Make Sure you Read the Last Paragraph

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114280811&ps=rs

Read This!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4031603.stm

Latest news on Potential Deal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8327558.stm

Read before Simulation!

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1024/p02s02-usfp.html

response

This video completely stunned me. There were so many facts stated in such a short amount of time and each and every one is true; whether we like it or not. I too asked the following question brought up by Austin: “As humans become more dependent upon technology, what will the future look like?” After seeing this video how can we ask any question other than that? One of the main things that bothered me after seeing this video is the realization that education is becoming less and less valued and special to people. With each year that passes, more and more technology is replacing precious resources of knowledge and learning. One of the most prominent examples of this is that students are hardly ever using books or encyclopedias anymore when doing research; they instead head straight to a computer and go to Google.com to look up the answer. I cannot deny it; I too am sometimes guilty of this, but I hope that people soon come to realize the importance of education and learning in every country and every culture. No matter what era someone is from, education should always be of the utmost importance. It needs to be respected and anyone, anywhere should have the opportunity to gain knowledge and learn things. Although technology has brought information to places that otherwise would not receive it, we must learn to control the amount of dependency that we place on things such as computers; they are only so reliable.

Response to Did you Know.

I have mixed feelings about this video. In one respect, I think its amazing that we have advanced so much in so little of a period of time, in another respect, this is kind of scary. To think that we have advanced this much so quickly can make one wonder about the sources of error present in the new technology. This concept kind of reminds me of anatomy class, when we talk about how if one cell regenerates at a constant rate there is less chance of mutation, but when it regenerates quickly, there is more chance of mutations which cause cancer in most cases. The case in which a common computer will soon be able to generate more than the entire human species is also a bit frightening as Kyle mentioned. But in response to this topic, technically we already have this capability, its called Google. Google brings together the intelligence of almost everyone from every part of the world, and this information is stored overtime, and added onto over generations. Although we haven’t had this luxury for long, it will continue to grow and expand as time goes on. So do we have a long way to go with technology? Yes, absolutely. But will we know when the point of no return is? When technology takes over? Probably not, but when you think about it, we have grown up and adapted to the present technology and will continue to do so, whether we’re ready for it or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos

In response to Emily T.

I agree with Emily that it is totally bizarre for a robot to take care of a person, when since the beginning of time, humans took care of humans. Emily also brings up an interesting point about being exceeded by technology in your third year of college. Not only does it cost money to go back to college to be updated after working in a specific field for years, it also requires multiple trips back to college to be constantly updated on the new technology that will never cease to advance. Another good point she made was that technology could take your place. The way our economy has been declining lately with an unemployment increase of 4.1% since last year [1], the human race cannot afford to have the joobs taken by machines. To answer her question "Have we already gone too far with our technology?", I don't think so. Sure, technology has surpassed our highest expectations, but we are not yet at the point where we have robots that are running around doing jobs like delivering mail, serving in the police or even preparing food like a professional chef (like the movie I, Robot). However, the way we rely on technology today, from the simplest things like boiling water on the stove to the most far fetched of ideas like pens that help you solve math equations, is a little frightening, because like Emily said, what if technology fails and we have to rely on ourselves? The answer for most of us is terrifying. Lastly, I disagree with her very first sentence “…are becoming way too technologically advanced than we should be.”, but I agree more with the fact that humans are becoming way too technologically dependent than we should be.

[1] http://www.google.com/publicdatads=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&tdim=true&q=unemployment+rate

What I know, 3.0

Though some of the facts in this video are shocking, some of them are not too surprising at all. Everyone knows how large of a population both China and India have. Mentioning that the 25% of India’s population with the highest IQs exceeds America’s total population it didn’t really shock me, considering that there are almost 1.2 billion people living in India and only 300 million in the US. And so what if China becomes the number one English speaking country? For this to happen only a little over 20% of its population would have to speak English due to the massive amount of people in the country. What did surprise me though, as it did most other people, was the statement that “by 2049, a $1000 computer will exceed the computational abilities of the entire human species”. This was so surprising because currently most regular computers aren’t even that cheap and a computer of any price that will outsmart the entire human population has yet to be successfully created.
Technology throughout time, except for warfare, has been developed to make everyday tasks easier and more enjoyable. Inventions like the automobile, the telephone, and the computer, have helped to revolutionize society. Even smaller advancements like Velcro and the mechanical pencil have helped to improve people’s lives in one way or another. But what happens when the potential risk of danger in new technology outweighs its benefits? This is where I draw the line. For example, when a robot takes a doctors place, a patient’s life would be in the hands of this technological being. Technology malfunctions all the time, who’s to say that robotic doctors will never have any glitches? A simple glitch in this case would cost someone their life. Many new robots are stationed at military hospitals like the Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Here, a robot nicknamed “Chungbot” visits patients daily and allows Dr. Kevin Chung to monitor them from over 1,500 miles away with a computer and a joystick. Though Chungbot can only examine wounds, with information and technological developments increasing at an incomprehensible rate, it won’t be long before something like this robot will be able to operate on patients while being controlled by someone miles away. This is the type of technology that really frightens me. I have no doubt that robots might be able to eventually successfully complete a surgery with more precision than a human being, but I have enough distrust in my laptop to do the right job without any problems ever, never mind the distrust I have in a robot to complete surgeries without any even minor malfunctions. It is one thing when a doctor messes up and causes someone to lose their life, but it’s a completely different story when you throw a robot causing people to die in the mix.
So what does it all mean? It means that the world is growing rapidly, not just in population but in technology and information as well. How we decide to use this technology and information, and what limits we set, will determine the outcome of this increasingly concerning exponential growth.

Source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/23/tech/main5260524.shtml

Did you know?

This video really took me by surprise due to the shocking aspects of some of the facts presented. The rapidness in which the world is increasing and the rate at which technology is advancing is almost scary. It is hard to imagine what our world will be like when there is a computer available to the general public that has the capabilities of computing more than the entire human species. By making greater technology available easier, I feel that the world will become more dangerous as more people will have the ability to do whatever they want. As technology advances the human species is becoming more and more dependent on the use of computers. This can clearly be seen through the use of Google as a search engine. In only 2006 the number of Google searches was at 2.7 billion per month. Currently this number has dramatically increased to 31 billion. The image that comes to my mind from this statement is similar to that seen in the movie IRobot where robots are created to assist the human species in making living easier. However the question is, when will the technology become so great that it will be able to control itself and destroy the human species completely? The accessibility of technology today is exponentially greater than 200 years ago where a man living in the 18th century came across less information than that which is presented in one weeks worth of the New York Times. So how much more advanced will things in 200 years from now be? when if ever will the advancement of technology come to an end? These ideas are almost impossible to imagine of what the human species will be capable of.

Another part of the video that i found to be amazing was how the United States isn't as superior of a nation as many people make it out to be. In the video it said, "China will soon become the number one english speaking country in the world, and that India's smartest 25% of its population consists of more people than the entire population of the United States. This really puts into perspective how other countries in the world are becoming greater powers and will eventually over take the United States as a global leader. I believe that eventually this continuous increase in the human population and advancements in technology are going to lead to mass chaos which will result in a global war having the majority of the human population killed. If nothing is done to control either of these than it is certain that the world will suffer due to it.

What does it all mean?

My first reaction to watching the video was: "oh my god, terminator". As humans become more dependent upon technology, what will the future look like? Perhaps we're discovering all our minds can handle and will soon make the switch to technological means to discover what the human mind simply can't handle. The video said that by 2013 there is the capability to have constructed a supercomputer that exceeds the human mind... First of all, how is that even possible, and secondly, why would we do that?!? As far as I know, all technological devices built by humans have some eventual roadblock since it is a product of the human mind, so it seems to me that the only way to have a supercomputer built that exceeds this boundary would be.. by another machine? But wouldn't this machine have its limits, as it was created by the human mind as well? It's all extremely confusing to me and if such a thing were to happen, just imagine the irony in humans making themselves obsolete to their own creations. Technology can also turn humans against each other, creating some conflict. For example, the video mentioned 694,000 songs being illegally downloaded during the course of the presentation. Lars Ulrich (drummer of super awesome band Metallica) had an experience with a large number of Metallica songs being downloaded illegally and this created some conflict in between humans. Sure, it's a pretty minor conflict when looking at the world.. but imagine the possibilities of larger conflicts resulting from the use of technology. Through the use of technology, it makes it so much easier to insult other people, and even fight them with technological weapons or tactics (IED's).

Speaking of humans becoming obsolete to their own creations, the video states that we are living in exponential times. The usage of "exponential times" should scare the hell out of us all, because when you look at exponential growth curves with any species on Earth, it has a seemingly steady rise in population then a very steep crash. Extinction. The carrying capacity of our planetary environment will surely soon be broken, and after that, there's no amount of realistic technology that could save the species.

This video means that humans are becoming victims to technology. I would think that the more technologically inclined a species is, then the more aware that species is of the outcome. Apparently not, which is probably why our militaries may likely be fighting over computers or, (like in terminator), possibly against machines in the future. All in all, this video really scared me and now I have a less-supportive view of expansion of technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos

What does it all mean?

Did you know 3.0 was quite jaw dropping with some of the facts that it presented. At first, I felt very positive about the facts being presented and was baffled at how amazing our technology is becoming and the changes over the last few years. As the presentation went on, I went from feeling baffled to a little nervous as the facts of the huge population growth was shown. Seeing how much our population across the globe is growing while in a time where we already are dealing with global warming threats scares me quite a bit. I simply do not know how the world is going to deal with so many people in such a fast amount of time. Though there is plenty of undeveloped land right now, we are on the verge on a water crisis and have already started an energy crisis. This means that something needs to be done, either stop the population growth somehow or find alternative ways to deal with it.
Another shocking fact was that more people in Asian countries speak english than in America. To me, this means that the world is becoming much more diverse, and that the one time racial barrier across the world is slowly diminishing. If everyone eventually speaks the same language, than it will be much easier for everyone to get along and interact. With everyone on the same page, great things will be much easier to accomplish. There is no denying the technology advances Japan and China have brought fourth, and if America and these countries could work hand in hand, even greater things can be accomplished.
The fact about how a computer that has the capabilitites of the brain will be developed within a few years scares me a little as will. If a machine is as capable as a human, it may put a lot of people out of jobs, and make more people useless. I feel like technology may be on the verge of too advanced for our time, and we may be headed towards a dangerous path. Obviously, the computer will not be a human with emotions and such, but if it can produce at the rate of a human in certain tasks, then surely companies will use those instead of expensive employees.
The facts about 25% of India having a smarter IQ than everyone in America didn't really bother me, because India is so massive it is not really an even playing field. Some other facts in the presentation were like that as well, when at first glance you are astounded, but then realize it is not that big a deal. The fact China will be the largest English speaking country in the world isn't that amazing because it has more than twice the population of the US.
The facts about people googling so much means that people have a lot of time on there hands to spend at the computer. With nearly every profession now providing a computer, workers spend quite a bit of time browsing the net, essentially wasting time. The question was posed, "who did people ask these questions to before google," and the answer is no one. Before the internet, people really didn't have much time to think about silly stuff they ask now. They spent there time working or focusing on other things, but now with technology so developed they don't need to work so hard, and have more time to pose "who won the 1932 world series" or something along that nature. Also, with the news now always online and much more accessible than newspaper, which is a dying breed, the internet gets a lot more use and searches as it is the number one news provider, when back in the past people had to wait each morning for the newspaper.
So all in all it means that we are growing too large as a society, becoming too technologically advanced for our own good, and need to slow it down a little. With all this brain power we should spend our time thinking of alternative energy solutions and not who is the next American Idol.


Did You Know? 3.0. YouTube.com, 8 Apr. 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos.

Is it really that surprising?

At the start of this video, I was truly anxious about my future; the statistics presented are astonishing. One of the most surprising statistics was that technology is advancing so fast that by the 3^rd year of college, half of what tech students learned their 1^st year is irrelevant. Same is true with medicine; due to advances in pharmaceutics and surgery techniques, as well as robotic contraptions and other technological advances. This is crazy! It’s no surprise that medical students are constantly stressed: in addition to working in a stressful environment and competing against their peers, they also have to worry about competition from robots while maintaining current skills to match the new developments.

As I progressed through the video, however, I thought about if there was any need to be concerned. During the first decade of the 20^th century, significant inventions included color photography, vacuum cleaners, crayons, and instant coffee. Did people in the early 1900s completely lose their minds over inventions such as crayons? During the first decade of the 21^st century, notable inventions include hybrid cars, YouTube, multiple forms of birth control, date-rape drug detectors, iPods, and Segways. There is an incredible difference between the two centuries, and many of our contemporaries are unable to accept some of these advances.

When asked what this all means, I would have to say nothing. Change happens, as is evident in nearly every aspect of modern life. Upon the increased popularity of day care centers, people became concerned that this would negatively impact the family system. Although there is some truth to this statement, the overall benefits of having another working parent to contribute to the family income as well as increased socialization for the child potentially outweigh the negative aspects.

Society adapts to changing times, as seen by the different values shown by the various inventions. Society often has no control over technological discoveries. I see no end to the rapid growth of technology that infiltrates daily life, unless the entire world collectively decides to stop making any technological advancements and revert to a simpler time. This is a highly unlikely possibility, as countries currently compete to see who can make bigger, better nuclear weapons or smaller, faster computers. Is anyone truly surprised that people in India are striving for more educated children? Or that Americans are attempting to improve their social lives by adding most of the 2 million members of MySpace? It is human nature to make something "better", even if it is already of high quality. So while many people continue to crusade against modern technology for fear of it corrupting otherwise “good” humans, I believe we would benefit from taking a step back from the stress and appreciating the good intentions of the geniuses who are making these outrageous advances in modern technology.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos

http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/ModernInvention.htm

The video aptly entitled Did You Know? 3.0 outlines the major advancements in today's society with a focus on changes in social environment and technology over the recent years. The advancements made not only show the success of human culture but also reveal a frightening future. The exponentially increasing sophistication of technology without equal advancements in human understanding could lead to an extremely dangerous world. The video states that it is predicted that by 2049 a computer costing $1000 will exceed the computational abilities of the entire human species. This extraordinary prediction, were it to become a reality, could easily be used to further advance every field of science, from medicine development to space travel. However, if this technology is not closely monitored, and kept distinctly as a tool for humans to use, not as a machine to replace human input and thought, great problems are bound to follow. The idea of semi-sentient machines replacing humans has abounded for years in sci-fi novels and films, however plots that were once laughable are now not only becoming plausible but very likely to mirror human progress in the coming decades. In order for the human race as we know it to continue to exist alongside such marvelous technology key elements must be remembered, as more and more things become automated for sake of convenience and cost-cutting human input and control must preside over all matters of importance. The amount of technology that is used daily and depended upon by millions of people all over the world that did not exist five or ten years ago is astounding and as computers continue to progress advancements are made faster and faster. Without any sort world-wide plateauing of technological advancement, a infinitely high improbability, the only option is to create a more aware world that realizes the potential task-oriented technology has of rendering the human useless. Advances in technology have already shown that as soon as a machine is invented to automate even the most simple of tasks humans completely forgo learning to do the task manually, relying on the machine to do the work. If too many essential tasks are left completely up to machines what will happen to the world when a mechanical error or electronic virus hits the system? People already are at a loss of what to do when the internet, or even sites such as facebook, is down, what would happen if computer-controlled cars were to fail, or automated farms were to break down? Human kind cannot afford to allow itself to completely rely on technology, for as it is too few people could exist successfully without it. As technology advances, more human-controlled methods must be remembered and retained in order to prevent the creation of dystrophy in society.

What does it mean?

I was rather concerned by this video. As an American I was a bit worried by the news that other parts of the world are smarter and more prepared than us as a nation. I think that the government should watch this video and do something about the dire situation our country is facing if we continue to go down the road we are on. This information, coupled with the fact that we are being grossly out populated with countries like India and China makes me think we need to do something. Not necessarily an increase in population, but using the population we have to its full potential through education.
I was deeply troubled by the news that a supercomputer will be built in 2013 that will exceed the human brain in computational skills. In case this happens, I am personally preparing myself for a Terminator uprising. All jokes aside though, the news that new technology is advancing at such a rapid rate is quite troubling. If we continue to , better technology and network each other together, the human species will no longer be a necessary part of the planet and will cease to be. Technology will do all the thinking and work for us, and we will be replaced in the world by machines. The basic fact is that new and better technology is replacing hard work and skills that humans have depended on for millennia. For example, in the old days people would have to walk half a mile to the river, get water, chop down a tree, build a fire and heat the water for an hour just to take a bath. Now people get mad when the water pressure turns down in the shower. People are becoming lazy and relying more and more on machines to do their jobs for them. I'm not saying that all technology is bad, I'm just saying that people need to be able to work for things so that they can appreciate them when they get them. Hard work is the key to success in any endeavor, and people need to realize this.
So basically what i got out of this video is that unless we drop our dependence on technology and become more intelligent and educated as a nation, we are not looking at a very bright future.

what does it mean?

Watching that video was truly surprising. In a way it scares me to think how we are preparing for a future that we are still not 100% sure of. The statistic that stated that we were educating students for jobs that do not even exist yet truly baffles me [1]. I think the video was put out for everyone to take a step back and realize that we really need to start to prepare for the future better. It made me realize that America is not as big and as superior in technology as I thought before I watched the video. The shows great examples of how technology has changed over the years. For example, couples meet each other over the internet, Myspace has become a huge hit with over 200 million people signed up for the web page with the extremely interesting fact that if Myspace were its own country, it would be the 5th largest in the world [1]!!! Google has become increasingly important to many people as it has grown in the past 3 years, with an increase of searches to 31 billion, every month. What this video means, is that as the world gets bigger, with the huge amount of people that are coming into the world daily, we have to make a place in the world, as it will get more competitive for everyone to get a job in the future. We really should not specialize in one specific field, only to see what new kinds of jobs will be created in the near future. What would happen if we spent so many years in schooling to become specialized in one field, with only knowledge for that topic, and it is replaced with new technology? We are growing closer and closer to a future where we solely depend more and more on technology. How many of us can go without our cell phones, I-pods, or computers for a week? I know I certainly cannot. On a daily basis, we rely on technology to get us through the day. This is good and bad. It is bad because we are depending less and less on our common knowledge and imagination, and rely on computers and technology to do reports, retain information, and entertain us. Technology is certainly a great thing for everyone all over the world, we have solved so many problems, and helped so many people with technology, but we have also started to become "brain dead" almost. There are 31 billion searches on Google a month. What happened to the encyclopedia? Or going to the library to retain information through books? The video raised the great question, how did we function B.G (Before Google). It truly scares me, that although technology is great, we also are loosing our sense of humanity almost. We are not thinking for ourselves a lot of the time, we have to computer do that for us. Have a question? Text Cha- Cha. A Google-type device that you can text from your cell phone and receive an answer. I think that this is great, and at the same time, once again brings up my point of not being able to figure things out on our own.

Did You Know? 3.0. YouTube.com, 8 Apr. 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos.

What DOES it mean?

Honestly, I thought almost every statistic was kind of cool, thinking that all that information was really interesting, and how amazingly fast we’ve advanced. That was until I saw the statistic about how by 2049, it is predicted a $1000 computer will exceed computational capabilities of a human being. At that point I just got really scared for the future, and realized that even though the video was certainly interesting, it isn’t really that cool. If we could survive before all these technological advances, I don’t understand why we need half of them. A few Fridays ago, I saw a movie in theaters called “Surrogates,” which was basically a futuristic sci-fi movie about how everyone has surrogates that looked 100 percent like a human, that they activate from their homes or work places, using their thoughts and brain power. That way, in the outside world, they can save themselves from being hurt. After seeing the movie, I thought about how our world would be if that came true eventually. Though I thought it might seem far-fetched now, it could be quite possible in the future. The New York Times posted an article July 15th of this year, titled, “Scientists Worry Machine May Outsmart Man.” The article discusses how if we let science take our society too far, we will lose self control. An example they gave was, computer viruses that no one can stop. That would be insane!? Past that even, consequences to computers outsmarting us could turn extremely dangerous. Another example from the article was a self-driving car. We are completely capable of driving cars every single day normally, so why would we need a self-driving one? Or, service robots at home. People honestly need robots to do their chores? All of these examples summed up pretty much sound like ways to rapidly increase laziness and decrease self-sufficiency. It sounds really convenient, but our world would be so incredibly boring. In 2003, BBC posted an article titled, “Have Scientists Gone Too Far?” and it was an article about embryonic cells. Just six years ago, the world thought science had gone past its limit by inventing an incredible way to “edit” cells. The movie Gattaca, from 1997, predicted this science by creating a movie where almost every parent got this “new science” and had children that were literally, perfect. This science, to me, is a blessing and a curse. The optimistic part about this invention is that, any “bad” cells, that could physically or mentally affect the child from living a stable life, could potentially be removed. However, how boring would the world be if everyone was the same? No one would ever be good at one thing – because everyone would be good at everything. That being said, this embryonic cell invention is just as bad as a robot, because rather than having a machine do things for you, you could do things for yourself.. perfectly. Boring. So what does this all mean? It means that science is amazing, and definitely technology is something that we all need, considering we have grown so accustomed to it. However, science can be taken too far. And, I think we should try and slow down the process, because we are risking are own lives if we don’t.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3040126.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26robot.html

It means that...

The quote that struck me the most and summed up the entire presentation is the phrase “We are living in exponential times.” That, in a nutshell, is the basis for everything that is happening. Humans are parasites and expand whenever and however we can. In China and India, populations have far, far surpassed those of every developed country on the planet and don't seem to be stopping anytime soon. I figure that Chinese and Indians will become experts at packing themselves on top of each other, then realize that other places are not nearly as crowded, and then maybe think twice about having that seventh child they'd been talking about for the past few months.

As a result of our technological boom, people are changing. Kids are becoming less and less patient, waiting to receive a text message from their boyfriend or girlfriend, or not wanting to rake a neighbor’s yard because it doesn’t pay enough money. There are many reasons why technology is exploding, and that is to make our lives easier. Cars, computers, cell phones…all of these were made with the promise of more relaxation for families in the future. However, there is danger in technology; it can replace the usefulness of humans. [1] What happens when we are no longer needed; how are we to function in society?

Technology is coming to the point of ridiculousness. The video claims that “…for students starting a 4-year technical degree, that means that half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study." It is now impractical to complete a technical degree, or delve into a technical field, without at least considering extra, constant training to update workers on the new ways of the world. I agree with Emily when she says that we will not be able to keep up with technology; it is a pretty grim future considering the lengths we will have to go to in order to stay informed and up-to-date with technology. It is interesting to consider what technology will be like in the future. In the recent past, many were hung up on the huge decision--Playstation 3 or XBox 360? Wii or unlimited texting? Either way, technology is on such a boom that sales have to go down eventually. Not everyone can purchase such expensive items in the span of less than a year. Technology is getting smaller and better in order to perform a function with compete ease that would have had humans scratching their heads for hours on end. I just wonder, and hope, that one day the exponential increase of technology will slow down and/or stop. What would a world be like where everyone was completely satisfied with what they already had? I wonder if there will ever be an existence like that, although I highly doubt it. Too much of the American and world mentality is focused on inventing and developing the "next big thing", and hey, maybe the world will eventually be like Disney predicted in Zenon the Zequal.

[1] http://www.bizhelp24.com/it/the-pros-and-cons-of-new-technology.html

So what does it all mean?

In my opinion, it means we, as the human race, are becoming way too technologically advanced than we should be. I do believe that in our modern world, technology is necessary, but we are beginning to go too far and we need to slow down. It is very scary to think of what we are capable of, and what we could accidentally create. According to the New York Times, scientists’ concern is that “further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences”. For example, there are machines developed that try to diagnose and sympathize with sick patients! How can we allow technology to take care of us? If we become too dependent on technology, we will forget how to live without it! One in eight couples married last year met online! There are 31 billion searches on Google every month! What happens when we forget how to be resourceful and only depend on technology to find the answers? What if instead of technology depending on us to develop it, we depend on it to develop us? In the video, it said that because of the pace that we are acquiring new technology information, half of the information a student learns in their first year of a four year program is already outdated by the third year. If we keep moving at such an increasing pace, eventually no one will be able to keep up. This will cause even more issues because people will not be able to afford the necessary education and there will not be as many job opportunities because where humans were once needed, technology has taken their place. As I do think it is amazing what we have proven ourselves capable of creating with technology and love my internet and cell phone just as much as anyone else, I think we all need to realize that there needs to be some point where we draw the line.

My thought is, have we already reached that line? The idea that humans should be micro-chipped is coming out. Although no one has to adhere to this now, what if that changes in the future? According to Associated Content: “Realistically, we do need an organizational infra-structure in order to keep things....well...organized. Tagging store items is acceptable. Tagging people, however, is another issue altogether different.” I could not agree more with that statement, and although my point here is about technology as a whole, micro-chipping humans wraps together my point. My point is that we may have gone too far in our ideas and inventions for technology and if we do not slow it down, we are going to cause ourselves an even bigger problem, the problem being that we will depend on technology for our own survival. Some dependence on technology is inevitable, but it needs to be an amount that if technology failed we would still remember how to take care of ourselves without it. With that being said my thought comes back up again: have we already gone too far with our technology?

"Digital Angel - Is Technology Going Too Far? -." Associated Content - associatedcontent.com. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/184426/digital_angel_is_technology_going_too.html?cat=9.

"The New York Times Log In." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 10 Oct. 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26robot.html?_r=1.

Amnesty International--please join!

Thanks to Austin for creating this FB group--please join!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=148009458603&ref=nf

Did You Know 3.0

Click on the following link, watch the short video, and respond the question, "so what does it all mean?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos