Gutiérrez: We can have law and order and justice and compassion

This is a very, very good man who explains the problem and what we need to do to humanize our system. He speaks from his heart. God bless him. Watch this speech, please, and understand what he says: " We can have law and order and justice and compassion" (Congressman Gutierrez, 2014).

The Outernet Just Might be the Answer!

Although the Internet has made access to information potentially accessible to more people, emerging technologies have also created a digital divide between economic classes in our society (Laureate, 2009).  Emerging technologies have created a digital divide between economic classes in our society (Laureate, 2009). This same sentiment is expressed in the sentence, “The future has arrived; it just wasn't distributed equally” (Gibson, W n.d.; Kennedy, 01, 12, 2012).

So how can we, as educational leaders, help narrow that divide? Well, the answer is that we need to help make technologies more accessible to everyone while providing an income for those that work in the technology industry. Dr. Elliot Soloway (2009) suggests that profits are now going to be made by disruptors in the industry who understand that the money to be made will be through providing services for the consumer, no longer by providing purchasable items (such as bits of software) (Laureate, 2009).

Metcalf's Law is the law that the power of the network increases by the number of people involved squared. As technology leaders, then, it stand to reason, we want to keep as many people involved in the Internet as possible. The value of our network is found in its global reach. One way that access is becoming more available to more people is that Smart phone sales are growing globally. Right now Smart phones are the future of technology. The Smart phone provides opportunities for the average person in ways that have the potential to narrow the technology gap. (Laureate, 2009).

Another way that the growing divide could continue to be widened if we, as technology leaders, allow it to is that the Internet may no longer remain neutral. What this means is, the FCC may cave to pressure to allow for companies to pay for faster Internet services, making the Internet less neutral. Right now almost anyone can access the Internet for a small monthly fee, and no one is given priority for faster service. If the FCC passes what the FCC calls, in a strange Orwellian double-speak term, new “net neutrality” rules there is a possibility that the rich corporations will have access to an Internet fast-lane, while the rest of us normal folk will be left out (Selyukh, 2014). This has the potential weaken the positive global effect that our current Internet has had in making information more equally accessible to all, in a way that is more more prevalent than ever before.

The disruptors, the technology leaders, the inventors, and the innovation champions are already looking for ways to counteract any form of censorship or special rights for certain groups that could occur through FCC regulations and financial strong-holds on the Internet. There is now an “Outernet” in the works that would allow for free access to all of humanity through WiFi from space, despite attempts to close down the openness we now enjoy on the Internet (Outernet, n.d.. @ https://www.outernet.is/). We can, and should -as technology leaders-, develop U.S. and global policies to protect this, and we can encourage all citizens to exercise their voice and speak up for their right to access to information.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology: Diversity and globalism. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Outernet (n.d.) @ https://www.outernet.is/

Kennedy, P. (01/13/2012) William Gibson's future is Now. The New York Times. @ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/books/review/distrust-that-particular-flavor-by-william-gibson-book-review.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Selyukh, A. (May 15, 2014). Amid protests, U.S. FCC proposes new 'net neutrality' rules. Reuters, WA @ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/us-usa-internet-neutrality-idUSBREA4C0SF20140515

Wired. (2014-05-02 18:45 UTC). Outernet: A space-based alternative Internet designed to evade censorship. Interactivity will be limited (no uploads). @ http://hiw.me/WIRED/status/462301794304282626

Red Queens: DVDs and Video-on-demand technologies

One competitive force behind emerging technologies is the the "Red Queen," based on Lewis Carol's character from Through the Looking Glass (Thornburg, 2008c). An emergent Red Queen has an undeniable and obvious impact on the evolution of technology, because of the fierce competition between technologies. The consequence of a fierce battle between two Red Queen technologies; each one racing to keep ahead of the other, results in the other similar technologies becoming obsolete (Laureate, 2009).

When I needed to find a way to view the movie based on a Philip K. Dick book, A Scanner Darkly, I was able to find a vendor that offered this service to me for free, on demand. This current competition between DVDs and video-on-demand is an example of a Red Queen rivalry. When Video-on-demand became available to the public, all of Blockbluster Video Outlets open as retail rental outlets for DVD rental and purchase were put out of business, they are all literally closed directly due to the availability of Video-on-demand technology. This shows that DVDs and Video-on-demand are Red Queens, based on Thornburg's definition (2008c).

According to McLuhan’s tetrad (2008b), Videos-on demand enhance current technologies because it accelerates accessibility, improves price, and convenience to the consumer. It obsoletes rental video stores available for rental as physical retail outlets, retrieves the access to programming once available from your living room when televisions were first invented, and could be replaced in the future by a wild card technology not currently in existence, thus reversing the enhancing features that it originally introduced.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Thornburg, D. D. (2008b). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's Laws of Media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Thornburg, D. (2008c). Red Queens, butterflies, and strange attractors: Imperfect lenses into emergent technologies. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Intel Pins Hopes on Tablets, Wearable Tech -- ScienceDaily

Intel Pins Hopes on Tablets, Wearable Tech -- ScienceDaily

Virtual Realities,
the questioning of  what is “real,” and Mayan traditions overlap. This article explains how. by Devonee Trivett

Sarah Jackson, an anthropological archaeologist and an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati is discovering how Mayans held a concept of “partible personhood,” a belief that material objects have their own 'identity” (some may call it a soul). Mayan belief also held that the human identity can be divided in parts live outside and inside the body simultaneously. "These things start to occupy this uncomfortable space where we question, 'Is it real, or is it not real?' “ (University of Cincinnati, 2014, April 24). Sound like virtual reality?

I am excited about the next Mayan virtual reality, myself. Who will be the first to take this idea and really go with it?

REFERENCE

University of Cincinnati. (2014, April 24). Ancient Maya and virtual worlds: Different perspectives on material meanings. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 26, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424151833.htm

Chernobyl's birds adapting to ionizing radiation -- ScienceDaily

Chernobyl's birds adapting to ionizing radiation -- ScienceDaily



Some animals are adapting to nuclear radiation. According to a recent
study, "results revealed that with increasing background radiation, the
birds' body condition and glutathione levels increased and oxidative
stress and DNA damage decreased. They also showed that birds which
produce larger amounts of pheomelanin and lower amounts of eumelanin pay
a cost in terms of poorer body condition, decreased glutathione and
increased oxidative stress and DNA damage." (British Ecological Society BES, 24 April 2014).

The implications are far reaching in my mind. What will this mean for the future?

REFERENCE


British Ecological Society (BES). "Chernobyl's birds adapting to
ionizing radiation." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 April 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140424223057.htm>.

Second Life as a Disruptive Technology

(www.secondlife.com)
What does it mean to say that Second Life is a Disruptive Technology? 
A disruptive technology is a technology that interrupts and thus changes the evolution of other emerged technologies (Thornburg, 2010).
Rosedale (2008) explains how Second Life is a disruptive technology today. The virtual world, Second Life, is creative outlet for inventors and people who find virtual worlds as appropriate environments for their design experiments. Virtual worlds, such as Second Life, allow people to simulate a world with the same laws of physics and build things in a “practice “environment. This allows for creative people to try out ideas in a tangible way that never before existed. Anything is possible with Second Life. This represents a way to reinvent ideas, selves, identities and society. The amount of content and people involved in Second Life is expanding by about 5 percent every month. It's a really large world, co-created by millions of people today. Second Life is very exciting for people today, and will likely create a shift (or disruption) in our paradigm that will be even bigger than the impact that the Web had on our world today. The reason for this is that Second Life is built with symbols rather than text (as with the Web), and images are inherently a universal language. Also, Second Life, allows for socializing in real time among participants. This will create a connected, simultaneous experience for human beings online (Rosedale, 2008).
Based on this information, Second Life, has the potential to be a disruptive technology and make the Internet obsolete.
References
Rosedale, P. (2008). Second Life [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks    /the_inspiration_of_second_life.html.

Second Life (n.d.) www.secondlife.com

 Thornburg, D. (2010). Disruptive technologies Vodcast: In Laureate Education, Inc. Emerging and future technology. image credit: Second Life @ www.secondlife.com