Hi All,

The blog for the week of 2/25 will be a blog on your views of the subjects I have picked for you to use. You will pick one from two of the topics you must pick either a pro from the first series and a con from the second series or visa-versa and talk about your views on that subject. You may want to do a bit of research to find out more information on the subject.

Information technology empowers people

• Pro:  Technology empowers people by giving them the information needed to live in this complex world; for example, information about their health and welfare lets people challenge those in power. 

• Con:  Technology empowers the few who control it and disempowers the rest, for example, the majority of the world is losing access to their information, intellectual property, resources, and opportunities for advancement, language, and culture.  Technology and the Internet are another way for the rich to control how the world works in order that they can control and benefit from the work of the poor. 

 Individual privacy

• Pro:  What is all this fuss about privacy.  Only the crooks and deviants need to fear monitoring by governments.  We are the government and we need information to protect ourselves from all the problems in this modern world.

• Con:  Governments with GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi, and automatic monitoring of electronic communications are accumulating too much information on the average law abiding citizens.  A good government will represent its people rather than spy on them.  Sooner or later, governments will use the information they collect for control and punishment of anyone challenging the government are anyone different from the norm.  

Cyberspace and isolation

• Pro:  Cyberspace isolates people more than connects them, e.g., most times they are sitting in front of a computer interacting with the web and not socializing with anyone.

• Con:  Cyberspace connects people more than isolates them, e.g., they are using a computer to connect with others, although not always in real time.