Script for podcast.

“Post digital era and the evolution of becoming human cyborgs”

(Outro Music)- 5 secs

(Logo)

Intro:

Society nowadays use technology wherever they go, it is a part of them.

Not using technology will be seen as awkward, people feel naked without it.

Having brilliant inventors’ study and create technology to enhance society and satisfy their needs is beyond clever.

Hi guys I’m Korede Onaderu, and I am currently a uni student and I’m here today to discover and discuss whether we should draw the line somewhere when relying on technology.

Many of us have of course watched a few sci-fi/action films back in our day, Terminator is one of them, I robot and one film well known marvels ‘Avenger’s age of Ultron’. Each one of these films have one thing in common; technology, the facts that the inventors who create AI robots fabricated for good only to turn corrupted and ruin mankind is really scary and worrying.

These things could happen, as it highlights some of the stuff going on in the era that we’re in. The fact that certain innovative inventors are creating the impossible right now means we’re well on our way. Some people are excited for these inventions, some are less.

But before we talk about the modern era that were living in, we must first start from the beginning. The past.

During the 1980’s we had what was called the ‘The Digital Revolution’.  During the digital revolution came the “advancement of technology from analogue electronic and mechanical devices to digital available today”. (Thomas,2019, p.1).

Example of this is a simple record player or use of paperback library books but now we have Alexa; ‘a virtual AI technology that has the capabilities and means of playing music’ and audio books ‘that allows us to read a book online or listen to one’.

It is a fact that these advancement in technology it’s still ongoing today.

Theorist ‘Florian Cramer’ defines post-digital as the “state in which the disruption brought upon by digital information technology has already occurred”. (Cramer,2017, p.94).

This quote supports what I’ve said about the digital revolution, that since the revolution occurred the digital era of digital technology has continuously been proven to be advanced.

As we come into the life of the digital age era, more and more people like to push their limits when using digital technology or tech in general to boost and create highly efficient, dominant abilities for themselves.

This all leads to the term posthumanism, for all of you who don’t know what posthumanism means. It’s defined as a person who has or want science- technology to enhance and create new possibilities for themselves.

This can be deemed as works of power play.

An article ‘Posthumanism’ trusted by the company Sage Publications Ltd. Academic Professor Richie Nimmo came to publicize that posthumanism takes a, “View of the humanity- science- technology nexus, foregrounding how technoscientific change create not just new possibilities of human emancipation but new rationalities and techniques of power and domination…… it can “often take on a logic of its own and leads to malign, unintended, or unimagined consequences beyond human control and irreducible to human beings”. (Nimmo,2019, p.3).

Professor Richie Nimmo simply says how we as humans are likely to use or envision ourselves having technology as a part of our anatomy to increase our possibilities of becoming more than an average human.

There are of course consequences to this as he stately notes that these so-called technologies could perhaps take on a logic of its own and lead to something worse effective being harmful to us human beings.

Greek philosopher ‘Protagoras’ (490- 420BC) who mainly studied and taught humanism quoted that “Man is the measure of all things”. (Mark,2012, p.1).

Challenging the term posthumanism, saying man should know the morals between right and wrong.

In this case knowing when certain technology, being created will be used for the greater good while taking notice of any dilemmas that may arise.

Fast forward to now many of us are viewed as human cyborgs in the way we use technology. Some of us actually do have some part of our body that is machine (technological) e.g., amputees.

According to an article, ‘Who are we online’ it is said that “posthuman cyborgs (part person, part machine) become more deeply entangled with digital devices.”

More on this, devices like contact lenses and hearing aids fit the category of proof that were cyborgs. Technological innovations that help restore the bodies failing senses.

Watching videos on phones, laptops or tablets can also state that were cyborgs too, as these devices is instrumental to our life.

We use these devices almost every time everyday, using a huge amount of time on it.

We can call people over long distances, almost any questions worth wanting to know is on the internet.

Wireless devices have engrained themselves into our day to day lives.

This shows the extent to which we’ve grown to depend on tech, it’s become an important part of schools, workplaces and homes. Society uses technology smart systems like Alexa which is an AI system.

(Never know one day in the future we could live in an age where we are all iron men)

The digital era has improved a lot, we once before had to use wooden prosthetics as replacements for amputees now in the digital age we are now capable of building robotic metallic skin like prosthetics for people who are in need of wanting to feel somewhat normal again.

Elon musk “Human brains are extraordinary computers capable of taking in tons of information in a matter of moments however are bodies are less capable outputting information.”

For musk the next step of human evolution is removing that physical barrier allowing our brains to interchange with technology instantly.

( 3 secs music intro)

This all leads me to the case study, Elon musk’s new neuralink brain implant that’s in the works.

The basis around why Elon musk wants to create a neuralink brain implant.

The neuralink implant is created for the purpose right now to fix anything with one’s brain.

The neuralink brain implant has battery and Bluetooth. Its also a little AI device.

The way musk explained the process is a robot will cut open a piece of your skull and implant the device onto the brain, these devices will then stretch multiple electro threads onto certain points of the brain, allowing the link to interface anywhere on the brain.

As an experiment Elon musk has recently demonstrated how this neuralink implant works by using a live pig according to an article published by ‘Newscientist’.

The experiment was said to be simple really, the neuralink team bought out three pigs, one without the neuralink and the other two with the implants.

Records said, “Dorothy one of the pigs, illustrated that you can put in the Neuralink, remove it and be healthy, happy and indistinguishable from a normal pig,” Musk said.

“This will be important for human users, he said, because they may want to remove or upgrade their implants. The challenging part that they’ve pulled off is that the animal is happy-looking and walking around and acting normal and the data is being relayed wirelessly.” (Crane,2020, p.g1).

Meaning it can be really easy to take out if any person having that device in them taken out.

There are a few advantages to this type of A.I technology being linked onto our brains.

It was said that one possibility the neuralink could have is the chances of helping cure eyesight or in fact hearing in some manner of speaking.               One other advantage musk mentioned was the fact that it could perhaps restore lung functionality.

Things such as restoring quadriplegics allowing them to walk/move, restoring memory loss and getting rid of epilepsy is fine and all, but is way too good to be true.                                                                                                                                   As if this is coming from a Sc-fi film or something.

I can’t say that there isn’t technology similar to this cause there are, they do the same job that the neuralink is doing only difference is of course that its less effective and less advanced’.

On one podcast musk later basically mentioned that foreseeing ten years into the future, that neuralink’s could evolve in some way enabling us “like the matrix to download data if you ever wanted to speak another language.”

In theory changing the way human beings’ interface with each other.

He also went on to say that the chip could perhaps save our state meaning our mind and memories and restore it to a biogical being.

This is where things get morally wrong and tricky. Meaning of life is we are born; we live and eventually die. Doing this cancels the third law questioning the ethics behind it.

Some people who are religious would safely say that that is playing god.

This leads me to all the potential disadvantages of all of this.                                              The chips put in us may pose a threat to our health. It could also be prime targets for people such as hackers with bad intentions. Slowly the microchips may take away our freedom of choice depending on how the A.I has evolved referencing the Hollywood film ‘Upgrade’.

In some way many people would agree that it totally neglects privacy controls and security measures, wherever a person may go or do big brother could be watching.

Lastly in an article called ‘Sociable.co’, Dr Lieber mentioned the immune response problem where “the brain would see a foreign, mechanical things Like A.I as a threat and attack it. (Hinchliffe, 2018, p.g1)

My question of the day, who are the real threat, technology or human beings?

Thanks, guy’s, for listening. This is episode one of Korede’s Convo, catch next week’s podcast as we discuss on another controversial topic. Like share and comment. Peace Out.

(Finish with music)

Bibliography:

Thomas, D. (2019). What is the digital age?. Blog.ventivtech.com. Retrieved 21 February 2021, from https://blog.ventivtech.com/blog/what-is-the-digital-age.

Forcier, E. (2017). Re(a)d wedding: A case study exploring everyday information behaviors of the transmedia fan. Proceedings Of The Association For Information Science And Technology54(1), 94. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2017.14505401011

Nimmo, Richie. (2019). Posthumanism. SAGE Research Methods Foundations, Retrieved 21 February 2021, from https://files.coventry.aula.education/afcf149f6bbf929019481f1738d7de6fposthumanism___sage_research_methods.pdf

Mark, J. (2012). Protagoras of Abdera: Of All Things Man Is The Measure. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 February 2021, from https://www.ancient.eu/article/61/protagoras-of-abdera-of-all-things-man-is-the-meas/.

Crane, L. (2020). Elon Musk demonstrated a Neuralink brain implant in a live pig. New Scientist. Retrieved 13 February 2021, from https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253274-elon-musk-demonstrated-a-neuralink-brain-implant-in-a-live-pig/.

Hinchliffe, T. (2018). Medicine or Poison? On the Ethics of AI Implants in Humans – The Sociable. The Sociable. Retrieved 24 February 2021, from https://sociable.co/technology/ethics-ai-implants-humans/.

Link to Podcast:

280MAPA: Network theories week 5

“Actor network theory is basis around how everything and everyone is connected in one way or another” hence the term ‘network society.’

Avdeeff, Melissa, 2021, lecture 6, Network theories, lecture notes, Media and communications, Coventry University, delivered 22 Feb 2021.

This term is perhaps defined as collective information with multiple different infrastructures of social and media networks being allowed to delegate its organisation whether in a form of an individual, group, organisation or society. 

As we dive deeper into this, a singular individual (human) and technology within the networks is said to be called actors. Actants are signals that are formed when both human and non-human actors’ function together to take on a shape.

Actors are defined as the “source of an action regardless of its status as a human or non-human”. (Cresswell,2010, p.1).

Johannesson and Brenholdt call actor as “Humans would only be naked bodies without their props, and it is only through interaction – networking – with materials they become (human) actors. Hence, for ANT, the solid individual actor is non-existent until it has been stabilized as such through relational ordering.” (Johannessen, Baerenholdt,2009, p.15).

This further supports my statment earlier that one actor can’t work well without the other. The two actors must co-exist together, the interaction between them both; networking will form an action.

Short case study:

What is a device such as an iPhone without its user?

Both the iPhone and their user are called actors within the realm of a ‘network society’. An iPhone, a smartphone made by Apple that combines a computer, iPod, digital camera and a cellular phone onto one device with a touchscreen interface. 

There are other actors in the network that all combine together to form and make up the iPhone.

It could be said that beyond this both manufacturers and designers both have a part to play in the process of this. 

If the infrastructure of this network didn’t exactly function properly, somewhere along the line the outcome of this phone wouldn’t exactly be practical for people to use.

As an iPhone can only operate with its user present. Without one’s phone user, the device is practically useless as it becomes an inanimate object that is just laying around.

The phone is created to suit the purpose of entertaining, teaching and getting in contact with other users. To gain such accessibility you need either a face id or fingerprint, to scan either the face or thumbs.

Overall, I think a device without its user it relatively meaningless as it serves no purpose, it will just be an actor that is non-human. 

Bibliography:

Cresswell, K. M., Worth, A., & Sheikh, A. (2010, November 1). Actor-Network Theory and its role in understanding the implementation of information technology developments in healthcare. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. Retrieved 27 February 2021, from https://bmcmedinformdecismak.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6947-10-67

Johannesson, G., & Bærenholdt, J. (2009). Actor-Network Theory/Network Geographies. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved 27 February 2021, from https://files.coventry.aula.education/d754573c8b601d317481aa53035db994actor_network_theory_network_geographies.pdf.

280MAPA: Cultural Geography Week 3

Geography is a study of space, place and landscape. Its all about seeking and looking for how people changed the environment in which they live on.

These two words make up this brief summary of cultural geography.

Carl Sauer a theorist quoted this “A cultural landscape as a natural landscape that had been modified by a cultural group.” (Fleming K, 1984, pg.112) 

“This quote conveys” that particular areas around the world have been reformed and changed in some way by memorable things that has happened or by certain culture groups.

A university scholar in Pondicherry University, Professor Balasubramanian described cultural geography as the means to “examine cultural values, practices, discursive and material expressions and artefacts of people, the cultural diversity and plurality of society.”(Balasubramanian A., 2018, pg.2)

 Put briefly each landscape/place, has their own identity produced from a kind of culture group, and each landscape have their own meaning to how they were formed.

Short case study/analysis-

Does living in a particular place effect the way you live?

For this case study I will be mainly focusing on the Yoruba ethnic group based in the western part of Nigeria, apart from the Yoruba there are two other major ethnic groups within the country. Nigeria is made up of three major ethnic groups, the Igbo’s in the east who are mainly Christian, the Hausas in the north who are mainly Muslim and the Yoruba group in the west which have a mixture of Muslims and Christians. They are all culturally different; from their traditional rulers to religions. Each group have traditional rulers known as either kings(Oba’s), Muslim religious leaders or elders; that traditionally rule Kingdoms, towns and villages.

These are some things culturally that identify the Yoruba ethnic group for what it is.  The group are well known for their love of colourful native attires. Clothes worn by men and woman show their status in society and their personality.

Traditional native wear.

They’re attires represent symbolism, tribalism and history that represent style and colour. There are different outfits for various occasions e.g., festivals, weddings and funerals.

 Women have their own style of clothing, most wear clothing called ‘aso oke’.

Women traditional wear.

The staple foods of the Yoruba people that they produce are crops like cassava, yams, rice, plantain, corn and beans among other foods.

A farmer holds up a bunch of cassava roots.

The reason why these foods are able to be produced around the western part of Nigeria, are because of the climate and terrain which suits the production of these crops, hence the staple diet in the area.

A farmer.

The Yoruba are also known for working with a wide range of material which are used to create artefact. They have used and made bronze, copper, stone, ivory and wood carvings. Some of these historic carvings have been stored and placed in museums in the UK and around the world. All these carvings represented their culture and traditional spiritual beliefs before Christianity and the Muslim faiths.

Hundreds of thousands of historical artworks from Africa.

To conclude I believe the industrious and religious ways effect ethnic groups, Climate change and its environment can also be life changing for individuals living there, as that can cause people in particular areas to dress differently to be able to cope, with the environmental challenges that the climate bears.

As a whole all of facts mentioned about this particular group culturally identify Yoruba culture.

Bibliography:

Fleming, K., 1984. Cultural Landscape: A theoretical perspective. [online] Scahome.org. Available at: <https://www.scahome.org/publications/proceedings/Proceedings.11Fleming.pdf> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

Balasubramanian, A., 2018. (PDF) Basics of Cultural Geography. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325781826_Basics_of_Cultural_Geography> [Accessed 9 February 2021].

280MAPA Media Ecology: My Understanding

‘Neil postman’ described the term media ecology as “Trying to find out what roles media forces us to play, how media structure what we are saying, why media make us feel and act as we do.”

 (Isslas & Bernal, 2016, p.190-191).

Media plays a huge part in society and that most of the things we get up to or do revolve around how we are affected by media. Whether its on the radio, tv, games or music.

Dr Robert K. logan’s concept of this term is the idea that “Media and technologies are languages of expression, which like a language communicate information with their own unique semantics and syntax.”  

(Isslas & Bernal, 2016, p.190-191).

This means that media can act as its own source of communication through what’s playing on television or the lyrics being consumed by us from music etc. 

Music can be communicated through a multitude of ways. Listening to music is considered to be a basic concept of the average person’s life.

YouTube are one of many ways in which music can be broadcasted to people. Listening to music on YouTube is almost like a custom and tradition to those in today’s society. Even though there are other kinds of platforms that stream music, there’s still a select amount of people who still listen to music on YouTube.

Whether it’s in a form of listening to music coming back from work, or school etc. This all comes under social environments.

From an Economical perspective, YouTube also get a vast amount of capital by the number of viewers and likes they have on the music content they publish.

The way YouTube has handled this is brilliant as it has made the company very successful and has increased their target market exponentially. 

In some ways we could say that music played in concerts is very different from music played on YouTube. Such as the ambience and environment, as concerts are normally crowded. the atmosphere of the music playing is mostly lively. 

Over time concerts have been a kind of culture, but the purpose of concerts is purely economic. The objective for a concert is the money being made, and playing music that satisfies the audience, as the audience has a massive influence on the way a concert will take place.

The similarity between both concerts and YouTube, is the way music is being communicated through both, as the music does play apart in the mental health aspect of things, changing the moods depends on the environment a person is in. 

Bibliography:

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