The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly

 First off I wanted to start out on a lighter mood and introduce an example of the Good.In John McWhorter's Ted talk; "Txting is killing language.JK!!!", he argues that texting is actually a linguistic miracle that is happening under our noses. He points out that language, speech and writing are very different things. Language he argues, is more important. In casual speech we don't use many words and it is more casual and loose when conversing with others. He says that because we see language written, we think that is what speech is. But in fact it is not. If people spoke how they wrote it would not be casual loose conversation, it would be like giving a presentation or writing a paper. With the idea of texting which is supose to imitate speech, it should reflect the casual loose structure the way that speech is. He says that texting is fingered speech. We are able to write the way we talk, and this should not represent some kind of decline in education or lack of rules on our part. What is going on here is an emergent complexity. He talks about how we uses things such as slashes or lol to create new information markers. The use of LOL does not mean laughing out loud, its a marker of empathy and accomodation. These are called pragmatic particales. My favorite part of his speech what when he pointed out that it was not the rise in technology that sparked the idea of the decline in writing skills. He uses examples that date all the way back to 63 A.D that prove that there are always people worrying about the loss of structured writing and speaking. In 1871 a president of Harvard complained about lack of skills in writing and reading and there wasn't even electricity during this time! Overall John feels that texting is a linguistic miracle happening under our noses.
http://www.ted.com/talks/john_mcwhorter_txtng_is_killing_language_jk.html

Now for the bad...
http://www.ted.com/speakers/marc_goodman.html
In Marc Goodman's Ted talk : Global Security First, he talks about how the future of technology can look very dangerous when devices are in the hands of the wrong people. He talks about how the drug dealers an terrorists are building their own networks and using modern technology to committ terrible crimes. An interesting point he brought up was “All the drug dealers and gang members with whom I dealt had [a cell phone] long before any police officer I knew did. ” He talks about they ways that terrorists are taking advantage of the fact that our world has become so open through the use of technology. It is a very scary idea that he points out how a search engine can determine who should live and who should die. In terms of crime, it is is now easier to commit crime against a much larger group of people at one time. For instance he talks about the Sony Playstation incident where over one hundred million people were robbed. If technology wern't involved it would never be possible for one person to rob so many people at one time. He is warning us about the progressing dangers that these advances will lead to in the future as it only continues to get worse as we progress technologically.

And for the Ugly...
As I am sure most of you are familiar with the Boston Marathon Bombings that happened just a few weeks ago leaving hundreds wounded and three dead. This was a tragic and disgusting thing that happened and it left a lot of people thinking about cyber war and terrorism. In the case of the two brothers who produced these awful attacks, there was chaos after the bombs went off in fear that another bomb could be triggerd by the use of cell phones. Although the cell phones may not have been the exact thing that set these explosive off, it is a scary thought that that is a potential option for terrorists who want to inflict this much harm on a large group of people. Cell phone service was shut down at the moment of the bombing as a precaution that it could be the cause of another explosive. This is an ugly aspect of technology because of how powerful it can be in situations like terrorism or hate crimes. Technology has the power to get thousands and thousands of people without access to communication or even get them in one area in order to target them in a harmful manner.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/35359/boston-marathon-bombing-cell-phone-service-shut-off-in-boston-area

Cell Phones and Privacy

Cell Phones and Privacy:

 

I do not think that prepaid cell phones should be banned or controlled by the law. I feel as if prepaid phones are very useful for many reasons and the good outweighs the bad. I understand that they can be abused and used for the wrong reasons, but so can everything else. This could be useful for people who are traveling, or even someone trying to avoid people having their numbers. Also they can avoid the problem of having to pay a bill every month as well as getting sucked into a phone plan that requires data bills and other things that are a pain. Also for parents who want to control their teenagers usage of phones and not worry about them going over the bill this is a great idea. As well as for people who don't depend on a phone as much as most people and only need it for occasional contact. For people with spending problems, this would allow them to control their spending and use their phones wisely.

 

This seems like a privacy that we should allow people to have because it is their own choice weather they want to have their information traced or recorded. I don't think you should be able to require someone to allow their prepaid cell phones to be tracked because you are not allowing that person their right to privacy. Overall it appears to me that the good aspects of a prepaid phone outweigh the bad ones.

Location Tracking

Location Tracking:

Tracking animals and tracking children are certainly different things. But I can see the reasons behind both. I think that tracking young children would be a very helpful idea in many ways. When I say tracking, I mean something less severe like putting it in an item of their clothing. Implanting chips into a person seems a bit crazy to me. But in the world we live in today where children are constantly getting kidnapped or running away, this could be very helpful. For example if a child went missing, you could just track them and figure out their location. I think a child under the age of 5 does not know better not to run off from their parents or jump in someones van. However, I think that by age 7 or 8 the child should know right from wrong. I would support tracking of young children for this reason. It is strictly a safety precaution and is in no way invading a small childs privacy ( i mean think about it you are changing this childs diaper!). When the child starts to get older I think it should be up them to decide if they want to be tracked for safety reasons. I think tracking a child should only be used in case of a kidnapping or if the child goes missing. Not simply because the parents wants to know if they are lying or not or just wants to keep tabs on them. In the case of tracking seniors who are forgetful or have alzheimers I think it would be a great idea. The GPS shoes sound like a brilliant idea and would be extremely beneficial. Also because it is for the purpose of their safety. All in all, the idea of tracking should only be used for safety purposes. If people abuse it to spy on their childrens every move, then they are using it for the wrong reasons. I think the idea of implanting a chip in someones body is a bit extreme so I would opt for something like a bracelet or something you could put in a shoe.

On a day like today, social media plays a huge role in circulating a major event that is occuring in large parts of the country. If I hadn't known about this big snow storm, I could have easily gone onto my twitter, facebook, or even instagram, to see peoples many posts about the blizzard. The internet really can be a wonderful thing, and in this case it can help people stay informed. Without the warning of the storm people could be trapped inside their homes without water or food for days. But all thanks to the many alerts and warnings, people are clearing out the stores to stock up for the possible power outages and harsh conditions. From the technology that can detect the storms path to the phones that allow us to stay in touch, the internet can make a huge positive influence and even save lives.