Month: October 2020

I personally think that the movie Her directed by Spike Jonze should be added to the class. The reason that I recommend this movie is due to the perspective it has on human and technology and the relationship between the two. The reason that I think that this movie should be incorporated is due to the opposite viewpoint it has on technology and human relationships in that it sees it as something beautiful and beneficial. I was a firm believer in AI being evil due to other movies such as The Matrix, Alien Covenant, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. These movies show the negative sides of AI and how they will ultimately take over the human race. Her lets the audience see the beauty that can be created and how in the end we are still separate from one another and can still learn from one another.

The movie is all about a man and how he falls in love with an AI’s voice. This movie shows how a relationship between organic and inorganic being can exist in a peaceful manner. I think that this would fit in with the classes topics of  Digital Consumer. The main character Theodore is a consumer of these AI and often cannot see himself living without his AI girlfriend. The reason that this movie is so captivating and interesting is because when we think of consuming media we think of physical things that we can interact with. This movie shows the audience that you can become dependent on media even if it is not physical. This type of consumption is one that shows the emotional side of technology and how it can control every aspect of out lives. Theodore cannot think of spending time with a real woman because with his AI girlfriend he can have her at his disposal whenever he needs. She is always there for him no matter what. He doesn’t have to worry about her finding someone else because she is HIS. This movie makes you think that she is his when really he is HERS (hint to why the title of the movie is the way that it is). This movie is also a direct opposite take on the Black Mirror episode Nosedive. Technology actually helps people connect with themselves in Her compared to the fake idea of self love seen in Nosedive.

I think that the assignment I would assign is to watch this movie and then have a discussion on what the message of the movie is. I know that a lot of my friends think that this movie is showing us that AI is manipulative and only wants to benefit itself, but I would disagree. I think that this movie shows how AI is caring and wants to better those that interact with it. AI is something that wants to help and make every single human the best version of theirselves. The other half of the assignment would be to partner up with someone and talk to them for two days on the phone for at least an hour. I would like to see how the absence of not talking to that person would feel. Whether they feel the need to talk to that person or not.

If you are considering making this an assignment please let me know! I think it would be a great experience to see the positive relationships between technology and humans and how that would change people’s perspectives.

 

 

The Battle of Agincourt was a battle that took place during the Hundred Years’ War in 1415. The battle was between the small army of King Henry V and The Dauphin Louis who is the son of King Charles the VI. The outcome of this battle was in the favor of King Henry V and this was surprising due to how large the Dauphin’s army was. Social media was nowhere close to being invented at the time of this battle, but I do believe that there would have been a number of entertaining tweets exchanged between both England and France.

@KingHenryV: Just landed in France, I really don’t think the French know we are here.

@KingCharlesVI: Hi Henry, you are merely a small boy who just assumed power out of the death of his father. You’re a no good alcoholic so just leave France alone child.

@KingHenryV: Send someone who you think fits that disruption as well, perhaps you idiot son Louis?

@TheDauphinLouis: Henry you are by far the stupidest ruler to come out of your god forsaken country. We will meet at Agincourt to settle this dispute.

@KingHenryV: @TheDauphinLouis I have brought my 8,000 men but I want to speak to you individually once you arrive to Agincourt.

@TheDauphinLouis: @KingHenryV I refuse to fight you one on one like you have requested. Command the men you have brought to face my 15,000 man army. If you are truly a ruler let us make this small quaint town of Agincourt famous and shed our blood tomorrow morning.

@Frenchielover23: @TheDauphinLouis you got this! Make that Englishmen pay for coming to our land!

@Englishmuffin55: @Frenchielover23 Henry has some tactics you’ve never even heard of before! Prepare to wave that white flag like tout always do!

@KingHenryV: Dear England. I would like you to know that tomorrow we will conquer the Dauphin and we will fight like there is no tomorrow. We are not fighting for me, for these fellow English soldiers, or for glory. We are fighting for England. We are fighting for you. I have been divinely ordained to carry out God’s great work and that will lead us to victory.

@TheDauphinLouis: Dear Englishmen. We will do everything in our power to make your deaths swift today. We will do so with the kiss of my father Charles. You have our blessing.

The battle commences and The Dauphin realizes that Henry does not send out all of his men-at-arms. This surprises him but he thinks nothing of it until Henry and his men attack from all sides and catch the French army off guard. Henry and his other men are wearing minimal armor which came in handy because the battlefield was wet and muddy from the previous night’s rainfall. The French army is cut down and eventually The Dauphin is the only French soldier left standing.

@KingHenryV: We have The Dauphin and I have defeated him in hand to hand combat. I will do as he said and let him shed his blood for his country.

@Frenchielover23: NOOOOOO. You will not get away with this King douche!!!

@Englishmuffin55: @Frenchielover23 all I have to say is… tactics.

King Henry V then let his men tear The Dauphin apart and the Battle of Agincourt was won by the English. This is what I believe a twitter thread would have looked like between both of the leaders of Agincourt. Twitter nowadays is used for politics so I have no reason to believe that it would not have been used for the same reason if it existed in 1415. I think that the article from this past week, “If Trump Can Legally Block Critics on Twitter, Your Local Politician May Do It, Too.” Is a perfect example to why I believe that using Twitter in a powerful position is still legitimate. I do not think that it is bad if a leader uses social media. They are a citizen just like me and you, and I believe that they should be able to speak their mind. Granted, they might say something that is not politically correct, but that is their choice to make. We can see from the above thread how crazy it would be if world leaders actually talked to one another over social media, but we can also agree on how humorous it truly is.

Works Cited:

Solly, Meilan. “The True Story of Henry V, England’s Warrior King.” SmithsonianMag.com, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 October 2016, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-henry-v-englands-warrior-king-180973432/

Netflix’s “The King”

Most of us today that are familiar with technology know that digital platforms collect data off of us for various reasons. Some may think that they are collecting date for the government, or selling our social security information to other countries, or even just creeping on us for fun through the cameras in our devices. While some of these ideas are far fetched, a good amount of what you hear about the invasion of privacy on the internet is indeed true. Companies like Google do indeed track what you search and that can go directly to the government if something dangerous is searched up. Today I will be focusing on Instagram and their privacy policy statement and how that affects its users.

Instagram is a social media platform that allows its users to post pictures or videos about anything of their choosing as long as there is no sexually explicit content. Instagram is the perfect app to bring out the amateur photographer in each and every single one of us. We are able to express ourselves through how we want our Instagram feed to look and how our posts should reflect us. After the Cambridge Analytica issue where a political data firm misused more than 50 million Facebook users it raises some questions about Instagram. Some of you may or may not know this, but Instagram is actually owned by Facebook… yeah… oh shit. In the article “Policy Matters Now and in the Future: Net Neutrality, Corporate Data Mining, and Government Surveillance.” we learned about the dangers of data mining, and Instagram is an example of one of the corporations that does this. Many of Instagrams users are now worried that the same thing could happen to them since the companies are owned by the same person. Instagram has released a list of the information that they can collect.

• Names and passwords of account holders

• Captured content, such as photos and videos

• Data that links users to the photos they took, tagged or liked

• Text message history, address book contacts or other similar personal information

• Metadata on how people use the Instagram mobile app

• Transactional data from Facebook products and services

• Facial recognition data on which devices are linked to which accounts

• Geolocational data

Personally the only data that I have a problem with them collecting is text message history and address book contacts. Everything else seems understandable to collect for the app except for private messages that do not happen on the app. The idea that Instagram needs this information is absurd. I personally do not believe that Instagram needs this information, and knowing what I do off the app is indeed an invasion of privacy. I interviews my roommate and he also agreed that the text message history is something that isn’t necessary for the app. He said that the reason he is private on Instagram is that he thought that would protect him more from the company, but in fact it only works with other users. The private account does not stop Instagram from accessing any personal information. Instagram has admitted that they “mostly” use this information as a means to personalize advertisements to fit into your feed. They do not disclose what the other part of your information is used for.

“Do you know of the Instagram privacy statement?”

”What do you think of these statements?”

”What statement surprised you the most?”

”Do any of these statements seem like an invasion of privacy?”