Module 11: Film Review Essay

During this week, I watched “War Games.”  The movie starts out with a computer replacing men to launch nuclear warfare to the Soviets.  David, a high school boy who hacks into his high school’s computer to change his grade in biology, uses a dialup internet connection to communicate with the computer.  He also tries to access a video game company through the internet, but cannot access the computer because he does not have the proper credentials. 

David researches a game list that he finds on the computer of the inaccessible computer.  During his search, he learns about the inventor of that specific computer and finds out that the computer is a learning computer.  Based on moves by the players, the computer can learn what moves are best and how to win.

David searches and ultimately finds the access word of the maker of the computer.  After thinking that he is accessing the computer from the video game company, he plays a thermonuclear war game.  In all actuality, David would really be accessing a military computer and would be simulating an attack from the Soviet Union to the United States. 

The military bring David into custody for questioning.  While in custody, David finds out that the computer is still playing the game and has a time limit to when the game will end.  David spends his time finding the maker of the computer, describing him what is happening, and assisting in dismantling the game so that the United States do  not send a false attack to the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, the military see an imposing attack on the United States from the Soviet Union.  At one point, the military scramble a couple F16 fighter jets to inquire about incoming missiles, but the F16 fighter pilots do not see any missile at all. 

At the end of the movie, the computer learns that nobody wins in the game of tic-tac-toe.  Then, the computer learns too that nobody wins when the thermonuclear war game is played.  Ultimately, the computer halts any missile attacks and the DEFCON status is changed from one to five. 

In this movie, the film makers develop this movie to make is very conceivable for man to believe; however, some things in the movie seem impossible.  One of the impossibilities is that the computer can learn.  Some websites can track you with cookies and see what you are purchasing or viewing.  These cookies assist the originating entity to learn about what you are viewing and what else you may be buying. Later, the entity uses the information to direct consumers to other products that they may be interested in, based on other consumer’s searches, purchases, and views. Computers do not conjure a learning behavior out of thin air and do not learn on their own; programmers exist and are behind all of the smart technologies we have today. 

In the movie, the military replace men by a computer and rely solely on it to monitor and to launch nuclear missiles.  Of course this is absurd.  To completely replace reason with logic can be detrimental without some means of failsafe or fallback.  The people went 100% into the new computer system and learned after a game was being played that reality was merely fictitious.  Relying 100% on a computer system is a mistake that many make.  We always have computer issues, whether it is the hard drive, software, other hardware, or other issues; we cannot solely rely on the system, we must have some type of back-up.

A cultural issue that could have happened in this movie is a world epidemic of nuclear attacks; thus, possibly destroying the world and humanity.  If a person did not die from the initial blasts and explosions, then they would most likely die from the radiation exposure.

Module 10: A Logic Named Joe

This week’s assignment consists of reading “A Logic Named Joe”, an article that was published back in the year 1946.  In this publication, a lot of foretelling about computers is told; some being conceivable and other foretelling being inconceivable.  I found the reading very interesting, being that the document was published just as computers were invented and became a reality.  I can imagine what people thought back then when they read this publication.  Some of them might have thought, “There will be a time when see all of these things come to pass.”  Another might have thought, “This publication is ridiculous, we will never see this.”  Whatever the response was, today we are seeing some of these prophecies come to pass.

                In the publication, one computer is built slightly different, but not so different that can be detected.  The alteration makes the computer super smart and answers anybody’s question correctly, even to the point of exceeding human intelligence.  The computer is owned by a family that does not know that their computer has a defect.  The computers are interconnected, meaning that there is a network available for all to use.  This interconnectedness had not happened in 1946, nor did it happen soon after.  It wasn’t until the early 1960’s when organizations were coming together to collaborate and develop a network to communicate between computers.  So, for this document that explains the interconnectedness of computers means that the people’s minds and thoughts were way ahead of their times. 

                When the users would log on to their computers, they would be told that the computer can answer any question of their desire.  This I think is similar to modern day search engines.  When users go to Google’s website to enter their questions into the search bar, if the question is simple, even mathematical, it can be answered on the result page.  If a direct answer is not found, then many websites that contain the information wanted is presented and most of the time the results are presented by the most relevant.  The difference between the 1946 publication and today’s technology is that the computer in the publication was smarter than human intelligence, and that if no answer existed for the user, then the computer would search until it found an answer.  The computer would be able to compute and find an answer to an unknown answer that nobody could find.

                One thing that is happening today, and is quite scary if you ask me, is being able to find anyone and retrieve any information of that person.  In the publication, a woman was able to get any information of her neighbor, husband, friend, acquaintance, or stranger.  Today, some websites are available to anyone who pays a small fee.  One that is worth mentioning is spokeo.com.  Spokeo is a website to find people; however, it is not just a people finder website.  Spokeo has the ability to search for people and their address, phone, gender, age, email, what relationship they are in, their income, house value, ethnicity, education, occupation, political orientation, religion, hobbies, family tree, what social networks they belong to, and property details.  The property details inform the searching individual of how long the person has been at that location, lot and home size, how many rooms and baths, how many floors, if a garage is on the property, how many people live at that location (along with how many adults and how many children), what heating and cooling is on the property, if there is a swimming pool, the architecture, construction type, and material.  To me, this is way too much information for anyone to have, especially when we live in a day when terrorists desire to harm the innocent.  Fortunately, Spokeo provides a way to eliminate yourself from others searching your personal information.   One can log on to the website and enter in their information for Spokeo not to display result of the information.  In the publication, it is described that anybody can locate and find information on anyone else, this was a prophecy that is now in our world today.

                Of course, some things in the publication just cannot come to pass.  One of these prophecies consisted of the computer that was made just the same as the others, but had special non-detectable qualities that made it run in an above human intelligence way.  Another is that the computer could tell others how to do anything and that the information was only specific to that person.  For example, in one of my other classes, we configure Linux servers to operate specific services.  Everyone in the class is given the same assignment; however, each person has different issues that arise.  So, I could not simply ask a computer how to correct my issue, because my issue could be completely different than the person next to me.

                I found the reading informative and entertaining, because of the date the article was written.  It definitely foretold many things that we do today.

Module 9: The World is Flat Chapters 14-17

The way companies have developed, their strategy, and their efficiencies have astounded me while reading the part about how Dell computers are made.  When an individual orders a Dell computer, the order can come through the Dell website or through a call center.  The specifications of the computer get emailed directly to an offshore plant that will build the computer.  Since the company needs a fast turnaround, the plant has a nearby supplier logistic center that houses all of the components for the computers.  Every two hours, components for the computers are dropped off from the supplier logistic center, sorted into the correct locations, and taken to the place where the components are put together to build the computer.  The components of the computer originate from many different facilities that are located in various locations throughout the world.  The companies that own the facilities that manufacture the computer components are in America, Europe, and Asia; but the facilities are mainly found in the Orient. The manufactured components are shipped to the supplier logistic centers. At the logistic center, the needed components are shipped to the Dell facility; which in turn, put the components together.  The computer then gets placed on a conveyer belt that leads to the people who load the software onto the computer.  If the buyer specified certain programs and operating system, then the software installers would load all of that information onto the computer.  The built and loaded computers are then placed on pallets; shipped to the airport, where they board a 747 bound for the United States; sorted to the UPS Company for delivery; and delivered to the buyer.  The process duration takes only a matter of days from beginning to end, which is amazing. From parts to completed project to your doorstep only in a matter of days mean the world is small, very small.  The world is so small and is getting smaller every day that people can act in very big ways.

Al-Qaeda does have a supply chain.  Those that think otherwise are only fooling themselves.  Instead of capitalism, al-Qaeda chooses murder by suicide bombings and suicide attacks that affect innocent people.  The way they get young people to join their causes are made through the flat world.  Yes, al-Qaeda uses the same flat world as many companies, politicians, and individuals.  They convey messages to their people, raise funds, recruit, and send messages to others by means of the internet.  It seems that the flat world assisted in making al-Qaeda and the flat world gives al-Qaeda more fuel to feed the fire.

Many countries depend on the exports of oil for the survival of their country.  It is only when the country’s oil supply runs out when the country finds different means to survive.  Venezuela is a country that depends on their oil export.  The Venezuelan government does not tax its citizens, but relies on oil export for funds.  The citizens really have no say on how to spend the money received from the export, because the money had never belonged to them.

When a country focuses on developing their oil wells, they depend on the oil funds to operate most of functions of the country.  It is only when the country’s oil is depleted or a major change in governmental decisions happens, when the government and people of that country need to expand their knowledge and creativity.

I have found the reading this week interesting and enlightening.  I now have a better understanding of al-Qaeda and why and how they were formed.  The Dell theory is a good theory that I have never heard of, but it does make sense.  When a country wants to go to war with a different country, they must consider how the action will affect their own country in a flat world kind of way.  Will the action to go to war destroy the economy so that ties are severed between countries for a very long time?  Hopefully, leaders will think of the Dell theory before making any important decisions that will affect the interdependent world we live in today.