Age of AI: What does it mean for us?

 

AI is a technology that is constantly evolving in society. It is becoming smarter every day and continue to advance past human expectations. Within this video, it explore this new age of AI and how it is affecting people. There are multiple pros and cons of AI that are noted within this video and the ratio of pros and cons may shock you.

A pro that is part of everyday searching is the adaptation to a person's interest. AI has created a way to track your searching and personal interests online. This creates a modified filter for you and sends ads or topics that match patters recognized in your online behavior. This can be a good thing since this can simplify searches for items you may be interested in or give you information that you would not have found unless you actively searched for it. But with this tracking, there is a con. Many search engines actively are tracking and storing everything you are doing on the browser. There is a strong lack of privacy, making anything put on the internet permanent. 

Another con that first appears as a pro is automation. Technology and AI has created a new system of faster and efficient work within the world, making product be produced much faster. This has caused many people to have lost their jobs to AI or technology since a machine is replacing them. The people that are more likely to be able to get a job again are those who have the knowledge about these new technology, leaving many people out of the running for employment.

Surveillance is another aspect of everyday life that is affected by AI. There are hundreds of cameras that have an automatic tracking and sorting system within them. Many airports and public roads have cameras with an automatic capture feature on them. Facial recognition and license plate readers have made it increasingly easy to find people. Combined with online tracking systems, this puts into question about the amount of privacy a person does or doesn't have. Overall, AI itself is a mysterious factor in life that people should be more warry of.

EOTO Propaganda: The Half-Truths in News

 

What is it?

For a firm definition, propaganda is “dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion” (Smith). Its purpose is to manipulate people's beliefs or attitudes of a certain idea to favor the propagandists. Propaganda can come in a multitude of different forms such as banners, posters, music, movies, designs, and insignia. As long as it gets the idea across, it can be used to spread the news. This information is meant to be displayed in certain ways and purposefully omits information in the propagandists favor. Those who are reactors of this are then manipulated into believing it as truth. Propaganda can be seen throughout history and in present day government systems around the world. By examining popular examples of what propaganda is in history, it can be easier to understand the extent it can influence people's thoughts and lives.

WWII: Germany 

One of the most popular forms of propaganda in history can be found within Germany during 1933. This was when Hitler and Nazi power began to overtake Germany. Hitler created Reich Ministry of public Enlightenment and Propaganda (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) where Joseph Goebbels was put in charge to ensure that the Nazi message got spread all around Germany. He used anything and everything at his disposal to manipulate the people of Germany to believe in the antisemitic government Hitler put into place. This ranged from music, to books, educational material, newspapers, and even the Olympics of 1936. Their goal was to create a sense of tolerance to the blatant discrimination towards the Jews, painting Germany being the good guys. 

Propaganda wasn't only used for the antisemitic practices in Nazi Germany. The propaganda wasn't only fooling the people but also foreign governments claiming that what they were doing was fair and not as bad as it truly was. When they were against the Soviet Union, Goebbels and many other propagandist displayed an invasion from Russia would result in an apocalyptic future for Germany. This once again, painted Germany as a "good" guy defending itself from the bad. The political sway that some pictures or slogans had during this period creates a clear demonstration of the power propaganda has over people.

WWI: United States

On the other side of the Ocean, and a few year before, America also has examples of propaganda being used. During President Woodrow Wilson's campaign, he promised the United States that he would keep them out of World War I. In the end, he did not fulfill his promise, entering the United States into the war. As a way to "keep the peace," Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to create a sense of patriotism for America. George Creel, the head of the CPI, preferred to not refer to what he was doing as propaganda since it had to close of a relation to Germany. Rather he viewed it as spreading "good news" and disclosing information about the war. 

Creel wanted to influence the US to think about winning the war and sparking support for participation. There were 6000 press releases and 1500 patriotic advertisements. Creel displayed German soldiers as "apes" or beasts to demonize the enemy and continue to fuel patriotism in the US. This ultimately had backlash since people who were pacifist, socialists, or German immigrants were receiving a tremendous amount of hate from serious patriotic fanatics. Wilson and Creel privately discussed and dealt with these matters but never openly admitted their hand in causing it to happen (O'Toole). While the propaganda worked, there were things outside of their control that they couldn't handle, once again demonstrating the power over public opinion through propaganda.

Present Day

So where is propaganda in today's society? You may think that it is not as prevalent since today we don't have the extreme advertisements that you saw during these World Wars but in reality, it is the exact opposite. Propaganda is everywhere around us. Political campaigns use it all the time with slogans or promises to win elections. Social media has created a whole platform where people are capable of displaying themselves in any way they want. Propaganda as a base idea is just someone trying to influence the public opinion. Whether it is noticeable or not, propaganda is a common occurrence in everyday life, it just depends if you consider it to be real or not.

Privacy: Do we have it? Where did it go?

 

The Digit Age is a new technological age that the world is going through. With the inventions of phones and computers has come different platforms for people to be able to share there whole lives on. Social media like Facebook or Instagram have become so normalized that many people don't even consider what they are posting online and who is capable of seeing it. There are many concerns that have risen around the topic of privacy or the lack of it because of this digital age.

Permanent? 

A concept of immortality has risen with the digital age. Once something is online, it will never leave. Even if you decided to delete it from your personal account, the picture or video or post is hard printed into a system somewhere in the world were it will stay forever. Juan Enriquez in his Ted-Talk actually compares this to getting a tattoo and how permanent it is. It can be concerning to consider that there is something constantly scanning and viewing our social media and our searched on the internet. To keep from getting these "electronic tattoos," you can control what you post on social media. Yo can control who or what sees your information. 

Privacy?

With the rise of new technology, it has become easier to find or locate people. Surveillance technology has increased within public and even private spaces where the government has access to see where anyone is at any given time. Catherine Crump and Christopher Soghoian both note the way surveillance technology has been used in day to day life and people don't even notice it. This poses a sever threat to our privacy because the government is capable of knowing our every move. While the government has put into place certain laws that let private citizens know about what has been recorded about themselves, the records are still there. 

Be in Control

Protect yourself by being careful in the digital world. Know your rights and know what or who is watching you. There is a fine line of what is and isn't private in this digital age but you can control what or how you contribute to it.

The Progressive Era: Antiwar? Where is it?

 

The Progressive Era: Crash Course US History #27

The Progressive Era was a time of rapid change to society. Industrial Capitalism was becoming increasingly popular and the political system went through a serious change. Big companies wanted to keep cost down and profits high meaning that wages were low with long hours. These poor working conditions were able to be noted by a few people known as Much Rakers. They showed the bad within these companies such as child labor. Unions were organized and many big company owners were very against them. The progressive era continued to demonstrate a mass consumption society and modern capitalism seemed to ironically give people a new sense of freedom. Even with this new shift in society, there are still events that represent the secrets within US history that certain people don't want you to know about.

During this time period, Europe was going through WWI. Even though he promised neutrality, President Woodrow Wilson brought America into the war. Because of this change, there were many anti-war voices that were completely against being at war. Some SCOTAS cases to note during this time are Schenck v. United States, Debs v. United States, Frohwerk v. United States, and Abrams v. United States. All of these cases are people against the US, trying to express their beliefs about being Anti-War. There are some cases where these people may have not taken the best approach, btu it should still be noted about why these cases were heard. There was direct censorship of opinions that were opposed to the government's. Even if you don't agree with the opinions, it should still bring concern about the extent the government is will to go.

The question about how much the government is controlling about what people say begins to increase. The 1st Amendment is becoming blurry about what it does and doesn't protect when it comes to speaking against the government. These events about anti-war and people speaking against it is not just a thing in the past. Present day America is going through very similar things. There are whole websites of people speaking about Anti-War and their disagreement with the US government yet it is very rarely heard within public news sights such as CNN or Fox. Why is that?

Does the US government purposefully prevent these anti-war voices to be heard within the public? I don't know. I can't assume what the government is or isn't doing. All I can do is give you the information needed to find out for yourself and convince you that it is worth hearing. It is worth understanding the other side of the argument. Even if you don't agree with it, you can still learn something from this perspective.

Reflection on Technology

Abbey McRae: The Cassette Tape

Cassette Tapes were first created by Lou Ottens and was introduced to the public in 1963. It was a piece of technology that gave a new meaning to portable music. it gave people the capability to record and play music while also being able to widely distribute it. It was such an easy piece of technology to use that even children were able to use it. Something that made this piece of technology so popular was the Sony Walkman in 1979 which, once again, enhanced the portability of these tapes. 

Julia Foster: Carrier Pigeons

Carrier pigeons were bred and trained to take messages from point A to point B. They had an internal magnetic compass which gave them a homing instinct to find their way home. These pigeons were raised within a home and then were sent to a different location once they were trained. When person B wanted to send a message to person A, they would tie a note to the pigeon in a certain way then send it flying. Then the pigeon was capable of finding its way back home. Foot and horse transportation wasn't very reliable so this was the best solution to be able to get around this system. 

These pigeons were also used in WWI to send location, attacks, and updates. They were also used on boats and sea planes to communicate information that would otherwise take days to send. These pigeons were even so popular that people were specially trained to shoot them down so information couldn't get back to the enemy.