Assignment #2 or I Fought Food-poisoning for This

Every new invention brings with it opposing arguments that either praise the advancements that this new technology will usher in or condemn the technology as destroying something that is treasured by the society into which it was born. Two very different authors Vannevar Bush and Nathaniel Hawthorne tackled the question asking is technology a good thing or something bad in connection with a new technology of their times, the memex and the air-tight stove respectively.
Bush practically gushes as he describes his latest idea for an invention, the "memex." Highlighting its benefits for mankind, Bush takes no notice of its potential unfavorable outcomes. "A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory" (Bush). He is quick to point out this new piece of technology’s uses and advantages. Vannevar is very much in the pro-technology camp of arguing.
Hawthorne examines the latest technology of his day, the air-tight stove. He acknowledges the advances that this technology provides such as more efficient heating of ones home to the advances in fire safety it provides. Despite all this Nathaniel Hawthorne still sees this new technology as an unhappy thing for society. He preaches that "it is my[his] belief, that social intercourse cannot long continue what it has been, now that we have subtracted from it so important and vivifying an element as fire-light" (Hawthorne). He focuses on negative social changes that will result from the implementation of the new technology.
Looking at these two contrasting view points and applying them to a new technology of my time, I am faced with vilifying or applauding the technology that is the internet. Unlike Bush I am not going to turn a blind eye to the negative aspects of the technology, but instead will state the negative from the beginning. From that starting point I will proceed to argue that the positive implications of the internet greatly outweigh any negative consequences.
The internet is not with out its faults. Indeed more and more of these flaws are becoming known everyday. Children are subject to being preyed upon by internet pedophiles and people are inventing new addictions centered around the internet, such as porn, shopping, and online gambling. These faults that I find in embracing the internet in my opinion would still exist without this technology’s presence. Pedophiles still prey upon children although they may now have access to children from upper class families thanks to the internet and people can feed the addictions with out the internet and would continue to do so in the future were the internet taken away.
The internet I would argue is a very great advance in technology of our time and should be embraced. The internet allows people from across cultures and sub-cultures to share ideas and exchange information. Imagine we are stepping into a future where distance no longer holds up any resistance to the exchange of ideals. Blogs in particular play an important and positive role in the technology of the internet. Blogs allow people to express their ideas and opinions in a semi-anonymous way. The person who is blogging does not feel pressure to conform to a social norm on the internet since the writer does not have to deal with face to face critiques of their work. This helps ideas that might have otherwise been stifled with out this new technology to instead flourish.
The internet and blogging serves another great purpose besides helping their authors find a voice. These blogs have a positive influence on the readers as well. Blogs can help individuals find friends on the internet. For example, a blog put out on the internet by a gay person could help a lonely gay youth find someone who is like them. They might find that they can talk to this blogger about feelings and emotions they have without with the fear of being dropped by family and friends or in the worst cases bashed that accompanies coming out to people you know in real life.
My personal blog that I created for this class is another positive application of this new technology. It allows me to articulate my understanding of the materials in a more relaxed manner. I have time to plan my responses and think over them, a luxury not often provided during class time. Blogs are helping me better understand the materials in this course as well as my peers interpretations of these materials. In what other medium would I be given the opportunity to read over and recall the points that others have made in regards to the work I too am doing?

Works Cited:

Bush, Vannevar. "As We May Think". The Atlantic Monthly: July 1945. Ed. Denys Duchier. Simon Fraser University. August 1995. 10 September 2006. http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/~duchier/pub/vbush/vbush-all.shtml

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Fire-Worship". Mosses from an Olde Manse. 1846. Eldritch Press. 10 September 2006. http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/fw.html

Assignment #1

Computers & Me

My earliest memories of computers are vague recollections of sitting in front of green and black Apple computer screens playing mind numbing games aimed to teach us mathematics. Needless to say, I did not love this activity and it did not inspire me to dive into the world of computers.

From these bleak early years I graduated up to learning all the ins and outs of word processing. This took place in middle school and I am still scarred from the experience. We had to take a new class now that was to teach us all we could ever need to know about computers. The teacher was a bitch to put it politely. She cared for the computer as if they were her own children and called her students, "dumb-dumbs" or "dummy" in front of the class so they could laugh at what we did not know. It sucked to say the least. I do not remember what brand or models we used only the relief I felt everyday that class ended.

Then in the sixth or seventh grade my best friend had gotten a new computer and had the internet. I remember going over to her house and watching her e-mail and play the newer computer games, one in particular stands out in my mind that I think was called Worms. I really did not use the computer for anything besides typing up assignments for school and using the internet to find the latest pictures of our newest celebrity crushes, sad I know but it is the truth.
Just before starting high school my mom and dad bought our family our first ever computer. It was a Compaq, old, and ugly but it was ours. No more going to my friend’s to wait my turn to use her computer I could now use my very own. I loved it. I played all sorts of computer games, most of which my game-obsessed brother bought, and I was finally given the luxury of doing my homework whenever I found it convenient. This Compaq was on it’s way out when we bought it and we ran it until the technology was far to obsolete to be useful with homework. It helped me begin to actually enjoy all that computers have to offer and for that I am grateful.

My next and as of now most recent escapade in the land of computers was with the purchase of my very own desk top. It is a Dell Dimension 4600C. I paid for it myself and bought it brand new. We finally got the internet and I was in love. I had used the internet before, but it was at school where you could look at the White House’s official site and little else without getting your internet privileges taken away for "wasting valuable class time." Now I could use the internet for my favorite pastime of looking at random sites without having a reason behind my madness. Messing around online is now a favorite pastime of mine. I still have this same PC and use it for word processing, purchasing random items from various online stores, keeping up with the news to some extent, chatting with friends via AIM, finding new recipes (I love to cook), more stuff that I cannot think of at the moment, but mostly I use it to do research for assignments. I hope to soon save enough money to buy a laptop the convenience of which I have grown to love having borrowed one from the same friend who really introduced to computers to begin with.

Welcome!

Just wanted to say hi and introduce my blog.