Final post

 I believe my current technology usage is lightly unhealthy.  While I usually stay away from many social media platforms, I usually view many videos to an unhealthy degree.  This typically leads me to having to procrastinate on many assignments due to lack of motivation.  This lack of motivation typically leads me to listening to music on my phone.  While this seems like another way to work on projects, it usually leads me to spacing out instead of working on the assignments.   I tend to have different audios for what I want the spacing out session to be, and usually pair it with some sort of walking.

However, this procrastination is making me smarter in a separate field unrelated to the topic I work on.  When I scroll through videos, I typically find very educational videos.  Whether it be something about how to make a convincing story or how to what contributes to much better graphics.  These things contribute to how I can possibly make a better video game, which is the field I plan to go into.  I also try to stay updated with the industry.  This includes some of the major releases and other events like The Game Awards.  This information gathering allows me to modify the type of game I wish to release by tweaking it with things that the community likes.  Many fan interactions can fuel game direction and can build a small video game even without releasing the game.  While this behavior is not healthy, it does make me ever more well-rounded.   

While I do think that technology has made humans much more dependent on it, I think with enough time, it can properly integrate itself into society.  Humans are incredible when it comes to adapting to the environment around them.  If we adapt as society builds newer and better technologies, we could live in a safer world.  Many databases for storing information have already started to be implemented.  Bluetooth allows you to talk while doing something else, like focusing on a game.  There are a multitude of different can advance to fit society.

My family also has a slightly unhealthy addiction to technology.  However, their problem is much more rooted in different social media platforms.  They often use it to unwind or just mindless scrolling.  It has gotten to a point where they send me things I cannot view because of a disconnect of social media platforms.  My brother often plays video games with his friends and searches up playthroughs for the games he doesn’t play.

However, like everything else, it is a double-edged sword.   Many business promotions are done through my mom’s social media account, she even uses online shopping to.  My brother also finds different gaming communities within the games.  While their usage of technology is healthier than mine, it is not that they don’t use it.

One thing that I found about searching up my online footprint is that the only thing that comes up is this blog.  While this helps with people trying to snatch my identity, this will ultimately hurt me in the long run.  This will lead me to losing many job opportunities to people that establish themselves well.

EOTO review of Technological terms and concepts

There was some very interesting things that were brought up during the each one teach one presentations.  For starters, I found false flags to be fascinating.  False flags are a huge thing I history to generate wars and have the publics opinion on justifying that war.   One such incident is when Japan blamed China for the destruction of a train. The train explosion was never investigated, just forced China to take the blame. This became known as the Mukden Incident, which was one of the reasons that Japan became such a powerhouse during World War II.  

Another fact that hit home was the idea of cord cutting.  Me and my family don’t watch many films, and when we do, it is more convenient to stream them instead of watching them.  This happened during COVID-19 and has remained in our house ever since, we do have shows on cable, but they are few and flung between, even to the point where it is easier to not watch cable at all.  I myself prefer to go onto streaming services to watch my shows on.

A streaming service, Hulu

A third cool fact that I learned is propaganda started all the way in Athens, Greece.  I found this fascinating because while modern propaganda was not there, the idea of having something to skew you into viewing the presentation positively.  This means that propaganda is as old, if not older, than some of the mythological stories that I like reading about.

A fourth thing I learned about is the idea of news deserts.  While I didn’t get a perfect view of the map, I believe my hometown that I grew up in is currently in a news desert.  This was weird for me because this is all I knew growing up was an absence of news and not how important the news currently are.

A map of the American news deserts

The age of AI

 When It comes to AI, there are many security issues that are raised with it’s introduction into the police.  The fact that AI is tracking every person who comes in a driveway, every person at a train stop, every person on the crosswalk is in a database that is housed in one place is scary.  If one hacker decides to infiltrate the police database, every part of our identity could be in the hands of a single man. Even then AI searching on everyone and having that information on them is even scarier because China, one of the biggest American threats, is one of the biggest influences of AI.  This leads to having a much more troubling issue with espionage and spying on American people.  While we can definitely work together to create a much better AI, people’s ego will get in the way of what is beneficial for the human race, instead focusing on what is beneficial for the country.

However, having an idea of where everyone with a warrant is could keep the streets we live on a little bit safer.  Having AI comb through warrants and spotting them is very beneficial for police work to figure out where potential threats are.  This leads to quicker arrests and less homicides.  Identifying even the way you walk can have an impact on data management because, for better or for worse, AI is in everything we use.  This can use this to our benefit and have a much clearer picture on how to handle safety concerns in neighborhoods.  Even now with how much AI has made people fear it, it can still be used as a tool to help those in need.  It being a relatively newer piece of technology can lead to people having much more of a learning experience to make a better product for consumers.

Overton Window

The Overton window is a political theory in which the popular policies that one can enact while they are influenced by what the masses see as popular.  These policies are often what political campaigns can often revolve around.  Basically how an Overton window works is when a policy is viewed as positive in the eyes of the public, policies are passed by the way the viewpoint the masses see about the issue.  This often leads to political campaigns based around these very topics concerning the Overton window.  Those who are inside the Overton window will often beat those outside the Overton window.  The best way to explain the Overton window is through examples of what it looks like.

An example of the Overton window

The first example that can best explain the Overton window is prohibition.  When prohibition first was a thing alcohol was viewed as something that ruined that could and was ruining America.  Wayne Wheeler turned everyone against alcohol.  He told the poverty stricken that alcohol is the reason that they are in poverty.  He told the rich that they would lose all their money.  This campaign worked and congress was replaced into pro-prohibition.  It didn’t help that Germany, who was big on their beer, started a war.  This skewed the Overton window into a very pro-prohibition.

After the 18^th amendment was put into place, crime was rampant among all major cities.  Bootlegging was one of biggest crimes of that era. It got so bad that police completely ignored many of the bootlegging.  Al Capone, one of the most notorious bootleggers, had such a big crime ring, he couldn’t be brought down through normal means.  During this, protests to repeal the 18^th amendment were in full swing.  However, President Herbert Hoover thought Prohibition was a good thing during the protests.  This led to this being one of the biggest reasons President Franklen D. Roosevelt won the elections to issue the 21^st amendment.  The election shows the skewing in the opposite way of the Overton window.

Another example, which is more modern day, is same-sex marriage in the United States, specifically the laws in California.  During this time, LGBTQ+ advocation was not as prominent as it is today. A law was made to ban same-sex marriage.  This was mainly from religious organizations who wanted to ban the whole thing. This is what became known as California’s Proposition 8.  At this time, there was a very uncontroversial thing.  This means that the Overton window for this was very skewed for this exact purpose.

After this law was in place, there was a surge of Pro-LGBTQ+ protests.  These protests helped skew the Overton window in the favor of LGBTQ+.  It was so prominent that it made its way into the Supreme Court.  2 years after Proposition 8 was issued, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in Hollingsworth v. Perry.  This showed where the Overton window was at this time, deeply in favor of the LGBTQ+ community.  This idea of the Overton window has been in history and something that is currently in use. 

privacy

There have been some effects with my family concerning privacy.  For starters, most of the things my mother buys for her business goes through amazon which she has a full-on account for.  I often use the account to buy my things because of amazon prime. 

Another thing is that I love mythology.  Mythology has some fundamental roots in sharing stories to help us take actions to better ourselves.  So taking some of the most popular mythos of Greek and Latin to provide insight into how we should act online is awesome. 

Daedalus and his son Icarus

Something thing that really confused me is reading the terms and services.  If you want something to dictate parts of your life, would you not want to read the terms and conditions to understand them.  When buying my first pet, I made sure to read the terms and conditions thoroughly to understand this major shift in my life.  If dating apps primarily try to get you with a partner that you would spend the rest of your life with, wouldn’t you want to read the terms and conditions.

my first pet

When it comes to government involvement, they should implement stricter access to our data.  We should actively try to make sure our “Tattoo” is something that we would want to share to others.  If companies want to have our data, it must be something that we personally should be willing to share. 

There are many different ways to protect ourselves from these policies and keep ourselves private.  Firstly clearing our history, cookies, and catch are some of the most basic ways to keep ourselves safe.  Another way that it is possible to keep ourselves safe is to make sure that only we can access the data.  One of videos refers to this as having our own keys and I totally agree, we should be the only ones to unlock our data.

Anti-war voices

 There are a lot of reasons for anti-war voices that get buried.  For one, it helps stimulate the economy.  America has one of the largest weapon supplies on the planet.  Compared to its population, America has more guns per person.  With this, they can use basic supply and demand to sell guns.  As long as there is a conflict in motion, America profits off of all the war without taking part.  They can even play both sides to gain maximum profit off the guns.

Even if America is actively involved in the war, they can use pro-war voices to fuel factories to produce things.  These things can actively stimulate the economy to help the amount of money in circulation.  The increase in production can even help prolong a depression in America.

Another thing that there are so many pro-war voices in media is to help their campaign for re-election.  If there are so many pro-war voices in circulation, then most of the population will be pro war as well.  This will cause many of the acts that they pass that are pro-war will be viewed popularly among the public.  This is called skewing the Overton Window.  This will help him win re-election because then the policies that he passes are popular. 

The last reason that there are no anti-war voices is because they often are viewed as anti-American.  America has the potential to be viewed as the bad guys by its own citizens which could hurt American patriotism.  There are many beautiful places that have been permanently destroyed by American battles.  If the masses got hold of how badly the places that America struck than there would be many anti-war voices.  A good comparison is how America news casted the Vietnam war.  By viewing the war that went on, they viewed the horrors and protested.

Theory Of Diffusion on the telegraph

The diffusion of the telegraph is one of the most interesting things.  The pioneers of the telegraph are the inventors that made the telegraph.  People like Samuel F.B. Morse, Leonard D. Gale, and Alfred Vail.  These people were the ones that first made it and they tried to integrate it into society.

The transition after the launch was when he conducted the first demonstration for the telegraph.  This led to the early adaptors of the telegraph being some of Morses’ friends in the fields of science.  These were what helped push the telegraph to be a much more functioning machine than it is now. 

The uptake of the telegraph is when there was financial support from the U.S. government to begin construction, which the government became the early majority.  Another early majority was railroad companies who could use it to accurately use it to determine train times.  These two helped fund the telegraph to what it was then. 

The maturation of it was when it was able to be transmitted across countries to provide different data to others.  One of the biggest late adopters that used it was many of the press that could now transmit data both states and countries.  Another huge late adopter of the telegraph was many start-up telegraph companies that began as a result.

The saturation of the telegraph is when they established the International Telegraph Union.  The laggards that used the telegraph are the common people, as hooking a telegraph up was very expensive at that time.  The long tail of the telegraph is people who didn’t have electricity, like in places like Central Africa and some parts of the Middle East.  These places didn’t adopt the telegraph until electricity was established. Even then with the new technology that came after the telegraph, these places might have even skipped the telegraph and went straight to the telephone.

In Class Presentation Thoughts

 I learned a lot from the in-class presentation about communication devices.  Firstly, I thought that the longest used form of communication being carrier pigeons was very interesting.  The fact that they were used all the way up to the 21st century is incredible.  Moreover, the fact that they were able to achieve medals to commemorate their service is awesome.

Carrier Pigeons

Another thing I learned is that while radio was invented, it took some time to integrate it into every house on the block.  These forms of communication were so revolutionary that I thought it would be like the newest Apple product dropping where people would form lines just to get their hands on one. 

Vintage radio

After learning about the radio, the next invention that caught my attention was the phonograph.  Specifically, when Alexander Graham Bell made a better one than Thomas Edison.  When Graham Bell went to make a third rendition of the phonograph, he asked Edison if they could work together on the project.  He refused, deciding the lightbulb was more pressing.  I don’t know why he refused to help on the third edition when it was clearly a successful project.

Thomas Edison and his phonograph

A fourth thing I found interesting is that Facebook started as a way for people to rate college level girls on attractiveness based on a headshot.  The fact that Mark Zuckerberg got away with it by saying he exposed their security flaws is even more brazen than the other comment.  He violated security measures for the college and should have had some consequences.

Facebook's logo

The last thing I found interesting is that cassette tape players are no longer in cars.  Between the Walkman and cars, cassette tapes were a huge part of the music you could listen to anywhere.  Cars no longer producing them available is terrible for those who currently have them.

Car cassette player

The Telegraph

The first idea of the telegraph began with Samuel F.B. Morse in 1832.  It first occurred when he was aboard a ship sailing from Europe.  During this time he worked on trying to send a coded message over a wire to help ships make tighter turns.  This code began to be what’s known as morse code.  While at Yale, he grew a love for electricity.  Despite loving it in Yale, his knowledge of electricity came from is attempts with electrical equipment like batteries and magnets.  After learning some of the basics, he asked for help from his colleague Leonard D. Gale.  Gale was a chemist with some knowledge of electricity.  While Morse was the idea man, Gale put the idea to paper and pointed out some areas that could use work.  By 1837, he had enough material to use for a demonstration for the federal government.  However, during the Panic of 1837, he could not install it until it had blown over.  During that time, Morse went to England to file for an international patent.  By 1843, the United States of America had finally gotten out of their depression and could now start construction of the White House’s telegraph.  During this time they planned to have the wires travel underground, however the pipes had defective insulation.  However, they had to meet a strict deadline.  They decided to scrap the pipes and lay the wires overhead.  Right before the deadline, they were able to have the Supreme Court and a railroad station in Baltimore hooked up.  Overtime, the Telegraph was put in almost every important area, and they were able to connect the Americas and Europe together during Morse’s lifetime. 

Samuel Morse

There are many implications that came from the telegraph’s creation.  The first one was the ability to send messages at a near instantaneous rate.  The messages that could be sent at the rate that they do have implications of their own.  Firstly, the pony express was made irrelevant thanks to the messages.  The post offices were hooked up thanks to the telegraph.  The next thing that the messages did is it allowed ships, especially any cargo ships, to make micromovements while docking.  Another thing the telegraph did is that they were able to accurately determine train times. Other than the faster transmissions, they were used by the North during the Civil War.  This became one of the biggest things that contributed to them winning.  They also gave rise to the precursor to the telephone pole when replacing the faulty pipes with cheaper overhead strung lines.

The telegraph

Dillon, C. H. (1960). The Arrival of the Telegraph in 

Texas. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 64(2), 200–211. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30236163

LEW, B., & CATER, B. (2006). The telegraph, co-ordination of tramp shipping, and growth in world             trade, 1870-1910. European Review of Economic History, 10(2), 147–173.                                             http://www.jstor.org/stable/41378439

Library of Congress. Invention of the telegraph : articles and essays : Samuel F. B. Morse papers at the       Library of Congress, 1793-1919 : digital collections : library of Congress. The Library of Congress.       https://www.loc.gov/collections/samuel-morse-papers/articles-and-essays/invention-of-the-                     telegraph/

Eight Values of Expression

 

There are two of the eight values of freedom that resonate with me and those two are promote dissent and individual self-fulfillment.  The first one is promote dissent.  Promote dissent is the idea that the minority should not be snuffed out by the masses.  This ties into the ending of my favorite game, Persona 5.  Persona 5 is a game where a bunch of teenagers and young adults try to take on some of the corruption of society.  The ending of the game revolves around the idea of changing the heart of the masses.  For me, this game was incredibly eye-opening because I love the idea of psychology and this game delves into the idea of having a psychology of the masses.  This place, mementos, is a core part of the game, even being one of the late game areas you have to explore and reach the depths of to finish the game.  The place itself is a subway station where people take it to work every day.  The trains themselves take the people to the end of the lines, where what awaits them is the jailhouse of the masses.  This idea of trapping yourself and letting others take the wheel is the opposite of promoting dissent.  The only voice that is heard is that of the one who runs both the jail and mementos, which drowns out any other voice, including yours.  Even after attempting to defeat the boss of mementos, he literally erases you from existence.  The idea of promoting dissent isn’t just restricted to the final boss, but to all the bosses.  If you look and the surface, the heroes change their hearts because the people are evil, however they always want to help both those in need and those close to them.  This gives rise to more content and by extension promotes dissent.

Persona 5 cover art

The other one I would like to talk about is the idea of individual self-fulfillment.  I love music.  Growing up, I was in choir and played numerous instruments.  Nowadays, I want to create music for others to enjoy.  The idea of individual self-fulfillment is the idea of creating your own identity.  Most of this is done through art and other forms of expression.  Currently I have some musical themes of my own I am going to use, and if those were snuffed out it would be heart wrenching to say the least.  This core part of my life is something I rely on to keep myself grounded.  I usually walk to relieve some of my stress, kind of like how some people have a need to pace around.  With music, I can get away from that stress.  Another thing that I use as a sense of identity is my fedora.  When I walk around my campus at college, many people notice me.  It has gotten to the point where some people refer to me as a celebrity, which I find very funny.  However, when many people notice me, they notice my hat in particular, which I find to be a core part of my everyday life.  What makes it so special is that unlike the baseball hats people wear, my hat is a fedora which is incredibly rare.

Two people composing

The Supreme Court

I watched part one of the supreme court video series.  Something I found interesting is that the video both makes light that the judges have to act impartial and the fact that the president has to nominate, and congress approves of it.  This thin line that they walk is very important because they shouldn't have a party they should assign themselves to.  This job is based around the constitution which should be impartial, however the world we grow up in and the world we take care of now shapes our understanding of these issues.

The judicial branch's headquarters.

The most important takeaway from the video is the idea of judicial review.  The video states that once a week they get cases they need to review.  Even then, they must understand what the cases are and if they are constitutional or not.  This is the most important thing about the Judicial branch of government. This gives them leverage in either the executive branch or the legislative branch, to strike down their acts as unconstitutional.

The judges on the bench

I think the most interesting thing about the video is the fact that each justice gets a team of lawyers to wade through the documents.  Each one can help out the justice but does not have a say in the outcome of the cases.  This is majorly confusing to me.  This team should speed up the time it takes to go through all of the cases and cut down time significantly.  However, I understand why this team system is, as they were not nominated for the position.

the amount of cases they get per week

After watching the video my view of the judicial branch and the supreme court has changed.  Going into it, I thought they get a maximum of 40 cases a year as a team.  However now that I have watched it, they get 100 cases a week as an team which is a shocking number for me.

News Sources

I use many news sources.  The most popular one I use is the weather channel.  The reason this one is the biggest is because to me, knowing the weather is more important than either politics or road conditions.  these often appear on news channels and skipping them to get to what i need is incredibly important.

Official logo of the weather channel

The next biggest news source is a channel called Mogul Mail.  This channel covers most of the pop culture references that I usually don't get because I am not on social media.  A huge part of the draw is that Ludwig, the man who runs the channel, has a degree in journalism.  He provides sources and proof to what he is talking about.

Ludwig Ahgren

The third biggest news source is from Penguin0.  He is also referred to as Moist Cr1TiKaL or Charlie.  what is so appealing about him is the variety of topics he covers.  From scandals to movie choices, he covers everything. He even posts a few video games and esports information to keep me in the loop of those things. Another huge thing I like is the delivery of the information.  It keeps it lighthearted by delivering it very nonchalantly.  

Charles Christopher White Jr.

The fourth biggest news channel I watch is Hero Hei.  While it seems more charged one way, it still gives both sides to make conclusions from.  It also mainly covers things from twitter which i do not use at all.  Covering more adventurous topic from compared to the other ones is big because of living in a more censored world.

Hero Hei profile picture.

The last channel I use is the official channel of Nintendo.  I am big into games, so to have a channel that primarily focuses on game releases is a very big thing for me.  Nintendo is the types of games I grew up with and continue to love to this day.

Official logo of Nintendo