I cannot stress enough, how much it bothers me when we blame a bad thing or bad action on technology, like Turkle does for example. This course has been sort of a "red pill" to me, it has opened my eyes and made realize until what extent we humans are able to take blame or responsibility for our actions. I realized that whenever we can take the blame from ourselves we do, like Huesca and Carr mentioned on their articles, but when it comes to success it is always thanks to us, it seems as technology only plays a negative role in our life.
That's why I titled this post "Decisions Decisions", once again, it is our decisions of how we use technology how affects our daily life, it is our choice to use these technologies, it is our decision how we develop these innovations, because at the end everything comes down to our decisions.
Now the ball is on your court, what do you choose to open your eyes or to keep pretending nothing is wrong, now is your turn to choose...
I hate decisions. I think that this is true because, as you mentioned, making a decision essentially means that if something then goes wrong as a result of that decision you must attribute the blame to yourself. And nobody likes to blame himself. In using technology, we can either blame ourselves or the technology when things go wrong. That actually becomes a relatively difficult call in most situations: if technology malfunctions, who is to blame? Is it the creator? The user? Or the machine itself? Most people would choose not to blame themselves. They would also be less likely to blame the creator, since in most case the exact creator is unclear. So that leaves the machine to be "at fault." And yet it is just a machine.
ReplyDeleteThis idea of decisions and blame is a major concept that is presented in The Matrix. Who is to blame for the current situation that humanity is facing: the humans for creating artificial intelligence powerful enough to take over the world or the artificial intelligence itself for going rogue? In truth, the humans made the decision to experiment with such a dangerous type of technology. Yet, throughout the film, the main characters seem to be blaming the rogue AIs for all of their struggles and troubles. At what point does the blame fall more or less to one side?
I would much rather choose the red pill over the blue pill. I don’t want to live in a state of ignorance the way Cypher wants to. Our decisions affect how we live. They can lead us to the truth or they can lead us to security and contentment. However, the former can open our eyes to what is actually going on and give us a better understanding of ourselves.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to technology, our choices can impact us. We have to use it correctly and for good reasons. Technology isn’t perfect; there are still some flaws among the devices we use and probably will continue to be that way so long as we remain imperfect. Therefore, I agree with you that it’s not necessarily always technology’s fault for the problems that arise in the present. We must consider whether the way in which we use it is for the good or bad, right or wrong before we place the blame on technology. We should also question whether our continuing development of technology will be beneficial to us in the future or not; after all, it wasn’t so in The Matrix. Furthermore, so many questions and issues must also be resolved before we can uncover the truth.
Many acknowledge that ignorance is bliss. Is it though? In the case of Neo, he was discontent in his world of ignorance. He was searching for something more without even knowing that there was something more out there. After deciding to take the red pill, he temporarily regrets his decision and longs for the ignorance he once had. After the shock of the real world wore off, Neo knew that it was better to live in reality than a fabricated world.
ReplyDeleteThe same should go for our use of technology. We can't became a victim to technology and turn a blind eye as more and more changes come. In an extreme case, the humans in the movie turned a blind eye and look where they're at! We need to be careful of how we use technology and not allow technology to use us. We live in a progressive time, and if we aren't careful, we may be left in the dust to AIs.
Decisions can be hard, but the hardest part is living with them. I agree with Elena that we always have trouble deciding whom to blame, like in the movie. Was it the creator, or the created? Sort of like the chicken and the egg thing, where did it go wrong? Even in hindsight, it’s still difficult to figure out these things, which adds to the difficulty of decision-making, because we have to live with them. Neo couldn't go back and decide to take the blue pill. There is no way to compare and contrast our decisions, so there is no way to truly know that the right one has been made.
ReplyDeleteWhen first watching the movie upon the scene that Neo was presented with the two pills, I literally said out loud "take the red one obviously." For me, I have always been a fan of furthering my knowledge. The world just continues to get more and more interesting and worthy of consciousness when we take the time to think about things and discover things that we do not know. Had Neo taken the blue pill he would have denied himself crucial knowledge to better understand his situation and, bigger yet, the situation of humanity as a whole. I certainly understand the assertion that ignorance is bliss. Yet I propose that knowledge heeds opportunity to satisfy human potential. Had Neo remained ignorant he would never have lived up to his potential to be the "One." Similarly, if we deny ourselves knowledge in fear of losing our bliss, there is a chance we will never reach the epitome of our existence.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. We must blame ourselves for the inappropriate use of the technology. However, with time people come to realise the pros and cons associated with the that piece of innovations. My question is when will people recognize the negative effects associated with their improper use of technology and how does one define the ‘ideal’ use of technology?
ReplyDeleteI agree with what most people stated above. We are required to make decisions after decisions in our daily life. Our choices some times come with unintended consequences that we will have to live with for the rest of our lives. Let's take a look at Nuclear technology. The works of many scientists were instrumental in the development of the technology. when they chose to get involved in the creation of what would become the most dangerous weapon of destruction, i think they only imagined the constructive aspect of the technology as a source of energy. The technology by it self is pure; it is harmless. To what end we commit our technological resources is the ultimate question.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that a lot of your decisions are up to you on how you use technology, there are many situations where you cannot. For example, many classes require you to use some forms of technology, such as social networking, email, etc. Also, in a lot of cases jobs, networking, or simply maintaining friendships in this era requires that you use technology. However, you can still maintain control over how the technology affects you. This could mean minimizing what technology you use, not blaming the technology for your actions, and not letting yourself get too involved in a fictitious world. The problem is, I really don't believe many people will actually do this.
ReplyDeleteI broiled a really good steak on Saturday, and we opened a decent bottle of red wine for dinner. Cypher's dilemma came to mind right away.
ReplyDelete"Is the steak real?" I asked. That I could even pose such a question says a great deal about how comfortable our technology has made us. Granted, I was using an ancient source of heat at the time: a wood stove where I split all my own logs. Yet even that primordial technology--harnessing fire--cooks the steak, makes the iron and steel, builds our homes and cities, gives us the leisure to play a game online or with philosophy over a nice steak.
Sam's post does a really strong job of tying together some themes in the class so far. He writes, "I realized that whenever we can take the blame from ourselves we do, like Huesca and Carr mentioned on their articles, but when it comes to success it is always thanks to us, it seems as technology only plays a negative role in our life."
Technology enables the sort of educations are you getting at Richmond. Our authors tend to fall into determinism about technology: we create something and it does X or Y to us, for good or ill. Have any of them discussed the sorts of choices we might make before we deploy a new technology?
For this reason, I rebooted the schedule to include Howard Rheingold's outstanding "Look Who's Talking" for Wednesday.
What if we took more of the blame when things go wrong? Until we do make a real AI, our technologies cannot make their own decisions and they reflect the personality and wills of their makes (think of Facebook and Apple and AT&T).
And even the Machines of The Matrix have problems, too. Agent Smith is like Cypher, trapped in a world he's come to despise. Smith blames us, just as much as Morpheus and his rebels blame The Machines (whomever started the war).
I agree that users are responsible for the effects of a given technology. It is not necessary to do something just because it is possible. Technology exists to serve those who use it. If someone is using technology purposefully it is simply the medium by which the users objectives are achieved.I beleive that is vital to realize that denying responsibility will not change anything. Humans created technology to serve them, not the other way around.
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