Technology's Impact on Global Issues

Technology's Impact on Global Issues

• Modern technology plays a critical role in addressing national and global problems.
• Social networking tools empower communities to connect and exchange ideas.
• Crisis-mapping tools collect and map information during emergencies.

Technology and Global Social Issues

• Healthcare advancements include the development and delivery of vaccines, increased vaccine production, and computer-assisted design of medical equipment like new helmets.
• Environmental challenges are being addressed through data collection and analysis that aids scientists in identifying new trends.
• The digital divide, which refers to disparity in access to the internet and technological tools, is a barrier to problem-solving and hinders the utilization of global minds.

Technology's Influence on Connection and Collaboration

• Web 2.0 allows for easy content contribution and fosters connections among users, facilitating collaboration for the benefit of others.
• The concept of cognitive surplus, a combination of leisure time and tools for creativity, encourages individuals to use their skills and leisure time to contribute to society.
• Crowdfunding, a modern approach to fundraising, facilitates the support of projects through small donations from a large number of individuals.

Technology's Impact on Product Consumption

• Marketing technology enables informed purchasing decisions and facilitates the buying process of goods and services.
• Marketing techniques like QR codes and crowdsourcing play a significant role in shaping consumer choices.
• Collaborative consumption models, such as car-sharing services (ZipCar) and bike-sharing programs (Citi Bike), promote access to resources rather than ownership.

The Importance of Computer Literacy

• Computer literacy involves understanding the capabilities and limitations of computers and the ability to utilize them safely and efficiently.

Artificial Intelligence and Its Goals

• Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to systems or machines designed to perform tasks associated with human intelligence.
• Key goals of AI include natural language processing, perception, knowledge representation, planning, problem-solving, and learning.
• Functional AI systems have been enabled by developments in expert systems, artificial neural networks, and advances in machine learning.

Technology's Role in Various Careers

• Retail: Data mining is used to analyze consumer buying patterns and optimize business strategies.
• Banking: AI assists in detecting fraudulent activities.
• Transportation: Autopilots in airplanes and self-driving vehicles utilize AI.
• Education: Intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) support individualized learning, and AI can accelerate the grading process and detect plagiarism.
• Law Enforcement: Computers are utilized in car identification, facial reconstruction, and computer forensics.
• Medicine: AI assists in diagnosis, patient information systems, and prosthetic device design.
• Psychology: AI-driven tools like MACH (My Automated Conversation CoacH) and affective computing are used for mental health support.

The Importance of Ethical Computing

• Ethics: The study of morals and moral choices made.
• Laws: Formal, written standards designed to apply to everyone.
• Unethical behavior: Not conforming to approved standards.
• Amoral behavior: No sense of right and wrong.

Shaping Personal Ethics

• Understanding personal ethics involves introspection, identifying key principles you believe in, recognizing external influences, and formulating a statement of values.

Ethical Challenges Presented by Technology

• Intellectual Property: The protection of creative work through copyrights, patents, and trademarks is crucial.
• Privacy: Balancing privacy concerns with the proliferation of personal data is a major ethical challenge.
• Social Justice: Ethical considerations arise in the application of predictive policing and the handling of classified information.
• Liability: 3D printing raises quality control issues and liability concerns.
• Censorship: Website blocking practices vary across countries, presenting challenges to free speech.
• Social Activism: Hacktivism, the use of computers for subversive purposes, presents both ethical and legal considerations.
• Automated Robotic Machinery: The ethical implications of autonomous systems, such as self-driving cars, necessitate careful analysis of decision-making processes.