Can Technology Do Everything?

Technology has without a doubt, made our life easier. It has given us the ability to travel long distances in a short amount of time, to call people around the world in a matter of seconds, gives us access to endless amounts of knowledge and etc. However, even though technology has come so far, we are still limited in what we can accomplish, and how. Take natural disasters for example. If a flood is going to happen, what do people do? They use sandbags to prevent their houses from being flooded. The way we prevent against a flood today, is the same way we prevented against a flood sixty years ago. Even with our technological advances, some of which are so important that most people could not live without, we still cannot stop water from getting into our basement. While technology has come very far in sixty years, we are still limited in what we can do with it. We rely on technology too much sometimes and forget that we need to refer to the old ways that our parents and grandparents used to solve a problem. 

To Obsolesce or not to Obsolesce

After watching McLuhan's Wake, and some class discussion, I am still wondering about his second Law. McLuhan's second Law deals with new technology being created and making a pre-existing technology obsolete. This raises an interesting question, because is something ever really obsolete? A new technology may be invented, and sold, but people will still use the old technology because it does work. Just because a new I Pod is released doesn't mean that the old one is rendered useless. The I Pod still works, and does the job that is needed. Furthermore, people may still use the old technology for a sense of nostalgia. For example: what does the flashlight make obsolete? The answer: The candle. However, is a candle obsolete? Most people still use them on a day to day basis, they still serve their purpose, and some people even prefer them to a flashlight. People's first reaction when there is a black out is to get a flashlight, but a candle can serve just as usefull. So did the flashlight make the candle obsolesce? I would have to say no, because it is still a popular item to buy.

All Aboard!

I found that the video about teaching the Navy officers a specific skill to be very intriguing. The different ways that this video showed how to teach something and how to not teach something were very interesting. The scene in particular that struck my attention was the one where the student couldn't learn because of the heat. I thought that this was odd, because something like this doesn't affect me, but after doing some research I found that even the slightest thing can disrupt learning. Furthermore, the five steps to planning a lesson is something that I thought I should touch on. The last stage, the "test" stage is something that in the middle years should not be called a test stage. In middle years, I believe that tests are necessary, but not for each lesson. I personally think that a test should only be used at the end of the unit and that there should be some sort of assessment for the end of the lesson, but not a test. Assessment is a huge part of teaching, and a major component of making sure the students understand the curriculum, but I do not believe that testing is always the way to do it. 

Should Technology Think?

Does technology have a mind of its own? After watching the video with Norman McLaren, I feel that this is obviously portrayed with the microphone moving around, trying not to let McLaren talk into it. So does the microphone have a mind? Can it really turn itself off, or move away if I were to try to speak into it? Of course it could not, technology cannot make choices. We control the power, we can turn it off, we can choose when to use it, and when not too. If I am using a projector in my classroom, the projector will not turn off because it doesn't feel like doing its job. This pushes into a topic that is receiving much talk: artificial intelligence or AI. Is this something that the world wants? For technology be able to freely think, and act of those thoughts? While many people think this could be a good thing, I don't think they have thought of the ramifications. How mad would people be if the microphone actually turned away from them when they were speaking, or a computer shut off and took a "personal day"?