Week 1 Blog - The Evolution of the Internet and Technology


Week 1 Blog - The Evolution of the Internet and Technology
As noted in the introduction lecture this week, the internet is not only a place to obtain information, but is also an active place in which social and participatory processes exist. Friedman (2005) suggests that it has become more and more difficult to keep up with the ever-increasing pace of globalization as a result of the creation of the Internet and complementary software, and points to ten forces responsible for flattening or leveling the global playing field. However, whereas Friedman (2005) asserts technology and the rise of the Internet has made talent more important than geographical proximity, Florida (2005) suggests proximity is still a vital and relevant factor. Rather than flat, Florida (2005) asserts the world is better depicted as “spikey”, in which cutting-edge innovation is growing and flourishing across only a number of cities and regions. According to Florida (2005), innovation, economic growth, and prosperity are occurring within specific geographically located clusters that attract the world’s top creative and talented innovators and implementors, and these clusters are forming peaks that are becoming more and more isolated from the rest of the world.
I believe that the flat-world theory proposed by Friedman (2005) is valid in the notion that the rise of the Internet leveled the global playing field in terms of competition for industries and jobs. However, I believe Florida (2005) got it more right in demonstrating the notion that the world is more geographically clustered than we might think, whereby those in “spiky” places that have attracted top talent are really the ones that are competing at the cutting-edge and are driving or shifting the global economic and political landscape. As Florida (2005) asserts, the economic and political challenge going forward will be to manage and close the inequality gap that has been created between highly concentrated "spikey" regions and less concentrated areas both across the world and within countries.
A Ted Talk by Bostrom (2015) also agrees that technology continues to rapidly increase, as observed in the development and growth of machine artificial intelligence. Similar to how Friedman (2005) and Florida (2005) discuss the global economic gap that emerged as a result of the Internet, Bostrom (2015) cautions about the potential gap that could occur between artificially intelligent machines and humans based on the notion that machines will inevitably become better and smarter than humans in the near future. Bosman (2015) argues the risk at hand is in figuring out how to make a super artificially intelligent machine before ensuring safety measures are in place for when that time arrives. As such, Bosman (2015) argues in favor of establishing safety measures that enable artificially intelligent machines to one day share and be motivated by the same values as human beings. In my opinion, the arguments posed by Friedman (2005) and Florida (2005) on how to close the inequality gap that stemmed from the creation of the Internet seem to be more reactionary as a result of failing to consider these safety measures in the first place when the rapid evolution of the Internet was occurring. Unlike Friedman (2005) and Florida (2005), the assertion made by Bostrom (2015) about the need to establish safety measures for artificially intelligent machines therefore seems to be more proactive and preventative. 
As I reflect on how all of this is impacting my work, I cannot help but think about how much technology and the use of data analytics has become such a vital tool in the world of professional baseball. Technology has advanced professional baseball’s knowledge on pitching and swing quality and mechanics, and even game strategy. New technology has also caused a divide between evaluations made by the traditional eye-test and computer analytics. On a more personal level, I am also observing how much new social media and web-based tools are shaping the lives of professional baseball players. Players are overly consumed with how many followers and likes they have on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram and are becoming somewhat obsessed with their self-image. On the one hand, this has sometimes helped the marketing value of players. On the other hand, unwise posts or comments made by players on social media have also led to unfortunate consequences (e.g., being released from teams).   
References
Bostrom, N. (2015). What happens when our computers get smarter than we are? Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/nick_bostrom_what_happens_when_our_computers_get_smarter_than_we_are?utm_campaign=tedspread--b&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
Florida, R. (2005). The World Is Spiky. Retrieved from: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/coma/images/issues/200510/world-is-spiky.pdf
Friedman, T. L. (2005). The World Is Flat. Retrieved from: http://www.wikisummaries.org/wiki/The_World_Is_Flat#Chapters

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