Religion and Ethics

Religion is an interesting social structure in that it unites a group of people under a set of morals that are not created (hypothetically) by any one individual; and yet each individual under that religion agrees to abide by those moral principles, regardless of their own misgivings or opinions. While computer scientists may not all agree on religion as a community, we have been working towards a set of moral ethics in order to promote order and greater unity, something that some religions have done in the past and continue to do today. Regardless of one's opinion of religion, moral codes have given greater structure of communities that have allowed for increased growth and innovation. The computer science community is no exception, and so it is imperative that we, as computer scientists, work together in the development of our moral code for the creation of a highly innovative technology development community.

Teaching Education Technological Literacy

Milk Before Meat

The Internet is a giant, ever-expanding library of information. The fact that more and more people are getting easier and faster access to this information has proven to be incredibly beneficial. However, there comes a point where society has to consider how easy information should be to access. All true information should be available to everyone, but in everyone's individual quest for knowledge, there is an order to which that knowledge should be obtained. This isn't to say that everyone should have access to all information either; a reformed criminal doesn't need his past uncovered on a daily basis and a child doesn't need access to the plethora of pornography to learn of its potential negative influence. While such information is "true", access to this information should still be dependent on the need and readiness of the individual, and unless you believe in an ultimate authority like God, no one really has the authority to draw where such lines exist.

Genesis of the Virtual World, Exodus from the Real World

Edward Castronova's book "Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun is Changing Reality" discusses his speculations on how virtual worlds and video games are affecting and will affect the real world. Castronova claims that if a virtual world is more fun or rewarding than being in the real world then people will spend more and more time in a virtual world. The truth of the matter is that the development of virtual worlds have opened up an infinite frontier that can be created and will be explored, creating more opportunities for people to leave behind this reality. We ought to face this change constructively rather than with fear. If there is a growing exodus to the virtual world because people think that it offers more than the real world does, then we need to change society into a place where these people will find an equal or greater amount of meaning and satisfaction than the virtual world. The virtual world is attractive because it offers pleasure and satisfaction at a cheaper price than the real world without the financial stress, social injustice and political strife. There are no obvious solutions to these issues, but we can make the real world a place that makes obtaining an education more fun than button-mashing and working at a meaningful job more satisfying than reaching level 100. If we can achieve this, then the exodus to the virtual world will not be such a scary thing.

Open Source vs. Proprietary: A Question of Audiences

Proprietary software has, for the most part, dominated the software market, but under it all the open source community has grown and matured. Open source software presents an attractive option for those familiar with software development, but for the rest of (and the majority of) the population of computer users, having to deal with the unfamiliarity of the open source community presents a significant obstacle. Support and ease of use are important for new technology users, and while open source technology has been improving in these areas, this has been one of proprietary software's main selling points. Thus, in order for open source technologies to catch on to the general public, the open source community will have to broaden its target audience to not just other programmers, but to potential non-tech-savvy consumers as well.

Computer Science's Bad Rep With The Ladies

The unfortunate reality of gender equality in the computer science industry is that women are choosing to contribute to this industry less and less. Women have always been a minority in the computer science industry. Nonetheless, there do appear to be some social pressures that may compel women to look elsewhere when pursuing their personal careers. Especially with the rise of video games in modern culture, occupations in computer science have a stigma of being for nerdy guys with no social life. While computer science is a very successful industry, the growth of the industry has been accompanied by a growth in this social stigma despite increased efforts to give women more and more opportunities; thus, the issue of gender inequality in the computer science industry is not so much a matter of encouraging women to pursue careers in this industry but of changing the way that society views computer scientists in general.

The Internet: A Portal to Global Unity

When discussing computer ethics, we tend to focus on all of the issues that arise from computer misuse. This concern is certainly valid; computers can and have been used for mischievous purposes in the past. Nonetheless, the computer and the Internet have been extremely beneficial to the development of human civilization and culture, particularly in the globalization of mankind. While the Internet was originally developed simply to allow two computers to communicate with one another, the Internet has evolved into a giant system consisting of digital communities and libraries upon libraries full of information. Despite the risks of privacy invasion and information leakage, we continue to use the Internet because it allows us to be a part of this world, to be connect with others and to contribute to the online communities. Thus, as Internet users and contributors, we have the privilege of helping to build our world's future global culture by using the Internet as a tool of positive influence and innovation.

Out of the Cuckoo's Egg

The Cuckoo's Egg is a narrative that follows the exploits of Cliff Stoll as he pursues an elusive hacker. The novel itself was quite engaging, but what impressed me the most were the characteristics that Stoll expressed as he pursued this hacker; these characteristics would be useful for any computer engineer to develop. The first characteristic is persistence. Stoll's hacker slowly chipped away at network security for around a year before he was caught, but Stoll himself had to match the hacker's persistence with his own. The second characteristic is creativity. I don't mean creativity like finger-painting in kindergarten, I mean the ability to use imagination to generate applicable ideas and solutions. But what I enjoyed the most from Stoll's adventures is the fact that Stoll was not the best or brightest in his field; he was an astronomer who had dabbled in computers before and happened to stumble upon an error of a couple of cents in an accounting record. The underlying fact that I took from Stoll's experience is that the future can be shaped not only by those possessing the most knowledge and skill but also by those who observe the world with persistence and creativity.

Tech Innovation At The Mercy Of Customers

The Law of Supply and Demand makes it so that producers must submit to the demand of its consumers. New inventions will not be used and innovative practices will not be adopted if the consumer population is not convinced that they will be worth purchasing. Learning from a generally skeptical reaction to Windows 8, Microsoft adapted with its new OS Windows 10, bringing back familiar aspects (like the Start Menu) mixed with new features rather than completely changing its user interface. This decision will hopefully cater to consumers who enjoyed the Windows XP and Windows 7 experience and allow Microsoft to continue innovating and competing in the computer market.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29431412

Dear Internet, You Lost My Credit Card Number But Somehow I Still Trust You. Is This A Healthy Relationship?

The Internet, as powerful of a tool as it is, has brought many negative effects in its wake. Yet despite all of the troubles that the Internet has given us, the Internet continues provides an unparalleled service to mankind, containing a ridiculously vast repository of information and globally connecting individuals in unprecedented ways. These types of effects are typical of useful tools: fire and knives are dangerous in the wrong hands, but mankind still keeps them around for their great utility. So it is with the Internet, but on a global scale; while a single knife can only cut one slab of meat or kill one person at a time, a single computer can provide amazing services to the entire world and simultaneously compromise the personal information of hundreds/thousands of people (as in the recent incident with Target's data breach). Nonetheless, the Internet is here to stay, so it is up to us as individuals to determine how to develop healthy and safe relationships with it.

Passport of Chance

It seems that, regardless of the number of analyses and simulations run, the ultimate deciding factor is chance, being in the right place at the right time. The release of the Passport, Blackberry's newest smartphone, has introduced a newer way to endorse the smartphone trend of "bigger is better"; while other smartphones have been slowly growing taller, the new Blackberry phone decided to widen horizontally. However, Blackberry has been lagging behind Apple and Samsung; while Blackberry once ruled the smartphone market, it now barely finds a stable niche. As an unlearned economist (referring to myself), this new design appears rather desperate as a main selling feature, but the global market is too large to predict; thus, while the fate of Blackberry may be glum, the new Passport may yet be Blackberry's passport back into the market.

The Blackberry Passport:
http://www.cnet.com/news/blackberry-hopes-love-it-or-hate-it-passport-earns-it-a-second-chance/

The Entrepreneur-Nerd Symbiosis Relationship

In the realm of technological advancement, there needs to be both people with fresh, innovative ideas - the nerds - and people who know how to sell those ideas - the entrepreneurs - in order to take advantage of consumer demand for better technology. The recent change in leadership for Microsoft from Steve Ballmer to Satya Nadella also marked a shift in the consumer technology market; as the new CEO, Nadella seeks to move Microsoft in a new direction, one that caters to the shift towards a "mobile-first, cloud-first world". Larry Ellison, the ex-CEO of Oracle, has also retired. It appears that the successful entrepreneurs of the late PC era have taken a step back, giving rise to new leaders who see a new vision for where technology can advance (and where money can be made). The nerds of today have been innovating and inventing new technologies, inviting and enticing the entrepreneurs in the industry to take a chance at becoming the technology industry's next corporate giants.

Larry Ellison retires:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/19/technology/enterprise/larry-ellison/index.html?iid=SF_T_Lead

Nadella taking over Microsoft:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/17/technology/enterprise/microsoft-nadella/index.html?iid=SF_T_River

Technological Advancement - A Faustian Bargain?

There is a legend of a scholar named Faust who makes a pact with the Devil; in this pact, Faust exchanges his soul for great knowledge and power. How does this relate to computer ethics? Well, new technologies arise as society accepts the offered technological benefits in exchange for whatever consequences may result from its use. The moral dilemma is whether or not the good is worth the bad; for example, is the convenience offered by automobiles worth the resulting pollution and are the benefits of computers worth the increase of unsociable nerds? Such ethics are determined on an individual basis, but it is important to remember that technology is only a tool, and when applied to the Faustian legend, technology is not the Devil but the Devil's offer. Rather, the people in society are both the Devil and Faust, the giver of technology and the victim of its use. So, as members of society, we are blessed to benefit from technological innovations, but we have to be careful not to trade our morality for temporary comforts and figuratively drag ourselves down to hell.