Between Carbon and Silicon

An app on your phone is accessing your location . The fear that one's location, behavior and interests are being tracked and measured makes one feel uncomfortably exposed. The anxiety stemming from this is understandable, and to those who find their way to this blog entry, I will do what I can to reassure you that you are not at such risk as your fears make you believe. It is not to say that your fears are completely without justification concerning the risk of technology, but as is the case also with other  phobias , this fear is likely misplaced or else hugely exaggerated. Where to begin.... Is the fear that someone else has access to our data? Our location? Our relations? Perhaps the company controlling the technology has no regard for your privacy, and sends their hourly-paid minions to learn how best to exploit you. For sake of brevity, I consider just the most frequently trafficked technologies and platforms (Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.). Your privacy is in fact most ass...

Software Development jobs offer decent pay in the United States, but this will not last. Global competitors pay much less  for equivalent labor, putting U.S. software vendors at a disadvantage in an increasingly global market . The cost of software development in India , for example, is roughly  a tenth of what it would cost in the United States. The consequence is that a video game, sold online to a global audience at the flat rate of $60 USD, is far more profitable when produced at the costs of India than at those of the United States. A similar trend happened in the textiles industry-- very little of what is worn in the United States is produced anymore within its borders. The United States is so ill-fit to compete in the textiles market that it is cheaper for one to import these goods from halfway around the world than it is to pay someone to produce it locally. The United States will be even easier deprived of its holds on software production, where geography poses no ...

For one to know that they themselves are wrong... is a paradox. In Computer Science, where  illusory superiority is widespread, most people think they're better programmers than average. However it is impossible for one to know whether they are an expert, or else just a delusional novice (in terms of The Orders of Ignorance , one cannot distinguish between their having  0OI or 2OI ignorance). Keep this in mind when you criticize a colleague's work--there's a chance you'll be in the wrong and, despite your "superior experience," you show yourself to be  overattentive to trivial issues or enduringly retentive of false dogmas; or else your listener may lack the point of reference necessary to appreciate even valid suggestions, making your criticism nonconstructive. Humility marks the development of self-awareness in a Computer Scientist, egotism being frivolous, even detrimental, to efforts to reduce one's self-ignorance. The development of self-awaren...

It is absurd that replicating an idea or performance can be litigated against . The rationale for intellectual rights certainly does not hold up universally to reason, indicating it does not succeed in protecting something of inherent value without also producing at least some harm. Suppose that the first person to walk upright had claimed that action to be a novel and creative feat, and forbade anyone to mimic their style--with only the exception of this first-doer , or so-called "artist," the entire human race would be reduced to crawling (assuming  that was not also copyrighted). This imposes severe restrictions on human attainment, and more importantly their wellbeing. The rationale behind intellectual property is that it incentivizes innovation within a capitalist system, to justify the overhead cost in speculative research and development. In truth the necessity for such laws indicates a severe shortcoming of capitalism . The initiative to innovate is not naturally ac...

There is a common allusion to the importance of social networking in technology professions. The question weighs the importance of who you know  with that of  what you know --monetary compensation is not inherent to knowledge--one must find employment to capitalize upon it. Conversely, connections with generous employers can more than make up for one's deficiencies in knowledge. While many employers will make great effort to seek "talent," in practice the challenge is in the discoverability  of said "talent." How does a candidate successfully convince a prospective employer that they are knowledgeable? A recommendation or work reference does much of the heavy-lifting here, someone credible to the employer vouching for your qualities--notice that even efforts to discovering knowledgeable candidates short-circuit instead to the networking of that candidate. Ultimately, social networking is more important in modern U.S. society, since one can find opportunity with ...

Social media companies have found themselves in the awkward position of deciding the extent to which  free speech  is protected on their platforms. Given the influence of social media in modern society, the extension of this is that these companies are the de facto  judges for interpreting this right for people beyond  their platform as well. The problem with this is not just that these companies are unqualified to do so, but that even the very best interpretation of those rights, namely  free speech , is filled with subjective nuance. The spectrum of expressible ideas comprise a continuum--one end is easily justifiable (e.g. sharing information with others), but the other end criminally dangerous (e.g. threats to harm). Policy necessarily distinguishes where on this spectrum is appropriate to draw the line , though that decision will remain somewhat arbitrary, depending on the whims of the decision-maker. It would be similarly impossible to determine where on a...

Cancel Culture is the manifestation of a revolution currently under way!  Essentially the domination of one sentiment over the other, at large scale and with unsettling instances of collateral damage , it is exactly what one might expect to occur if a social revolution was enabled by modern technology . The digital aspects particular to this  revolution aside, the essence of the phenomenon has analogues in history: during the American Revolution, the sentiment that was silenced was British sympathy-- not all colonials were supportive of the push for independence, and expressing that sentiment exposed oneself to serious harm. For the sake of self-preservation, non-sympathizers find themselves trying to not get trampled. Revolutions are characteristically messy, the very best causes will still make one's stomach churn when looking too closely. Even where a revolution is necessary to right horrendous systemic problems, my heart goes out to the ones so unlucky as to be "tied up ...