T2W3 GP Lecture: The Promise of Technology Breakthroughs,

Impact, ankin!"s #$pectations

%ection &: Pre'lecture (i!eo )cti*ity on +o,ot'assiste! Therapy
Key learning points:
Use of new-generation robots as _____________________ tools for
________________________________________________.
Technology has truly allowed us to go beyond the boundaries of
what was previously deemed impossible in many aspects of life.
We increasingly turn to modern technology as a sort of
__________ for the many ____ problems and challenges we face
today, even in more __________ aspects lie
________________________________________ aspects of our lives.
*Interesting sidenote to refect on after lecture (PAY
ATTENTION!):
Robots employ the use of Artifcial Intelligence (A.I.), which is ultimately
programmed in them by human beings. Increasingly, many societies have
seen the emergence of a trend in which robots are replacing people in
providing opportunities for social interaction and even providing
company (companion robots, babies for sale in !apan). "iven their
limited social and emotional capacities, are we e#pecting too much when
we thin$ of robots as replacements for our human counterparts% &an'will
A.I., robots truly match a human being in this aspect one day% (hat are
the implications if that is possible in the long run%
%ection 2: )n -*er*ie. of Technology
!
%ection 3: /ey Terms, Technological 0e*elopments from Past to
Present
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"pplication of scienti#c theories and principles in creation of
products$tools that solve practical problems humanity faces.
Wide-ranging application in all aspects of life such as:
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Key breathroughs:
- The invention of the steam engine, the harnessing and
generation of electricity.
- "llowed for the ___________ of processes.
- /et into motion the ___________________, the _________ of
technological innovation, industrialisation in the modern era.
- 7evelopment of vaccines for previously lethal diseases.
- The =reen .evolution 6 agriculture *late !A)Bs4 )*have you
copied lecturers verbal add)ons about updates to
agriculture'food resource advancements%
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CTechnologyD encompasses both simple and comple2 tools in
general.
C?odern technologyD, however, refers to technological
__________ and inventions that are __________, or ___________
innovations$developments from originalE more dated F earlier
versions *within the last decade or so4.
Got down some e2amples of this here in the empty space below:
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With aid of ______ scienti#c F technological advancements,
?anind has overcome many problems ___________ F
____________ the elements to our advantage.
@ut as societies ___________ through various stages, our needs
and conte2tsE our problems F the function and role of
technology have also changed vastly.
The double-edged sword: the use of technology and its eHects
is a ________________, yet its development also brings
______________.
The application of technology has gone ,eyon! a reacti*e
stage, focusing a lot more on pre!icti*e, pre'empti*e .ork
an! inno*ation<
=ot !o.n some key e$amples of such a tren!>shift in the
nature of technological inno*ation : usage:
%ection ?: /ey Breakthroughs in o!ern Technology To!ay:
Promise an! #$pectations
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8romising and awe-inspiring aside, given the close-to-limitless
possibilities and tremendous power that technology has aHorded us,
&
de#nitely we now the impact is varied and manifold, depending on
the usage$staeholder wielding it.
+ne has to evaluate its eHectiveness, both in the short and long-run,
how it aHects the various staeholders in any given issue$situation
within the topic.
List of Past'4ear @uestions:
!. 7oes modern
technology always improve the Iuality of peopleJs livesK *%BB)
U-90/4
%. /hould research into e2pensive medical treatments be allowed
when only a few can aHord themK *%BBL U-90/4
&. To what e2tent has technology had an impact on both privacy
and security in your countryK *%BBA U-90/4
'. To what e2tent has technology had a negative impact on the
sills level of peopleK *%B!B U-90/4
(. :ow far is it acceptable for technology to be used only for
#nancial bene#tK *U-90/ %B!%4
). :as technology e2ceeded our humanityK *GG G% -T %B!B4
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- The gleaning of data from multiple sources 6 in todayJs conte2t
6 controversially from seemingly harmless sources lie social
networs, cell phone signals, any sort of connections you have
online.
W:+ would want to mine for ;+U. dataK "nd W:;K
- Key reasons for use of technology:
!4 Useful in analysing ________________ .
%4 Useful in tracing _______________ activity *contact tracing and
pandemic activity4.
&4 8urported to be instrumental in _____________ and
____________activities.
- /trengths: =iven the ____________ of information and ________ at
which people move around, data mining is seen as a practical,
____ way to _______ information for the diHerent staeholders
mentioned above and solve ey problems of humanity today.
'
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W:+ would be interested in this form of innovationK "nd W:;K
8aralysis and physical limitations: going beyond cumbersome
traditional aids.
7eveloped initially to help paraplegics ____________ life functions.
"lso note the development of prosthetic limbs with bodily
sensations possible.
8ossibilities of usage has stretched beyond the _________ #eld.
"lso lined to the development of _____________ that can help us
e2plore places and be in situations no human being could have
been in previously because of safety concerns.
+vercoming of our current issues of ______ shortagesE mismatch
of ________________ in the new economyK
39 30 P+I3TI3G
W:+ would be interested in this form of innovationK "nd W:;K
+therwise nown as ________________.
" process for maing a physical obMect from a three-dimensional
digital model, typically by laying down _______________________ of a
material.
7e#es all current conventions of manufacturing and industrial
production *a move away from component N assembly-line
manufacturing4.
?ay help tacle the issue of ________ labour costs and declining
population numbers worldwide.
"llow for greater ________ and __________ in economic activities.
?edical usage, cutting-edge #elds where costliness of traditional
manufacturing methods deterred further developments.
(
%ection B: %kills )pplication @uestion )nalysis 8Topic *s< Issue C
)ccurate @uestion Interpretation9
!. 7oes modern technology always improve the Iuality of peopleJs livesK
*%BB) U-90/4
%. 7o you agree that technology brings more promise than peril for the
futureK
)!!itional Post'Lecture aterial
.eading
:as 8rivacy @ecome a 9u2ury =oodK
9"/T year, 5 spent more than O%,%BB and countless hours trying to protect
my privacy.
/ome of the items 5 bought P a O%&B service that encrypted my data in
the 5nternet cloudE a O&( privacy #lter to shield my laptop screen from
coHee-shop voyeursE and a O'%B subscription to a portable 5nternet
)
service to bypass untrusted connections P protect me from criminals and
hacers. +ther products, lie a O(-a-month service that provides me with
disposable email addresses and phone numbers, protect me against the
legal *but, to me, unfair4 mining and sale of my personal data.
5n our data-saturated economy, privacy is becoming a lu2ury good. "fter
all, as the saying goes, if you arenJt paying for the product, you are the
product. "nd currently, we arenJt paying for very much of our technology.
1ot long ago, we would have bought services as important to us as mail
and news. 1ow, however, we get all those services for free P and we pay
with our personal data, which is spliced and diced and bought and sold.
-onsider =oogle, which scans what you write in =mail to oHer advertisers
a chance to promote their items based on your missives. +r a visit to an
online news site where your data is secretly auctioned and sold before the
page loads. +r ,aceboo, which allows mareters to turn your status
updates into ads for their products.
Those who arenJt bothered by that e2change should eep in mind that our
data is used not Must for advertisements. 5t has also been used to charge
people diHerent prices based on their personal information. 5t has been
used to provide diHerent search results to diHerent people based on their
political interests. 5t has been used by the government to identify possible
criminal and terrorist suspects. Gust last wee, we learned that the @ritish
government had intercepted and archived still images from millions of
;ahoo webcam chats around the world, whether or not the participants
were suspected of wrongdoing.
The more we learn about how our data is being harnessed P and how it
may be e2ploited in the future P the more liely we are to re-evaluate the
true cost of these supposedly free services. "nd some of us will start
trying to buy our way out of the trade-your-data-for-services economy.
@ut, as 5 have learned, it isnJt cheap or convenient to start buying privacy.
5 spend annoying amounts of time updating software or trying to resolve
technical diQculties when my diHerent privacy-protecting services conRict
with one another.
5t all reminds me of the early days of the organic food movement, when
buying organic often meant treing to inconveniently located, odd-
smelling stores and paying high rates for misshapen apples. +nly the
devoted few were willing to suHer the hassles.
+ver time, however, the number of people worried about chemicals in
their food grew large enough to support a robust maret. The stores
eventually became better looing, the apples were less misshapen, and
organic food entered the mainstream of "merican life.
" similar evolution in the personal-data-protection maret is underway.
TraQc to the privacy-protecting search engine 7uc7uc=o has more than
L
doubled since 0dward G. /nowden revealed vast government surveillance
programs last Gune. The @lacphone, a O)%A not-yet-released "ndroid-
based smartphone that will have privacy-protecting software installed to
allow users to send encrypted te2ts and mae encrypted calls, is being
pre-ordered by the thousands. "nd last year, a 1ew ;or entrepreneur,
"dam :arvey, sold out of his #rst run of the +,, 8ocet P an OS(
cellphone case that blocs signals to and from the phone. C?y vision is
that privacy wonJt be given to you as a law completely,D he told me. C;ou
have to commercialiTe it so people can spea with their money.D
/tanding in the way of the widespread adoption of these tools, however, is
the problem of veri#cation. 5 have ?r. :arveyJs +,, 8ocet and it seems to
bloc the cell signals, but 5 donJt now for sure that it wors as promised.
The same is true with the @lacphone, or 7uc7uc=oJs privacy policies. 5
hope their claims are true, but there are few trusted third parties to verify
them.
This was brought home to me when 5 signed up for a service from
Trusted57. ,or O&(, the company promised to opt me out of some of the
biggest "merican data broers. " few months later, 5 contacted those
broers to con#rm that my information had been removed from their
databases. 5t turned out that Trusted57 had failed to process more than
half of the opt-outs. The service has since been suspended.
"s more privacy-protecting services pop up, we need to consider two
important Iuestions: -an we ensure that those who can aHord to buy
privacy services are not being deceivedK "nd even more important, do we
want privacy to be something that only those with disposable money and
time can aHordK
The food industry can oHer some possible answers to those Iuestions. +ur
government enforces baseline standards for the safety of all food and has
strict production and labeling reIuirements for organic food. 5t may be
time to start doing the same for our data.
+ource, -ull article by !ulia Angwin, .he /ew 0or$ .imes, 1arch 2 3456
Websites for ,urther .esearch$.eading
%4 T:0 ?5T Technology .eview:
http:$$www.technologyreview.com$lists$breathrough-technologies$%B!&$
&4 Technology in :uman /ervices: Using Technology to 5mprove the <uality
of 9ife: http:$$www.cshse.org$documents$Technology_in_:/.pdf
'4 Technology as a /ocial 9eveller:
http:$$www.thesmartceo.in$magaTine$cover-story$the-social-leveller.html
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