The reason it has taken me so long to blog

Well, there are few reasons why it has taken me so long to update my blog. First, I need to read over and over every chapter to actually be able to understand Terranova’s arguments. I know that in class we have gone through the chapters, but sometimes I feel like there are things missing. Following this post I will be able to post my responses to every chapter from her arguments and ideas of information and noise, economics, to her philosophical ideas on artificial intelligence and biological computing.  I already have my ideas organized for the chapters, but the only thing I need to do is post them on this blog.  

How Revolutions Begin

Power Laws, Weblogs, Inequality response

Why freedom and diversity equals inequality? Isn’t equality what we’re trying to fight for and push in this nation and worldwide? Let’s remember that there are different types of inequality. The inequality we’re discussing on this article is based on the popularity contest of blogs; who can get the most followers which in other words is the winner-take-all system. This system discussed in the article is not only based on those competing to be the best, but is also discussing how the winners are those that influence others to become part of the competition.

               The article describes that even though blogging has made people to become part of the news media, it also describes how popularity is necessary to be read and approved by those who read it.  There are millions of blogs, but the extension of these blogs and the freedom to write anything you want is the lead to creating inequality. The inequality is that not every person’s blog is read because of the expanding world of blogging.  The 80/20 rule applies to blogging as well.  The article gave an example how 20% of the world’s population holds 80% of the wealth.  Then this means that 20% of the blogs hold at least 80% of the readers. The 20% are those who have been blogging for years, maybe those who were part of the “firsts.” These bloggers then lead to other blogs to be read. Sometimes bloggers share a connection to extend their popularity. Almost 5 years ago I created a blog as part of a high school project. It was only read between my classmates then I decided to delete it for reasons that it was unnecessary for me to have one.

               The power law graph can show how those who are on the top are there because of their popularity.  These are blogs that people enjoy reading each morning and some have been announced on big news corporation. Those blogs that are announced by big corporations receive the most readers. Overall, blogs have been around for years, and millions of new readers are added daily. Competition will always be around. Competition is part of the freedom and diversity that brings inequality. 

Lanier part 4-5

What makes us humans? It is not just our physical body, but our conscious, the way we think, we feel and most importantly the freedom of choice.  The evolution of humans dates back to thousands of years, according to scientists. However, are we the only ones to be considered humans or beings? Descartes proposed a new idea of what it is considered to be humans: “I think therefore I am.” It is the process of us thinking independently without relying on the ideas of others. It is our experiences that shape us and how we tend to interpret them.  

               Computer scientists, according to Lanier, argue that computers might be able in the near future to have the basic treatments as humans. Lanier rejects such argument.  What makes us humans is our conscious. Computer scientists believe that a computer might be able to adapt such quality like a person. However, creating a super-being does not mean that we’re creating a being that is equally to a human. We’re creating a being that it only understands that it’s given or uploaded to its hard drive.  This is when the idea of the Turing test comes to practice.  How can we distinguish a person from a computer?  While going through certain webpages, sometimes there is the CAPTCHA test. This test is to prove whether a person is the one accessing the web page or a computer.  This leads to the loss of trust humans have created.  The lack of trust has being increased because certain computers are making choices provided by its creator.  They are not making it by their own, but the way they were program to do it.  Humans, on the other hand, we have the freedom of choice. I can choose whether or not I want to eat the apple that I’m holding.

  This is not the only problem we’re having with modern technology. As humans, we are losing our identity to such technological advancement. We have lost touch with the real world and have become subjects of an artificial world created by computers.  This idea of computationalism discussed by Lanier is that humans are not just information systems. We are not just a web 2.0 program designed to do certain tasks or hold all the information given to us. We are known to be creative; creative in a specific way that a computer won’t be able to understand the differences between reality and programs. Yet, Lanier recognizes that computers have started to understand patterns and create its set of new language within its own system.

               How does this entire can connect to philosophy? It is all by understanding the division that exists between humans and computers. Are machines capable enough to think, understand or be conscious?   The ability to have intelligence is more than just the input and output that processes in the mind.  Descartes explained that the sign of intelligence is the ability to understand language. Descartes’ “sign of intelligence” is not sufficient to actually mark a machine as intelligent. Machines are only capable of imitating certain human behaviors and their intelligence is limited.  Machines are somewhat intelligent when they have are programmed; if not, then they are just like any other object.  In class we discussed how Lanier might disagree with films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and I, Robot.  There is also another novel called Galatea 2.2 that illustrates how a computer created by a computer scientist was able to interact with a person. . Both computers from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and the book Galatea 2.2 are great examples of computers that have access to communicate with people, yet they lack their “own” intelligence.  However, computers’ communication is genuinely two-way.  This means that when computers do not understand when humans talk to them; it just takes human’s words as input and then, according to its program, produces certain sounds as output. A computer has a syntax but not semantics.

               Finally, humans can identify who they are: self-identity.  Computers are not self-aware; they don’t know who they are and where they come from.  Lanier values more the characteristics of humans and our qualities. But there is the idea that quantity equals quality in software and the reason for this is the amount of time scientists spend creating the perfect computer. Then this will bring the idea of computers not making mistakes of their own because their program won’t allow them to.

Lanier Part 2-3

 While discussing part 2 and 3 of Lanier’s book in class I realized that many people are worried that the whole reason of the internet having so much freedom is based on two options: democracy and freedom.  Democracy, not in terms of government free countries, but in terms of approaching freedom, well, it has created this new culture where is all about competition.  Yes, everyone has their freedom to do anything they want, but because of file sharing and advertisements, the ones who benefit the most are the ones who invest the most in promoting their products or music.  Lanier explains that “only a tiny minority” can benefit from the advancement of technology.

               On this open economy, what else do we expect? It always has been about competition and musicians know this as well. No matter if technology advances faster than a blink of an eye, musicians have competed to be at the top of everything.  Technology can change this, but it is creating a new type of competition. It is not the same type of competition as compared to The Beatles time and the boom of radio, but this time is a time to reach those billions of internet users. There are thousands of musicians, but now all of them can’t be famous and rich.  That’s the whole concept behind capitalism. If you can’t make it to the top, then inequality will follow. The ideal of competition is to let those who are the best in something be recognized for their work.

               However, this is not only targeted at the music industry. It is targeted at businesses, normal citizens, governments, and much more. Lanier describes how China is becoming a big competition because of their cheap “high-quality” labor. Then we have India for their “nonroutine” economy. Their vast majority of English speakers has become the “world’s call centers.” This means that if I call Dell to fix my laptop, I will be talking to an Indian guy who knows nothing about the company’s policies on their products (I’m writing this because it actually happened before).  Our nation has decided to take a different path: to be the center of holding everything there is to know about the internet. This is from holding the world’s largest economy to being the world’s police. 

               We have created this digital economy, according to Lanier, that it could help many to benefit from it.  There is a part of the digital economy section where Lanier contradicts himself. He tends to agree with the idea made by Ted Nelson where everyone benefits from a capitalist internet or in other words a universal system.  There will be challenges for this system to work, government interruption and businesses restrictions. The new digital culture of the internet does not violate however the rules of capitalism. It opens a new set of rules where sometimes creativity can disappear as well.  An example is a singer that has a song similar to a previous one.  The new set of rules that could be seen is that everyone feels perfectly fine if this happens, but it leads to people being less creative. It leads to a capitalism will just be going in circles and it could destroy itself. 

You Are Not A Gadget - Jaron Lanier (part 1-2 response)

The term “lock-in” used by Jaron Lanier is not based on how much we have become addicted to the use of the internet.  The term “lock-in” is more or less defining how the internet has become part of our lives that instead of us consciously making decisions, the internet or software is making it for us.  The open culture described is more of an interaction between humans and computers.  It is the freedom of communication and of a new type of culture that could only be found if there is an interaction between a “user” and a “program” (internet). Such program is what allows us to communicate with others around the globe. The interaction of a program and a human is becoming more realistic much faster than expected by computer scientists.  Over time we are giving computers human ideas in order to have a better connection with it.  The internet is becoming into a superhuman that’s is going to be evolving thanks to the effort of millions of users.

               Furthermore, this interaction between a human (user) and a machine (software) becomes a psychological and philosophical topic where we start questioning whether a human becomes part of the software too.  This new culture we have created is based on the reliance humans have on the internet to solve many of their problems.  Such as students saying “maybe if I Google this I could find how to do it.” It is an extension of our memory as described by Lanier by which is not only based on what we personally think on a topic but what everyone else around thinks about it.

               Jaron Lanier is one of the founders of “virtual reality” which is used today as a way to look at a world on a different (software) perspective.  It is an extension of what and how we see things. It is based on manipulating our experiences based on our senses.  The web has become this virtual reality that has changed the identity of millions. We have become these cybernetic patterns that is helping us to understand a type of a computer reality beyond our senses.