Can virtual life take over from real life? TimesOnline - www.timesonline.co.uk Thursday, 16 November 2008
Are computers making us lose friends and alienate people, asks the writer Roger Scruton
The medium is the message, Marshall McLuhan famously said. And by changing the message we change ourselves. Never has this observation been so relevant as it is today, when many people spend their days at the computer, conducting friendships through Facebook and MySpace, posting videos on their websites, going into real society shielded by an iPod, or simply sending their avatar across the Grid in Second Life, looking for virtual relationships, virtual excitement and even virtual sex. Some welcome this, as a form of liberation. Shy people used to go trembling into society, hand in mouth; now they can go boldly into virtual society, hand on mouse. But it would be naive to think people can live their lives this way, with their eyes on the screen and their minds on themselves, without affecting their capacity for real human relationships. Some might argue that we are witnessing a new kind of addiction. For addiction arises when something good but hard — in this case, friendship — is provided with a cost-free substitute, obtainable at the flick of a switch. In real life, friendship involves risk. The reward is great: help in times of need, joy in times of celebration. But the cost is also great: self-sacrifice, accountability, the risk of embarrassment and anger, and the effort of winning another’s trust. Hence I can become friends with you only by seeking your company. I must attend to your words, gestures and body language, and win the trust of the person revealed in them, and this is risky business. I can avoid the risk and still obtain pleasure; but I will never obtain friendship or love. When I relate to you through the screen there is a marked shift in emphasis. Now I have my finger on the button. At any moment I can turn you off. You are free in your own space, but you are not really free in mine, since you are dependent on my decision to keep you there. I retain ultimate control, and am not risking myself in the friendship as I risk myself when I meet you face to face. Of course I may stay glued to the screen. Nevertheless, it is a screen that I am glued to, not the person behind it. You too, therefore, will not risk yourself; you appear on the screen only on condition of retaining ultimate control. This is something I know about you. And I know that you know that I know. And you likewise. There grows between us a reduced-risk encounter, in which each is aware that the other is fundamentally withheld, sovereign within his impregnable cyber-castle. I “click on” you, as I might click on a news item or a video. You are one of the products on display; but this does not make you an object of trust, with whom my life is mingled. Second Life, which invites us to enter a virtual world through an avatar taken from its collection of templates, has more than 15m users. It provides opportunities for virtual business, virtual shopping, and even virtual “social” action, with social positions achieved by merit, or at any rate virtual merit. People can enjoy cost-free versions of the social emotions, and become heroes of “compassion”, without lifting a finger in the real world. Of course, avatars are dolls, which must be ventriloquised by their cyber-parents. But the dolls are getting more realistic, and who knows, maybe soon they will be able to read each other’s body language, and begin to respond directly, presenting their watchful parents with moral dilemmas that they had never foreseen. The new “dream children” may soon possess all the attributes which their creators wish for but do not possess, and will be able to copulate in cyberspace with the dreams of other people, in a sterile caricature of erotic passion. On YouTube it is possible to see a film in which a couple who have never met describe their adulterous affair conducted in cyberspace, showing no guilt towards the victim, and proudly displaying their narcissistic emotions as though they had achieved some kind of moral breakthrough, by ensuring that it is only their avatars, and not they themselves, that ended up in bed. Does this matter? I think it does. For trust, accountability and risk-taking are dispositions on which the future of society depends. And these things are learnt by accepting the real cost of them. They are not learnt by playing with their virtual substitutes, any more than real courage is learnt by playing with violent computer games. As people habituate themselves to living in virtual worlds where all is permitted and nothing is paid for, virtues like courage and justice will disappear, since nobody will have a need for them. Without those virtues, however, people will be unable to risk themselves in real encounters, and will hide instead in their narcissistic dreams. Some people look forward to this, hoping for a brave new world of virtual relationships; but surely the best thing about such a world is that no real person will be born there.
Summary: Are some people addicted to the virtual life so much that they are confused or forget which one is real? or is it just a way to escape real life stress? or are they just comfortable with both real life and virtual life, feel like they are living a normal everyday life e.g. having social life in both kinds? Personally, I'd say they're still different. even tho we can do as many things as possible in the virtual life like in real life as some programmers have created, people should realize that it's just a place they can play or do whatever they are comfortable with or have fun. E.g. some people might be addicted to a chat line like MSN, it's ok that they use the program to facilitate helping them socializing or sharing news or whatever with their peers, even some random strangers?! But it's not where they actually live. It'd be wise to know that real life is real life and it should be the main focus. Have much fun as we like, but know to stay on track as much as possible.
Tomohiro Kitazawa makes an unlikely farmer. He works neither under the sun nor in the fields, instead reporting for duty in the bustling heart of Tokyo. As Japan`s capital city struggles with problems from food safety to global warming to unemployment, a growing number of people in the famously crowded metropolis are becoming city farmers, planting crops atop tall buildings or deep underground.
The state-of-art farm, known as Pasona O2, was created by Tokyo-based temp staffing agency Pasona Group INC. The farm carefully adjusts temperatures, humidity and lighting so vegetables can grow under the ground.
Kitazawa grows a few different types of lettuce in one of the six “farms”, which look somewhat like space laboratories divided by glass doors that slide open and shut automatically.
The other farming rooms grow rice, roses and vegetables such as tomatoes and pumpkins.
City farming also offers a solution for another problem in Tokyo and other major cities---the so-called urban heat-island effect.
Citie`s temperatures rise in the summer due to the urban environment of heat-absorbing concrete buildings and pavement. In a vicious cycle, the heat boosts the use of air conditioning, raising carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
Encouraged by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, a number of building owners in the capital have introduced roof-top gardening as a way to prevent overheating.
Tomohiro Kitazawa makes an unlikely farmer. He works neither under the sun nor in the fields, instead reporting for duty in the bustling heart of Tokyo. As Japan`s capital city struggles with problems from food safety to global warming to unemployment, a growing number of people in the famously crowded metropolis are becoming city farmers, planting crops atop tall buildings or deep underground.
The state-of-art farm, known as Pasona O2, was created by Tokyo-based temp staffing agency Pasona Group INC. The farm carefully adjusts temperatures, humidity and lighting so vegetables can grow under the ground.
Kitazawa grows a few different types of lettuce in one of the six “farms”, which look somewhat like space laboratories divided by glass doors that slide open and shut automatically.
The other farming rooms grow rice, roses and vegetables such as tomatoes and pumpkins.
City farming also offers a solution for another problem in Tokyo and other major cities---the so-called urban heat-island effect.
Citie`s temperatures rise in the summer due to the urban environment of heat-absorbing concrete buildings and pavement. In a vicious cycle, the heat boosts the use of air conditioning, raising carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
Encouraged by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, a number of building owners in the capital have introduced roof-top gardening as a way to prevent overheating.
As normal people, we always need different friends. Sometimes we don`t like to talk about personal matters with friends fact to face, but keeping “bitterness” to oneself psychologically harms that person. Thus, on the Internet, sometimes without knowing the faces of each other, telling some secrets are acceptable.
On the contrary, how much can you trust your virtual friends? Can virtual friends be responsible as “friends”? Are virtual friends indeed friends in need? These are questions that you have to consider.
Virtual Sex? Well, I strongly believe that it doesn`t help, biologically.
Comment on Lester's News Card Posting No.3 - Japanese Rooftop Veggie Plots
This idea-put-into-action is very helpful to people in Japan and can apply it in other countries as well. Buildings won't look so dull, just beautiful only because of the architecture or with flower decoration anymore. Planting veggies adds the 'green' feeling and usefully make use of the building space, even go underground to solve environmental problems e.g. small picture - heat-island effect in japan, big picture - global warming.
Communications Decency Act was arguably believed the first act to regulate pornographic materials on the Internet in the US. This Act was title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was introduced by Senator James Exon and Senator Slade Gorton. The Act affects the Internet in two ways. First, it regulates both indecency and obscenity in cyberspace. Second, Section 230 mentions operators of internet services are not to be constructed as publishers.
The Internet, however, had only recently been opened to commercial interests by the 1992 amendment to the National Science Foundation Act and thus had not been taken into consideration by previous laws. The CDA, which affected the Internet and cable television, marked the first attempt to expand regulation to these new mass media.
Passed by Congress on February 1, 1996, and signed by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996, the CDA imposed criminal sanctions on anyone who knowingly: (A) uses an interactive computer service to send to a specific person or persons under 18 years of age, or (B) uses any interactive computer service to display in a manner available to a person under 18 years of age, any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other communication that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was not part of the original Senate legislation, but was added in conference with the House, where it had been separately introduced by Representatives Chris Cox (R-CA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) as the Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act and passed by a near-unanimous vote on the floor. It added protection for online service providers and users from action against them for the actions of others, stating in part that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider". (Even the service providers have noticed the actions of the publishers and speakers are not lawful.)
This section of the Act has come under fire, with numerous calls for revisions to the Act to restore service provider liability in some cases.
The Communication Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) could be argued to be the first try to bring pornographic materials on the internet under the control of law. In 1997, some parts of the law were reversed. There was a correction that became the CDA and it was added to the Telecommunications Act in the Senate by an 84-16 vote on June 14, 1995.
The Congress finally passed the Act and it had affected the internet and online communications in two important ways. The first one was to bring indecency and obscenity in cyberspace available to children under law. The second one was Section 230 of the Act that has explained that operators of internet services are not to be understood as publishers, so they are not legally responsible for the words of third parties who use their services.
There has been an Act on restricting the use of offensive speech in TV and radio broadcasting. However, since internet has been a recent mass media compared to TV and radio broadcasting, the CDA was the first attempt to show the control over the indecency and obscenity on internet. It imposed criminal sanctions on anyone who commit things against what are stated in the Act, mostly about indecency and obscenity and its transmission to persons under 18. However, some had argued and protested about the effects that might occur from it.
The legal challenges continued as the CDA was partially blocked arguing that it would violate the free speech rights of adults; parents were not allowed to decide for themselves what material was acceptable for their children. However, the Congress made attempt to bring the internet indecency related to children’s exposure under law. Supreme Court upheld the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) of 2000 as constitutional in 2004. For the conclusion of Section 230, it protects Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from liability for restricting access to specific material and giving technical means to restrict access to that material.
Title: US hopes to develop bug-sized, flying spies. Source:http://www.msnbc.msn.com Nov 22, 2008 Author: James Hannah
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could know of the dangerous actions being plot against us way before they occur? If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if those fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons? The board U.S. military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and conduct dangerous missions without risking lives.
The way we imagine it to be is there would be a bunch of these sent out in a swarm, if we know there's a possibility of bad guys in a certain building, how do we find out? We think this would help us find out and avoid risking many lives.
The next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs, could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists. With more research done, the robots would also help reduce or avoid civilian casualties.
The military plan to start by developing a bird-sized robot as soon as 2015, followed by the insect-sized models by 2030. The vehicles could be useful on battlefields where the biggest challenge is collecting reliable information about enemies. If we could get inside the buildings and inside the rooms where their activities are in the open, we would be able to get the kind of information we need to shut them down.
If you make the robot so small that it's like a bumblebee and then you ask the bumblebee to carry a video camera and everything else, it may not be able to get off the ground. This bug will have to be designed in such a way that it is able to carry the weight of cameras and microphones. Unlike the bird-sized vehicles, the insect-sized ones would actually use flappable wings to fly, We think the flapping is more so people don't notice it they think it's a bird.
He said engineers want to build a vehicle with a 1-inch wingspan, possibly made of an elastic material. The vehicle would have sensors to help avoid slamming into buildings or other objects. Existing airborne robots are flown by a ground-based pilot, but the smaller versions would fly independently, relying on preprogrammed instructions. The tiny vehicles should also be able to withstand bumps.
Once prototypes are developed, they will be flight-tested in a new building at Wright-Patterson dubbed the "micro aviary" for Micro Air Vehicle Integration Application Research Institute. This type of technology is really the wave of the future. More and more military research is going into things that are small, that are precise and that are extremely focused on particular types of missions or activities.
The Communications Decency Act of 1996 could be considered the first act that allowed pornographic material on the internet in the US. In 1997 the law was modified by the Court that was added to the Telecommunication Act of 1996.
The Act was passed by the congress which affected the Internet in two ways. First it affects the indecency and obscenity in cyberspace that is, the materials are available the children underage. Second, under section 230it states that the internet service operators are not considered as the publishers and will not be responsible for those who use their services. The providers are not held responsible for people who use their services.
The FCC has already introduced an act that prohibits offensive speech broadcasting on the Television or radio. The Internet, however, had only recently been opened to commercial interests by the 1992 amendment to the National Science Foundation Act and therefore had not been taken into consideration by previous laws. The CDA, which affected the Internet and cable television, marked the first attempt to expand regulation to these new mass media.
Passed by Congress on February 1, 1996, and signed by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996, the CDA imposed criminal sanctions on anyone who did not follow the law stated in the Act that is mainly about the transmission of materials that were indecent and obscene to a minor.
There were many other legal challenges the CDA had to go through before they got the Supreme Court to support the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) of 2000 as constitutional in 2004. The protestors were successful in getting parts of the CDA blocked as it violated the free speech right of the adults as it did not allow parents to decide for themselves what materials were best for their child. Later, Section 230 was separately introduced as the Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act. It added protection for the online service providers and users from action against them for the action of others.
In a landmark 1997 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Internet is a unique medium entitled to the highest protection under the free speech protections of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. This gives the Internet same free speech protection as print. The Internet is the first electronic media to achieve this because of low barriers to access, abundance, many speakers, no gatekeepers.
The Court struck down the Communications Decency Act (CDA), Congress' first attempt to censor speech online. Writing for the court, Justice John Paul Stevens held that "the CDA places an unacceptably heavy burden on protected speech" and found that all provisions of the CDA are unconsitutional as they apply to "indecent" or "patently offensive" speech. In a separate concurrence, Chief Justice William Rhenquist and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor agreed that the provisions of the CDA are all unconstitutional except in their narrow application to "communications between an adult and one or more minors."
The Communications Decency Act was passed in February 1996. The CDA imposed broadcast-style content regulations on the open, decentralized Internet and severely restricted the first amendment rights of all Americans. CDT strongly opposed this legislation because it threatened the very existence of the Internet as a means for free expression, education, and political discourse. Although well intentioned, the CDA was ineffective and failed to recognize the unique nature of this global, decentralized medium.
The CDA prohibited posting "indecent" or "patently offensive" materials in a public forum on the Internet -- including web pages, newsgroups, chat rooms, or online discussion lists. This would have included the texts of classic fiction such as the "Catcher in the Rye" and "Ulysees", the "7 dirty words", and other materials which, although offensive to some, enjoy the full protection of the First Amendment if published in a newspaper, magazine, or a book, or in the public square. It is also important to note that the CDA was not about child pornography, obscenity, or using the Internet to stalk children. These were already illegal under current law.
On Wednesday June 12, 1996 at 9:00 am, a panel of three federal judges in Philadelphia, PA granted the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition's (CIEC) request for a preliminary injunction against the Communications Decency Act (CDA). In a unanimous decision, the judges ruled that the CDA would unconstitutionally restrict speech on the Internet.
NEWS CARD POSTING NO 3 EVERESTA AKUJUO ( EVA ) TITLE ; SOCIAL NETWORKING ARE HEALTHY FOR TEENS SOURCE; YAHOO NEWS .COM AUTHOR; JOHN LESTER
A new study suggests that teens who participate in online social networking gain useful skills. The study was conducted by the Mac Arthur Foundation. Most parents disagree and feel that their time could be spent in more productive ways. A new study conducted by the Mac Arthur Foundation suggests that online social networking is healthy for teens. While most worried parents disagree, researchers say time used on social networks build valuable skills including technological and literacy. "It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it's on MySpace or sending instant messages," said lead researcher Mizuko Ito in a statement. Some parents feel that the time used depends on the person and the behaviour of the individual. However, researchers say that their participation is giving them the skills they need to succeed in the contemporary world. The study was conducted from 2005 through last summer. It describes social usage but does not measure its effects. Some research scientists believe that parental concern with dangers in Internet socializing might result from a misperception. "Those concerns about predators and stranger danger have been overblown," Ito said. "There's been some confusion about what kids are actually doing online. Mostly, they're socializing with their friends, people they've met at school or camp or sports," she added. The study was part of a $50 million project on digital and media learning. Researchers used several teams to interview more than 800 teens along with their parents. Teenagers were observed for more than 5,000 hours while they were online.
Title : The digital european library victim of its own success
Author : Alain Beuve-Méry
France is the first contributor (52%) for the project of the digital European library. Europeana was launched on the Thursday. 20 November, 2008 in Bruxelles by Jose Manuel Barroso, President of EU commission and Viviane Reding, commisionner in charge of the information company, and ministers of EU culture. However the project is the victim of its own success. The site closed shortly after it opened. The Europeana site is temporarily not accessible due to overwhelming interest after its launch (10 million hits per hour). We are doing our utmost to reopen Europeana in a more robust version as soon as possible. We will be back by mid-December.
Europeana has the ambition to become the multicultural, multilingual gate online (Internet). All cultural treasures in libraries will be digitized including the museums’ and cultural centers’ archives of the 27 member countries of the EU. As a result the Europeana is considered as the mythical Alexander library which had collected all ancient knowledge before it disappeared in a fire. The Europeana library has already 7 millions books digitized and 2 million cultural objets digitized (paintings, photos, films, musics etc...).
Comment on Bussakorn`s News Can virtual life take over from real life? (TimesOnline – www.timesonline.co.uk, Thursday, 16 November 2008 )
Well regarding this matter I am convinced that virtual life will never replace real life. We will continue to have both lives ; virtual and real. It is wonderful to have choices, is it not? It depends on us to manage them. For my personal case I am very happy to have the choice to live in the real and virtual worlds. I know perfectly when it is real and when it is virtual or purely fantasy,
I am getting a lot of fun, pleasure, education about life, by going to the cinema and in the same time the cinema is the reincarnation of our lives. Some other people adore reading novels which are fiction, our lives made into stories. It is the same regarding the play which is fiction as well and we all need them in order to ''decorate'' our real life which is not always ''roses''; is not it ?
Nowadays the internet plays a big role in our lives. It is not going to replace plays, cinema, books etc, just take it as a complementarity. Do not expect much from ''friends'' we meet through the internet; they are what they are; they neither real neither virtual; they just act differently in front of the screen than when they face someone real. My advice is that the less you expect the more you get!
On 1996-06-11 Judges Sloviter, Buckwalter and Dalzell at the Appeals Court in Philadelphia handed down their decision in the lawsuit filed by the ACLU and others to overturn the CDA. The judges decided in favor of the plaintiffs and against the government.
Some extracts from the judgement:
Subjecting speakers to criminal penalties for speech that is constitutionally protected in itself raises the spectre of irreparable harm. Even if a court were unwilling to draw that conclusion from the language of the statute itself, plaintiffs have introduced ample evidence that the challenged provisions, if not enjoined, will have a chilling effect on their free expression.
Whatever the strength of the interest the government has demonstrated in preventing minors from accessing "indecent" and "patently offensive" material online, if the means it has chosen sweeps more broadly than necessary and thereby chills the expression of adults, it has overstepped onto rights protected by the First Amendment.
But the bottom line is that the First Amendment should not be interpreted to require us to entrust the protection it affords to the judgment of prosecutors. kay kay Prosecutors come and go. Even federal judges are limited to life tenure. The First Amendment remains to give protection to future generations as well. I have no hesitancy in concluding that it is likely that plaintiffs will prevail on the merits of their argument that the challenged provisions of the CDA are facially invalid under both the First and Fifth Amendments.
Comment on Bussakorn`s News Can virtual life take over from real life?
In my opinion, it is necessary to have both lives and we need to be able to differentiate between them. Sometimes people are not confident to talk to people face to face and are better off writing their feeling to their friends online. But then again, people now-a-days are spending more time on social networking sites rather than actually going out to meet real people.
How can we be so sure the person we are talking to are actually who they say they are? We cannot really place our whole trust in them we must be able keep that distance. The more people are addicted to the virtual sites they actually loose the way to interact in real life because people can always hide behind the virtual platform.
Its good to have virtual sites so people can keep in touch through out this is the medium that connects us all but it should not take away the real aspect of socialization.
After the revision, modification, alteration and reshuffle of the said Act regarding The Communication and Decency Act, legislated by the Court and the FCC and Congress was signed by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996. It was discussed by the Supreme Court by 2000 and voted as constitutional in 2004. In spite of all these modifications the CDA is still imperfect. The internet has recently been opened to commercial interests by the 1992 amendment therefore it has not been taken into consideration by previous laws ; such as the laws regulated TV and Radio.
In spite of all precautions that the US government has taken in order to prevent underage children from indecency and obscenity in cyberspace (and towards internet providers) this new mass media (Internet) must also be supervised and inspected by the users themselves. Families, parents have to play a role and protect their own children. School must educate students how to use internet in beneficial, safe way. Nowadays, drinking alcohol, smoking, internet access to porno cinema is very easy for children. It is up to the government, the educational establishment (cultural ministry, school, university, cyberspace etc) and families to control their own children and teach them to safely manage their own lives.
16 comments:
Bussakorn Lert-itthiporn
ID: 512-9501
News Card No.3
Can virtual life take over from real life?
TimesOnline - www.timesonline.co.uk
Thursday, 16 November 2008
Are computers making us lose friends and alienate people, asks the writer Roger Scruton
The medium is the message, Marshall McLuhan famously said. And by changing the message we change ourselves. Never has this observation been so relevant as it is today, when many people spend their days at the computer, conducting friendships through Facebook and MySpace, posting videos on their websites, going into real society shielded by an iPod, or simply sending their avatar across the Grid in Second Life, looking for virtual relationships, virtual excitement and even virtual sex. Some welcome this, as a form of liberation. Shy people used to go trembling into society, hand in mouth; now they can go boldly into virtual society, hand on mouse.
But it would be naive to think people can live their lives this way, with their eyes on the screen and their minds on themselves, without affecting their capacity for real human relationships. Some might argue that we are witnessing a new kind of addiction. For addiction arises when something good but hard — in this case, friendship — is provided with a cost-free substitute, obtainable at the flick of a switch.
In real life, friendship involves risk. The reward is great: help in times of need, joy in times of celebration. But the cost is also great: self-sacrifice, accountability, the risk of embarrassment and anger, and the effort of winning another’s trust. Hence I can become friends with you only by seeking your company. I must attend to your words, gestures and body language, and win the trust of the person revealed in them, and this is risky business. I can avoid the risk and still obtain pleasure; but I will never obtain friendship or love.
When I relate to you through the screen there is a marked shift in emphasis. Now I have my finger on the button. At any moment I can turn you off. You are free in your own space, but you are not really free in mine, since you are dependent on my decision to keep you there. I retain ultimate control, and am not risking myself in the friendship as I risk myself when I meet you face to face. Of course I may stay glued to the screen. Nevertheless, it is a screen that I am glued to, not the person behind it.
You too, therefore, will not risk yourself; you appear on the screen only on condition of retaining ultimate control. This is something I know about you. And I know that you know that I know. And you likewise. There grows between us a reduced-risk encounter, in which each is aware that the other is fundamentally withheld, sovereign within his impregnable cyber-castle. I “click on” you, as I might click on a news item or a video. You are one of the products on display; but this does not make you an object of trust, with whom my life is mingled.
Second Life, which invites us to enter a virtual world through an avatar taken from its collection of templates, has more than 15m users. It provides opportunities for virtual business, virtual shopping, and even virtual “social” action, with social positions achieved by merit, or at any rate virtual merit. People can enjoy cost-free versions of the social emotions, and become heroes of “compassion”, without lifting a finger in the real world.
Of course, avatars are dolls, which must be ventriloquised by their cyber-parents. But the dolls are getting more realistic, and who knows, maybe soon they will be able to read each other’s body language, and begin to respond directly, presenting their watchful parents with moral dilemmas that they had never foreseen. The new “dream children” may soon possess all the attributes which their creators wish for but do not possess, and will be able to copulate in cyberspace with the dreams of other people, in a sterile caricature of erotic passion. On YouTube it is possible to see a film in which a couple who have never met describe their adulterous affair conducted in cyberspace, showing no guilt towards the victim, and proudly displaying their narcissistic emotions as though they had achieved some kind of moral breakthrough, by ensuring that it is only their avatars, and not they themselves, that ended up in bed.
Does this matter? I think it does. For trust, accountability and risk-taking are dispositions on which the future of society depends. And these things are learnt by accepting the real cost of them. They are not learnt by playing with their virtual substitutes, any more than real courage is learnt by playing with violent computer games. As people habituate themselves to living in virtual worlds where all is permitted and nothing is paid for, virtues like courage and justice will disappear, since nobody will have a need for them. Without those virtues, however, people will be unable to risk themselves in real encounters, and will hide instead in their narcissistic dreams. Some people look forward to this, hoping for a brave new world of virtual relationships; but surely the best thing about such a world is that no real person will be born there.
Summary:
Are some people addicted to the virtual life so much that they are confused or forget which one is real? or is it just a way to escape real life stress? or are they just comfortable with both real life and virtual life, feel like they are living a normal everyday life e.g. having social life in both kinds? Personally, I'd say they're still different. even tho we can do as many things as possible in the virtual life like in real life as some programmers have created, people should realize that it's just a place they can play or do whatever they are comfortable with or have fun. E.g. some people might be addicted to a chat line like MSN, it's ok that they use the program to facilitate helping them socializing or sharing news or whatever with their peers, even some random strangers?! But it's not where they actually live. It'd be wise to know that real life is real life and it should be the main focus. Have much fun as we like, but know to stay on track as much as possible.
News Card Posting 3
Source: AFP
Author: Harumi Ozawa (Tokyo)
Japanese Rooftop Vegie Plots
Tomohiro Kitazawa makes an unlikely farmer. He works neither under the sun nor in the fields, instead reporting for duty in the bustling heart of Tokyo. As Japan`s capital city struggles with problems from food safety to global warming to unemployment, a growing number of people in the famously crowded metropolis are becoming city farmers, planting crops atop tall buildings or deep underground.
The state-of-art farm, known as Pasona O2, was created by Tokyo-based temp staffing agency Pasona Group INC. The farm carefully adjusts temperatures, humidity and lighting so vegetables can grow under the ground.
Kitazawa grows a few different types of lettuce in one of the six “farms”, which look somewhat like space laboratories divided by glass doors that slide open and shut automatically.
The other farming rooms grow rice, roses and vegetables such as tomatoes and pumpkins.
City farming also offers a solution for another problem in Tokyo and other major cities---the so-called urban heat-island effect.
Citie`s temperatures rise in the summer due to the urban environment of heat-absorbing concrete buildings and pavement. In a vicious cycle, the heat boosts the use of air conditioning, raising carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
Encouraged by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, a number of building owners in the capital have introduced roof-top gardening as a way to prevent overheating.
News Card Posting 3
Source: AFP
Author: Harumi Ozawa (Tokyo)
Japanese Rooftop Vegie Plots
Tomohiro Kitazawa makes an unlikely farmer. He works neither under the sun nor in the fields, instead reporting for duty in the bustling heart of Tokyo. As Japan`s capital city struggles with problems from food safety to global warming to unemployment, a growing number of people in the famously crowded metropolis are becoming city farmers, planting crops atop tall buildings or deep underground.
The state-of-art farm, known as Pasona O2, was created by Tokyo-based temp staffing agency Pasona Group INC. The farm carefully adjusts temperatures, humidity and lighting so vegetables can grow under the ground.
Kitazawa grows a few different types of lettuce in one of the six “farms”, which look somewhat like space laboratories divided by glass doors that slide open and shut automatically.
The other farming rooms grow rice, roses and vegetables such as tomatoes and pumpkins.
City farming also offers a solution for another problem in Tokyo and other major cities---the so-called urban heat-island effect.
Citie`s temperatures rise in the summer due to the urban environment of heat-absorbing concrete buildings and pavement. In a vicious cycle, the heat boosts the use of air conditioning, raising carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
Encouraged by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, a number of building owners in the capital have introduced roof-top gardening as a way to prevent overheating.
Comment on Bussakorn`s News Card Posting
Virtual Friends V.S. Real Friends
As normal people, we always need different friends. Sometimes we don`t like to talk about personal matters with friends fact to face, but keeping “bitterness” to oneself psychologically harms that person. Thus, on the Internet, sometimes without knowing the faces of each other, telling some secrets are acceptable.
On the contrary, how much can you trust your virtual friends? Can virtual friends be responsible as “friends”? Are virtual friends indeed friends in need? These are questions that you have to consider.
Virtual Sex? Well, I strongly believe that it doesn`t help, biologically.
Comment on Lester's News Card Posting No.3 - Japanese Rooftop Veggie Plots
This idea-put-into-action is very helpful to people in Japan and can apply it in other countries as well. Buildings won't look so dull, just beautiful only because of the architecture or with flower decoration anymore. Planting veggies adds the 'green' feeling and usefully make use of the building space, even go underground to solve environmental problems e.g. small picture - heat-island effect in japan, big picture - global warming.
Excerpt of Communications Decency Act
Communications Decency Act was arguably believed the first act to regulate pornographic materials on the Internet in the US. This Act was title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was introduced by Senator James Exon and Senator Slade Gorton. The Act affects the Internet in two ways. First, it regulates both indecency and obscenity in cyberspace. Second, Section 230 mentions operators of internet services are not to be constructed as publishers.
The Internet, however, had only recently been opened to commercial interests by the 1992 amendment to the National Science Foundation Act and thus had not been taken into consideration by previous laws. The CDA, which affected the Internet and cable television, marked the first attempt to expand regulation to these new mass media.
Passed by Congress on February 1, 1996, and signed by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996, the CDA imposed criminal sanctions on anyone who knowingly: (A) uses an interactive computer service to send to a specific person or persons under 18 years of age, or (B) uses any interactive computer service to display in a manner available to a person under 18 years of age, any comment, request, suggestion, proposal, image, or other communication that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory activities or organs.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was not part of the original Senate legislation, but was added in conference with the House, where it had been separately introduced by Representatives Chris Cox (R-CA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) as the Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act and passed by a near-unanimous vote on the floor. It added protection for online service providers and users from action against them for the actions of others, stating in part that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider". (Even the service providers have noticed the actions of the publishers and speakers are not lawful.)
This section of the Act has come under fire, with numerous calls for revisions to the Act to restore service provider liability in some cases.
Bussakorn Lert-itthiporn
ID:512-9501
Excerpt on Communications Decency Act
The Communication Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) could be argued to be the first try to bring pornographic materials on the internet under the control of law. In 1997, some parts of the law were reversed. There was a correction that became the CDA and it was added to the Telecommunications Act in the Senate by an 84-16 vote on June 14, 1995.
The Congress finally passed the Act and it had affected the internet and online communications in two important ways. The first one was to bring indecency and obscenity in cyberspace available to children under law. The second one was Section 230 of the Act that has explained that operators of internet services are not to be understood as publishers, so they are not legally responsible for the words of third parties who use their services.
There has been an Act on restricting the use of offensive speech in TV and radio broadcasting. However, since internet has been a recent mass media compared to TV and radio broadcasting, the CDA was the first attempt to show the control over the indecency and obscenity on internet. It imposed criminal sanctions on anyone who commit things against what are stated in the Act, mostly about indecency and obscenity and its transmission to persons under 18. However, some had argued and protested about the effects that might occur from it.
The legal challenges continued as the CDA was partially blocked arguing that it would violate the free speech rights of adults; parents were not allowed to decide for themselves what material was acceptable for their children. However, the Congress made attempt to bring the internet indecency related to children’s exposure under law. Supreme Court upheld the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) of 2000 as constitutional in 2004. For the conclusion of Section 230, it protects Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from liability for restricting access to specific material and giving technical means to restrict access to that material.
Thitima Chawla
ID: 5129514
News Card No.3
Title: US hopes to develop bug-sized, flying spies.
Source:http://www.msnbc.msn.com Nov 22, 2008
Author: James Hannah
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could know of the dangerous actions being plot against us way before they occur? If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if those fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons? The board U.S. military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and conduct dangerous missions without risking lives.
The way we imagine it to be is there would be a bunch of these sent out in a swarm, if we know there's a possibility of bad guys in a certain building, how do we find out? We think this would help us find out and avoid risking many lives.
The next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs, could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists. With more research done, the robots would also help reduce or avoid civilian casualties.
The military plan to start by developing a bird-sized robot as soon as 2015, followed by the insect-sized models by 2030. The vehicles could be useful on battlefields where the biggest challenge is collecting reliable information about enemies. If we could get inside the buildings and inside the rooms where their activities are in the open, we would be able to get the kind of information we need to shut them down.
If you make the robot so small that it's like a bumblebee and then you ask the bumblebee to carry a video camera and everything else, it may not be able to get off the ground. This bug will have to be designed in such a way that it is able to carry the weight of cameras and microphones. Unlike the bird-sized vehicles, the insect-sized ones would actually use flappable wings to fly, We think the flapping is more so people don't notice it they think it's a bird.
He said engineers want to build a vehicle with a 1-inch wingspan, possibly made of an elastic material. The vehicle would have sensors to help avoid slamming into buildings or other objects. Existing airborne robots are flown by a ground-based pilot, but the smaller versions would fly independently, relying on preprogrammed instructions. The tiny vehicles should also be able to withstand bumps.
Once prototypes are developed, they will be flight-tested in a new building at Wright-Patterson dubbed the "micro aviary" for Micro Air Vehicle Integration Application Research Institute.
This type of technology is really the wave of the future. More and more military research is going into things that are small, that are precise and that are extremely focused on particular types of missions or activities.
Thitima Chawla
ID: 5129514
Excerpt for Communications Decency Act
The Communications Decency Act of 1996 could be considered the first act that allowed pornographic material on the internet in the US. In 1997 the law was modified by the Court that was added to the Telecommunication Act of 1996.
The Act was passed by the congress which affected the Internet in two ways. First it affects the indecency and obscenity in cyberspace that is, the materials are available the children underage. Second, under section 230it states that the internet service operators are not considered as the publishers and will not be responsible for those who use their services. The providers are not held responsible for people who use their services.
The FCC has already introduced an act that prohibits offensive speech broadcasting on the Television or radio. The Internet, however, had only recently been opened to commercial interests by the 1992 amendment to the National Science Foundation Act and therefore had not been taken into consideration by previous laws. The CDA, which affected the Internet and cable television, marked the first attempt to expand regulation to these new mass media.
Passed by Congress on February 1, 1996, and signed by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996, the CDA imposed criminal sanctions on anyone who did not follow the law stated in the Act that is mainly about the transmission of materials that were indecent and obscene to a minor.
There were many other legal challenges the CDA had to go through before they got the Supreme Court to support the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) of 2000 as constitutional in 2004. The protestors were successful in getting parts of the CDA blocked as it violated the free speech right of the adults as it did not allow parents to decide for themselves what materials were best for their child. Later, Section 230 was separately introduced as the Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act. It added protection for the online service providers and users from action against them for the action of others.
Kay
ID:5029515
In a landmark 1997 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Internet is a unique medium entitled to the highest protection under the free speech protections of the First Amendment to the US Constitution. This gives the Internet same free speech protection as print. The Internet is the first electronic media to achieve this because of low barriers to access, abundance, many speakers, no gatekeepers.
The Court struck down the Communications Decency Act (CDA), Congress' first attempt to censor speech online. Writing for the court, Justice John Paul Stevens held that "the CDA places an unacceptably heavy burden on protected speech" and found that all provisions of the CDA are unconsitutional as they apply to "indecent" or "patently offensive" speech. In a separate concurrence, Chief Justice William Rhenquist and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor agreed that the provisions of the CDA are all unconstitutional except in their narrow application to "communications between an adult and one or more minors."
The Communications Decency Act was passed in February 1996. The CDA imposed broadcast-style content regulations on the open, decentralized Internet and severely restricted the first amendment rights of all Americans. CDT strongly opposed this legislation because it threatened the very existence of the Internet as a means for free expression, education, and political discourse. Although well intentioned, the CDA was ineffective and failed to recognize the unique nature of this global, decentralized medium.
The CDA prohibited posting "indecent" or "patently offensive" materials in a public forum on the Internet -- including web pages, newsgroups, chat rooms, or online discussion lists. This would have included the texts of classic fiction such as the "Catcher in the Rye" and "Ulysees", the "7 dirty words", and other materials which, although offensive to some, enjoy the full protection of the First Amendment if published in a newspaper, magazine, or a book, or in the public square. It is also important to note that the CDA was not about child pornography, obscenity, or using the Internet to stalk children. These were already illegal under current law.
On Wednesday June 12, 1996 at 9:00 am, a panel of three federal judges in Philadelphia, PA granted the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition's (CIEC) request for a preliminary injunction against the Communications Decency Act (CDA). In a unanimous decision, the judges ruled that the CDA would unconstitutionally restrict speech on the Internet.
NEWS CARD POSTING NO 3
EVERESTA AKUJUO ( EVA )
TITLE ; SOCIAL NETWORKING ARE HEALTHY FOR TEENS
SOURCE; YAHOO NEWS .COM
AUTHOR; JOHN LESTER
A new study suggests that teens who participate in online social networking gain useful skills. The study was conducted by the Mac Arthur Foundation. Most parents disagree and feel that their time could be spent in more productive ways.
A new study conducted by the Mac Arthur Foundation suggests that online social networking is healthy for teens. While most worried parents disagree, researchers say time used on social networks build valuable skills including technological and literacy.
"It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it's on MySpace or sending instant messages," said lead researcher Mizuko Ito in a statement.
Some parents feel that the time used depends on the person and the behaviour of the individual. However, researchers say that their participation is giving them the skills they need to succeed in the contemporary world.
The study was conducted from 2005 through last summer. It describes social usage but does not measure its effects. Some research scientists believe that parental concern with dangers in Internet socializing might result from a misperception.
"Those concerns about predators and stranger danger have been overblown," Ito said. "There's been some confusion about what kids are actually doing online. Mostly, they're socializing with their friends, people they've met at school or camp or sports," she added.
The study was part of a $50 million project on digital and media learning. Researchers used several teams to interview more than 800 teens along with their parents. Teenagers were observed for more than 5,000 hours while they were online.
Source : Le Monde daily News
http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2008/11/20/l-union-europeenne-lance-sa-bibliotheque-numerique_1120978_651865.html#ens_id=561616
Author : Alain Beuve-Méry
Title : The digital european library victim of its own success
Author : Alain Beuve-Méry
France is the first contributor (52%) for the project of the digital European library. Europeana was launched on the Thursday. 20 November, 2008 in Bruxelles by Jose Manuel Barroso, President of EU commission and Viviane Reding, commisionner in charge of the information company, and ministers of EU culture. However the project is the victim of its own success. The site closed shortly after it opened. The Europeana site is temporarily not accessible due to overwhelming interest after its launch (10 million hits per hour). We are doing our utmost to reopen Europeana in a more robust version as soon as possible. We will be back by mid-December.
Europeana has the ambition to become the multicultural, multilingual gate online (Internet). All cultural treasures in libraries will be digitized including the museums’ and cultural centers’ archives of the 27 member countries of the EU. As a result the Europeana is considered as the mythical Alexander library which had collected all ancient knowledge before it disappeared in a fire. The Europeana library has already 7 millions books digitized and 2 million cultural objets digitized (paintings, photos, films, musics etc...).
Comment on Bussakorn`s News Can virtual life take over from real life?
(TimesOnline – www.timesonline.co.uk, Thursday, 16 November 2008 )
Well regarding this matter I am convinced that virtual life will never replace real life. We will continue to have both lives ; virtual and real. It is wonderful to have choices, is it not? It depends on us to manage them. For my personal case I am very happy to have the choice to live in the real and virtual worlds. I know perfectly when it is real and when it is virtual or purely fantasy,
I am getting a lot of fun, pleasure, education about life, by going to the cinema and in the same time the cinema is the reincarnation of our lives. Some other people adore reading novels which are fiction, our lives made into stories. It is the same regarding the play which is fiction as well and we all need them in order to ''decorate'' our real life which is not always ''roses''; is not it ?
Nowadays the internet plays a big role in our lives. It is not going to replace plays, cinema, books etc, just take it as a complementarity. Do not expect much from ''friends'' we meet through the internet; they are what they are; they neither real neither virtual; they just act differently in front of the screen than when they face someone real. My advice is that the less you expect the more you get!
Preliminary Injunction Against the CDA is Granted
On 1996-06-11 Judges Sloviter, Buckwalter and Dalzell at the Appeals Court in Philadelphia handed down their decision in the lawsuit filed by the ACLU and others to overturn the CDA. The judges decided in favor of the plaintiffs and against the government.
Some extracts from the judgement:
Subjecting speakers to criminal penalties for speech that is constitutionally protected in itself raises the spectre of irreparable harm. Even if a court were unwilling to draw that conclusion from the language of the statute itself, plaintiffs have introduced ample evidence that the challenged provisions, if not enjoined, will have a chilling effect on their free expression.
Whatever the strength of the interest the government has demonstrated in preventing minors from accessing "indecent" and "patently offensive" material online, if the means it has chosen sweeps more broadly than necessary and thereby chills the expression of adults, it has overstepped onto rights protected by the First Amendment.
But the bottom line is that the First Amendment should not be interpreted to require us to entrust the protection it affords to the judgment of prosecutors. kay
kay
Prosecutors come and go. Even federal judges are limited to life tenure. The First Amendment remains to give protection to future generations as well. I have no hesitancy in concluding that it is likely that plaintiffs will prevail on the merits of their argument that the challenged provisions of the CDA are facially invalid under both the First and Fifth Amendments.
Thitima Chawla
ID: 5129514
Comment on Bussakorn`s News Can virtual life take over from real life?
In my opinion, it is necessary to have both lives and we need to be able to differentiate between them. Sometimes people are not confident to talk to people face to face and are better off writing their feeling to their friends online. But then again, people now-a-days are spending more time on social networking sites rather than actually going out to meet real people.
How can we be so sure the person we are talking to are actually who they say they are? We cannot really place our whole trust in them we must be able keep that distance. The more people are addicted to the virtual sites they actually loose the way to interact in real life because people can always hide behind the virtual platform.
Its good to have virtual sites so people can keep in touch through out this is the medium that connects us all but it should not take away the real aspect of socialization.
Commentary
After the revision, modification, alteration and reshuffle of the said Act regarding The Communication and Decency Act, legislated by the Court and the FCC and Congress was signed by President Bill Clinton on February 8, 1996. It was discussed by the Supreme Court by 2000 and voted as constitutional in 2004. In spite of all these modifications the CDA is still imperfect. The internet has recently been opened to commercial interests by the 1992 amendment therefore it has not been taken into consideration by previous laws ; such as the laws regulated TV and Radio.
In spite of all precautions that the US government has taken in order to prevent underage children from indecency and obscenity in cyberspace (and towards internet providers) this new mass media (Internet) must also be supervised and inspected by the users themselves. Families, parents have to play a role and protect their own children. School must educate students how to use internet in beneficial, safe way. Nowadays, drinking alcohol, smoking, internet access to porno cinema is very easy for children. It is up to the government, the educational establishment (cultural ministry, school, university, cyberspace etc) and families to control their own children and teach them to safely manage their own lives.
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