The Gray Space

“I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you... Not only would it be good to prevent coronavirus disease; it probably would decrease instances of influenza dramatically in this country.” These were the words of Dr. Anthony Fauci at a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing in early April. This statement triggered many responses by the media and public, who had several varying opinions and concerns regarding Fauci's comments. I mention this statement from Dr. Fauci because it is in many ways related to a recent realization that has been brought forth by the Coronavirus pandemic. This realization is that our society has the capability of socially functioning without physical interaction.  School, casual communications, and even work, in some cases has carried on via the utilization of technology during this pandemic. Of course, we have had access to this kind of technology for years but this might be the first time that we have depended...

How important is your private information to you? This is a question that perhaps we do not ask ourselves enough. Most of us would probably answer that question by saying our private information is of a high level of importance to us. After all, it is supposed to be "private." But maybe next question we should ask ourselves is: Are we taking the necessary measures to protect that information? Since most of us would agree that it is important, do we read the terms of agreement before downloading an app or signing up for a service? Or do we just click "I agree.” The vast majority of people do not read the terms of agreement before clicking the "I agree" button. But to our defense, companies do not exactly make these terms easy to read and comprehend. Companies' terms of agreement often feature pages upon pages of microscopic texts containing confusing technical and legal jargon. Buried within these pages of small texts are hidden warnings that we are abou...

Propaganda is defined by The Oxford Dictionary as "information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view." For as long as humans have plotted to gain power and influence over one another, propaganda has existed. Although it has taken many different forms throughout history, propaganda has always been a tool of persuasion, especially for leaders or aspiring leaders in societies. Propaganda even spans back as far as the 20 BC days of the Roman Empire when it was used by leaders such as Augustus. In most cases propaganda is employed in matters of politics. Propaganda is often used to elicit a response from the viewer that is based more so on emotions than facts and critical thinking, as propaganda often works to exaggerate and embellish   in order to manipulate an audience. Throughout history propaganda has proven to be effective at manipulating the masses. Especially within societies where othe...

Most of my time spent on the internet consists of surfing youtube for videos related to entrepreneurship, sales, or my latest obsession: Navy Seals. Of course the Youtube algorithm is always diligent in tracking all of my activity, and recommends me more videos that are similar to those I have recently viewed. I am sure we have all experienced this, and on the surface its a great thing. But if you think about it more carefully, its just as eerie as it is convenient. Many social media platforms have algorithms that function very similarly. Instagram is the social media platform that I spend the most time on. I am fairly active on the platform and have a following of 21,000 users. 95% of my followers (or more) I have never met in person. They support and chat with me through the screen, and I have built meaningful relationships with some of them despite the fact that we have never once met in person and most likely never will. This speaks to the fact that the internet is a strange...

In this week's blog post we will be examining the social media giant, Facebook, through the lens of Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations theory. Facebook officially launched in February of 2004 and was primarily created by Mark Zuckerburg.  The purpose of the site was to provide a platform where Harvard students, exclusively, could connect with each other. Fast forward to 16 years in the future and Facebook is now a an absolute bohemoth that dominates the social media space with an estimated 2.5 billion users. Additionally the company has its hands in other industries as well, as the company has acquired additional assets such as Oculus Virtual Reality, and WhatsApp. How did a small platform that was created for Harvard students take over the world and change the way that humans interact on a global scale? More specifically, how does Facebook's rise fit within the Diffusion of Innovation theory that was laid out by Rogers? Those are the questions that this blog post w...

In 1644 the English author, John Milton, wrote a pamphlet that was controversial at the time and had it sent to the Parliament of England. In the pamphlet Milton expresses his strong opinions regarding censorship and limiting speech, for which he was not a fan. Although this piece was written by Milton centuries ago, its message is still relevant in 2020. Milton was certainly ahead of his time as he already understood the vital importance of diversity of opinion, as well as the benefits that a marketplace of ideas can bring to a society. These are especially important aspects within a democracy. However, even in modern-day America, there are still efforts to shield the public from certain opinions or silence certain voices. This occurs in the realms of politics, journalism, and social media, and is not unique to any one group, political party, or ideology. Milton believed that the public should be trusted to view, process, and react to information on their own behalf. He believed th...

For this week's blogpost I will be writing about another technology on the Com Tech Timeline. The technological advancement that I am going to cover this week is "the first email sent". The first email ever sent was sent from one computer to another in a room in Cambridge Massachusetts. This email message was a test message, and was sent in 1971. The email message read, " QWERTYUIOP". The man who sent the email was Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer who worked for a company called Bolt Beranek & Newman. Bolt Beranek and Newman was the company who created ARPANET. ARPANET was essentially the internet before the internet existed, as it was a system that consisted of a network of computers that were connected to one another. While working for Bolt and Beranek, Tomlinson had a side project that he was working on as well. He wanted to figure out how he could create a way for computer users to send messages or files to other computers. Up to that point, computers ...