my phone down when I notice, as well as call those around me to attention. I often feel embarrassed and wonder if people sitting at other tables may have noticed and said to their parties, "look at that table over there. they're all on their phones" as I have heard my parents and o
thers say in the past. Many people today use the excuse of work as to why they are constantly on their phones. I personally, find myself on my phone when I feel bored, as a reflex. When I am preoccupied with other tasks, I often do not go on my phone. My friends and I also often try to make an effort to not using my phones when we are out together because we have also noticed these how sought up people may get in their phones. 

I do believe social media causes many of the problems in the world today. While I know the world before technology was far from perfect, it definitely seemed simpler. As stated in the prompt, there have been many downsides to how casual the internet has become and how widely used it now is. mental health has substantially declined in society and many people manipulate and hurt others in more psychological ways. 

Technology is not inherently good or bad. It is a reflection of how we choose to use it. While it connects us, entertains us, and offers powerful tools, it also challenges our ability to stay grounded, present, and emotionally in tune with each other. The shift from Futurama’s hopeful vision to today’s tech-saturated reality reveals how easily innovation can outpace reflection. Our relationship with technology deserves constant reevaluation. We must ask ourselves: are we using it, or is it using us? The answer may shape not just our future, but who we are becoming.

Blog 11

I felt that I learned a lot from Group 2's presentation. They were given the Mediasphere to research and present. All of these topics immediately pertain to the media that I keep up with and they all influence my daily life. The media sphere has had an impact on everyone's lives and people have become dependent on it. Whether it's from daily news and information, or simply just entertainment, most people are impacted by it. 

    Two terms/concepts that Group 2 taught about were Whistle Blowers and Influencers. Whistle Blowers have a large impact on the media and news outlets often depend on them for original sources and stories. Whistle blowers are categorized as people who are a part of an organization who spread information that they found out from this organization. One famous whistle blower mentioned in this presentation was Edward Snowden. He was a former NSA contractor who leaked classified documents and revealed the existence of global surveillance programs. These were highly classified documents that were leaked and he is now known as one of the most notable whistle blowers in current American History. 

The presentation discussed the effects of Whistleblowers on American society with both good and bad implications. On one hand, they provide Americans with information about their own safety that the government isn't telling us. However, they also release information that the government may have been keeping for a reason. This causes national security threats because even though everyday American people know this information, people who may be threats to society now also know this classified information and may use it in dangerous ways. I found it interesting so see one person's affect on the rest of society by simply exposing information. It also makes you wonder how much the government hides though sometimes it may be more beneficial to simply just wonder.  

Another term in this presentation that I learned more about was Influencers. I consider myself to be familiar with pop culture especially the age of influencers and how they've taken over the mediasphere, but I found out that there was still a lot that I didn't realize about them. The term influencer has impacted everyone's lives and everyone tries to become one. It is seen as the easiest and quickest way to fame in today's world and everyone chases this. However, influencers create a false narrative of being the "perfect people" though they are far from it. They show models of who people want to become and who they believe you have to become to be famous. This creates a large divide between reality and what is for show. They are also under a lot of pressure to be this perfect person and a lot of times a small slip up can take away any and all fame they may have. I learned from group 2, about the negative aspects of being an influencer and what it means to be a "bad" influencer. These people will spread misinformation to get people hooked or to manipulate their viewers to keep them watching. A lot of times they will also speak inauthentically and build up this fake narrative of who people want to become. This fake narrative is simply unachievable because it's created simply for show and is fully fake. It is dangerous because of the extents people feel they need to go to achieve this. 

EOTO 2: The Dangers of AI Deepfakes

 

Imagine seeing a video of a world leader declaring war, or your best friend saying something they never actually said. With AI deepfakes, that terrifying possibility is no longer science fiction; it’s already here. When watching old movies and television shows, I always enjoyed seeing how they envisioned the future, but while there have been great advances, there have also been more terrifying ones. Personally, I feel deepfakes fall into the latter category. 

Deepfakes are defined as piece of media in which a picture or video of person is manipulated by ai to make it seem they are saying or do. They date back to as far as the 1990s. During this time, people were making advances in technology to increase the effects they could use in television and movies. CGI Researchers came up with the technology that later created AI Deepfakes, to make more realistic human characters in film. The technology has evolved especially as the technology behind artificial intelligence evolves. The term for deepfakes was coined in 2017 by a Reddit user who had the username "deepfakes". The term mixed the terms "deep learning" which is a type of learning based on machines and artificial intelligence, and "fake", as these depictions are simply not real. 

    Deepfakes present many dangers especially in the age of cancel culture. With cancel culture, many have career ending situations in which they are seen doing or saying something that goes against society's most popular ideas at the time. While this is a dangerous mob mentality mindset to begin with, its dangers are escalated when you throw in complete fiction being confused with reality. There have been many incidents in which deepfakes have been used to mimic celebrity endorsements for a less popular candidate, or even maliciously intended to appear as someone saying defamatory things or expressing ideals that they do not believe in. Other dangerous incidents include non-consensual videos released made to appear to be people who aren't actually there. Many of these types of fictional productions can bring harm to not just celebrities, but also everyday people.

Many may be thinking, "well I am not famous so I can just use the humorous aspect of Deepfakes", and while, yes, you can simply put your friends face on a orange or in a meme, you are still equally subjected to be put in videos so long as your face appears on the internet, even from professional headshot photos. Among those most subjected to being put in videos, women make up 90%. Those most subject to believe them to be true are those apart of the elderly community. Many people are at risk to be put in them, and not just celebrities. 

   There have been continuous efforts for deepfakes to be more restricted and to increase internet saftey. however, this is still a fairly new concept and there have been obstacles in the way of these attempts to put restrictions on this tool. According to an excerpt from the 2023 edition of the Northwestern "Buffet Briefs", several countries began looking into legal measures to regulate deepfake productions and distributions in 2019. There is still no set solution yet as they are currently covered under the 1st amendment as free speech and expression. 

Diffusion of Innovation and TikTok

 Tiktok's rise to popularity seemed abrupt and almost out of nowhere. However, it did follow the path predicted for it in the 1960s, long before its creation, by Everett Rogers in his book Diffusion of Innovations. His theory for innovations explains the how and why new ideas and technologies spread through cultures so quickly. 

TikTok started off as a niche platform called Musical.ly that was widely popular among young kids, teens, and some young adults. People in the millennial and early Gen-Z generations have long been fascinated with lip-syncing and short clip creation platforms. Before TikTok, it was musically, before musical.ly, it was vine, and even before vine, it was DubSmash. People constantly tried to innovate these platforms into a new entity until they couldn't anymore and now society itself innovates their uses of TikTok. What started as a Lip Syncing, Dancing, short skit app, now is many people's primary source of news and entertainment.

As the app evolved, its short-form, algorithm-driven content quickly attracted the early majority, who were drawn in by viral dances, comedy, and the allure of quickly going viral off of the “For You Page”. Eventually, the late majority joined in the fame to either connect, stay relative, or watch what younger generations engaged in. This late majority included parents, teachers, and even large corporations and businesses. Still, there were some "laggards" or those who intentionally decide not to adopt platforms like TikTok entirely. They fear for privacy concerns, content addiction, or even just because of general distaste for social media culture.

TikTok can connect people and cultures very quickly in a way that anyone can go viral. But, like anything else, it has its downsides. It has a particularly addictive design created to draw people, especially younger people in. It also can spread misinformation just as quickly as true information, and has mental health effects like other social media platforms.  It also has affected the attention span of younger generations as now they have gotten much shorter. Roger's theory doesn't tell use what to adopt, rather it tells us how and why society does. Adoption isn't just about the innovation which makes this theory so deeply rooted in the current culture of the world today. It doesn't just explain any trend, but it explains how humans work and grow together and allows us to understand ourselves.

Blog Post 7: Anti War Movement

The Progressive Era of American History was one that marked a period of immense change and growth. There was a large anti-war movement present throughout society against world war 1, ultimately shaping the first amendment and how it was applied to future cases. At this time, those against war were viewed as criminals and outcasts and thought to be against what is best for the country. Out of this anti war movement came very important cases to not only the United States, but also the first amendment, such as Schenck vs. United States (1919). This case introduced Justice Holmes' Clear and Present Danger Standard of the First Amendment.

Today, Anti War voices have again be
en silenced and hidden from the public no matter how vocal they try to be. Society is much different than it was in the early 20th century as now we have evolved media to social media where any one can share whatever they are feeling with seemingly few prohibitions. You would think. Many are still censored or "shadow banned" meaning they are hidden from public view without the creator knowing. While the post may not be completely hidden, public accounts, posts, and/or cites will not show up if they are sharing something unfavored by the media outlet and will only show up if specifically searched for. This is why cites like Anti war.com and At the American Conservative most likely will not show up with a simple google search on a topic. Instead, you would have to deliberately/specifically search up the cites or their writers and posts to see what is published by them. 

Shadow banning is not quite censorship in context of the first amendment and because there isn't many ways to prove it as censorship, it usually is hard to make a case against it. Shadow banning is often overlooked as simply algorithms, but it is funny how many things that are unfavorable in the media often go overlooked or are hidden. This is most likely why these strong anti war voices are very rarely seen in the mainstream news and often seen more as a minority in the media and as rebels, even today like they once were during the Progressive Era. In order to hear points of views from these strong anti war
voices, you would have to specifically search for their opinions. Unpopular speech is included under the first amendment, but we usually only hear the media's preferred side in the conflict.The question shouldn't be what is missing, but rather why it is. 

Blog Post 6: Learning From Others

Technology has been around since the beginining of time but not as the electronic mechanisms we know today. Technology is defined by https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/ as the machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge. This could mean anything. In prehistoric ages the knowledge that they had allowed them to create new technology such as the wheel.

No matter what means or under what circumstances one has, new technologies may be created. 

Learning new to use technology is not as tricky as one may think. However, the time period where learning new things is easiest is during developmental ages, especially childhood and teenage years. Kids are sponges for knowledge. Throughout your early years, you are constantly learning new things and not just in school. As you grow up, you learn to use the technology around your house like washing machines, dishwashers, stoves and ovens, and especially, in more recent years, tablets and phones. 

While I don't remember learning about them, as a young child, I had grasped the concept of phones and tablets so quickly. I was fascinated by them but they came as second nature. I remember even at a young age of 5, I had constantly heard from the adults around me things like, "how did you learn to do that" or "can you show me how to...". At this time, this type of technology was almost as new to society as I was. My quick grasp of these devices often puzzled many adults around me as it did for many other families. This type of technology is one that has definitely come easier to younger generations than those older as they often
don't know anything else.

    One technology I learned about from someone else was the invention of email. It was one of the first platforms I used that felt more “grown up.” The email has becoming a very professional tool, but at its earliest stage, it was just used for many types of conversations and communication. I was surprised to learn how insignificant the first email was to the point of it being so insignificant, that we do not even know for sure what the first one said. I would have thought that this style of communication would have gone from more formal to less, purely because of how it went from very inaccessible to extremely accessible. I found it interesting to learn how much of an impact the email has on virtual communication today and how it has helped many new types of communication continue. This reminded me that not all technology comes intuitively, and that sharing knowledge across generations is what keeps innovations moving forward. Whether it’s something simple or something revolutionary, the technologies we learn from others shape how we communicate, connect, and grow.