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| David Gelernter in his office at Yale. |
David Gelernter, the man who survived the Unabomber, published "The Second Coming – A Manifesto" in 1999. The manifesto listed 58 points of his predictions and thoughts about the future of technology in the 21st century.
Two points under the subtitle, From the Prim Pristine Net To the Omnipresent Swarm, stood out to me:
What are the "cyberbodies" today? The most logical answer is Big Data - data collected by companies, sorted, analyzed, and used to find trends.
The field of Data Science is exploding, and data collection has become a major ethical, political, and social issue; however, our data is not as Gelernter foresaw. Our "cyberbodies" are not self-contained, nor neatly-ordered nor beautifully laid-out. The most we can know about our cyberbodies is looking at our personalized ads in Google settings, and even that could be wrong.
What are the "tuners" and "calling cards" today? The tuner is our phones, and the calling cards are all of the numerous accounts and apps we've created and downloaded.
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| "Helpful" Apps |
Our phones have become the means of connecting ourselves to the digital world. They've become more critical than our wallets in some cases. The accounts and apps offer convenience to us at the cost of our data. We tell them more about ourselves than we think.
We're connecting with our friends and family on Facebook, we use Amazon to shop, and we use Google to learn stuff. When the companies turn around all this free data into profit for themselves, most people are totally unaware.
Moreover, our phones and accounts, even more so than Big Data, have reached what James Moor would call the "power stage," where the technology has become intertwined into our lives so much, and it can be used to build upon other technology. Our phones enable us to make more and more accounts because they are easy to access on our phone.
Despite the technology reaching this stage, consumers rarely consider the issues arising from data collection because of the convenience it provides. I don't think of it all that much despite being fully aware I'm the product being sold.
What is there to do? Governments move too slowly, and the process of removing my digital footprint is by far too tedious.
It's just easier not to care – they know more about me than I do.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you put a screenshot of the quote from Gelertner's paper as it made it much easier to read as opposed to your last post. You also did a good job explaining what big data is. I like how you related cyberbodies from Gelertner's paper to big data analytics which is a great take!
I like how you also incorporated Moor's paper in your blog by talking about how our phones and data have reached the power stage; however, I believe you could expand more on this. You give a good introduction to David Gelertner when introducing his paper, but not much context to who Moor is.
Overall, I like the style of this blog and like all of the changes you have made. This was a great read. Great job!
Hey! Looking at your first version of this post, the first thing I noticed was the change in formatting. I definitely like the change of font as well as the integration of the picture of the quote rather than the block text in your previous post. As for the context, I would have liked to see more reading integration. I see that you included Moor's article in your post but i see a lack of intertwining of it into your actual topic at hand. I thought the part of Gelernter example was informational and interesting. I liked the overall changes you have made to your revised blog post and I learned something new!. Good job.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and thought you did a really good job of linking the excerpt from the reading to your topic. I noticed that you said that these big data companies know more about you than you do, but that you never really took a stance on it. It isn't necessary to be in the article and I think the ambiguity works but I was just kind of curious of your opinion on it. Is it worth it that these companies have all this information on in exchange for making your life easier?
Overall great post with getting the point across with not too much writing.
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteThe look and format of your second article is much improved over your first, and your sentence structure flows much better overall, though further improvements could still be made. The inclusion of Moor into your paper is also a welcome addition, though you don't mention any of his credentials, so any readers outside of the class might not know who he is. This is also an issue that is present with your introduction with Gelernter, as you introduce him as someone who survived an attack from the Unabomber, omitting his background in philosophy.