Technology- a boon or bane ?

Slave to Technology!

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 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 ?

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• 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? 

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• 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. 

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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

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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

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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.

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  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

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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.