The Ethics of Technology

Having started my MA I have been taught the importance of mind maps.  "Mind maps" dears not spider diagrams (but as far as I can see a mind map is what I thought a spider diagram was).  I was told to create one on Concept Draw to see what avenues I should be looking at for research.  The result...I should be researching EVERYTHING!

What interested me most is the fact that in addition to all the usual trend, marketing and consumer malarkey I should also be considering ethics.  Not just any old ethics but how ethical technology is.  This wonderful concept has opened up a world of information to us but do you know the problem with it?  There's too much information.  It's actually scrambling the brains of the youth, with the younger generation (including me) being bombarded with so much we are now the most anxious younger generation there has ever been (or at least that is the gist I got from a recent Viewpoint article).

Technology is, in essence, taking over the world and scientists are making what we see in Science Fiction reality.  The only problem with this?  It's damn scary.  I've seen the Matrix and iRobot, technology isn't good in those films it's downright evil.  I found a whole book based (entitled Technophobia!) focusing on this issue and posthuman society.  So, as you can see, I was beginning to panic slightly.

Well....I panicked massively actually.  That is until I watched a video on Ted Talks called Ze Frank's web playroom.  For once, something was showing me that technology can reach out to people, connect them and make them happy.  So what if we're finding happiness through virtual worlds and virtual connections?  Especially when the people on the other end are real.  Surely if we're happy surely that's all that matters?



There is a lot about this world that needs fixing...and I mean A LOT...but if we start with the positives of technology and work out a way of finding our way through the mass of information that the Internet provides us with maybe, just maybe, we can use it to improve our world and work with us.  That has to be a better concept than it ruling us right?  After all, in a posthuman society we aren't here and that's just no good at all.

So I'm a Geek...

I like to pretend it isn't true on occassion but I am, most definitely, a geek.  I love gadgets, I love what technology can do and I always get excited when I see something that utilises these aspects in a fashionable, design focused manner.  Hence, yesterday I succumbed and brought the iPhone 4.  Don't judge me.  (And yes, I love it.  And no, it hasn't broken - signal is fine and I have no weird yellow dots...yet!)

Despite this now gadget purchase this weekend I am most excited about an article I read on Style Bubble  "Furthering with Furber".  Whilst I usually try to publish new material rather than material I've read elsewhere I feel this is necessary...  Aesthetically amazing, technically developed and as eco-friendly as a shoe can be...


Icica from Helen Furber on Vimeo.

Helen Furber's Icica project has a quality that is very rare to see within graduate work...and as a recent graduate I have seen my fair share...and I can't wait to see what she does next!  She's not the only one showing potential from her class (check out the magazine Furber put together showcasing work from students on her course at her blog) but she's definitely the most forward thinking.  I envision recycling and swapping, mixing and matching heels with uppers for a truely bespoke way of design.

 Images and video taken from Helen Furber's Vimeo and LCF pages.

iPhone 4: Waste of Money?

Soooo after having a right royal strop because Apple blamed all my phones problems for 'liquid damage' that it never recieved (Watchdog featured this last week...my mom told me) I wrote a rather snotty email to Steve Jobs (yes I'm aware it's not him that reads them even if Jamie at the Bull Ring store tries to tell me otherwise) I got a phone call the other day: "We're terribly sorry, come in and as a gesture of goodwill we'll replace it.  However, this is not what we normally do, it is an exception."

So...refurbed and fully working iPhone 3G in my hand I'm sat here contemplating the new one.  Yes, after overhearing the man in the Apple shop tell a poor woman "The iPhone 4 is just a rumour.  We have no idea when/if this phone will come out." ...LIES...they've announced it.  It's coming and soon.  In a matter of weeks the first shipment will reach UK stores.  You could have one...for a price.

So now I'm sat here wondering if I want to pay to upgrade as I am due a new phone this month...after all the problems I've had with mine.  I am such a sucker.  Seriously.  According to apple a US retailer is offering a "cheap" upgrade of just $199, so if UK stores do a similar thing I'm looking at £100 minimum.

The Independent sure make me think I may be a bit silly with their "10 reasons not to buy Apple's new iPhone" but will they change their minds when they see all the new features from video calling to the swanky new retina display?  Maybe.  Maybe its just marketing over functionality.  After all, there's really nothing wrong with the phone I have now the one with all the problems has gone.


What's the bet I'll have one of these within three months?  Odds are 1 in 2 currently.