Megabots Mad Rad Blog

"Orwell's 'Big Brother' is already in millions of homes. Her name is Alexa"  This article resonated with me because my house is filled with Alexas, controlling our lights, music, alarms, garage, and more. I'm less shocked by how much I'm monitored than by how comfortable I've become with it. In the article, a subject explains how at first, he felt uncomfortable by Google Home, and how actively it was listening, but within days he completely forgot. The normalization of always being listened to by a robot is alarming, we have been trading safety for convenience.  It also made me question who actually has access to all this data. We're told that devices like Alexa or Google Home, only "wake" with a keyword, but what are they doing while they're listening for it? With my home run by Alexa, could even something like my thermostat data end up in the hands of corporations or hackers without me knowing? This isn't a new thought of mine, ...

"How One Stupid Tweet Ruined Justine Sacco's Life" This week's article looked at the severity of one's digital footprint. I picked up on how unforgiving the internet is. The story shows how once a person is branded online, they are branded forever. Years later, Sacco's name is still tied to that tweet. Such permanence feels out of proportion to the mistake. If the internet stays on this track, we may be fostering a culture of fear instead of one that encourages growth and learning. Additionally, this reading shows how intent is fragile once brought online. It is often difficult to express emotions like sarcasm through a computer screen, especially once detached from tone or context. Sacco claimed she was mocking ignorance, but her sarcasm collapsed once put online. Once she made her post, all that mattered was how the internet interpreted her words, regardless of what she meant. This gap between intent and perception is never-racking, because it suggests any o...