Questions week 10/1

The Net and the Web
1. If TAZ only exists through other objects then does it really exist?

2. Do you think that mapping TAZ is possible? What are some of the problems?

3. Does TAZ need to approach or reach its full potential to be useful?

The Attention Economy and the Net
1. Is an economy that operates in cyberspace required for a world economy?

2. As time do you think that attention will go down even furthur?

3. Do you think that as more companies vie for attention (through commercials) that people will start to become increasingly aware of the attention grabbers and fight to counteract this fighting?

Partner answers 2

Partner: Sam Carrothers

From reading: The Internet Revolution - What are the implications that there is "no single organization controlling the web?" Should we consider this a good thing?
-The implications of no single organization running the web is that the control over certain aspects of the web are not uniform. I would consider this a good thing because the discontinuity between the look and feel of different websites contribute to the creativity of the people and encourage them to design and create. If one organization ran the internet then I feel like creativity would not be encouraged or even possible in many of the ways that it is now.

From reading: The Internet Revolution - The article determines that "the web is a space and not a physical thing." Isn't it true, however, that it requires the physical infrastructure of servers? Does the ability to store (and analyze) data for and from the internet represent the next great market for investment and employment?
-I think that the market for storing data and manipulating it has provided a workspace for many people in a time when jobs are being replaced by automation. The job growth in areas such as data analyzing and collecting has grown to enormous height recently with opportunities to advertise to people using social websites.





From reading: Engineering a New Order: Military Institutions, Technical Education, and the Rise of the Industrial State - The article alludes to a notion of 'automated warfare.' Isn't it true that technological advances 'automate' nearly every aspect of our lives?
-Technology has begun to automate nearly every aspect of our lives. Automation extending to the military sector could have dire consequences. If war is fought with only machines then nations will be more willing to fight and take higher risks during war time because the loss of huan life is no longer an issue 

Questions week 9/24

Our weirdness is Free:
1. Do you think that groups such as anonymous hacking into websites and corporations in order to show holes in their security is beneficial or harmful?

2. Do you think that the spreading of memes and websites where people can anonymously post is moving the world towards a more social time or a more secluded time?

3. What a group such as anonymous ever have enough power to change the outcome of an election or ruin a company?

The Ethics of digital direct action:
1. The Deput assistant FBI director said that "chaos on the internet is unacceptable," is there ever a time when the internet is not in chaos? What kind of chaos is he talking about?

2. Do you think flooding a website in order to draw attention to that site is unlawful?

3. Do you think that hackers and members of groups such as anonymous are damaging to the political culture of the internet? What would you could as the political culture of the internet?

Cyberdeterrence and cyberwar:
1. Do you think that cyberattacks on enemy military forces will become a major strategy in the near future?

2. Should hacking be taught in the interest of using the ability to search for vulnerabilities and destroying enemy cyber infrastructures?

3. Do you think that laws against hacking would have any actual effect?

Reading Questions 9/17

Engineering a New Order:
1. If large numbers of young adults were trained specifically in military science could there be a potential economic downfall falling the end of a war and the start of peace?

2. The paper talks about the rapid advancement of military science and an inability within military forces to keep up with these advancements, if this is true then should people be trained in schools that take multiple years as opposed to quick on the job training?

3. Do you think that military science could become part of a regular study schedule in a regular university as opposed to only being taught in military specific schools?

The internet Revolution:
1. Was the switch from military to private backing of the internet in 1991 a major turning point in how the internet is viewed and used today?

2. All of the same terms that were originally introduced for the internet are still in use today,  do you ever think that these terms and identifiers will become obsolete?

3. Many companies are valued based on the number of users and their potential, is it safe to have a site be worth something if there are no physical assets?

Tools for thought (chapters 4, 5, 6):
1. Do you think that any of the inventors that were responsible for the first computers visualized using their computers for personal enjoyment rather than just research and calculations?

2. Has research been improved by the notion of working in teams or has innovation been sacrificed?

3. Have we already reached the age of true information processing or just a time when programs are just dynamic enough to proxy the true ability?

Questions 9/10

Some Tentative Axioms of Communication:
1. Why would classifying the aspects of communication be important?

2. Why would communication imply commitment? What would you classify as commitment?

3. Can mathematical formulas effectively be applied to human communication when we are an unpredictable species?

Cybernetics in History:
1. Do you think that the imperfection of human communication is what truly sets us apart from machines?

2. Would we ever want to design a computer that is designed to be like a human? Would that defeat the reason of a computer?

3. If nature's tendency is to be disorderly then why do humans attempt to create order even if there is no way to harness the chaos?

answering questions

Partner: Sam Carrothers

From reading: resisting technology - What are some examples in which do to technology, we have become commodities?
-As technology improves a person's physical body becomes less useful as the precision and speed of new machines overtake that of the human body. These machines will soon completely overtake the usefulness of the physical body leaving humans as only a thinking being. An example of a place where machines have already surpassed humans is the building of cars by using robotics.

From reading: architecture of participation - Is it more important (or equally so) that we measure the 'quantity of life' on the individual level as well as the collective.
-At this time period we have moved past a need for humans to think only of furthering the species to the next generation. We have entered a time when the individual is now seen as more important than the collective. These selfish ideals could lead to the fall of society. This is why it is equally important that people focus on both the individual and collective quality of life.

From reading: Some Tentative Axioms of Communication - The concept of quantifying communication interested me. Are unintentional responses deemed of lesser communicable value?
-Although I see quantifying communication as a useless exercise I would have to say that unintentional responses are just as important if not more so that intentional responses. Unintentional responses have more weight because they show the true side of a person, they are uncalculated so they are no just what the person wants everyone to hear. Unintentional responses are also important because their unprecise nature is more akin to human rather than computers.The separation between humans and computers is extremely important as technology moves forward.

extra credit - twitterland

Twitter has always seemed to be a joke. Telling an assortment of people who also supposedly care about what you are doing or thinking at any given time would have seemed ridiculous a couple of years ago, in fact it seems ridiculous now. The basic use of twitter still seems completely useless, but tweeting about meeting or for spreading ideas could be an incredibly powerful tool. Harris talks about using twitter to not just tell people about events, but also how to manipulate people using twitter. He spread a rumor across the Internet in order to rally people to his cause. Just imagine how quickly a rumor could spread through a school. Here is where twitter’s true power lies. Lies quickly spread to influence the decisions of a huge number of people. The other pillar of power comes from the fact that such tweets could come from accounts that don’t have obvious owners. There is no way to decipher whether or not the information is valid, yet people will believe anything. Rumors could even be spread multiple times by the same person. Harris admitted to change what name he tweeted from in order to dodge legal action pointed at his older twitter account. Also, multiple accounts could be used to not only spread rumors more rapidly, but also to attack certain ideas. Harris’s use of @Anti_Racism_Dog allowed him to easily and quickly deem an idea wrong by his standards and throw the first punch in a fight against anyone that he wanted, even if he himself didn’t want to personally fight the person. The biggest aspect of starting a fight such as this is that everyone who follows any of the people who are participating in the fight is watching. Such an enormous audience can ruin any person’s reputation with almost no effort. Twitter can become an incredibly dangerous tool.

Questions for Agarwal, Hopkins, and Shirky

Resisting Technology - Ravi Agarwal
1. At what time did Engineers begin to be required to take humanities classes?
2. If engineers did not know anything about the social aspects of the area in which their technology was going to be used then how could they design a piece of equipment that was properly suited to the area?
3. If many scientific experiments are not useful in building and developing useful technologies then why do so many universities and companies invest time and money in them?

In the Presence of Networks: A Meditation on the Architectures of Participation - John Hopkins
1. Could forceful participation destroy the social structure?
2. Is it really in a person's interest to use his participation energy to improve the overall standard for living, rather than live for just themselves?
3. Are social networks actually pooling the participation energy or are they separating it through preferred computer interaction rather than physical action?

The Political Power of Social Media - Clay Shirky
1. If social media has only been useful for rallying people behind a negative causes or tragic events then can social media really be used to gain support for a positive cause with no negative background?
2. With the speed and efficiency of social networks spreading political ideas and ads is there any place for political figures to directly address the people?
3. Social Networks are an informal way of spreading information, are social networks bringing an age of no privacy?