Month: March 2017

One of the things that interested me about our discussion this week was in the memory section, when the idea of neural implants was brought up. I found this particularly interesting, because the subject of the ethics of neural implants was something that was heavily discussed in one of my classes last semester. While some people may joke that their memories are so bad that if there was ever a neural implant available to improve memory they would be among the first to sign up, however such an implant, even such a simple one, has the potential to cause a great deal of conflict. First of all, the implants would likely be expensive, and only those who could afford them could have them, thus creating an even greater disparity between classes, or different models or upgrades could be purchased at an additional cost, again separating those who could afford it from those who could not. Additionally, many parents, wishing the best for their children, would inevitably wish to get one for their children, particularly those who have a particularly difficult time remembering things, to give them an edge in the classroom and on standardised tests, however this would create an unfair advantage for the students with implants, which would most likely lead to them being shunned and even eventually segregated from the implant-free students.

In addition to the divisions such an implant would create, there would be even more problems, such as the fact that there would likely be people performing illegal upgrades to people’s implants to give them a secret edge or some other ability/advantage. What’s more, this could likely lead to upgrades having bugs or even the ability to be hijacked to strip people of their free will. Another ethical concern with implants is that weaponised implants would most likely be developed. This is not only a dilemma by altering the brains of soldiers in battle, but also due to the fact that they would have a great deal of difficulty reassimilating to society. This is a particular issue given that currently many veterans end up being homeless or suffering from other extreme issues related to not being able to come back to society after what they had experienced, which would only be made worse if their brains had been drastically altered or weaponised due to an implant. One other problem with the idea of neural implants is that in order for them to properly assimilate to the brain, they would not be able to be removed, therefore if parents gave a child an implant without discussing it with them, the child would be required to live with that implant for the rest of their lives, and the same rings true for soldiers of anyone else. Thinking about implants as being like mind-altering tattoos, since many people get tattoos and later regret them, I can only imagine how people would react to such implants, regardless of whether or not they were supposed to just provide a little boost to their memory.

After finishing Stars this week I was very unhappy and confused about the ending of the novel. As it came to a close I felt like I had so many unanswered questions about what was going on. I understood that Marq was trying to convey that his life would never be the same again without Rat, but I was confused on what he was going to do next with his life. For him, I hope he is able to find some sort of joy but it is still very unclear if that can ever be obtained.

Although this novel is extremely abstract and mythical, I found some of the themes applicable to real life situations. When Rat left we saw many of the same emotions and feelings that we see when a spouse dies in a relationship in our world. I know that when my Grandfather died, that my Grandmother was a completely different person for a while. It was so sudden and unexpected and she did not know how to carry on with every day life. There were things that he would do that she wouldn’t even realize and now she had to do everything. I think when the book ends we are getting a glimpse of the sorrow and grief that Marq is about to endure in these next months or even years. He grew such an attachment and liking for Rat that he does not see hope for the future. He knows that he had already found the best thing that can ever happen to him and when nothing else will compare, how does one go on. This is an extremely painful and difficult situation to be in and one that was not a choice of his own.

Overall I feel like I did kind of being to gain that acceptance for the general culture of this book. As Professor Drexler pointed out, by the end you realize that it is ok to be accepting of this weird and twisted made up world. In the end it is about two creatures that really and truly feel that they should be together and there is nothing wrong with that no matter the situation. People deserve to be happy and to be with someone who makes them happy.

Moving into next week I am really excited to begin working on our poster projects. My group has decided to work on the possible colonization of Mars and all of the ethical issues that come along with that. First we want to see if it is even possible, and then if so, is it ethical. Should people be put in such a secluded environment and will they be able to survive psychologically? What will happen to them when they are stuck there with the same people for an incredibly large amount of time. We are really excited to be exploring this idea and all the sub topics that come with it.

This week in class we discussed a couple of objects that represented our leaky memory. The bucket with the hole in the bottom of it really resonated with me because I feel like memory is a very faulty thing. My memory especially feels like there is a large gaping hole and the “water” is rushing out. This may be due to the fact that my grandpa had Alzheimer’s and I am paranoid that I could have it. The fact that it was compared to a capacitor for a computer made me realize that technology can also fail us. I think this creates an even stronger bond to technology and may make us even more dependent on it.

I am excited for the group project because it will be fun to work with peers that are interested in the same topic as me. I have also never presented in a symposium, so it will be a new experience for me. I hope our group is able to share our information and ideas with those that are interested.

We have begun to think about our poster topics for our final symposium presentation at the end of April. I started to think about different topics that would be interesting and relevant in today’s world. In my marketing class, we have begun to talk about different marketing technique that huge companies have invented to manipulate us to higher consumption. The advancements of technology through social media has allowed companies to track our web searches and activity and use this information to know our true needs and wants on a deeper level.

So why is this so scary for our society? Because as explained using the capitalist binary with slavery, this increase in technology will forever force us to be slaves to larger corporations. The capitalist system thrives off of the demand of consumers. In a sense, we are slaves to capitalism because we rely on other people for everything and our lives revolve around money. However, the people somewhat had power in the system because our wants and desires drive capitalism. When people realize that we have information about ourselves that the capitalist want, but will never receive, that knowledge gives us power and balances out the system. However, the introduction of social media has revealed some of our personal desires that companies otherwise wouldn’t have known. That is why our news feeds have become populated with adds for goods or services that you most recently were thinking about. While this new marketing advancement has increased sales drastically for many companies, people’s privacy rights are being compromised and the power that was given to the people is now put into the hands of the fortune 500.

One example that I want to give on this is Amazon. Amazon has blown companies out of business as they have the market share of online shopping. Recently, my marketing professor told me that Amazon uses your web searches to filter your Amazon searches. While this first seems harmless, it actually is causing you to pay more for items than other people. For example, recently I was looking online at phone charges because I know my current phone charger is seeing the end of its time. I also went through somewhat of an online shopping spree the other week because I was looking for work clothes. When I went to amazon to buy a phone charger, the first few results showed chargers that started at 20$ each. With this price I was satisfied and purchased a charger to be delivered the next day. Later that day, I asked my sister to look up a phone charger off of her amazon account (after my marketing teacher told me of this tactic). The first options that showed up on her page were the same products, sold between 15$ and $18 a piece. Because Amazon tracks my web searches, they knew that I was planning on buying a phone charger in the near feature. They also know that I am somewhat of an avid online shopper and I am willing to spend my money online. With this combined information, they made the results from my search contain products that were of a higher quality and a higher price than my sister’s results. Because I did not have my sister amazon search at the same time, I had know way of realizing that some of the products could have been sold at a cheaper price, or that there were good quality options offered at a cheaper price. I became a slave to my own desires/tendencies and I did not even know it. While Amazon’s new technology is relatively new, it won’t take long for other companies to employ similar technique. Now we as a society need to begin to question the ethics behind these advancements in technology.

I have heard that man was created in god’s image. Man is the seemingly faulty, unequal and plentiful clone that now controls the world that god created. We live our lives in the way described in the picture “The Creation of Adam”. All we do is try and mimic god’s ability to transform, create, control and destroy. Now what are robots created as? Are they the faulty, unequal and plentiful clone of man? Will there be a painting of “The Programming of AI”? Will they live their lives trying to be human, to achieve what we can achieve?