CIS Blog 8 - How Has the Internet Influenced You?

I am 28. The internet was a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It seemed less flashy and more text-based when I think back to when I was a small child.

Pornography has been a large part of the internet for me. I think was about 12 when I discovered porn on the internet and it has certainly evolved. Initially, there were galleries of pictures, then tube sites came along. At first clips were all relatively short, 1 to 5 minutes. Now, of course, there is a virtually unlimited supply of free pornography online, which includes movies that are often 20 minutes to an hour long and are in HD. I have heard that pornography is often the first adopter of new technology and that it has been a part of the success of each successive visual medium from beta, VHS, DVD, to streaming content. I think it may be a big driving force behind the new VR technologies. Porn companies have already started making 3D, virtual reality porn.

At around the same age that I learned about online porn, I self-diagnosed myself with paruresis, which is an inability to pee in public. There are countless variations of this ranging from annoying to debilitating. There is an online support community at paruresis.org and they hold workshops around the country. When I was in middle school, going to one of these workshops seemed like a good idea, but out of the question, because they were usually in large cities and I didn’t have the means for traveling. Eventually, around age 24 I attended a workshop in Chicago. My point is that I think the internet creates niches for people with rare issues or interests. In the past, people probably felt more isolated and unusual, but with the internet it is possible to find like minded people for even the rarest of minds.

The internet has also had a large impact on how I shop. Without the internet I would probably shop a lot less, because going to stores is annoying and I am very irritated by pushy sales people. Malls are one of my least favorite places, because I don’t like crowds. When I was younger and still living with my parents my dad got into Ebay. He bought lots of K-State memorabilia, toy trains, and movies. I took after him in that regard. I buy almost everything, except food and hygiene products, online off of Amazon.

As an introverted person the internet has exposed me to more than I think I would have experienced otherwise, online and offline. Documentaries have shown me unusual cultures that I would never seek out in real life. When the Silkroad was active, that gave me access to drugs that I wouldn’t have access to in any of my real life social encounters. Erowid was also a convenient source for learning about recreational drugs and reading about other’s experiences, good and bad, via the site’s trip reports.

CIS Blog 7 - Topic Research Response

My group to report on was group 4, but I will cover some other groups, as well. They started off strong and entertaining with their first presenter. Asking the difference between cyber security, computer security, and information security was the most memorable to me, because there was no difference. They used Prezi which made their visuals more stimulating. However, many groups used the same Prezi format of transitioning from circle to circle. There was one group which used a different Prezi format, so I appreciated the uniqueness of that. After their first presenter, group 4 fell a few notches in presenter enthusiasm and entertainment value. One thing that they mentioned that I wish they would have gone into greater detail on was that before computers, hackers hacked telephone lines. I would have liked more explanation of how that worked.

Overall, I thought all groups did good, but there were only two that I felt were very professional and polished. For a class of future engineers and future computer scientists I was impressed with everyone’s public speaking given that the personality types associated with those fields don’t lend themselves well to public speaking.

What I found most interesting from the presentations was the work being done with exoskeletons for the disabled and the future of virtual reality. I have a motorcycle and my parents are convinced that it will kill me or paralyze me. It’s nice to see there is progress being made with spinal cord injuries. Just in my life-time, medical technology has gone from no-hope for paralysis victims to the current research that hints that paralysis could one day be a thing of the past. In addition to exoskeletons, repairing damaged spinal cords is becoming more viable with silicon or plastic bridges (source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-01/early-promise-for-neuro-spinal-scaffold-a-new-paralysis-treatment).

I have been following the development of VR closely since I first heard about the Oculus Rift several years ago. I am disappointed that the release date for the consumer version has been repeatedly pushed back and that the original estimated price continues to rise. Having experienced demos with the developer kit, I am very excited for the potential of VR, but also experienced “motion” sickness and lackluster performance of smartphone, Gear-VR style headsets. To me, VR will definitely be the future of gaming and pornography, but it appears to be a rare instance where technology is developing slower than the predicted rate. As Palmer Luckey said recently, “Many people will wait a gen or two to adopt, and that is okay.” (source: http://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/palmer-luckey-explains-why-the-oculus-rift-will-be-fairly-expensive/). With Facebook’s backing, VR has a great shot at success, but for now standard gaming and internet browsing seem like the smarter choice to me.

CIS Blog 6 - The Difference between Humans and Computers

I think humans are computers. Considering the standard conception of humans as biological entities and computers as machines, tasks that are easy for one would be hard for the other. Computers have the advantage of not getting bored, but lengthy computational tasks would be boring and exhausting to the majority of humans. If lengthy computational tasks was something people liked doing, they probably wouldn’t have invented computers. Something simple for a human, like walking, can be difficult for a computer, because there are many aspects of walking that are done subconsciously. Humans don’t calculate appropriate stride lengths or appropriate foot positions for uneven terrain. It seems to come natural, but really a lot of subconscious processes are doing these calculations, even if they are calculating an estimate. These subconscious calculations would have to be programmed for a robot/computer to be able to perform them, so walking is more difficult for a robot. It seems likely that the reason it is hard to program is because the instructions are not conscious to humans. They need to consciously reimagine what they naturally do subconsciously.

Yes, I think humans qualify as turing machines under the circumstance that humans lived forever. Just like the simple turing machine that would take very long periods of time to simulate more complex algorithms, humans can also follow any line of logic if given infinite time.

The most obvious instance I can think of where computers have replaced humans is self-checkouts at stores. I am sure there are many more instances where computers have replaced humans, but the much more common theme is computers augmenting humans. This can be seen in nearly every occupation. Desktops are a ubiquitous item in any office environment. Other jobs, like nursing, now use mobile computers, and more and more computers are used in vehicles, so even things like road construction or farming use some form of a computer. I don’t think there is any theoretical instance where a computer could not replace a human at there job, but other social or economic factors may keep this from happening to every job.

Biological systems can be thought of as computers. In my mind there is no point at which something stops being a computer and becomes something else. I think humans and computers function very similarly. It may not seem like it, because the programming for humans is very complex, but I do think it is possible to replicate a human brain.

CIS Blog 5 - Making Meaning: Pattern on the Stone

Reading this book starting out engaging, but I felt like the title belies the complexity of content in the book. After the introduction, the author seemed often to go into complicated details in each chapter, so it wasn’t easy to follow.

The last chapter was a favorite part for me. I enjoyed the author’s theorizing on how artificial intelligence could be created without designing the entire thing, but instead creating components that would organize themselves into an artificial intelligence.

The most interesting thing in the book was the beginning when the author was simply relating how computers are machines for storing and manipulating data and that data is the smallest thing that makes a difference, which allows data to be represented with Boolean logic. That lead to his noting that a computer could be made out of anything as long as there can be interconnected on/off switches that can represent information.

Like I mentioned earlier, what I didn’t like was that I felt the author was not completely successful in simplifying concepts so that they could be clearly understood by a layman or a novice. Related to that, I think the diagrams in the book could have been more engaging and more professionally rendered. Drawings by hand are not necessary and color could have been used in some circumstances to make diagrams clearer and more engaging. I think the author would have benefited from working with a graphic designer for the illustrations. The cover of the book could have been more engaging, as well, which could have been achieved by collaborating with an artist or artists.

The book did help explain things I didn’t know about computers, but not to a greater degree than the class lectures or simple exploration of sites like codecademy. I think the best way to learn anything, but especially math and computers, is to learn by doing. That makes sites like codecademy and khan academy more effective tools to me than any book. Reading about concepts never sticks as well as applying concepts through trial and error.

If I were to suggest learning aids to a friend that wanted to know more about computers, I would suggest they start with interactive websites like the ones previously mentioned before reading this book. The interactivity is much more engaging and I think because it is more engaging, my friend would be more likely to stick with it than if they start out with a book, which can be perceived as boring because it is less interactive.