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= CIS2 Midterm =

ANYWHERE IS POSSIBLE
The ANA Avatar XPRIZE, that aims towards the development of a multi-purpose avatar system that will enable us to remotely see, hear, and interact with physical environments and other people. Sounds like a Science Fiction Movie by West Cameron. []

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However, nowadays is not just plausible to dream with such a thing as an avatar that will allow humans to accomplish remotely different tasks like: providing care to the beloved ones in the distance, to help with disasters, exploration in places that the human is restricted or limited to enter, and to help with many other purposes that have yet to be discovered. However, this is not just a dream, this is something possible that is now under development. []

But, how can this be possible? The main principle of this challenge is based on BCI’s (Brain Computer Interface) that is basically turning a human into a cyborg… well, it is the way that chips/devices are developed to read our neural signals and turn them into commands on a machine. [] (this article is a little long, sorry)

While the first step towards an avatar that we can control has to be set trough augmented reality, deep research is now being made on the neural brains that concern to the functioning of the visual cortex (the part of our brains that is in charge of the visual-sensorial part) where now a days is possible to experience the beginning of a new capacity called augmented reality: [] []

Pretty cool, right? Now that all these steps are being studied more and more as the race towards ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) becomes something more demanding, the next part that will be necessary for this challenge to come to reality is depending on robotics and the physical and sensorial limitations that these represent, because a machine cannot be compared to a human body (yet). And as far as the developing of this challenge is going, isn’t expected to become something realistic until at least 10 or 15 years more after it’s conclusion in 2022, but it is definitively something that will be possible in the future and that will change our world and the way that we perceive it. []

= CIS2 Final Project = 1. Introductions
 * https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/12/10/artificial-intelligence-and-the-future-of-humans (Favorite from Discussion) This article talks about eh implications that we can foresee about AI in the next following 10 years, the problems that will arise and the choices that we have to take in order to decide if we want to polarize the world's population or if we want to improve our problems and finally overcome to all our dificulties.

2. Privacy and Freedom of Speech
 * https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-biolinguistic-turn/201702/how-the-language-we-speak-affects-the-way-we-think (From Discussion)  This article talks about how the language we speak shapes the way we think, and I think it is really interesting because the way that we have an idea about something is dependent on our openness to experience to the concepts and the way that we think about this ones is dependent on a lot of things...
 * https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/18/what-is-cambridge-analytica-firm-at-centre-of-facebook-data-breach (Keywords/Data Collection, Favorite from Discussion) Cambridge Analytica was (remains) as a scandal about a British political consulting firm which combined data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication during the electoral processes where they gathered data from Facebook users and spread information that would affect the way that they would think and in this way inferred the elctions process.
 * https://www.kiplinger.com/article/business/T057-C000-S002-california-ramps-up-privacy-protection.html (From Discussion) In this article, a teacher from Carnegie Mellon University in the Silicon Valley Campus explains what are the expectations about a new law here in California which is concerned with the Privacy and the Internet.

3. Intellectual Property
 * https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/2018/I-Was-Raised-On-The-Internet (Favorite from Discussion) This is so far the coolest art exposition I have attended, this one was from last year at the Museu of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and it was basically about how are we as a culture now that we posses the limitations that the internet provides. This exhibition attempted to expose different social issues like privacy, AI, Marketing Development, Augmented Reality and the way that we let ourselves to be influenced by these parameters.
 * https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2019/03/07/google-confirms-serious-chrome-security-problem-heres-how-to-fix-it/#36248f892002 (From Discussion)  This article tells how is it possible to be easily targeted by hackers a put all our privacy in danger just by not "updating" our browser, in this case; Google Chrome. Such thing is possible due to a series of glitches and bugs that do rise when we forget to update our browser.

4. Crime
 * https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/7xgame/at-chinese-border-tourists-forced-to-install-a-text-stealing-piece-of-malware (Favorite from Discussion) In this post by vice, we can read how China's government is now installing (without permission) an application that pretends to look for personal information, Muslim data and even a Japanese Metal Song. This app is being installed at its border to Android devices, to everyone, even the tourists so they can determine what to do if the consider that somebody is corrupting or opposing to the system, moreover, being a threat.
 * https://www.computationalthinking.org/ (From Selected Media) As technology advances, the demands in society always change, and that is the case with AI, which now at the beginning of the automation era, our place on society is under threat since we don't know what is going to happen with our jobs and professions, that is why the only way to be prepared for it is to know more about Artificial Intelligence and the way that this one is developing.

5. Employment, Education, and Entertainment 6. Midterm - Grand Challenges
 * https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/ (From Discussion) In this era as the enlightnment of technology, instead of worrying about the repercussions that this one can have in our lives, here are 23 benefits of Social Media for business, and I personally find more advantages on having social media to boost business recognition and to stay tunned about other businesses while getting more information and inspiration about other businesses in the same sector.
 * https://webaccess.berkeley.edu/resources/assistive-technology (Favorite from Discussion)  These are a few ways that Assistive Technology can help those who need it to perform just like a regular person or what it would be the closest to it. These technologies allow people to read, and to communicate in a way that they would have never been able to do so.
 * https://www.xprize.org/prizes/avatar (From Discussion) The Everywhere is Possible project; I think that is something straight out from a science fiction movie, moreover, it is something absolutely possible and something that I am personally interested in understanding deeply. Having an  Avatar  sounds perhaps not realistic enough as to consider it something to pursue, however, there is deep research being made in different areas (robotics, - engineering, AI - Machine Learning, cognitive science)  that combined together could make this challenge easy to overcome.  To explain the benefits of this just imagine that you have access to a robotic version of yourself that you can use for anything you want, suddenly you wouldn't need to travel 12 hours but instead, just sit, put a helmet on and attend to a meeting, or combating without being in danger, or exploring a dangerous place, or taking care of someone, or traveling to another planet! I know it sounds crazy, I know, but please read this if you have a chance, it is something worth knowing.
 * https://news.stanford.edu/news/2007/march7/sapolskysr-030707.html (Favorite from Discussion) The challenges that we have to prepare for are these ones that we are not yet aware of, for example; obesity, diabetes, and these stress-related illnesses that we witness today are topics that are more dangerous and realistic than worry about an AI killing us like in a Terminator movie. While these affect our daily lives and we might not be even aware of them, and I believe that in order to cope with these challenges is necessary to understand that we are dependent to our circumstances and our environment such as work, school, family, the food we eat, the place we live and a lot of factors that we still ignore, which only makes us understand that we need to know ourselves better.

7. Evaluating and Controlling Technology
 * https://www.wired.co.uk/article/internet-of-things-what-is-explained-iot (Favorite from Discussion) As we approach the epicenter of a new era of interconnections, communications, and prosperity, the idea of the Internet of Things or IoT is definitively the one that we seek as the most likely answer to solve all the problems that we have once faced as societies and even as a species. The internet of Things will allow everything to exist in a new point of symbiotic relations where we will be able to know what is happening with all the world around us.
 * https://onezero.medium.com/can-we-automate-the-dick-pics-away-ccd64570c8e3 (From Discussion)  Medium is a news/blog/articles platform and somehow social media where everyone is able to share their ideas in an essay-like environment, moreover, here you can post your writings, conspiracy theories, and things that you are really interested in, at the same time that you can read what others write, even those ones who are really knowledgeable about the topic, or maybe just read random articles that can be funny and interesting.

8. Risks, Failures, and Responsibilities 9. Anytime, Anywhere
 * https://www.techwalla.com/articles/10-ways-computers-are-used-in-medicine (From Discussion) Computers now have found their way into virtually all aspects of human life, and medicine is no exception. Computers can researchers to discover, test and apply medical techniques in virtually every hospital in the world. As well as computer technology allows ideas and knowledge to be shared worldwide.
 * https://www.techwalla.com/articles/ethical-issues-on-computer-technology (Favorite from Discussion)  Here is a soft touch of what are the ethical issues that have risen and that we have to face now that we live under the limits dictated by technology. Such issues are information and privacy, copyright and privacy, computer crimes and communication issues. 
 * https://www.ted.com/talks/lloyd_pendleton_the_housing_first_approach_to_homelessness (From Discussion) This is an idea which title is pretty self-explanatory,  in this talk he shares a project that he started in Utah over a decade ago and how it has drastically dropped the homeless population in the area. They use the Principles of Harm Reduction which are a more open way to touch reality in situations like homelessness.  And I believe that this is an important topic to treat, especially here in California where rents are expensive, and the homeless population is already an emergency, more ideas like this one are needed to be developed to address this issue and end human suffering little by little.
 * https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_sapolsky_the_biology_of_our_best_and_worst_selves?language=en#t-191076 (Favorite from Discussion) The biology of our best and worst selves by Robert Sapolsky, a Biology teacher at Stanford. Has been one of my favorite Ted lectures, and one that has deeply inspired me. In this lecture the professor give a little explanation of why we  Behave  (Links to an external site.) in the ways that we do, and how it relates to basic primary biological functions, and I think it is important for us to understand these things in order to understand ourselves...

10. Technology Advances, Social Trends
 * https://www.wired.com/story/age-of-social-credit/ (Favorite from Discussion) This social credit system that is now working on China, sounds straight out from a Black Mirror nightmare, where the Chinese government is now creating  profiles  of its citizens where they are able to track basically everything about them, from where have they lived, where did they worked, what is their political view, etc, etc. With this system, the government decides whether to allow you to take flights or trains, your internet speed,  what schools can you go to and what jobs can you get, even how successful you can be at getting matches on dating sites! The problem that this system arises is that the argument of "once untrustworthy, always restricted" from my perspective, is inhumane.
 * https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rainforest-connection-introduces-one-of-the-largest-programs-ever-launched-by-students-to-protect-the-worlds-rainforests-300617270.html (From Discussion) This project is helping everyone in the world, in the sense that this organization is attempting to produce devices that will be able to hear when a chainsaw is being used in the middle of the forests so then authorities can arrive quickly and prevent people from illegally cutting trees. With this step against the deforestation, it is expected to help with the global warming issue that we are going through.