The Technology Clipboard: Part 2

The Digital Family - Five videos chats with phone conferencing.  This last month my family was able to reconnect from five different locations at the same time.  With five video chats and a telephone conferencing service we were able to connect from Utah to Texas to Indiana and on.  It was good to be able to see my little nieces and nephews, but it still wasn't anything like when we were all physically together a few months prior.


Reflections of Cicero - The problem with Philosophy, is when they find something so amazing, that they cant even live it.

Free Market: Economics of Ideas - In an eloquent dissent in U.S. Supreme Court case, Abrams v. United States (1919), Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. asserted, “the ultimate good . . . is better reached by free trade in ideas—that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market. . . .”

The Growing Technology Clipboard

Here is a list of things that have been sitting and growing on my clipboard of ideas and concepts that I have wanted to post full topics on but have been unable to find the hours required to a solid report on each of them.  I will have to leave them each with a few details and leave it for future expounding.

I. Social Capital - The influence of technology.  A few years ago I read an amazing book on Social Capital called "Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam and wrote a full essay on the affects of technology to Social Captial.  He talks about how over time the balance of society has changed and social capital has been affected by changes in technology.  He discusses the phenomenon of how more people go to the bowling alleys but yet less join actual bowling teams or groups.  He takes this and then goes off and talks of a lot of other more political institutions and connections that have undergone change.



II. Apocalipsis - Marco Denevi.  For my Spanish composition class during the summer I read and critically analyzed an article called "Apocalipsis" or Apocalypse by Marco Denevi from Argentina.  He writes of how over time the machines we create will take over all the tasks.  We as humans will no longer have a need to do anything and will become lazy.  And then he goes on to describe how Artificial Intelligence will become so intelligent that it will no longer need us.  And in the end - just like I-Robot - we will be eliminated and technology will rein.


III. New York Times - Can't focus.  A few weeks ago I read a very interesting article in the New York times entitled Attached to Technology and Paying a price.  The article addressed the issues of the connection to the digital world and disconnection to the people who live around us.  Its addresses a family who through there new toys like Ipads and their limitless connection with wireless technology have unlimited connection to the net.  But at the same time they are losing a lot of the basic bonds and connections of having a family.  Its like the story of two roommates sitting back to back or side to side on two computers and sending messages over the computer instead of vocally speaking to the person sitting right next to them.

Economics of Life

Thinking about economics and the changing economic structures throughout time I have enjoyed reading a blog about taking about Economic Principles and applying them to everyday life.  The blog is called "The Sassy She-conomist.

 http://thesassyshe-conomist.blogspot.com/

For example in one of the posts the author talks about one of the principles of economics, scarcity of knowledge and its impact in our decision making.  The author writes about how guys who are engaged should ware rings, because it is an easy but clear way of transferring knowledge.  Because without that simple knowledge it leads to some bad or more so awkward decision making by outside parties... :)

I really enjoy these simple but true application of economic principles that hit a little closer to home that the shift of unimaginable and overwhelmingly large markets

(You make have to email the author for permission to enter the blog.)

3 4 5 and counting ~ Philosophical Transactions

In my recent browsing on the web I stumbled upon what I am pretty sure to be the longest running scientific journal in the west and possibly in the entire world.  I thought the Mormon Tabernacle Choir had a long running with 100 years of recording, but this journal triples them.  For the past 345 years the Royal Society has been producing the scientific journal entitled "Philosophical Transactions."

The Journal Philosophical Transactions continues its original pursuits of disseminating knowledge to the scientific community.  It covers a broad range of all the sciences and in the last century has been divided into two full publications covering all areas of scientific knowledge.

From there site you can get open access to many documents, but some still require an account or purchasing a copy of the original documents.

I would highly recommend this site as a place to look if you are studying the sciences and want to get a perspective from any of the last few centuries.

Does the sole lack of evil make it wholesome?

If something does not have anything bad, does that inherently make it good?

In my recent studies I found an article by a BYU Professor, Travis T Anderson, who hits on the core concept of this blog.  This draws back a week or so to our discussions on humanism, but I found it far to relevant to overlook.  In his essay he brings to light some of the core concepts of finding things which are truly wholesome and virtuous.

Latin America ~ September 2010

BRAZIL: Presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff is well on her way to become Brazil's first female president.  Backing her campaign she has the support of the outgoing leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and has opened up a commanding 24-point lead in opinion polls ahead of the October 3 election.  What does this new President mean for Brazil?  Ms Roussef comes from the background of an economist and looks set to bring further economic growth in the coming decade for the B in BRIC.

(New York Times, “Lula's chosen successor opens up huge lead in Brazilian polls.” 15 Sep 2010.)

SANTIAGO, Chile: Chilean President Sebastián Piñera said a massive rescue effort is on track to bring 33 trapped miners out of the ground by the holidays and possibly sooner, and described the men's morale as good, while one rescue drill resumed work after almost a week out of action.

Mr. Piñera also said Chile's economy is on track to grow almost 6% this year adding that some wealthier countries enduring a less-favorable economic outlook were paying the price of having lived beyond their means. He also said that Chile will create 250,000 jobs this year with investment growing by 25%. 

(The Wall Street Journal. “Chile Miners Are on Track for Rescue, President Says” Matt Moffett. September 15, 2010.)

Staying Connected through Google Documents

This last week I had the chance to hear from Sean Watson as he tooled around with Google Documents for the first time.  He shared some great insights from his expedition into this new frontier of online collaboration of documents.  The basic concept behind it all is described in this video...



Afterwards I was able to share with him a few experiences that I have had over the years with google documents.  I was able to share how it has helped me connect both with my family and classmates.