The Air-Ship

This was a story that actually resembles what earth might hold in the future. I have a feeling that humans will either go underground (as in The Air-Ship), go into outer space and inhabit other worlds, or both. The planet earth in this story is a destroyed ball of dust that essentially spins while baking in the sun's rays. The planet also seems to be run by no political order other than the Party of The Machine. Additionally, people have become so isolated that they no longer see one another face to face, and communicate solely through electronic/digital medium. Everyone seems so weak that they cannot bend over to pick something up, because they have not had to in many months. Their muscles are so atrophied, that they can hardly walk even. With the path that American culture is taking today, I can see this level of laziness developing over time, but I would expect it within the next 100 to 150 years. I would not, however, expect humans to begin living underground in The Machine-like environments within that time. I suppose if a nuclear Holocaust were to occur, or some major natural disaster were to strike, then Americans could and probably should begin to live underground. When a device like "The Machine" will be developed for underground use and human occupation, though, is uncertain, however I expect it wouldn't come for at least 200-250 years. We are in the prime of our technological whir of advancement, and for how much longer it will continue will ultimately be the determining factor for The Machine.

Johnny Mnemonic

This short story was incredibly confusing to follow. Honestly, I don't think that many people who haven't lived in Japan would understand a lot of it. Ono-Sendai make much sense in terms of the Japanese language, yet in Gibson's story, it's a super-computer type piece of machinery that has some regulation purposes. Yakuza is the Japanese mafia, which, I don't believe was mentioned anywhere in the story. Also, Chiba city is really a city, and it's north/west of Tokyo itself. A minor side-note: I went to Chiba city when I was filmed as an extra in the Grudge 2.

For me, this story had a lot of interesting cultural things (Japanese) that I could relate to, and that made me very excited to read it. On the other hand, the complexity of the story in such a short number of pages, was utterly discouraging. It was difficult to follow what was going on without highlighting, or writing down notes.

Another part I did like, was the concept of having a human being serve as a place for digital storage, as well as a messenger. Having this man travel all around with different bits of information in his head-different secret messages in encrypted languages that only the receiving end could understand-was fascinating to ponder. I imagine that eventually, all humans will have some sort of micro-data chip in them by which to store information, documents, etc. When the nanotechnology for implants this small will come around, however, I do not know.

It's Almost Like Communism- Except Not

I've lived in Japan for two years, and I played tennis while I lived there. I've played tennis against many Japanese high school kids. From what I have come to learn, kids there pick something-either a sport or a subject-that they start to go all out on, every day, when they're between 5 and 10 years old. A lot of the kids I played matches against had been playing since age 8, 5, 6, etc. I always put up a good fight, having only played for 2 or 3, but my point is that they pursued something vigorously. American kids, unless they have a gift, or their parents have money, don't tend to follow the same path. Japan is very technologically advanced, and many kids do play arcade games, etc., but they don't devote their entire lives to it- besides, they cannot afford to when the culture has so much pressure riding on their backs to be successful.

Discussion Question: Although American culture is far from Japanese culture, what do you feel it would take for the education system in America to shift to a policy of pushing kids at a young age to pursue some one or two specialities, so that by the time they become an adult, they have mastered one or two arts?

Moor/Bynum Intro to Cyberphilosophy

An interesting philosophy is the one that Moor and Bynum present in their introduction. They hold that "computing provides philosophy with new and fertile subject matter, models, and methods." This they say in their opening statement. However, in the very last paragraph of their introduction, the two assert that "no scientific or technological enterprise is conducted without a philosophical framework." Hold up a minute- which came first then? Luckily, common knowledge tells us that computers have only been around for just over sixty years, and that what Moor and Bynum really meant, is that computing is just one of very many sources from which philosophy finds its fuel. Adaptation to an ever changing world is essential, which, given the conclusions above, the very course for which we are working at this moment would not have been possible just sixty years ago. I am fascinated to think about what course must have been in place of this one back then. Or, wasn't there one? With regards to the subject matter concerning this course, though, I must say I am excited to begin addressing all the issues that Moor and Bynum decided to include references to in their introduction: artificial intelligence, phenomenology, pedagogy, historically Western philosophical thought, epistemology, and ethics, etc. Perhaps my greatest interest among all these stimulating topics will be ethics. I look forward to learning the opinions of my classmates on matters regarding cyber-ethics, including intellectual property rights, and copyright law with regards to the net. There is a whole spew of controversy surrounding law and the internet, and I absolutely love engaging in fast-paced, intellectual conversations with my peers. To all my peers reading this entry, I look forward to working with you.