User:Vtaylor/Computers and Society/Summary 8

Summary 8. Risks, Failures and Responsibilities

In this topic Risks, Failures and Responsibilities, we will look at some of the uses of computers where they have very direct personal implications for our health and safety. Who is responsible for the use and abuse that can result from these relationships and interactions?

Computers themselves are not capable of original thought but they can act as through they "think". Computers have capabilities to "remember" vast amounts of information and apply the information according to millions of rules that have been defined by hundreds of programmers over decades. How does this all come together? What happens when there are conflicts within the rules or data and something goes wrong?

Questions

Is Wikipedia still considered an unreliable source? Depends who you talk to and what their criteria are. Most factual information is fine and can be verified in other places. For more controversial subjects, Wikipedia may be a starting point to locate other "better" resources. There have been many comparison studies done that show that Wikipedia is as good or better than other "acceptable" sources. Wikipedia is so comprehensive and generally ok if you are just looking for a quick reasonable good answer.

Should everyone learn to code? Coding for kids is one way to learn about logical thinking and problems solving, even if they don't go on to be software developers.

Can we do something to protect ourselves from bad effects of technology? There is plenty that we can do. We can start by taking responsibility and staying current to minimize risks yourself.

Should we be asking certain social media sites what they consider as ethical? Who decides what is ethical behavior?

Can we really prepare ourselves for all outcomes to our inventions? We don't know what we don't know. We can be prepared to change when the need arises. Think about the introduction of some "new" technologies - electricity, telephones, television, computers, the internet, smart phones, ... We all have managed pretty well with these. Be prepared. It could be exciting and a bit scary.

Coming up... 9. Anytime, Anywhere

Introduced in just the last 20 years, mobile computing and the internet have both made anytime anywhere computing a reality. While there are disadvantages to being available all the time, there are many more benefits to having access to information and services 24-by-7 (all the time). Being location-independent has enormous benefits as well for researchers, people with unusual hobbies, and acquiring scarce or unique goods and services from anywhere on the planet.