Table of Contents
Question 1
Part A
DNA testing technology has reduced the relevance of humans because they rely on validated machines rather than on their thinking and expertise. The reliance on the machines to give accurate answers implies that humans are no better than the machines. Instead of using their knowledge and skills to solve issues, DNA testing became the standard for convicting and exonerating criminals. It was assumed that the technology was the way of justice and was the only means of seeing things as they are. Furthermore, it reduced the extent juries made inquiries in cases. All they needed was to hear the word “DNA” to make guilty verdicts. The television police procedurals that incorporated DNA testing changed the thinking of juries and courtroom experts. DNA evidence became a norm and lawyers stopped questioning about the collection, storage, and analysis of samples using the technology. The technology became the deciding factor when giving verdicts in courts.
Part 2
The availability of DNA testing technology enabled the criminal justice system to become more efficient than ever before. Crime labs were expanded, new employees trained, and the level of discipline and thoroughness increased. The FB creased CODIS database that stored the DNA profiles for all arrestees and convicted criminals. The DNA analysis exposed how the criminal justice system had a bias against the blacks. Blacks who had been wrongfully convicted were exonerated. As of 2015, the DNA database had about 15 million profiles and it aided in various criminal investigations. Also, more sexual-assault and homicide reached trial and resulted in guilty verdicts. Juries had an easy time making their verdicts because all they needed were testimonies from forensic scientists about the DNA evidence they had collected.
Question 2
Part A
The failure of the Multipoint Educational Technology to hit its educational objectives and purposes is what contributed to manufacturing or production of irrelevant humans. When installing this technology, the government just provides the hardware and building the classroom where the computer or digital education will take on. However, the greatest disaster is in the implementation, maintenance, training of staff including teachers and IT expert to monitor the operationalization of the technology. In most schools as identified by Kentaro Toyama, they lack in technical support as well as finance to support and maintain the digital education. Another mess is lack of marriage between the school curriculum and the educational technology that schools rush to embrace. The technology and the normal curriculum have little association with the technology. As a result, time is wasted and not used wisely. Instead of the technology to match up, improve and enhance education, it has led to the failure of the same. The technology ended up offering what did not support education outcomes.
Part B
As aforementioned, the consequences were the failure is the inability of the Multipoint Educational Technology to improve the educational outcomes. The failure or lack of cohesion between the school curriculum and the technology made it impossible for the learners and teachers to have a transformative educational result. Despite having access to computer knowledge and access, the children or the learners did not have the knowledge needed to operate computers outside the school premises. When left on their own to digital devices, the technology did amplify the propensities of the children. Children have natural agitation or desire to learn and play. In addition, they have the natural desire to distract themselves with unimportant things. The digital technology did amplify these tendencies; the urge to learn and distractions. In the end, because of the failure to balance between productive interaction and distractions due to digital devices, the technology ended up magnifying the existing problems as opposed to uplifting them.
Question 3
The tendency to look for love and companionship from the robots is what Turkle calls skirting Intimacy. Sherry Turkle suggests that there will come a time when Robots or virtual human beings will take an important position in the lives of the people. As the world progresses and technology evolves, human beings will end up alienating from each other. Social isolation will be so much and therefore, people will look for alternative sources of companionship. The social aspect of life between people will disappear. Parents will get busy for their children and the elderly population will be alone without human companions. The desire for love, friendships, and socialness will create the desire to look for it from alternative sources, robots. The so-called sociable robots will come up to replace these gaps in human life.
Robots will give the elderly the Love, friendship, or the companion they need. The same robots will tend and take care of the children. According to Turkle, humans will find comfort from programmed robots that will provide the simulation of love to them. Robots will act as real human beings. They will be programmed to behave and tend like a normal human being and that is why Turkle refers to them as humans. They will provide humans with the care and companionship that they lack from each other. The assumptions that robots are caring, loving and provide the intimate that people miss from real life is what Sherry describes as skirting intimacy.
Question 4
The technological affordances refer to the kind of technology that supports performance or execution of tasks at ease. The blackboard is the medium of communication in the classroom. Educational technology is a digital tool that educators have used or recommends for improving the educational outcomes. The use of the blackboard in the classroom discourse has shaped the teaching and learning outcome in the classroom. As a way of embracing the educational technology, schools have slowly converted the conventional blackboard to resemble the whiteboards that have facilitated the uptake of the technology in teaching and learning. Educators use blackboard to illustrate and convey points and concepts in the classroom. The technology affordance of the blackboard is the ability to allow teaching to have a digital approach.
Today teachers use technology and blackboards to projects contents or illustrate figures and graphs in digital forms. Think of whiteboards that can support projectors as well as PowerPoint presentations. This is what technology has done to the education department- enhancing learning in all ways. In schools where students cannot afford computers or laptops, teachers do use the whiteboards to illustrate the digital content. The multimodal presentation of information and digital content is realized through text chat, VolP, and polling in the form of a whiteboard. The blackboard, through the help of the technology, it has supported the effective delivery and dissemination of the educational content in a technologically fashioned style and affordances. In addition, the technology affordances have enabled the blackboards to provide comparable and equivalent educational experiences similar to the one offered in a one-on-one setting. Further, because of technology affordances, blackboards provide the tutors with the opportunity to keep the class active.
Question 5
Part A
Sherry Turkle and colleagues would project a continued decline in the cell phone trend. As people move far and far from each other, the likelihood of them contacting or meeting often continue to diminish with distance. As indicated by the orange graph line, the chances of people in far distance communicating disintegrate with the increase in distance. Beyond the 3000 miles, most likely the communication via cell phone would likely be very low or zero. In real sense, people in far distances rarely keep in touch. What happens is that they establish other connections and relationships with people close to them. Although the graph is showing a tendency to assume an upward trend, the reality is that in the end, the cell interaction between discussants in this geographical location will remain low or none.
Part B
The graph is an incomplete analysis. Sherry Turkle does not indicate where the line is ending. On the contrary, the graphs stops at a hanging position that starts to show a slight increase in how people or discussants are using their cell phones for communications. The fact that graph stops at a point or it is hanging; it clearly shows a hanging argument of the relationship between the ICT use and human relationship.
Question 6
The usage of the smartphones in the society is growing rapidly every day and reaching many points in all corners of the world. However, the penetration, comfort and luxury of smartphones is dependent on the internet as its key infrastructure. Where there is internet connectivity, the penetration, use of smartphones has grown, and it is still growing to higher levels. Although the internet is the key infrastructures needed to drive the penetration of smartphones, the comfort of using the smartphones is dependent on certain elements of the internet. First, is the accessibility of the internet (possibly the 3G connectivity). The pride of smartphones is the ability to use them to navigate the across the internet sites and experience. The society must have quality internet connectivity so that the people can embrace the use of smartphones and get the best out of them.
People use smartphones to connect with each other through websites, emails, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media platforms. If the smartphones has to function and help people have comfortable interactions with their smartphones, the connectivity to the internet must be state of the art connectivity. Another element of internet infrastructure is its affordability. I is possible to have internet connectivity all over but it never helps people because of high costs of using the same. It is good to note that not all people use WIFI while accessing the internet. Some use mobile data to switch to the online services. If the mobile rates are too expensive, a majority of the people may not have fun or enjoy having smartphones. Smartphones have outnumbered the sale of other mobile phone devices in most societies because their ability to link to the internet and provide people with an improve interaction and experience of the digital world.