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 This book is outdated though.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. 

Assignment 6

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 6

Free trade is trade between different countries with no restrictions. Basically any product could be shipped anywhere with no problems. Unfortunately several countries that claim to support free trade also apply tariffs and taxes to imports and subsidies to exports. While seemingly being helpful for the local economy these restrictions hurt both local and global economies. Free trade is important because in a global and flat market everyone should have equal opportunities regardless of simple things like lines on a map. Free trade also helps us learn how to better take advantage of this new flat world that we now live in. Economists almost universally agree that free trade does considerably more good than harm. They also think that countries should remove all tariffs and let employers work overseas without restrictions. The problem is that this new flat world scares Americans. Based on my observations of culture, this fear of outsourcing has been going on as long as outsourcing has existed. Our culture has built this idea that companies are evil and companies that take American jobs away are even more so. This coupled with the fact that we are on the other side of the baby boom has left Americans distrustful of trading with other countries. Our "us VS them" mentality has not helped much either. The new middlers seem to need a few basic traits. People skills is the first trait because this can help people think that the company cares about them. Of course this book was written in 2006 before smartphones and the internet really took off so the need for people skills may have changed. Versatility is very important. We are advancing at an incredible rate and if you cannot advance with us you will be left behind. This is why a good new middler will have to be able to learn and adapt to any task at a moments notice. I disagree with Friedman's assumption that there are jobs that cannot be automated or digitized. Artificial intelligence is growing at an exponential rate to the point where human level intelligence tasks could be performed by computers in as little as twenty five years. CQ + PQ > IQ is the idea that passion and curiosity are more important than intelligence. Friedman believes that someone with high CQ and PQ would be far better at any given task. It does not matter how smart someone is if they do not care about what they are working on. 

Assignment 5

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 3

The triple convergence is the way that the ten flatterers converged to create a flatter global playing field. Convergence I describes the initial creation of a playing field connected by the internet and the fall of the Berlin Wall. This convergence allowed collaborations on a level that had never been seen before. Distance, time, and to some extent language were removed from the equation. Convergence II describes how companies do not make the entire product anymore. Instead they specialize in one particular field and collaborate with other companies to make the finished product. Friedman calls this "horizontalization". Convergence III describes how China, India, and several other countries have had economic and political shifts that recently allowed their large population the ability to compete and collaborate in the global market. This brought several people with a strong work ethic into the work force. All of this is important because it summarizes the main idea of the past few chapters. Globalization is here to stay and it will have long lasting implications for years to come. In the India and Indiana case I think that both sides are exploiting each other.  At the start it was Indiana going to India for cheap labor. Unfortunately for Indiana closed minded politicians do not like irony. At the end it was India who got the most profit out of the situation. Indiana was out a million dollars and India got a million dollars and 43 fully trained employees. So I suppose it depends on who you ask. Everyone was sort of exploited in this situation. Intellectual properties are any creations of the mind. This is important because the question is raised of who owns a creation of the mind. Several companies have rules that give them the ownership of any idea made by an employee. As a capitalist this makes sense. Someone you pay to have ideas gives you the rights to those ideas. On the other hand, I am an internet user. One major belief of several internet users is the idea that information wants to be free. Should something as immaterial as an idea belong to anyone? I think that ideas should belong to everyone but, merchandising belongs to whoever made the idea in the first place.

Assignment 4

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 4

I decided to research the position of senior computer programmer. I chose this position because my father is a computer programmer and is the easiest person that I could interview. I suppose I will start off with some basic information. Mean U.S. annual wage is $80,930, while Utah's annual mean wage is 76,290. My father earns about $90,000 annually because he has been working for several years at the same company. Job growth is average but, there is a plethora of available jobs. Basic education required is a bachelor's degree in computer programming. Programmers write instructions for everything that a computer does. Programmers program everything from spaceship protocols to administration services. My father programs administration services for an international corporation known as Infor. He helped write a piece of software known as GEM. He currently maintains the software to keep it up to date. Computer programmers also have to deal with some less creative and useful seeming jobs. My father told me that several times he has had to do some lower level tasks. He has had to crawl through hours of code and work customer support. Computer programming is not for everyone though. Being a programmer requires dedication, enjoyment, and time. Several people cannot deal with programming, myself included. This is part of the reason that programming jobs are in such high demand. Programming does have the advantage of easily being able to work from home without any trouble whatsoever. 

Assignment 3

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 3

Offshoring is when a company relocates a factory to a different country. This is usually done for the same reasons that outsourcing is done. Countries such as China have low wage workers, lower taxes, and other cost cutting measures. Offshoring is different from outsourcing in that outsourcing is just one task while offshoring is every task.  For example Dell    outsources their technical support while keeping the design process and manufacturing here in the United States. Electronic Arts on the other hand, moves their entire facility to China. Offshoring has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand a company has cheap labor, on the other hand, the customers are not happy with working conditions that are less than ideal.

A supply chain is every part of making a product from start to finish. As an example of a supply chain let's look at a happy meal toy. The process starts with a factory collecting and making the plastic required. This plastic is then shipped to a factory to be melted into whatever shape the creators want. The finished product is shipped to a McDonald's and sold to a customer. Supply chains make it so that one corporation does not need to manage every part of the process.  Wal-Mart uses supply chains to their advantage. They have various companies compete to be part of the Wal-Mart supply chain. Every company wants part in this because of the high profits so Wal_Mart gets the lowest prices from all of them. Wal-Mart also uses supply chains to feed demand. The book talks about how they observe what sells best where and ships more product to those locations.

Google could be one of the most influential companies in recent times. The internet made information accessible to some, web browsers made information easier to get but Google and other search engines made it so that we could find the information scattered across the web. Now that all information has become easily accessible companies have to work knowing that anyone can know anything about them and the companies can know anything about anyone. This is a double edged sword. By knowing everything about everyone companies can choose who to hire based on how people act online. On the other hand, this means that anyone can easily see if a company is doing anything that they should not be doing and easily find weaknesses in the company. It is amusing reading how Friedman talks about how everyone will have a device in their pocket connected to the internet considering the fact that the iPhone was released a year later and now everyone owns a smartphone of some sort. 

Assignment 2

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 2

Work flow software is at its basic root, any software that connects people to do tasks quickly and efficiently. As an example I will be using a theorized version of a McDonald's with few to no employees at the franchise. The average visit to this McDonald's would start with the customer speaking into a microphone to place their order. That customer's voice would be transmitted by work flow software to a call center where they would use work flow software to enter the order into their computer. Meanwhile the customer would insert their money into a vending machine-like device that would use work flow software to store the earning for that day. From there the food would be cooked and given to the customer by machine or employee (depending on technology available) and the transaction would be complete.   

Open source software is software that has the code accessible to anyone. In most cases this software is developed by random people on the internet. Open source software is important for a variety of reasons. One of the main aspects of open source software is that it is free for anyone to download, change, and view. This free software is great for the consumer, but it is not so great for the companies that are trying to sell similar software. Some companies use open source software to their advantage by making free versions of a competitor's software. They hope to hurt other companies and build off of the free software for a price. One thing that Friedman failed to mention about open source software is that it is useful for computer programmers to become noticed. In the highly competitive world of computer programming big companies, such as Google, search through the open source forms for the best of the best. basically open source software has become a way for programmers to show their skills and build a good résumé.

Outsourcing is when a business or organization makes a contract with another company to have them perform a certain task. In most cases these tasks are outsourced to a third world country in order to reduce costs. However, this is not always the case. Some companies outsource certain tasks to other parts of the country. Outsourcing is important because it helps companies save time and money. When a company outsources a task they no longer have to deal with training and managing the employees that would be doing that task. Outsourcing also puts some of the risk on the outsourced company and reduces risk on your company. Unfortunately outsourcing also can have the effect of hurting a company's image by removing possible jobs that could be done nearby. Also in some cases outsourcing can make some tasks seem less personal for the customer.   

Assignment 1

Justin Olsen

IST 1100

Module 1

I did not know what to expect when I started this class. This first module however, seems to accurately portray how we will be talking about globalization and the internet's part in it. The first 77 pages of this book gives an interesting insight for the future. Globalization is vital for the utopia that several people envision for the future. Thomas Friedman writes about Globalization in his book The World is Flat. Friedman believes that there have been three eras of history that have drastically impacted world trade. He calls these eras Globalization 1.0, Globalization 2.0, and Globalization 3.0. Each era made the world into a smaller and more manageable place. Before Globalization 1.0 the world was large. We had no idea what size the world actually was until 1492 when Columbus attempted to forge a trade route from Europe to India by going west. He failed but his expedition can serve as an example of early globalization. The countries with ingenuity in Europe realized that international trade can bring a great deal of power. During this time governments used imperialism and religion to bring the world together. Globalization 2.0 made the world comparatively small. In the 1800's multinational companies replaced governments in driving globalization to new heights. At this time any decently sized company knew that they needed to go global to compete with the other companies. Technology is at least part of what drove this era with the invention of the telephone and steamships. The end Globalization 2.0 brought about Globalization 3.0 with the invention of the internet and the World Wide Web. Globalization 3.0 made the world downright tiny. Globalization 3.0 differs from 2.0 and 1.0 in that instead of governments or companies, everyone has the power. The ability for everyone to connect brings a great deal of opportunity and innovation to the world.

The fall of the Berlin Wall is incredibly important. It brought about an informational revolution. After the wall fell people were given access to information. Friedman sees the wall as a mental block as well as a physical one. As long as the Berlin Wall was up the world could not be seen as one market. He believes that  the fall of the Berlin wall brought about a changing of world view that ripples into the future. The fall of the wall made it possible to standardize ways of doing things that makes business far easier flattening the world.  In Europe alone this made the European Union and the Euro possible 

The story of Netscape is important because of how Netscape made the internet accessible. Before Netscape people had to have a decent amount of knowledge to do anything online. Anyone could connect to the internet but before Netscape no one could use it. Netscape could be the most world flattening thing so far. As the first web browser Netscape pioneered easy to access information without any rules or restrictions. Windows 95 was released soon afterward further increasing the number of people that could connect with each other.