Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Intellectual Property and Copyrights
The issue of downloading music and movies through file-sharing networks is one that I believe has become out of hand. I think that the sales of both DVDs and CDs have not suffered because they are able to be downloaded for free. While music sales have went down I don't believe it is because of free downloading. I believe most people still buy CDs that they think are quality as they did before. The reason that I think that CD sales have went down is because the quality of mainstream music is horrible right now. I've only bought about 5 CDs in the last year because these are about the only CDs that I believed were worthy of the lofty purchase price that most CDs have risen to.
The music companies are just going to have to adjust their business plan to adjust to today's music market. People want to be able to buy a CD and rip it to their computer and be able to copy it to their MP3 player. People also want to be able to download music to their computer for cheap without having to buy the whole CD. The music industry's business plan no longer fits to today's society and they must adjust because free file-sharing networks aren't going away anytime soon. If music companies could provide a cheap and efficient way to download music online I believe that they would be able to compete with the free file-sharing networks because the service is more convenient. It is only when this happens that people will begin to be willing to pay to download music. I know that if it were cheap enough to use pay sites to download music I would do it because the amount of 'bad songs' that have flooded the free file-sharing networks is beginning to make finding the songs you want a strenuous process.
The most positive thing that I believe that file-sharing has brought about is the emergence of a huge underground music scene. Bands that most people would never have heard of outside of the band's local area are getting exposure on the internet. People are buying these band's CDs that they would never have had the chance to before. These bands are adjusting to today's music market and are far ahead of the huge music companies in realizing what it takes to be a successful musical act today. Just as TV didn't ruin movies and libraries don't tear down book sales, music downloading will not ruin the music industry if the music industry learns to adjust.
The issue of downloading music and movies through file-sharing networks is one that I believe has become out of hand. I think that the sales of both DVDs and CDs have not suffered because they are able to be downloaded for free. While music sales have went down I don't believe it is because of free downloading. I believe most people still buy CDs that they think are quality as they did before. The reason that I think that CD sales have went down is because the quality of mainstream music is horrible right now. I've only bought about 5 CDs in the last year because these are about the only CDs that I believed were worthy of the lofty purchase price that most CDs have risen to.
The music companies are just going to have to adjust their business plan to adjust to today's music market. People want to be able to buy a CD and rip it to their computer and be able to copy it to their MP3 player. People also want to be able to download music to their computer for cheap without having to buy the whole CD. The music industry's business plan no longer fits to today's society and they must adjust because free file-sharing networks aren't going away anytime soon. If music companies could provide a cheap and efficient way to download music online I believe that they would be able to compete with the free file-sharing networks because the service is more convenient. It is only when this happens that people will begin to be willing to pay to download music. I know that if it were cheap enough to use pay sites to download music I would do it because the amount of 'bad songs' that have flooded the free file-sharing networks is beginning to make finding the songs you want a strenuous process.
The most positive thing that I believe that file-sharing has brought about is the emergence of a huge underground music scene. Bands that most people would never have heard of outside of the band's local area are getting exposure on the internet. People are buying these band's CDs that they would never have had the chance to before. These bands are adjusting to today's music market and are far ahead of the huge music companies in realizing what it takes to be a successful musical act today. Just as TV didn't ruin movies and libraries don't tear down book sales, music downloading will not ruin the music industry if the music industry learns to adjust.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Online Security
The issue of online security is one that is growing greater as our society becomes more cyber-oriented. Personally I think that encryption devices that we talked about in class should be used so everyone has a definite online identity. While there are hackers that could still probably get past this I think that it will keep honest people honest. Using this would still allow you to have a certain amount of anonymity online while letting us track people doing illegal activities online. My theory is that if you don't have anything to hide you shouldn't care if your online activities can be tracked. Tracking of people in the physical world is relatively easy although there are ways around it. I think that this should be so for the web.
It seems funny to me that there seems to be two real extremes when it comes to revaling identity on the web. There are people with 24 hour webcams that allow stangers to see them anytime they are in front of the camara. Then there are people that wish to remain totally anonymous and take on false identities on the internet. This leads me to believe that some day not to far into the future there will be a happy medium between the two with encryption identities.
The issue of online security is one that is growing greater as our society becomes more cyber-oriented. Personally I think that encryption devices that we talked about in class should be used so everyone has a definite online identity. While there are hackers that could still probably get past this I think that it will keep honest people honest. Using this would still allow you to have a certain amount of anonymity online while letting us track people doing illegal activities online. My theory is that if you don't have anything to hide you shouldn't care if your online activities can be tracked. Tracking of people in the physical world is relatively easy although there are ways around it. I think that this should be so for the web.
It seems funny to me that there seems to be two real extremes when it comes to revaling identity on the web. There are people with 24 hour webcams that allow stangers to see them anytime they are in front of the camara. Then there are people that wish to remain totally anonymous and take on false identities on the internet. This leads me to believe that some day not to far into the future there will be a happy medium between the two with encryption identities.
Monday, February 09, 2004
Posthuman Dreams
This topic stimulated some very interesting conversations in class. The idea that computers would some day be able to function as fast as a human brain seems ludacris a few years ago but not so distant after I read the articles. While I think there are several downfalls to Kurzweil's argument I do believe that computers will be as fast as the human brain in the not so distant future.
There is one thing that I believe will keep computers from being able to function completely like a human brain. That is computers lack of ability to recognize patterns. The way humans learn is by pattern recognition and repetition. Computers cannot do this yet. If they someday are programmed to do so I think that computers could someday become 'smarter' than humans. However, I think that that day is a long ways off.
While computers may be able to think as fast as humans in the near future, I think that computers lack of emotion and mobility limit them in their abilities to become dominant on our planet. One of the main problems that aritificial intelligence is having is that they are finding it very hard to program computers to do simple things that humans take for granted and very easy to do complicated things like solve math problems or play chess. Along with this computers don't have the ability to learn, which goes along with their lack of ability to recognize patterns. If someday computers have the ability to learn I think that they could rapidly become more intelligent than humans. After this the possibilities are endless.
The two realms the theorists seem to believe we are going towards is either a takeover by computers as the dominant intelligence or a merging of computer and human. I think that the later is particularly interesting. Extropians and other theorists seem to believe that the brain works like a computer and that one day we will be able download our brains on to computer chips. At this point in time they believe that cloning will be possible and that we will essentially be able to download our brain to a new body and continue living from the point we last downloaded our brain. With this technology, we could essentially become immortal. This is something that I don't believe will ever become possible and wouldn't want to happen if it were. I think the amount of corruption that would become possible with this technology far outweighs any benefit it would bring.
While we are becoming more and more dependent upon machines, I don't believe that some theories that they will merge will ever become possible. The idea that we could someday just think our way into a virtual reality realm do not seem possible to me and isn't something I would like to see able to be done. I also never foresee 'nanogens' within our body being able to replace cells and be able to essentially replace organs cell by cell until they are like new.
Overall I thought that a lot of the theories that were brought up in the readings and in class were pretty radical. I don't foresee most of the things that were brought up ever becoming possible. However, it is weird to think about what it would be like if they were.
This topic stimulated some very interesting conversations in class. The idea that computers would some day be able to function as fast as a human brain seems ludacris a few years ago but not so distant after I read the articles. While I think there are several downfalls to Kurzweil's argument I do believe that computers will be as fast as the human brain in the not so distant future.
There is one thing that I believe will keep computers from being able to function completely like a human brain. That is computers lack of ability to recognize patterns. The way humans learn is by pattern recognition and repetition. Computers cannot do this yet. If they someday are programmed to do so I think that computers could someday become 'smarter' than humans. However, I think that that day is a long ways off.
While computers may be able to think as fast as humans in the near future, I think that computers lack of emotion and mobility limit them in their abilities to become dominant on our planet. One of the main problems that aritificial intelligence is having is that they are finding it very hard to program computers to do simple things that humans take for granted and very easy to do complicated things like solve math problems or play chess. Along with this computers don't have the ability to learn, which goes along with their lack of ability to recognize patterns. If someday computers have the ability to learn I think that they could rapidly become more intelligent than humans. After this the possibilities are endless.
The two realms the theorists seem to believe we are going towards is either a takeover by computers as the dominant intelligence or a merging of computer and human. I think that the later is particularly interesting. Extropians and other theorists seem to believe that the brain works like a computer and that one day we will be able download our brains on to computer chips. At this point in time they believe that cloning will be possible and that we will essentially be able to download our brain to a new body and continue living from the point we last downloaded our brain. With this technology, we could essentially become immortal. This is something that I don't believe will ever become possible and wouldn't want to happen if it were. I think the amount of corruption that would become possible with this technology far outweighs any benefit it would bring.
While we are becoming more and more dependent upon machines, I don't believe that some theories that they will merge will ever become possible. The idea that we could someday just think our way into a virtual reality realm do not seem possible to me and isn't something I would like to see able to be done. I also never foresee 'nanogens' within our body being able to replace cells and be able to essentially replace organs cell by cell until they are like new.
Overall I thought that a lot of the theories that were brought up in the readings and in class were pretty radical. I don't foresee most of the things that were brought up ever becoming possible. However, it is weird to think about what it would be like if they were.
