What year will we return to the Moon? When will we have our first colony there? What are the corresponding dates for Mars?
Category: Social Implications of Technology
Book Review: Computer Accessibility Rights
By S. Henry-Buckmire on February 27th, 2018 in Book Reviews, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Petrick provides historic perspectives of how computer technology was developed in the United States allowing persons with disabilities full participation in their own lives and in the society.
Profit vs. Society
By Jim Isaak on February 23rd, 2018 in Articles, Societal Impact
Some cultures and many corporations have relinquished non-financial objectives to the sacred bottom line. Yet there are values beyond profit that tend to dominate our satisfaction as humans. It would be nice if some of these could become the measure of corporate return-on-investment, or the benefits of a given country.
IoT National Security Issues
By Jim Isaak on February 16th, 2018 in Articles, Privacy & Security
National security issues arise when IoT reporting reveals information about troop movements and locations.
Go “Get Chipped”
By Katina Michael on February 9th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
The big issue is the mass scale big data collection strategies using social media intelligence, CCTV, behavioral biometrics using facial recognition and visual analytics to monitor human activities, the keystroke-level tracking of end-users by third parties on Internet websites, the use of in-bound technology devices that conduct ICT surveillance and home monitoring, and even fitness trackers we carry alongside our mobile phone that are set to control our health insurance premiums.
When is AI really I?
By Jim Isaak on February 9th, 2018 in Articles, Human Impacts, Robotics, Social Implications of Technology
I have an expectation that machine consciousness will emerge unexpected, unsought, and perhaps undetected.
A Character Manifesto
By Jim Isaak on February 2nd, 2018 in Articles, Ethics, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
In “Finding the Wonder Woman Within,” values like courage, wonder, equality, grace, and power are addressed, often in very powerful ways.
Social Media and Disasters: Highlighting Some Wicked Problems
By Asslam Umar Alie and Robert Ogie on January 29th, 2018 in Communication Technology, Human Impacts, Leading Edge, Magazine Articles
Information generated on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Instagram are fast becoming powerful and ubiquitous new sources of time-critical data needed to aid decision making during extreme weather events and emergency situations.
The Privacy of Shape
By Jim Isaak on January 26th, 2018 in Articles, Privacy & Security
The accumulation of data points for every person on earth continues at an amazing rate, and from an amazing diversity… Read More
Information Technology in a City Enterprise
By David Gancarz on January 19th, 2018 in Commentary, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
We must challenge ourselves to transcend our familiar notion of the IT artifact as just an inanimate tool standing by for our use like some sort of mechanical device, neatly separable and distinct from us. It is far more productive to view Information Technology as practice.
Citizen trust and confidence in the public institution and notions of the public good are, in many ways, the bottom line for the public sector.
Market Dominance and Privacy
By Jim Isaak on January 19th, 2018 in Articles, Privacy & Security
Zuckerberg’s acknowledgement of the need to address issues related to election influence, “fake news,” and social media addiction is a significant step.
Raising Teens to Live with Technology Responsibly
By Josh Shipp on January 15th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Today, over 90% of U.S. teenagers are online. When it comes to social media, 50% of all teenagers log on at least once a day, with 22% logging on more than 10 times a day. We, like our parents and their parents before them, are worried about the effect that technology is having on the development of our kids. The author discussed the five rules for teaching teens to live with technology responsibly.
Where’s the Beef?
By Jim Isaak on January 13th, 2018 in Articles, Environment, Societal Impact
The ability to grow animal muscle from a few cells into meat for the kitchen is a significant technological advance. The book Clean Meat proposes that beef and other meat be lab-grown.
Digital Maturity: Perceiving the Digital-Panopticon
By Christine Perakslis on January 12th, 2018 in Last Word, Magazine Articles, Privacy & Security, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
As technological advances disrupt existing markets and value networks, change can outpace our ability to adapt.
Appointment of the Planet’s Policy Custodian
By Joe Carvalko on January 6th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Environment, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
The Trump administration cannot simply reject current theories of climate change based on nothing more than that it may conflict with a constituency’s self-interest or one’s sheer lack of understanding.
Net Neutrality
By SFIS on January 6th, 2018 in Communication Technology, Podcasts, Privacy & Security, Societal Impact, Video & Podcasts
Cybersecurity expert Yan Shoshitaishvili joins Heather Ross to talk about the cybersecurity and social implications of the FCC’s December 2017… Read More
What would you do with a few million DNA records?
By Jim Isaak on January 5th, 2018 in Articles, Health & Medical
The Wall Street Journal points out that China has collected 54 million DNA records, and the U.S. FBI holds 13… Read More
Pervasive Technology: Aboriginal Communities and Oppression
By Alexander Hayes on December 31st, 2017 in Editorial & Opinion, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Privacy & Security
Australian Aboriginal sovereignty is no longer just about Aboriginal communities retaining rights to their own land. The most brutal types of dispossession are the latest forms of data retention, decreased privacy, and unwarranted use of this personal data as a result of activities being collected, analyzed, and intelligently manipulated by geographically remote entities, all thanks to the Internet.
Social Media Health Impact
By Jim Isaak on December 22nd, 2017 in Articles, Health & Medical
The Wall Street Journal reports that “Facebook Concedes to Effects on Health.” The social media health impact acknowledged is related… Read More
The Unstoppable Changing of the Electricity Guard
By Antonio Gomez-Exposito on December 20th, 2017 in Commentary, Environment, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
Twenty-five years ago we didn’t know that solar energy, including modular photovoltaic (PV) plants ranging in size from 1 kW to hundreds of megawatts, along with increasingly larger, electronically-aided wind generators (up to 8-MW offshore units), would become in just 25 years the cornerstones of a revolution in power production that is drastically changing the face and fate of power systems.