Hi. I develop technologies. I work alone, and in teams. Sometimes teams work under my direction, and sometimes I am a cog. I will try and be brief, because you all have short attention spans due to the work I do. I will include videos with colors etc to keep you engaged. I have an ethic to my work. It is mostly client based, with some dogma concerning "how code should be" vs the majority of (*)(*)(*)(*) out there. I consider Dr. Allen Kay a mentor. He innovated almost everything you recognize, and you have no (*)(*)(*)(*)ing idea who he is. This makes me feel smarter than you. I know that I'm not, I am just highly specialized, in a very general sense. Ok, I am smarter than a lot of you statistically. I write a lot of code. I work on big projects. The people who work with me tend to think of ethics very loosely... as in... "I respect your privacy, but if the government says they need access to it in order to protect us, and have paperwork... who am I to question" or, alternatively, "I am the only one who is in position to question." I think of my role slightly differently. Our society is, and ever increasingly more will be, dependent on technology. We think little of it at this point. We see it as liberating to have the collective knowledge of the whole of the planet, throughout the history of it, at our fingertips... but... how is that delivered? I am tasked with providing content to you, that you will find relevant, though not invasive, so as to capture you by habit utilizing a given product. Let's say I work for google. My job is to deliver results from a search, no matter how unintelligible and poorly spelled, that deliver what you want to see, within the first 4 links of 8 million results... and deliver some related advertising material just before you get there. Seems like I am doing a good thing... but am I? Is eliminating alternative perspectives because I have accurately calculated several metrics that let the engine first, determine who the (*)(*)(*)(*) you are and what you want to hear to make you feel pretty inside... a good thing? Consider filter bubbles. Well worth 9 minutes of your likely unimportant life. There will be a quiz. [video=youtube;B8ofWFx525s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ofWFx525s[/video] Why is our country so divided? Because of me. And millions like me. Now lets kick it up a notch. Lets say I am a program lead for a self driving car for a company that shall go nameless. Is my first priority the safety of the vehicle client... or the world around the vehicle? Lets say a group of children are being lead across a busy intersection at the wrong time. Do I program this car to effect a stop as quickly as possible, maiming/killing a group of children, or do I program it to crash into a wall or go over a bridge railing? Technology governs your life. Question the validity of the models and motivations which drive us.
Same as it ever was. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...DD80E92493501E06163DDD80E&fsscr=0&FORM=VDQVAP
Very thought-provoking post! For those who are as yet unaware what 'filter bubbles' are at all, here's the one-size-fits-all Wiki sketch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble Manipulation, distortion, and every other form of propaganda designed to influence human behavior has been around since our ancestors came down out of the trees and out of the caves. If somebody thinks they can make you "buy" something, real or imagined, actual or hypothetical, THEY WILL. Hint: ever notice how much of the 'entertainment' on our media is so heavily laced with the most nauseating, overbearing, and maddening kinds of advertising...?
