Frontline and AI

                                                       Overview

This video was extremely an insightful look into the world of AI and the evolution it has gone through over the years. It gave us a glimpse into what AI has done for and to humanity since its conception. Frontline has shown the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating AI into daily life, some of which provide hope for the future, and others are terrifying. The main concept of the 2nd half of the video, the key takeaway is that AI is mainly used for wealth creation. Through the use of targeted ads, it is clear that most large companies use AI to increase the monetary gap between them and small companies, in order to make the most money possible. 

Unemployment/Losing Jobs

The main worry here is that the rich have become too rich, however, it also means that many people have lost their jobs, due to them being replaced by AI/automation. Notable consequences of this include the standard of living dropping by 15% in the last 15 years, an increase risk of mortality after people lose their job, and children being more likely to repeat grades or drop out of school. 

Surveillance - The Main Disadvantage

This is the scary part. In the Frontline video, Google home surveillance is shown in full display. Things like Alexa, Google Home, and other home appliances are shown to be listening to everything that happens in a household, with the ability to acknowledge and respond accordingly. All of this data is collected and potentially stored without the users’ permission. This aspect of AI is scary, and is why many are critical of the technology. 

On a Positive Note

Most people in the AI industry agree that as long as countries are able to come together to collaborate on advancing this technology, it can bring about some sort of enlightenment. AI could potentially liberate the world of menial jobs, allowing us to focus on greater problems and increase our standard of living. However, if we do not work together, it can have grave consequences on the world. The main issues here are the limits on the government, and it is believed that every country will most likely go above and beyond its limits to violate the privacy of individuals.

False Flags

A false flag is an operation that is set in motion with the purpose of deceiving the public, the disguising of responsibility, misrepresentation, or pinning blame on another party. Most false flags are covert and orchestrated by governments or other political powers. In this post, I am going to cover a few of the most notable false flags in recent history, with the intention of discerning a detectable pattern in the lies of world powers. I will provide a brief summary of the event, and then go into further detail about the similarities of the events, how they affect our lives, and why they are so bad for society. 

The first false flag I want to cover is the sinking of the USS Maine. This ship sunk on February 15, 1898 under extremely mysterious circumstances, and the U.S. Government pinned the blame on Spain. This action shattered the relations between the U.S. and Spain, and eventually led to the Spanish-American War. Next is the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August of 1964, in which U.S. warships were “attacked” by North Vietnamese warships. Following this event, testaments from officials regarding the attack were extremely contradictory. Even so, blame was placed on Vietnam, which led to the Vietnam War. The third false flag I want to cover is the Iraq War and the controversy around weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. government claims that Irad access to WMDs, which was a false pretense that led to the Iraq War. The most significant quote from this event comes from President George W. Bush, who said “The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa”. The fourth and final false flag I am going to mention here is the most recent, the Bucha Massacre. This event consisted of the slaughtering of civilians in Kyiv, Ukraine in March of 2022. Russia was condemned for this event, despite them fervently denying any involvement. Tensions escalated and eventually came to fruition in the form of a declaration of war between Russia and Ukraine. 

Taking a look at these events through the lens of a false flag, a pattern becomes clear. There seems to always be mysterious circumstances surrounding the events, people who try to publish conflicting stories are censored and silenced, and the responsibility is shifted as far away as possible. Through a false flag operation, the governments and political bodies are able to convince the public of anything they want, as most will take their word for it. Additionally, they can censor anyone who tries to speak the truth with no repercussions, and can shift the blame to whoever they want. Essentially, governments can control what the public thinks, and all of their opinions on everyone in the world. This spells disaster for our generation. If we can’t trust the government, then how are we supposed to feel safe in our home country? These seeds of doubt should be planted in everyone in our generation, and we must do our best to come to our own conclusions about the happenings of the world.

Diffusion and Trains

 The theory of diffusion is composed of five main elements that explain why new ideas/innovations spread. These elements are the innovation, time, the social system in which it exists, the adopter in this social system, and communication channels. Through the lens of these 5 elements, I would like to take a look at the invention of the train, which first became operational in 1830. This innovation of coal-fueled machinery on rails was so popular because it was an efficient method of transporting heavy objects used in many industries. So many people adopted this new innovation because without it, they would simply not be able to compete with others in the industry. 

Trains/locomotives were such a lucrative industry that many became early adopters, if they had enough money. This can be considered a negative about the invention, however. It was not cheap to buy and maintain many locomotives. Not to mention the process of constructing the railroads taking years at a time. These were the main reasons that a lot of people were late adopters of trains. I cannot see any true negatives to society that result directly from the invention of the train, besides the destruction of some landscapes/mountains that was necessary for the construction of some railroads. One could argue that trains were worth the destruction of land, however. Another “negative” that is more prevalent today is the simple fact that trains are not in their prime anymore due to many people owning personal cars and other methods of public transportation being more convenient. 

I do believe that any negatives that resulted from this innovation were worth it, if not for the simple fact that trains and railroads did so much for the construction of America. In some ways, this invention could be considered a communication technology, as it allowed some people to meet others that they would not have met otherwise, and that is another reason that trains' positives outweigh the negatives. Overall, the diffusion theory shines a very positive light on trains and other transportation technology.  

EOTO #1 Presentation Post (Motion Pictures)

 I took interest in the motion picture presentation, mostly due to the fact that I love the history of movies and the cinema community as a whole. During the presentation, I learned that Louis Le Prince was the first person to create a motion picture film, even though most people credit this accomplishment to Thomas Eddison. One of the highlighted impacts that motion pictures had according to the presentation are that it gave people reason/motivation to travel. People had never seen destinations the way they could with motion pictures, and it instilled a sense of adventure in them, which led to many wanting to travel to experience these places themselves. 

The history of cinema is fascinating, from black and white to HD. The film trends that are set, all the different genres of movies, and the general culture surrounding movies are all great examples of what an impactful communication technology should look like. I love that there are movies that are hailed as classics or must-watches for anyone who enjoys movies, and I love the discussion that comes after sharing the movie experience with someone. Discerning the messages behind each scene, absorbing the score, and critiquing the directing/acting are all key aspects of movie viewing. 

Additionally, motion pictures paved the way for communication by breaking social norms. Motion picture viewings brought together many groups of people who would not otherwise congregate, which led to shared experiences with these groups that strengthened their relationship. It was not uncommon to find several ethnic groups all sharing the movie experience and having a fun discussion about it. In this way, motion pictures were one of the greatest tools for bringing people together, and they still are today. The culture around movies and movie theaters is one of fun times and great discussion. Movies are an awesome technological accomplishment that both entertains us and brings our communities closer to one another,

Modern First Amendment Issues

  It is often difficult to find news outlets that report the truth, or even conflicting opinions with the mainstream media outlets. Why is that? Most notably, I believe the most prevalent reason that antiwar voices are so hard to come by is that the government does not promote them in any form of mainstream media. Two of these antiwar websites are The American Conservative and Antiwar.com. Antiwar voices could potentially negatively affect the financial situation of the government, which is enough motivation to essentially shadow ban anyone that holds an antiwar point of view. Due to these shadow bans, the only places to find anti war websites are obscure and hard to seek out. Not only is it important that these voices be heard, it is important to take note of what the mainstream news outlets report on. Based on these reports, it starts to become clear that they only publish stories to further their own agendas and push whatever narrative it is they are trying to sell. There is not even much to be done about this, as honesty is a rare feature when it comes to modern mainstream news outlets, and there is no real way to verify the information that they put out without searching for these hard-to-reach sites.

I truly do not know if/when the mainstream media will ever become reliable for the general public. As for right now, we must resort to searching for other sources of news, sources that report the truth without any of the biased narratives that most outlets push. This corruption in the name of money has been spreading to many industries, and seems to only be getting worse with time. There are many examples of the U.S. Government utilizing censorship in order to control the public’s knowledge on a given situation. Some of these examples include political false flags such as the Sinking of the Maine, Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Weapons of Mass Destruction and Iraq, and the Bucha Massacre. All of these events were twisted by the government and the media until the truth was impossible to come by. Who knows what else is being hidden from us today?

Petroglyphs - Communication Technology (EOTO)

 

Petroglyphs are artworks made with a chisel, and are hammered into rocks to form specific patterns/shape using the lighter layer underneath the outer shell of the rock. The Pueblo people are responsible for approximately 90% of the petroglyph carvings from about 1300 to the late 1680s, according to some estimates. It is easy to compare these works to hieroglyphs, but there are many things that set them apart. The most notable difference is their purpose. While hieroglyphics are symbols used to portray words, petroglyphs are used to represent the culture of the area. These representations can help give us an understanding of the traditions and religions of the tribes in different areas. Monuments with petroglyphs carved into them have different contexts, depending on who crafted them. Some petroglyphs only hold meaning to the person who created it, while others are universal markers that hold meaning to everyone familiar with it. 

As you can imagine, petroglyphs have had a great impact on communication. The invention of a technology that allows for the communication of entire belief systems and sets of values was a huge leap for human society. This unique method of communication allowed tribes to learn about their neighbors without direct or verbal contact with them, something we see a lot today. Think about any website that you put your information on: Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. We are able to tell others about ourselves without ever speaking to them, so as to let them know who we are. Petroglyphs are the first case of this, allowing others to get a feel for who they are sharing territory with. Another great thing to come from petroglyphs is the clarity they provide researchers with so much additional context about the Pueblo people. People who are invested in the different contextual meanings of the artwork have been able to contact the Pueblo people and derive the specific meanings from a lot of them. 

Of course, this technology does not come without negative effects. The social media outlets I mentioned in the previous section are certainly flawed, and their true purpose is often overshadowed by these flaws. Greed, corruption, censorship, and power imbalances have all stemmed from trying to moderate these outlets, and their clarity of purpose becomes blurry. It is so difficult to tell if someone is being genuine at any given time today, and a lot of that comes from the lack of direct communication that exists in the age of the internet. Some may argue that petroglyphs solved the problem of not knowing who you share the planet with, and others would say that we now know too much about each other, and we are only trending downward in that regard. 

Petroglyphs have helped advance communication technology in more ways than one, and jump started the process of modernizing indirect communication. The inventors of petroglyphs were truly ahead of their time, and they had no idea what their invention would eventually lead to. Personally, I am grateful for their innovation, as I enjoy taking advantage of different social media to communicate with people I would otherwise be unable to. The amount of opportunity that stems from the simple process of hammering a chisel into a rock is amazing to me, regardless of the darker sides that have come out of it. I believe we can still refine this technology to make it even more useful and accessible.