Thomas Friedman, an author and journalist for the New York Times, is very knowledgeable in the areas of technology, globalization, politics, and just about any area of life. In his book “Thank You for Being Late”, Friedman investigates several of these topics in an effort to describe how technology has affected society and vice versa.

The first concept that Friedman addresses is that we are living in an “age of accelerations”. Starting in the year 2007, technology, markets, and climate change began changing more rapidly than ever before, causing a slew of cultural changes in our society. I fully agree that we are living in an age of accelerations. In 2007, the iPhone was released, which dramatically affected how our society operates. We now have access to the entire Internet in our pockets. This would have been unfathomable to someone just ten years prior to the iPhone’s release, but now it is reality. Climate change also began speeding up, causing the need to adapt to major changes in the climate. This era was defined by constant adaptation as the world changed faster than ever.

A major topic that Friedman addresses is the supernova. Friedman prefers this term over the “cloud” because the “cloud” sounds too passive and light. “Supernova”, on the other hand, connotes something massive and powerful. I believe that the supernova has just as much power as Friedman describes. The supernova is drastically increasing the flow of information and knowledge, which is accelerating our world even faster. The supernova has given us the need to adapt to our world quicker than ever.

Friedman makes a compelling argument about the current and future situation of jobs. He argues that we are leaving the “Holocene era for jobs”, since there are constantly new skills and programs to learn in many jobs. This rapid change may cause problems for the future and MY future. If I am to work in the computer programming field one day, there will always be new software and programming languages to learn. If Friedman’s theory is correct, then I will need to constantly learn new languages and skills to stay current in my field. This is happening in many other fields as well, and it poses a challenge for people who have been working with the same technology for years. This is yet another of example of how the world needs to adapt to rapid changes.

The issue of how to govern the Internet is almost always a controversial one. People have differing ideas on how cyberspace should be governed, but no one solution has ever been reached. With how much freedom people have on the Internet currently, it seems nearly impossible to govern everyone who uses it. Politicians need to decide if they want to make the Internet completely free, or work with online companies to regulate online content.

Friedman often refers to what he calls “Mother Nature’s killer apps”. These are ways that Mother Nature builds resilience, such as embracing diversity and adapting to problem-solving in the age of accelerations. I think that these “killer apps” will be successful in handling major changes, as Friedman predicts. They have allowed our society to survive through major traumatic events in the past, and with how quick the world is now adapting to change, they should allow our society to thrive for years.

I think that Friedman’s book was very enlightening and engaging. He provided countless examples, stories, and personal anecdotes that kept me intrigued throughout the entire read. It really made me think about the history and role of technology in our society, and I feel like it fit in perfectly for this class. I would recommend it to anyone interested in technology, history, or our world in general.

Thirty years ago, Melvin Kranzberg, a professor of the history of technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote six laws that he believed applied to technology and its relationship with society. All of these laws still apply to the world today, but some apply more than others.

The law that “nontechnical factors take precedence in technology-policy issues” applies the most to our world today. As technology and politics intertwine in our world, legislators are needing to create regulations and solutions to issues that arise from technology. In these cases, the nontechnical factors almost always take precedence. For example, France is considering passing legislation that would ban hate speech from social media platforms. This law was proposed because France did not want people to spread messages of hate online, not because of any issues with the technology itself. This can also be seen in American politics. The issue of confirmation bias with regards to political viewpoints has brought up arguments about whether or not social media platforms should show users posts relating to their political views. Again, this issue involves politics, not technology.

While all of Kranzberg’s laws still apply to the world today, I think that his law that “invention is the mother of necessity” applies the least today. His law theorizes that technological innovations lead to the necessity for new technologies. However, I feel that this does not apply to a majority of technologies today. Some technologies like phones have certainly created new technologies like 4G data, but some of the technologies they created are not necessities, such as wireless earbuds. Wireless earbuds were created in response to smartphones, but they are not required to use the smartphone. Many technologies today have led to the creation of other technologies, but few are necessities.

Overall, Kranzberg’s laws still apply to technology even thirty years after they were introduced. While some apply more than others, it is amazing that the basic principles of technology have remained virtually unchanged for decades, and will likely remain for decades to come.

Ray Kurzweil is the Director of Engineering at Google, but his work spans more areas than that. He is an author, inventor, and perhaps most notably, a futurist. Since the late 1980s, he has made predictions about the future of technology and society. Many of his past predictions have come true. In 1990, he predicted that by 1998, a computer would be able to beat a world chess champion. This happened in 1997. He also predicted that by the 2000s, exoskeletal limbs would let the disabled walk. This has come true. He predicted that by 2009, people would be able to talk to their computers and give commands. Technologies like Apple’s Siri and the Google Assistant have made this possible.

Kurzweil’s predictions for the future, however, are much more mind-boggling. He predicts that by the 2020s, most diseases will go away as we put nanobots into our body that are smarter than our current medical technology. By 2030s, virtual reality will feel completely real, and we will upload our consciousness. But perhaps his most famous prediction is that of the singularity. The singularity has been predicted and shown in science fiction, but has usually never been more than an interesting plot point for a story. The singularity is the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence. Kurzweil believes it will occur by the year 2045. However, unlike in science fiction where this usually means that AI “takes over”, Kurzweil believes that humans will benefit from this superior knowledge. He believes there is incredible potential to expand our intelligence.

To evaluate Kurzweil’s predictions, I will consider two factors: the likelihood of the event or action occurring and his history with predictions. Considering his prediction that nanobots will eradicate diseases from humans by the 2020s, I believe that this is unlikely to occur within the next decade. This is because nanotechnology is still mostly theoretical, so it will take decades for the technology to become mainstream. Throughout history, it has taken decades for technologies to be theorized and then become mainstream, like with virtual reality and self-driving cars. Considering his prediction that virtual reality will feel completely real by the 2030s, I think that it will take years longer for it to feel real. Right now, most virtual reality applications are still in their infancy, and are nowhere near photorealistic. It has taken decades for computer graphics to create images and environments that are nearly photorealistic, so it will decades from now until the same can be said for virtual reality environments. Finally, I do not believe that AI will surpass human intelligence by 2045. AI is becoming more and more advanced and capable, but AI is still manmade. It can be controlled by humans, and unless we give AI the ability to have its own consciousness, it will not surpass our intelligence. However, I could very well be wrong. Looking back at Kurzweil’s previous predictions, I noticed that many of the seemingly absurd predictions he made actually came true. While I do not think his predictions will come true by the times he predicted, I may very well be surprised.

In the modern technological world, our conceptions of ethics have been greatly altered. There are now new factors to consider when determining between right and wrong. For example, a few decades ago, if a company wanted to collect personal data about millions of people, it would be viewed as unethical, but today, it is generally accepted as the “norm”. Although companies require people to agree to their terms and conditions that outline what they are doing with personal data, most people don’t care and allow companies to do so. Since this is becoming more and more common, very few people are concerned about the ethics of collecting user data.

There are also new technologies that bring up new ethical questions and dilemmas. New technologies have enabled employers to monitor employee communications during work. This is typically done to ensure that employees are using their time at work wisely, and that they are communicating appropriately with each other. However, this brings up an important question: are employers violating their employees’ privacy rights by monitoring their communications? The answer is not straightforward. Some argue that it is ethical for employers to do this, while others argue that it is a violation of employee privacy. This is one of many cases that demonstrates how new technologies can alter how we determine right and wrong.

Another major ethical dilemma is whether or not Google should interfere with search results. At first, it may seem obvious that Google should not interfere with search results, as it would be altering the data that people expect to be fact. However, in certain cases, it seems more ethical to alter the results than to not. An example of this is when Michelle Obama’s search results were attacked to contain inappropriate images in 2009. Instead of keeping the search results, Google chose to manually remove them. In this case, it was the most ethical decision to make, since an honorable person was being mocked.

As new technologies continue to weave their way into society, we have to adjust to the ethical dilemmas that arise from them. Actions that may have once been considered unethical are now generally accepted or considered ethical. This is one of the biggest changes in our society that has been caused by technology.

At the start of this unit, I believed that the IT revolution was not as revolutionary as previous technological revolutions in history. However, after learning more about the IT revolution, I think it is most certainly more transformative than previous technological revolutions. Just like previous revolutions, the IT revolution has introduced new technologies, but these have affected almost every sector of life in a major way. An example of this is the way that the Internet has altered our conception of geographical space. Unlike every generation in human history before the IT revolution, we now have the ability to communicate with almost anyone in the world at almost anytime. Because of this, long distances don’t seem as far, since it takes almost no time at all to communicate with someone at a long distance like that. The world now feels more connected, like we’re all in the same neighborhood, all thanks to the Internet.

The IT revolution has also caused more drastic effects that are changing our physcology. Since many articles on the Internet are either very short and summarized or contain numerous ads and hyperlinks, our attention spans are shortening. It is now very difficult for us to focus on a long article or novel because our minds are so used to absorbing information in small portions. This major psychological adjustment is unlike anything that a previous revolution has caused.

Economic growth has also been affected by the IT revolution. Since the mid-1990s, the main driver of economic growth in most places around the world has been from IT. This growth even aids the environment. Electric cars and renewable energy solutions are becoming increasingly common, driving the economy and aiding the environment.

By looking at the IT revolution’s impact throughout many different areas, it is evident that the IT revolution is more transformative than any other technological revolution in history. The inventions of the IT revolution have transformed our perceptions of the world and our very psychology. They have even affected our environment and economy in major ways as well. By examining all of these effects, I believe that the IT revolution is the most transformative.

I think that the most revolutionary technology in computing history is the punch card. This is because it led to many computing innovations and spawned new technologies from it.

Punch cards were used in the earliest computers for over 70 years. They were essentially the first programming language. Their use even helped to create the computer company IBM, who is still producing computer hardware and software to this day.

Punch cards also showed the world how useful computing could be. During the 1890 U.S. census, punch cards were used with a counting machine to count the number of citizens in the United States. This was much more efficient that the older method of counting, and proved that computers had practical use.

Punch cards led to one of the most major computing innovations as well: digital logic and transistors. Punch cards essentially used an early form of binary language to communicate instructions to the computer, but they inspired the use of a binary communication system for future computers. Every computer today used binary code. This also led to the creation of programming languages, which let programmers use English to program, then translating that into binary code. This then led to most major computing innovations in software.

Although punch cards are not used today in computing, their place and legacy in history makes them the most revolutionary technology in computing history. Not only did they help prove the value of computers, but they spawned new technologies and innovations that have impacted our world.

The biggest impact of technology on my life has been that of my smartphone. The smartphone has changed the way that I interact with others, as well as how I live my daily life. In the communication realm, the smartphone has replaced older technologies that I used to use. For example, I no longer use a landline phone to communicate, instead relying only on my own phone for phone calls. The smartphone and its apps have even begun to replace phone calls. My primary mode of communication now is Snapchat, and I rarely use my phone for calling others. This means that the technologies spawned from the smartphone have begun to replace some of the smartphone’s own features.

The smartphone has also affected social interactions in my life. I have observed many students who choose to browse their phone rather than talking to one another. I have even been guilty of doing this at certain times. This has completely changed the dynamic of social interactions, since many students my age spend more time looking at their own phone than interacting with each other. Of course, this is not true for every student, but the change in dynamic is certainly noticeable now.

My daily life has been affected by the smartphone as well. I now spend most of my free time browsing my smartphone, whether it be for entertainment, school, or any other daily task. For me, the smartphone has replaced television, as I now choose to watch YouTube on my phone rather than watch TV most of the time. I may also browse through social media or play games during my free time. Even useful life skills such as navigating the roads have started to become obsolete. Instead, I can simply use Google Maps to navigate.

The impact of the smartphone can be felt in almost all aspects of my daily life, and this one device has started to replace older technologies that I used to utilize often. Due to this immense change in lifestyle, I would say that the smartphone is certainly the technology with the biggest impact on my life today.