Author: abbietwho

The power of software developers

I am a retiree from the Boomers generation working with a group of software developers. They set up a Facebook group, WordPress blog, Google Slides … in lightning speed. Ideas are shared “in low band width” (Fernandez) more than face-to-face. Ivy used state-of-the-Art techniques to shoot the video, fully coordinated with superb music selection. May was able to combine multiple screens using advanced editing software. After our presentation, I received compliments from a fellow classmate that our video was very “artistic”. During our online group discussions, I was particularly impressed by a Kristen’s thoughts on how to convey the concept of AI. Despite Asimov’s conceptual laws to protect humans from AI (40), there is still a certain degree of uncertainty. I adopted Kristen’s idea of expressing the uncertainly of AI via a picture. The picture was posted on our group blog. This group of software developers seem to be in a perpetual transient mode. While attending class on campus on one day, they can be in California doing co-op jobs on the next day. Their physical locations appear unimportant.

In fact, physical locations no longer play a key role in digital lives, even in battlefields. In WWI and WWII, technological innovation of sophisticated machines resulted in the destruction of human lives (Fernandez). Today, one of the latest technological innovation is digital attacks on the enemy’s utility system. Cyberwarfare becomes part of digital lives. Russia was able to cripple Estonia’s government, banking, and national media websites in 2007 (Orend). More recently, the New York Times reported that the US will escalate its online attack to Russia’s power grid system. US President Trump had granted more flexibility to the Cyber Command to launch offensive cyber strikes without presidential approval (Sanger and Perlroth). The US has evidence that Moscow has already planted malware in the US utility systems (Ranger).

The role of software is vital on cyberwarfare. With this latest development in armed conflicts, a country can attack the target state half a world away by planting some malware in the enemy’s utility system. Will our software developers become war heroes one day?

Abbie Ho 20701760

Works Cited

Asimov, Issac. “Runaround.” I, Robot. New York City: Doubleday, 1950. p.40.

Fernandez, Stephen. “Digital Lives and the Sense of (Not) Belonging”, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, 13 May 2019. Lecture.

Fernandez, Stephen. “The Impact of Media and Technology”, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, 15 May 2019. Lecture.

Orend, Brian. “Armed conflict”. Introduction to international studies. Oxford University Press, 2019.

Ranger, S. “Cyberwarfare escalation just took a new and dangerous turn.” ZDNet, 18 Jun 2019, https://www.zdnet.com/article/cyberwarfare-escalation-just-took-a-new-and-dangerous-turn/.

Sanger, D. and Perlroth, N.  (2019, Jun 15). “U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia’s Power Grid.” The New York Times, 15 Jun 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/15/us/politics/trump-cyber-russia-grid.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer

Alice in X-reality

Our video features a typical university student Alice in a setting where there is a collision between the real world and the virtual world. In the real world, she is immersed in stacks of scholastic readings which undoubtedly will enhance the success in her academic trajectories. It is likely that intellectual achievement is important in her culture. When Alice came home exhausted, she did not talk to anyone, but plunged right into the virtual world of Twitter, where possible relationships with strangers await. I can relate her story to Coleman and Shirky’s concept of “X-Reality” (2011: 19). In Alice’s universe, there is a constant crossing of her reality with her virtual reality. For every virtual reality, there is a reality behind it. Alice’s brought up probably shapes the culture of her reality. This culture continuously traverses to build her virtual reality, her expectation from the digital community. The feedback from her interactions with the digital world in turn impacts her reality. The culture is evolving, with real and virtual realities inter-twined and influencing each other (Coleman and Shirky). Under this environment, the generation of independent, successful, tech savvy university student is nurtured.

The cohorts from this generation, like all human beings, crave for acceptance. According to Bugeja, we all desire to belong somewhere (1). Belonging to the virtual world has its advantage. Alice can close the door to socializing if she chooses to turn off her phone. She can explore intimacy in the virtual world, but retreat to her privacy of the physical world by the flip of a switch. She is in an environment where she can be a loner, yet not alone (Turkle).

The relationship in the virtual world, however, cannot replace the compassion which only human interface can offer, like that of a face-to-face relationship. I can reflect that over 40 years ago I had 3 room-mates while attending the University of Hawaii. We had someone to talk to when we came home. The human interface led to life-long friendships. Next week we will chat via a 4-way Skype video conference, only because face-to-face is no longer feasible for us as we now live in Honolulu, San Jose, Toronto, and Waterloo.

Abbie Ho 20701760

Works Cited

Bugeja, Michael. “The Need to belong.” Interpersonal Divide in the Age of the Machine. University Press, 2018.

Coleman, B., and Clay Shirky. Hello Avatar : Rise of the Networked Generation, MIT Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/waterloo/detail.action?docID=3339340.

Turkle, Sherry. “Always-on/Always-on-you: The Tethered Self.” Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies. Ed. James E. Katz. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008.