Age of Ai

In the age of AI     Before watching this video, I obviously knew about AI and some of the different tools it could offer. But I mostly knew it as something I used to outline my notes, to make me flash cards, or to create a funny photo or video I would see on social media, but when watching this, I realized how much it can really do. When privacy comes into play that where it can become tricky. The video explains that, for example, the massive amounts of data Facebook has, and because it has all that data, it can curate certain posts for you specifically. It is also a bit unsettling to know, as they explained in the video, that wherever you go, you are trailing and producing data. And then the computers are learning this data, and then that is how they personalize things to you. Which, when looking at social media feeds, you once originally probably liked because your technology is being adapted to you through certain content and marketing. But once you take a step back, it is actually quite frightening that your technology knows this much about you. My favorite quote from the whole video is “We came into this new world thinking that we were users of social media, it didn’t occur to us that social media was actually using us”. I think this is a powerful thing because when you are using technology, you do feel in control over it, but after watching this video, I learned that is not the case.

The ethical concern is something that caught me off guard as well. I understand wanting to curate your website or social app to the customer, but when does it become an invasion of privacy? They have used tools to predict what ad you're going to click or what video is going to be your favorite. The video says that we gave technology a place in our lives that it did not deserve, and I completely agree with that. It goes on to explain that in past decades technology has made things better, but since that happened, we now believe it is the case for every technology. 

Online security is concerning these days because, even in the video, it explains that private corporations have built a corporate surveillance state without us being aware of it and without our permission. And technology is only evolving with things like Alexas, and that allows surveillance to be in all parts of the home. And it explains that the more you talk to it, the more information it is getting out of you, even things as simple as your mannerisms and even mental health. It just shows that technology has an overwhelming amount of information on you and that these big companies have endless amounts of data, and they can sell your information. 

Thankfully, there was a law passed where you can go to any company and ask what they have collected on you in the last 12 months, and what personal information they have on you. And that is called the right to know, and then there is the right to say no, where you can go to that company and say Do not sell my information. But AI is already so prevalent in our lives, and not only in our lives but in things like healthcare, education, and criminal justice. Overall, this video has shown me that you truly have no sense of privacy and that these big companies have so much data on you that not only can they look into it but can give it to others. The billionaires who have these companies will not do anything about it because, in turn, they will lose money, so this will truly never be a problem that will be resolved. It is something that frightens me because it does feel like my privacy has been invaded by someone I not only don’t know, but I also do not know what they will do with my information.  

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Online influencers are something that has evolved rapidly, so much so that it has become many people's

full-time jobs. Influencers can be any age, and most of the time there is an online influencer for every age

category and every interest. Online influencers have become so good at making personal relationships

with their followers that it almost seems as though you know them, so you trust them, and that is when it

can sometimes be dangerous. When there is a trustworthy influencer that makes brands want to work with

them more, and when people trust an influencer, sometimes they can almost get tricked by the stuff they are

promoting because sometimes it is not always good.

 If you are an online influencer, it comes with both pros and cons. Being an influencer, you can make tons of money through brand deals, have a flexible schedule, receive free products and exclusive perks, and you don’t have to have any formal qualifications. Some cons it comes with is income can be unstable, limited job security compared to a formal job, online hate and negative comments, and privacy concerns. Being an audience to these also comes with pros and cons some pros being exposed to new products you didn’t know about and also getting codes to get money off from these products. But the cons seem to outweigh the pros. online influencer imapact The cons that come with following and listening to these online influencers are that they are being exposed to harmful products unknowingly, dissemination of misinformation, having unrealistic beauty standards,  comparing yourself and your life to these influencers you idolize, and a lack of regulation and consumer protection.  pros and cons

I believe online influencers can affect society as a whole a lot because a lot of society follows them and their opinions and what they believe in. Because so many people look up to them, this can cause a lot of people to compare themselves to them, whether that is the way they look, how they live their lives, or what they have. As far as the demographic it affects the most, I would have to say it is teenagers. There was a survey in place saying that 67% of teens felt insecure after viewing online influencer content, and 49% admitted that they changed their online behavior to resemble these influencers. There was another study that found that “52% of teenagers felt pressured by the standards promoted by influencers, and 63% acknowledged comparing their lives to theirs and feeling inferior as a result.” And over 70% of teens follow at least three influencers who promote different products weekly.

Studies shown

 It will affect younger people more because they are on social media more than the older generation.

But it will be interesting to see where this generation of influencers is now, and their followers will be in

30 years. When looking at other research woman do engage more with online influencers than men do. I

think some of the reason is probably due to there being more female online influencers. I also think it could

be because the things women sell can be more easily promoted versus things for men. 

I myself do follow a handful of online influencers because I enjoy their content, and from what I know from

the internet, they seem like a good person. I will say I have never bought anything that has been promoted

through the influencers I follow, but I do know some of my friends have. Especially when their favorite

influencer comes out with their own brand. I do think influencer culture, though, is the most popular amongst

my generation,  if I were to ask my parents their favorite influencer, they would have no idea what I am even

talking about. I think my generation and the ones to come after will have an even more rapid growth in online

influencing. I cannot say I necessarily think it is a good thing, but seeing as how popular it is now, I can’t see it

dying down anytime soon. 

ANTIWAR

I have personally before this never heard of these websites before this, but it also has to do with the fact that I've also never necessarily gone looking for them either. And upon reading it, the language is not something I am used to seeing on mainstream news outlets where there are lots of viewers. I think one of the reasons you have to seek out these websites is because war can be a controversial topic, and what people think about it- obviously, no one wants to go to war, but the reasons for it can differ among different groups of people. antiwar

 Also, as far as news streams, when there is breaking news that is more important than that can outweigh the antiwar voices. Another thing I noticed is that one of the websites is called The American Conservative, and if you are a democrat the chances of you reading from this website are limited, so that could be another reason people don’t hear it as much. I think it might become more popular to see these websites, especially how our world is right now and our relationships with other countries. But I do think it is good to discuss because if you are living in a country that is about to go to war you should know all the facts and information about what is going on. But for some people it might be the thing if they don’t see it or talk about it then it doesn’t exist but I don’t believe that’s a way to live. The American Conservative

Ted Talk

Watching these videos, the first issue that can affect me, my friends, and family is facial recognition. Not only do I have that on my phone, but everyone around me also does as well. And just by giving them that information, they can find a plethora of more information on you that you don’t want them to have. And there is nothing you can do for them now to not have that information, unfortunately. Also, the government can now gain a detailed portrait of how private citizens interact through technology. Now the government has access to things not only in my personal life but in everyone's who has technology. It's also scary to even think that if you have a car in the United States, they have a picture of you in your car going about your daily life.

It is understandable why the police have things like high-tech surveillance, but where the issue lies is when they have so much information on people. It is extremely easy to track people who did nothing wrong and are just living their lives. But the TED Talk does explain that there are steps to help prevent these things from happening. One of the ways this can be prevented is by city councils passing laws requiring the police to dispose of the data of innocent people. I believe it is good that it is at least an option to get rid of the data of innocent people, but it is also scary to think that some town councils don’t pass these laws to get rid of all the data, so there could be so much data on innocent people. It makes me wonder how much data is out there on me and people around me when I have no criminal record.

Government and technology are tricky because the majority of the reason the government almost “stalks” you is for safety purposes. They can figure out a lot if they track a phone, like if someone is going to attack us, if someone is going to hurt someone else, rob someone, and many other things that could be harmful. But what’s hard is that innocent people don’t want their phone calls being tracked by not only the government but also other people. As far as the government helping people with technology being so invasive, it will be harder for them to help when they are also a part of the problem. I feel like the government needs to be less invasive for people to feel at ease, because people are not going to feel comfortable if they feel like every time they open up their phone someone is watching or listening to them. 

As far as protecting ourselves, it is definitely something that will pose a challenge. Even if you don’t have a phone, there will still be information out there about you, as explained in one of the TED Talks about the police databases. I think the main thing to do is just to take those extra precautions, like having all your accounts private and having extra steps to log into things like your email and a lot more. I feel like no one ever has complete privacy, which is unfortunate, but you can take extra steps to try and help have some sort of privacy. 

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The definition of a drone is any unmanned aerial vehicle. Drones have developed immensely throughout the years, and they have changed a lot in the way they look, the things that they can do, and more. The first depiction of a drone was made during the First World War, and it was first known as the “Aerial Target.” Archibald Low designed it, and it actually crashed when they first tried to use it. The reason behind creating the drones was for military use, they were used in the Vietnam War and were used to act as decoys in combat, launching missiles against fixed targets and dropping leaflets for psychological operations. 

There are a lot of different people who came out with different variations of the drone, one creator of the drone who is most notable is Abraham Karem. He is from Israel, and he founded Leading Systems Inc. Drones were first seen as unreliable and very expensive to make for not much reward, but they later learned they could do a lot. Karem came out with the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drone, which was used for “reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition. It was also used for armed reconnaissance and interdiction, close air support, and combat search and rescue.” So overall, the main reason for creating drones was  “for military purposes, to perform dangerous or repetitive tasks like reconnaissance and surveillance in combat situations, minimizing risk to human pilots by allowing them to operate remotely from a safe distance, especially in scenarios considered 'too dull, dirty, or dangerous' for human pilots to undertake. This invention really helped us as a world and has helped us make advances in many different things for example, after the 9/11 attacks, drones were used a lot more commonly. They are used a lot for surveillance, more specifically in places that are unsafe for troops to go, they have even been reported to have killed suspected militants. Drone

The main reason for the drone being created was for military use, but it actually has a lot of other uses. One of them is helping with medical emergencies, drones can now be used to deliver organs, and another drone called the Angel Drone can be used to deliver blood and organs. Drones can also deliver things like first aid, and it can even be quicker than ambulances.  Another example of how drones can be used is for anti-poaching. It is common for people to sneak into wildlife parks and poach animals. But they decided to use drones as more of a high-tech surveillance and they can watch over the animals, and they can be notified so this doesn’t happen anymore. Relating to that, with animals, it can be used to track endangered species in locations that can be hard to access. An issue that has arisen very recently is fires for example, the fires in California. Drones can actually help with early detection of forest fires. Sensors on drones can have faster and more cost-effective searches of large forest areas for possible fire sources. Drone

Drones can be effective with communication because they can get a visual view of things that we humans cannot always see, and then be able to bring that back to us so we can be prepared for what is to come. I found an article discussing how they used drones as a way to warn residents of flooding that was happening. They did this by having the drones find the exact area where there could be a risk of flooding, and then they issued a warning for the people who were there. When a person is using a drone, they communicate through radio frequency, this makes it so signals can be sent between the drone, whoever is controlling it, and other systems. Whatever frequency is chosen influences how fast data is transmitted, how far a signal reaches, and how easily interference can occur. I think drones are more used to discover what the issue is and then relay that back to humans so humans can relay the message to other people about what the problem is. Drones are a very smart way to communicate because they can go places and see things that humans cannot, and having that kind of technology will make us as people more prepared for what is going to come. 

Some negative effects that a drone can have could be if it were flying anywhere near a plane and the drone could end up in the jet engine, then that could cause the plane to go down. Another issue that could arise is that people can smuggle illegal things in them, also, there have been known cases of drones flying into people and causing serious injury. Drones can also be hacked, and if they are hacked while flying, they could crash, or they can be used to get information out of the public without them knowing. It has also killed people when it was used in war, so that is not something that is positive. 

Drone Communication : Drone, 

Eight Values of Free Expression

    I found that the most important one to me is Promote Innovation — see Jack Balkin, Living Originalism. When I looked at it, it said, “A community in which free speech is valued and protected is likely to be

a more energized, creative, interesting society as its citizens actively fulfill themselves in many diverse and interesting ways.”

The reason I think this one is most important and resonates with me the most is because of the emphasis on freedom of speech

and how it is valued and protected. I believe freedom of speech is something that makes the world go around, everyone should

be able to express their opinion. I think freedom of speech can get complicated when people use it negatively. For example, if

someone is using hate speech as a way to express their opinion, that is not right. Or if you're using freedom of speech for defamation

of character. But if people are using their speech in a way to express their opinion without using defamation, it can be very powerful. 

I see the one in action today is the Individual Self-Fulfillment ( aka Self-Actualization) — see C. Edwin Baker. I feel like that can relate to social media a lot because this theory talks about being able to have freedom of speech.

Especially in this day and age, a lot of people use social media to express their opinions about many different things,

whether it’s stuff like pop culture, politics, stuff that is going on in other countries, and more. I feel like the most popular

way to express your opinion is through social media apps like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. I think social

media is a great way to express yourself and your opinion. Social media also allows it to reach a larger audience, and that

can lead to spreading awareness on certain topics that you feel passionate about. For example, during elections, social media

is used very heavily to promote the candidates but also for the candidates to discuss what they stand for and what they would

do if they were elected. This also allows people who can and can’t vote to voice their opinions on it and what policies

they think are good and which candidate they believe to be the best and most competent for the roles. I think this is where

social media can be very good and helpful in allowing you to have freedom of speech, and as previously stated, it can also

reach a large audience if you are using social media to express your opinion. 

    
    

The one that feels the most personal to me is “Protect Dissent — see Steve Shiffrin, Dissent, Injustice and the Meanings of America”. This one feels most personal to me because it emphasizes the fact that no matter how unpopular you have the right to disagree with the government. It can be scary to stand up to such a powerful group of people and establishment, and most people are meant to feel scared to, but this allows you to be protected while expressing your opinion. This feels personal to me because I think everyone should be able to express their opinions no matter how unpopular they are. This also allows everyone to have a voice and be able to voice their opinion. 

The one that resonates the most to me is Promote Tolerance — see Lee Bollinger, The Tolerant Society: Freedom of Speech and Extremist Speech. I think it resonates with me because it is explaining how it does

not approve of hate speech. But also arguing that a more tolerant society is a better society. And I do agree with that,

and that everyone should be more tolerant and I was always told by my family that you are going to have to tolerate

things you don’t like some times but that is the deal. So that is why it resonates the most with me.