The Threat of Auromation and the Dehumanization of Work

(missed blog, February)

For most people, retirement is what we work towards, the end goal. For a handful of others who love their jobs, retirement is seen as the loss of identity, and reason for living. For most though, work is a evil necessity, the one true bane of any existence. If we lived in an automated Utopian world our free time would be spent pursuing or discovering our passions. But we do not live in a Utopian world, and full automation would create a Dystopia, a world full of the dispossessed, living without point or purpose. Automation was not created to save mankind from the drudgery's of labour, but to save money. Business owners would enjoy the temporary benefits of not having to deal with the human element of running an enterprise. But as we've seen with the bailout of the big car manufacturers, those wages must be paid and and that money circulated in the economy, for without it the ensuing unemployed would syphon off of the government coffers. The more work given over to automation, the less workers, the less workers, the less money in the economy.

Surviving Technology

It have Ray Kurzweil's "The Age of Spiritual Machines" sitting on a pile of summer reading books, waiting patiently for the end of school. I don't believe we should be held hostage to the fate of our own biology. Like Kurzweil, I believe the ultimate purpose of technology is to escape the bonds of our own mental and physical limitations. Because natural selection, god, angles, or aliens are not going to solve this dilemma, "we" must find our own solutions. ipods, video games, GPS systems in our cars are all just diversionary, fun byproducts of the end goal - immortality. Becoming so attached to these diversions that one cannot function without them is probable. Young people today are nature deficit, focused only on the immediate and the familiar. I believe people will lose the fine art of practicing patience, so much so, that if made to wait long periods of time for information or entertainment new forms of "road rage" will take over. People will have to "detox" or decompress if removed from their gadgetry. Using the index in a book to find a passage, or physically flip through a music library in order to find a song (that is if there are any hard copies available to flip through) will be an exercises in frustration. Skills such as verbal communication using whole language and honest emotion will have to be taught in school or courses. Ignorance will no longer be bliss, there will be no excuse not to be up to date on the latest and greatest, on world events, politics, fashion, music, etc. I also believe the gap between people only a decade apart in age will seem further and further apart. This disparity will become more pronounced as technology becomes even more advanced. I believe religious zealotry will become more pronounced in answer to our "devotion" to technology. But a backlash may occur against religion because technology will preform real "miracles", like cheat death, Ray kurzwiel style.

when is it acceptable to copy images etc off the internet?

Since the advent of google images, pirate bay, etc it has become easier and easier to find "free" stuff off the Internet and utilize that stuff to ones own end. I have downloaded stuff off of pirate bay simply because I already felt my satellite bill was too high and did not want to pay for extra channels. I have found images and used them to create posters etc for fun. I don't think it is right to pass stuff off as your own for professional purposes. I also believe that people should pay for their movies etc. Sometimes a company's own greed will cause a backlash. Star Choice charges way too much for their service, in protest I download "true blood" off of the Internet. In this instance HBO is being punished for exorbitant fees charged by star choice. But in a world of easy free access to stuff I believe it is Star Choice who is totally out to lunch in regards to it's costs and policies. Internet will soon outpace television, and if cable and satellite providers don't change their pricing to reflect that competition, they will lose. Apples i tunes lowered the price of its music down loads because people stopped buying music at $18.00 a pop. I believe most people are willing to support and purchase art and music, as long as they know the money is going to support that artist, rather than going into the coffers of rich shareholders.

on-line shopping

In answer to the question: have you ever purchased anything on line? My answer is yes, but I have only begun doing so in the last year. Living in a remote town with very few shopping opportunities I find on-line shopping a great way to open up my options. Last summer I found a low carb grocery store online that sold sugar and carb free marshmallows, so I ordered myself a box of them. This "specialty" item would not be easily found, even in the city. I recently ordered a book from Amazon.ca. The experience was simple and timely so I ordered another item, this time used. In fact today I received the DVD "Freaks" a hard to find cult classic, used from a seller on Amazon. It took about a week and a half to arrive. The DVD was in perfect condition as advertised, but it smelled a little of cigarette smoke. I used my credit card to pay. Amazon is a established and trusted company. I would not easily hand out my credit card to any old business on the net. Establishment of trust is probably a big challenge on-line businesses have. Many people probably fill "grocery carts" full of items and get to the "check out" portion of the transaction then balk, abandoning their purchases. Many people who do not have credit cards of there own are often unaware that they can buy pre-paid credit cards at the post office or at gift card kiosks. I purchase music from i tunes online. I have used both gift cards and credit cards to this end. Fantasy shopping is a online past time, filling up carts full of items then abandoning the cart at the online "till:. Marketing experts probably work hard day and night to find ways to keep people from abandoning their carts.

law enforcment

The use of joined computer networks and databases for law enforcement would prove of great benefit to society. Criminals of transient nature who travel outside of the country, to different provinces or communities who break the law can be easily identified and detained. People violating parole, or with arrest warrents who are stopped for routine traffic violations or other things can be apprehended on the spot. eliminating the risk of setting wanted criminals free mistakenly. DNA databases could keep track of sex offenders, the "usual suspects" either eliminated or caught because is a record is kept and shared. The shared information would enable police to detect patterns, share profiles, and develope experimental strategies to maintain public order and safty.

Conversly, cases of mistaken identity could be one negative impact. For example, there may be two John Henry's from Winnepeg, John Henry #1 is a violent offender and parole violator, John Henry #2 is a regular law abiding citizen, who just happened to get pulled over for speeding. John Henry #2 name comes up on the data base in the patrol car and John Henry #1 suddenly finds himself pinned face down on the sidewalk with handcuffs on and a gun pointed at him. Details that can distinguish between the two John Henry's may be reliant on the sophistication of the softwear police are using. Data may be lost, corrupted, or dropped betweem incompatable law enforcemnt data bases. The shared data and computer systems would have to be universally compatable, understandable and easy to use by the police and investigators. Money may not be available in one jurisdiction to get top of the line softwear and hardware. The RCMP, city police, CISIS, the FBI, CIA, British Intelegence, and any other European or Eastern law enforcemnet agencies would all have different systems in place with variying degrees of sophistication and compatability. This setup could lead to errors. Since 911 various people, including toddlars have been detained by airport security, showing up on No Fly Lists because they share a common name with suspected terrorist's.

compters don't make mistakes

The statement: "Computers don't make mistakes, people do" is often used to support the reliability of computer output. Is this statement true? Explain the statement in light of your experiences with computers in the first week of class... think back over some of the experiences you had as you learned to use xhtml...

The statement "computers don't make mistakes, people do" is of course very relevant, after all, it is a man made creation, and therefor susceptible to flaws. the computer relies on the input we provide. If any of that input is incorrect the computer does not (as of yet) have the capacity to recognize and correct those mistakes, Computers are not like our brains, having the benefit of millions of years of evolution behind it. Once the human equation has been removed from computing, that may be when computers run flawlessly. Computers will soon be writing there own code, and proofing it for flaws. All we will need to do is tell it the problem what needs solving. In fact, computers may begin to point out problems that need solving on there own. Also , a computer can be set to just perform and focus on one task, while humans are distracted by our home lives, worries, relationships, health issues, learning disabilities, all sorts of things that interfere with computing tasks. Perhaps when more biology is integrated with the hardware of computers it will undergo an Darwinian evolutionary selection that weeds out the frailties and weaknesses on its own, and that frailty and weakness just may be us!

Wednesday Feb 3rd, 2010



The World Wide Web has impacted how I do research, keep in touch with friends and relatives, and has expanded my knowledge and understanding of the world. It has even impacted my dating life, as I have joined internet dating sites. Now, all of this is handy and nice, but if the world wide web did not exist, which it has in my lifetime, I can honestly say that I could live very well with out it. I can go to the library and get a book out or an interlibrary loan. I could write letters to friends and relatives (I still send Christmas Cards, a tradition that is dying due to e-cards) As for dating I would have to satisfy myself with the local fare or move. The world wide web is not crucial to my existence, perhaps because I enjoy the outdoors I feel more connected to the physical here, rather than the world of cyberspace. So, I could live without it, but would I want to? The answer is no.

The emergence of biodigital technology

I find this topic fascinating. At present I do everything I can to live a long healthy life. I don't eat sugar, I eat organic food, take multivitamins and fish oil, and work out, all in an effort to extend my life and keep cognitive dis function at bay (no dementia in old age for me thank you). Ray Kurzweil's predictions for upgrading the "suboptimal software" of the brain, and the "singularity" where humans become immortal bio digital beings is right up my alley. I would love to live to be hundreds of years old, mostly due to curiosity of what the future may entail. I think our current fascination with vampires has something to do with our subconscious trying to reconcile our desire to live forever. We are also trying to reconcile our superstitious beleifs with our technological scientific values. Using technology to immortalize ourselves I think is the ultimate goal of everything we have been doing since, well, forever. Once we've moved beyond the pervasive fear of death and disease we can move on in terms of evolution. This technology must be made available to all, imagine the "digital divide" between those who must suffer sickness, old age and death due to lack of funds (which happens right now to be frank, esp in the U.S.) and those who can obtain optimum heatlh and immortality? what about those who feel it's wrong and would do everything in thier power to stop further advances, believing perhaps its against God's will? In order to prevent our own extinction we may have to become integrated with machines, and why not?