A New Epidemic: Internet Addiction

There were so many interesting subjects and concepts discussed in this class, and all of them were very intriguing.  But one that really stands out is the internet and it's possible addiction epidemic. On the last day of poster presentations, one group talked about how YouTube and how it's grown in popularity over the past 13 years (I believe they said it came out in 2005). The example of that woman that shot up YouTube headquarters because she was unhappy with the website (over money...? Likes??) was ridiculous and so scary but it made this problem very real. A website, a non-human entity made up of pixels and other things I don't understand, caused a woman so much rage that she felt the need to shoot innocent people and commit suicide. This could become a problem. With all the new technology and websites popping up, there are many different platforms that people are a part of that dictate how people should look and behave. You can become famous from the internet and that seems to be what everyone wants, fame. People do outrageous things to gain attention and approval from strangers, people they will probably never even see in person.

This brings about the worry for future generations. I had to severely cut down the time my son spent watching TV and playing games on my phone because I believe he was becoming addicted. He couldn't go to bed without one or the other, and at that point he had only gotten it for an hour a day! Now he gets to either watch TV OR play on my phone, never both in one day and only for 30 minutes.

This has the potential to do some serious damage in the near future. The internet is addictive and we should be aware of this problem and try to get it under control before it's too late.

Medication and Social Media

One of the topics that got my most attention is the whole medication advertising in social media and to how it can explicitly be offered to. One of the groups that presented talked about Benadryl and how it is being advertised to consumers due to its colors and the images presented. I honestly never took much noticed about the whole medication drill to how it is advertised or the reason why it made me get my attention the most to consume it. There are many types of products that are presented to consumers through social media, for example, if you are watching a youtube video you might have an ad that comes up showing you any type of product that could get your attention and possibly consume it. I never knew the reason why such ads would come up in certain videos, but thanks to classmates I know why, all of this comes down related to your interests based on what you have watched or the information that you provide in such websites. Now looking at it, social media has taken over us and how it can automatically find your interest and show you those without the need of looking for them. This can include websites such as dating websites, games, etc. Now with using one website account, it can transfer our information (info that we think it is only at our eyes to see) to others websites without us actually knowing, when we make the click to proceeding to whatever we want to go see.

This class has brought me so many concepts that have been eye-opening for me and how I see the world now. There are many things that can be talked about and so many issues that are present but don't really put much attention. I enjoyed being in this class with so many smart classmates and being talked about so many topics. Thanks to both Robin and Brendan for allowing us to hear both of you guys in presentations. It was such an honor being part of this course.

Social Media

Something that will forever intrigue me is our society’s use of social media to relay important information to the public. I think many public figures have used the likes of Twitter to tweet about their politics and preach their ideals onto their followers. I will continue to feel as though this type of technology is unprofessional, especially since we have people like the President tweeting the worst things and Kanye is back on Twitter, and he is already up to no good. Technology is something that is always developing and expanding, it’s easy for people of all ages to be subjected to the tyranny of social media. It’s also easy for young, malleable minds to be influenced by the idiotic things posted on social media by influencers such as Kanye. There is so much else to say on the topic, but this is an important point that the young minds of the future are exposed to all kinds opinions. I just hope they are creating their own and that social media doesn’t persuade younger people the wrong way.

Difficulties Arguing With Trump Supporters

One interesting concept is that you can never win against a Trump supporter. Apart from this being a class topic, I have personally been in this position many times both in social media and in person to the point that it has hurt my head so much that I have stopped.

A lot of Trump supporters I have noticed rely on the Bible, science, and personal reasoning. The reason why I do not understand this is because none of them have any religious, scientific, sound ground to argue upon. 

The first case is the Bible. In my encounter with Trump supporters, my goodness have I heard enough of climate change is not real *gives verse* capital punishment is God's will *gives verse* women are inferior to men *gives verse* the earth is flat *gives verse* and so on and so forth. As I have explained in a previous post, the Bible is not to be read as a factual book, rather truthful and being very careful with interpretations. For example, God said he would not flood the Earth but did not say anything on our dependence of fossil fuels, let he who is without sin cast the first stone, Eve was formed out of Adam's rib (his side) to show that they are equals (again Genesis is not to be read literally or factually), the flat Earth simply breaks so many laws of physics and logic that it is really not worth mentioning how this has been used. Although Trump supporters use the Bible a lot to make claims, a lot of them are inaccurate not only in the eyes of a non-believer but also in those who believe in Christian doctrine.

Trump supporters also use a lot of pseudoscience and irrational logic with unsound arguments. This as many of us have seen, has been manifested in topics that we see today such as vaccines are bad, there is no proof that greenhouse gases are causing climate change, etc. Other Trump supporters such as Ben Carson, whom I thought was a cool person when I met him 3 years ago in person, has made claims such as "Illegal immigrants caught voting should be stripped of their citizenship." As many people do not know, the word illegal immigrant is not only a derogatory statement but also hard to comprehend because how can a person be illegal? If a US citizen commits a crime do they lose their citizenship and become 'illegal'? Chances are no, but the ridiculousness of the argument that undocumented immigrants when caught voting, there is a secure process to this as I have served as an election judge, should be stripped of their citizenship causes so much of a  headache but people believe it and support it! So not only do Trump supporters interpret scripture wrong, but they also use pseudoscience and controversial logic in order to support their claims. 

Now the analysis. Since these tools that many of Trump's supporters use to make claims are mostly inaccurate, it seems intuitive that it'll be a very simple conversation that a person with the right knowledge can simply share to change the person's perspective. Not quite. There seems to be a culture of misinformation in the lives of many Trump supporters. This culture is supported by digital media as we have heard in class, the more you click on a video, for say YouTube,  the more relevant videos you can see so if we endow ourselves in a culture of ignorance, it can  potentially have negative consequences nationally and worldwide as we are seeing today with our current president and his administration. Of course, the counter-argument can be that if you click on an ignorant video, that you may also click on a video that can give you accurate and non-biased information. The only problem with this, however, is what incentive to people have to do so? If you are comfortable hearing that our country is the best and that other countries hate us for our freedoms, that we treat everyone as equals, and that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese, then you have no reason to be placed out of your comfort zone and believing another reality that is not your own, especially when your reality puts you on the most privileged groups in society. This is why it is difficult arguing with a Trump supporter, aside from their pride (as most humans have when they are wrong) it is not to their benefit to believe otherwise. As a matter of fact, it is the fear of losing social status that causes this ignorance that is then being fed by biased media outlets. In many cases this means, no matter how eloquent you may speak or how much evidence you present, many of his supporters (I cannot generalize all since few are realizing their mistake) simply do not care and will hold to their beliefs that maintain them in power.

How culture shapes science: a scientific analysis

I have always appreciated the interaction between hard science and non-scientist. As an engineer, I act as a bridge between scientists and businesspersons. However, I have gained an appreciation through further cultural study about the relationship between science and culture. This relationship is best represented as a history (in my opinion).

Over time, how science and technology has been driven can be divided into four quadrants with two axis. On the y-axis, innovation and adaptation are represented. On the x-axis, market pull (read cultural pull) and technology push are appropriate. Innovation refers to revolutionary or breakthrough discoveries that are completely novel. Adaptations are modifications or redesigns to an existing technology or science. Market pull references technology and science driven by cultural demand. Technology push encapsulates novelties that create a cultural need based on the solution that science generates.

At its conception, pure science was an innovative tool with no direct purpose to develop technology. The obvious exclusion would be medicine. Most historical science would lie directly upon the y-axis at the innovation end. When Isaac Newton was busy with Newton’s Laws of Motion, his goal was not to develop a technology or meet a cultural demand. He wished to better understand nature. Over time, the breadth of the purpose of scientific and technological discoveries expanded to provide the graph shown above. Currently, most all research conducted is for a technological purpose: electroconductivity research for solar cells, novel chemistry for new materials, and GMOs to help feed to world. One possible topic of pure innovative research currently underway is dark matter. 

This transition of the “purpose” of science (and technology) has resulted directly from the transition of the public opinion of science. In Isaac Newton’s time, science was a “hobby” of well-to-do men. It was not considered a desirable or useful profession by the general population. Over time, uses for the discoveries of pure scientists were discovered. Science then became more respected as it had a concrete “use”. Today, science is widely acknowledged as not only useful but an acceptable profession. This change in public opinion has “encouraged” scientists to perform research that has a well-defined use to society. This “encouragement” is manifest in the requirements for research funding. Supplies and space for research cost money. In order to obtain funds for research, scientists must apply for grants or obtain private funding (i.e. company or personal sponsorship). Grants and private funding require a proposal of the possible uses of a scientific discovery or technology. 

The search for funding has forever changed the goal of science, how science is perceived, and how it is performed. Advancements in science for a well-defined purpose have furthered the human race substantially and improved the quality of life and life span for many living organisms. However, the corruption of the original intent of science has changed what is deemed acceptable for research. Is there any merit in understanding phenomena simply for the purpose of gaining knowledge? Based on current ideologies about scientific study, the answer would be no. 

How science is performed and perceived has forever been changed. Whether the change is for the best is unclear. In the global, digital driven future, science will surely continue to adapt and change even more quickly based on the cultural influences.  

How we construct ourselves

Something that intrigues me and that I’m taking away from this class is the concept of narrative-telling in terms of when generating a brand or when trying to advertise or sell something. For example, I read about this idea in Economix when the author describes how different companies might all sell soap, but what is important is the kind of story that they tell about their particular brand of soap (hence the “narratives” being told through advertising). I also witnessed this when reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma in the chapter about industrial organic food and how people are allured to “organic” because of its narrative involving “small” and “local” farming practices regardless of the difference between organic and non-organic produce. I found it very interesting how narrative could therefore work as a way to distort or enhance the truth , thus evoking this interplay between culture and science.

            This idea of narrative-telling, specifically when we talk about marketing a product or a kind of practice, is something that has changed the way I see things. I’ve started to reflect and reconsider my own purchasing practices: when do I fall for the narrative? Why is it that I buy such and such product or partake in such and such practice? I kind of saw this playing out in class during our poster presentations on Monday while discussing how even nurses, with all their scientific background, fall for dieting fads. I think that part of the reason they might is because of the narratives inherent in these fads—“what does it say about me to do the paleo diet or the keto diet?” These narratives that we choose to partake in or not ultimately construct how we see ourselves and situate ourselves within our culture and society.

Beauty is Culturally Conditioned : Reflection

For my reflection piece, I would like to go all the way back to the beginning of the semester. During the first few week of this class, we got very deep into the issue free will and thing being apart of our genes. I found this one of the most interesting arguments and discussions we have had. This brought together almost all of the major issues and topics in this class. The piece I remember the most from all this was the TED Talk from Denis Dutton about how everything we think it pretty and beautiful is apart of our genes and how it has been pasted on through generations. He ties in Darwinism, which I love. As Dutton says, “Beauty is in the Culturally Conditioned eye of the beholder.” He ties this into evolution and natural selection. The great example he gave was the teardrop shape; what it meant back in the day as a weapon, why it represented skills and wealth, and all the way up to today and why we find it “beautiful”. The argument that he presents in the talk goes along well with the piece we read from Steven Pinker.

I found this TED Talk not only interesting but surprising. I know that we watched this a long time ago, but since viewing it, I do think about how we perceive beauty differently and question myself more. I think the part that intrigues me the most is that everything I had though was beautiful could not actually be what I think, but a trend of beauty that has been passed from generations to generations. I makes me question everything I like and think is pretty. Do I like it because I am thinking for myself and have free will, or do I think it is pretty because generations upon generations have deemed it to be, because it is in my genes to like it? This is a deep question and it makes me conflicted. I am a science person so I love all the science that went into the TED Talk and how it can be proved that maybe it is all in our genes. But the part of me that is independent and like to make decisions is telling me that I have free will and can decide for myself what I like, directly conflicting with the science part of me.

I will be taking a lot from this class. From this specific example I discussed above, I am taking away that things aren’t always clear cut. A theory or idea can be wrong and right for different reasons. Being an engineer, this drives me crazy. I want things to be right or wrong completely. Examples like this help me realize that sometimes this isn’t how it works. When you get into issues such as free will, genes, rights, and so on, things get very messy and right and wrong becomes mixed. When we discussed this in class, there was definitely a few mixed opinions and thoughts. This proves that things aren’t always clear cut. Another thing that this class has make me do this question myself more. Am I thinking clearly, how do my genes affect me and my actions, how does technology and social media tie into this? I think this help me to open up my mind more to other thoughts and possibilities I maybe wouldn’t normally see, such as beauty being culturally conditioned.

Thank you Robin and Brendan for a fun semester!