Avoiding Addictions

Through today's technology, addictions can emerge in many different forms. Anything that you spend a disproportionate amount of time doing that begins to replace the important things in life can be considered an addiction. Common addictions today include activities such as video gaming, social media sites and role-playing games. Sometimes I may plan on spending only two minutes on Facebook and ten minutes later I'm completely unaware of how much time has past and how it happened. I know many of us face this challenge and not just with Facebook. I have heard that game producers actually try to make their games as addictive as possible. A sign of an addiction is indulging yourself in a certain activity rather than spending time with family or friends, sleeping at night, participating in social activities, gaining a better education, or nurturing your spiritual needs. When a specific activity takes over your life, you are in danger. Satan will try anything to get you to skew your priorities causing you to waste time on the wrong tasks. When this happens you lose sight of the eternal perspective drawing you farther from the eternal goal. It is crucial that we all stay focused on seeing things as they really are  and not become distracted by the things of the world

With Great Power Comes Great Possibilities

     Wikipedia has become a surprisingly successful development. Because anyone can post anything they would like regarding any subject, it is astonishing that we do not find as much garbage or false information as we would think. Although there are some people who want to ruin this valuable resource for us all, there are many more that want to prevent this from happening. This is easily handled because it takes much longer to create and post false facts than it does to delete that false information. Regular users are looking out for everyone, helping prevent trouble makers from abusing Wikipedia's open access.
     I have never added anything on Wikipedia, nor do I personally know anyone that has. However, because Wikipedia is able to be edited by anyone, with only a small percentage of people each contributing a little bit of what they know, Wikipedia now contains a surplus of information. This is just one example of how people as a group can make a big difference. No one knows everything, but everyone know a little about something. If everyone pitches in, a massive amount of knowledge can be accumulated. When we all work together we can accomplish anything we desire whether it be good or bad.
    People working together in a large enough group can become unstoppable. Large groups have been known to stand up to companies, and make them do what the people want. We have all had an experience when it just took that one extra person to get you to listen and take the advice. The more people there are the more influential they can be. This can be dangerous when the group's goal is unethical. For this reason, the government will always try to step in to prevent possible negative effects when they see people gathering with a common cause. The more people there are, the more difficult they are to manage. When you get a group together they have great power and there are unlimited possibilities.

Computer Science: A Feminine Discipline

   All throughout my life I have enjoyed and excelled in math and problem solving. This was the reason I initially considered mathematics and electrical engineering majors when I began college. I knew these were perceived as masculine subjects and that few of my female peers had similar passions, but these factors only encouraged me to pursue my goals. People thought I was really smart just because I was a math nerd and wanted to be a mathematician when I grew up. I enjoyed the attention and this only boosted my confidence. Because I was a minority regarding my fascination with mathematics, ever since grade school all of my teachers have encouraged me to persevere and fulfill my dreams. As a minority, I do enjoy the many benefits from being a woman in computer science.
   From what I have experienced, girls are intimidated by computer science and look up to women that are brave enough to go into this field. Because there are many other challenging majors which women are not afraid to take part in, we can agree that it is not the factor of computer science being difficult that scares women away. Computer science is misunderstood by many which makes it a scary subject to approach. Trying to get girls into gaming is not the solution. I have never been interested in video games or anything of the sort. It is the problem solving that I enjoy. Finding ways to get girls to become familiar with simple programming early on is a better solution for getting more women into the computer science field.

http://archive.cra.org/CRN/issues/0304.pdf
http://cpms-old.byu.edu/speeches/family-education-careers
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16digi.html?_r=1
http://eusesconsortium.org/gender/
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CCsQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.95.812%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&rct=j&q=DePalma%2C%20%22Why%20Women%20Avoid%20Computer%20Science%22&ei=TZuzTLreKoeisQOx37yzCA&usg=AFQjCNHmZ1QHV0_ugH64A2qDh7o3oEwoSg&sig2=WP8JIFLGG5yDnhz9vgn_4w&cad=rja

Technology and the Gospel

  The Lord has inspired the development of technology to help spread the gospel throughout all nations. I often share my beliefs with friends, including those that may live far away, by posting links to conference talks or Mormon messages on my Facebook or blog. This way, people are exposed to what I believe and can find out more if they would like to. Mormon.org is another way people can ask questions if they are interested and find answers from real people like them instead of calling a random number on the back of a pass-a-long card. These resources are great improvements in the spreading of the gospel.
   Computers have simplified temple work, the building of church structures, the transferring of church finances, the viewing of church messages, and long distance missionary work. Through whatever methods the gospel is growing, Satan is finding ways to impede this work. Although technology has benefited the church in many ways, we need to be careful in how we use it. When using social media we must be sure that it is in ways that are uplifting, while having a positive influence on others. There is so much good we can accomplish through technology if we continue using it the way the Lord intended.

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1984/06/the-church-and-computers-using-tools-the-lord-has-provided?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/ensign/2000/05/thou-shalt-give-heed-unto-all-his-words?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/church/news/mormonorgs-redesign-connects-members-and-investigators?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/church/news/using-social-media-for-gospel-purposes?lang=eng

Copyright Control Freaks

Imagine a world where you could never listen to music that you did not own. The odds are slim of you stumbling upon a purchase of an album you like without someone sharing it with you first. If our society never shared music with each other, the recognition of great singers would be a much slower process. In the entertainment world, the most effective way for something to become popular is by word of mouth. Similarly, if my friends could not show me trailers of movies they were excited to go see, I might never discover those movies either. Preventing people from sharing entertainment with each other would hurt the entertainment industry much more than the current situation already is.

   Honestly, there is not much incentive for me to pay for my own copy of all the songs that I like. I will either hear them for free on the radio, on Pandora, or on YouTube. Whether I end up with my own copy through a friend, or not, I would not have spent the money on it anyway. The difference is that I would get to listen to songs I like whenever I want and this may even allow more of my friends to discover that they like the songs also. This would cause a ripple effect involving more people going to a singer's concert or purchasing their products. Not enough people illegally create or copy products to keep performers from profiting. If people really care about having their own copy, then they know that the originally manufactured items have the best quality anyway. Those that are willing to buy their own copy of products will do so, and those that are not cannot be forced to.

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-07-1.html
http://arantxa.ii.uam.es/~ssantini/work/papers/recent/s428_proof.pdf
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1197470&isnumber=26946
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1197471&isnumber=26946
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_control_of_ideas
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack

Linux Development

Before I became a computer science major, I had never heard of the Linux operating system.  Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Linux has developed into an excellent source of good software.  Linus, the creator of Linux, had a unique way of optimizing the development of the Linux operating system.  While it is true that the more people you have working on a system the more flaws will be discovered in a shorter amount of time, it is also risky.  Using this approach puts the developer at risk for having unsatisfied users.  However, the more people you have working on a problem, the more likely that someone will have the capability to fix it.  This dramatically decreases the time it takes to solve an issue and make the new and improved version available for use.  A theory of Linus's that I do agree with is that people should not have to work on a project that they aren't intrigued by.  Someone is more likely to be successful and productive while working on a task that they find pleasure in.  This decreases the time it takes an assignment to be completed.  All of these components of Linus's style of development contributed to the successfulness of Linux operating systems today. 

http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/index.html

Hidden Weaknesses

From reading "The Cuckoo's Egg" I have learned how vulnerable computer systems around the world really are.  It is scary to think that there are so many holes in our computer programs through which hackers can sneak in to get our private information.  We are putting our society in danger by being so unaware of the damage that could be done if our computers are unprotected.  We are vulnerable to computer hackers out there that have discovered the flaws of various computer systems that we have yet to learn about.  They are ruining the trust that computer users need to have in order to be able to collaborate to benefit from the profitable resources that computers can be.  Those we call hackers need to stop playing games and pulling pranks, and realize how destructive they are being.  They are creating more work for innocent people.  Their pranks put people behind schedule in projects, in development plans, in schoolwork, and in jobs.  I have had many friends at school whose computers have crashed causing them to lose everything, including important papers or projects they had been working on.  When this happens, it is not just inconvenient, but it is completely vexing to have to either restore the information they had, or redo all the work they had lost.  Think of all the pictures, programs, and information that can be stored on one computer.  If all that is lost, it is like a chunk of data that has been documenting your life just disappears.  Flaws in computer programs need to be made known to the users and fixed.  There should be better ways of informing computer users of how to protect their private personal information.  We should be able to trust the creators when we buy their products, but we can't if they are holding back information regarding defects that could potential harm us.  Once users are made aware of weaknesses in their computers and of ways to repair them, they are responsible if problems that they could have prevented arise.  However, we cannot be expected to prevent problems if we do not know that they exist.