Read these articles in preparation for Friday's(May 4, 2012) blog post:
Insulin Pumps, Monitors, Vulnerable to Hacking
Why Johnny Can’t Program
The Flight from Conversation
Friday, May 4, 2012
Question of the Week (5/4/12)
Choose one of the articles posted on the Media Literacy class website (see links below as well) and respond in writing. Briefly summarize the article in a couple of sentences. Take notes as you read the article and ask yourself questions. These questions will stimulate your thinking. Then tackle the questions in your post. When writing a reaction piece, your writing will be more opinionated, but you need to be sure to back up that opinion with fact from the article. Your post should be around 250-300 words and include a response to another classmates' posting. Post by 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
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The article I read was about people being able to hack into medical devices used to control diabetics. New research has shown that if a person is a couple hundred feet away they are able to hack into these devices and change what they do. It is a scary thing because people rely on them to survive. This new research is scary and yet most of these devices have been out for a while so it is strange that nothing has happened before or that we haven't heard of it. Researchers mentioned that they had experimented with this but it hasn’t been a very big deal. Diabetes is a serious disease and many people suffer from it and if they are not safe because of hackers that isn’t a good thing. Radcliffe who did all of this research has a good point that it is important to inform the public and everybody should know about it so that they can be aware of it. Also companies should be trying to figure out how to make the devices better and more safe. Radcliffe also stated that it was really cool that you could do something like that with the devices and it is pretty cool even though it is very scary. If companies don’t try and fix the problem some people could be affected a lot and some people might even die. Over 25.8 million people in the United States have diabetes and this problem could affect all of them and their families. It is a scary reality and it has to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteI agree entirely, it is odd that this is just coming up now when this machines have been around for quite some time, good point.
DeleteI would have never even thought that this was possible and it is pretty scary. That's a downside to having technology in medicine, because a hacker could mess up the medication or the function of the device. It's interesting that we haven't heard of anything like this before but I think companies will find a solution to this problem soon.
DeleteI think its just one of those things that nobody would have every thought to hack till one day there is a mass attack on the devices. Its great that they caught the problem when they did because it would have been a huge problem if there was an attack. its also kind of strange that they didn't think of this simple device being vulnerable. its not like it would be hard to design a small security system for them.
DeleteThe flight from conversation article talks about how often we use technology. It mentions how we text (and shop and go on facebook) during classes and on dates. The problem with this is that we are having less conversations. People these days are fearing conversation because they don’t know how to communicate face-to-face with someone. Therefore, people are relying on technology to help them communicate with others. For example, a sixteen year-old boy in this article states that he would like to learn how to have a conversation with someone without the use of technology. What he doesn’t know is face-to-face conversation teaches us to be patience. Whereas digital devices teach us different habits. When we communicate to one another with technology, we expect to get a faster answer.
ReplyDeleteAt home, my mom prefers us to communicate face-to-face without the use of any digital device because it teaches us the more valuable way to communicate with one another. For instance, every night my parents like to ask about how school was, my homework schedule for tonight and the next couple of days. They like to be in the loop and know exactly what’s happening. Sometimes I don’t like to participate in dinner discussions, not because I don’t know how to have a conversation, but because I am not in the mood.
People are not realizing that chatting on facebook, e-mailing or calling is taking our confidence away to talk to someone in person. We need the skills and self motivation to have interaction with people as we grow older but technology is taking that away. It's obviously easier to talk to chat with someone online but they don't get to see the real you until they've talked to you in person.
DeleteIn the Why Johnny Can’t Program article, it talks about how the U.S is the only developed country that doesn’t teach programming in its public schools. It basically says that in this digital age where everything is centered around the computer, you have to learn the language. I liked the author’s analogy that when humans developed language they also learned how to speak, and when they developed literacy they learned how to write. In order to really be able to manipulate or create programs, you have to understand how they work. If you wanted to fix a car, for example, you would have to know what all the parts are for before you can figure out which one is broken. The author was pointing out how we have a sort of superficial understanding of how to use programs. Most people know how to make a graph in excel or format a powerpoint, but not a lot of people know exactly how they work on the inside. While I don’t know if deciding to teach programming will “participate in our evolution as a species,” I do think it’s generally a good idea. Technology is very integrated with everything we do, including business. In the article is says that colleges all over the world have a lot more programming students than here in the US. It doesn’t look like computers are going anywhere in the future, so it’s useful to be able to understand them.
ReplyDeleteI have taken the Python programing class at HHS, and have to say that it has given me a new understanding of computers and the people who build programs for them. It's hard tedious work, with a lot of things that can go wrong. I think that If people understood how computer programs worked they might be able to use them with less error.
DeleteI agree i am glad hanover offers the computer corses so that kids can have a better understanding. i plan on taking some of them next year
DeleteThe Article on Insulin pumps and other medical devices being susceptible to hacking was very interesting and raised quite a few questions. The article was about Jay Radcliffe, a diabetic and a security science researcher. He discovered that Certain medical devices, some that inject medicine, can be hacked relatively easily . This could be done from 10 feet away, and in some cases if the hacker has a long enough antenna from half a mile away. It is scary how easy it is for someone to hack these devices. Hackers could kill someone from half a mile away with the push of a button using a device that was originally made to keep someone alive. I never knew how much we rely on machines to do what people did not to long ago. We are moving towards a world that relies heavily on machinery doing things for us. This can potentially be very helpful but we need to make sure that these machines are safe and not a potential vessel for an attack. I found this article very interesting because I am very interested in technology. Mostly in terms of our military but also in the medical field. I think that machinery can help to keep people alive but if we rely on it to much it may hurt us more than help us.
ReplyDeleteThe Flight From Conversation is about people today make technology their number one priority to communicate. Families, friends, and people close to you use technology such as e-mail, phone, text or facebook to interact with others. People are on the web during anytime such as at work, school, class, with friends, or at dinner. Cell phones have changed not what we do but who we are. A person can be judged on how comfortable, social, interactive or confident they are around others from chatting with a person online versus talking to them in person. We come in and out of two zones, the world wide web and reality. We become so attached to chatting online especially on facebook that we forget that communicating in person is beneficial. People today are relying on texting, calling and e-mail more than ever. We are surrounded by technology that we tend to not include physical contact or confrontation as much as we do to talking to them through any device. A 16 year old boy mentions that he would like to learn how to have a conversation.You can judge and get to know a person by looking them up on facebook or by e-mailing but that person has the power to change or present themselves how they want to be, not what they really are. It's good to have other ways to communicate but we're losing ourselves through the web. We are having tougher times with relationships and friends because of the lack of physical interaction. I know that I am on facebook more often than I should be but I also know for a fact that I am keeping physical confrontations and my internet access neutral. Technology is taking over my generation and we have made technology necessary for us to have. I've had trouble with it because I wouldn't get any work done and after realizing it I felt like I was not included with the real world with my family and friends. I know that my friends and family want me there and for my thoughts to not be somewhere else especially what's going on facebook. For a way to show that I care, I do give them eye contact and I show confidence and careness to come up to them to have a conversation at any time. “This enthusiasm peaks to how much we have confused conversation with connection and collectively seem to have embraced a new kind of delusion that accepts the simulation of compassion as sufficient unto the day (page 3).” It's important for people to realize that it's okay to use your cell phone or computer to chat with people but don't let it control your life.
ReplyDeleteI like the points you made and the questions you thought of. The clearly show how you read the article and noticed what it was getting after.
DeleteA major concern that has been raised to the public about Americans is that most do not understand the agenda of companies behind products they used. One example that was specifically examined was users of Facebook. Most of the teenagers and children using Facebook did not realize that it was intended to archive information about you and the things you are interested in as well as the people you connect with. This is concerning to many because without understanding what motivations drive the companies providing services are it is impossible to avoid giving them sensitive information that could comeback to harm you when trying to get a job and so on. A question that came to my mind was how much do you need to know about a company in order to become comfortable with using their services without a problem or incident? Also how do you find information about a company so that you can understand their motivations because wouldn't they avoid publicly releasing information about their secret agendas? The answer to both of those is complicated and not clear cut. It would seem that the person who wrote the article is somewhat old school and in favor of just saying don't use the internet and rely on book sources to give you the information you need. I think a much better solution would be to simply never provide sensitive information about yourself to any source on the internet.
ReplyDeletePeople today rely on internet too much and it's hard for us not to use it. So as long as we don't give away out personal information on Facebook or something is going to be fine for us to use the computer.
DeleteJohnny Can’t Program
ReplyDeleteDouglas Rushkoff argues that the United States has to step up its game when it comes to teaching computer programing in schools. Although personally, I agree with the author, I don’t believe that we have to understand every single part of computer programming. Computer programming is hard, and the programs that we use every day are extremely complex and have been built by teams of trained computer scientists. Fedora 2008, a distribution of the Linux OS, is has 200 million lines of source code. To understand computer programs to the point where you will be more than the average computer user requires lots of time and devotion. That is why people go to college and get degrees in Computer Science. Some could argue that just knowing a bit more about programming could give one an advantage when using computers. They are wrong. I have taken a python programming course, and although my knowledge of computers has increased in size, my ability to use computers as an advanced user capable of running the next generation of computers has not.
It is good to know a programming language but you need the passion to continue. If you hate math, you aren’t going to become a theoretical mathematician. But it is good to have a basic understanding of math, just as it is good to have a basic understanding of computer programming.
Insulin pumps, monitors vulnerable to hacking
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article, diabetics using medical devices are at a risk for being hacked. Other machines such as pacemakers and defibrillators are also at risk for attack. But even with this new information, I honestly think that it's a little inappropriate, like people are looking for more ways to stir up communities. Yes, it is possible for people to hack these machines and put many people lives in immediate danger, but I disagree with the introduction of this hacking concept. If there was a person or community that attempted or succeeded in hacking medical machines, then I understand the concern, but having a diabetic security guy test the limits of these machines, putting the idea out there seems questionable. There are many risky events that could happen, this being one of them, and though it’s good to know that these machines can be manipulated, it is up to debate whether it should have been presented to the media as a potential threat. Personally, I think it is a great finding and now that we have this information, we can create different codes for these machines that will make them better protected against attacks. But why not keep this information to yourselves and not scare diabetics or anyone who needs assistance from these machines? That’s where I think they took it too far. This is not an immediate threat and I think by presenting it to the media causes fears that may be unreasonable or gives people malicious ideas to cause more harm to sick people in our world.
I thought the New York Times article flight from conversation was very interesting, and at the same time a little bit worrisome. The article talked about how people these days are becoming less and less interested in face-to-face conversation and more interested in talking to people either by texting or not even talking to people at all but instead talking to artificial intelligence.
DeleteThe article talked about how robotic seals were introduced to senior citizens and the senior citizens started having conversations with the computers because the robot displayed lifelike aspects.
When asked a 16-year-old high school student said he would rather have conversations about human interaction with an advanced artificial intelligence then his dad.
This could potentially damage our society if we only learn how to interact with computers than we will not know how to interact with people face-to-face. And as far as computer technology can take us there will never be a form of communication as effective and efficient as face-to-face interaction.
I agree, I feel like we don't really have conversations face-to-face. We use texting to have a conversation/
DeleteThe article I read was about programing in the united states and how computer programing classes are not offered in public high schools. It then goes on to say that computers are the center of our lives and that as the technology is exponential growing we should be learning how to write programs not only just use them. The article makes an analogy about English and that we know how to speak it but we also need to learn how to write it. This is referring to the programing skills that people shouldn’t only know how to use different programs but we also need to learn how to write them. I agree with this article in saying we need to get abetter understanding of what our lives are centered around. Once we understand a little we can teach our selves the rest therefore understand it for our selves. An example is you can’t build a house without fully understanding how the tools work. This is saying you need how to use and understand each individual part before you can see it as a whole. Once you can do that you can manipulate it to make it look like how you want it to look like. Just like a program you can manipulate it to do what you want instead of waiting for some else to do it and then you using it.
ReplyDeleteThe Flight Form Conversation is about that people use electronic devices everyday. Technology today has changed our social life. At home families sit together doing their own things, texting and reading e-mail. One student said some people can talking to one person maintaining eye contact and still can text with someone else. Technology changed people’s daily life. Computers and cell phones change out social life. People today don’t talk to people as much as they do back then. Instead of talking, people text and go on Facebook to chat. One person in the article says that he doesn’t talk to his colleagues anymore because he doesn’t want to interrupt them. They are too busy doing their thing on e-mail. People today don’t know how to have a real conversation with other person face to face. A 16-year-old kid says someday he would like to learn how to have a conversation but not now. When you talk to a person face to face you can that person’s emotion. You can tell whether that person is lying or not. Though texting or e-mail you can see that person’s physical emotion. In real face-to-face conversation became slowly because when we communicate in our electronic devices we except to get an answer faster.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to have technology to talk to other people without seeing them in person. It is dangerous to rely on technology too much because one day like the article says, we’ll forget how to have real conversation with people. We wound not be able to talk to anyone without using digital devices.
I read the article about the programing "crises" here in america. In a world that is growing exponentially, the USA is struggling. Even though the internet was pretty much invented here they have not done a very good job keeping up with the technology. being one of the most powerful countries in the world is getting hard because of this. Most of the programing related jobs are being outsourced at the moment. this is a very good way to cut down on costs, but it also is a very good way to get out of the loop on technology. With a boom in military technology the government is starting to realize that they have to bring the jobs back to the USA which is posing a problem. the problem is that very few schools here are teaching programing and related topics as mandatory classes. They said learning to program is like specking, you also have to learn how to write it you can't just learn to use it. This is very important because people now are just "speccing" when they use their computers. This is a huge disadvantage when the military needs people to start innovating in the US. I think its very important the schools start teaching programing in US schools. soon most of the military will be robots and computers and they won't have the option to outsource people the write programs for these things because of the secrets that they hold. It will start to become more and more important for the US to start writing its own programs so that they don't compromise their power.
ReplyDeleteI read an article called "The flight From Conversation" by a psychologist and a professor at M.I.T. This article is about how everybody, kids and adults, uses phones or other technology to communicate instead of having a real conversation. We are loosing relationship with each other by not having conversations. She also thinks we are losing chances to know ourselves better. Her worry is that instead of having a conversation with a real person about her problems, she has conversations with a robot. Pretending to be empathetic is as good as really caring about that person.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting point she made is "the thing we value most is control over where we focus our attention". Lot of people think they should have a right to look at their phones and text while their in school classes. I don't think they should have a right to text while they are in class because they aren't really getting educated but more focused on their phones instead of school work.
Another interesting part in the article is when she is having a conversation with a robot because she lost her child. She felt comfort from her robot instead of a person. This shows how robots are listening but not humans.
I read "Why Johnny Can't Program" by Douglas Rushkoff. In the article, he explained how kids are unaware of how powerful a skill computer programming is. Rushkoff also talked about how kids have no idea what Facebook is ACTUALLY meant for: the company's acquirement of personal knowledge. If people were formally taught how to recognize and identify programs from the time that they were children, Rushkoff believes that national media literacy would be increased— thus refining and directing future generations of developing minds. Although the USA doesn't require computer education in its national curriculum, such courses are often offered to kids through their school (usually starting at elementary levels). Most of the time it interests children, which allows more learning to be done. I feel as though many adults dismiss computer screens as unhelpful and time-wasting... Well, they might be right. But if a kid becomes exceedingly great at programming, he's going to be one valuable man for virtually any company to have under their wing.
ReplyDeleteAlex: I think you're partially right about the fact that the USA is struggling, but I really don't think it's to the point where it's catastrophic. It will be if we continue lobbying, but what I'm really trying to say is that technology is the least of our problems. We've built a system that uses other countries to rely on mass production. Our military is excellent, as is our military technology. There will always be problems in this world. If I was to be concerned about anything, I'd eliminate first-world countries from the priority list. Stat.
Just my opinion.
-Des
Insulin pumps, monitors vulnerable to hacking
ReplyDeletein this article, Radcliffe talks about his findings with his diabetic pump and how it is susceptible to computer hacking. A insulin pump is what controls the amount of insulin injected into a diabetic, insulin is a hormone that they are unable to produce on their own. With this new finding, computer hackers would be able to manipulate a pump, this could be fatal. Insulin pumps keep diabetics alive, it could be a serious problem if hackers are able to change pumps wirelessly. I personally think that this could end very badly, it is not something I just think would be bad. It would be bad. Fortunately, the level of computer abilities involved would be much higher than the every day computer hacker. It would take a real hacker to manipulate an insulin pump. I also think that this guy Radcliffe approached it in the wrong way. I don't think he should have announced at a conference, that people can hack into pumps and kill diabetics. Poor choice on his part, but since he did announce it, it will hopefully be a push for safer insulin pumps in the future.