EOTO 2: Echo Chambers

    In today’s age, information is everywhere, where there is more information on the internet than possible to consume in a lifetime. And with the advancements of technology, select information is designed to be exposed to those that are likely to want it. An abundance of information supplemented with intricate algorithms equals a hard loop to leave. 

    For many, it becomes merely impossible to hear a differing opinion, whether it be online or in communities, due to echo chambers. Echo chambers are environments that consist of only a select belief or opinion, and members inside reinforce that opinion due to their shared perspective. 

    Echo chambers are pervasive in many ways for all types of people. Due to the limited amount of information they consist of, growth and change on a personal and societal level will be stunted. Online, the customization of algorithms keeps those in the community away from other information. This same principle applies to in-person communities, where conversations can be limited and only cycle the same ideas. 

    The effect of echo chambers on society can be drastic.  To only hear one side of an argument and pretend to know the whole issue is the same as running blind. The destination will not be where one thinks it is. Because of echo chambers, members of society can be isolated to only those that think like them. This isolation is the opposite of what societies need, as it takes connections and new ideas to grow. Furthermore, this isolation would turn hostile. It is known, according to numerous articles, that division is largely negative. 

    According to Vail Valley Partnership’s article on ‘How do we Overcome Division in Society’, it says “division erodes the sense of unity and social cohesion within a society and impacts our ability to function together. When people are divided along lines of race, religion, ethnicity, or other factors, it becomes challenging to foster a strong sense of community.” You can read the article here. 

    This parallels the division we see today and the toll it has taken on everyone as a whole. With this disunity, it is apparent that differing groups pit themselves against each other. Instead of embracing our differences, we despise them. This hostile division and judgement of the opposing side can lead to terrible outcomes, whether it be violence, verbal accusations, or simply heart-harbored hate. The premise of varying affinity groups becomes a match between the two. Two groups change from “and” to “versus” due to the misinformed opinions they hold. 

    A differing opinion towards echo chambers may be that those in an echo chamber become extremely rooted in their community, which can be healthy. However, regardless of your involvement in a community, the value of truth must prevail, and that should be within the scope of any existing community. For an echo chamber, only part of the story is told, thus the truth is not represented. 

    The questions that may provide an answer are: if you are in charge of what you consume, should you make intentional choices to diversify that content? Then, should it be up to anyone else besides yourself to implement a wide variety of information into your perspective? By answering these questions, one can make an opinion of their own regarding the topic of echo chambers and how they may affect society.

Diffusion Theory on AI

 Applying the diffusion theory to the new invention of artificial intelligence chatbots reshapes the perspective towards the daunting change it might elicit from our society. In the past few years, AI has exploded in popularity, with a range of opinions regarding its benefit. 

The diffusion theory is a means to explain the rate of adoption for new inventions, as there are many different components involved in the spread. Looking through this lens, there is no surprise of why AI has become as popular as it is. It can be read more upon its wikipedia page here.

AI, like all inventions, had a set of early adopters. However, for this invention, the type of early adopter ranged across several cultures. Due to AI’s ability to help in several facets of our society, there were all types of people that found use in it immediately. Early adopters looked like communication and technology companies, writers, planners, and various other communities that needed quick access to information. 

This large net of early adopters allowed for the technology to flourish, gaining traction immediately. However, opposing these early adopters, many people looked at AI with scrutiny. For some, AI seems to encroach on the workforce of many industries, human creativity, and human intellect. It is also fair to assume that there have been faults in the technology that continue to be fixed. You can read more about this here. These reasons have led many to adopt AI later than its initial release or continue to have strong opinions against it. 

Personally, I struggle with AI. I value human creativity beyond the assistance of artificial intelligence as it comes to storytelling. To completely pass off the plot development process to AI is half-hearted and lazy. However, the use of grammar assistance is helpful. So, I can recognize the use for AI, but do believe that it can be overused. 

The danger of AI is over-dependence on it. For someone to completely rely on AI in any circumstance would threaten the fundamental need for humans to learn. AI is a slippery slope: it may provide a helpful hand, but can just as easily pull the rug right out from under whatever it is involved in. AI, as it is so new, should be observed closely, used carefully, and understood, for it will undoubtedly change the future, one way or another.

The Reality of War: Anti-War Blog

 The luxury of a life oblivious to war is one that many Americans take for granted. Waking up to the sound of birds rather than bombs is something that can be counted as a blessing, but because it is normalized, it is rarely recognized. 

Hearing about war, the voices that cry out one way or the other, is easy to drown out in the vast pool that seeks our attention. Of course, it is easy to avoid something like war when we do not face it. 

But, when one chooses to pay attention to the atrocities that exist beyond our oasis, especially the ones conducted by our leaders, the curtain comes undone. The beauty of our life almost becomes saddening, knowing that so many others are in harm's way at our hands. 

Yet for most people, this fact can be ignorantly missed due to where they go to hear about the world around them. The article “Trump Says He Will Continue Bombing Yemen for a ‘Long Time’” from antiwar.com is an example of the evil deeds that are happening at this very moment. Yemen is undergoing an ongoing airstrike, which is leading to attempted retaliation against the US. Regardless of the reasoning, the brutality of war seems to always prevail. The death of innocent lives sobers the animosity towards others, as we realize that we are largely the same. 

However, you will rarely hear educated and peaceful voices speak out against war. But, they exist nonetheless. Sites like antiwar.com and theamericanconservative.com are examples of educated perspectives against war. 

The most plausible truth is that those voices are silenced, drowned out from the mainstream, because the government needs war. War brings them money, resources, and control. To them, war is a necessary evil for the gain that may occur.  Nevertheless, the horror ensues. So the question that is begged: why is there not more talk about anti-war movements? Why are they drowned out so quickly? One can believe that the answer is because war is in the interest of those that have the power to wage it.

EOTO #2: Reaction to Confirmation Bias

 The death of true knowledge begins by seeking answers without a holistic approach. This attempt to gather one-sided information is the danger of confirmation bias, which is a problem in society today. Listening to my classmate inform us about confirmation bias reminded me of the importance of keeping all avenues open when seeking answers or opinions. ‘Confirmation bias’ by definition is searching for information that validates a pre-existing opinion. Confirmation bias is a threat to the education of our society as it does not lead to deep research or openness to other perspectives. 

I found the confirmation bias presentation interesting because it touched on many of the same characteristics of echo chambers, which was the topic I presented on. Immediately, this gripped me because the tendency to look for information that supports your opinion leads to only surrounding yourself with people like-minded. So, confirmation bias leads to echo chambers.

    The presentation delved into several reasons as to why people commit confirmation bias. One explanation given was our natural tendency to be competitive in an argument. So, if we take a side regarding an issue, we seek justification for our initial opinion so that we feel like winners. This is fascinating to me because I am competitive and love to win in arguments or competitions. However, my desire for the truth outweighs my competitive-nature, as I believe the truth should always win regardless of my initial opinion towards it. This psychological approach of human competitiveness was intriguing to me because I see how someone might think this way.

Another psychological explanation for the prevailing thought process of confirmation bias was heuristics. Heuristics are a way for the human brain to draw conclusions quickly. This correlates with confirmation bias, as people are trying to make quick conclusions without in-depth analysis. The interesting relationship between heuristics and decision-making can be further understood through this article. 

This presentation did a great job taking a holistic approach towards the issue of confirmation bias. I enjoyed the parallels seen with confirmation bias and echo chambers. The psychological explanation for confirmation bias breaks down the barrier it may have, making it easier to bypass this issue when conducting research.

Privacy Response

     The internet and the ease of access to it is something that can be celebrated. However, something as innovative and society-shifting as the internet must come with drawbacks. In this case, lack of privacy can be seen as a potential drawback. Then, applying this issue of privacy to off-line issues, like government tracking, can create interesting discourse. 

    The internet is an everlasting forum, where a post is staked into the timeline forever, regardless of if it is deleted or not. This raises many eyebrows for the sake that opinions change, poor decisions can be made, and in this case, cannot be taken back. 

    The inability to exist without being spotted going about your day is also a hard topic because it teeters upon taking away people’s right to privacy. 

    This lack of privacy points towards a difficult question: Can something become private if it has been made known to the public? And to answer this, it is easier to take out the context of the internet or technologies and think of it in a more interpersonal way. A statement made or action committed in public can never be renamed as private because others heard or seen it. So, they have the ability to live with that information. Then, to reapply this mindset to the internet or tracking technologies, it is fair to assume that privacy cannot be infringed upon if something is released to or done in public.

    Even though it is logical, this difficulty with privacy can still be scary. This issue can affect anyone and everyone for any statement made without realizing the severity of posting. Personally, as someone who grew up with the internet and social media, I have been posting since a young age. It is fascinating yet frightening to know that all my posts from my entire life continue to exist to this day, as it feels like that covers my entire life. 

    For many, this can be scary for posting something that they no longer agree with or for making a statement that was not intelligible. These posts still exist in the archives of the internet, and can arise in a given moment. 

    I do not think the government should involve themselves in this issue any more than informing the people of the facts. I am not sure if I agree with location tracking or wiretapping, because criminals need to be found in a speedy time, but it can be a slippery slope for infringing upon the rights of the citizens. Perhaps by informing people of the privacy policy regarding what they track or collect, the government is not hiding their actions and gives people the opportunity to decide their course of action. 

    To protect ourselves from an invasion of privacy, we can inform ourselves of the severity of online usage and posting. Furthermore, we can form like-minded groups that ensure our rights are not being infringed upon. However, the most we can do is doing the research regarding where your posts go and how your privacy may be affected by that site. The DHS gives these tips to protect one’s privacy. 

    Privacy is important, so unknowingly giving it up should not happen. But, by learning about our rights to privacy, we as a people are taking steps to a better future.

EOTO 1 Reaction and Analysis

 The digital age has brought upon us many new inventions that exist simply because of technologies like the computer and the internet. These new inventions among these other vital technologies have become almost as integral, yet much less known about. During our EOTO presentations, the invention of online ‘cookies’ was a fascinating subject as they are very important in online functionality, but easy to ignore. 

    For those who do know something about cookies, one might assume they are an all-encompassing ‘bad’ and should be avoided. However, to group them as such is an oversight, as there are many benefits that arise through the use of cookies.

    Jaden presented about the basic functions of online cookies, taking an objective approach towards their existence. His expertise was evident as he ran the class through the definition of an online cookie and what they are commonly used for. 

    Online cookies are used to collect data and send data from browsers to servers. This is extremely helpful for online shopping, online payments, and account logins. These are typically features that users expect, yet continue to neglect the involvement of online cookies in making these features a reality. To learn more, one can visit this site on the basics of cookies!

Jaden spoke about the ease to create an online cookie through the lens of coding. By showing the actual code to make a cookie, any fear induced by mystery was minimized. The coding is not impressively complicated, so that simplicity attributes to its more fundamental use. 

    While it now seems only positive, there remains to still be negatives in the use of online cookies. As cookies are involved in personal data, there can be personal information used in ways someone may not want it to be. This can look like saving topics of interest or information that was imputed to the device. 

    However, there is always the option to deny access to unnecessary cookies. So, the threat one might feel from these should not be taken too seriously. Largely, cookies serve to assist the ease of interactive online websites and platforms. With this perspective, we can be level-headed in our approach to new technologies and inventions of the new age!