The video is here. Now respond to it. Did you love it, hate it, didn't care, was it stupid, fascinating, boring, etc. 250 word post up by Thursday night (09/22) and 100 word response up by Sunday night (09/25).
Watching this video really made me think. Although this wasn’t my first time watching this video, I still enjoy it every time I watch it. My mother showed me this video a couple of months ago, and she also showed me multiple others made by the same production team. I believe that the people who created this wanted their audience to think about everything that surrounded them. After watching this again today, I showed both my roommate, and the boys across the hall. Within an hour, we all watched it multiple times and discussed all of the facts we thought were interesting. The fact that kept coming up the most was that if MySpace were a country, it would be in the top 5 largest in the world. That fact shows how much technology has changed within the last 50 years. Another fact I thought was interesting was that India has more honor students, then we have kids in the United States. I think it’s strange to think that eventually China will be the number one English speaking country in the world. It’s also very strange that the top jobs that are in demand now, were not even creating more than 6 years ago. By that statement, we are shown that our world keeps changing and the people in it keep advancing in multiple aspects of society. The fact that I believe the most is about how many texts messages are sent a day and how it is more than the amount of people living on this earth.
I believe the purpose of this video is to show how technologically advanced the world has progressed over years. It is crazy the amount of technology that is linked to the human race. Watching this video, I thought there were some interesting facts. It’s amazing that 25% of India’s population with the highest IQ’s is greater than the total population of the US. I’m not surprised that this is true because I think in other countries, education systems are a lot more advanced than they are here. I feel like school systems are a lot stricter too. I like in the video when it said we are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t exist and using technology that hasn’t been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet. As years pass, I believe things are constantly changing and years from now there will be problems no one has ever heard of or new jobs created out of newer technology. There will never come an end to developing new technology because there will always be someone who strives for something bigger or better. Something I thought was crazy was that if Myspace were a country it would be the 5th largest in the world. I wonder what Facebook would be. It has to have at least twice as many users as Myspace. I wouldn’t be surprised if it made top 3. I believe our society will always be changing, and as long as there is technology, new advances will always be made.
I found the video, "Do You Know," to be very interesting. I have seen it before but watching it again made me think. It's amazing how much our world depends on technology and how quickly new ideas can be discovered and created. I find it to be scary that China will soon be the number one English speaking country in the world. What does that say about us as Americans? Other countries have much more drive and inspiration to do well than most Americans do. I also think it is scary that we are preparing for jobs that do not exist yet. What are we then preparing for if the information we learn now will be outdated in a few years? At the speed the world is progressing, it seems to be impossible to always be up to date with a particular field. The rate of Google searches made and text message sent is astronomical and was unheard of ten years ago. Our dependency on technology is a chilling thought. What would everyone in the world do if one day the entire internet crashed? Jobs would be unable to open, the government would not be able to quickly get information, and communication throughout the world would be cut off nearly completely for most. "By 2013 a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computational capabilities of the human brain". If and when this occurs, it would mean that we no longer need humans for jobs or everyday tasks. What will happen to people and how will they support themselves if a computer can do their job faster and more efficient than they can?
Overall, I thought the video was interesting. There was a lot of information all thrown in at once, so it was hard to digest the information when it all came so quickly one after the other. The video had many interesting facts and figures, and lots to think about. It’s odd looking at how much the world of technology has grown within our generation alone. It’s also odd how the United States is thought of being so high standing in the world, yet there are many other countries that are excelling much more within education, language, technology, etc. I was floored by one fact that stated that I believe it was the Chinese who spoke English more prevalently then the United States. How ironic. I was also surprised that India I think it was, had many more honors level educated students than the US. The other part of me didn’t care quite honestly, because I don’t find too much relevance into how it fits into my life. It did make me wonder where our world is heading technologically, educationally, and in the work world. It makes me wonder how future generations will live. It was also kind of frightening knowing there is a computer in the works that will be able to process and understand more than a human brain can. In my opinion, it’s almost pushing technology a little overboard. How is a computer created by humans, hold the ability to out-think humans? And how will these computers effect the jobs citizens hold today and the economy.
By the end of this video I my brain was hurting. It was a lot of information thrown in all at once and it was hard to keep track of all the different facts. However, I thought it was very engaging and it made me wonder about why everyone thinks that the United States is such a great super power. In the video it said that India has more honors kids then we have kids in our entire country. Also their population is growing almost five times faster than our own which seems crazy since they are a smaller country, geographically. This video also made me realize how fast technology actually is progressing. I know that we have made a lot of advancements in the past fifty years or so but I didn’t realize how quickly it was advancing. It’s scary to think that in fifteen years there may be computers smarter than our own brains, and in sixty years we will have computers that have more intelligence than that of the entire world population. This made me feel very insignificant and worried that I won’t have a job when I’m older and be able to support a family. We will just have machines to do everything for us. That’s not the kind of world I want to live in, nor is it a place I want my children to grow up in. I think personal interactions and conversations are very important for us to develop socially and having computers run the world would take that away. In conclusion, I think that this video was very interesting and eye catching and I’m excited to see what will actually happen in the future.
That's frightening! During the course of that video, I actually felt as if I were being brainwashed. The flashing information, the repeating pictures, certain words being colored red rather than black, the music, and the constant flashing of "Did you know?" made it feel very brainwashing. It is frightening to think that these were the facts from 2008 and we have already advanced (or maybe declined) from that point. The piece of information that really got me the most was the fact that India has more Honors kids than America has kids. I can't help but wonder how drastically those numbers would be changed if they remade the video for 2011/2012. And this super computer? Who's going to create it? Wouldn't a computer that is more intelligent than the human brain have to be created by something that is ALREADY more intelligent than the human brain? It just doesn't entirely make sense. However, somehow, I could see it happening, regardless of the logic behind it. Also, our planet is already over-populated and the fact that so many children are being born even during the course of that video is scary. What are we supposed to do when we can't feed anyone and we don't have any more space or resources to build homes and areas for these people to survive in. What are we supposed to do when everything is gone? And is a super computer really going to be able to solve that problem? After all, its just a computer.
As soon as this video finished, I immediately felt compelled to click the play button again. The video was very simple and effortless which made the information shared even more powerful. The video faultlessly used animations, pictures and text to pit across the information in a creative way. After noticeable facts, such as ‘the number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the population of the planet’ I could feel myself unconsciously gasp for air. Facts like these are hard to comprehend. However, my emotions did slightly darken with the last pieces of information on ‘super computers’. I understand that technology will inevitably progress through time, which will understandably better help the world. It is very daunting at how fast technology is being updated and seems to do so at an exponential rate. I know we would all like our computers to load faster or for our cell phones to have better signal but the issue I have is computers being substituted for an ‘outdated’ human. Yes, computers have the ability to complete tasks, which would take us a great deal of time to finish, however, you can never deny a humans innate instinct and ability to make sudden split decisions based on relevant information to a task. Computers are unable to understand feelings and express emotion, this one is a key advantage we will always hold as humans. As long as we stay on top of these new phenomena by not letting advanced technology rule us and influence our decisions, then sure, we should embrace it.
Wow! The fact that 694,000 songs are downloaded illegally in the same amount of time that 67 babies are born in the US is astounding. As fascinating as technology is, it is a really scary thing when you sit down and think about it. People are forever getting lazier and lazier with the improvement of technology. It has become a lot easier to Google a topic for a paper than think creatively or research it in a book. People are so quick to criticize online; almost every YouTube video you find online has more negative comments as it does positive. Likewise, twitter has become a forum for people to complain. What people don’t realize though is that if they spent a fraction of the time that they do online offering their genius advice in the real world, there might not be so many problems. This video brought to my attention just how quickly the internet is expanding. The fact that it took the tv thirteen years to reach 50 million users, and facebook only two, shows just how rapid its growth is. However, this also means that the problems that come with global expansion are growing out of control. As a college student who is going to be searching for a job to become a career in only four years, it is terrifying to hear that the US Department of Labor predicts I could have ten to fourteen jobs by the age of 38. This is a scary thought for people in our generation who have been raised with parents who have worked in the same career our entire life. By preparing for jobs that do not yet exist we are taking big risks. By the time we get our degree, that field might already be outdated.
To be completely honest I don’t know if I should be impressed or scared after watching this video. The first point of information that really stuck out at me was the idea that 1 in 8 marriages begin over the internet. This means that almost 13% of married couples did NOT meet in person. We are entering a new age where every day more and more facets of life are becoming less personal and more technological. This goes along the same lines that you can now do grocery shopping, order a meal at a restaurant, do your banking and attend college online; soon enough we will never have to leave the comfort of our own homes. Similarly, the video said that “If MySpace were a country, it would be the fifth-largest in the world.” It’s crazy to think how powerful the internet has become that it has united this unimaginable population of people. This makes me wary about what the future holds because each day this world becomes more and more dependent on technology and gaining new knowledge that it’s like we are growing at an exponential rate. “It is estimated that a week’s worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.” To me it’s not even conceivable that we learned what it took a person their entire lifetime in just one week! Soon enough people will be learning what I learned during this lifetime in just a single day!
In the video DId you know I quickly found out that I knew nothing. Although it was an informal video I didn’t really care. The human race has been growing since the beginning of time so why is it so amazing that we are still growing?? It is in our nature. Of course humanity will keep growing. I suppose the video wanted to illustrate the rapid pace of growth of intelligence and technology. To answer the question presented at the end. It doesn’t really mean anything. It was just a video put together just show “interesting” facts. The only part that I thought was cool was the fact that the potential of technology seem almost limitless. It is scary to think in terms of the future that technology will not stop. I guess I could say that there is a little to worry about when you think of the fact that in my life time a computer could become smarter than humans. As much as this video doesn’t matter it is interesting and informal. The part I wonder most about is before google how did people answer what they did not know. To me the most interesting fact I read was that China will become the number english speaking country in the world. Technology is amazing but hopefully the human race won’t abuse it like everything else we abuse in this world. Sadly when great power is given to this planet normally the world spirals into a negative direction. Oh well.
This video put everything in perspective for me. I feel like everyone subconsciously knows these statistics but never actually realizes them in context. I for one was shocked when I saw some of the facts. For instance the amount of babies being born and the amount of honor students in India compared to America. Those numbers amazed me. Also how many people use their phones and internet surprised me. I always knew those numbers were high but not that high. It’s hard to believe that we may not even know what jobs were working towards in college, and that China will be the number one English speaking country in the world. I never knew high paying jobs popped up out of nowhere. Also, isn’t the USA supposed to speak English? China is even more advanced because they know two languages so that’s a smack in the face for America. I feel like a lot of this video highlighted the fact that the USA is not going to be a superpower for much longer. There are many other countries like China and India on the rise that are superseding Americans expectations. The video didn’t scare me or worry me; it basically showed me where things stand in the world and how many more people are actually out there then I assumed. The population is constantly growing and the world isn’t getting bigger anytime soon. So that leaves the question, where is everyone going to go?
In response to KaylaJohnson, I had a lot of the same points stand out to me. Also, like her I showed my roommates and friends. She pointed out the statistic about myspace and that interested me a lot. Technology has taken over a lot of the world today. It commands most businesses, schools, social networking and a lot of life today. Technology encompasses computers, internet, and cell phones. The texting statistic fascinated me as well but found it completely believable being that I probably send over 200 text messages a day. Overall this video made me feel similar to KaylaJohnsons response.
Watching this video was very interesting and at the same time it was already common sense. The human race is aware of what is happening and the technological advances that are created every day make our society more efficient. The video was seemed to be created in order to scare people that our society is modernizing too fast, but I believe that the human race is very well capable to adapting the situation at hand. Our society created this technology and is very well capable of using it to solve our problems now and solving problems that could occur in the future before they actually happen. I all so thought it was interesting that the video brought up facts about China and India and how their populations are much bigger than ours. the video mentioned that India has more honors kids than the U.S. has kids. This is interesting and at the same time not that big of a deal. India has a population that is much bigger and growing at a faster rate and India is a country currently going through their industrial revolution. The fact that India is modernizing is a good thing and in the future India will provide the world with a well equipped labor force. In all the video was interesting and fun to watch.
In response to ChelseaNesbihal, I am glad I am not the only one who was slightly scared by this video. We also share the worry about jobs. How long will it be before computers substitute a humans right to work and earn a living for their family? I know in England, the job opportunities for the public are sparse and with these new developments in technology, this situation is only going to get worse. It will only need one person to monitor numerous computers as they need little care and attention when set up to do everyday mundane jobs.
Just like all of the above responses this video made me think. it wasn't exceptional information i could never understand, it was digestible facts that i had just never looked into. Everyone is aware of the advances in technology, i mean theres a new Apple product out every 2 weeks. But no one has ever put it that point blank. The fact about the amount of texts sent a day in daunting. When i read about Google, i actually thought to myself "who did i ask before Google?" I didn't have a clue. I also imagined how much better a writer Shakespeare would have been if he had 5x the amount of words he did when he was in his prime. Its amazing to think that today we could read a newspaper for one week, and we would have gathered more information than someone in the 18th century would come across there entire lifetime. This video reminded me of one i watched recently where scientists put two “Cleverbots” next to each other. these clever bots are designed to have the mind of a human and the conversation they had was hilarious, they even learnt how to lie. i have no doubt that the facts in that video about the future are anything but true and its just a matter of time. Personally i am looking forward to witnessing a change like this. I just hope all of these cool new pieces of technology are affordable
I have mixed feelings about this video. It contains information that makes you interesting in wanting to know more, unbelievable, ridiculous and makes you think. There are several examples to explain what I am saying. The slide about China becoming the largest English speaking country in the word. This is unbelievable, ridiculous, makes you think and makes you want to know more. That is exactly what I did. I researched this statement, and found out that by law China requires all children from age 3 to begin to learn English. We must remember that China has the largest population in the world, so it is a realistic statement. I find that it is ridiculous to state that by age 38 a person would have 10-14 jobs. But, you also want to know more about the statement, because it is just unbelievable. A person can hardly cope with 2 jobs, how is that person going to cope with a minimum of 10 jobs. In my opinion, this person will not sleep and will not be able to function well. The video also confirms certain technological facts that are unbelievable, but possible. Take MySpace for instance. It is stated that it would by the 5th largest country in the world, if it was a country, because of the number of registered users. At that end of the video you are asked “So What Does it All Means?” My answer to this would be, if you want to be competitive and efficient, technology is the key.
One thing is for sure, if you have seen this video before then seeing it a second time isn’t as good. It just seems less interesting the second time you see it. That being said the first time I saw this I thought it was very enlightening. This whole video is full of interesting facts about where the world is headed in terms of technology and social trends associated with it. I didn’t however like how the video seems to paint this picture of an overcomplicated future. It almost makes it seem like were not making progress but complicating things by creating all this new technology. That’s just what I thought about the video. I also feel like it presents nonthreatening information but sets it to intense background music in an attempt to scare you or at least get you going. So in a sense the video is just a bunch interesting facts complied into a video by someone with good showmanship. Also as we discussed in class the video is starting to show its age with information like the MySpace facts. But all in all I would say that the video does get you to think about or alerts you to new technologies or tings happening right now or in the near future. So I liked the video.
Watching this video, I didn't know whether to be amazed or scared. It was such a simple video yet the message was so powerful. However, I was not surprised. Every minute, our technology is developing. Some of the predictions though I had to disagree. For instance when it said that by the year 2049, the computer will be smarter than the human brain. The human brain created the computer. You can't outsmart a creator of something, but then again, we'll never until the time comes. I do however believe our technology will do most of our daily simply tasks and not "take over control" of our world and brains in the future. It definitely made me think and worry because I’m part of the generation where all those predictions might affect me and those who are around me. In my opinion, there should be a balance between how much can we become technologized. Too much of something is always never good. As long as we know how much is enough and keep it stable and balanced, we shouldn't be too alarmed. On the other hand, we are always trying to create and develop the next best thing, competing with other countries for world power and respect. Inventing new technologies to outdo one another is one of the causes that maybe all those predictions that might become facts in the future. At the end of the day, we are all the same; humans. Why is it that we’re still competing amongst each other if we’re so worried that technology will be smarter than us and take over control in the future?
My initial reaction to this film was in fascination of where our country is headed. However, although these facts were interesting, I hear the same exact stuff about where our country is headed in daily-life conversation. This idea can be brought up in circumstances such as business class lectures or even a sarcastic joke. I believe that this is an example of what our era is all about. Every individual has his/her own worries about the future, but tend to ignore them so one can live a stress free life. Another interesting point made in this video is the over dose of Internet usage in the world today. Facts such as, MySpace is the 5th largest nation or the fact that one out of eight relationships in the U.S. are formed through an online dating service, were presented. Interesting facts like these cause me to question what technology will look like in 10 years from now. Not only will there always be an increasing amount of internet users, but also the new technology to be invented will invite more and more users. All in all, these facts given truly provide a hard picture of the future to oneself. Human nature allows us to put this aside however, in order to live a normal life. Without this ability, people these days would be living in constant fear. There is so much information out there that it is hard to imagine how one can simply forget about all of these scary facts.
After watching the video, I find it scary as to how fast the world is growing, in terms of population and technology. Some of the facts that are given in this video are simply amazing, the opening clip about china and the subsequent one on India show how much things have changed over the past decade or two or maybe even three. The fact that I’m here in college and being offered college programs for jobs that aren’t currently in existence is another very startling reality. Coming from a family in which both my parents have been a part of the same organization since they started working, seeing that fifty percent of all employees change jobs regularly is another thing my just boggles my mind. The exponential growth of the world in population and technology truly makes on wonder if there can be a limit to what can be done, cause simply at this moment it does not look so. Will the world be able to accommodate us all? I’m not too sure as we are seeing the effects of such a rapidly growing population, that being; huge traffic problems, destruction of rain forests and wildlife and at the moment we have not even solved the problems of feeding the hungry or providing enough clean water for the world.
When watching this video all I could think about was well, if this was what it was like in 2008, then how much bigger would all these numbers be now. None of it was all too surprising as I expected crazy numbers like these to show up. When they were talking about the number of people that were on MySpace, that was a very large amount, but all I could think was wow, if it was that many people then, what are the social networks like Facebook, or Yahoo, or Tumblr, or any others like today. An even bigger number, but by how much? 1 million, a billion, a couple trillion? Our society both globally and domestically have become so reliable on technology that we have to keep going with it. I don’t think our society will ever be able to go back to when things were simple, but rather we will keep moving forward with the technology that is and will be created because it’s all we know. At the end, when it was giving the stats about what had happened in the time that I watched the video, I was thinking again how much bigger those numbers will be. Mostly because the populations have grown and now downloading illegally has become a top priority for so many law enforcement personnel. Even though I did not find all the information scary or frightening, I do believe that there is an underlying message that’s warning us. Warning us about how bad we have gotten, or how behind we as the US are really falling behind.
After watching this video, it made me really realize how fast paced and forever changing our world is. This video is very fascinating and a little bit scary. It is strange to think how it took so long for the phone and the computer to be invented and now every few months to a year, new invention comes out. This video just proved how much technology is truly taking over the world. Another thing that I found shocking was that how India has more honors kids than the population of America’s kids. America feel so big and powerful, it is hard to imagine how many people actually live in China and India. Everything is constantly changing and progressing, it is crazy to think that students now are being prepared for jobs that do not even exist yet and that the top ten jobs in 2010 did not even exist in 2004, which was not that long ago. This video made me try to picture the world when I have kids my age and how advanced and even more fast paced it is going to be. I always think it is so strange that my parents did not grow up with the internet and computers, I wonder what kind of invention my kids will think that about. It scares me by 2013 a supercomputer will be build that exceeds the computational capabilities of a human brain. That is only in 2 short years and it scares me what people are going to do with this technology and how they are going to take advantage of it negatively.
In response to Emily Tan, I agree that most people know how much the world depends on technology and how other countries are catching up and will probably soon surpass the United States, but do not realize the statistical aspect of how serious these issues really are. It is a scary thought knowing that we are paying so much money on an education that may not even be up to par with the job we are preparing for when we graduate. Technology is causing the world to grow at an unbelievably fast rate, which is making it more difficult for humans to stay up to date with everything going on.
In response to Tyler Blackwood I completely agree with the fact that this video is about things that I will never understand. Also I think this video illustrates what little we average people know. The other video you are talking about of the "cleverbot" makes me feel uneasy. It funny how computers can learn things at a much faster rate... but also very scary. All the points of interest that sparked you also were interesting to me. I also like how you want the technology at an affordable price. I read it to my self in an english accent and laughed historically.
In response to Sabrina Milroy, I have to agree that none of it was all too surprising; I can easily understand the numbers and stats that were on display in this video. To think that the numbers were such in 2008 is startling, as it will only increase with every passing year. It’s now 2011 so by now those numbers have probably tripled with the snowball effect. I also agree that I doubt society will ever be able to go back to primitive ways and therefore looking into the future and predicting what will be around in the next couple years is hugely difficult yet fascinating.
In response to Aclare16, I hadn't really thought about it that way until I read your post. But now that I am thinking of it that way, I agree whole-heartedly. Like you said, we have been growing as humans since the beginning of human existence so why are we surprised that it is still happening. I do think, however, that because of our relatively new-found dependence on technology, we may begin to slow in progress on things other than technology. We focus on these new calculators that can figure out complex equations for us instead of using that tiny bit of brain power and figuring them out for ourselves. I won't be surprised when one day in the future my kids start coming home with homework assignments that are completely technology based, eliminating the need for a pen or pencil.
In response to LMccarthy, I completely forgot about the fact that 1 out of 8 marriages begin on the internet. I also believe that as social networking becomes even more popular, that number will drastically increase. I don't know if that is a good thing, or a bad thing though. I think social networking is good because you get to keep in contact with people that you dont see everyday, but I also think the more people use social networking, the less likely they will be able to hold a conversation face to face. Like LMccarthy, I do think people will become less personal.
I agree with miya.a in regards to the idea that we should have a balance on our level of technology use. It is undoubtedly beneficial to develop new technologies that improve our way of living. However, at the same time technology can easily be abused because of overuse. If we know how to manage it there should be nothing to fear, but like miya.a said, too much of something rarely ends well. If we do try to prove to the world that we are the most developed country and lose that sense of control, we may need to take a step back and take a look at the big picture. Technology is a wonderful asset, provided that we understand how to control it.
In response to ChelseaNesbihal: I agree that America’s dependence on technology is a chilling thought. I do not know where everyone would be if they were unable to access the internet or send a text on their blackberry. I do believe the entire United States is literally run with internet by now. If the internet did crash, everything would crash. People would not know what to do with themselves. The technology in the world is progressing way too fast for everyone in it to keep up with it. That is why we are constantly trying to find the next bigger and better thing to out beat a certain technology.
In response to Amypar, I agree that this video contained a lot of information. A few times, I had to click pause or rewind in order to retain what I had read. It is crazy how much of this technological advancement has occurred during our generation. Even looking at our parents and grandparents childhoods, they had almost nothing we do now. They used to listen to sports on the radio, whereas now we can watch a live play by play on our cell phones. It is surprising to learn that the United States is not as advanced, as we have always been taught. The fact that other countries speak better English and have much better academics than the US is a warning that it might become harder and harder for Americans to get jobs, even with a college degree. Although it an interesting idea that there is a computer that will one day outsmart humans, it is also very threatening, giving an inanimate object that much power.
Responding to Lairdy10, after I watched the video I also felt compelled to replay it. It was a lot of fact to take it at once so playing it a second time helped me remember it better. Also, thinking about it now, the way the information was displayed to us definitely made a stronger impact than if there was no music or fancy fonts and colors. The way they chose to display the facts made the video more intimidating. I also agree that we shouldn't let computers do everything for us because emotions are important and the way we think is very different from that of a machine.
In response to Natalie.queirolo I completely agree with you. First of all, many of us as Americans like to take our right to free speech for granted. We complain about everything, but never actually get off our butts to do anything about it. We like to become very complacent and yes, lazy in society today. But I don’t think the internet is such a bad thing, it’s just taken over-advantage of quite a bit. I also found those statistics very overwhelming as I think many of us did. It’s crazy how much it has expanded, and almost frightening as to how much more it has yet to expand.
The video is a compelling tale about the progression of technology and information. By watching the video it made me realize how far behind America is in some aspects of the world. It’s a scary feeling to see cold hard facts that make America seem inferior in the field of academics and inventions. There is a biased thought process that Americans have on it’s own country. We are trained at a young age to believe that America is the best country in the world and when viewing the video, it made me sad. Facts are facts and the video was a huge eye opener, it made me realize that other countries are just as powerful and intelligent. Some things that I did enjoy about the video are how the creators connected the technology of the past to the present day. It shows us how much we rely and depend on the technology that we take for granted. When I saw the video it made me want to not depend so much on the technology and get back to my roots. People never really stop and think about how much we use our phones, pager, or computer. We are all connected by some source of technology and maybe in America that is why we have fallen behind the norm of our usual intelligence. None the less this video was a wake up call to America as a whole, we need to get back to hard work in all fields such as academics, education, and industry.
In Response to Emily tan, the video to me was also very shocking. The facts at first were very hard to believe. It’s not a great feeling when the country you love is put to shame by simple facts. Its hard for me to believe that another country will have more English speaking people than a country that has a native language as English. That concept was so hard for me to comprehend. Overall, the facts were very disturbing to me. Especially how everyone is connected to technology and I am disturbed at the rate of growth in the technology field. It is a positive and negative, in many ways. On one side it’s good that we keep advancing but on the other we need to keep respect in our minds or else we won’t appreciate the technology we develop.
In response to LMccarthy, I was impressed and scared after watching this video. The fact that 1 in 8 marriages begin over the internet also suprised me. It is becoming so popular and the rate is just going to keep increasing as time goes on. We are so reliant on the internet and technology that now if you can not meet the love of your life in person, you can always look online. Also, how Myspace would be the fifth largest country, astounds me. It is so mind boggling that so many people are linked and united through the internet. I also agree that our lives are becoming less personal because people rely on the internet to talk and meet people, instead of meeting face to face.
In response to JSarikas, While I was watching this video, I also had the feeling that I was being brained washed and I also felt a little concerned that the facts were from 2008 and we are now in 2011. I also was a little concerned over the fact that by 2013 a computer will be built that more intelligent than the human brain. How can we make a computer smarter than the human brain? It is impossible to create computer smarter than us, because if we can't figure out how to make it, it can't be made.
In response to Emily Tan, I also felt as though many of these facts are in the back of our head. Although there were some surprising facts that I had never heard, most of the concepts was common knowledge to me. Like I said before, many people understand where our world is headed, we just don't like to face it. One question Emily stated at the end was, "Where is everyone going to go?". I thought this was a well proposed question in that, we as a planet are not going to be able to continue on with doing the same things much longer.
In response to Sabrina.Milroy, I was thinking the exact same thing as I was watching the video. I wondered if the numbers have increased within the four year period. Some factors did surprise me but for the most part, I did not find it scary or frightening. I agree that this video has an underlying warning message, telling us that the US isn't going to be the superior for long and that were falling behind by the minute while countries such as China and India are going to take over the spot as the superpower of our world soon.
This was not my first time seeing this video, but I haven't seen it in a while so I forgot about a lot of the facts given. It amazes me that this video was made about 3 years ago, and a lot of it is already outdated. It just shows how fast the world is moving forward and how fast it is growing. I compactly agree with the statement that more text messages are sent out each day then there are people on Earth, especially since texts are one of the most useful and fastest ways to contact people. One of the facts that stood out most was about what a student is learning in their first year at a technical school will be outdated by their third. For me (although I am not attending a technical school) it means that some of the stuff I am learning in college now could be outdated in 2 years, or sooner. Another fact that stood out most to me was about the super computer. In 2008 they said that it should be created by 2013. 2013 is now less than two years away. I think that a computer that is faster at computing than the human brain is crazy fact to wrap my head around. I found the fact about the China is going to be the number one English speaking country amazing and kind of confusing. I'm not confused about how or even why, but that although American doesn't have just one language, we started with English speakers. You would think that America would be the number one English speaking country, and that China wouldn't be; they would be mostly speaking Chinese.
In response to sleonard: I agree with your statement about how the video makes you want to research and look into the facts giving. The fact about China and becoming the number one English speaking country made me think as well. On the other hand I don’t quite fully understand your thought process for the job fact. I don’t know if you interpreted as all at once or different times. I believe that by age 38 a person can easily have 10-14 jobs. Some of my friends have already had 2 or 3 before they turned 18.
In response to Miya.A I agree that i don't believe the theory that computers will be smarter than the human brain. a lot of movies and shows portray this idea that computers will take over and our everyday appliances will end up murdering us, however I really cant see my toaster killing me. I agree that something cant be more intelligent that the creator, sure the computer has access to more information than a human could possibly intake but it doesn't work the same as a human brain, You're right, too much of something is never good, i just wonder where it stops......if it does stop.
I also respond to LMccarthy's post. I would agree that some of the information would scare some people, but at the same time this information is basically common sense. The video was eye opening and at the same time it was filled with facts on our rival nations. However what these people miss out on the fact that our society is in a different era. Our society has become more efficient and productive then it has ever been in our history. Technology is the key to how our society runs. We are more globally connected and because of this the advances of our society are more rapid.
In response to what Muteb said I think that the video is an eye opener but at the same time you have to ask yourself what message the creators of this video are trying to get across. They are trying to get you to believe that we are so inferior to other countries for various reasons. One reason could be that by alerting us to the problems we face it could bring about some reform or at least bring the problems to our attention. While America isn’t perfect I would much rather be here then in China.
Watching this video really made me think. Although this wasn’t my first time watching this video, I still enjoy it every time I watch it. My mother showed me this video a couple of months ago, and she also showed me multiple others made by the same production team. I believe that the people who created this wanted their audience to think about everything that surrounded them. After watching this again today, I showed both my roommate, and the boys across the hall. Within an hour, we all watched it multiple times and discussed all of the facts we thought were interesting. The fact that kept coming up the most was that if MySpace were a country, it would be in the top 5 largest in the world. That fact shows how much technology has changed within the last 50 years. Another fact I thought was interesting was that India has more honor students, then we have kids in the United States. I think it’s strange to think that eventually China will be the number one English speaking country in the world. It’s also very strange that the top jobs that are in demand now, were not even creating more than 6 years ago. By that statement, we are shown that our world keeps changing and the people in it keep advancing in multiple aspects of society. The fact that I believe the most is about how many texts messages are sent a day and how it is more than the amount of people living on this earth.
ReplyDeleteI believe the purpose of this video is to show how technologically advanced the world has progressed over years. It is crazy the amount of technology that is linked to the human race. Watching this video, I thought there were some interesting facts. It’s amazing that 25% of India’s population with the highest IQ’s is greater than the total population of the US. I’m not surprised that this is true because I think in other countries, education systems are a lot more advanced than they are here. I feel like school systems are a lot stricter too. I like in the video when it said we are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t exist and using technology that hasn’t been invented in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet. As years pass, I believe things are constantly changing and years from now there will be problems no one has ever heard of or new jobs created out of newer technology. There will never come an end to developing new technology because there will always be someone who strives for something bigger or better. Something I thought was crazy was that if Myspace were a country it would be the 5th largest in the world. I wonder what Facebook would be. It has to have at least twice as many users as Myspace. I wouldn’t be surprised if it made top 3. I believe our society will always be changing, and as long as there is technology, new advances will always be made.
ReplyDeleteI found the video, "Do You Know," to be very interesting. I have seen it before but watching it again made me think. It's amazing how much our world depends on technology and how quickly new ideas can be discovered and created. I find it to be scary that China will soon be the number one English speaking country in the world. What does that say about us as Americans? Other countries have much more drive and inspiration to do well than most Americans do. I also think it is scary that we are preparing for jobs that do not exist yet. What are we then preparing for if the information we learn now will be outdated in a few years? At the speed the world is progressing, it seems to be impossible to always be up to date with a particular field. The rate of Google searches made and text message sent is astronomical and was unheard of ten years ago. Our dependency on technology is a chilling thought. What would everyone in the world do if one day the entire internet crashed? Jobs would be unable to open, the government would not be able to quickly get information, and communication throughout the world would be cut off nearly completely for most. "By 2013 a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computational capabilities of the human brain". If and when this occurs, it would mean that we no longer need humans for jobs or everyday tasks. What will happen to people and how will they support themselves if a computer can do their job faster and more efficient than they can?
ReplyDeleteOverall, I thought the video was interesting. There was a lot of information all thrown in at once, so it was hard to digest the information when it all came so quickly one after the other. The video had many interesting facts and figures, and lots to think about. It’s odd looking at how much the world of technology has grown within our generation alone. It’s also odd how the United States is thought of being so high standing in the world, yet there are many other countries that are excelling much more within education, language, technology, etc. I was floored by one fact that stated that I believe it was the Chinese who spoke English more prevalently then the United States. How ironic. I was also surprised that India I think it was, had many more honors level educated students than the US. The other part of me didn’t care quite honestly, because I don’t find too much relevance into how it fits into my life. It did make me wonder where our world is heading technologically, educationally, and in the work world. It makes me wonder how future generations will live. It was also kind of frightening knowing there is a computer in the works that will be able to process and understand more than a human brain can. In my opinion, it’s almost pushing technology a little overboard. How is a computer created by humans, hold the ability to out-think humans? And how will these computers effect the jobs citizens hold today and the economy.
ReplyDeleteBy the end of this video I my brain was hurting. It was a lot of information thrown in all at once and it was hard to keep track of all the different facts. However, I thought it was very engaging and it made me wonder about why everyone thinks that the United States is such a great super power. In the video it said that India has more honors kids then we have kids in our entire country. Also their population is growing almost five times faster than our own which seems crazy since they are a smaller country, geographically. This video also made me realize how fast technology actually is progressing. I know that we have made a lot of advancements in the past fifty years or so but I didn’t realize how quickly it was advancing. It’s scary to think that in fifteen years there may be computers smarter than our own brains, and in sixty years we will have computers that have more intelligence than that of the entire world population. This made me feel very insignificant and worried that I won’t have a job when I’m older and be able to support a family. We will just have machines to do everything for us. That’s not the kind of world I want to live in, nor is it a place I want my children to grow up in. I think personal interactions and conversations are very important for us to develop socially and having computers run the world would take that away. In conclusion, I think that this video was very interesting and eye catching and I’m excited to see what will actually happen in the future.
ReplyDeleteThat's frightening! During the course of that video, I actually felt as if I were being brainwashed. The flashing information, the repeating pictures, certain words being colored red rather than black, the music, and the constant flashing of "Did you know?" made it feel very brainwashing. It is frightening to think that these were the facts from 2008 and we have already advanced (or maybe declined) from that point. The piece of information that really got me the most was the fact that India has more Honors kids than America has kids. I can't help but wonder how drastically those numbers would be changed if they remade the video for 2011/2012. And this super computer? Who's going to create it? Wouldn't a computer that is more intelligent than the human brain have to be created by something that is ALREADY more intelligent than the human brain? It just doesn't entirely make sense. However, somehow, I could see it happening, regardless of the logic behind it. Also, our planet is already over-populated and the fact that so many children are being born even during the course of that video is scary. What are we supposed to do when we can't feed anyone and we don't have any more space or resources to build homes and areas for these people to survive in. What are we supposed to do when everything is gone? And is a super computer really going to be able to solve that problem? After all, its just a computer.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as this video finished, I immediately felt compelled to click the play button again. The video was very simple and effortless which made the information shared even more powerful. The video faultlessly used animations, pictures and text to pit across the information in a creative way. After noticeable facts, such as ‘the number of text messages sent and received each day exceeds the population of the planet’ I could feel myself unconsciously gasp for air. Facts like these are hard to comprehend. However, my emotions did slightly darken with the last pieces of information on ‘super computers’. I understand that technology will inevitably progress through time, which will understandably better help the world. It is very daunting at how fast technology is being updated and seems to do so at an exponential rate. I know we would all like our computers to load faster or for our cell phones to have better signal but the issue I have is computers being substituted for an ‘outdated’ human. Yes, computers have the ability to complete tasks, which would take us a great deal of time to finish, however, you can never deny a humans innate instinct and ability to make sudden split decisions based on relevant information to a task. Computers are unable to understand feelings and express emotion, this one is a key advantage we will always hold as humans. As long as we stay on top of these new phenomena by not letting advanced technology rule us and influence our decisions, then sure, we should embrace it.
ReplyDeleteWow! The fact that 694,000 songs are downloaded illegally in the same amount of time that 67 babies are born in the US is astounding. As fascinating as technology is, it is a really scary thing when you sit down and think about it. People are forever getting lazier and lazier with the improvement of technology. It has become a lot easier to Google a topic for a paper than think creatively or research it in a book. People are so quick to criticize online; almost every YouTube video you find online has more negative comments as it does positive. Likewise, twitter has become a forum for people to complain. What people don’t realize though is that if they spent a fraction of the time that they do online offering their genius advice in the real world, there might not be so many problems. This video brought to my attention just how quickly the internet is expanding. The fact that it took the tv thirteen years to reach 50 million users, and facebook only two, shows just how rapid its growth is. However, this also means that the problems that come with global expansion are growing out of control. As a college student who is going to be searching for a job to become a career in only four years, it is terrifying to hear that the US Department of Labor predicts I could have ten to fourteen jobs by the age of 38. This is a scary thought for people in our generation who have been raised with parents who have worked in the same career our entire life. By preparing for jobs that do not yet exist we are taking big risks. By the time we get our degree, that field might already be outdated.
ReplyDeleteTo be completely honest I don’t know if I should be impressed or scared after watching this video. The first point of information that really stuck out at me was the idea that 1 in 8 marriages begin over the internet. This means that almost 13% of married couples did NOT meet in person. We are entering a new age where every day more and more facets of life are becoming less personal and more technological. This goes along the same lines that you can now do grocery shopping, order a meal at a restaurant, do your banking and attend college online; soon enough we will never have to leave the comfort of our own homes. Similarly, the video said that “If MySpace were a country, it would be the fifth-largest in the world.” It’s crazy to think how powerful the internet has become that it has united this unimaginable population of people. This makes me wary about what the future holds because each day this world becomes more and more dependent on technology and gaining new knowledge that it’s like we are growing at an exponential rate. “It is estimated that a week’s worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.” To me it’s not even conceivable that we learned what it took a person their entire lifetime in just one week! Soon enough people will be learning what I learned during this lifetime in just a single day!
ReplyDeleteIn the video DId you know I quickly found out that I knew nothing. Although it was an informal video I didn’t really care. The human race has been growing since the beginning of time so why is it so amazing that we are still growing?? It is in our nature. Of course humanity will keep growing. I suppose the video wanted to illustrate the rapid pace of growth of intelligence and technology.
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question presented at the end. It doesn’t really mean anything. It was just a video put together just show “interesting” facts. The only part that I thought was cool was the fact that the potential of technology seem almost limitless. It is scary to think in terms of the future that technology will not stop. I guess I could say that there is a little to worry about when you think of the fact that in my life time a computer could become smarter than humans. As much as this video doesn’t matter it is interesting and informal. The part I wonder most about is before google how did people answer what they did not know. To me the most interesting fact I read was that China will become the number english speaking country in the world. Technology is amazing but hopefully the human race won’t abuse it like everything else we abuse in this world. Sadly when great power is given to this planet normally the world spirals into a negative direction. Oh well.
This video put everything in perspective for me. I feel like everyone subconsciously knows these statistics but never actually realizes them in context. I for one was shocked when I saw some of the facts. For instance the amount of babies being born and the amount of honor students in India compared to America. Those numbers amazed me. Also how many people use their phones and internet surprised me. I always knew those numbers were high but not that high. It’s hard to believe that we may not even know what jobs were working towards in college, and that China will be the number one English speaking country in the world. I never knew high paying jobs popped up out of nowhere. Also, isn’t the USA supposed to speak English? China is even more advanced because they know two languages so that’s a smack in the face for America. I feel like a lot of this video highlighted the fact that the USA is not going to be a superpower for much longer. There are many other countries like China and India on the rise that are superseding Americans expectations. The video didn’t scare me or worry me; it basically showed me where things stand in the world and how many more people are actually out there then I assumed. The population is constantly growing and the world isn’t getting bigger anytime soon. So that leaves the question, where is everyone going to go?
ReplyDeleteIn response to KaylaJohnson, I had a lot of the same points stand out to me. Also, like her I showed my roommates and friends. She pointed out the statistic about myspace and that interested me a lot. Technology has taken over a lot of the world today. It commands most businesses, schools, social networking and a lot of life today. Technology encompasses computers, internet, and cell phones. The texting statistic fascinated me as well but found it completely believable being that I probably send over 200 text messages a day. Overall this video made me feel similar to KaylaJohnsons response.
ReplyDeleteWatching this video was very interesting and at the same time it was already common sense. The human race is aware of what is happening and the technological advances that are created every day make our society more efficient. The video was seemed to be created in order to scare people that our society is modernizing too fast, but I believe that the human race is very well capable to adapting the situation at hand. Our society created this technology and is very well capable of using it to solve our problems now and solving problems that could occur in the future before they actually happen. I all so thought it was interesting that the video brought up facts about China and India and how their populations are much bigger than ours. the video mentioned that India has more honors kids than the U.S. has kids. This is interesting and at the same time not that big of a deal. India has a population that is much bigger and growing at a faster rate and India is a country currently going through their industrial revolution. The fact that India is modernizing is a good thing and in the future India will provide the world with a well equipped labor force. In all the video was interesting and fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteIn response to ChelseaNesbihal, I am glad I am not the only one who was slightly scared by this video. We also share the worry about jobs. How long will it be before computers substitute a humans right to work and earn a living for their family? I know in England, the job opportunities for the public are sparse and with these new developments in technology, this situation is only going to get worse. It will only need one person to monitor numerous computers as they need little care and attention when set up to do everyday mundane jobs.
ReplyDeleteJust like all of the above responses this video made me think. it wasn't exceptional information i could never understand, it was digestible facts that i had just never looked into. Everyone is aware of the advances in technology, i mean theres a new Apple product out every 2 weeks. But no one has ever put it that point blank. The fact about the amount of texts sent a day in daunting. When i read about Google, i actually thought to myself "who did i ask before Google?" I didn't have a clue. I also imagined how much better a writer Shakespeare would have been if he had 5x the amount of words he did when he was in his prime. Its amazing to think that today we could read a newspaper for one week, and we would have gathered more information than someone in the 18th century would come across there entire lifetime. This video reminded me of one i watched recently where scientists put two “Cleverbots” next to each other. these clever bots are designed to have the mind of a human and the conversation they had was hilarious, they even learnt how to lie. i have no doubt that the facts in that video about the future are anything but true and its just a matter of time. Personally i am looking forward to witnessing a change like this. I just hope all of these cool new pieces of technology are affordable
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about this video. It contains information that makes you interesting in wanting to know more, unbelievable, ridiculous and makes you think. There are several examples to explain what I am saying. The slide about China becoming the largest English speaking country in the word. This is unbelievable, ridiculous, makes you think and makes you want to know more. That is exactly what I did. I researched this statement, and found out that by law China requires all children from age 3 to begin to learn English. We must remember that China has the largest population in the world, so it is a realistic statement. I find that it is ridiculous to state that by age 38 a person would have 10-14 jobs. But, you also want to know more about the statement, because it is just unbelievable. A person can hardly cope with 2 jobs, how is that person going to cope with a minimum of 10 jobs. In my opinion, this person will not sleep and will not be able to function well. The video also confirms certain technological facts that are unbelievable, but possible. Take MySpace for instance. It is stated that it would by the 5th largest country in the world, if it was a country, because of the number of registered users. At that end of the video you are asked “So What Does it All Means?” My answer to this would be, if you want to be competitive and efficient, technology is the key.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is for sure, if you have seen this video before then seeing it a second time isn’t as good. It just seems less interesting the second time you see it. That being said the first time I saw this I thought it was very enlightening. This whole video is full of interesting facts about where the world is headed in terms of technology and social trends associated with it. I didn’t however like how the video seems to paint this picture of an overcomplicated future. It almost makes it seem like were not making progress but complicating things by creating all this new technology. That’s just what I thought about the video. I also feel like it presents nonthreatening information but sets it to intense background music in an attempt to scare you or at least get you going. So in a sense the video is just a bunch interesting facts complied into a video by someone with good showmanship. Also as we discussed in class the video is starting to show its age with information like the MySpace facts. But all in all I would say that the video does get you to think about or alerts you to new technologies or tings happening right now or in the near future. So I liked the video.
ReplyDeleteWatching this video, I didn't know whether to be amazed or scared. It was such a simple video yet the message was so powerful. However, I was not surprised. Every minute, our technology is developing. Some of the predictions though I had to disagree. For instance when it said that by the year 2049, the computer will be smarter than the human brain. The human brain created the computer. You can't outsmart a creator of something, but then again, we'll never until the time comes. I do however believe our technology will do most of our daily simply tasks and not "take over control" of our world and brains in the future. It definitely made me think and worry because I’m part of the generation where all those predictions might affect me and those who are around me. In my opinion, there should be a balance between how much can we become technologized. Too much of something is always never good. As long as we know how much is enough and keep it stable and balanced, we shouldn't be too alarmed. On the other hand, we are always trying to create and develop the next best thing, competing with other countries for world power and respect. Inventing new technologies to outdo one another is one of the causes that maybe all those predictions that might become facts in the future. At the end of the day, we are all the same; humans. Why is it that we’re still competing amongst each other if we’re so worried that technology will be smarter than us and take over control in the future?
ReplyDeleteMy initial reaction to this film was in fascination of where our country is headed. However, although these facts were interesting, I hear the same exact stuff about where our country is headed in daily-life conversation. This idea can be brought up in circumstances such as business class lectures or even a sarcastic joke. I believe that this is an example of what our era is all about. Every individual has his/her own worries about the future, but tend to ignore them so one can live a stress free life. Another interesting point made in this video is the over dose of Internet usage in the world today. Facts such as, MySpace is the 5th largest nation or the fact that one out of eight relationships in the U.S. are formed through an online dating service, were presented. Interesting facts like these cause me to question what technology will look like in 10 years from now. Not only will there always be an increasing amount of internet users, but also the new technology to be invented will invite more and more users. All in all, these facts given truly provide a hard picture of the future to oneself. Human nature allows us to put this aside however, in order to live a normal life. Without this ability, people these days would be living in constant fear. There is so much information out there that it is hard to imagine how one can simply forget about all of these scary facts.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video, I find it scary as to how fast the world is growing, in terms of population and technology. Some of the facts that are given in this video are simply amazing, the opening clip about china and the subsequent one on India show how much things have changed over the past decade or two or maybe even three. The fact that I’m here in college and being offered college programs for jobs that aren’t currently in existence is another very startling reality. Coming from a family in which both my parents have been a part of the same organization since they started working, seeing that fifty percent of all employees change jobs regularly is another thing my just boggles my mind. The exponential growth of the world in population and technology truly makes on wonder if there can be a limit to what can be done, cause simply at this moment it does not look so. Will the world be able to accommodate us all? I’m not too sure as we are seeing the effects of such a rapidly growing population, that being; huge traffic problems, destruction of rain forests and wildlife and at the moment we have not even solved the problems of feeding the hungry or providing enough clean water for the world.
ReplyDeleteWhen watching this video all I could think about was well, if this was what it was like in 2008, then how much bigger would all these numbers be now. None of it was all too surprising as I expected crazy numbers like these to show up. When they were talking about the number of people that were on MySpace, that was a very large amount, but all I could think was wow, if it was that many people then, what are the social networks like Facebook, or Yahoo, or Tumblr, or any others like today. An even bigger number, but by how much? 1 million, a billion, a couple trillion? Our society both globally and domestically have become so reliable on technology that we have to keep going with it. I don’t think our society will ever be able to go back to when things were simple, but rather we will keep moving forward with the technology that is and will be created because it’s all we know. At the end, when it was giving the stats about what had happened in the time that I watched the video, I was thinking again how much bigger those numbers will be. Mostly because the populations have grown and now downloading illegally has become a top priority for so many law enforcement personnel. Even though I did not find all the information scary or frightening, I do believe that there is an underlying message that’s warning us. Warning us about how bad we have gotten, or how behind we as the US are really falling behind.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video, it made me really realize how fast paced and forever changing our world is. This video is very fascinating and a little bit scary. It is strange to think how it took so long for the phone and the computer to be invented and now every few months to a year, new invention comes out. This video just proved how much technology is truly taking over the world. Another thing that I found shocking was that how India has more honors kids than the population of America’s kids. America feel so big and powerful, it is hard to imagine how many people actually live in China and India.
ReplyDeleteEverything is constantly changing and progressing, it is crazy to think that students now are being prepared for jobs that do not even exist yet and that the top ten jobs in 2010 did not even exist in 2004, which was not that long ago. This video made me try to picture the world when I have kids my age and how advanced and even more fast paced it is going to be. I always think it is so strange that my parents did not grow up with the internet and computers, I wonder what kind of invention my kids will think that about. It scares me by 2013 a supercomputer will be build that exceeds the computational capabilities of a human brain. That is only in 2 short years and it scares me what people are going to do with this technology and how they are going to take advantage of it negatively.
In response to Emily Tan, I agree that most people know how much the world depends on technology and how other countries are catching up and will probably soon surpass the United States, but do not realize the statistical aspect of how serious these issues really are. It is a scary thought knowing that we are paying so much money on an education that may not even be up to par with the job we are preparing for when we graduate. Technology is causing the world to grow at an unbelievably fast rate, which is making it more difficult for humans to stay up to date with everything going on.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Tyler Blackwood I completely agree with the fact that this video is about things that I will never understand. Also I think this video illustrates what little we average people know. The other video you are talking about of the "cleverbot" makes me feel uneasy. It funny how computers can learn things at a much faster rate... but also very scary. All the points of interest that sparked you also were interesting to me. I also like how you want the technology at an affordable price. I read it to my self in an english accent and laughed historically.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Sabrina Milroy, I have to agree that none of it was all too surprising; I can easily understand the numbers and stats that were on display in this video. To think that the numbers were such in 2008 is startling, as it will only increase with every passing year. It’s now 2011 so by now those numbers have probably tripled with the snowball effect. I also agree that I doubt society will ever be able to go back to primitive ways and therefore looking into the future and predicting what will be around in the next couple years is hugely difficult yet fascinating.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Aclare16, I hadn't really thought about it that way until I read your post. But now that I am thinking of it that way, I agree whole-heartedly. Like you said, we have been growing as humans since the beginning of human existence so why are we surprised that it is still happening. I do think, however, that because of our relatively new-found dependence on technology, we may begin to slow in progress on things other than technology. We focus on these new calculators that can figure out complex equations for us instead of using that tiny bit of brain power and figuring them out for ourselves. I won't be surprised when one day in the future my kids start coming home with homework assignments that are completely technology based, eliminating the need for a pen or pencil.
ReplyDeleteIn response to LMccarthy, I completely forgot about the fact that 1 out of 8 marriages begin on the internet. I also believe that as social networking becomes even more popular, that number will drastically increase. I don't know if that is a good thing, or a bad thing though. I think social networking is good because you get to keep in contact with people that you dont see everyday, but I also think the more people use social networking, the less likely they will be able to hold a conversation face to face. Like LMccarthy, I do think people will become less personal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with miya.a in regards to the idea that we should have a balance on our level of technology use. It is undoubtedly beneficial to develop new technologies that improve our way of living. However, at the same time technology can easily be abused because of overuse. If we know how to manage it there should be nothing to fear, but like miya.a said, too much of something rarely ends well. If we do try to prove to the world that we are the most developed country and lose that sense of control, we may need to take a step back and take a look at the big picture. Technology is a wonderful asset, provided that we understand how to control it.
ReplyDeleteIn response to ChelseaNesbihal: I agree that America’s dependence on technology is a chilling thought. I do not know where everyone would be if they were unable to access the internet or send a text on their blackberry. I do believe the entire United States is literally run with internet by now. If the internet did crash, everything would crash. People would not know what to do with themselves. The technology in the world is progressing way too fast for everyone in it to keep up with it. That is why we are constantly trying to find the next bigger and better thing to out beat a certain technology.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Amypar, I agree that this video contained a lot of information. A few times, I had to click pause or rewind in order to retain what I had read. It is crazy how much of this technological advancement has occurred during our generation. Even looking at our parents and grandparents childhoods, they had almost nothing we do now. They used to listen to sports on the radio, whereas now we can watch a live play by play on our cell phones. It is surprising to learn that the United States is not as advanced, as we have always been taught. The fact that other countries speak better English and have much better academics than the US is a warning that it might become harder and harder for Americans to get jobs, even with a college degree. Although it an interesting idea that there is a computer that will one day outsmart humans, it is also very threatening, giving an inanimate object that much power.
ReplyDeleteResponding to Lairdy10, after I watched the video I also felt compelled to replay it. It was a lot of fact to take it at once so playing it a second time helped me remember it better. Also, thinking about it now, the way the information was displayed to us definitely made a stronger impact than if there was no music or fancy fonts and colors. The way they chose to display the facts made the video more intimidating. I also agree that we shouldn't let computers do everything for us because emotions are important and the way we think is very different from that of a machine.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Natalie.queirolo I completely agree with you. First of all, many of us as Americans like to take our right to free speech for granted. We complain about everything, but never actually get off our butts to do anything about it. We like to become very complacent and yes, lazy in society today. But I don’t think the internet is such a bad thing, it’s just taken over-advantage of quite a bit. I also found those statistics very overwhelming as I think many of us did. It’s crazy how much it has expanded, and almost frightening as to how much more it has yet to expand.
ReplyDeleteThe video is a compelling tale about the progression of technology and information. By watching the video it made me realize how far behind America is in some aspects of the world. It’s a scary feeling to see cold hard facts that make America seem inferior in the field of academics and inventions. There is a biased thought process that Americans have on it’s own country. We are trained at a young age to believe that America is the best country in the world and when viewing the video, it made me sad. Facts are facts and the video was a huge eye opener, it made me realize that other countries are just as powerful and intelligent. Some things that I did enjoy about the video are how the creators connected the technology of the past to the present day. It shows us how much we rely and depend on the technology that we take for granted. When I saw the video it made me want to not depend so much on the technology and get back to my roots. People never really stop and think about how much we use our phones, pager, or computer. We are all connected by some source of technology and maybe in America that is why we have fallen behind the norm of our usual intelligence. None the less this video was a wake up call to America as a whole, we need to get back to hard work in all fields such as academics, education, and industry.
ReplyDeleteIn Response to Emily tan, the video to me was also very shocking. The facts at first were very hard to believe. It’s not a great feeling when the country you love is put to shame by simple facts. Its hard for me to believe that another country will have more English speaking people than a country that has a native language as English. That concept was so hard for me to comprehend. Overall, the facts were very disturbing to me. Especially how everyone is connected to technology and I am disturbed at the rate of growth in the technology field. It is a positive and negative, in many ways. On one side it’s good that we keep advancing but on the other we need to keep respect in our minds or else we won’t appreciate the technology we develop.
ReplyDeleteIn response to LMccarthy, I was impressed and scared after watching this video. The fact that 1 in 8 marriages begin over the internet also suprised me. It is becoming so popular and the rate is just going to keep increasing as time goes on. We are so reliant on the internet and technology that now if you can not meet the love of your life in person, you can always look online. Also, how Myspace would be the fifth largest country, astounds me. It is so mind boggling that so many people are linked and united through the internet. I also agree that our lives are becoming less personal because people rely on the internet to talk and meet people, instead of meeting face to face.
ReplyDeleteIn response to JSarikas, While I was watching this video, I also had the feeling that I was being brained washed and I also felt a little concerned that the facts were from 2008 and we are now in 2011. I also was a little concerned over the fact that by 2013 a computer will be built that more intelligent than the human brain. How can we make a computer smarter than the human brain? It is impossible to create computer smarter than us, because if we can't figure out how to make it, it can't be made.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Emily Tan, I also felt as though many of these facts are in the back of our head. Although there were some surprising facts that I had never heard, most of the concepts was common knowledge to me. Like I said before, many people understand where our world is headed, we just don't like to face it. One question Emily stated at the end was, "Where is everyone going to go?". I thought this was a well proposed question in that, we as a planet are not going to be able to continue on with doing the same things much longer.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Sabrina.Milroy, I was thinking the exact same thing as I was watching the video. I wondered if the numbers have increased within the four year period. Some factors did surprise me but for the most part, I did not find it scary or frightening. I agree that this video has an underlying warning message, telling us that the US isn't going to be the superior for long and that were falling behind by the minute while countries such as China and India are going to take over the spot as the superpower of our world soon.
ReplyDeleteThis was not my first time seeing this video, but I haven't seen it in a while so I forgot about a lot of the facts given. It amazes me that this video was made about 3 years ago, and a lot of it is already outdated. It just shows how fast the world is moving forward and how fast it is growing. I compactly agree with the statement that more text messages are sent out each day then there are people on Earth, especially since texts are one of the most useful and fastest ways to contact people. One of the facts that stood out most was about what a student is learning in their first year at a technical school will be outdated by their third. For me (although I am not attending a technical school) it means that some of the stuff I am learning in college now could be outdated in 2 years, or sooner. Another fact that stood out most to me was about the super computer. In 2008 they said that it should be created by 2013. 2013 is now less than two years away. I think that a computer that is faster at computing than the human brain is crazy fact to wrap my head around. I found the fact about the China is going to be the number one English speaking country amazing and kind of confusing. I'm not confused about how or even why, but that although American doesn't have just one language, we started with English speakers. You would think that America would be the number one English speaking country, and that China wouldn't be; they would be mostly speaking Chinese.
ReplyDeleteIn response to sleonard: I agree with your statement about how the video makes you want to research and look into the facts giving. The fact about China and becoming the number one English speaking country made me think as well. On the other hand I don’t quite fully understand your thought process for the job fact. I don’t know if you interpreted as all at once or different times. I believe that by age 38 a person can easily have 10-14 jobs. Some of my friends have already had 2 or 3 before they turned 18.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Miya.A I agree that i don't believe the theory that computers will be smarter than the human brain. a lot of movies and shows portray this idea that computers will take over and our everyday appliances will end up murdering us, however I really cant see my toaster killing me. I agree that something cant be more intelligent that the creator, sure the computer has access to more information than a human could possibly intake but it doesn't work the same as a human brain, You're right, too much of something is never good, i just wonder where it stops......if it does stop.
ReplyDeleteI also respond to LMccarthy's post. I would agree that some of the information would scare some people, but at the same time this information is basically common sense. The video was eye opening and at the same time it was filled with facts on our rival nations. However what these people miss out on the fact that our society is in a different era. Our society has become more efficient and productive then it has ever been in our history. Technology is the key to how our society runs. We are more globally connected and because of this the advances of our society are more rapid.
ReplyDeleteIn response to what Muteb said I think that the video is an eye opener but at the same time you have to ask yourself what message the creators of this video are trying to get across. They are trying to get you to believe that we are so inferior to other countries for various reasons. One reason could be that by alerting us to the problems we face it could bring about some reform or at least bring the problems to our attention. While America isn’t perfect I would much rather be here then in China.
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