When I was a kid, I was in the Boy Scouts. One of my favorite things as a kid was the Pinewood Derby that we had once a year. I love racing, cars, and building things. I never made it nearly as technical as I am now though. Treating the design of the cars like a laboratory experiment changes the game, but I am still happy reminiscing on the good old days…and working out technical designs like this one 🙂

I have been remembering a lot of my elementary science experiments and imagining the reports being done with the detail level of a college lab report. I have not been in school for a while so I am drawing on all my old memories 🙂

Claims of the Internet being racist are ideologically flawed. Technology takes on the characteristics of its creators, and simply because it’s creators are racist, sexist, bias, etc does not mean that the technology itself is. It may simply be applied in a prejudiced manner, not be inherently prejudiced. The paranoid insecurity that the internet is out to get anyone is something that sounds like it belongs in bad scifi to me. Being kinder, it sounds like a normal human response to a dirty truth; that people are prejudiced, and it is scary to admit that the people around you are potentially harmful or dangerous, even if only  just emotionally.

The internet is a tool of connection and by observing the interactions, we can reveal human nature, and in turn use this to capitalize on our fellow man. The basis of data analysis is to find ways of quantifying the reality of a situation. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that people are racist, sexist, etc. Google can only do so much to teach an AI or algorithm to identify and mediate the populations’ mind set and core values. For example, Google’s search engine is designed to find the most relevant information given a topic assumedly. What is most relevant is “found” by algorithmic means, but what “is” most relevant is decided by the human beings that are being observed by said means. This means that the philosophically perfect AI, who does nothing but use its’ capacity to promote its developers’ goals, will be ideologically corrupt…because it is directed by people. Another way of saying this is that if technology built to reveal the answers to human nature were built to be perfectly neutral, they would eventually become bias if they are designed to learn from human behavior and interaction.

The sad fact is that the wealth of human interaction data provided by the internet shows us just how imperfect we are. The technology will never stop being biased unless we stop interacting with it, or all become enlightened overnight. With the reality that the internet reveals to us our darker less admirable natures, is not a surprise that people try and blame the technology for its’ nature when clearly the nature of its’ users dictates the technology. Algorithmic Oppression is simply machines acting like people, and that is unavoidable, since we made the machines. Ideally, we would create an AI that shows us all the path to harmony and nirvana, but that won’t happen. The fact that the technology to reveal just how judgmental, biased, and fickle people actually are exists is a blessing. You can only confront problems that you are aware of.

CHECK THIS OUT!!! I am really interested in the technology behind entertainment. Intels new drones are one great example. Watch the vide in the link here to see what I mean. The picture below is one drone. Hundrads of them turn into something much more when they are together.

Intel’s Shooting Star drones to get star-spangled for 4th of July aerial light show

This article about Intel’s Shooting Star drone light show for Independence Day 2018. It is a great example of the use of rhetoric to support STEM. The article is about the Intel drones, but it also includes the Travis Airforce Base and their relationship with Intel and the tech community. The article describes the motivations of both Intel and the Airforce for creating this technological visual spectacle. The inspiration on Intel’s side as described here was to replace firework shows with a new environmentally friendly and technologically capable aerial lightshow. Travis Airforce Base is happy to give its community a magnificent show and have a special relationship with the local tech companies. The article was published July 3^rd, the day before the show, most likely to inspire attendance and support. The video in the article shows the practice run footage of the show being performed. The last statement made before the article closes with the video is about the logistics of the show (when & where) and encourages people to attend. The video is “For those not able to make the show”.

Here we see all the elements of Aristotle’s theory of rhetoric. The logic of making such a drone is described. The audiences’ want for new and entertaining shows is provided for. The article has the basics of credibility, as statements made quoting the Airforce are not lightly made falsely, and the news site has been running for a number of years, so likely they did speak with someone representing Travis Airforce Base; a reliable source for this topic for sure. The article also is a clear attempt at using the rhetoric to promote the technology and event, being released only a day before the performance. While the article is short and succinct, it makes its point well by considering (or at least utilizing) the ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos of their statements and the technology they are talking about.

The graphic novel on rhetoric makes a good point that I feel is not one naturally thought by many types typically drawn to STEM fields. That is, that the story surrounding a project is why it happens in the first place. Many people who are into the sciences and technology can forget all off what it means that they are working, in the end, to change peoples’ lives. The prospect of changing peoples’ lives is exciting. Being so excited can be distracting. One can forget that the story of this possibly different life keeps the project moving forward. It keeps people inspired to work through the many failures inevitable in STEM projects.

This means that one relies on the story and so it must be attractive to the potential beneficiaries of the project and the people who will complete it. This is why rhetoric is such a critical part of technology.  Rhetoric is the part that makes the rest of the world care. Many research projects are, in the end, a failure, but ‘the show must go on’. The next project must be inspired…and eventually funded. This inspiration is found in the rhetoric surrounding an idea. Not every person necessary for the completion of a project will always understand the potential benefits upon being presented with the idea. They must hear the rhetoric. They must feel that being involved in the project has value to them, their life, their goals, etc.

The skills needed to create effective rhetoric can be very outside of the box for people who have invested most of their education and time into learning STEM skills and attaining the associated accreditations to be respected (degrees and licenses for example) in their field. They most likely will not have spent much time on writing skills in most STEM educational programs. The unfortunate fact of the matter, however, is that any project without good rhetoric to support it will never happen.