I remember my father used to always tell me that history repeats itself…He wanted me to think deeper, analyze and, probably, be more responsible for our future. But from my life experience I can tell you only one thing: “You never know”. When we are talking about digital future and society, we can’t rely on any knowledge and facts. We can only assume, fantasize and come up with different theories. I would like to share with you some of my ideas and thoughts about our future.
With my very busy schedule (what a surprise for New Yorker) I prefer to do shopping online. First, it’s very simple and saves a lot of time. Second, if you are not satisfied with a product, you can easily return it. I think that our digital future will only make this procedure faster. Just imagine, that your digital device will automatically order milk, apples, shampoo or face cream if you run out of these products. We will definitely have to share a lot of personal information in order to make your computer/smartphone do shopping for us. I hope that world will not go against me knowing that I like coconut shower gel and milk chocolate with almonds.
I also expect our future digital society to be much safer. For example, future citizens will be obligated to have an application on Iphone (or whatever smart phone we will use), where they can easily report any sorts of crimes. Just press a bottom – and the police will know when, where and what type of law violation occurs. I believe people will behave more civilized knowing that others are constantly watching them. Does it remind you of anything? “At the heart of Bentham’s ‘panopticon’ design was the recognition that the best way of controlling the behavior of prison inmates was to give them the impression that they were under constant observation” (Athique 212). My dear classmates, do you feel like prisoners now?
Will we have friends? Do we actually have them now? So many people in New York City… and it seems to me like all of them are lonely. Leanna Garfield in her article “8 ways dating and relationships may look different by 2040” fantasize about dates in our near future: “The real-time artificial intelligence would analyze video data at high speed, providing users with instant feedback about how their date is going.” Do we really need this, people? Why is it so hard to be ourselves? Why do we even have to involve computer in order to make our relationships more satisfying? I honestly believe that digital technologies will completely destroy ‘normal’ communication between people.
Please watch this amazing and very informative video:
Questions:
How do you think online dating will look like? Can you consider the idea that technological devices will help you to find a perfect match?
Do you think that our future society will be more dangerous or safe? Explain why.
Let me just tell you that we do not have a choice. You use cell phone every day in order to connect with your family members, friends, class mates, find the closest coffee shop, send an email to your professor and make a cute selfie for your boyfriend. Let’s imagine that you have read the entire policy of AT&T Company and figured out that your privacy would be violated. You did not signed any contracts and went to T-Mobile store across the street. Guess what? They would have approximately the same private policy and you would have to put your signature and accept their terms or lose the connection with your entire world.
System of government control knows who you are, where you live and work, how you spent your weekends and what fashion style you prefer. And, obviously, there is a clear relationship/connection with the economic system. First, “they” tell you what you should buy in order to feel happy or satisfied, then “they” will collect all the necessary information about you and finally “they” would produce something you would buy and make a profit for “them”. Does it affect your well-being and freedom? Of course, it does. Can you actually do something about it? Not really…Well, you can delete your Facebook and Instagram profiles but your friends would not be able to find out what type of sandwich you had for lunch and how angry you felt after the last president election. You will finally realize that you live in one big illusion and nothing is real: you don’t have real friends, real connections, real interests and real yourself. You will not survive my friend, so stop thinking about it.
Nothing was surprising or even shocking for me from the documentary. I am Russian, and I believe in conspiracy theory my entire life. I was concerned about “red flagging” part. First of all, this guy who twitted that he would bomb America is just stupid and I do not feel sorry for him at all. It’s obvious that sometimes we should use our brain. Eleven year old kid, who is an expert in politics, should play outside with his friends, not writing a nonsense post about Obama and his safety. Googling on “how to murder you wife” or “what is the best place to bury a dead body” is maybe useful, but not productive, because “they” will see it and, eventually, you will get caught. If you want to kill someone, do it quietly.
OK…now I have a question. If it’s so easy to predict the crime using digital technologies, why do we still have to deal with terrorism? I would not share my opinion about it, because I do not want some weird looking dude to knock on my door tomorrow morning. See, I kept my thoughts to myself and my privacy is not violated.
Questions:
Do you personally feel that your privacy and civil rights are being violated? What would you like to change in our modern digital society in order to feel more comfortable and safe?
Imagine, that you work for google, Facebook or any other company that collect personal data from users. Will you be more interested in making more money for your company and yourself or keeping people’s privacy unviolated would be your priority?#behonest
Arizona sounds like a cool idea for the spring break, don’t you think? My friend from Saint Petersburg lives there with her family. I just want to relax for a week, go to the Grand Canyon, drink mezcal at some cute local bar and spend quality time with my girl. I go bed with sweet thoughts about my little vacation.
Mondays’ evenings usually are not very busy at my work. I am on my phone buying some cosmetics online, texting with my friends, checking my homework on blackboard and doing a lot things that I am not supposed to be doing at work. Should I plan my trip in advance and buy tickets to Phoenix while they are not very expensive? Sure, why not. Expedia – 800$ with one 3 hours stops in Chicago, Kayak – 873$ with 2 stops god knows where, Orbit – 760$ with one stop…From NYC to Phoenix, Arizona…You must be kidding me. Tickets to my motherland cost cheaper, non-stop flight to Rome, Italy is about the same price. I get upset, send very angry message to my friend and forget about my vacation.
Two weeks later I am doing homework on my laptop, beautiful HP with beatsaudio, which is easy to use for basically anything. I decide to check tickets to Phoenix again. The average price is about 350$-380$ with one hour stop in Chicago. Amazing…and weird. I go back to my Iphone and check the price of tickets again. My search gives me the same results as the first time: 700$-800$ with two stops. HP, I think I like you even better now. I book my flight, full of confusion and uncertainty.
A week later Facebook starts to send me the memory notifications with my girl from Phoenix. Do you remember this picture from 2011 where you are partying at her house? Or wait, maybe this one from 2010 where you are going to the rock concert together? Big brother, don’t you have anything else to do?
Marc Andrejevic states, “When we surf the Internet, for example, Internet browsers can gather information about the paths we take – the site we’ve visit and the clickstreams that take us from one site to another” (Andrejevic 2). I visit Century 21 website in order to get cute denim jacket for this spring. I find the one I like, with spikes and leather sleeves, very rock-n-roll style. However, I am not going to purchase it today, because I want to check out other stores. Ten minutes later the picture of this exact jackets pups up on my Facebook wall. I find it annoying, but I may take another look at this jacket.
Being constantly watched and tracked is necessary part of our modern society and trust me, it’s only going to get worse. Michel Foucault gives a very interesting and right idea about the disciplinary society, “Although few citizens have anything positive to say about the disciplinary gaze of the state, many people simultaneously recognize that this is a necessary part of an organized society, and that it leads (more or less) efficient resolution of numerous social problems” (Athnique 222). Do you agree with Foucault that being constantly watched can create a resolution for many social problems? Do you think it can work in the opposite direction?
I am going to write about one amazing, extremely talented and popular guy named Matthew Woods. I met him when I was working at the Royalton hotel. I think weird people see each other from far away, so we immediately became friends.
Matt knows how to draw wonderful pictures, decorate houses in very unusual but stylish ways and come up with new fabulous ideas for clothes. He maintains two pages on Instagram. On the first one he posts pictures from his daily life: parties with friends, cozy time with his fiance, breathtaking views of New York City, his drawings and many other interesting things. Every image in his page is artistic and full of meaning. Analyzing his Instagram profile, you would say that Matt is a deep person, who looks at the world from the philosophical perspective.
His second page @hallowwoods is about pumpkin head and his (I consider “it” as a human being) journeys. In one image pumpkin head is hanging out with Betty White; in other – going crazy with bunch of cats, saying “These pussies not only grab back, they bite!”, in third – celebrating Christmas with Krampus. On our last meeting with Matt we were discussing how cool it would be to come up with digital and printed fairy tales, where pumpkin head would explore the world, meet new friends and make our life brighter.
Instagram is ideal media platform for Matthew: he can express his talent, share his wonderful work with other users, follow other artists and maybe create his own reality, where pumpkin head runs the world. I think Matt’s art work helps him to cope with everyday problems like travelling to work, paying bills, dealing with annoying customers and getting older. He shares his art with other people to show them that life is not that serious and we should always keep a curious child inside of our hearts.
I am in my mid-twenties and Matt is in his early thirties. We are far away from creating and maintaining fake accounts. Matt promotes his art work on Instagram and, of course, he uses his real name and even provides link to his official website. He also has a Facebook page but he barely uses it, because it’s no fun.
“The Internet is another element of the computer culture that has contributed to thinking about identity as multiplicity. On it, people are able to build a self by cycling through many selves(Turkle 178).” On my Instagram page I can be a crazy cat lady, fun party girl, classy woman with perfect hair cut, fabulous makeup artist or enthusiastic traveler. It’s all me.
“Despite the negative framing of online communications, some researches saw far more positive things happening in online communication as it expanded in usage throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Participants in online forums we seen to compensate for the lack of social cues by expressing themselves in new ways, such as the early use of emoticons to provide a graphical representation of the mood of the writer (Athique 69). I think people became more honest and open about their lives. They feel more responsible for their own words and actions, because they use their real names and other people can see them. They are comfortable with sharing their emotions, political views, looks and art work.
At the beginning of his articleAdam Conner-Simon claims that in any type of communication/relationships it is difficult to read someone else’s emotions. Can we trust facial expressions? Are they always accurate? Researches from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) came up with “EQ-Radio”, device which can detect individual’s emotions using wireless signal with 87% accuracy. But how does this device work? It measures subtle changes in heart beating and breathing and detects if person is sad, happy or angry. This device can be used in health care (which is the most important in my opinion ), entertainment or consumer behavior. If you are tired or/and stressed, smart homes system can “read” your mood and adjust the air temperature and suggest you to take a walk or drink some water. Project leader Dina Katabi believes that “our results could pave the way for future technologies that could help monitor and diagnose conditions like depression and anxiety”.
We all know that facial expressions are not reliable enough; on-body sensors like chest bands and ECG monitors are inconvenient to wear. So what does make EQ-Radio different and useful? EQ-Radio sends wireless signals that reflect signal from a person’s body and bring it to the device. It can help to find out the individual’s emotional level. “By recovering measurements of the heart valves opening and closing at a millisecond time-scale, this system can literally detect if someone’s heart skips a beat,” say researches. “This opens up the possibility of learning more about conditions like arrhythmia, and potentially exploring other medical applications that we haven’t even thought of yet.”
I am not very good at analyzing new technological devices, but EQ-Radio seems very useful for me, especially if it can help people with depression and other psychological problems. Adam Conner-Simons used enough evidences to make me believe that he exactly knows what he is talking about and we can trust his opinion:
Analyzing previous studying and devises. For example, he mentioned Microsoft’s vision-based “Emotion API”, which focuses on facial expressions (he proved that this system is not accurate enough).
Mentioning competent opinions.
Scientific studies and experiments.
Detailed descriptions of devise.
Ideas on how this EQ-Radio can change the future.
Technology which was describe in Conner-Simon’s article, obviously, has a numerical representation: “New media object can be described formally (mathematically). For instance, an image or a shape can be described using a mathematical function” (Manovich 49). As far as I imagine, quantity of heartbeats and frequency of breathing can be only described using a mathematical function.
Transcoding? For sure. “Beginning with the basic, “material” principles of new media — numeric coding and modular organization — we moved to more “deep” and far reaching ones — automation and variability” (Manovich 63). Individual’s mood level is based on transcoding. For example, number 49 can mean that person is tired, yet upset. Again, this is my interpretation of this technology, which might be wrong.
At the end of “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” Alan Turing states: “We may hope that machines will eventually compete with men in all purely intellectual fields. But which are the best ones to start with? Even this is a difficult decision” (Turing 460). I do not think that machines should compete with human intelligence, because it might be dangerous. Technological devises should help us to improve our health, make our lives easier and many things (like space and time travelling) achievable. However, I think good ruler should have not only intelligence, but heart.
1) Do you find EQ-Radio useful in our society?
2) Do you want to read people’s emotions or you prefer to keep in unknown/private?
Monday night I spent like a typical “cat lady”: Netflix, glass of dry red, plate of veggies ( because I try to eat healthy ) and two furry kitties. I was watching How To Get Away With Murder and, of course, checking my Instagram page every minute. My friend sent me a direct message and we started a conversation.We were talking about classes, relationships, fashion, social media and many other interesting subjects. Everything was just fine, but I did not feel that I was doing something useful or satisfying for my soul. I promised myself to start working on my cover letter … and, obviously, I did not do it. Did I just waste another hour of my life?
If I was living in pre-digital era I would have a nice evening with my friend. We would cook a delicious dinner, seat next to each other, share our real feelings and emotions about life. Maybe after dinner we would talk about some interesting book we both enjoyed reading and went to bed happy and satisfied.
Of course, I am only telling you one negative aspect of social media and constant use of electronic devises. I like my TV shows and movies on Netflix, videos on YouTube, beautiful pictures of my friends from all over the world on Instagram, cute texts from my friends in Russia, ability to Google every single thing I don’t know or not sure about…We live in amazing world and we should appreciate it. However, I have to admit that people are loosing the ability to be themselves, to be real.
I know that Louis CK is a comedian, who says a lot of silly things that he doesn’t actually mean. However, I agree with everything he said in this video. We are scared to be a alone even for a second. We always look for an interaction, because we do not want to face the reality, the dirt and misery of this world.
Media has changed our entire perception of the would. Nick Couldry states, ” Media literally change the scale on which we can speak of societies at all, but building inequalities into this very process. It is through media that we have a sense of living in the world, a horizon of world events; it is though communication also that capitalism on a global scale is sustained, so enabling a potential new global scale is sustained” (Couldry 25). It’s hard to disagree with Couldry, because media has changed everything : our economy ( we sell and buy though the Internet ), our social interactions ( some people even communicate thought the Internet more often than in the real life ), and our perception of who we are. In 1996 Manuel Castells said that the impact if information network technologies upon human societies was so great that in future it would effect economic relations, nation states and communities themselves. He stated, ”Now we are living in a network society ”(Athique 16). I can’t believe that was so clear for him more than 20 years ago!
Going though my latest thoughts and ideas, analyzing readings from our textbook, looking at other entertaining articles about media, I would like to conclude that there are no activities that have not changed in our digital age.
Questions to my classmates:
Would you be able to stay away from THE Media at least for one month? Let’s say you could live outside of the city, even with your friends…to just clear up your mind.
What is your favorite part about social media? Do you think it will help you to earn money/be successful in this society?