Fasting from Technology Tuesday, May 19 2009

Teenagers try to go without gadgets

“Teenagers in Los Angeles in the US have been taking part in an experiment to find how how they would cope without their electronic gadgets for a week. The 15 and 16-year-olds gave up their mobile phones, mp3 players, TV, radio and other electronic luxuries, and discovered that it was like to trying to kick an addiction.”

“I had a dream about my phone.”

“I was listening to the birds and the trees and everything and was like, ‘this is nice.'”

This is so amusing to me, but still quite true because when I was in Brazil, and didn’t have a cell phone, and only had access to the internet every four days, I realized how much we rely on technology to entertain us. What did our parents do to entertain themselves? Well, TV was invented around the time when mine were growing up, but what did our grandparents do? Read books, play sports, etc. We need to go back to that ideal in this age because although technology is amazing and has succeeded in surpassing limits we never thought we would reach, the simple way of life is also ideal. Generations survived with those simplicities for years and years, and we could benefit from raising our children with those same ideals as well.

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Google: The Keeper or Our Memories Tuesday, May 19 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8058084.stm

Controversy has risen around the fact that Google is being forced to delete user data after six months of it being posted. Users can gain more information about a past flu pandemic if the information from when it occured was readily available to them. People are not expected to rely on their own memories to help them remember if there were any past pandemics, nor are they expected to rely on history books, etc. Now that the internet is the means we use in order to trace back our steps, and recall recent happenings, the European Commission cannot just erase our memories like that. How are we to function if our memories of the last six months is to be deleted every so often?

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Twitter Users Exploded Sunday, May 17 2009

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/05/14/dcl.micah.baldwin.intv.cnn

Twitter took away the @reply option and there was uproar. This is really getting out of hand, but I love it.

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Hilarious website! Thursday, May 14 2009

I came across this website because my friend tweeted about it: http://www.textsfromlastnight.com/

People post their or their friends’ drunken text messages from the night before. They are truly hilarious.

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Move over. Runner Ups to Google. Tuesday, May 12 2009

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/12/future.search.engine/index.html

For quite some time now, Google has been the go to search engine when we look for something. There are the few loyal Yahoo.com users, but Google has taken over the globe by providing the most comprehensive searches on the internet.

“The new class of search engines and data calculators enters the fray with those failures in mind, though. Instead of trying to be Google killers, these sites have more humble aspirations: to be alternatives to the industry giants” (Sutter).

Is there something wrong with having extemely high aspirations as Google has? What does this mean for the future? And what will happen to Google?

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Girls are Evil Sunday, May 10 2009

Girls are definitely evil.

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The Best of Both Worlds Saturday, May 9 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8039316.stm

Google CEO refuses to quit his job at Apple, even though there is investigation and controversy around the competitiveness that exists between the two companies. Fishy business, eh?

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Addicted to Technology? I think so. Saturday, May 2 2009

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/12/09/gift.gadget.gallery/index.html

Although this was posted during the holiday season, looking at this slideshow of gadgets that are available for me to buy makes me wonder: are we addicted to technology? I would have to answer: yes.

A few of my friends have attested, with much frustration, about “hating” my cell phone because they don’t get my full attention when they are around me. I have a Blackberry, and anytime I get a text message, email or Facebook wall post, if the phone isn’t programmed to make an annoying sound to get my attention, a red light blinks until I look at the message. This annoys my friends. I guess they feel that when I am with them, I need to give them my undivided attention. I disagree. I think when you’re with your close friends, it’s okay to check your phone if something is blinking. During a job interview, I would argue otherwise, but while with friends, you should be comfortable and not have to worry about what they think, especially because when you get a call or a message, it is not YOU that is calling out, but someone that is contacting you. So why should you be blamed for being proactive or curious about who is contacting you?

Although excessive checking of the cell phone can be problematic, I think people need to take a step back and stop being so oversenstive. /endrant.

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The Microchip for Pets: Controlling the Wild Monday, Apr 20 2009

The microchips used in animals to track them when they get lost, run away, or are kidnapped.

My dog, Charlie. He has been microchipped.

Not only does the government want to monitor who comes in and out of their countries, not only do people want to monitor who their children talk to and what they say, we now have devices to monitor where our pets are at all times. It is understandable that when one has a housepet, and the pet is kidnapped or runs away, it is imperative to find it as soon as possible because it is apart of your family. But forcing animals to be controlled and microchipped against their will (because technically, their will doesn’t matter) seems cruel. Of course, I am a hypocrite and my dog has been microchipped in case he is stolen or lost. But the fact of the matter is that we are pushing technology onto animals when they have no say about whether or not they want to be found when they run away.

We test animals in labratories to see if the make-up has an allergic reaction to them, to make sure that we don’t ruin our own faces first. We test cloning, fertility and steriod drugs on animals before we dare put them into our bodies. But they can’t say no. We don’t know if they understand what is happening, and even if they do, they have no choice but to be tranquilized and force to face their demise.

Technology is as good as it is evil.

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Looking for Planets Like Our Own. Monday, Apr 20 2009

NASA Seach for Earth-like Planets

I’ve always wondered if it was possible for there to be a world out there that is just as populated, advanced with state-of-the-art technology yet still has so many problems. Maybe these other worlds have been around for a while and have learned better. Maybe they’ve gone through the lives the we are living, realized that wasn’t the way to live, and have now changed their ways. Or maybe they were wiser from the start and knew that unlimiting ourselves in this technological way would pose as a problem in the future, so they never did it. Do they have the same God as us? Do they know better than to believe in God?

All these questions run through my mind when I ponder about whether there could be other worlds out there. Our world, and namely the United States, is so enthnocentric, that it is seemingly impossible for them to believe or be convinced of the idea that there could be another world out there that is far beyond us in terms of wisdom, technology and knowledge. We would like to think that we are the best, that we have thought of everything and that we are the first to accomplish anything great, but imagine what a wake up call it would be if we were to find out otherwise–if we were to find out that we are actually way far behind the rest of the Milky Way, and that we came afterwards.

What if these “aliens” turn out to look just like us? Or what if they are a species that we’ve never come across before? What if in their world, we are the “animals,” and what separates us from them is their progressive thinking and ability to communicate properly? What if our idea of proper communication is like the grunts and barbaric sounds that the cavemen used?

Just food for thought. Hopefully not, or hopefully so…

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