Ethics today, the future tomorrow. For better or for worse?

An Ethics Argument

As the world of technology grows and expands deeper into our everyday and personal lives, the question is always raised how far do we allow it to go. This is a matter of ethics and beliefs that at one point or another every person has to establishes for themselves. Almost everyone has used a credit card or debit card this in and of itself is a form a ethical decision, it may seem small but you are allowing banks and companies access to your money through a system with your personal information being "flung" from one to the other. Another decision you may have made would be if you ordered something online and you gave out your information, this is widely excepted in society but some people don't believe it is right to give out that kind of information online; so they opt out of buying online which is there choice. These kind of transactions have mountains of security but as we all may know some one slips up or a very smart and less ethically inclined person finds a way in and takes what was once secure.

There are many new ethical problems that need to be thought about due to the rapid growth of information technology. With the human genome being cracked in 2000 a revised version in 2003 and more revisions to come medicine has been growing leaps and bounds. You as a consumer can go out and get your genetic structure mapped, but now that you have it mapped what will you or others do with it? At this point in time it's more of a novelty, in the future it could be used for personalized health care or it could fall into the wrong hands. How dangerous will our genetic material be to others than doctors? Could these advances lead to an age of eugenics? Perhaps we will have to wait and see how it plays out but if society could see the good of the advances and not corrupt it in some way then these advances will be a monumental success in modern medicine that could lead to longer and healthier lives.

As we rely more on technology it always seems to have a downside, what if this? What if that? With one of our newer medical technologies it has come to the public attention that a pacemaker can be hacked and deliver a  830 volt shock to the person. Barnaby Jack of the security vendor IOActive demonstrated this by

hacking into the device using his wireless laptop. This makes us contemplate how can we secure these devices so they are safe for anyone and never a target. I think that is how we deal with a lot of privacy ethical issues in today's society, make it as secure as possible and keep up preventive measures to make sure we are always one step ahead. The reason we do these things is because it makes our life easier, it is convenient and in all honesty the security on these types of things are state of the art.

There seems to be different ethical arguments, do we continue to research and do we use what we already have? I say use what we have, again to mention the security and the insurance and fail safes for identity theft and stolen credit card numbers. I don't view these advances as having one fatal flaw but rather I see the people and resources behind the flaw, the flaw is inevitable and so we rally behind it ready at any moment; all for the sake of a little convenience.

Your face's computer!!

Ohio State's Facial Regonition Software and You

As humans we are able to do an unheard of(outside of a super computer) amount of processes through our

brain without thinking about it. We are able to tell if someone is angry or happy or sad and everything in between to a decent degree. Researchers at Ohio Sate University have found a way for computers to recognize twenty-one different facial expressions determining the persons mood, they have also been able to track micro movements in the muscles of the face; what some see as your feelings betraying your face, acting that something is okay but your face looks sad or angry. This may seem small or even useless to some but the amount of processes and thought that goes into the algorithms and visual recognition software is nothing short of state of the art. We as humans do all these things in a blink of an eye without thinking twice about how we come to some of our conclusions, we see it as second nature or instinct.

This new facial recognition has the potential to be used in anything from law enforcement to advertising. If you were able to use this software in a prison setting you may be able to stop an attack or even riot by picking out and removing the people who are exhibiting the signs of aggressive behavior. Another use in law enforcement would be using it to analyse someone who is giving a testimony in court and see if the person is up to no good or if they're being sincere. In the advertising business it could be used in study groups or public displays to see and judge peoples reaction to certain things and to adjust the advertisement to location or may be even personal preference one day.

In computer science this could lead to more personalized software where you have web-cam and this program runs then our programs changes your background to emulate the color of your feelings or to combat them with an opposite color. This software may also be used to evaluate teachers or even better for teachers to evaluate themselves and see where student may be drifting off during a lecture so they will know when they need to change pace or tone. It could also track when the students were most engaged or interested in the subject, if most of the class doesn't understand something it is showing on there faces this software could make a note of it in the recording and inform the teacher which then can come back the next day and review it. This software could have an infinite number of uses from law, business and education.

Some can see this as an invasion of privacy, they don't want there feelings to be read and recorded as

Anon453 it may be just a little to aggressive for a company or computer to do to there clients/users. Then again advertisements could be tailored to you and how you're feeling at that time. In a CS point of view I see this as just another functionality that can be implemented and just added to the repertoire of already useful tools to aid in the ever evolving field of human computer interactions.

The official story.

Windows Phone 8

Windows Phone 8... Windows 8 Phone???

Microsoft, one of the largest companies on the planet. Mostly known for computer software, business solutions and home computing software, in 2010 that changed when Microsoft launched it's self into the phone market place. In 2010 it was the Windows phone 7 and know it's latest phone the Windows Phone 8 first released in 2012. Windows partner ship with Nokia for the Windows  Phone 8 gave it the marketing push to be seen around the world, Nokia being a big hitter in emerging world markets and there intense marketing campaign towards younger buyers gave Microsoft a huge jump in market shares; htc and samsung are there too.

Physical:

The Windows Phone 8 by Nokia weighs in around 4 - 5 ounces with a 4.5" screen and a full HD+ camera better photos and video. It has most things you would expect from a smart phone WiFi, USB, 4G, a full Gig of RAM for multitasking and a decent battery life of 9 hours talking. (info source)

Software:

With the new Windows Phone 8 update 8.1 due to release some time late April or early May 2014 people are waiting with bated breath for the update and with some of the features being afford it's no question where the excitement is coming from. One of the most exciting features to come out is the new voice assistant Cortana, as you may know Apple has Siri, Android has Google Now. Cortana will be able to help you set up reminders, alarms, make calls and perform various tasks. With the hype and already people tested assistants like Siri, Microsoft has it's work cut out for them. Microsoft will also be implementing a notification board for your phone so you can see all your notifications and appointments all in one place. Have ever tried to lay down and look at your phone and the sensor in the phone gets confused and flips the screen every which way, well with the 8.1 update you will not only be able to have more customization of your start screen but you will be able to lock your screen so you can toss and turn and your screen will stay fixed in place. Improved browsing with WebGL and HTML5 video players so you can watch all your favorite youtube videos without the hassle of worrying if it will work or not. The 8.1 update will pick up on the swype-supported keyboard which allows you to swipe across keys rather than type out full words and the internal dictionary learns what you type to optometrist your experience. The update will also bring better WiFi sense and a more optimized batter saver setting. Another huge update will be the universal app compatibility, this means you will be able to run apps on any device like your phone, computer, tablet and xbox; this will definitely re-energize the developers. (Find the article here)

When I look at this as a computer scientist it is actually a little intimidating. All these amazing features and that's just for a phone, just imagine what we will be using on our computers in a few years. Then again it excites and encourages me to continue my work in the CS field, these are the state of the art features from people who are at the leading edge of the field. Either way I hope it will be able to live up to the hype.

A chat on Computer Science

This truly is a golden age of computers. Computers are an extremely large part of everyday life for most of us, whether you use them to check facebook, do research, watch a movie, plan a road trip, fly a plain, use modeling software to create a better mousetrap, withdraw money from an atm, make multi-million dollar trades in the blink of an eye or even writing a blog. Have you ever wondered how your computer knows what to do when you hit a key on the keyboard or click something on your screen? Besides the massive amounts of brilliant engineering that goes into computers there is another key to the puzzle that has made computers part of our everyday life, and that is the field of Computer Science.

What is a Computer Scientist? Well to put it simply we write lines of code that your computer reads and interprets giving you your simple navigation of your computer; that is the general idea at least. Any program, app or video game you use there is a programmer or team of programmers behind it giving it all the cool and useful features that make it simple to use. A lot of creative thinking, mathematics and patients goes into writing code and making the computer do what you want it to do. Just as computers have made your daily life easier it is the goal of a computer scientist to continue making programs that are field specific and general use that make life easier. Thanks to computers so many things have been automated creating a greater supply, computers are able to control machines that move incredibly precise and in some cases have been able to aid a surgeon in performing a surgery over great distances.

There is a lot of money in Computer Science but I think the general consensus is in one way or another we are all just trying to make life a little more simple and exciting. With the abilities of the internet, information has been able to spread to all corners of the World. Knowledge and information has been able to spread to many different countries, this gives them the opportunity to use that information to aid there daily lives, whether that is research on medicine and cures or putting up a diy windmill. With the wealth of the World's knowledge at our finger tips we are able to do great and many things. You may be thinking that we have gotten off topic by transitioning to a discussion about the internet but it's quite the opposite, an untold amount of lines of code are being executed every second by people accessing the internet; which could be a click on the browser icon or downloading how to build a make shift aqueduct that will lead to feeding hundreds of people. We do not take credit for the information but simply we are here to make it easily accessible to all who need or want it.

It is truly fascinating how much Computer Science is in our day to day lives, almost everything around us has uses or is the byproduct of some sort of programming. With the continued growth of the retail presence on the internet and the constant upgrading of cars and appliances there always seems to be a demand for Computer Scientists. It's a wide and vast career that covers almost anything and everything in some shape or form. With out the combined effort of the engineers and Computer Scientists the World would most likely not be the place it is today.

Oh, and we are not all computer hackers!