Technology and the Church

As someone who loves technology as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the words of the prophets in relation to technology is really exciting. The abilities that technological advancements give the church are really astounding and the fact that the church is actively investing in new technologies is really impressive. In the last few years, so many programs have been written for the church that have really widening the scope and scale of what members, missionaries, and church leaders can do. The leaders are getting more in touch with members, even though the church membership is growing rapidly. It is a great time to be a member of the church and especially for those who have a knack for technology. There is so much good to be done and it's only going to get better in coming years.

The Cuckoo's Egg

Cyber security is becoming a bigger and bigger deal as our lives get more and more entwined with the internet. Over the last 5 years, we have been introduced to "The Cloud" and we are putting more and more information out there on it. There is also bank information, credit card information, and even locks and thermostats. Recently, there have been several breaches of information, where credit card numbers as well as scandalous photographs of high profile people were stolen. This breach of privacy and potential financial fraud could have been prevented. Often we think that such instances won't happen to us, so we become lazy and don't think about how were are protecting our vital information. This is what influenced me most about this book. It made me realize that I was one of the people that weren't overly concerned about the hacker. I have been lazy when it comes to protecting my online information. I am guilty when it comes to my own personal information. Lately I have been changing my passwords and been much more careful about where I put valuable information. It is something we all should be better at, so that we can prevent attacks and be more prepared when we are attacked.

Space Travel

http://aeon.co/magazine/technology/the-elon-musk-interview-on-mars/ (Pardon the Language)

This is an article about an interview with a very interesting man: Elon Musk. The article is mostly about space travel and how governments, as well as civilians, are writing it off as impossible, unnecessary, or at best a thing of the distant future, but not for us to worry about. Elon contends that space travel and space colonization is as noble a humanitarian goal as ending world hunger or disease. By colonizing other planets or solar systems, we would make humanity immortal and potentially becoming the first civilization to colonize other planets. The fact that there is absolutely no evidence of any other civilizations colonizing other planets is quite troubling. Earth is relatively new. It would take an advanced species only .01% of the universe's lifespan to spread throughout the galaxy and beyond. Statistically it should have happened at some point. Perhaps all the advanced civilizations didn't look to the stars until it was too late. We shouldn't let that happen to us.

FamilySearch

It's really astounding how much information is being processed by FamilySearch.org. Literally billions of records are being added or updated. The need for clever ways of processing and storing the amount of information to make the program effective is really remarkable and it is amazing what the church has been able to do with the program. It will be fascinating to see the innovation and capabilities of FamilySearch in the future. Learning about this program has actually really affected me. Recently I have been exposed to a couple companies that deal with large amounts of data and I think I am developing an interest in that. It might be an area I want to specialize in and even make a career out of. I don't really know what all goes into it or what I need to do to learn more about it, but it really does interest me. Maybe I can do something that will really help FamilySearch become even bigger than it already is.

Apple and Google literally can't hack their own phones

Article: Barret, Devlin, and Danny Yadron. "New Phone Protections Alarm Law Enforcement." Wall Street Journal 23 Sept. 2014: A1,A4. Print.

Privacy has been an issue that has really escalated in the last couple years. Especially since the Edward Snowden and the NSA incident, people are getting more and more worried about keeping their affairs private. People are trusting the government less and less, and tensions could never be higher with how the government has reacted to Ferguson. Companies are jumping on this opportunity to win some PR points with consumers. That is why Google and Apple have come out with these technologies that make it impossible for anyone, including law enforcement, to access information from phones. This, of course, does not include information saved to "the Cloud," including celebrities' risque photos, which always seem to be hacked and leaked onto the internet. This might give people a false sense of security, because it seems everything gets automatically synced with the "Cloud" anyway. This announcement is simply a way to get consumers to trust Apple and Google again, by riding the wave of public opinion about privacy.

Scottish Independence

The independence vote for Scotland is quite a historic event. Scotland has been a part of the United Kingdom for centuries and if this vote had been done back 300 years I think the results might have been a little bit different. I think that it is a good thing that Scotland is still part of the UK. An independent Scotland would have an uncertain future especially economically. It's possible that they could make it work, but with the economy in Europe like it is right now, it is a risky thing to change what isn't broken. Scotland already has a good amount of control over its own affairs and I do not believe that what they would gain would outweigh what they would lose if they were to stay tied to the rest of the UK.

Smallish Post 1

The article by Neil Postman made some very great points, but a couple of his opinions I found straight up incorrect. His first point states that culture always pays a price for technology. I strongly disagree. First, technology has made it possible to spread culture everywhere easily and readily. Normal, non-professional artists, musicians, poets, or creative writers can easily share their work with the world and their work actually gets seen. Websites like Deviantart, Reddit, YouTube, and many others make it possible for us to see truly talented people we wouldn't have before. Technology has also given our generation the most free time then any other time period, allowing us to become amateurs at whatever we want. Now it's not only the geniuses that rule the arts, but there are now many capable people. Technology has widened and diversified culture, not hurt it.