first off, i said a long time ago that i think computers have a big place in the classroom although not as complete replacements. i thought that computers would just be a way for teachers to access information easier and would be very benefitial for multimedia presentations to add videos, sounds, and pictures to a lecture. i thought that would be very convienent and helpful to the teacher, and i also thought that it would help the kids learn. after hearing some discussion and what emily said about what she has seen in teaching, i think that there would be more problems then benefits with the computers. first of all the teachers are from the pre-computer age, and as i have seen many times, especially in high school, most teachers cannont use computers well at times. many times i have seen the teacher have something set up, only to have it mess up and have to get fixed, which would take up a lot of class time, and then it wouldnt even be that much better than an overhead projector or a regular lecture. this just wastes time and is a hassle. also i dont think it helps that much anyway. mostly they are just putting notes on microsoft powerpoint, which they could just dictate to us or use an overhead projector instead and it would be just as easy. also, i think that the powerpoints only end up having the kids just copy down the notes word for word from the powerpoint and never actually have the material sink in. i think that when a teacher just lectures, the students actually have to think about what is being said and write down what they think is important
for my second challenge i want to talk about what i said earlier about saying it was unfair to call the monster from frankenstein a cyborg. i said that since he was made of all human parts and since he could learn things and had feelings he would have to be all human. now i think that it is also good to call the monster a cyborg. he is not natural at all. he was made by man and man's creation from parts of different but already dead humans. he was created in a lab, and there was a bunch of technology and machines used to make him. also, as it is shown in the movie, he does not fit in with the human population he was designed in the image of. he is an outsider, and is nothing like a normal human. he has not experienced any of the things that the other humans have, he never was born, he never grew up, he never had real parents. so in that sense of unnatural feelings and artificial creation i think it is fair to say that the monster is just like a cyborg. also i think that the previously mentioned statement in class that he, like the cyborg, is a borderline case, which is another simularity that can make the monster a good candidate for comparison to a cyborg
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehn, goodbye!
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Computer Progress
1. After an completion of this technology class, we have all learned that there is not just one viewpoint that is absolutely correct for technology and its future. My original question involved whether or not computers will ever be able to reason. After watching Frankenstein and other films of the sort, it seems as though reason is a thing computers will never be able to accomplish. If we really did know anything about how to go about AI, i believe that the movies to date would have a better explanation on how things all came to be. Frankenstein showed us nothing but lightening which supposedly jump started a heart. This is about the best idea for how this would be done that i have seen, and it is still highly unbelievable.
Artificial intelligence and reason, as i believe we have all come to see, are just nice things to write about. Zombie movies have the same problem. There is no explanation as to how things came to be, but they just tell us they exist. In either case, it is an exciting thought to think about. It sparks our imagination, though we really know nothing about it. Maybe the promise of technology is just some really cool movies.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Borgmann's Challenge
2. The web of realtions that we had talked about concerning Borgmann i believe refers to two things. First, the relations between people. A well would obviously invite more conversation and interaction than a spigot would, there is not much debate there. The thing that doesn't change is the web of relations that technology such as this influences on work life. We had discussed that the web of relations seperates supervisors from those under them unlike in less technological times.
This problem has never come to my attention. It seems as though there is still a direct connection in most workplaces that i have been in, and those i have worked in. Managers all directly oversee the people under them and the web of relations is not disturbed by technology. This is a different case in factories, however. Assembly lines require no direct overseeing, but this can be done from a distance by security camera without any personal involvement. In this case, the web of relations is disturbed by technology. Given the example of a work environment other than a factory or something of the sort, the nostalgia Borgmann has seems insignificant. Either way, with or without technology, there is still a direct connection between employer and employee.
Computer Progress
1. After an completion of this technology class, we have all learned that there is not just one viewpoint that is absolutely correct for technology and its future. My original question involved whether or not computers will ever be able to reason. After watching Frankenstein and other films of the sort, it seems as though reason is a thing computers will never be able to accomplish. If we really did know anything about how to go about AI, i believe that the movies to date would have a better explanation on how things all came to be. Frankenstein showed us nothing but lightening which supposedly jump started a heart. This is about the best idea for how this would be done that i have seen, and it is still highly unbelievable.
Artificial intelligence and reason, as i believe we have all come to see, are just nice things to write about. Zombie movies have the same problem. There is no explanation as to how things came to be, but they just tell us they exist. In either case, it is an exciting thought to think about. It sparks our imagination, though we really know nothing about it. Maybe the promise of technology is just some really cool movies.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Borgmann's Challenge
2. The web of realtions that we had talked about concerning Borgmann i believe refers to two things. First, the relations between people. A well would obviously invite more conversation and interaction than a spigot would, there is not much debate there. The thing that doesn't change is the web of relations that technology such as this influences on work life. We had discussed that the web of relations seperates supervisors from those under them unlike in less technological times.
This problem has never come to my attention. It seems as though there is still a direct connection in most workplaces that i have been in, and those i have worked in. Managers all directly oversee the people under them and the web of relations is not disturbed by technology. This is a different case in factories, however. Assembly lines require no direct overseeing, but this can be done from a distance by security camera without any personal involvement. In this case, the web of relations is disturbed by technology. Given the example of a work environment other than a factory or something of the sort, the nostalgia Borgmann has seems insignificant. Either way, with or without technology, there is still a direct connection between employer and employee.
Final
The first thing I would like to discuss in this blog is the recently discussed topic of the role of technology in education. Most people in the class took the view point that we are letting technology in the classroom get out of hand. I believe that it is important for our youth today to get experience with these technologies. I also believe that they need to get experience with older technologies such as books and writings. But we must not forget that these kids are not going to be exposed to the same things that my generation was, when growing up. Lets face it, when the youth of today are our age, technology is going to be a lot different. They need to start now in order to keep up with these future technologies. They are also going to be the ones who develope the technology of the future. We need to give them exposure to as much technology now, in order to keep our technological advance in order.
The second topic I would like to discuss in this blog is cyborgs. Most people in the class think of cyborgs as unnatural and something to be afraid of. I do not think this way. I beleive that cyborgs are the next step in human evolution. People say this cannot be true because it is not natural. Well to this I say that it is not natural to save your grandparent from cancer or a heart attack. We have evolved to the point to were that our brain is advanced enough to contemplate self-improvement. This very fact, to me, says that the next step in our advancement as a species is into cybernetics.
The second topic I would like to discuss in this blog is cyborgs. Most people in the class think of cyborgs as unnatural and something to be afraid of. I do not think this way. I beleive that cyborgs are the next step in human evolution. People say this cannot be true because it is not natural. Well to this I say that it is not natural to save your grandparent from cancer or a heart attack. We have evolved to the point to were that our brain is advanced enough to contemplate self-improvement. This very fact, to me, says that the next step in our advancement as a species is into cybernetics.
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