CS 312 Review

Introduction

• “Computer technology is too important to be left entirely to the technologists.”

• New technologies change everything and effect just about everyone.

• Should the government get involved? What about Internet stalkers and terrorist sites?

• What do governments control, and what can they control? (Singapore, China, FBI obtaining usage records from Yahoo and MSN)

The Economy

• Has computer technology increased productivity? Is it still too soon to know?

• What have been the consequences of the dot-com boom and bust? Are companies getting smarter about their business models?

• What role is off-shore out-sourcing playing in the global economy? Are there jobs enough to go around?

• Have the Internet and Google changed the way that business gets done?

Work and the Workplace

• What kind of computer jobs are available today, and where are they?

• What effect is immigration having on the U.S. workforce?

• What rights do companies have to monitor their employees and protect company secrets?

Computers, People, and Social Participation

• Computer devices have become very complex and ubiquitous. If we don’t understand them, how can we control them?

• Blogs, virtual communities, role-playing games, cell phones, PDAs, etc. have all changed the way we communicate and relate to other people.

• Many people now multi-task, do several things at once. How efficient is this?

• Google is now a verb. Does that mean that the way that Google ranks web sites effects what we deem important?

Societal Institutions: Law, Politics, Education, and the Military

• Copyrights protect expression, patents protect physical inventions, and trade secrets protect whatever a company considers valuable.

• Infringing a copyright is a crime, but if millions do it, enforcement is close to impossible. Should companies give in and seek some other method to get paid for their intellectual products?

• Licensing methods with keys are one solution.

• Microsoft plans to hit hard on people who try to download updates for unregistered software.

• Poorly written documents can get companies (and their employees) into a lot of trouble.

• People need to be taught how to write for a business.

• There is a looming shortage of computer workers. How can we get more women and minorities to enter this field?

• ICANN manages the DNS for the Internet. It is under the Department of Commerce. Should it be internationally controlled?

• Important innovations from the Internet to robotics have come from the military.

• Has the military become so entranced by their networked-computing systems that they have lost sight of other factors?

• Is the purpose of our missile defense system to protect against an enemy’s first strike or to

Risk

• Do devices such as eye scans and thumb print recognition really provide necessary security?

• What are the risks posed by viruses and worms, and who are their creators?

• Why do people send spam, and why do their “victims” respond to it?

• What are “zombie” computers, and why do virus writers create networks of them?

International Perspectives and Issues

• There are still many dictatorial regimes in the world. Some of them use computer technology to further their control (Singapore, China), and some opponents use it to document abuses (Guatemala).

• Internet cafes are now found everywhere. Together with computers in libraries, they seem to be decreasing the ‘digital divide’.

• But because the Internet is global, criminals can be found everywhere, and hackers can endanger companies in other countries.

The Frontier of Computing

• Ray Kurzweil says that this century will see major developments in robotics (by which he means strong AI), genetic engineering, and nanotechnology.

• Bill Joy says that we should consider carefully before creating humanoid robots, ultra-small devices, and new biological entities.

• Technology exhibits exponential change, not linear. The future won’t look like the present, and even less like the past. We probably can only try to understand it and nudge it a little in one direction or another.