Who Owns the Idea

When Bill Gates launched Windows 95, the interactive GUI (graphical user interface) was praised as one of its top innovations. However, Triumph of the Nerds (Part three) shows not only how Bill Gates got the GUI idea from Steve Jobs but also how Steve Jobs was introduced to the GUI by a team of Xerox researchers in Menlo Park, CA. So, who really deserves the credit for the development of the GUI? I think that neither Bill Gates, nor Steve Jobs or even the Xerox researchers can fully claim credit for inventing the GUI. The truth is that someone somewhere introduced that group of Xerox researchers to computing ideas that helped them think of the GUI, and if we follow this chain of ideas back in history far enough we’ll find that neither Archimedes nor Plato deserve full credit for their inventions and philosophies. It seems to me that a true inventor is not someone who makes creative ideas materialize out of thin air, but rather someone who can “connect the dots,” combining existing ideas in a useful way that has not yet been considered.

Invading Our Lives, Minds, and Bodies

 

According to the recent Harris Poll, only one in thirteen Americans is happy. As the US happiness index has been declining for the last decade [1]  social media use rises every year.[2] While I agree with Professor Dougal that these new technologies have practical uses,  I think that the obsessive use of social media may be a partial cause of the happiness decline in the US. Think of the bombardment of tweets, pop-ups, distractions and seemingly endless opportunities to compare yourself to the glamorized photos of “friends” every time you log onto facebook or Twitter. Comparing yourself to others and being distracted take away from happiness. A Neuroscientist from Stanford University, Sylvia Morelli, expressed that, “Being distracted reduces our empathy for others and blunts responses in the brain… being distracted may also reduce our happiness.” I personally have a facebook, twitter and LinkedIn account, but I invite all readers of my blog to be judicial using these resources so that they do not become a happiness-reducing distraction and resource for envious comparison.   

[1] "Are You Happy?." Harris Interactive. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2014. <http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1200/Default.aspx>.

[2] "Social Networking Fact Sheet." Pew Research Centers Internet American Life Project RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2014. <http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/>.

[3] Rameson, Lian T., Sylvia A. Morelli, and Matthew D. Lieberman. "The neural correlates of empathy: experience, automaticity, and prosocial behavior." Journal of cognitive neuroscience 24, no. 1 (2012): 235-245.

The New World of Artificial Intelligence

As driverless cars become more independent, they will eventually face unpredictable situations where ethical decisions of life-or-death need to be made. Imagine a child chasing a basketball onto a road with an incoming driverless vehicle. An automated sharp swerve to avoid the child will endanger the passengers, but hitting the child is also wrong.  Who will be responsible for a mistake made? The programmer? The engineering team? The manufacturer? We can’t imprison or fine a car no matter how smart it is! I believe that artificial intelligence is highly beneficial, but it requires us to change our world. Having self-driving cars on the road must be accompanied by new branches in law, policymaking, and ethics. Just like Postman said in 1998, “Technological change is not additive, it is ecological.”[1] We don’t just have the world and artificial intelligence. We have a new world.

1.     Postman, Neil. "Five things we need to know about technological change." Retrieved December 1 (1998): 2003.

2.     http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/22/6828161/california-permits-self-driving-cars-google-audi-mercedes-benz

Envy Impedes Good Ideas

Triumph of the Nerds shows how Steve Wozniak in the weekly “home-brew computer” meetings eagerly shared computer design ideas with classmates and friends.  However, people aren't always as eager as Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, to share ideas. In a world of legal patents and jealous business competition, we have all observed people covetously guard their ideas fearing that someone might steal it. People who are driven by such fears may have some success, but it is my opinion that those who share their ideas liberally, like Steve Wozniak, are those who achieve the greatest of all success.

Turning a Trickle into a Flood

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/to-sweep-the-earth-as-with-a-flood?lang=eng

Imagine leadership. How will you change the world?

Let your voice be heard in every corner of the earth – let your light shine for all the nations to see. 

"Technology is evil," we’ve once been told. 

"One voice can’t make a difference," a good friend said.

For a moment, I thought, “Why walk on a chocolate-covered razor of social media temptations? Will trying to raise my voice bring more harm than good?” 

But we don’t put the candle under the bushel in fear that the candle will cause a fire. We let our candles shine. And I will let my candle shine. And I will raise my voice. I will speak with conviction  – strong and powerful, yet sincere and heartfelt.

I will be heard. You will be heard. And together, our voices will change the world. 

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/5?lang=eng 

It Doesn't Matter How Hard You Can Hit—It Matters How Hard You Can Get Hit and Keep Moving Forward

In high school, they said I was not cut out for football. I was 5'8" and 135 lbs. But I focused on my technique, speed, and precision. One day, after I had stripped the ball from a 265 lbs player; he tackled me… and broke my ribs. I didn’t tell anyone for 2 weeks until after the state championship, where as a defensive end, I sacked the opposing quarter back, contributing to our win. To me, it didn’t matter how hard I could hit; what mattered was how hard I could get hit and keep moving forward.