We think that our group may be falling behind slightly in
the area of research. While this could be a problem it is definitely not an
awful situation. One way that we are seeking to remedy this is to outline what
needs to be found and then meet during the week to discuss where we are and
what more needs to be done. I think we are on a good track to have a good
project. It is definitely interesting for us so that will help us be able to
work harder on it.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Group Progress
This
week our group has decided to look into self-driving cars as our area of
research. We thought this would be a
good topic, as three of the four of us are computer science majors, so we might
have a better chance at understanding certain topics in this field. In addition
we believe that this will be a very important field of study in the upcoming
years, and that it could become a major part of society in the next few
decades. All the possible safety improvements that come with this are
intriguing, but it will also be interesting to see what problems people believe
will arise when they become more pervasive, or of these problems will prevent
their adoption entirely. The main issue that we see happening is that we will
not be able to find enough information on this topic. One of ways that this
could happen is that we could only end up with high level overviews of the
issue and very technically dense research papers that none of us are able to
understand.
Topics of Interest
Part 1
Robotics, Computing,
Artificial Intelligence
Honestly I’m fairly comfortable with this area, but still curious.
I was on a robotics team in high school, and I’ve taken a class on AI; both of
these things should help me get moving in these fields faster. Despite a basic
technical knowledge of some of these things, I would say that I have a very
limited understanding of any potential social implications that some of these
things can have.
Media and Entertainment
Industries
I have been known to call the head of many media companies idiots,
for what seems to be an active attempt to make it difficult to pay for their
content. It would be interesting to see if the industry as a whole is allergic
to the contents of my wallet, or if there is something deeper that I am missing
on the subject.
Education
I suppose my curiosity in education is also inspired by
frustrating experiences, and again like the media industry this frustration is
related to a poor handling of current technologies. Maybe I’m being narrow-minded,
but I find it interesting to see how technology can fundamentally change some
fields. In addition it would be interesting to research education during a time
where many people are worried as the US is slipping in the global ranks.
Part 2
Robotics, Computing,
Artificial Intelligence
This article talks about the improvement that was made on existing
self driving car technology by Scientists from Oxford. It touches on what a
future could be like if self driving cars were ubiquitous, specifically
mentioning the potential for thousands of saved lives due to a decrease in car
accidents. While this may show promise, I think that this type of technology is
something that will be adopted at a slower pace than it can be advanced because
many people will be uncomfortable.
Media and Entertainment
Industries
The article comments on a quote from a director of Game of Throne,
where it appears as if he claims that piracy can be beneficial because it can
generate “cultural buzz”. I would say that I agree with what his opinion seems
to be, and that furthermore piracy is unavoidable in almost every case.
Education
This article discusses the increasing resistance to standardized
tests in the US. It mentions a several school districts that protest
standardized tests that they are made to take as part of their high school
education. I know that I have been hearing people assert that there are
problems with standardized tests for years, but I didn’t expect for protests
like this to happen. The potential consequences for skipping tests seems like
it should deter most people, but that being said if there are people who do it
their decision should not be taken lightly.
John Slaughter
Several
of Slaughter’s points hit close to home for me, but I think the one that I
ended up thinking the most about was the idea of students being well rounded.
Throughout my education I have often found myself disliking classes in the
humanities, while still being somewhat interested in the topics themselves. I
have been known to make references to various works of literature and events in
history in regular conversation, often in a similar way to what many people
would do with modern pop culture. As such I would describe myself as very
confused shape, I’m interested in being well rounded sometimes, but usually the
process is what I don’t enjoy. I think if some of the humanities can be
presented in other ways then it could potentially be more attractive for people
such as me.
Diversity
is also something that I found rather interesting in this article. It exactly a secret that it is somewhat
lacking in the STEM fields. For the moment I’d like to focus on how gender
plays a role in this. As someone whose mother was a programmer and sister is an
engineer I know it’s possible for women to be involved in STEM fields, but at
the time it is somewhat lacking. At one of the speeches that we listened to
during the first week at Stevens we were told that the proportion of women in
the future classes would be increasing in the next few years. This received the
biggest applause of anything said during the speech. Maybe it is just that guys
don’t want to not be around women during all of college, but I believe that
there is more to it than that. Whether it be different genders or just
different cultures, diversity can bring a lot to peoples’ lives, so I agree
that it is something that we should be working towards.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King
Much like I felt with Ghandi, when
I was going into this reading I thought it would be interesting to read one of
the important works by a person that we learned about during previous
schooling. Thinking back before I started the actual reading for this week all
I had really ever learned about Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t from him
directly, but rather a cartoon special that we watched every year in elementary
school and the small unit on civil rights that we did in history class in high
school. With all of this being said I feel that I definitely have a better
understanding of who he was as a person and what he believed. He refused to be
patient and let time fix the problems over race as others have suggested and I
think this was a very good way to approach the situation.
Essay 1 Intro
Maybe cynicism leads me to
believe this, but most of the time a little bit of cynicism can make life
easier. There will be those that will (and not without justification) assert
that if juxtaposed the ideas in Thoughts
from the Tao-te Ching and The
Qualities of the Price will appear idealist and relatively pragmatic
respectively. While this may be true to an extent, as Lao Tzu is overall more
idealistic, each has some applications in modern western societies, despite
their flaws.
Lao Tzu and Machiavelli
While I was reading Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching and Quaalities of the Prince I think I may
have gotten rather hung up on trying to determine which modern political
philosophy each of these would be most similar to. I don’t think I was really
able to successfully match either of these philosophies up to one of the
political parties in the United States. The closest that I could come to this
would be to say that the philosophies proposed by Lao Tzu in Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching have some
similarities with some of those that are looking for a smaller government. I
noticed that Lao Tzu often said that it is best to avoid intervening in
situations, which is somewhat similar to the idea of limited government that is
often talked about today. The closet thing I could come up with for Machiavelli
was the caricaturized image of republicans that was often seen on shows like The Daily Show during the time that
President Bush was in power.
As far
as my thoughts of the philosophies themselves I felt those of Machiavelli to
almost be cynical. Cynical may not be the right word exactly, but he seemed to
assume that there was going to at least be a small group of people that would
ruin one’s ability to seem like the good guy all the time. I personally liked
this way of looking at things much more than what Lao Tzu was proposing. From
Lao Tzu I got a much more idealist vibe, which while I often like to think of
things in the nice clean way to look at things it is usually not a complete
enough view on the way that people really operate. Maybe thinking these things
makes me somewhat cynical too (though I’m still not sure that’s the right word
again).
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