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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Getting lost in the world

You probably went to see Avatar, and most likely saw it in 3-D. Technology has advanced so far that we can virtually live in another world. In my previous post, I talked about Microsoft's project Natal. It shouldn't be long before the motion sensing technology is incorporated into 3-D viewing to create an almost real world. How long will it be before we are able to feel the virtual world around us? I think this is a great step forward into the future, however it makes you wonder what ramifications it will have. There are enough people lost in 2-dimensional worlds already. What will happen when we can cast aside our reality in favor of a "better" life? Perhaps we will end up like this? I guess we can't tell, but I for one am excited about these advances in technology. I just hope we can control ourselves.

Inspiration:
How 'Avatar' may predict the future of virtual worlds.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Women don't like science . . .

Google "women science scholarships" and you will find pages of links to scholarships, that are only for women interested in scientific degrees. But, aren't there less women in the sciences because of their lack of opportunities? Clearly, numbers let us conclude that, the low numbers of male teachers compared to women is caused by a lack of opportunities for men. Or, perhaps men and women are different. Our society values money making skills more than any other. This flaw is the reason we are forcing women to become men. It's my opinion that the job of being a mother is more important than any CEO's position. How many of our world's leaders had loving and supportive mothers, and how many of society's delinquents had abusive mothers? I think we need to reassess our outlook on life and see that men and women will never, and should never, be the same.

Inspiration:
Title IX and Women in Academics

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Microsoft: Always full of new ideas!

Nintendo introduced motion sensitive gameplay to the world, with the introduction of the Wii. The new style of play, and family friendly games, caused their sales to soar. Never one to be left in the dust, Microsoft has announced its latest project, that is set to make the Wii a thing of the past. Project Natal uses a motion capture camera to track the moves of the person playing the game. Microsoft is full of original ideas! Or was it Microsoft that was built off of borrowed ideas?  Microsoft strikes again! Though, perhaps not at all original, in my opinion, they do take the idea to a level no one else could have.





Related topics:
Motion sensor technology, throw out that remote control! 7 features of the Toshiba ZX900 cell TV

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Google: The fountain of knowledge? Or the downfall of society?

If you ever have a question, google has your answer! Advances in technology have provided us with a wealth of knowledge, but is this really what our society needs? Neil Postman describes how we gain from technology, but also make sacrifices from it's improvements. Google cofounder Sergey Brin puts it succinctly:
"I'd like to get to a state where people think that if you've Googled something, you've researched it, and otherwise you haven't and that's it."
Google is not research! This is where we are making our trade-off for technology. We have the answers to everything, yet we don't know anything. How many times have we 'googled' something, looked at the first result and then stated that as fact? Not all sources are accurate and not all sources are unbiased. Other times we find correct information, but we learn only the 'what', instead of the 'why'. Our society is becoming increasingly lazy and our knowledge of the facts is also lazy. Technology allows us to sound smart, when really we are far from it.
"With great power comes great responsibility"
We have the power to know everything, but we must have the responsibility to use this power correctly. Otherwise, we will become a society of lazy and surprisingly uneducated people, oh wait...




The world according to Google.
Neil Postman: Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change

Monday, January 11, 2010

Who said anything about ethics?

Let's discuss ethics. Actually, I don't think you want to go there...