Robots of the future.

Robots- the good and the bad. 

http://www.news.com.au/technology/photos-e6frflwi-1225745701433?page=7

As a child I remember thinking how the world would work 20 years from then. Robots helping out humans was always part of the picture. I also fearing what would happen if Robots took over our world. 

It is true that we have made an extensive leap in the field of robotics however we have not fully introduced them in our lives as predicted. There are multiple reasons as to why. Some of the most obvious being whether or not it was cost effective or limitations as to what a robot can or cannot understand. 

A robot housekeeper sounds pretty cool but one might run into multiple problems. For example- a housekeepers job would be to cook a nutritious meal at all times however a nutritious meal may not necessarily mean a tasty meal so that wouldn't be very appealing. A robot housekeeper would also be programmed to keep things clean at all time. Sometimes children may make a mess and it is scary to think that the robot might get rid of the children in order to eradicate the root cause of all the mess. Robot housekeeper will also come with some pretty cool benefits mainly the reduction of manual labor. If I could I would definitely buy one as long as I could program it to my needs and wants.

I think having a driver-less car would be a great idea- if everyone switched to those cars then there would be no room for human error and therefore close to none road accidents which would in turn save lives. There would be no need for traffic police to constantly monitor cars and for humans to get tickets. It would be really awesome if this idea could be introduced. However cost of maintenance would be very high and driver-less cars would only be a luxury some could afford.

Robots would make the biggest impact in the medical field. The thought of having a surgery done by a robot would save millions of lives as the robot would make no errors if programmed correctly. Robots would also make a huge difference in the field of outer-space studies. If robots can be flown outside of earth- they might even find a new planet that life can survive on. The possibilities are endless as to what robots are capable of.

Some of the things robots might be limited to are making logical decisions- as only human beings have a conscience and are capable of using their better judgement to make decisions. A robot will do as it is programmed to do so it will never have the power to problem solve like a human being. 

Technology- a boon or bane ?

Slave to Technology!

http://hikingartist.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/mobile-phone-chain-addiction.jpg

 Our world is developing at a much faster pace than ever before. Technological advancements move at an unbelievably fast speed. It is obvious that technology plays an integral role in our lives. But do we realize at what cost we are receiving  all these benefits ? I believe that our lives are so dependent on computers that we fail to realize what the outcome would be if we were to somehow lose access to them. To discuss the issue more, I'm going to split this blog into three sections- the good, the bad and the conclusion. 

Technology - a boon ?

http://locallinxmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sales-via-mobile-local-linx-marketing.jpg

• Technology in Business- Unlike before records of customers do not have to be stored on actual paper- Accessing client data has never been easier. Hiring a new employee is completely revolutionized- starting from posting the ad to actually conducting an interview. Everything has been simplified because of technology. Also the cost of production has fallen drastically as less manual labor is needed.
• Technology in Education- The ability to use computers and e-learning in class has allowed material to be learnt efficiently. We now have immediate responses to all the questions we might have on a topic. Distance learning is at the tips of our fingers now which has lead to more and more people being educated. 
• Technology in Healthcare- Its only because of the advancement in technology, scientists today have found cures for many serious illnesses. Numerous medical aids have helped people overcome their disabilities. There are relatively less risks in performing surgical procedures with the help of technology.  
• Technology in Communication- The speed of getting in touch with someone is almost instantaneous. Nowadays nobody is out of reach. Access to news has become more personalized and can be reached at a much faster speed.

Technology- a bane? 

http://emilierichards.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Technology-Slave.jpg

• Technology has lead to us being more lazy and passive. It is because everything is so accessible we feel the need to do nothing and have machines pick up our slack.
• Technology has given mankind a chance to shows it violent nature by creating numerous destructive weapons (eg. atomic bomb, automatic rifle..etc) that have led to the death of millions of people.
• The growth of technology means many people losing their jobs- since almost everything that needed manual labor by 5 people before can be done by one machine alone- employers no longer need to hire people and can rather just invest in a machine. 
• The art of conversation is at a loss. We no longer have actual face to face conversations- Things like text, calls, emails, tweets.. etc are what governs our lives now. It has become unbelievably hard to engage in a regular conversation in person without feeling awkward.  
• Technological devices tend to come with a big price tag- so people who are financially insecure have a hard time affording it which increases segregation between social classes. 

Conclusion

In the end it all depends on how we use it! Everything has a negative side effect to. Its upto us to make use of technology effectively so that it doesn't govern our life. If used at the right age, right time and in the right way- technology can take us to great places. 

Should we ban killer robots ?

Autonomous Weapon Bans

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist

Since the beginning of mankind human beings have always been the superior species. Humans have worked on technology for decades- making improvements day after another to better the quality of life. What we fail to realize is the power these things have over us. I believe that we should ban the use of autonomous weapons and the reasons are stated below. 

http://www.ecnmag.com/sites/ecnmag.com/files/killer%20robots.jpg

Issues related to Autonomous Weapons. 

First off all autonomous weapons/ killer robots means that these drones are programmed to work in such a way that they do not need control of a human being. I believe that this idea is bizarre because human beings are gifted with unique features one of which is to have a conscience- Robots unfortunately are not capable of thinking or sympathizing. If we were to have programmed robots set loose on a battlefield- its going to be a massacre, innocent civilians might also be injured or worse dead because these killer robots are unable to think and realize that they are not the target. Death or life decisions should be left to human beings and not drones because humans we can analyze and assess situation and accordingly make decisions. 

Another problem associated with this is that technologically advanced countries like China, Russia, United Kingdom and United States would rise to be superpowers- which is frankly unfair to the other countries all because they are not capable of developing their own autonomous weapons. These superpowers will the then govern the world and have a larger say in worldwide decisions. Also if by chance there is some kind of conflict between these super powers- these countries will go to war and with how highly advanced their technology is- it will be a gruesome and bloody battle in which the victims will mostly be the people of the countries who are unable to fend for themselves. 

My idea of a Solution

http://payload119.cargocollective.com/1/10/321048/4691854/robots2.jpg

According to me- these weapons should be banned worldwide. However I would like to see development in this field for future emergency cases. There should be a few countries working together on these autonomous weapons  with a governing non biased organization monitoring their actions and developments- this should be done strictly for research purposes and should never be used as weapons for war. The governing body should come up with a set of rules which legally bind participating countries from performing any kind of harmful activities to the general.

How has the Internet Influenced You?

Power of The Internet over me

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2014-04-29-internetwallpaperhd1.jpg

It's obvious the internet has made a huge impact on my life. It has shaped my life so rapidly that sometimes I fail to realize how much of a slave I am to it- this blog is going to talk about 2 ways the internet has influenced the person I am today and the decisions I've made in the past and will make in the near future. 

Research and Reading

Being a college student it makes most sense for me to talk about this first. Back in the day when a student was given an assignment- the first thing done was a trip to the library to borrow a book. After which one would spend several hours reading through fat books with heavy and sometimes complicated material, if he/she would come across an unfamiliar word they would have to get hold of a dictionary and search through the vast vocabulary. Once research was complete the next thing to do would be to actually start writing the paper or creating some form of presentation system to submit to the teacher. Undoubtedly completing an assignment back then was hard work.

http://cdn.skilledup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/old-fashioned-research.jpg &  http://www.facetmarketinggroup.com/wpcontent/uploads/2012/06/website-grader-buying-research-online.jpg

  Nowadays things work quite differently. When I'm given a topic to research- I don't bother to go to the library because information is at the tips of my fingers. I can be in the comfort of my own house, and be one Google-search away from having everything I need to complete the paper. Everything unlike books is so organized and formatted- Through high school Wikipedia was my number one to go site but I've realized that in college Professors prefer if you keep Wikipedia out of it. So I've started using Web of Science, it has access to so many journals dated up to 300 years ago. I can digitally store and share all my information. If I ever need to know the meaning of a word I can instantly look it up on Google or if I want to type/ design my paper I have so many free open source software ready for me. The internet has changed how I do my homework and learn by a great deal. 

Communication

http://techtalkafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/voice_over_internet_protocol.jpg

The internet is partly responsible for me studying here at K-State. Without the internet I would've never been able to contact my admission director and get actual help and advice. The reason I decided it's okay for me to move all the way here from home is because I knew I wouldn't miss my family too much because I can always call, text or Skype with them. Its obviously not the same as an actual face-to-face conversation but it's pretty close. We no longer have to use snail-mail or telegrams to get letters across the world- Email will do the same function within a matter of a few seconds. The internet provides us with so many options to stay in touch with the society- text, Skype, call, email, tweet, Facebook: comment/reply/message and the list goes on. The future of communication lies in the hands of the internet and the internet is going to take us far places.

POTS

Pattern on the Stone

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pattern-On-Stone-Computers/dp/046502596X

When I found out The Pattern on the Stone by W. Daniel Hillis was assigned as the text for this class I wasn't the happiest person- I felt like a lot of it would include complex terms and I'd spend a lot of time googling every single word. I'm happy to say I was pleasantly surprised- Daniel Hills is the kind of author who understands that a lot of people who might not have a strong background in computers are going to be reading this book- so he made it a point to avoid technical terms. My favorite thing about this book is the fact that it requires no prerequisite. 

The  most interesting thing I learnt in this book is not exactly a topic- its more about how the author deconstructs what exactly computers are. He uses some unusual but easy to relate to examples like a hydraulic tic tac toe game or using winning strategies to create a game of rock-paper-scissors. 

If there was one thing I'd like to change about this book is to make it more interesting and more of a page turner. Also I felt like the title of this book was a little misleading- I expected Hillis to mention a lot about how computers work and he did but it was very briefly and only for the first two chapters which in my opinion wasn't enough. 

To be completely honest- I've previously read about most of the things Hillis mentioned in this book. I do however like the way it is narrated and how he managed to mention a lot of important topics like parallel computing, analog computers, compression.. etc in a short book. 

This book enabled me to look at the history of computers which previously I didn't care much for. It talked about important figures in the Computing World like Charles Babbage, Eva Loveless.. etc. I now have a deeper appreciation for these icons. I can't exactly say that I can relate to these historical people as times have changed but I certainly understand how much work they put into every contribution they made.

I would recommend this book to a friend along with "Code: Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software" by Charles Petzold. I feel like these two books compliment each other very well. The later goes more in depth of the working mechanism of computers and will make up for what's missing in Pattern on the Stone.

Computer Systems in Daily Life

Automated Teller Machines

http://www.atmms.com/blog/when-did-atms-become-popular/ 

On your way to the mall and you figure out you're low on cash- you look for the nearest ATM. Nowadays these machines can be found almost anywhere from supermarkets to gas stations. You insert your credit/ debit card and follow the instructions- within a minute you're walking with your cash and a receipt. In this blog we're going to take a deeper look into the  history, working and importance of an ATM.

History of ATM

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7746651/John-Shepherd-Barron.ht

People have been working on the Automated Teller Machine for quite sometime- the original idea is dated back to the 1930's. Luther George Simjian was the first person to patent the idea and further develop on it. However his patent was not accepted and had been dismissed. The idea was then worked on by John Shepherd-Barron, who compared the machine to a chocolate dispenser. Switching out chocolate bars for cash, he submitted his idea to Barclays Bank. Customers inserted a single-use paper voucher and punched in a four-digit pass-code that we know now as a PIN(personal identification number), and they were given their money.

Working of ATM

On insertion of your debit/ credit card, the Automated Teller Machine reads the info encoded on the magnetic strip present on the back of your card. The encoded info consists of a unique number also known as (CVV), PIN and expiration date. 

The machine will then prompt you to enter your PIN- this is done to verify your authorization to access account information. Once your PIN has been verified, the ATM communicates with your bank to access personal information regarding your account. The ATM is connected to a collection of huge interbank networks. A particular ATM can only allow access to bank accounts that are registered in the interbank networks. 

If you want to check your account balance, the Automated teller machine asks your bank through the interbank network about your account details. It then displays savings and checking account balance to you. A few ATM's are capable of the displaying the available line of credit on a credit card.

If you are requesting cash withdrawal, the ATM goes through the same first step of communicating with your bank through the interbank networks to get find out balance available. However instead of giving out a balance it spits out cash from cash cartridges within its internal vault. Notes of different values are stored in various cartridges to enable the ATM to efficiently distribute the required amount of money. The ATM machine then releases the cash and sends a message to your bank to withdraw the amount, and other fees from your bank account.

Advantages 

The biggest benefit of an ATM is definitely convenience. One does not have to travel far and wait in long lines at banks to get a hold of a teller just to withdraw or check balance. Like mentioned above ATM's can be found almost anywhere. Also customers are not required to carry large sums of money from home as the amount can easily be withdrawn from a nearby ATM.

Drawbacks

A main concern related with ATM's is personal safety- especially in isolated places where there is a risk of someone robing you of all your money when you are done. Another issue might be how some thieves will your Personal Identification number. The chances of this happening is more with poorly maintained machine.

Algorithms

Algorithms in our Daily lives

Algorithms are basically just a set of instructions. Do we follow a set of instructions to perform functions in our day to day life ? Of course we do.  I've picked getting dressed as my daily algorithm. 

           

Every morning when I wake up I check the temperature so I can dress accordingly. If the temperature is above 70 degrees I consider the weather hot so I wear shorts, tank top and flip flops. If the temperature is between 55-70 degrees I consider the weather moderate so I wear tights, tshirt and tennis shoes. When the temperature is below 55 degrees, I wear jeans, long sleeves shirt, jacket, gloves and boots. 

Can a computer perform this task efficiently ? I think yes- As I'm most proficient in java, I've typed the above algorithm using java code. Consider function dressing_up() and since the function dressing_up() consists of putting on clothes we will need a sub function called wear_item which will take input that is the type of clothing you wish to wear. The table below listing items in your closet. 

TOPS	BOTTOMS	FOOTWEAR	ACCESSORIES
tank_top	shorts	flip_flops	socks
tshirt	tights	sneakers	wool_socks
jacket	jeans	boots	gloves
longsleeved_shirt

dressing_up( int temp ){

if( temp> 70 )

   {wear_item( tank_top );

    wear_item( shorts );

    wear_item( flip_flops );}

else if ( temp> 55 )

    {wear_item( tshirt );

      wear_item( tights );

      wear_item( socks );

      wear_item( sneakers );}

else 

    {wear_item (longsleeved_shirt );

      wear_item( jeans );

      wear_item( jacket );

      wear_item( wool_socks );

      wear_item( boots );

      wear_item( gloves ); }

   } 

In conclusion I believe a computer can perform the above algorithm if provided the correct hardware. Obviously it might be harder to entirely duplicate the process if one of the above item is dirty but if given adequate if-else instructions, then its possible!

To be very honest I think computers are capable of working with almost all algorithms but might encounter a problem with something as simple as brushing your teeth- I believe so because there are so many different ways to brush your teeth- whether you like to brush your upper jaw first or whether you'd want to go in circular or horizontal motions. It might be hard to feed these algorithms to a computer because there are just too many sets of instructions. 

The above algorithm is not one with the fewest steps- like I mentioned earlier there are different ways to get dressed but this is just the way I prefer to do it. 

When it comes to sharing algorithms, it depends on who I'm sharing it with- if its a human being its easy- by writing instructions down or showing them whereas if its a computer I would type code in the required programming language. 

     

Historical Figure in Computing

Tim Berners-Lee 

Imagine life as we know it except with no emails, no social media, no online shopping, no instantaneous weather reports etc. Sounds impossible, right? Fortunately we will never have to go through that- all thanks to this guy.

Tim Berners- also known as "TimBL" was born on 8th June 1955 in London, England. 

His inventions include:-

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• HTML
• Web Browser
• World Wide Web

The reason why I chose TimBL and find him interesting is because his contribution to the world of Computing is so crucial. The internet can be difficult to use and understand but the World Wide Web has made it so much simpler by supporting sound, videos and other multimedia and also by providing a graphical interface.

If I were given a chance to ask Tim Berners-Lee a question, it would be whether he regrets inventing the World Wide Web, if given a chance would he go back and do it differently by putting more restriction on it? The reason I’d ask this is because the World Wide Web even though beneficial can be abused by cyber bullying, downloading gruesome pictures or looking up instructions to make bombs. At times people blame these issues on the WWW- so I’d really like to hear his take on that.

Another fun question I’d ask him would be how did he come up with the name world wide web and what other names was he considering.

(credit: http://www.csee.umbc.edu)

The goal behind Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web was to develop a ‘hypertext system’ in order to enable data sharing between geographically dispersed teams of researchers in a less time consuming and efficient manner. The World Wide Web was first released in 1990 but only received attention in 1993. Here is a table depicting the growth of the World Wide Web    

Number of websites- Dec 90 to Jan 96
Date	Number of websites
Dec 90	1
Dec 91	10
Dec 92	50
Jun 93	130
Sep 93	204
Dec 93	623
Jun 94	2,738
Dec 94	10,022
Jun 95	23,500
Jan 96	100,000

 (credit: www.pingdom.com)

We can see how fast the web is expanding and how this is only the beginning of much more.

 I'd like to conclude this blog post with my favorite quote by TimBL "The web as I envisaged it, we have not seen it yet. The future is still so much bigger than the past."