EOTO#2 Misinformation, Malinformation, Disinformation, and Fake News

    Each of these is a form of fake news and can be used for different reasons. I think the more dependent we become on social media the more susceptible to fake news we become. Personally, I do not think that I get fooled often by fake news as most of the fake news I see is about sports. The information is pretty easy to verify as true or not by checking the account that posted it. However many people are tricked by fake news specifically elderly people and children. These are the groups that are also most targeted for online scams. We all have to stay alert to fake news by trying to verify information with multiple sources if it does not sound real. The government cannot help us with this issue as any fake news that does not slander anyone because it falls under the 1st Amendment as Freedom of Expression. 

All three are defined by the Canada Centre for Cyber Security. Misinformation refers to false information that is not intended to cause harm. This could be a news story that was reported and later found to be false without the media realizing it. Disinformation is information that is intended to manipulate, cause damage, or guide people, organizations, and countries in the wrong direction. Malinformation refers to information that stems from the truth but is often exaggerated in a way that misleads or causes harm. 

Fake news is not going anywhere so by being aware that many of the stories are clickbait or use emotional triggers we can better understand what news might be fake. Using reliable news sources and ignoring stories that are obviously just to get clicks is the first way to avoid fake news and doing your own research by cross-referencing information is also very effective. Some fake news is a joke and not meant to be taken seriously but much of it can be damaging to individuals involved if stories are a lie or distorted truth. Never believe everything you see should always be in the back of anyone's mind while on the strange cesspool that is the internet. 

EOTO Technology Printing Press

 

The Printing Press was a very important technological advancement for the communication of society. Originally created in China around 700 during the Tang dynasty. The first mechanical printing press was created by Johannes Gutenberg in 1448. The printing press was used to make all kinds of writings the most impactful being the Gutenberg Bible because it was the first Bible to not be written in Latin. Before the printing press Bibles were hand written by monks in monasteries. These Illuminated Bibles would take monks weeks to write and often had hand-drawn illustrations and the monks worked on them around six hours a day. Many of them also had clinical depression from the repetitive and dismal work they did. It was then translated into many native European tongues so that the masses could read Bibles. 

This intensified in 1517 with the start of the Protestant Reformation because as more and more denominations of Christianity emerged countless Bibles were printed. This along with many people being sick of the corrupt Catholic Church at the time made the Protestant Reformation spread like wildfire. 

That's the most important part of the printing press's impact but it also made many people become literate. Only 30% of Europeans were literate when the printing press was first created. This invention probably helped create education systems as we know it because without the printing press mass production of books wouldn't have been possible until copying machines were invented in 1938. Without the printing press, newspapers also would have come much later. Generally speaking, it directly resulted in the average person being much more educated than before. 

In conclusion, the printing press was one of the most important developments in communication technology ever as it allowed for the mass distribution of the Bible, newspapers, and other books. It helped accelerate education and information across Europe and had a huge impact on the Protestant Revolution. 

The Spiral of Silence Theory

 The Spiral of Silence Theory is that people often censor their opinions based on whether or not they think they are in the minority of the majority. The theory is that people will share their opinions based on how they think others will react if they think others will agree they are more likely to share their opinion. The more controversial the opinion is the more likely it is that people will stay silent in a group. This idea is why people have censored themselves more and more over time as they fear being perceived as having the "wrong" opinion. 

This theory goes hand in hand with the fear of cancel culture because people fear if their opinion is in the minority they could be "canceled" within a group. This applies to the workplace, family groups, or just in a group with friends. Surprising studies have shown that social media like X or Facebook was where people were least likely to express opinions they felt were controversial. People were more open to sharing opinions face to face rather than on social media despite it being largely anonymous. People's willingness to share their opinions also increased if they knew more about a topic or had a strong opinion. 

The increase in self-censorship in society leads to less discussion and more people agreeing so as to not cause conflict. It causes media to avoid covering stories that might be dissive and it truly just prevents a lot of free speech because people live in fear of being "wrong". We are lucky to live in the most free country in the world and that does not mean people are always safe to say what they want without consequence, but they are more free here than anywhere else. An article about media freedom in Europe talks about governments in Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia having control over media. It allows those governments to control narratives and make journalists self-censor. 

In America, it is almost the opposite where most big media outlets are politically affiliated but are not controlled by the government so at least you can know every opinion you hear is biased or politically charged. The problem with this is that the two-party system limits any consideration for other opinions as many people just take the opinions of their political party at face value. Of course, there are people who are moderate, but any opinions or issues raised are somewhat ignored. I believe this is what leads many people to self-censor if they have an opinion different from Democrats or Republicans because then they are not on either side. This leaves a smaller group of people stuck in the middle which is likely leading to many not using their voice. Another reason is that many people seem to struggle to be objective and get very easily offended. I think that the idea that we have to avoid saying things that offend people is a weird new societal norm that might cause more self-censorship than anything. 

In conclusion, the way people perceive opinions in media and the desire to not offend anyone because God forbid we have different opinions has lead to the Spiral of Silence we see often. I think eventually we will reach a breaking point where people will have to voice their opinions for society to be able to advance, but for now many will chose to stay quite as it is the path of least resistance. 

Antiwar Post

 I think America has for whatever reason almost a war culture. I'm not sure if it stems from the desire to win similarly to sports or if it is instead some twisted form of patriotism that we are better than all other nations. I can't say for sure but I think when we are involved in a war many Americans simply assume we are the good guys, but when you take a step back and look at many of our conflicts from an objective lens it seems that we are an international bully instead of the heroes. I'm not saying we are always the bad guys but at the end of the day, almost no war is fought justly by either side. I believe this distorted patriotism is why we do not see as much media coverage about the bad we do in wars almost to pretend it's not there so we can perpetuate the illusion that America is never wrong. 

This article talks about how Ukraine tried to become a part of NATO and the U.S. was one of the countries that said no. Rather than helping Ukraine join NATO the U.S. and other Western European countries essentially told them we would protect them from this war. I cannot understand why we did this if it was to try to show Russia we are not afraid of them or to let Putin know he cannot take whatever he wants. Either way, this is one of the most recent ways the U.S. encouraged a war one that we did nothing to prevent. I would talk about the wars we waged that were "just" but this is an antiwar post and I will address the wars that are the reason we should not be so trigger-happy.

Another article about how America has helped propel conflict in the Middle East as much as Iran has goes into another one of our more suspect endeavors. The point of the article is that our support of Israel continues the cycle of war to some extent because they continue to try to gain territory in the areas surrounding them. This entire issue can be traced back to when the U.S. and Great Britain first established Israel in 1948 after the events of WW2. Great Britain has essentially gone out to get the milk on our shared child country of Israel and now we are responsible for them because we helped create their country. Now we take the blame when this child fights the local kids in the neighborhood, and realistically there should be a similar narrative for Great Britain. 

In conclusion, people tend to overlook a lot of trends and why things are the way they are. It seems like people are always confused about why we are always in support of Israel and do not understand that the wars we fund are not always good causes. I think it would be great if the U.S. would try to stay out of foreign affairs that are not really our problem, but many of these conflicts we have been tied up in for years and will likely continue to be stuck in as a result of Washington's bloodthirsty politicians. 

My Relationship With Technology

 My relationship with technology is up and down like most people's. Most of the time it is very useful, but it can be a big distraction often. We live in such a technology-dependent society that it can be nearly impossible to not spend too much time on devices. My daily screen time just last week was a little over five hours a day and that's just my phone. If I add in playing video games, watching basketball, and doing work on my laptop it could easily be close to ten hours a day. 

I do not have TikTok but I spend well over an hour a day on Instagram scrolling and wasting my time. It can be useful when I see basketball or football updates I'm interested in but overall I spend far too much time scrolling and that is just one way technology can be a large distraction. Another way is spending too much time playing video games because it's one of my go-to ways of unwinding after a long day. 

Over winter break I aim to drastically reduce my screen time by limiting my scrolling and video game time by spending more of my time reading, working out, and playing basketball. Hopefully reducing my screen time and focusing on my health over the break will help me reset in between semesters and make me better prepared for my classes. 

I have always tried to approach life with realistic expectations which is why I do not pay much attention to anything others do on social media. It doesn't affect me or matter to me and I avoid comparing my life and instead focus on what I can control to make my own life better. This makes my digital footprint fairly small because I almost never post anything and do not follow many people. I'm sure that hundreds of different companies have data on me despite that due to simply putting my email or phone number into websites that I've used. The only thing in my digital footprint I wish I could delete is my basketball recruiting profile on NCSA  because I hate the picture in the profile and I also never had a chance to play basketball at the collegiate level. 

Considering the two very different videos the first about thriving technology in the future and the second about technology turning us into mindless zombies both have some truth to them. In the 1960s video about the future they got a lot of stuff right and certainly highlighted many benefits of modern technology, but what they didn't anticipate was that everyone would be carrying supercomputers in their pockets capable of everything and causing people to be chronically online, and sometimes even absent from life. The second video addresses this taking it to the extreme that all people are mindless drones never getting off of their phones and while it's obviously a hyperbole it is not so far off reality indicating the direction we are headed towards. 

In conclusion, I am going to make an effort to reduce my own screen time and improve my health. I think being chronically online is not good for anyone, but it becomes so much easier during the winter months to overuse screens and avoid going outside. 

The Creation of Bluetooth

Bluetooth was created by Dr. Jaap Haartsen in 1994. He was a Dutch Engineer at Ericsson Communications in Sweden. It was called Bluetooth after the Viking King Harald "Blaatand" Gormsson because he had a "blue tooth". He is known for uniting Denmark and Norway in the 10th century. This fact is almost as interesting as the technology itself. Bluetooth was originally created for computers as a form of short-range communication as an alternative to wires for data transfers. In 1998 a group of companies called the Bluetooth Special Interest Group or SIG was formed to help advance the technology. Over 33,000 companies are members of the SIG and help quickly develop new versions of Bluetooth which is why the technology is rapidly evolving. Bluetooth has had a massive impact on society and technology as a whole. It has transformed how we consume music, how we drive, and even how some people live each day with advancements in the medical field. 

Firstly Bluetooth impacts the way almost everyone listens to music whether through Bluetooth speakers, headphones, or a hands-free car connection. Not only does Bluetooth make listening to music easier than ever but it also improves the audio quality drastically over wired connection. Wireless headphones allow so much more freedom than wired headphones because they are easier to use while working out, jogging, playing basketball, or taking a nap without getting tangled in a cord. 

Bluetooth also impacts anyone with a car made in the last 10 years because they will have the ability to turn on navigation, and music or take phone calls if their phone is connected to their car via Bluetooth. This has made driving safer because people do not have to have one hand on the phone while driving. Altogether Bluetooth makes the modern driving experience smooth and easy.

Bluetooth has also affected how some people's homes function with Bluetooth home devices controlling security in homes while regulating temperature and turning off lights. This might seem like a less useful application of Bluetooth but the creation of smart homes has made it harder to break into someone's home even if they are not there. 

Lastly, Bluetooth has also impacted Health and Fitness with smartwatches that track cardio and medical devices that monitor glucose levels. This technology allows people with diabetes or who want to track their cardiovascular activity easy access to their phones thanks to Bluetooth. Bluetooth is also commonly used in hearing aids which my mother desperately needs. 

The many different applications of Bluetooth are why it is one of the most important developments in technology ever. It has made short-range between devices almost unlimited while making the lives of everyone in the Western world much easier. The only negative to Bluetooth technology is there are low levels of radiation emitted by headphones that could in theory cause health issues, but because Bluetooth headphones are more recent there is no evidence yet. As the SIG continues to develop new Bluetooth technology I look forward to seeing what other areas of life it might be utilized, but even if no more advancements are made Bluetooth is still one of the most important technologies we use every day in America. 

Living in the Age of AI

 One of the biggest concerns is that AI will overtake the jobs of many people because there are many jobs that are easy to automate. I think it is sad but many jobs will be overtaken by AI which will be able to do them more efficiently than humans. It's a scary thought for many that the education they are getting or the job they hold currently could be totally obsolete in 10-20 years due to AI. Along with the cashiers, and warehouse workers that are mentioned in the video many other jobs will be replaced soon according to Forbes. Jobs like data entry, customer service, analytics, and even graphic design could be replaced by AI among others. This is the AI concern that scares the most people especially the ones who hold these jobs or a currently in school for a similar field. 

In the video, McTaggart was talking to a Google Engineer who said he would be horrified if he knew how much Google knew about him. This is another huge concern with AI learning patterns is that it can help tech companies farm data about everyone and use it to their advantage. He was surprised to learn that Google's business model is based on finding out as much about you as possible, and I think it is not very surprising as every company wants as much information as possible because information is power. The cons with this invasion of privacy are the companies will naturally learn things you don't want them to know. The pros are that targeted ads can be useful if you want to buy something, but it is too creepy to really be worth them farming your information. 

If Facebook can claim that it can influence people to vote or even their mood on a given day what's to stop a foreign government from analyzing these patterns themselves. I think the ability of tech companies to predict whatever they want could just as easily be used for harm by a foreign government. In that way, the entire internet is a threat to national security if a foreign government gets access to records that are kept by Facebook or Google. 

Even if AI is simply trying to improve user experience it naturally learns information by spying on us. This blatant manipulation is a danger to privacy that Zuckerberg apologized to Congress for in the video, and yet Facebook has not stopped harvesting information. While companies might have reduced how much information they are farming because of the law that McTaggart got passed on privacy it will not stop them. This is why we must be wary of what we do on the internet because everything we do can and will be tracked.