A Gift of Fire
Third edition
Sara Baase
Chapter 1: Unwrapping the Gift
What We Will Cover
• Rapid Pace of Change
• New Developments and Dramatic
Impacts
• Issues and Themes
• Ethics
Rapid Pace of Change
• 1940s: The first computer is built
• 1956: First hard-disk drive weighed a ton and
stored five megabytes
• 1991: Space shuttle had a one-megahertz
computer
• 2006: Pocket devices hold a terabyte (one
trillion bytes) of data
• 2006: Automobiles can have 100-megahertz
computers
Rapid Pace of Change:
Discussion Question
• What devices are now computerized
that were not originally? Think back 10,
20, 50 years ago.
New Developments
Blogs (Word made up from ‘web log’):
• Began as outlets for amateurs who
want to express ideas or creativity
• Appealing because present personal
views, are funny and creative, and
present a quirky perspective on current
events
New Developments (cont.)
Blogs (cont.):
• Now used as alternatives to mainstream
news and for business public relations
• Popular blogs have 100,000 to 500,000
readers per day and can peak at
several million views per day
New Developments (cont.)
Video Sharing:
• Rise of amateur videos on the web
• Boom of websites like Youtube and
Myspace
• Many videos on the web can infringe
copyrights owned by entertainment
companies
New Developments (cont.)
Cell Phones:
• Can now be used for travel, last minute
planning, taking pictures and downloading
music
• Talking on cell phones while driving is a
problem
• Cell phones can interfere with solitude, quiet
and concentration
• Cameras in cell phones and privacy issues
New Developments (cont.)
Social Networking:
• First online social networking site was
www.classmates.com in 1995
• Myspace, founded in 2003 had roughly
100 million member profiles by 2006
• Facebook was started at Harvard as an
online version of student directories
New Developments (cont.)
Collaboration:
• Wikipedia, the online, collaborative
encyclopedia
• Open Directory Project (ODP)
• Collaboration between scientists in
different states or countries
• Watch-dogs on the Web
New Developments (cont.)
E-commerce and Free Stuff:
• Free stuff on the web: email, books,
newspapers, games, etc.
• www.Amazon.com started in 1994 and
10 years later annual sales reached
$8.5 billion
• TV show episodes are available to view
on the Web
New Developments (cont.)
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Motion:
• AI suited to narrow, specialized skills
• Robotic devices often special-purpose
devices, and may require AI to function
• Motion sensing devices are used to give
robots the ability to walk, trigger airbags in a
crash and cushion laptops when dropped
New Developments (cont.)
Tools for Disabled People:
• Restoration of abilities, productivity and
independence
• Screen readers and scanners
• Speech recognition
• Prosthetics and motion sensors
New Developments (cont.)
What’s Next?
• Medical records on chips attached to
medical bracelets
• Biological and computer sciences will
combine new ways to insert micro-
processors or controlled devices on
human bodies
New Developments (cont.)
Discussion Question
• What changes and new developments
do you expect in the next 50 years?
• How will life be different than it is today?
Issues and Themes
Issues:
• Unemployment
• Alienation and customer service
• Crime
• Loss of privacy
• Errors
Issues and Themes (cont.)
Themes:
• Old problems in a new context: crime,
pornography, violent fiction
• Adapting to new technology: thinking in
a new way
• Varied sources of solutions to problems:
natural part of change and life
Issues and Themes (cont.)
Themes (cont.):
• Global reach of net: ease of
communication with distant countries
• Trade-offs and controversy: increasing
security means reducing convenience
• Difference between personal choices,
business policies, and law
Ethics
What is Ethics:
• Study of what it means to “do the right
thing”
• Assumes people are rational and make
free choices
• Rules to follow in our interactions and
our actions that affect others
Ethics (cont.)
Ethical Views:
• Deontological
• Utilitarianism
• Natural rights
• No simple answers
– Do organizations (businesses) have
ethics?
Ethics (cont.)
Important Distinctions:
• Right, wrong and okay
• Negative rights (liberties)
– The right to act without interference
• Positive rights (claim-rights)
– An obligation of some people to
provide certain things for others
Ethics (cont.)
Important Distinctions (cont.):
• Difference between wrong and harm
• Personal preference and ethics
• Law and Ethics
Ethics
Discussion Question
• Can you think of examples of liberties
(negative rights) and claim-rights
(positive rights) that are at opposition to
each other?
