This is a very interesting theme we had this week followed by screenings and readings. We watched a black mirror episode ” Be right back”, a short clip of “Story of my replica”, a reading called “Social network vs Online Community”, and a podcast “note to self podcast: Talking to Myself.” In the episode of black mirror “Be Right Back”, it is about a woman who loses her boyfriend in an accident and is grieving. Her friend convinces her to get an artificial intelligence of her deceased boyfriend but she rejects that idea. After she realizes she is pregnant, she decides to give in to the artificial intelligence that her friend signed her up unknowingly.  It is meant to manipulate him so that she can communicate with him as if he is there. Eventually it becomes frustrating because he will not argue back or fight back in a conversation and she realizes that it will never be her actual husband no matter how much it looks or sounds like him. Even though she knows it is not actually him, it will never be enough for her so she has to officially let him go. 

In the episode, it portrayed the strength and power of technology by replicating her boyfriend using artificial intelligence. I think that in a way, a lot of people use technology to try to replace something that they wish was there that they needed or wanted. However, for the most part it is just a temporary solution to things because after a certain point you need the real thing or you eventually want more. An example of that is right here in this episode because she eventually wanted more out of it and got frustrated because she couldn’t have that.  She was also grieving in the episode and the natural thing to do is to start the grieving process but her process was halted or stuck in denial for a period of time. The only way to heal with sad experiences, from people, or events is to go through all the processes and to avoid looking at the objects that it reminds you of until you are healed and ready. You cannot heal if it is constantly there otherwise you will be dependent on it and social media and technology gives you all the data you need in order to revisit those memories or to see those people. 

Along with the theme of this episode, we watched a short video called “The story of Replica” and it is a website where you can create your own avatar and you can talk to it and communicate back and forth. It is constantly collecting data every time you speak to it and some people tend to like it as views it as a friend or view it as real in a way. We talked about what is to say what’s real and what’s not because for some people it can be viewed as real and for others it is just a computer and is not actually the real thing. It’s a fine line… We also read an article called ” Social Network vs Social Community.” According to the article, the difference between a social network and social community is that the community forms from all different  backgrounds and have similar interests. I personally am not involved in a social community however I think it is of great benefit that people do. It is a great way to be connected to other people and having similar interests is a great way to start! This is one of the examples on how technology in having people stay connected and involved with one another in a positive way. Do you having a replica is a real experience ? and do you technology has gone to far with these artificial intelligence devices that talk to you or do you think it is a positive thing?

The news link below is about artificial intelligence and making neural networks smarter.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200916131103.htm

Social media and technology is a great and powerful tool, however, it has positives and negatives that come with it. In class we watched and talked about the black mirror episode 15 Million Merits and we then read and discussed the two articles called Technologies of the Self and Ciceros Twitter:Tom Standage On The Forgotten History of Social Media. In the Black Mirror episode ,15 Million Merits, everyone is in a kind of facility where they live and are constantly surrounded by screens and tv. Everyday they get on cycles and watch the screen at the same time and they receive points for how much and how long they cycle. The cycles also power the screens.The main character, he sparks a connection with a girl and he gives her his points in order for her to get a chance to sing in front of judges and have a better life. The judges end up making her a porn star and he got extremely upset and decided to work hard to get to that stage in order to speak up and try to make a change but instead he got sucked into the corruption of the system.

This episode really shows how zoned in on technology everyone is and how they avoid surrounding people.They can’t even exercise without a screen in their face and it really shows how people society today actually are but in a more dramatic way. With all of this technology, it creates a lack of communication and people skills and even makes people lack empathy towards each other as though they are a machine and not a human being. So in a sense they dehumanize people. The shows they watched in the movie with the judges and fame is much like our reality as well… They prioritize fame and attention instead of health, relationships, and good values. They enforced watching the screens by penalizing points for not viewing or by skipping and in much like our reality, we are in a sense “penalized” for not being on our screens by experiencing fomo, missing a text or call, or missing out on the latest news and things like that. When he tried to stand up for what he believed in and tried to change things, he got caught up with the fame and attention that he got sucked into the corruption of the system and became what he stood against. 

We then reviewed 1 article and a short video called Ciceros Twitter:Tom Standage On The Forgotten History of Social Media, and are teens addicted to technology. In the article, Tom Standage sheds light on the fact that sharing information is nothing new but instead has been around as long as we could remember. “What it says to me is that technologies come and go, but they still press the same buttons in our Stone-Age brains. Modern social media is so compelling because it’s the most convenient and efficient means we have invented so far to scratch a prehistoric itch: the desire to share and network with other people. Previous incarnations of social media were popular for the same reason. They just didn’t work as quickly.” Humans are social beings and we share things all the time with one another, whether it was through the news paper, word of mouth or letters, sharing and being connected was always there but now it’s there in a faster stream. With the video we watched, it shows that children are indeed addicted to posting and sharing and having people comment on their pictures. Its a device that never sleeps so of course it is going to have their attention. It has many positive reinforcements on there such as followers, positivities comments, a likes as well so it reinforces them to continue those actions. Are you guilty of being addicted to your phone and the apps that they carry ?

This link is a research done about how simply talking on the phone creates a stronger bond than text based communication. I found it interesting and its a good read especially with social distancing going on.. maybe call instead of text through this time were living in.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200911141713.htm

The Black Mirror episode, The Entire History of You, displays everyone having access to a memory implant that is placed behind the ear and it records everything they do, see and hear. This means that you can play back anything at any time from your memory. The episode starts off with Liam leaving a job interview, which he feels he did poorly, and catches a flight to meet his wife at a dinner party. When he arrives, he sees his wife talking to a man and is relaxed and when she notices Liam she tenses up and acts differently. He is very suspicious of his wife’s behavior and constantly plays that clip over and over and analyzes every little detail. It then goes on that she had dated this man and he begins to get even more suspicious and ends up going to his house and demanding to have the sex memory of them two deleted. He then discovers that she cheated on him 18 months prior to that and made his wife show him the recording of that encounter. Heartbroken, he plays back happy memories of him, his wife, and his child.. that might not even be his. The final scene ends with him cutting out the device, removing all the memories and recordings with it. Now even though this seems like a great thing to have such as all your memories stored, never forgotten, and being played back… it has its consequences. 

This device was an invasion of privacy where anybody can see even the littlest of moments in your life. It keeps you on your toes and it has you over analyze everything and are constantly reminded by horrible times and moments, which without the device, that feeling and memory would get better over time. It also intentionally distorts memory and it has you not living in the present reality. The brain takes out and puts back in memory and each time a memory gets pulled out it gets put back in differently. Your memory erases, suppresses, and forgets things to hold more space to create and enjoy more moments and information. You won’t be able to move on from moments or events if it is constantly there to see as this device did in the episode. 

Along with memory and the mind, as a class we read the article “Is google making us stupid?” and my answer is that I don’t think it is making us stupid but I do think that it is slowly changing how we think and and how we do things on a daily basis. “A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I’ve got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after.” This article talks about how we went from physically going to get information and it taking hours to clicking a hyperlink and receiving that information within seconds and doing multiple things at once. This has an impact on the brain because now our brains are adjusting to this new way of receiving information. Our brain is now receiving information at a faster pace and is not going into too much depth and it is because of the fast world of technology that we are currently living in. When going through social media such as instagram, snapchat, twitter, how long do you sit there looking at a post.. not very long right? We take a quick glance and move on to the next post or quickly switch to another platform. This also contributes to how technology and google has slowly changed and altered our mind process. Do you think your mind has changed ?

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200831112345.htm

Hello, my name is Sydney Saucedo and my major is psychology. I am currently a senior and I play on the softball team here at AU. Im from Southern California so I’m excited to spend my last year in NY. I am also excited to get into this course.