Assignment 13

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 13

Definitely an interesting class. I have learned that I do not have the motivation to take an online course. The reading itself is quite interesting. I found The World is Flat to an interesting book.  The stories and information that Friedman talks about are quite interesting and and give valuable insight on the world of business and technology. This book is outdated though. Even an updated text like this will be missing several things that are even more important that what Friedman discusses. I would suggest searching the internet for more recent articles. Right now I would suggest a site called waitbutwhy.com. This site has a very interesting article about artificial intelligence that is informative and entertaining. As I said, look for recent articles. The most informative part of this course is probably the parts about how much globalization has and will affect us in the near future. I will have to take a good hard look at the future to figure out what I can do to profit from this quickly changing world. Another thing that I realized during this course is that we are living in a world of specialization. This is more recently evidenced by the large number of 3-D printers that are hitting the consumer market right now. Another example is the site Etsy. We no longer need corporations to make our baubles and knick-knacks, we can make them ourselves. This may mean that everyone may want to individually make one thing and have other sources of income. Whatever happens in the future will definitely require all of our creative power to push forward and make the world a more interesting place and thanks to the internet that future is now. Side note: I would suggest being a bit more descriptive in the description of this course. I had no idea what I was going in for when I started this.

Assignment 12

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 12

I have noticed this type of article springing up recently. Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Steven Hawking have all recently expressed their fears of future technology. The problem here is that none of these people could be considered experts in genetic engineering, nanotechnology, or A.I. (robotics). Bill Gates and Bill Joy may be excellent businessmen but that does not mean that they have the expertise to make such Luddite statements. Joy and the others fear what they do not understand. They fear these new technologies because they do not understand people. Joy assumes that just because the information is out there that people will use it to do harm to everyone. This is a very foolish. The internet is filled with information on how to do many illicit things. Such as: rigging a car to explode, making TNT, hiding bodies, and several other terrible things. So why is it that the world is safer than it has ever been? It seems to me that Joy and his kind spend more time in fictional worlds filled with plot holes than in the real world. I think that stopping progress for the sake of ancient ideas made by corrupt people is not only foolish but impossible. Genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics may change what it means to be human but that is ultimately a good thing. Someday in the possibly near future we will look back and wonder how it must have been living in a world that was constantly dying. Artificial intelligence is by far the most exciting part of G.N.R. Joy believes that a computer with the intelligence of a human would act like anything biological. This is absolutely ridiculous. Our behaviors and thoughts are made primarily by evolution. While a true A.I would be made entirely by us. Self preservation is a biological trait, one that a machine would not have. This is the end game though. When we first create a human level machine we will retire as a species into a comfortable utopia filled with things beyond our wildest dreams.

side note: While reading about this online I found a really interesting post about this. I'll leave it here. http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html

Assignment 11

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 11

I actually have recently watched a movie and read a book about computers that I thought was interesting. The movies that I watched is the Matrix trilogy. As many people have said before, the first Matrix is a ton better than the other The ways that they use computers is a little ridiculous. Reading code in a top down fashion would not give much information. Especially to the extent that they show in the movie. The way that they jack into the matrix is actually a fairly popular idea of how we will use computers in the future. After all, what computer is better than the human mind? Being instantly able to learn anything is a neat idea but, I am not sure that the brain could handle a large influx of information like that. The whole humans as batteries thing is silly from a literal standpoint but some people theorize that the robots that control the matrix are keeping humans alive out of empathy for the species. Agent Smith may add to this theory because Neo became The One by fighting him time after time. Agent Smith did this so Neo could be computer Jesus and save the city of Zion. This theory is also proven by how the matrix was originally a paradise but humans could not accept it. The book that I read is called Snow Crash. It uses the internet in a similar fashion to The Matrix with a brain implant to enter the world. In Snow Crash, the main character is an early adopter of this type of internet and behaves much in the same way that early adopters of our internet behave. The noteworthy part about that book is a drug known as snow crash. This is a virtual drug that crashes the mind of the user. The way things were described in this book is actually sort of similar to the game Second Life.

Assignment 10

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 10

Quite an interesting story. I think that calling anything in it prophetic is a bit of a stretch. What many people do not realize is that there have been so called "prophesies" about computers and the internet for over one hundred years. Many writers and inventors considered the idea before the telephone was even in mass circulation. That being said there are some interesting things that they got right and wrong. They certainly got the timeline wrong. Mass acceptance of the internet is actually a very recent thing. Some think that the internet did not get the majority of the middle class until the I phone was invented a few years ago. They could not have been more wrong about censorship. The story has information regulated but in real life we can not shut up about free speech. The internet has a ridiculously strong anti-censorship movement going on to the point where anyone who is pro censorship is immediately hated by everyone. The internet has not gained any semblance of sentience. However, the story's description of intelligent computers being not violent is quite realistic. As opposed to computers killing everyone, as many other stories have portrayed. The tank is actually comparable to a server but it requires several servers to do what the tank does. Much like in the story we have become dependent on our computers. I no longer need to know how to spell anymore because computers do it for me. Unfortunately our computers cannot correct your and you're yet but they are getting there. The entire concept of logics is actually the next step in computing. Apple has Siri, Microsoft has Cortana, and Google has their personal assistant. All of these companies are competing to make computers that can reasonably answer any question put towards it. It is exciting to think what the future may hold and what new technologies will be made.

Assignment 9

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 9

The assembly of a Dell laptop from start to finish is quite complex. To get the full picture we have to start at the very beginning with the source materials. Different mines from all over  the world produce the silicon, iron, gold, and other metals used in the circuit boards. The various types of plastic, glass, and coloring would come from a variety of factories. Next comes the more complex items. The processors made by Intel, hard drives made by WD, and the casing made by in house machines. From there Dell's suppliers wait for a Dell customer to order a laptop. These components are then quickly driven to one of Dell's manufacturing plants where they assemble the component into the start of a working computer. After the computer has been assembled it needs software. So they then install the operating system and any other applications that come with that particular type of laptop. The laptop is then shipped directly to the customer. This is incredibly efficient and money saving for Dell. Al-Qaeda is an organization  that exists so it has to have some sort of supply chain. Even the basics of food and water have to come from somewhere. I imagine that al-Qaeda has several supply chains in basics like food and water and in more advanced things such as weaponry. They probably have quite the supply chain when it comes to information as well. They have to misinform with one hand and keep an eye on their enemies with the other. The curse of oil is when the money that oil brings is in the hands of corrupt politicians in the countries that have oil. These politicians hold countries back by not using their people. This is a problem because the oil will eventually run out while if they used their people instead there would be growth that would be beneficial to the population and the planet.

Assignment 8

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 8

How have computers been used in my education? Well for starters this entire class is an example. The assignment instructions are posted through canvas and I post my essay on a blogging site that the teacher can use to see what I have typed. Through this blogging site other people can post comments on the assignment that can be useful in writing future assignments. Canvas is a useful tool in itself. Through it the teacher can post assignment, receive uploaded assignments, and grade the assignment all from one convenient place. The student can use canvas to look at graded assignments, receive instructions on assignments, message other students or the teacher, and many other useful things. Computers are also used heavily in my math course. Every homework assignment, quiz, and test are accessible to me through a website that they use. This site also includes the full textbook and slides full of useful information. Another way that I have used computers in my education is through the great wealth of knowledge that the internet possesses. For any question that is posed by any assignment the internet has tons of information on it. I use this to get more background information on the questions that are being asked in this class and in other classes. Music is another thing that the internet has a lot of. So if I get bored while studying or doing homework I can easily listen to any piece of music in existence. Computers also help with spelling. I admit that occasionally I misspell words any most word processors have some form of spell check that does a world of good for my assignments. I don't really use computers for much else regarding education but I know that there are several other tools that one can use to further education. For instance there are several online tools for learning how to program. One site that I found that has hundreds of free online courses is openculture.com. On this site they list several video courses made by top experts from places like MIT and Stanford. The great thing about the internet is how anyone can create anything. One man created a site filled with videos and instructions on how to play the guitar.This stuff is only the free stuff. There are several paid courses people can take online as well. 

Assignment 7

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 7

Some countries do better at some things because of a variety of factors. In globalization 2.0 where the country was geographically would make a difference. Both Mexico and Canada were in a great position to trade with The United States. Unfortunately when globalization 3.0 came around Mexico did not adapt fast enough and had major losses to Canada and China. In globalization 3.0 location is far less of a factor. Culture is quite possibly the most important competitive advantage that a country could have. Countries that have a culture of education and hard work do far better in globalization 3.0 than any other countries. Past advancement also plays a key part. Countries like the United States and Japan have the advantage of being rich economically as well as technologically. We already had the infrastructure of the internet set up by the time Globalization 3.0 came around. In this way The United States were partially responsible for making globalization 3.0 come around. 

A self-directed consumer is a person that wants to customize whatever it is that they are buying. Thanks to the internet everyone with a connection can pick and choose what they want. This is a major problem for some companies because of how easy it is for the consumer to pick a different company that works better. Everyone should become a self-directed consumer but few actually are. The entirety of Apple is an example of this. Apple products are inferior to most other computers and smartphones in both price and technology. What they are superior in is marketing. They have a very aggressive marketing campaign trying to make Apple products look cool and intelligent. This makes the masses buy their products without doing the proper research. I would most definitely call myself a self-directed consumer but, only on purchases that cost a lot of money. A person could spend hours on each item of food they buy but it would waste their time. I think that anything over $100 should be thoroughly researched and made to fit you, the consumer, best. 
Does globalization mean Americanization. The answer is both yes and no. America has headed globalization for years and continues to, to this day. As the world's second richest country other cultures may want to change to get more money. The culture of an area is really up to its inhabitants to keep alive or change. Some cultures with embrace our culture and some won't but the one's that won't can still take part in globalization, just not as much as the one's that do. Americanization itself is kind of not really a thing. America is just the culmination of several cultures and peoples. The culture of L.A is different from the culture of NYC which is different from Las Vegas. I would not be surprised if the idea of Americanization is nothing more than a scare tactic used by those who do not want to lose their power.