Technology Development
- What is Turkle trying to say? Why do Americans mistrust the American government? Compare Turkle’s position with the article in the Arthur (September 10, 2012, page 3).
By these words, Turkle says that the world today has changed, making it imperative for people to transform their perspectives about the existence in the society. He says that conventionally, growth in an individual was a pointer to autonomy. The moment an individual became self-sufficient; this was a traditional view of growth. However, with the current technological development, the world has turned into a small place of coexistence. The development in technology currently results to connectivity to all people within the society. Turkle implies that it is essential for people to change their views and consider the predicaments of collaboration. This is because, even though individuals may be worlds apart, the current social network enables them to sustain the link as close as possible.
Along the line of dependence, independence and interdependence, Americans mistrust the government based on a number of reasons. Essentially, some of the issues that lead to Americans mistrust in the government support the liberal perspective (Turkle, 2011). In policymaking, the American government appears to incline more on the conservative viewpoint, which is entirely against the majority wish. Most importantly, mistrust of the American people to the government emanates from the congress failing to pass the job creation policies. In addition, they would like the federal government to pass the tax increase policy on the rich. The troubling issue of most people is unemployment, which the government has taken a lot of time to handle.
Arthur supports the liberal perspective of a society making sense based on interdependence. According to Arthur, this interdependence has no restrictions. It is both intellectually and materially. Life would not make any sense if individuals within the society lead their lives independently. It is true that people should have personal thoughts, hold their own ideas on issues and avoid the mass movement. However, the social and economic lives of people depend on one another. People should get rid of the attitude of me-first. This is the essence of colonialism and capitalism, which the American people are fighting against and losing trust in the government. The focus of contemporary developments is technology focus on having people at the same social stratum. Mistrust among people arises because of Marxism that divides people according to their social and economic status (Turkle, 2011). The starting point for better coexistence amongst the American populace is to make sure that people have equal opportunities in the job market and live interdependently.
- Explain Steve Jobs’ approach to comprehensive design.
Steve Jobs approaches comprehensive design in terms of innovation and as little design as possible. The possibilities for the invention are not, by any chance depleted. It is clear that technological development is always providing novel chances for inventive design. However, comprehensive design always develops in cycle with inventive technology and can never be exhaustive (Isaacson, 2011). Taking the perspective of as little design as possible, Steve Jobs points out that comprehensive design are always less but better. This implies that the design puts in consideration a lot of technological development. It focuses on critical factors of the product. Such devices are pure and unsophisticated but offer a wide range of opportunities on functionality. A good example of comprehensive design is the iPod that Jobs released in 2001. The iPod is a tiny device with vast functionality.
According to Jobs, the device can hold thousand songs yet occupies a smaller space as compared to other players in the market. This reveals the fact that comprehensive design should outdo the competition in the market. The iPod comes out as a comprehensive design especially when it is likened to poetry and engineering. This is the highest level of creativity that is technology embraces. Jobs emphasizes on a design that is outstanding and simple. The user interface should exhibit simplicity. The iPod is an integrated end-to-end system that has gone through stages of development, from computer to FireWire. It moves from device to software and ultimately content management (Isaacson, 2011).
The most important aspect Jobs relies on when presenting a comprehensive design is ensuring that the product is useful. The iPod being so tiny still carries many music files and serves the need of a player to the user (Isaacson, 2011). From the statement, it is notably that the device shone. This refers to the aesthetic aspect of the design. A comprehensive design should be beautiful to attract the attention of its users. Steve as well makes his product understandable through its simplicity. To make this iPod thorough, Steve Jobs made the device in a manner that when one takes the device out of the box, it made the rest of music players looks conventional. This means that comprehensive designs value development in technology.
- What do you think of the Facebook story? If you saw the film, how would you compare the film to the Kirkpatrick or the Mezrich book? Is there a person, or are there persons, in the story that you could identify with? What are the various roles in the book that speak to your own personal experience?
Facebook story illustrates the dominance of technology in the modern society. Technology plays a vital role in influencing the cultural and social elements of human existence. This comes out clearly in the Facebook story as two students decide to implement their knowledge on programming to influence the lives of numerous individuals across the bridge. The Facebook story also represents the essence of genius within the human kingdom. Application of Facebook into influencing social and cultural relationships and interactions among individuals indicates that human beings are endowed with large pool of technical knowledge. Facebook story also indicates how the modern society embraces and depend on technology to execute their daily activities with efficiency and effectiveness. Rapid growth and development of Facebook towards influencing the social, political, and cultural lives of society members is an expression of the importance of technology in addressing societal needs. Generation of conflict between Mark Zuckerberg and the co-founders of Facebook illustrates on how technology leads to the creation or development of mistrust among individuals within the society. Many lawsuits characterize Facebook story to show elements of conflict resulting from embracing technology within the modern society (Mezrich, 2010).
The Facebook Movie (The Social Networking Film) represents both similarities and differences to the accidental billionaires’ book by Mezrich. The first similarity is the inclusion of Eduardo and Mark as the main characters in the development of the plot. The book displays the two (Eduardo and Mark) as friends fighting social acceptance. Their technical knowhow leads to the implementation of genius into development of Facebook. This idea proves to be a dominant force in the modern society thus reflecting on the importance of technology. Both Film and the book express elements of distrust that results from the implementation of technology in addressing social, cultural, and political aspects of human existence in the modern society. Mark Zuckerberg decides to adopt entrepreneurship route after completion of the course thus avoiding Eduardo in the ownership of Facebook technology. The film introduces the elements of Mark’s girlfriend an aspect that the book avoids. The inclusion of dating sites in the book is also a reflection of difference between the Facebook film and the Mezrich’s book. The book and the film tend to have a common end to the Facebook story with reference to betrayal and mistrust among the key characters (Mezrich, 2010).
In the Facebook Story, my great influence was Eduardo and Mark who played towards the shaping of modern technology. Mark, Eduardo, and other co-founders play a vital role in the implementation of their programming knowledge to develop Facebook technology thus influencing the lives of numerous individuals across the globe. Facebook technology represents a dominant force in relation to transformation of social, political, and cultural lives of society members. This motivates other individuals with technical knowhow to implement their ideas towards transformation of the world. The role played by Eduardo in the film, and the book as the victim of mistrust is a reflection of a negative effect of technology in shaping events in the modern society (Mezrich, 2010). This reflects negative character of Mark in abandoning his friend and co-founder of Facebook technology for personal gains.
Reference
Mezrich, B. (2010). The accidental billionaires: The founding of Facebook: a tale of sex, money, genius, and betrayal. New York: Anchor Books.
Isaacson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together: Sociable Robots, Digitized Friends, and the Reinvention of Intimacy and Solitude. Basic Books.
