Current Event

                As technology becomes more advanced and sneaks into different aspects of our daily lives, we have to realize what effects this actually has on us. Not too long ago, many people in America had at least a remote fear of robots. We released movies such as terminator, and feared robots taking over our jobs in factors and assembly lines. Nowadays we have a bigger fear of losing our jobs to worker abroad through outsourcing, despite the fact that robots have taken over many of the jobs we so feared losing.

                There are certain robots out there with potential hazards that we need to be concerned of. One new robot known as the “EATR” (Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot) sustains itself indefinitely on the battle field by consuming organic material. A big concern of this robot was that it would consume human corpses on the battlefield. Another concern we should be worried about is that if a robot can be self sustaining without any human interaction, what potential uses could this be used for which could harm us.

                Other robots have been created which are meant to simulate humans in many ways, such as facial expressions, learning and other interactions. The intention of these corporations is to create a “relationship between humans and robots”. This relationship has been growing at a rapid rate in recent years, and we have come to rely on robots and technology for almost everything.  If corporations are still trying to push this relationship we can only imagine how dependent we will be in the future. What if our world replaces sight with cameras, walking with segways, hearing with headphones and thinking with computers? Anything is possible.

Article: http://discovermagazine.com/2010/may/03-humanity.s-high-hopes-for-robotic-offspring/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C=

slade part 3

As we move forward on the road of obsolescence, it begins to take new forms and implications. As technology became more complex the wasteful marketing strategies are masked by the label of technological advancement. Computers began to become smaller and faster every couple months. Even programming and other intellectual products began to be affected within months of their existence.

“In the 1960’s it became possible to describe people’s knowledge, training, and skill sets as victims of obsolescence” (187).

Another phenomenon that began to occur was miniaturization. Consumers began to prefer smaller computers and other electronic devices despite the loss of power and function. This gave companies another dimension to creating their electronics products and they took full advantage of it. They began to create cheaper computers and put them on the market for those who could not afford the top of the line systems, and found their market niche. Business used this opportunity to create a network of computers now known as distributed computing. This involved companies having computers in all their locations to input information and then send it to a mainframe computer located elsewhere. Operations like this increased the demand for cheaper computers and miniaturization began to boom.

“Moore pointed out that the level of an integrated circuit’s complexity had increased in relation to its minimum cost at ‘a rate of roughly a factor of two per year’” (196).

As Moore realized, the development of circuit boards was moving at an astonishing rate, leaving mounds of useless electronics in its path. If we look  back on the history of electronic products on the market, the trend is products became faster and smaller over time. “In the united states, cell phones built to last five years are now retired after only eighteen months of use” (260). As most people in my generation have seen in our short lives, cell phones have changed drastically in the matter of a few years. Phones barely last two years without looking useless compared to the new models. Innovation has reached new levels with the growing demand for new products.

“In 2001 silicon valley toxins coalition estimated that the amount of electronic consumer waste entering America’s landfills that year would be between 5 to 7 million tons” (265). The unnoticed problem with this advancement is that all the unused cell phones, computers, TV’s, toys and many other electronics needed a place to go, which was dumps all across America. These “mountains of e-waste” released high levels of biological toxins into the ground and in the air harming the earth and life which lives on it.

Wiki Auditor

When I first began looking at the JFK assassination page it seemed like a very well rounded source. It had a lot of detailed categories. The section I was responsible for was the conspiracy section, which was a very interesting section to read. It gave a general listing of the different conspiracy theories out there and linked me to the full conspiracy page. The reaction to assassination section was simply a listing of a couple different statistics with no real link to each other. I then began looking at sources, and out pure interest on the subject I read through them all. The amount of information and perspective I gained from reading these sources was unmatchable to the information found on the wiki page.

                Overall I decided that Wikipedia was not a reliable page to use as a source of a paper or project. I think Wikipedia can have biased or missing information pretty easily and should not be fully trusted. The strengths of Wikipedia which can be exploited is that it categorizes information on the web and other sources and makes it easy to find what you want. It is kind of a table of contents of the web and can be used to find detailed information without having to look through google pages. Use it to start your research and find other places to find more information on your topic.  

Made to Break pt 2

As we continue down the technological history of our country, there are constantly more examples of the trend towards increasing wastefulness. In the early years of the radio, companies were pushing inventors with large amounts of funding to develop competing technology to earn market share. RCA’s Head David Sarnoff was pushing the invention of TV and TV broadcasting in order to make radio broadcasting obsolete.

            David Sarnoff is a perfect example of corporations using obsolescence as a technique to keep consumer demand and create multiple sales from customers. “…with the power to stifle competition in manufacture and sale of receiving sets” (8). This also increases the importance of brand name because satisfaction and innovation drives returning buyers.

            Sarnoff’s plan hit a curb when two inventions revolutionized the radio. The transistor replaced vacuum tubes and made it possible to make radios extremely small and versatile. Also, an engineer named Edwin Howard Armstrong invented the FM radio. “FM’s clarity, capture effect, and energy efficiency made it much more suitable to mobile radio than AM” (9). When Armstrong tried to present this to Sarnoff, he slowly put it off in attempt to keep it from hitting the market. Armstrong shortly caught on and decided to create his own company and began to sell licenses for the FM radio.

            The moderating force between Sarnoff and Armstrong’s battle was the FCC. The FCC moderated the airwaves and determined which frequencies could be used for FM and which ones could be used for TV. These presets limited the growth of FM stations and ensured that TV had enough space to grow. Because of the limits on FM, it could not overtake AM and instead they coexist.

“Advanced capitalism had regularly stifled or swallowed up the individual entrepreneur during these years when the political will to enforce legislation against monopolistic practices were the exception rather than the rule.” (97)

The lesson we can learn from this case is that even though the corporate world will always move towards creating monopolies and will use obsolescence as a tool to increase revenues, the government can create forces which will limit this to some extent. Although Armstrong tried to use FM to make AM obsolete, now both exist and share the market. As long as we keep our governments intentions separate of cooperations, and towards the rights of the consumer we can limit the amount of waste we create.