Our Class Archive

Reading through everyone’s blogs over this past semester I have realized that our archive is unique in that everyone has something different that they are interested in and that they continually write about. At first this blog was very confusing to navigate, probably because I had never used one in the past, but eventually I think we all started to figure out how to navigate through the blog and even find our personal interests. In fact, that is something I liked most about writing these blogs, that we were all able to write about and research topics that interested us. Being able to write about and discuss something you are actually interested in makes the homework much more bearable than going through countless articles on a topic we have zero interest in. Although I loved the opportunity to write about what I wanted to write about, I often struggled trying to narrow it down to one topic. Many of the other students in this class had something they were very passionate about such as music or medicine that they would always base their blogs off of, but I was always so curious to learn about several different topics that I had trouble choosing what I wanted to learn about most.

I feel like it was also easier for students to choose a topic when their major was one that involved using several different technologies, or when something new was always being discovered in their area of study. I am majoring in Human Resources and I love my major so far, but it was difficult for me to base any of my writings off of my major since there really is not anything new happening in this field of study. For this reason I had to go and look at my other interests for inspiration, but this also helped me realize what my interests are.

I also really enjoyed reading through everyone else’s blogs and reading about their interests as well. In a typical writing class only the professor is the one who gets to read through everyone’s writings and get to know them that way, but the fact that we were able to read our peers’ writings as well was kind of cool. It allowed us all to get to know each other on a more personal level and also provided more opportunities for us to make friends with similar interests.

It is very apparent that we all tend to rely on technology a great deal every day for many reasons. Some people use technology as a way to relax, like with music, or as a way to research and learn, like most of us have to do for almost every class we take or just for fun. For my final paper I am writing about solar energy, and solar energy would never be possible without technology. Many of the great things we have in life would not be possible without technology. I think it is obvious that all of us need technology to get through every day, and with all of this technology and science we are finding ways to be able to use this technology and harm the world less.

Observation Essay on Artificial Intelligence

Many academic papers ask you to really think critically on a topic.  They require that you think hard on the topic, and do some type of critical analysis that helps you formulate your thesis.  The topic of this particular assignment for my blog post said to “write without any judgment”; keeping that in mind while I write this, I will attempt to take an unbiased view of the world around me as I reflect on artificial intelligence’s impact and role in it.

One way I think artificial intelligence has impacted society and the world is by causing people to depend on it so much.  Almost everyone, including myself, depends on some form of artificial intelligence or another that they are unable to live without it.  For example, I know that almost all of my friends cannot live without their phones.  They are always on them, whether they are checking different social media apps or texting other people.  Additionally, whenever I am walking around campus, I rarely see someone not using a some type of function on their smart phone, whether they are texting, listening to music, making a phone call, or doing any number of other actions.  I have only recently become significantly attached to my phone because I have not even had a smart phone for a year yet.  Although I have only recently become dependent on this form of artificial intelligence, I have become dependent on many other forms of artificial intelligence, which others have become dependent on as well.  One example is a GPS, which everyone nowadays seems to be using.  Almost everyone uses some form of GPS because we don’t attempt to learn directions anywhere nor look at a map.  I would be surprised if most people even know how to read a map anymore.  Another example of artificial intelligence people have become dependent upon is the calculator.  Most people cannot even do simple arithmetic in their heads or work it out on paper anymore.  They have to put simple multiplication problems into a calculator, and allow the calculator to solve it.

Now, what does this all mean?  How does it affect society as a whole on a mental and social level?  Well, through my observations, I believe that people have become increasingly lazy.  Whether it is looking up directions or exercising their mind, people have become too lazy to do the most menial of tasks.  We have even invented forms of artificial intelligence like devices that vacuum your house or mow your lawn by themselves.  We are even too lazy to do chores!  What does this mean for us going forward?  I believe that as we move forward, we will become too lazy to even move.  I know, this probably sounds a little extreme.  But the amount of physical activity we do today, even compared to that of 15 to 20 years ago, is staggeringly lower.  We are heading down a very slippery slope, one that we need to correct before we do too much damage to ourselves.

Transcription E=MC2

My topic is on Einsteins most famous equation, E=MC^2. It is a powerful, yet simple equation that has a great impact in scientific discovery as well the world in a multitude of ways. I wanted to get a different perspective on the topic, so decided to discuss with one of my friends about the topic. My friend is a doing a major in physics so he is very well versed in the fundamentals of E=MC^2 from a scientific background. I wanted to get two perspectives from him, one being from a purely scientific background, and the other more humanitarian based.

On the scientific perspective, he said it is a very powerful equation and is one of the greatest discoveries ever. We have learned so much from it, and made so many inventions because of it that have benefit society and has allowed to further impact scientific innovation and discovery. Since I asked him about the equation from a purely scientific perspective, I also wanted him to analyze the variable in the equation. E represents energy, M represents mass, and C represents the speed of light squared. Simply this really just means matter and energy can be equated and are almost the same thing. This discovery has lead us to many inventions and one of them was the atomic bomb.

Which led me to ask him about the humanitarian perspective of this equation. Of course he is not meant to understand this perspective more than the scientific perspective, but he is an academic and understands how things relate. Fortunately, he was very intelligent on the topic and gave me a good answer. He stated it was a horrific incident that occurred that took many innocent lives, and the U.S was to blame. He even mentioned that Einstein reflected back and regretted his decision of helping to create the atomic bomb. However, he said this is not the equation’s fault, because that is just a written law of the universe. We cannot change it, Einstein just shed light on one of the universe’s law for us to understand how some things in the universe works. It has always been there, and with like any other weapon, it is not the weapons fault but but rather the people behind it by abusing its power. Although he gave a great point, my only contention is that the equation should not be considered a weapon but rather like a weapon. We did not create the laws of universe, but we are purely responsible for creating weapons, which is why the equation is not a weapon. It is just an understanding of the world, and  it is  the responsibility of the wielder who abuses the power of this understanding.

From the interview I learned a lot through my friend on the many great innovative things that Einstein’s equation helped with. However, we also discussed the horrific events of what happened with this great power more than the science behind it. It is important to know both the good and bad things that this equation has done to humanity. Although it is not the equations fault so many people died, but rather the people living in the world. It is unfortunate that people abused Einstein’s equation to get to a level of creating weapons of mass destruction, but it will still be remembered with positive outcomes which can hopefully outweigh the negatives and lead people to realize that it is not meant for destruction and taking millions of lives.