A Few Thoughts on Cybervetting

So after reading about Lori Andrews' argument that we should adopt a Social Network Constitution to prevent employers from using information on social network cites as part of their hiring process, the major issue that comes to my mind is, "How's it gonna work?" Come on people, how often has regulating anything on the internet actually worked effectively? The very nature of the internet says that this is hard to accomplish because anyone can access any cite at any time. Of course I agree that it is morally wrong  to base the hiring process on what an employer can dig up about you on your Facebook page, but it is your own responsibility to limit the access of any questionable material you post about yourself, or not to post it at all.

In her book, I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy, she argues that this constitution should say, "Social networks are private spaces and that employers, schools and other institutions are prohibited from accessing social network pages or taking adverse actions against a person based on anything they post on a social network." No! Social networks are NOT private spaces and they never will be. You are posting content on the web for the explicit purpose that others can view your content. What is private about that? There is a much easier and simple way of protecting your privacy on your social networking cites if you are worried about being judged by employers - don't post stupid shit about yourself online! Maybe you shouldn't post that picture of you throwing up in the parking lot after a heavy night of drinking, or that video of you taking 12 shots in a row, or set your Facebook banner to that picture of you exhaling a cloud of smoke after that massive bong rip. And if you truly can't stop yourself from posting things like this to the public, at least have the sense to adjust your privacy settings so that you don't let random people (or perspective employers) see the questionable content you posted, its that simple. If you follow these simple rules, you should not have a problem. Your privacy is in your own hands, good luck!

What Interests Me?

Today I am breaking from the trend of posting about prompts, and instead I am posting on my own accord about something I find interesting. What do I find most interesting? Basically anything and everything scientific! But that's a little bit too broad, so lets narrow the focus a little bit. This is a bit of old news, but take a quick glance at this article I stumbled upon a while back about water plumes on Europa. If you don't feel like reading in too deep, here's some of the key points from that article. Europa is one of Jupiter's many moons. Its shooting out plumes of water into space. This must mean there is liquid water under the surface of its icy shell. Oceans of water could mean life? Lets Go!

Probably the most interesting question ever (to me at least) is the question of life in our universe. To me, the answer is that there is undoubtedly other life, and I think many people share that viewpoint, but many do not. Some see our earth as one special rock out in space that just got lucky, but many people don't think of it the way I do. The universe has hundreds of Billions of galaxies with hundreds of trillions of stars. There are even more planets than stars, and moons outnumber the planets. There are 170 moons in our solar system alone and only 8 planets. Outer space is divided into many intricate levels of gravity bound systems, with moons being the smallest, and most plentiful (Yeah! You knew there were lots of stars, but I bet you never even thought about how many moons! Let that sink in...). If we find life on one moon, that opens up the possibility that there are life on all the other moons in the universe. If it is possible, it has surely happened, and happened everywhere. Our universe could be literally crawling with life, like an infection that takes hold anywhere it can. Just thinking about this makes me excited, and the fact that a mission to Europa is being planned by NASA currently is the icing on the cake.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on the issue, do you share my excitement?  What kind of impact on the world could a discovery like this have? Or do you think Europa is a false hope. Maybe we are alone?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.

My Pal Google.

Back in 93 when I was born, the internet was still just in its early stages of life. Most people didn't even know about it, or were unaware of its significance. Then, right around when I turned five, my friend Google made its entrance into this world. Since that time we have grown up together. Ever since I can remember, Google has been there for me, whether I needed help with my homework, doing some calculations, checking my spelling, or even to just ask any random question that popped into my head. Google has been there to help me every step of the way. My generation is a unique one in that we have this incredible tool at our fingertips and many of us can't even remember a time without it. Those of us in our early 20's and younger have grown up and developed alongside this entity, maturing and gaining knowledge, and Google has been doing the same. Our lives have been Googleized ever since we picked up that mouse and started browsing the net. Coming generations will take this for granted; they will even have a more sophisticated, grown up version of Google to work with. Their friend Google will be an everyday acquaintance who wants to get to know them... wants to get to know them really well.. 

Indeed, sometimes it feels like Google is getting to know us too well. We are becoming more and more worried about their privacy. But what are we to do about it, stop using Google? For many of us, this is not realistic, we are dependent on Google, and I don't mean that we are addicted. Of course I cannot generalize here, I can only speak for myself, and I don't think I am addicted to Google. Google just happens to be the first place I go when I have a question I want answered. Why? Well because its the best! I don't use Yahoo or Bing or Ask.com because I have had better experiences using Google, and Google has not disappointed me. Sure, maybe Google gets a bit nosy, wanting to know me on a first name basis, wondering where I am at the moment, tracking my whereabouts... but I ask the question, "So what?" Why do I care if Google knows this much about me? Am I hiding something from Google? Is Google going to use this information against me? I may be too naive in assuming my relative safety, but I am one of the few people looking ahead, much farther ahead. I believe that if there is one company with the will and resources to truly change the world, it will be Google. Think.. what will Google be like 10 years from now?

I believe that 10 years down the line, Google will have changed and evolved in ways that many of us won't  believe. Most likely we will be able to interface directly with Google, maybe converse with it like a normal human being. Think even further down the line, would you consider installing a chip in your brain to connect your mind to the internet? You could have virtual conversations with an AI Google brain simply by thinking, who knows what Google will be capable of? Maybe that sounds a little too futuristic, or "Sky Net-ish" for your liking. But these are things that I like to think about and I know I'm not alone. In order to gain access to something like this, of course we may have to be willing to give up some privacy. This will be difficult for some of us to accept, but with the worlds population growing strong and showing no sign of stopping, I think it is inevitable. Privacy is not a priority in the world of the future, and those who try to hold onto it will fall behind. What do you think?

The Essence of Blog

So here I am writing my first blog post ever and its about this other blogger who blogs. So there's this dude Fred First, right, he writes blogs. Not about anything in particular, pretty much just the contents of his life, thoughts, etc, you get the picture. Anyways, I read his interview done by Rebecca Blood, and it was a long one. Were talking 7,140 words here (tldr status), the kinda article that, by the time I'm done reading it, I've been distracted by dozens of other things happening all around me. But, that's a personal problem, and that's not what I'm here to talk about.

What I am here to talk about is his interview. Fred seems like a pretty chill dude. He got into blogging for a reason that is pretty universally understood, I think. He wants his story out there, he wants to express himself, he wants something for the next generation to remember him by. People have been doing this for years. In the same way that the ancients left cave drawings on walls, famous authors and poets write books, our grandparents leave old and tattered black and white photographs... its just another way to leave behind a piece of yourself. Today, there are countless ways to leave your mark, and most of them involve the internet. Today it is simple to create a Facebook timeline or Twitter, or a Blog like this. Just log on and upload. In the interview, Fred mentions that before he started blogging his grandmother died, and there was no way of remembering her stories. He was partly inspired to blog so that his kids could remember him by his stories left forever on his blog.

I'm new to blogging but I'm not new to this idea. I've been leaving a trail of my existence on the internet for years. There is this cite called Facebook, perhaps you've heard of it. I'm not as big of a user as I once was, but its still pretty cool to imagine that my great grandchildren could log on in the future and see what I looked like or what was going through my head on a specific date years ago. I could not do the same for my parents, and the fact that we have this technology today is pretty rad.