Thursday, September 15, 2011

Computers and Advancing Technology



The world today relies on technology for everything. One can communicate with others without the use of a phone, get a degree without leaving the house, and buy mostly anything online without having to drive anywhere. All these “luxuries” of today are because computers and technology has become so advanced. Technology is a complex idea that’s hard for one to wrap their head around. The dictionary defines it as a method of applying technical knowledge. The technology of computers and their advancements through the years is astonishing. The world has gone from computers that were the size of a television to portable computers the size of a notebook all because of advancement in technology. When Lev Manovich talks about becoming more advanced than what Web 2.0 is right now, I wonder if it’s even possible. The World Wide Web is where everyone goes for information, communication, and answers to questions. Berners-Lee believes the Web does not yet meet its design goal as being a pool of knowledge that is as easy to update as to read. Because Berners-Lee believed that to be true in 1994, I don't think it is as true now in 2011. It is very easy to update anything on a computer these days. It's what makes the internet so appealing to people. I know the world is always moving forward, but is there a point where we advance too far? The computer is something that is always advancing. Ted Nelson believes it’s something everyone should have knowledge of and I’m guessing most people do, but do you think there will be a point where the computer has gone too far? Advanced beyond normal human knowledge? 

5 comments:

  1. To answer question: there can never be too much technology! We need more!
    I realize that there are exponentially more risks with more advancement, but that is not necessarily a given. Already the web is far more advanced any one person's intellect and I think that the main problem is that the Internet particularly is unorganized-but maybe that is also it's strength (stumble upon!).

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  2. You make a good point as to how the information is now easy to just as things are easy to update on the computer, they are just as easy to incorrectly add or misinform the public about certain issues. The information is easy to access and easy to update making it appealing to people, but it seems as if this information is in an ocean rather than a pool because so many different platforms are created to share this information and so many different sources also share this information.

    To answer your question: I feel because of all this information, people might continue to use the easy access they have and not help the computer and platforms advance to their full potential

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  3. I don't know if there's a point where technology advances too far. I think my problem is not necessarily with the technology itself, but how we interact with it. More and more, people are posting their entire lives on Facebook or blogs without any consideration to who will see it. Our culture has been working away from individual privacy, and eventually everything down to the small details of our day to day lives will be available for everyone to gawk at. I guess I would appreciate it if things slowed down a little. Just because things are changing doesn't mean they're getting better.

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  4. I do think it is possible to advance too far. For example, all the medical records being kept online with no hard copies on paper could lead to a large issue if the server holding all that information just died. At that point, there would be no more medical or other important records. I suppose someone could make the counter argument that the technology at that point could be advanced enough to recover the files, but that is also an if. I do not know if the computer could exceed human intelligence as a whole, but I suppose movies like The Matrix could not be terribly far fetched in the long run.

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  5. I honestly sometimes wish we could just do away with computers. We were fine before we had them. Maybe I'm being a little too dramatic, but I personally don't see that they are advancing us...technologically, yes, as human beings, no. Specifically the internet. What is it but an abstract concept anyways? It's like money. Without money we wouldn't have rich people or poor people. We would just have people. Money doesn't even have a definite value. It is worthless. I feel the same about the internet in the way that many people tend to define themselves by their internet activity. For example, how many comments we have on our Facebook photos or how many views our blog has. People now meet others and form relationships on the internet and associate with people through the internet rather than contacting people in real life. I am very grateful for some of the things that computers have allowed us to do artistically but I do feel that we need to detach ourselves emotionally from them.

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