Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is basically being an asshole to someone by using technology as a medium.  Cyberbullying can vary from gossip or rumors to be directly malicious to the recipient by harassing them with strong language, threats or inappropriate pictures.

Somini Sengupya's article Warily, Schools Watch Students On The Internet starts off by telling a story of a 12 year old girl who committed suicide because her peers were tormenting her at school as well as online.  This brings up many questions about how things like this should be dealt with.  You're never going to stop all the bullying that happens and there is no way to monitor what kids say to each other on the internet, so what do you do?  We've all seen or been the focus of bullying and we know it doesn't feel great.  I grew up in a time when you could go home and get some peace and quiet, away from all the BS, and get yourself mentally prepared for the next day.  These kids don't have that freedom anymore.  Everyone and anyone is connected and if somebody has it out for you, chances are they'll find you and bring other along for the ride.  Sadly "unplugging" isn't much of a choice now-a-days since most of a persons work, social life and free time are based on the internet.

AI and Robotics

It's hard to say what robots can do.  We program them, so they do whatever we want them to.  Over the past few years we've built robots that can do a variety of things such as assemble a car or even drive a car itself.  I recently saw a table tennis match between a robot and a human (one of the worlds top players).  The robot was fast and gave the human a run for his money, but in the end it was the little human nuances that the robot could not replicate.  The human ability to maneuver the ball and themselves still cannot be matched by a robot...but they're close.  I believe humans are more prone to making errors.  When we repeat mindless tasks all day it begins to wear us down.  A robot, however, would be able to do the same task several thousand times with the exact precision of the first one.  Unfortunately robots can cause errors as well, which is why a human (or humans) need to be attached to each machine, checking it constantly for any errors or odd behavior.  If a machine were to injure somebody, the first person they can look to would be the person(s) in charge of operation/maintenance.  Steven Henn's article When Robots Can Kill, It's Unclear Who Will Be to Blame he mentions that many technologies are being used for war purposes.  This brings us to a bit of a dilemma, who is to blame for the actions/errors of this robot?  The man who built the technology for a use other than war?  The US Government?  The Military?  It's all up in the air when it comes to war and i think that is one of the factors that make it so desirable for the US.  It seems like we're fighting this invisible war and "protecting" ourselves from non existent threats, when in reality we should be protected from ourselves.