A few short decades ago the Surui tribe lived a stone-age lifestyle in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. Encroachment of modern civilization into their forest threatened their home—and their very existence. But today the tribe is using digital technology to help preserve the rainforest, the people that live there, and the health of our shared planet. This unlikely story is described in this NPR piece and the accompanying YouTube video.
npr.org/2013/03/28/175580980/from-the-stone-age-to-the-digital-age-in-one-big-leap
Category: 10.5 Human Questions for a Computer Age
We’ve heard about how 3D printers can be used to manufacture toys, small machine parts, and even some prosthetic devices for human bodies. But as applications emerge, so do some difficult questions.
- According to this Wired story, a printed car might soon share the road with you. But for legal reasons, it might technically be a motorcycle.
- This NPR story explores some of the intellectual property questions raised by 3-D printers.
- It’s one thing to print a figurine of a copyrighted comic book character; printing a lethal weapon is something else altogether.
This NPR story explains how 3-D printers muddy the waters in the debate over gun safety.
NPR’s Radiolab is radio at its best—entertaining, informative, provocative. This episode will change the way you think about time and speed. One segment reveals the surprising truth about the relative speeds of the human nervous system and the Internet, and the a critical role of speed in today’s computer-controlled financial marketplace.
radiolab.org/2013/feb/05
If you don’t understand how the stock market works, you’re not alone. The market has developed a digital mind of its own, and in many ways it’s beyond human comprehension. The blog that accompanies that story includes some dazzling animated visualizations.
In the ongoing debate about the impact of video games on the human brain, emotional arguments are seldom grounded in solid research. In this TED talk, Daphne Bavelier claims that current research contradicts many common-sense beliefs about the psychological impact of fast-paced gaming. The research is still in the early stages; after all, computer gaming is a relatively new human activity. And there remain questions about violence, addiction, and other big issues. But the research described here is a small step toward understanding how what we do changes who we are.
http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games.html
The information explosion raises important questions about the free flow of information versus the threat to personal privacy. These two TED Talks present cases for more open information in government and medicine. Heather Brooke uses technology and old-fashioned hard work to expose government corruption; John Wilbanks argues that more medical information sharing is good for all of us. Whether you agree or not, you’ll likely find their stories interesting and thought provoking.
ted.com/talks/heather_brooke_my_battle_to_expose_government_corruption.html
ted.com/talks/john_wilbanks_let_s_pool_our_medical_data.html
MIT Professor Sherry Turkle has been studying the human impact of digital technology for decades. In her book Alone Together and in this Fresh Air interview, she talks about how texting and social networking are profoundly changing the way children, teens, and adults live, think, and feel. There’s plenty to think about here.
npr.org/2012/10/18/163098594/in-constant-digital-contact-we-feel-alone-together
In the U.S., non-voters outnumber Democratic voters and Republican voters combined. What does it take to get those non-voters to realize that democracy is not a spectator sport? A recent study suggests that many of them respond to peer pressure, Facebook-style.
www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/social-voting
The concept of sharing is everywhere on the Internet. In this thought-provoking Huffington Post blog post, Bianca Bosker asks whether Facebook and other companies are using the term to manipulate our feelings and extract information from us.
huffingtonpost.com/bianca-bosker/the-insidiousness-of-sharing-why-we-share_b_1728550.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57485559-93/facebook-touts-relaunched-facebook-stories/
If you’ve ever asked—or been asked—that question, you might be interested in facebookstories.com, a web site designed to provide answers through stories about how Facebook changes lives. This CNet story provides an overview and a link to the site.
Most of us inhabit two worlds: the analog world where our physical bodies live and the digital world where our minds spend hours every day. As our digital reality demands more and more of our time and attention, how do our brains change? This sobering Newsweek article summarizes the latest research about the impact of the Internet on the human brain. After you read it, you may want to switch off your smart phone and go for a walk with a friend in the woods….
thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/08/is-the-internet-making-us-crazy-what-the-new-research-says.html