In chapter nine, Prophetic Imagination and Institutional Changes begins to discuss how we are often told to ‘unplug’ by technologies to be aware of what’s around you. Showing how prochy impacts technology, education, politics, and businesses. Discussing how politics for the 2020 election will be focused on breaking up big tech companies. This is a big shift from what has been the focus in previous elections. I say this because, Silicon Valley has an immense amount of power over the people and their decision making. Even during this pandemic, people are spreading misinformation, and you can see the ‘good’ that big tech firms are trying to do. The spread of panic across social media is the reason why we are no longer allowed to buy more than two cases of toilet paper at once. Technology CEOs like Mark Zuckerburg have tried implementing ways to stop the spread of false information, as well as ways for users’ to become more mindful of one another. This is problematic in a situation like we have today. In the midst of a global pandemic people are arguing on social media about. Questioning the ethical standards of false information being spread around but as well as how concerning it is that false information is considered a norm. As a society, big tech firms should be broken up. This will us by being able to get accurate news reports and would hopefully less dramaticized the media.
In chapter eight, How To Think Differently About Tech the chapter connects the virtuous terms that we have discussed in class and have read about throughout the semester. These virtue terms include wisdom, authenticity, judgment, integrity, and memory. Throughout the semester so far, we have learned how Silicon Valley ties virtue terms with their underlying goals. Like earlier this semester when we learned about how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg thought people can authenticity and transparency by expressing everything about themselves on Facebook. People then refuted that claim by saying people can be transparent and authentic by not posting everything on social media. “Companies have capitalized on the public’s legitimate concerns about privacy. What we see too often is yet another commercial product or service, packaged and sold to us as a solution, which is actually another way of profiting from customers’ personal data. Instead of offering genuine solutions, companies see users’ concerns as another market niche to be tapped, turning anxiety into a commodity to be packaged and sold back to them without fundamentally altering the systems that gave rise to those worries in the first place” (162). This quote resonated with me because it is also happening in today’s society. Today we are all practicing social distancing to help lessen the effects of COVID-19. But, the media feeding off of our anxiety causes people to stalk up in enough bulk items to last them an entire year. One question I would ask media companies right now is if they are being authentic and transparent when broadcasting news during this pandemic.
In Chapter Six ‘Processing is not Judgment’ I begin to learn about a moral problem that is considered the ‘new trolley-problem’. This example we had also previously discussed in class on Tuesday. This ‘new trolley-problem’ happened in Tempe Arizona, a 49 year old woman was jay walking and was hit and killed by a self-driving Uber which was unable to detect that a human was crossing the road. The fact that the self-driving car was unable to detect a human crossing was an oversight when programming the algorithms into the car. Which is self-driving cars are put out onto the road, we as a society will have a plethora of instances where people are injured because of the oversights in these cars. “Users too often acquiesce to this gatekeeping power on the assumption that software programs are morally neutral and data sets comprised objective facts. Rather than amplify pre-existing racial prejudice and gender stereotypes in unanticipated and disturbing ways, we assume quite the opposite, namely, that algorithms tamp down or can potentially eliminate such injustices” (136). This quote resonated with me because before knowing about the algorithms in technology, I had always assumed that they were “neutral” as well. What surprised me from the reading was finding out that the most bias-algorithms come from social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google. Since these are sites used for personal use the algorithms can tend to reflect who we are and what we look up. For example when we were doing an activity in class, Elyssa and I were looking up what people ask on Google. But when I typed in the word “what or “why” I would get different questions than when Elyssa would look up ‘what’ or ‘why’. This is because our search engines know some information about us and tailor recommendations for us based on that information. The picture I chose to go with this reading shows how heavily people rely on social media and how integrated our smart phones are in society. How social media and people’s phones are their ‘life-line’. When we treat our smartphones like this they become a part of us.
While watching the documentary California Typewriter, I found myself thinking about how smart it is for these artists to still use typewriters. As well as I found it surprising how many people still use typewriters today, even though technology keeps accelerating. But it is a good thing that an ample amount of people still actively use their typewriters today. I say this because the documentary also sheds light on the shop the “California Typewriter”, one of the last typewriter repair shops existing. For celebrities, using a typewriter can be beneficial for artistic and privacy reasons. For privacy reasons, using a typewriter is beneficial since the only copy is on paper, not on a cloud for possible hackers to reach. The typewriter is also beneficial for artistic reasons because there is no autocorrect on a typewriter, or no underlined red words. For an artist writing down a new song, it would be problematic and annoying to constantly have to fight with autocorrect. This is why I resonated with John Mayer’s experience with typewriters. It is beneficial for him to use them for artistic reasons But with there being no autocorrect, there is also no backspace. Even though I was not in attendance during Thursday’s class, I have used a typewriter before. When using one you have to be very focused and careful, because one simple mistake/slip up can cause irreversible mistakes.
Senator Mitt Romney was the only Republican senator to vote in favor of removing Trump. The reasons in which Romney spoke out about his vote against because it directly affected his personal integrity. Knowing that there are people around him that disapprove of his decision. But he couldn’t face lying to god under oath, to inspire future generations that even though he was the only one who made this decision that he considered it the right one. Proving a powerful point that the most popular decision in politics does not always support justice. A quote that we felt went with Romney’s powerful deacon to go against the popular vote was “A person of integrity is willing to bear the consequences of her own convictions, even when this is difficult…A person whose only principle is ‘Seek my own pleasure’ is not a candidate for integrity because there is no possibility of conflict- between pleasure and principal- in which integrity could be lost. Where there is no possibility of its loss, integrity cannot exist” (McFall, 100). Even though Romney knows his vote will not remove his vote from office, the President’s ‘grievously wrong’ actions motivated Romney to want to stand on the right side of history, even if he is the only one. As risky as it was to go against his party, it shows his authenticity.
Another main part of Romney’s integrity is his religion. Being a mormon, he quotes, “I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who I am. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential”. Religion is a major part of how he makes his decisions, and what he thinks is right or wrong. The quote that ties into this is from the book is, “If authenticity means holding the pen while you’re writing your life’s story, then the key characteristic of integrity means writing a story that holds up over time by skillfully integrating the different aspects of who you are”. In order to have integrity to yourself, you need to stand up to your views even if you are the only one.
While we consider this speech to be an act of integrity for Romney, it can be questioned whether or not this “speaking out” has another motive besides being true to oneself. In Chapter 5, Healey and Woods discuss the fact that Sinead O’Connor called Miley Cyrus out for shedding her childhood skin and becoming this sex crazed wild celebrity because she believes Cyrus was trying to impress industrial elites. It was said that this wasn’t authentic to Miley Cyrus’s self and an act of seeking approval. Through discussion, we related this part of the chapter to Romney’s speech. Did Romney speak out and vote against Trump because he was seeking approval from Democrats because he hopes to run again? Was this simply a way to show other Republicans how to stand up rather than an internal desire to stand up to coincide with his integrity?
It is common knowledge that Donald Trump is a quite controversial president – to both the democratic and republican parties alike. For Mitt Romney to step out from the republican party and speak out against Donald Trump is quite surprising. There is a large amount of the republican party that do not support Trump, even though he is a republican. I feel as though Mitt Romney identifies that this is a large issue in our country today, and is attempting to reach out and relate to this estranged audience.
In Chapter five ‘Convergence is not Integrity’, at the beginning of the chapter I read about an example stating how Miley Cyrus’s inspiration for her song and music video “Wrecking Ball” came from Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” music video. In response, O’Connor wrote Cyrus a motherly letter stating how no one but Miley controls her life now. This helped me see how integrity and identity are intertwined with one another. “Public backlash erupted when the Facebook CEO offered a defense of the “real identity” policy in which he moralistically denounced users’ use of multiple profiles: “You have one identity. The days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly. Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity” (Kirkpatrick 2010, p. 199) (100). This example showing how Silicon Valley views identity and integrity, and it is problematic. This is because, people may have changed their names for an ample amount of reasons. It is not up to Facebook or other media websites to decide if that is okay for people to do or not. In the end, Cyrus ended up hurt that O’Connor made a comment on how nobody can control Miley. A question I would ask Cyrus if I could is, why was she offended by O’Connor releasing a statement about how she finally has control over her own life? A question I would ask Zuckerberg is how does Facebook define ‘identity’?
I enjoyed reading the article “A Contemplative Pause” by Karolyn Kiane, it made me think about ways I could incorporate practicing gratitude into my own life. Some questions I thought to ask after reading the article were.
Do you think practicing gratitude changes your overall happiness?
What is the greatest benefit of integrating gratitude into the classroom?
In chapter four ‘Transparency is not Authenticity’ I begin to learn how people can view transparency. In this chapter the authors focus is on three groups that consider transparency and authenticity to mean the same thing. I found this to be interesting because, I can see how these people think that way, but not why. I say this because authenticity means to me being true to yourself, and what you believe in. Being transparent means telling being honest, and not hiding things from others. A quote I found interesting from the reading was “…Craig Brittain, a rogue entrepreneur in the revenge porn industry, justified his non-consensual release of explicit images without consent by former romantic partners. He rationalized his solicitation and distribution of such images by framing it as part of a “progressive cause” in which public information including nude photos of every person would soon become “a normal thing”” (79). I find this interesting about Brittain thinking that it is “progressive” to post revenge porn, taking this part of someone’s privacy and considering it to be transparent. But saying how this will soon become “a normal thing”. Almost hinting at the fact that everyone who has ever sent anything of that nature will have it posted online someday. What I also took from this quote was how much of ourselves we put online. Even if it is not a naked photo, we input so much data about ourselves to the “cloud” that it pretty much knows everything about us.
This chapter reminded me about how in today’s media age, we want to stand out from others on social media. To do this, girls will create a ‘theme’ on their Instagram page to come across as authentic to followers. Mark Zuckerberg argued throughout this chapter that people want to be transparent and talk a lot about their lives on Facebook. Stating that it is almost necessary for communication. But Zuckerberg’s idea that technological transparency is wrong because, “It is ethically fraught because it posits “sharing”as an unqualified social good and fails to recognize how technology fosters a “collaborative self” based primarily on the digitally constructed perceptions and approval of others” (80). This quote shows how today we rely on the attention we gain from others on social media, and how the approval of others affects us. We as society, do not have to become transparent on social media. But, we can continue being authentic. The picture I chose to go with this post shows how you have to open up to become transparent. With that being said, we do not have to be transparent on social media.
For this activity, I chose to write a letter to my mom. I chose my mom because throughout my life she has taught and shown me an incredible amount of strength and wisdom. When faced with problems, my mom makes calculated decisions based on what she has learned throughout her life. Since she has faced a lot of difficult situations in her life, she is able to learn and teach others. She is the utmost role model, and has taught me to always be the bigger person. People always tell me how happy and joyful my mom is all the time. I admire her for always having a strong and positive outlook, no matter what life faces her with. Not many kids say this, but I would be honored to be considered like my mom. This past weekend I was just home to hangout with my mom, while I am at school I cherish this time, because I don’t get to see her as much. At school, in today’s media age we do not talk as much. This is because she will post on Facebook about her day, and I know what has gone on in her day just by liking her post. Doing this activity helped me reflect back on my mom’s life, through the stories she has told me. To think back on the experiences she has had, and the wisdom she has gained from it. As well as it made me think about how I need to call my mom at school and talk to her more frequently. The picture I chose for this assignment is a thank you note I wrote for my mom.
In chapter three “Information is not Wisdom”, I begin to learn why information, wisdom, and knowledge are not synonymous with each other. This is because wisdom represents a higher type of knowledge. For example being smart does not make you wise. But within the technology world, Silicon Valley embraces the word wisdom. Silicon Valley does this by arguing that technological advancements are embodying wisdom. But, this reading contrasts this idea by proving how technology just produces information, and information does not embody wisdom. “Wisdom involves the capacity to translate new information from the world out-side into knowledge about that world, in a way that facilitates prudent judgment in our engagement with the world” (65). This quote from the chapter shows how knowledge and information work with wisdom. To be wise and give advice on how we live in the world, what we should do in the world, you use your knowledge and information about the world to give wisdom.
My favorite part of the reading, “The “University of Google”” shows how the mass information provided to us can lead us to believe the wrong things. People go on believing an ample amount of things on the internet that could not be true. For instance, fake news, Wikipedia, clickbaits, or an example from the reading is online health information. Patients will look up symptoms of what they are feeling, and when they go to the doctor they are looking for a certain type of medication. I have seen this in my life as well, from my roommates as well as in my doctors office they have signs up saying “don’t google your symptoms” implying that the internet is not your doctor. The sign in the doctor’s office is also implying that the doctors are also tired/annoyed of people assuming they know their diagnosis. I chose this picture/meme because it shows the common drastic assumptions people make when they google their symptoms.
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/DPECPYDEJNBPNBBCIWB3ZDCTVU.jpg)
Digital Proverbs 