critical thinking blog assignment #5

   The topic of my research paper is the promises and perils of technology in todays world. I will be researching the good and bad that today's technology has brought us both physically and mentally.
The authors of my first source are Hirose Nasato and Kenichi Ogawa. The name of the article is called Honda Humanoid Robots Development. The journal is Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. I found this source on Jstor. Relevent information that this source provides is the advancement of technology in today's world. The spin of this source is the development of ASIMO (the robot) and improving life in human society. The same way honda made cars, motorcycles and power products, they too wanted to take up a new challenge in mobility in 1986. The main concept behind the robot was to develop a more viable mobility that would allow robots to help and live in harmont with people.
    This articles adds alot of information to my paper because it shows what robots are capable of doing. It also shows how technologgy has advanced severely. I chose this article because the documentary really captured my attention. That is the first reason as to why I chose it. This article also gives us alot of information about robots which to me is extremely important because alot of people are scared of them. I think the main reason people are scared of them is because they dont interact with them everyday. People fear the unknown. Finally, this source fits my research paper topic because it shows us somehing good that has came out of technology and what it has done for us.

    The second source I chose is What Is It Like To Be A Robot? and it is written by Daniel C. Dennett. The journal name is The American Institute Of Biological Sciences and I found this source on Jstor. Relevent information that this source provides us with the ability to get inside if a robot;s mind. Mc. Farland (scientist)ultimate goal was a robot that can be held accountable and to whom things matter. In other words, a robot with subjectivity and values. The spin on this article was basically showing how robots can act just like humans. They can identify danger, call for help when needed, and even saving energy supply for the next day.
    This source fits in my reasearch paper topic because I'm going to talk about some of the bad taht has came from technology. This is a perfect example because peoples jobs have been taken away due to robots. The companies save more money and they let people go. I chose this article because the first one I chose leans more towards by robots are good in our society and this one gives us more of an idea as to why the creation of robots isnt such a good idea.

BLOG POST #5

The vision of the Future in the New York World's fair of 1939 : Utopia vs. Reality

 I believe that the vision of a "perfect" superhighway future in the 1939 World's far was more hype than reality as the fair created real problems with its vision of suburbia and cars. The reason for this being is that the whole things was envisioned sort of dream-like. "Inside the perisphere you step off the escalator onto one of two balcony rings rotating slowly in opposite directions, one directly above the other. As you step onto the balcony you are inside a short tunnellike section, but you soon rotate out the tunnel into the great awesome space of the perisphere itself." (Gelernter 17.) This quote is one of the many that are made up from the author's imagination. I feel as if the story was easily created into the reader's mind because of the visuals and colors that were incorportaed into the reading.

   Altough there was quite a lot of creativity put into The Lost world of the Fair, it did bring a vision for fast transportation into the story The Building of a Superhighway Future at the New York World's Fair by Paul Mason Fotsch. In this exhibit, like the fair as a whole, it emphasized hope for the future at a time when daily life for many contained fear and uncertainty. It was expected that the new technology would help to bring on a better future, and the progress of technology was embodied in the rapid progression of cars in the Futurama. Even though an advancement in technology and trasnportation sounds great, alot of bad came from it as well. The growth of automobile production was increased, which meant more fumes were let out into the ozone layer, even though a suburban development was being conjured up, it also endangered the environment that surrounds us. It congested an unhealthy environment of the city.

    To conclude, even though David Gelernter brought us something out of the ordinary and amazing to read (in my opinion) it was more of a hype rather than a reality. It brought creativity to future technological ideas that are only seen in films. Although this was unrealisitc, it did create real problems with the vision of suburbia. In the sense that even though a fast pace highway would take people to their location extremely fast due to the nature of the "fast paced" highways's some bad had to come from it. This brings me to the position that alot of people are in now. Jobs have been jeopardized because robots (technology) can now do the work for human beings. Yes, technology might advance us but from everything good, must come something bad.

Critical thinking blog post 4

           Technology is all around us and has evolved more and more as the years have passed us by. I saw the video clip about the robot with actual human features and I thought it was pretty amazing. We have seen technology change and get better everywhere from medicine and even movies. One big thing that people still havent gotten used to is robots. I believe that people have a fear of robots because they don't know much information about them. When the word robot comes up, people automatically think about movies where the robots are destructive and scary.
           I enjoyed this youtube clip because it was so realistic. The robot portrayed in this video is so human like which made it more likeable but at the same time it made me a little scraed. I only say this because the human expressions that the robot was showing were uncanny to those of a real persons. For example, teh robot would open its eyes really wide to show an expression face of being suprised or even squint its eyes and smile to show happyness. It would also slant its eyebrows and mouth to seem upset. It's almost unbelieveable to look at because those are the same faces people make. For a machine to emulate that, its almost unbelieveable. The biggest fear people have about robots is that they somehow think they are going to take over us but, like I said before, people fear what they don't know. Robots and technology have saved thousands of lives all around the world. Robots are used for important surgeries such as heart surgeries. The small pieces that are used as little claws are essential for fitting into small spaces. Robots also are essential in case of a disaster. They rescue you. For example, Katrina and the floods in New Orleans.
            I dont think robots have became acceptable to most people. I say this because people are not around robots everyday. They mainly see them in movies and think of them as being these big metal machines with nine arms that are ready to attack. I think the majority of people who have given up fears of robots are people who work in the medical field or rescue searches. People who use robots in everyday life or perhaps people who study and build robots. People who are comfortable around them because its nothing new to them. An average person doesn't come across a robot normally so you would understand where the fear comes from. Just like when I take my dog out for a walk, he barks at streetcats he sees because he's not used to seeing them. In order for people to get accustomed to robots, they need relationships and trust just like people have with other people.
           Since James Cameron's "The terminator" in the 80's, alot has changed. People are starting to understand the uses of robots, and the good that comes from them. They learn that not all robots are "cyborg assassins." People have come to understand that robots are not here to kill people (like in the movie) but, to help people. I believe that the more we learn about robots and what they can do for us, the more peopel will accept them. In the future, I believe that robots will be accepted because they will be a great vision for our promises. We;'ve gotten so far already by saving lives with them so just imagine the possibilities that they can do for us in the future. They will probably be get things done faster and make our lives easier just as technology has now with the internet.

critical thinking blog #3 lib 200

               For my research paper, I was thinking of writing about Science and Technology: Promise and Peril. My two choices are to talk about the promise of the internet versus its possible negative effects on our attention span, and/or physical or mental health or the promise of artificial intelligence  versus the dangers and problems for loss of labor. In the first topic I can talk about how much time people spend on a daily basis using technology and what we get out of that. I can also talk about how much times have changed. Children now a days rather stay in and play video ga,es rather than go outside and play in a park. Technology has been the lead cause in childhood obesity in the United states. In the second topic, I can talk about how far technology has come to the point where people are being replaced with computers because it saves companies money and people are left out of jobs. Both of these topics are great choices for me because we are surrounded by technology everyday of our lives. I can talk about how technology affects us as a population or as individuals. I believe these are both good topics because they are things that people can relate to.

         Ultimately, I think I am going to write about the first topic. The promise of the internet versus its possible negative effects on our attention span, and/or physical or mental health. This argument has alot of topics that I can cover. I will be able to talk about the lack of verbal communication with people because of texting and facebook (just to name a few.) I will also be able to talk about the wonders that the internet has done for us from finding long lost family members to letting us listen to music the minute after an artist decides to drop it. Everyone benefits from technology and everyone suffers as well.