EOTO Terms and Concepts- Confirmation bias

Confirmation bias: 

  The definition of confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and give undue credibility to information that supports a desired conclusion. Due to confirmation bias, a party may unduly discredit contradictory information to the desired conclusion, or incorrectly believe it to reinforce a minority viewpoint at best. The majority of people do this unintentionally and tend to ignore the things that don't align with their beliefs. 

WHY? 

There are two main reasons why people do confirmation bias even if they don't realize they are. 

1) It's a more efficient way to process information when you are being bombarded with information and it takes too much time to carefully process the information and come up with an unbiased conclusion. It's easier to just believe what aligns with your values and not look into it. 

2) Another reason is people's self-esteem. Learning that your values might be wrong or incorrect in some people's eyes is harder to deal with when those values have been put into your brain since you grew up. It's easier to ignore the details that don't align with what you believe. 

Ways that you can try to lean away from confirmation bias is by surrounding yourself with both sides of the story. Make sure you watch both sides of the news and when an issue pops up see how different people with different values and morals react. Try to surround yourself with people of all different backgrounds so you are more well-rounded and understand why their opinion is the way it is. 

A real-life example of confirmation bias is when you are researching a topic you believe strongly in such as abortion or gun violence which are big topics in the world today and you seek out a news source that is already aligned with your current position. If you come upon a site that you don't agree with you can either read their opinion and consider them or think it is stupid and not care to listen to their opinions. If you choose the second option you are practicing confirmation bias with out realizing it. 

Some positives about confirmation bias, 

1) It can help us reach our personal goals faster. This is because if you're easily influenced and you

switch your opinion every time someone contradicts it, people will discourage you from your goals and then you might never reach them. If you stick to one opinion then people might also agree with you and come over to your side and help you. This isn't as likely to happen if you keep switching it up and don't stay focused on your personal goals. 

2) When you have strong beliefs you are more likely to be confident and it gives that person more of a sense of certainty and security.

A downside is that it can influence your decisions and lead to poor choices. Confirmation bias greatly affects our day-to-day choices and if we are going through life with a very biased outlook we are not making well-informed choices. There might also be missed opportunities in your life because of your biased outlook on life. 

 

EOTO Technology presentations

 Carrier Pigeons

    One of my classmates did his EOTO on the carrier pigeons. From his project, I learned a lot and thought it was very interesting. 

 Carrier pigeons were invented by Cyrus the Great in the 5th century BC, in Assyria and Persia. They were used in war and for navigation. They were the most efficient long-distance communication of that time. 

Before carrier pigeons, their only options were smoke signals to communicate a short distance away. 

    

    Something really cool about pigeons is that they are usually always able to find their way home. Their homing abilities were very useful for sending these messages. Scientists think they use the position of the sun the figure out where they are and determine
the proper direction for the flight. 

  Since they were able to send information farther than anything else before,  they were very useful in war. A carrier pigeon saved almost 200 lives in World War I.  32 pigeons received the Dickin Medal because they were able to save the lives of soldiers because of their ability to send messages when there was nothing else during that time to send messages that long distance and that efficient. For example, people at sea were able to send a message to the soldiers on land. 

  One drawback to the carrier pigeons was that there is a limitation to how far they are able to fly. They are able to fly around 100 miles in one day. They also were very susceptible to disease and their training took time and experience. 

   One bird named Cher Ami was delivering messages for French soldiers during the battle of Verdun in October of 1918. Even though a German gunner tried to strike the pigeon down and it was injured it still traveled 25 miles back to the American base. The letter told them that they had traveled too far and became trapped in a ravine where they weathered repeated enemy attacks along with incoming friendly American artillery fire. This was 554 soldiers. Cher Ami arrived blinded in one eye, with a deep wound across his chest and a canister dangling from what was left of his right leg but she made it and saved many lives. She became an American hero of World War I.

Diffusion Theory

     Diffusion theory is a theory on how ideas grow to become the things we know and love today. So many examples can be explained through this theory like Apple iPhones, Twitter, and TikTok but today I will focus on an older invention the printing press. 

    Why did this invention catch and spread? 

This invention spread so quickly because it was the first of its time to be able to print books at the rate it did. Before the printing press, everything was by hand so it was prone to human mistakes and took years to write. After the printing press was made everyone was able to have books because of how plentiful and affordable they were. This was how people of that time found ideas and information so it spread across the world. 

    

    Why did so many people become early adopters? 

People were tired of only being able to get information through word of mouth. To get news they would have to stand in the square and someone would announce the news. This isn't very reliable because of human mistakes and misunderstandings. Through books, people were able to read news, gather information, and have entertainment from all over the world in many different languages.  Also back then people were very religious so a lot of people wanted the bible. 

   

  There are always late adopters when it comes to any invention. People who think their way is better and they don't want to change from tradition. Some people wouldn't participate in getting books because they don't think it is needed because they have word of mouth but eventually almost everyone in the entire world used the printing press or benefitted from it. 

 

    There were some negative impacts from the printing press too. Misinformation was able to spread faster and farther across the world. They also were able to read about ideas from all over the world so this led to riots and them wanting change. They started to challenge the authority. 

    The positive greatly outweighs the negative. The Renaissance was able to kick off as big as it did because of the printing press and people on the completely opposite sides of the world from each other were able to share ideas and discoveries. It was also such a big invention that it reigned for 200 years and changed the way we print things today for the better. 

  

The Age of AI

 What are the positive aspects of more and more complex artificial intelligence and machine learning?

    One positive aspect we learned from the video is the way they are using AI to detect breast cancer. The complex artificial intelligence can detect breast cancer at the earliest stages faster than the human eye which is more prone to mistakes.  Breast cancer is best able to be cured at the earliest stages which is why it is so important to detect it as soon as possible. It is also able to move faster and more reliably than a human so they would be better able to work in warehouses and other jobs similar to that. 

What are some cons of AI? 

    Some cons are it helps spread false information. It can create realistic photos that can spread lies that are hard to detect. It is also taking away jobs because they do them more efficiently. Some examples are truck drivers and warehouse jobs.  

What is something that frightened you about AI?

    Something that frightened me about AI is the fact that the government can now track us. In China, they are able to pay for things using their face because they have AI that can detect someone's face within less than a second. This means that they almost always know where you are since a security camera can always detect your face. They are doing similar things like this in the US with police cars. The police cars scan your license plates and never delete the information just in case they need it and they are able to track you and take pictures without your consent. 

This can also be a pro because they will be able to find criminals faster and are able to keep us safe considering national security using this AI detection through security cameras but, unfortunately, innocent people have to also be watched just in case it has information that could help a criminal case. 

AI can be used for good and bad concerning online security and identity theft. There are many new websites that use AI to keep all of your information safe but there are also other people that are able to hack through those AI's and get your information. This means you need to make sure you are using the right software to protect your data. 

Printing Press

 All about the printing press. 

 Johannes Gutenberg was believed to have been born in Mainz, Germany, in approximately 1399. He created the printing press in 1440. In 1454 he put his printing press up for commercial use and made around 200 copies of the bible over three years. This was a pivotal moment in history and changed society towards the modern era. The printing press reigned as the best way to print books for three hundred years. 

 The first creations of things similar to the printing press date back to China in the 9th century with what is called, wood blocking using moveable metal. There was also a similar invention in Korea in the 14th century. He got inspiration from the traditional screw press and added letters and symbols that were reusable to create the desired text. Gutenberg owes a lot to the medieval printing press. It was modeled after the ancient wine-and-olive press of the Mediterranean area. A long handle was used to turn a heavy wooden screw, exerting downward pressure against the paper, which was laid over the type mounted on a wooden platen wooden press. It could print 250 sheets per hour on one side. He also invented this oil-based ink used to print his books which is more durable than normal ink and it was clearer to read. 

 Before the printing press, the only option was hand writing which is very prone to human mistakes and would take a lot of time. This means they were scarce and expensive so only rich nobles would have books. Usually, scribes working in monasteries were the ones who would copy books. After the printing press was invented books became worldwide and a lot cheaper. They also preserve information better than word of mouth which has a big impact on the history we know from that era. 

The Renaissance started to boom and got more traction after the printing press was invented. Ideas, discoveries, and religions were able to travel faster and farther. This wasn't just limited to Europe because It spread across the world and impacted countries by spreading European ideals. This also meant that literacy rates increased greatly. People got tired of having to have their books read to them and a lot of people started to learn how to read since it was more accessible to them. 

Religion had a very big impact after the printing press. Protestants spread their religion through these books and shipped them around the world and then more people started to become protestants. Protestantism encouraged the direct questioning of Papal authority, accused Church officials of abuses of power, and emphasized personal interpretation of Scripture.

Scientists were also greatly impacted because of the printing press. Scientist were able to share their ideas across the world. People such as Nicolaus Copernicus and Georg Peurback shared their ideas about astronomy and mathematics. 

Overall the printing press was one of the biggest and most influential inventions of that era. It helped the Renaissance and the spread of new ideas across the world. 

Digital Privacy

 

 

   All of these TED talks I watched were about digital privacy and what the government does with the information we willingly and unwillingly put online. Some examples in the Ted Talks were the police scanning your license plates and keeping track of where you are going even if you don't have a criminal record, leaked nudes, and your digital footprint. 

 

How do these issues affect you? You friends and family?

    If you care about the government tracking you and using social media against you then the issues affect you. If something is leaked online that you don't want on there, there should be ways to get it deleted without months of lawsuits and court dates. There should be more laws about nudes leaked that you didn't consent to. These can affect your friends and family too if they get put in bad situations where they don't consent to their pictures being online. There should be a quick and easy way to fix this problem with the culprit being punished.

What should the government be doing about these issues?

    I think there need to be more laws in place so that people who get put in situations where their nudes get leaked that they can get those photos deleted within 24 hours. I also think the people who leaked these photos should be punished with jail time or fines. They violated the person's life and they shouldn't just get a slap on the wrist. 

What can we do to protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy?

    One way you can protect yourself is by having private accounts on social media. That way you have to accept people if you want them to see your stuff. You can also make sure you use guest every time you are using a browser so it doesn't keep your search history. Another example is using Firefox or another search engine that is more private than Google or Safari. 

Check on Government Power

  Which of the Eight Values of Free Expression resonates with me the most?

All eight values of free expression are very important to the First Amendment. The one that resonated with me the most is the Check on Government power. I chose this one because it makes the most sense to me. I believe that people should always be able to have a say in how their government acts. The government in the USA consists of over 330 million people so not everyone is going to agree on everything but the government should always be doing what is best for our country in the end.

Ways that we have checks on government powers as individuals over the federal government are the vertical checks and balances. This makes it so that individual citizens always have some power over how their country is being run. Without checks on government powers, the First Amendment wouldn't be how the First Amendment is today. Our rights would be significantly different. 

Ways that the individual has power over the Federal is our ability to vote on who is in office. We get to choose who we want to lead the country. This is why you should always research the views of the person who you want to be president because you want the person who you agree with on major issues to make similar decisions you would while in office. 

Check on government power can also apply within the government with checks and balances. Checks and balances make it so not one branch has more power than another and they can veto each other's ideas or decide who has power over what. 

This happens a lot in our day-to-day society. For example, the debate over whether the state or federal have power over certain topics. One of the most recent ones that is very controversial is whether abortion rights should be managed by the federal or state. In 2022 Roe v Wade was overturned and this led to abortion rights being something states could proclaim as legal or illegal. Many people were upset about this and ways individuals can change this decision is through their First Amendment right to speech, press, assembly, and petition. We also can vote on which governor we want in office. That is a check on the state since the individual gets to decide who will be in control of the state. 

Another example that is in recent news is the federal and state fighting over education. Education is supposed to be a state issue but now we have the Board of Education which is a federal organization. Most of the education policy is decided at the state and local level but the federal still has a little hold over education. Federal having any power over education isn't in the constitution but because they provide funding they are able to establish legislation and standards. 

Lastly, social media is a big way individuals have power over the state and federal government. Using our First Amendment right to speech is a way to keep the government in check. Individuals can post their ideas and opinions for others to see which can discredit information and share information about the state and federal organizations. Social media is a big way now people find their news and what people see is happening in our society will lead them to which president to vote for. 

    Overall I think that checking on government power is one of the most important things in the First Amendment. 

The History and Workings of the U.S. Supreme Court

What did you learn about the Supreme Court that you didn't already know?

In high school, I took AP government sophomore year and remembered some information from that class. Most of my knowledge on the government topic was forgotten after taking the AP test. One thing I needed to remember was that there are only nine justices. For some reason, I assumed there would be more since so many cases are brought to their attention but since I now know there are only nine that makes sense as to why out of those petitions arrive each year they only accept 100-150 a year. 

  What is the most important takeaway point about the Supreme Court?

 One of the most important takeaways about the Supreme Court is that the Justices are probably there until they step down or die. I feel like this is an important class because every other branch has an allotted amount of time they are allowed to be in office but the judiciary branch gets to choose how short or long they want to stay. This is big in my opinion because there might be a justice who the vast majority of the public dislikes and there isn't much the public can do about it. Impeachment is an option but has only happened once ever so it isn't very likely. 

    What was the most surprising thing you learned?

    The thing I was the most surprised about is that Justices say they have pre-established views of the case before they go into it. They also said they normally don't change their minds in the middle of the case. That was surprising to me because the best way to do it is to go into a case with an open mind. I feel like going in before you have heard either side and already deciding the outcome might not be the best way to go into a case.  

    How did the video change the way you thought of the Supreme Court?

    Before watching this video I knew about the Supreme Court but I didn't know many details that make the Supreme Court what it is. I learned many new things and understand now how the Supreme Court actually works. I thought the Supreme Court was like 300 judges all taking the most important cases that were randomly given to them. I have now come to realize the justices read every single case and then choose what they would like to do and fight for. It is more personal that way and even more personal that only 9 people do it and not 300. The fact that all 9 Supreme Court justices listen to every single case and give their personal opinion while debating with the other justices over the result of the case makes it so much more personal and important.