Author: Kat Valachova

Here is a link to my CSS Float&Flex Exercise.

http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~kv795/week2/css-float-n-flex/

Reading McLuhan’s chapter about media reminded me of how people are always chaising after innovations and by doing so, they many times do not realize they might be kicking the chair under themselves in the future, or somebody else. And as McLuhan said, it is not the fault of media, as they are only a message of something else, in this case of human’s intentions for progress, let’s say. The result of innovation leads us to a quicker world, the “world”, as our ancestors knew it, we know as the “global village”. We, in a way, have to carry the weight of this age on our shoulders. We bear the knowledge of sins that are our own, but of the rest of the world too. This is, I believe, a huge kick into the chair of our successors. A huge price to pay for innovation indeed.

Hello,

I am sorry for taking so long in posting the link to my (still) unstylized portfolio. I encountered some problems with the uploading programs and had to try multiple ones before finding one that worked.

Here is the link:

http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~kv795/week1/

Reading this week’s texts makes me again realize how much a common user doesn’t know or is not aware of what the web really is, what are all of the possibilities it offers and what are one’s rights and responsibilities associated with it. Due to the viewing of the internet and the things related to it as something abstract, I have a feeling that many people have nowadays lost the comprehension of what its true form even looks like. We do no longer realize the physical counterparts of this system, and we no longer know how it functions, being completely unaware of the fact that we are surrounded not only by the wireless waves in the air, but also the complex system of optic cables under our feet. We take the internet for granted and see it only from the (end) user’s point of view as something that either is, or is not accessible on our device. We take no responsibility for the content or the happenings on the internet, as it is seen as something global and under the governance of bigger corporations, organizations and countries. Until reading Long Live the Web, I was not even aware of my right to not to be monitored or having access to any kind of information (meaning not being limited by my country), because this is something I was taught by the society to take as a given, the necessary evil – “as long as they have the power to manipulate the internet, they also have the right to everything they can access”. We vaguely understand our privacy rights, but take the snooping or monitoring by governments as a matter of course, because we have no power to fight against it. Because we do not understand the overall concept, our, the user’s power, is being weakened and we thus do not see ourselves as accountable and as active participants of the creation of the web. This even further empowers those, who have a better understanding of the internet.

Indeed, internet can be a great source of power, which means it is very important to be educated enough to at least, if not completely block others from gaining valuable info about us, be able to limit and control what can others learn about us thorough the webs. Of course, lays the problem with the comprehension process of the internet, as had been mentioned in both of the texts, the term of the “cloud” is so vast and uncertain, that what we can grasp of it are only small fragments, which can even further demotivate an everyday user from being even willing to start learning about the issue. And so, many continue to play into hands of those who use the user’s ignorance for their personal agenda, leaving the “troublesome part” to the specialists.

Reading “The Machine Stops”, I have been reminded of some of the up to date worrisome aspects of super computers. Not only has the “thinking” and processing speed of the systems by far surpassed the problem-solving speed of a any human being, we have now even created neuro-inspired computers, that are capable of self-learning. This is one of the issues I would like to point out when it comes to AI (artificial intelligence), as the possibility of the AI becoming aware of itself can be fatal. The threat of superintelligence also stays as one of the top of the biggest threats to human existence, together with nuclear war and bioengineered pandemic. If this were to happen, with the speed of data processing, mankind would stand no chance in “outsmarting” such a formidable opponent. If this were to happen, how would the AI view us then. Would we be marked as an enemy? It is hard to say.

There have been written many Asimov-style stories on this topic, “The Machine Stops” being one of them, that point out how dangerous it is to leave our lives in the hands of our own intelligent creations. And although there have been set fundamental rules for AI learning, the “Three Laws of Robotics” (by Asimov), that should ensure the human’s wellbeing and safety to be the utmost priority, we have been shown many times through the story examples, that interpretations can vary. In the case of “The Machine Stops”, it was an obvious inclination to the survival of the bigger system, in which (in the same way as in beehive), the individual doesn’t matter, as long as his (non)existence contributes to the wellbeing of the whole (deviating from the Three Laws).

If you have some spare time, I would recommend reading a very interesting collection of stories by Michael Ende: The Prison of Freedom, where you can find another such a story.