CS 312 Review

Midterm Exam

Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at.

Neil Postman, Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change

Technological change is a trade-off. The advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population. Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea. Technological change is not additive; it is ecological. Media tend to become mythic; i.e. they are assumed to have been with us always.

What Is Intellectual Property

There are four main categories of intellectual property that are protected in the United States

1. Trademarks - Source Identification, Level of Quality 2. Copyright - Tangible Expression of Ideas 3. Trade Secrets - Valuable Information Not Generally Known 4. Patents - New, Useful, and Non-Obvious Ideas

The History of Computing

What was the first computer? What did Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace do? Who developed the first digital computers? How important were theoretical advances such as Boolean logic and solid state transistors? What were the major contributions of Alan Turing? How important has personalization been?

Moores Law
The number of transistors on a chip doubles every 18 months to 2 years. This appears to be an instance of technological determinism. The size of an atom appears to be a limit. The next step may be quantum computing or using DNA. Do other technologies also advance deterministically?

The Economy
In the 90s, many companies failed because they didnt have a good business model. Are Internet companies doing any better now? Google is huge and very profitable. Can they stay true to their motto, Dont be evil? Why do spammers continue to fill our mail boxes with unwanted messages? What do they get out of it?

Work and the Workplace

Is automation finally affecting the employment numbers? Will robots take away more and more jobs? What is the outlook for workers in computer technology? Will there always be jobs for them? Why is this a white male field? How can we get more women and people of color into it?

Computers, People, and Social Participation

Is Google making us stupid? And what does that mean? Do we no longer have time for solitude? Do we live as much in a virtual society as a real one? How can we keep our identities straight? How tech-savvy are kids today? Are they that much better than their parents?

Societal Institutions
Can we ever escape our past? Is it always available on the Internet? What is the Digital Public Library of America? What is happening to digital storage? Will we be able to read our documents in 10 or 50 years? Is there a future for online courses, particularly the MOOCs?

More on Societal Institutions

What happened in 1960 at that lunch counter in South Carolina? How does that compare with Twitter Revolutions today? What are drones? How important are they for the military? What are their commercial uses? Should we ever allow robots to act autonomously in a war zone?

Risk
Cyber warfare is already here. What is it being used for now? Could it be used to take down the electrical grid or damage the water supply of a country? What will cyber warfare look like in the near and distant future? How can we know who the attackers are? And if we find out, how do we retaliate?

More from Thoreau

We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. As if the main object were to talk fast and not to talk sensibly. We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some weeks nearer to the New; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough. Thoreau, Walden, 1854