Blog Post #10

EOTO 2: Response

Group 3's presentation really caught my attention. I felt those terms resonated with my term, disinformation, as well as they were just important to know. Three terms that stood out to me the most was illusory truth effect, confirmation bias, and spiral of science. These three work to construct false narrative of beliefs. 

First illusory truth effect. Illusory truth effect is essentially repetition equals the truth. A belief or statement that is repeated enough becomes the truth. This is seen in political campaigns, where campaign slogans or promises will continuously be repeated with the end goal of convincing the public their idea is the best. 

The second is confirmation bias. What I found interesting in this presentation was the study of confirmation bias had confirmation bias in its experiment. Confirmation bias is when you seek out data or information that supports your already preconceived belief. This makes you disregard any opposing information.

The third is spiral of science. This one I found the most interesting, especially the story of the emperor. In this story the emperor said he was wearing clothes, and that only smart people would be able to see them. Everyone praised his clothing however, he was not wearing any clothes to begin with. Spiral of science is that you will remain silent if you have the minority view. Whether this is for moral implication like fear of isolation if wrong it becomes an under coverage problem where minority viewpoints aren't being heard. I believe the idea that our identities are anonymous online plays into this. Everyone seems tough behind a computer screen and is not afraid to share their opinion. However when it starts to build up where everyone is sharing there views, having an opposing view, leads to you being attacked for no reason. In today's society there is a need to be accepted and to fit in so people would rather be silenced than canceled. 

Blog Post #9 

AI

AI makes everything easier, right? While AI does have many positive aspects and propels us into the future of technology, it does have many negative implications. AI stands for artificial intelligence, which refers to machines learning and evolving to perform tasks. They learn from experience and continue to learn from more interactions. At first, it's exciting. It's going to make our lives easier. But at what point does it make it too easy and start to do more harm to society? 

The frontline documentary provided insights into AI and its developments. The first thing I found amazing was that this video was from 4 years ago. So, the progression from this video to today is even more advanced. The video explores aspects of AI growth and its role. The conversation was always there but became a headline when it was AI versus the best Go player, Lee Sedol, and the AI came out victorious. I believe this example in itself shows the positives and negatives of AI. It positively shows how AI can help us think outside of the box and create new ideas and moves. However, it indicates how AI can outsmart humans and take over their roles, which leads to present-day how AI is stealing human jobs because it is cheaper and faster than humans working. While its productivity is up, that increases unemployment. 

The video also touched on the connection between AI and privacy. The video shows China and its surveillance system tracking citizen movements. China uses this to control human behavior. With cameras all over they are able to track people and uses this as a threat to keep people in line. Another example is Google. The quote by Shoshana Zuboff, "We thought we were searching Google, we had no idea that Google was searching us," stuck with me. This is very telling of how much our technology has advanced and changed. We used to use technology like Google to gain information at a faster pace than reading books, for example. But now, utilizing the technology that was meant to help us is simply a backdoor for them to track us and keep record of what we do. 

This documentary reminds us that while AI is convenient we should continue to educate ourselves on it. Its goal is to guide us into the future and help us work more efficiently. Not be used to violate privacy and used as a threat. It cant become too powerful.

 Blog Post #7 

Privacy

I used to think everything I did on a personal device or in my home was safe, and I had a sense of privacy. Privacy was never something I thought I would have to second guess about. However, privacy is not what I once thought it was. There is no privacy within the Digital Age that we live in today. The TED talks were very interesting and highlighted the realities of privacy today. 

I've been in a situation where I would be on the phone with my mom talking about a sweatshirt I wanted or something along those lines, and then when I hung up, sweatshirt ads were all I saw. I am also guilty of the situation where when I open a website and the cookies notification pops up, I immediately click accept without thinking. The first TED talk I found that resonated with these situations was Christopher Soghoian's "How to avoid surveillance... with the phone in your pocket". In this TED talk, Soghoian highlights the issue of our phones listening to us. Our phones wiretap, where they can track our conversations and highlight keywords. Then, governments and other companies can exploit this data for profit and overall surveillance. This happens essentially with no consent and our knowledge of it happening at all. He talks about the importance of encryption to ensure our digital privacy—companies like Apple install high-end encryptions to their products so they cannot be easily wiretapped. These encryptions are often built into the products and on by default. This is what makes the government mad. For example, Prime Minister Cameron believes that the government should be able to track communications, and the encryptions are making that difficult. Although we live in a dangerous age with bad people, that should not outweigh the majority of good people's privacy. Soghoian ends with an emphasis on securing our devices and using all necessary encryption tools and devices to take proactive measures to ensure our privacy.

The second TED talk that I liked, was Juan Enriquez's "Your online life, permanent as a tattoo". This video is essential to understand because it emphasizes that your online identity is not as anonymous as some might think. Keeping your digital footprint clean is so important. Enriquez talks about the importance of this because your digital identity sticks with you forever. My business professors have also emphasized this point because future employers will do a search on you when you apply for an internship or job, so it's important always to keep this in mind. 

 Blog Post #8

EOTO 2: Disinformation 

What if I posted, as a doctor, I have found the ultimate cure for Covid 19, and it was as simple as having your tonsils taken out. I wrote a scientific statement about how removing your tonsils completely eradicates your ability to get Covid 19 and posted it on Twitter under my account "Doctor Brianna". However, this is complete nonsense. Not only did I just intentionally spread a misleading narrative, but now thousands of people across the world are running to the nearest hospital to have their tonsils removed. I, a doctor, a person of authority over the health realm, intentionally spread inaccurate information. Despite my false claims, I made a significant impact with a straightforward sentence. 

This is the problem with disinformation. 

Disinformation is the spread of false information that is deliberately intended to mislead, intentionally misstating the facts. The most important part of that definition is that it is false information and intentional. Not to be confused with misinformation, which is false or inaccurate information but not intentional. Disinformation has become extremely prevalent in today's society and happens way more often than we even realize. 

So how is it spread? How else than through social media. Social media has increasingly grown in power and influence and facilitates the delivery of fake news. Now, an even more intriguing question: why do people spread misleading and inaccurate information? More often than not, disinformation is spread for four reasons. First, political influences, like influencing elections, promoting a specific narrative, or manipulating public opinion. Second, government motives to ensure government stability or create instability. Third, economic motives to influence financial markets and consumer behavior. Finally, health influences related to issues such as vaccine safety and causes of diseases. This can have significant effects on our society. It causes people to believe statements and ideas that are not true. This can lead to harmful behaviors. Disinformation is used to manipulate people's opinions and beliefs. This leads to the spread of fabricated ideologies. Also, it can be used as a tool to spread malware or scams, leading to data breaches and cybersecurity risks. 

There are many examples of disinformation; it happens frequently. However, I believe we are subject to it more times than we think. For example, have you ever seen an ad so intriguing you just wanted to click on it so badly and see what it says? "Confirmed: Taylor Swift accepts Travis Kelce's marriage proposal." I don't know about you, but this would catch my attention and is something I'd like to read more about. However, when I click on it, my page turns black, and my computer is slow. This was an example of a disinformation ad to spread a virus to my computer. An example from a political or governmental standpoint is Russia during its war with Ukraine. Russia's government spread false claims to justify the war to its citizens, including the recent military invasions and citizen fatalities. 

In the end, I want to go over the positives and the negatives. We can see that disinformation has many dire implications. It's intentionally misleading and dangerous and fabricates fake news. However, on the flip side, I want to emphasize that while disinformation has a negative impact, we can learn something from it. That is, it improves our media literacy. Meaning it enhances our ability to assess the credibility of the content. It improves our skills in filtering out fake news. Finally, it encourages us to engage in our research actively, emphasizing the importance of verifying information.

I wish to leave you with a key takeaway: don't believe everything you see. Always double-check your information. 

 Blog Post #6

Anti-War

The Antiwar and The American Conservative sites were exciting sources I would've never encountered. These sites would not pop up if I simply did a search about today's news. Thinking about the mainstream media outlets today like CNN and Fox, you would never read anything like what you see on these two websites. This is because these two sites go against what the government wishes to put out there. The government is pro military so anything antiwar goes against them. These organizations would not want to be a part of that. One main reason might be that it could endanger any government sources they have. Another reason could be the audience of the mainstream source. I can't help but wonder if major media channels want to broadcast news from a specific perspective to align with their audience's viewpoints. The information on Antiwar.com and The American Conservative write for the peoples benefit. It's only to produce the information for the public to remain informed, no other hidden agendas. In my opinion, that can't be said about the major media channels. 

The Antiwar site was very intimidating at first. The influx of numerous different headlines made it almost impossible to know where to start. The American Conservative also had very intriguing headline articles. After reading a few articles, I truly realized how much information I wasn't getting from mainstream sources. These sites provided unfiltered fact-based information. All of these articles and reports are crucial current news stories. 

These websites and assignment showed me how the government does censor information. I think these two sites show how important it is to seek out all types of information. It proves that our mainstream outlets are only a tiny portion of what's out there. 

 Blog Post #5 

EOTO Response

I found the topic of carrier pigeons to be fascinating. I had no idea how complex this form of communication was. During the time sending messages could be a tedious process. But carrier pigeons made this easier. Instead of using horses or walking by foot, you can send a pigeon with your message and it will come back home.  

They have an internal homing beacon that includes a want to return home. They register where they were born and raised as "home" and will return to this 

destination.  With enhanced senses like smell, vision, and hearing they are able to guide themselves home. There sense of direction is guided by an internal magnetic compass they use with Earths magnetic compass that puts them in the right direction. They also use landmarks to find general areas. 

Sending a message is actually simpler than it may seam. If you want to be able to receive messages from someone you would send your carrier pigeon to them. They would attach the message to the pigeon and then your pigeon will return home therefore bringing the message to you. 

I thought the story of the carrier pigeon during war time was very touching. This pigeon was sent with a message but ultimately was shot, injuring and blinding it.  However, it perceived and delivered the message. I think this showed how reliable this communication system can be although it seems like such an unconventional form to us now. 

I also found it very interesting how carrier pigeon use has developed in today's world. Although there are now more efficient ways to send messages via text messages or email, people are still finding a use for carrier pigeons. This is for smuggling drugs. I thought this was a very surprising development.  People thought a carrier pigeon is the last place to look for contraband and it can be smuggled without detection.