Final Paper Blog Three: Final Blog overall

Regarding the Final paper I felt that it was a good idea to explain how obsolescence could be used to the advantage of the Green Movement. In any case I felt that American culture is something more deeply rooted then just the behavior of the American people. To an extent i felt that it would be wise to explain how deep rooted the consumer persona was ingrained into our psyches. It would not change, what would change was the aspects of what we would obsess over. Also I felt it to be a good idea to explain how capitalism plays a huge part in how we been endowed with our consumer style spirit. I also felt in accordance to how deep rooted behavior was it would be a good idea to explain Maslow's hierarchy of need. The paper was indeed enlightening.

This class I had thoroughly enjoyed, I felt that there were interesting notions that I had learned. Things like Obsolescence, technological literacy, digital disconnect, etc were all very intriguing aspects of the class. In any case, a good source of knowledge in regards to technology.

Final Paper Blog Two

Since I have last posted, I have cut much of how i was approaching this paper out. I have decided to look closely how American capitalism and the three main versions of obsolesence that interact with American culture will keep Americans on their path of disposability. What inevitably will happen though is a hard divorce between Americans and their obsolesence it seems. When taking into context events like that United Nations Basel Convention and the taxing upon the environment already from E-waste Americans will have no choice but accept, not embrace the green movement. I feel that is how the green movement will be ushered in. Not through the motivation to save the environment, but through the compulsion  to save ourselves as E-waste and other pollutants start to consume our planet at a more alarming level where it can be felt more readily. American business will realize that to stay alive they will need to evolve as their cost effectiveness upon building products with life spans will not work anymore. Their longevity will come from making products that last, that can be recycled easily, and that do not tax the environment and the people themselves. I find it that my thesis will revolve around this point of action as I am in the revision portion of my paper right now. The paper has shed new light upon my own spending habits and have come realize that technological literacy is a very important subject that all need to know.

Final Paper Blog One

As of right now I have figured that doing Giles Slade's book Made to Break will be a more effective paper to write because I found that book to be really interesting. Aside from quotes from Brave New World and the book Made to Break, I have felt that the overall trend for the paper will be how America will want to stay on its path of a disposable society but it will be deterred to change its course forcefully as the world will not be able to sustain the United States and China at the same time when it comes to disposable societies. The other situation that I see is technology going diagonally instead of progressing completely forward. As Giles states, our landfills are increasing with toxic technological waste from the chemicals in television, phones, etc. What I feel I'll need to look into is how technology will need to be reverse engineered. What I mean is, all things I believe in the future will need to be produced where when they become broken or need to be replaced it will be easy to break them down and recycle them into base components. This form of technology I believe will take time away from us forming higher versions of our trending technology we have already. Also I feel it would be good to research and try and argue the fact that technology of the future will need to be somewhat biodegradable. I think that this will be true because as I have found out from research many of the elements used in making a lot of the technology we use right now is being fast depleted or is polluting the earth. There is still a large amount of research needed to be done but I think corporations will finally get that "light bulb" enlightenment where they realize that recycling objects will be cheaper in the future then to make fully new objects. Also as a cultural development I think people will begin to deter from their own obsolesence and really start to demand products that have lasting appeal and durability. Again more research will need to be done to support these conclusions but I think I am definitely on the right path for this paper. Also it makes things easier when the book has some interesting takes on the future from shedding light on the past. I think it will be a good point to argue that much of our disposability still is derived from many of the learned traits of obsolesence that were instilled upon previous generations dating back all the way to the depression, the "tin lizzy" vs GM wars, disposable radios, AM versus FM, etc.

Chevy Volt

General Motors, that company that was given an extreme amount of money by our government not too long ago is now beginning to turn the corner and give promise back to all us tax payers it seems. In what is going to be the first true "mass assembled" electric car of our lifetime, General Motors flagship car company chevrolet, will introduce the Chevy Volt. What makes the Volt an interesting piece of technology is that it is by no means a hybrid. The volt is propelled exclusively by lithium ion batteries that have a distance of about 35 miles. Yes, that does not seem like much, but it has an on board gas generator that refreshes the batteries to give an additional distance of 340 miles. So altogether, the volt can reach 375 miles before its proverbially "out of gas". The car also retains energy when it stops with regenerative braking that takes the energy required to brake a car and converts the energy into being able to recharge the battery. What is pretty fascinating about the car is that it is able to be fully charged on roughly a $1.50 of electricity. On a standard outlet of 120v in a household it takes about ten hours to fully charge. But GM has partnered up with utility companies around America so that if you do purchase a Chevy volt the utility company can install in your house a 240v outlet where needed (garage) for a highly reduced cost. Add to that the large rebate you get from the government for purchasing a volt and the installation doesn't cost you money and you save some. Where it gets interesting is in the inside for this car. By way of GM's onstar division, which gives drivers the ability to unlock doors if they lock their keys inside their cars, locate vehicles that are stolen, etc, onstar plays a key role in the technological developments of the Chevy Volt. If one has a smart phone they can download the GM application that links ones smart phone to their Chevy Volt. What this effectively does is give a person control of their car even when they are no where near the car. The Application can give the owner readouts of how much charge is left in the batteries, how much gas is left in the generator, can unlock or lock the car from the phone, if its cold out, one can use their phone to turn on their Volt and get the heater to warm up the driving compartment, the app can allow the owner to set when to start charging the car if it is plugged in already (like off peak hours when the owner cans ave more money), the app can tell the car when to stop charging, the application can even help the owner figure out their blue tooth in the car as well, and download MP3's into the Volts 30gig hard drive. What we are seeing is the future of cars here I believe. As gas becomes costlier, we are going to want cars that are cheap to drive in some shape or form. The Chevy Volt shows us how just as phones have evolved to become more savvy and efficient, so can our cars become more savvy and efficient on many levels. I think this car will become a success but it will take some time for it to catch on. I have noticed that cities like Portland, Oregon (one of the greenest cities in America) have already installed public charging ports for Volts. If that catches on, one could think of the numerous possibilities out there in regards for electric cars. Charging ports can not only be a possible theft deterrent (car's alarm goes off if plug is detached before owner uses keys to unlock it), they could be meter services for cities to make money, and can be a way for owners to save possible money then to charge car at home if cities give electricity at a discounted price. Just as the gasoline automobile had revolutionized America, so too do I believe that the Electric Automobile will do it again.

Facebook, Life 3.0

In the book The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick, he rounds out his story about facebook on what it has planned to do eventually. It seems that maybe taking over the world is not too far off. As Facebook opened up its usage to everyone (including the overseas) it seemed that Mark Zuckerberg was really imagining his concept of having an "open" world where transparency really does have meaning. Maybe it will gather momentum eventually but it will take time to have a complete world wide community that is able to divulge openly with everyone involved. The fact of the matter is, as Facebook has grown exponentially it has opened the world up a bit more yet has shown the ugly sides a bit more closely. Culture between sects of people will always lead to division. The world as the cliche denounces, is growing smaller as we speak. There are obstacles from making it more domestic to everyone involved. Culture tends to keep people seperated to an extent, and it would seem as much even as Facebook tries to keep our doors open. What I see is that as much as Zuckerberg wants transparency in the world, to have people take a moral high ground by having one profile that truly shows what each person is truly about can never happen completely. Facebook may be a game changer but it won't be able to change the worlds perceptions completely. Facebook's tale is an interesting one. It tells the story of a kid with his own spin on a concept and held onto it. His company has grown successful and he certainly made it. As things go on we will definitely see how much of an impact Facebook will have on the world. If people like Oscar Morales are frequent then maybe Facebook will have a definite positive influence on the worlds populations. Maybe it can be more then just a place to how many "friends" you have or a place to find someone to hook up with.

Facebook, How one Networking site took over the internet

So far the The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick has been grinding on me. Yet, more then two thirds through the book I realized that Facebook is such a ridiculous powerhouse. After Zuckerberg had weathered the storm of countless offers by big marketing companies, venture capitalists, etc and kept his vision on the networking concept close to himself, it would be appropriate to say the guy knows how to get people to respond to his product. He understood what people wanted. After the Facebook company had introduced the "newsfeed" aspect to the site that is were I believe the site had transcended all other networking sites. In what would be considered just a way for people to know more quickly what was going on with their friends it had also recreated an aspect of the Internet. It now had the ability to make things go viral really fast. This is not a joke. This concept of all these people having interrelated pages knowing what is happening extremely fast transforms not only human interaction on the Internet but human communication in general. It is here where Facebook shines to be a tool not only for good like when people can be aware of groups like "Save Darfur" extremely fast but also a tool for political and social gain. The aspect of having a tool like that at your disposal really can be powerful. Maybe this comes as no surprise to someone who uses Facebook but I myself have stayed away from the network websites and probably stay so but nonetheless I do appreciate this aspect of how Facebook has undoubtedly changed the way we as human beings interact with one another.

Facebook, How Harvard College Students became Rich

Of all the books we have read this semester, this one I can not stand. I get the whole platform Facebook has created. It has literally personalized the internet and revolutionized the way people interact with one another. Yet, I have to be frank when I say i find it easier to watch paint dry then to Read about Zuckerberg and Co. They take a concept that technically was not theirs in the first place then personalize the concept of an online facebook to how they saw it would work best. How I wonder did they get that money as twenty year olds with full course loads? I am questioning that aspect before they got involved with Parker and others who invested in the company. Obviously this money came from their parents. Maybe its sour grapes I am not sure, but for me this book so far seems like a biography of how rich kids walked around in pajamas into board meetings while reaping the benefits of college students from many schools wanting to be part of an "it" group consisting of Ivy league college students. These guys, mainly Zuckerburg, may have been the brainchild on creating Facebook, but not the concept of an online social network. I don't know, The origins of Facebook just do not have much appeal to me. What I did find interesting though was in the prologue how that guy Oscar Morales was able to set up a group against FARC in Columbia. I do find that concept of what Facebook has done pretty interesting on the sociological front of society itself. It does seem Facebook has evolved from just a college networking site for kids to hook up. I mean the idea of a guy creating a group on Facebook that grew into a nationwide movement against rebels in Columbia is pretty fascinating. To that extent one has to realize whether for better or for worse Facebook indeed has changed the social landscape. It is interesting to point out that when Facebook bridged the gap of being solely for college students and became open to everyone that it really changed aspects of society. It may have absorbed some of the wrong aspects of Myspace (Just that false image, instead of retaining who one truly is) but Facebook it seems has been able to stem that to an extent and develop communities of people who can actually stand for something. Case in  point One Million Voices Against FARC. That is interesting.