Assignment 3-TD

First things first, you would definitely see me put that $4,600 in my pocket. Before you you call me an evil greedy person, what if I told you that money was for my mother, to help her suffer less? I don't believe in absolute good and evil. Surely there are bad and good things in the world but it is all subjective. Consider the earth for example. The earth kills thousands of people through natural evils (natural disasters) every year but we would not call it evil because it gives life and nourishes. These natural evils cannot be blamed, because of that they cannot even be called evil. In the end, what results is the loss of life, the same exact loss as a murder. If the end result of a murder and natural disaster are the same why do we call one evil and the other are just what they are? Because those evils, "moral evils", are controllable by us.
Choosing to kill is what you would naturally call evil. Though what may be evil to us, is quite beneficial for the world. One less person alive means less consumption and the body will provide nutrients for the soil. So the evil to use is quite a good deed for every other animal and plant living.
This is why to me, there is no war on evil, no need for good and evil to balance each other. Defining evil and good itself is impossible as, again, it is all subjective. Snapping your fingers means nothing morally. If a snapping of the finger leads to a traumatic memory flashback for another and you do it are you evil? No matter what your intentions were, you still ended up giving someone a traumatic flashback. This is why good and evil are all subjective. We would all be considered evil for example if there was a war on evil. We would be evil people for choosing not to eliminate the world of evil and for choosing to just live our own lives. Ask anyone if they would start a campaign to rid the world of evil, and they would say yes. There are certainly people who could do that (Gates, Bloomberg, you get the picture). They are not evil people for choosing not to rid the world of evil because there is no evil to get eliminate. The world is just a setting for events to take place. If evil was truly needed for us to understand goodness, why do we not receive the minimum required dosage of evil to understand? This is because what we understand as good and evil is how we understand everything else in the world, from our own perspective. In all reality evil is to a tree as good is to rock, meaning there is no relationship. It just is.

Assignment 2 Nick Falk

Has technology ever inconvenienced me? That is definitley an easy question. It inconviences me every day. I get distracted by my phone everyday while doing my homework. This just makes doing homework that much harder and more boring. Also with my phone I am easily contacted. With my phone people try to talk to me and expect me to respond quickly. Usually I'm doing something else and have to interrupt what I'm doing to respond or answer something, and when I don't people get mad. Technology hasn't physically hurt me, but it was hurt things like my motivation and my grades, because technology is one of the main reasons behind my laziness. I have obviously seen technology negatively impact society. We all have. We see it through the sad stories about identity theft and the many lives ruined this. With all the technology with cameras, nobody has any privacy and nobody can do anything without it being noticed.

Assignment 2 - Sheridan Wagner

Technology effects every aspect of our lives. Socially, culturally, fundamentally we have all come to rely on it. While it does have many positive impacts, I find societies overall reliance on our modern technology to be overwhelming.

I don’t have any form of social media. In middle school I was talked into creating an Instagram account and I stopped using once I got into high school. I found it to be an unreliable source of actual communication. People tended to absent mindedly comment and like and I was unable to form any personal connections through it. Not that I’m the best at socializing, but I have always preferred face to face social interactions so that I can at least slightly understand how the person is actually feeling. Once you start to put boundaries between communication, this personal interaction becomes limited.

Technology is complicated and with so many different products it tends to get confusing for me. I’m not great at managing technology and sometimes I can’t figure out how it works. Today’s growing dependence on technology has made me struggle through figuring out how to manage the constant new technological advancements.

Even though I understand the importance behind new technology, it often gets in my way.

Assignment 2- Sheridan Wagner

Technology effects every aspect of our lives. Socially, culturally, fundamentally we have all come to rely on it. While it does have many positive impacts, I find societies overall reliance on our modern technology to be overwhelming.

I don’t have any form of social media. In middle school I was talked into creating an Instagram account and I stopped using once I got into high school. I found it to be an unreliable source of actual communication. People tended to absent mindedly comment and like and I was unable to form any personal connections through it. Not that I’m the best at socializing, but I have always preferred face to face social interactions so that I can at least slightly understand how the person is actually feeling. Once you start to put boundaries between communication, this personal interaction becomes limited.

Technology is complicated and with so many different products it tends to get confusing for me. I’m not great at managing technology and sometimes I can’t figure out how it works. Today’s growing dependence on technology has made me struggle through figuring out how to manage the constant new technological advancements.

Even though I understand the importance behind new technology, it often gets in my way.

Assignment 2 - iWrite - Tobias Cox

     Twenty years ago, the year was 1996! You'd have to go back farther than that to find a time without some sort of technology. That year, the revolutionary personal computer had almost become a household staple, but still had a high price tag of upwards of a couple thousand dollars. Cell phones were not so common yet, however. They existed, but only in their clunky, prehistoric way. Could you even tell the difference between a cell phone and a home telephone? Doubtful. This semi-ignorance of the cell phone and its lack of use creates a stark contrast to the world of today, where one wouldn't be caught dead without a cell phone.
     I myself am guilty. Guilty as charged. I am entirely obsessed, not just with the social aspect of a phone, but also the utilitarian part. I HAVE to know things - IMMEDIATELY! How would I live without my ability to, in my free and bored time, catch up on what's going on in this crazy political world? How could I live without immediately being able to lookup how to do something? How could I run without mapping it out first and connecting it to my fitbit to count the steps, miles, and calories burned? My life would be very different, and I think it would cause me, along with many people on this planet, to have to learn how to slow down. We have became so used to having everything immediately when we ask for it. Think about how hard it would have been to figure something out pre-internet! You would have had to take all of that time to look through a book... oh no wait before you even got to that you would have to actually go to a bookstore or to the library! And when you get to the library, can you even imagine having to use a card catalog! The list of inconveniences is enormous. So yes my life would be different - it wouldn't be mine. I don't think I would be the same person that I am now.
     Interacting though? That would really open up a can of worms. I hate to admit it, but texting makes serious things a lot easier. A lot quicker and a lot easier. I don't think I can remember the last time I forced those disgusting words out of my mouth ... "I... Am... Sorry...." No, no, no. Some things are better left communicated in a way that doesn't mean metaphorically kow-towing in front of someone you already feel bad enough for hurting. Bad news is easier too. Who wants to take the time and effort it takes to convey the sadness necessary to deliver bad news with the empathy required by common courtesy? Surely not me. But no one can see your body language behind a cell phone screen, and so we mostly assume that you are being sincere. I cannot even imagine how I would get through these difficult social tasks without my cell phone. It keeps these uncomfortable social situations to a minimum. In addition, my phone lets me talk to people all of the time. I mean, think about it. If we didn't have our friends to text, we would actually have to remember what our homework was. Surely one cannot expect me to do that. But one thing that I will admit about the phones and talking to my friends - it sure has made acquaintances a lot closer than they used to be. You can text someone all of the time, and still just be their acquaintance. The connected culture that we live in has blurred relationships and made for all kinds of social grey areas. I suppose we wouldn't have had all of that grey 20 years ago.
      If I had to choose? I would definitely choose the time period I am in. I have been molded and sculpted by this time period - who knows what my personality would have been like in the 1990s! Maybe it would have been better, but can better really be better if I am not me? Surely not. The culture of technology we live in has shaped me, for better or for worse, and I could not be happier with myself.

Assignment 2- iWrite- John Felty

Technology is constantly changing and new discoveries are made every day. Whether its cell phones, bio-sciences, or even our cars, new technology continues to be made. In the next decade, I predict that the three things that I just listed will have been drastically changed, being much different than we know them to be today. Over the next ten years I believe that home phones will be obsolete as more people will switch to just cell phones. Many people have already made this transition due to the more accessible and improved technology in today’s cell phones. Who knows how much more improved cell phones will be in the future? Also, I predict that in relation to bio-sciences, prosthetic limbs will be fully functional as active, working limbs for those who have lost theirs. Great strides have already come in this field, and technology is so close to creating working robotic limbs. Lastly, I predict that cars made in the future will have some sort of autopilot technology. Early examples of this have already been introduced on the market, but they have their flaws and have caused a few accidents. But, in the future, I believe that this technology will be wide spread in many new cars on the market.

zachary langdon assignment #2 technology

Time creates uncertainty, and uncertainty creates discomfort. That’s what employs historians, politicians, journalists, physicist, and futurists. We assign them the job of dealing with that ambiguity as to give a level of certainty so we don’t find ourselves overwhelmed with the uncertainty entangled with our existence. To make the grey a little more defined. However, there are employed very few futurists as they can do little to quell our discomfort. The upside of the future’s ambiguity is its possibility. In the future we have peace, fly around with jetpacks, never eat bad food, and employment is voluntary. The future is exciting because it’s the only place where utopia exists. So let’s take a brief trip to the future shall we?

2017 – The next president of the united states now holds office. They decide the policy which dictates the future of U.S. technological advancement, from privacy to energy to space. They force companies to create an encryption backdoor through executive order; tech companies immediately try to take the issue to court. Renewable energy technologies improve in efficiency though the market shrinks as government subsidies expire. The Tesla model 3 starts to ship. NASA shifts from mars to the moon, aiming to establish a settlement there as per the will of congress. Internet of Things technologies continue to crop up and develop, now being primarily controlled from smart speakers. 2017 is the hottest year on record.

2018 –  NASA launches the James Webb telescope, allowing us to peer further into space and identify other habitable worlds. Autonomous taxi services are becoming popular in developed urban areas. Smartphone sales stagnate with IOT tech and wearables gaining market share. More car manufacturers produce sub fifty thousand dollar electric cars. 2018 is the hottest year on record.

2019 – James Webb telescope confirms that ProximaB is most likely habitable. A landmark supreme court decision determines that the government has the right to force technology companies to implement a backdoor to encryption for law enforcement. The first virtual reality cinema chain reaches 100 theaters worldwide. Modular phones continue to iterate as companies try to find viable business model for them. 2019 is the hottest year on record.

2020 – NASA launches the next mars rover. Smartwatches have found their function and become pervasive as. Voice recognition has gotten good enough that most tasks are now completed either by talking to smart speakers at home or smartwatches when on the go. 2020 is the hottest year on record.

2021 – The mars rover lands, now allowing us to hear mars. Autonomous transportation technologies have led to a rapid decline in employment in the transportation sector; it is estimated that in 5 years the industry’s human employment will have shrunk from 90 million down to 30 million. Tablets and laptops have merged into a new segment of personal computers called “portables” with sales of older form-factors declining. 2021 is on par with 2020 in world temperatures.

2022 – Most content is now organized by personal AI; few people search for what they want but rather consume what the AI says they want. Smartwatch external battery packs become popular as manufactures insist of making them thinner while shifted more of the smartphone's tasks onto them. Talking to your watch is now the norm. 2022 is the coolest year since the last decade; this creates a media frenzy as climate change deniers are brought on to every major new program for months following.

2023 – The U.S. returns to the moon, missing the 50th anniversary of the moon landing by 4 years, to test human habitats and life support systems for the future moon base. Eco-terrorist group CAP (climate action and protection) makes headlines with sabotage of Chinese power plants, leading to massive blackouts across the country. A growing minority of the population is moving away from digital technologies due to the increase in cyber-attacks in the years following the encryption backdoor mandate. 2023 sees temperature increases from the previous year.

2024 – Wireless networks have advanced to the point of near spotless fast coverage, allowing computing to be done over the cloud. Consumers now pay a monthly fee to use servers for storage and computation of their data. The concord 2 is put into limited production. SpaceX announces plans to send humans to orbit mars during the next launch window. Alpha Centari probe is launched. Most news is now built by AI from social media content causing massive unemployment in that sector. 2024 is the hottest year on record.

2025 – A quarter of all ground transport runs off of a renewable energy source; however, CAP illegally launches climate hacking initiatives after the failure of the Brussels climate talks the previous year.  Augmented reality glasses and smartwatches compete as the two primary form-factors for mobile computing leaving the smartphone to use-cases formerly occupied by the flip phone a decade ago. 2025 is the hottest year on record. 

2026 – The increasing automation of the world’s economy has led to the worst economic downturn since the depression almost a hundred years ago; unemployment rates have risen to 20%. The international moon settlement is operational, with crews being shuttled to and from via SpaceX’s falcon heavy after budget cuts hit NASA. It remains unclear what damage the climate hacking initiatives by CAP have done, but fear of the group has resulted in many developed countries heightening their surveillance measures with majority approval despite a vocal minority of privacy advocates speaking out against them. The UN forms a committee to explore the effect of, stability of, and future action on the hacked climate.

Beyond – humanity continues to struggle to overcome its problematic existence, but always looking forward to the future utopia it shall enjoy. 

Assignment 2- Ellie Phillips

The type of technology that I find to be an inconvenience is mainly social media. I mean this type of technology isn’t necessarily bad, but on a larger scale, which seems to be typical these days, it gets to be an inconvenience and distract from the real world. For this reason, I don’t have social media-Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. I see my friends get upset about likes and followers, which I believe is an unnecessary drama. People can get too wrapped up in social media and just waste time on it. If it wasn’t as prevalent in our society, then it would not have as strong a negative impact as it does now. Because I don’t have social media, I haven’t been exposed to any harm through technology. However, I have actually been physically hurt by technology because someone accidentally threw a phone at me and gave me a black eye. Overall though, I think technology is much more than social media, and thus it has a greater of a positive impact than negative.

Ben Schaeffer Assignment 2

Ben Schaeffer- iWrite


When people say that technology hasn't affected them in a positive way they are lying, as the opportunities achieved through technology make living in a modern world not only manageable, but also simple. With the movement of a few fingers and the click of a button, one can deliver a message to anywhere in the world (where there is internet connection). In my opinion, that is a lot easier than delivering a message by horse or boat. Furthermore, information is at my disposal whenever I wish. A few weeks ago, I learned how to make lobster sashimi from some Japanese guy on Youtube. The internet and technology improves the quality of work and competition because anybody can learn from the experts whenever they wish and machinery makes jobs more efficient to do. Personally, I enjoy being always connected to my friends. Social media and communication modes such as texting allow me to talk with them when they are not with me. Although some argue this can lead to lack of social skills and problems such as cyber bullying, I think it is not technologies fault but rather the peoples fault for not actively fixing any issues. Overall, it is a huge aid to people in our world today.

iWrite- Nicole Loy

Technology. Must people love it. I, however, generally do not (I realize how ironic this is since I am using technology to post this opinion- I also realize that I am incorrectly using the term ironic and I'm sorry but I don't care). Yes, I realize its positive aspects. Technology is great for looking things up (I mean you can literally have information on anything and everything at your hands in a second), communicating with your friends and family, and for being efficient.  It generally makes life easier. But should life be easier?
Life is short. I believe you should spend every moment maximizing your opportunities for happiness, as you only have so many. But the best things in life aren't always the easiest things in life. Technology might allow me to communicate with my friends easily, but at what cost? Technology makes it easier to avoid face-to-face contact. Some people would rather text then go out to dinner. To me, that's crazy. I would rather be with my friends then talk to them through a pice of glass and metal. Also, t's so easy to misconstrue what someone is saying if you're texting. You can't determine if they were being sarcastic or if they really meant it.
Technology is also extremely distracting. How am I supposed to get my homework done if my cell phone is ringing with a new text every minute? A great example of technology that is distracting is the TV. Not only does it hold the keys to Netflix (which we all know is hella distracting), but even just regular programming can be hard to pass up. If the TV is on while I'm doing homework, I guarantee you that 60% of the time I will be watching the program rather than focusing on homework.
Technology also enables you to be fat and lazy. Why would I go outside when I could just chill inside with my phone and my TV? Netflix binge-watching is a thing, and it's dangerous. Now I'm not saying you should be outside 24/7 and never watch a program, but come on people we can't waste our lives watching TV series after TV series. Enjoy the earth because it won't be much longer until all you can do is stay inside due to your bad hips and general old age problems.
In conclusion, technology has many benefits, but we can't forget about all of the negatives that come with it. Society has been negatively impacted by it- both socially, mentally, and physically. Technology is both a curse and a blessing.

Assignment 2- Joonyoung Park

Technology has become a major part of everyone's lives in the 21st century. Much of this technology is still advancing and will continue to advance. Today most people have a cell phone and/or a laptop. These devices allow us to connect to the internet and share information with the people around us. For me, I really like to socialize with friends and watch movies on my phone. But I also realize that I am developing too strong of a reliance to my phone. These reliances are beginning to have negative impacts on our society. For example, people are using technology to bully others or are using technology to steal confidential data. Not only this, but due to increased cell phone use, we spend less and less time with our friends and family. Had I lived in a different time period, I would've probably hung out with friends more often and spent more time with my family together. Since I would spend a lot more time with friends and family, I would've had a much more tighter relationship with them than I do in the present. I think that both societies have their advantages and disadvantages, so I would not really prefer to live in one time period or another.

iWrite - Grace Bond

Technology has extremely inconvenienced my life many times. As I started to write this post, technology slowed me down. My friends are all together right now at an event I was not able to attend and let's just say I had a mole on the inside telling me everything that was said about me. The only reason I was able to know that something I said had made others mad was through my cell phone. Otherwise I would have never been able to call all of them out on their bullshit, and that's just so sad. Although I am glad I was able to put them in their place, it delayed my writing by an hour. I am constantly finding something to do on my phone instead of completing my homework. I always get my work done eventually due to my crippling fear of failure, but it is usually late at night which means I sometimes have less time to sleep, which also worries me because I need to be fully alert for school so I can fall right back asleep in the middle of 1st period AP Lang. There's nothing like listening to the same essay 9 times over in monotone voices.

Would life be different without technology? Definitely. But would it be better? Maybe.

Assignment 2 Shalom Saldana

Smartphones are the printing press of the 21st century. They allow you to access the world's information from practically any location. Along with the internet smartphones give us the ability to contact each other within a matter of  seconds even if you are on opposite sides of the world.
Personally, my day starts off with technology. The very first thing I do when I wake up is look at my phone and if it weren't on my phone I wouldn't even wake up on time; I end the day by plugging my phone into the wall. Modern technology gives me directions when I'm lost, tells me what the weather will be like tomorrow, and lets me know what everyone is up to. Technology helps us in every way imaginable but it can be as distracting as it is helpful. Technology can keep us from doing homework or it leave you injured if you're not paying attention.
If I had been born 20 years earlier technology's influence on my life would be substantially less. For starters I wouldn't have a smartphone. My relationships with friends and classmates would be maintained mostly through school and other extracurricular activities instead of social media. My knowledge for world events would be much more restricted as well.
I think in the future virtual reality will be one of the more useful technologies. Virtual reality can be used for a multitude of practices. The biggest application it could have is job training. Imagine a doctor perfecting surgery before they even have their first patient. A pilot driving with mastery on his first flight. Virtual reality could prepare us for any situation in which we can only be prepared for through experience. The development of virtual reality could expand its uses beyond our imaginations.

assignment 2 Nick Walters

Technology has affected my life in a major way, mostly for the better. Technology, although it can be very frustrating at times, makes life so much easier.

 Technology helps me a ton in school. If I need to look up something, I can type the question into my phone and find an answer in less than a minute. It makes homework much easier because if I don’t know something, I can look it up or quickly text a friend and ask for help. A couple of my classes this year use a website where they post their daily lessons so people can easily watch at home from their computers after school. This is especially helpful when I miss some important information during class or if I’m absent one day, because I can easily go online and watch the lesson from that class.

It also makes my social life a lot more connected. Through technology, I can have a conversation with anyone from anywhere, at any time. Before, if you wanted to talk to someone who you didn’t see regularly, you would have to write them a letter, which could take up to a week to just get a reply. Now I can have a conversation in a matter of seconds. Also, it makes it easier to make plans with a large group of people because we can all talk in a group chat and make a plan when we can’t actually be together to discuss plans. It also makes it easier, at least for me, to plan around my job. I can view my upcoming schedule from online and request days off and tell my manager when I’m not available with a few clicks of the mouse. Technology allows people to make many transactions from their bed without even getting up. If you want tickets to a concert or game, you can go online and buy them with a few clicks and have them months before the actual event. Without technology, my daily life would be much more difficult and require me to do much more than I do now.

iWrite- Daryn Smith

         Technology in the form of laptops, apple watches, iPhones, and more, is a relatively new thing in the world. It has, without a doubt, changed the lives of many people. Through these devices, near infinite knowledge becomes available with the click of a button. This is something that could hardly be imagined 20 years ago. Had I grown up 20 years ago, without technology, my day-to-day life would be very different, but I would likely be doing similar things.

One thing technology has changed about peoples’  lives is the accessibility to so much information. When doing homework, I can easily look something up and find out lots about it in a very short amount of time. This makes research projects much, much easier. 20 years ago, instead of typing something into a screen and pressing a button, I would be going to the library, sifting through books, articles, newspapers, and more to find what I was looking for. 

Also, technology allows for much more spontaneity in life. I am able to make plans quickly and change them quickly if necessary. It also allows my parents to keep in touch with me  when I am at a friends house. I used to go to a summer camp, and most of my friends from there live in other states. Having a cell phone allows me to keep in better touch with them which is something that I am very thankful to have the opportunity to do. 

Technology has also opened the door for the many forms of social media, including, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Social media keeps me updated on the lives of both people I know well and people that I wouldn’t know much about otherwise. I think social media has overall had a positive impact on our society.

20 years ago, interacting with others would have to be much more planned out and set up ahead of time. It would still be very similar, except that it wouldn’t have much flexibility as far as changing plans goes. I think my relationships would be pretty much the same. Phones don’t define our relationships, they help us to maintain them more often and quicker. There is a chance I wouldn’t stay in touch with camp friends without a cell phone or social media, but overall I don’t think much would be different as far as relationships go. 

        I prefer today’s time because information is so accessible, and I think the ability to get in touch with someone so quickly is very valuable. Technology just makes things easier, and it has greatly shaped all of our lives. 

iWrite- Annie Varner

Assignment 2- iWrite by Annie Varner

Technology has changed me and the growing world around me profoundly.  As I write this at Starbucks, I look around and count 6 costumers using some version of Apple's Macbook; the impact Steve Jobs has had on our modern world is almost incomprehensible.  We go through each day and its motions but don't realize how truly reliant we are on recent technological advances.

I can vouch for myself and many others that technology has positively impacted our modern world.  Without the careful instructions of my iPhone's GPS, I couldn't imagine navigating any other way.  Growing up in the midst of a technological shift, we are the babies who were time and time again influenced by the changes in social media and entertainment.

While many argue technology can hinder our ability to truly connect with others, I believe the opposite.  The tools our phones and computers provide to communicate with one another cannot compete with any other resource.  We can skype, facetime or text someone from across the world in a mere fraction of a second.  We were born and wired to connect, technology simply enhances that.

I love the world we live in today, and I hope we can explore the new worlds of technology and create new jobs and outlets for people across the world.  Our world 20 years ago was completely different.  We need to learn to appreciate and benefit from the advantages technology can foster instead of abuse its power.

Of course our technology will change with time, and as long as we can appreciate its benefits our generations will see the joy it can bring.  Disease will be more easily treated, communicating will be at its all-time high, and job opportunity will continue to expand.

Sorry Ray Bradbury

Assignment 2- Saurav Khadka

Technology is a major part of the twenty-first century world. And like everyone else on Earth, I am dependent on it for almost everything from buying food to doing homework. I think we are better off because of the advancement in technology because it makes doing tasks that were tedious and time consuming before more efficient. For me, writing is a struggle as people cannot always read my handwriting so with the transition to doing most things on word or powerpoint helps me get my message across without the barrier that is my handwriting. Like almost everything good, technology does have its bad side. With ever growing relevance of social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, we live in a world where more and more kids are being bullied through the internet. Cyberbullying is easier for bullies to do as they can hide behind the screen, and a lot of the times they don't even realize they are bullying. Had I grown up twenty years earlier, I would have been more social and interactive due to not being reliant on the internet and technology and having to go out and interact with people more on a personal level. This is why I would've preferred to grow up in that time period because our generation lacks that facet of social development more than any generation before us. In the future, I see no signs of technological advancement and society's reliance on technology decreasing. As a result, we are soon going to be in a world that is completely dependent on technology so much so that machines will be able to do work that humans used to do, causing mass unemployment.

Assignment 2: iWrite

      When I am supposed to be doing something I typically get somewhat distracted and my mind starts to drift to other areas than what my task is. One of these areas is wondering what my life would be like had I been born twenty or so years earlier than I was and how my life would be different. When thinking about this I always notice I would have no cell phone or computer, and none of the perks of those devices. I would not be able to shoot a friend a text or call my mother when in need of her assistance. So my communication with others would be very different due to the lack of access. I also would not be able to sit at home to complete a research assignment or type a paper, I would have to go to library or get an encyclopedia, which is way more work than I find myself doing today.      

     However the changes may not just be negative for me; they would also be positive. For instance, my mother could no longer use the tracking feature on my phone to locate me at any time she deems necessary, allowing me to feel a little more free and a little less like a character in "1984", which is obvious why this is preferable. I also would be less distracted by my cellular device in uncomfortable social situations so I would be forced to be more social; this could be a bad thing in some cases though. Overall though my life would be harder without the devices I so heavily rely on today, but more than likely it would be more fun and less stressful.

Sadie Marsh- Assignment 2: iWrite

     While technology is a great thing, it can have many negative impacts. Technology can speed up the world but also slow it down. Being able to look up an answer to a question in the blink of an eye is impressive. But the distractions are not- technology has its ups and downs, one of those downs being the ability to focus.

     Technology can both promote and discourage social interaction and contact. It is a good way for those far away to keep in touch with friends and family but it is not good for those nearby. Today, many people think of it this way: why spend the time getting somewhere to meet with someone when you can just pick up the phone? Maybe those extra minutes are beneficial, we as humans need social interaction and we have a desire to connect. Reading words off a screen is not going to cut it. Technology is taking over and we are forgetting who we are and how to connect with one another. 

Assignment 3: Come to the dark side, Rey!

The news does not shy away from stories that show the moral flaws of humanity. Read any newspaper and there is always something about the latest crime in its pages. Every so often though, we are fortunate enough to hear stories of people who still want to do the right thing. For instance, Leah Kleppinger recently found a wallet when no one else was around. When she opened it, she saw $4,600 in cash and credit cards and had every opportunity to pocket it, but instead returned it to its owner.

But just because we hear about bad things and nice things happening does that mean there is a true battle versus good and evil? Is Leah Kleppinger the epitome of good while someone who would have kept the wallet the definition of evil?

So...you're prompt for the week:

Do you believe in absolute good and evil? Is it as clear cut as Harry Potter versus Voldemort, the Sith versus the Jedi? Is there no war at all between good and evil; is there just this gray area where sometimes good people do bad things? Are good and evil even things that have to exist? Can one eliminate the other once and for all? What is evil? What is good?

Use examples when applicable, tell a story to illustrate your point, show causation - whatever you decide to say about it, explain yourself.

Your post will be due by Sunday September 4th 11:59 pm

October 16th will be the last day to make up blogs 1-8

Blog 2- Safal Dumre

In the last two decades technology has had a surge in development and today is pretty much in every aspect of our lives. For the most part that has been for the best. Technology helps to facilitate tasks and allows for more efficiency. Transportation, communication, education have all had a positive effect from the technological surge. There are, however, a lot of negative effects that technology has had on our lives as well. Today almost everyone has a smart phone and is therefore connected to a vast amount of information on the internet, but it also has made people less connected to the people around them. Social interactions are no longer the only option because people can just look down at their device and experience the moment in their own world separate from the obligation of social interaction. In addition to the effects socially, technology has also had a negative impact on the earth. Technology has created factories which cause major pollution and waste in our world. Technology has increased the demand for raw materials and resources which we have drained the earth of. The damage that technology has had is usually overlooked because of the benefits, but it is important to also keep in mind the negatives aspects of technology moving forward.

Amanda Byerman- iWrite

"Become a futurist and theorize on how might technology evolve over the next decade and what changes might those changes bring"

In the future, I can only hope our technology will have advanced to improve our quality of living as a species. I worry, however, that the most technology will only serve the most privileged among us, who can pay for it. While it sounds great in theory to have new virtual reality systems or glasses that you can text with, these all fail to have any major impact on the quality of life for most of the world.

It is my hope that we will have developed technology to ensure the basic needs of all people in the world are met and hopefully exceeded. To find a way to provide affordable, clean water and nutritious food to all people, particularly those least privileged in the world, would be a remarkable step forward. The best way for us to improve our technology is to simply make it more accessible to everyone; resources like the internet which we may take for granted in our daily lives, could provide life-changing information and education to people who have never experienced it before. 

These changes would provide more opportunity to the underprivileged, therefore lessening the dramatically uneven wage gap worldwide and leading to more innovation. 

Caitlin Southworth- iWrite

In the future, it is very likely that humans will become very dependent on technology. By then, whether twenty years from now or two hundred, we will likely have made many advances in technology. Life will probably be better, with the advancements, medicine will likely be much better and life as we know it will be easier and simpler. Who knows, there may be a cure to cancer, a way to heal deep wounds quickly, and a society in which the common cold is nothing more than a cough. Robots and/ or clones may be developed, helping humans in every aspect of their life, and the next step would be artificial intelligence. If that technology were to develop, life would be exponentially different. This artificial intelligence could bring about massive help to our society, solving problems, curing illnesses, bettering our world. Or, perhaps, the artificial intelligence could bring about great disaster to our society- they could take over and prove to be the dominate race and our future would cease to exist. All in all, our future and technology is interwoven, as one progresses, so does the other.

Assignment 2-TD

In the future I believe we could really master virtual reality. In one very popular anime made a few years ago that was the case. Virtual reality was perfected to the point where you could have total control of yourself in a game. This obvious would help society a lot. Pilots could get more extensive training without the risk of harm. Surgeons could develop and practice new surgeries without the risk of killing the patient, or of course to just hone their craft.

The entertainment value would definitely be there too.  You could fully immerse yourself in a game (as in the case of the anime, Sword Art Online if you’re wondering) or a movie. One con to this would be that it would create an even deeper internet addiction problem. East Asian countries, especially South Korea, are having problems with online gaming addiction. It’s so bad that online addictions are classified just as bad as alcohol and drug addictions. The immersive nature of VR would make it even easier for you to be lost in a virtual world.

Assignment 1-TD

My name is Tserenpuntsag Davaadorj. I was born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. My family has lived in Mongolia, Japan, California, Virginia, and now Kentucky. My personal goal is to be the very best that no one ever was and my academic goal is to get all 5's this year. The most meaningful moment on my summer vacation, the second most meaningful because I don't want to tell the first, was when I cried and sobbed for an hour after finishing a drama (right in the feels). Then I continued to cry for a while after. My superpower would be invisibility so I can stealth around like Solid Snake. Kevin Hart geeks me out, he is comedy. "Let Me Explain" was hilarious. My favorite music is rap and I also really like kpop. My favorite song is Hood by Tablo feat. Joey Bada$$. One meaningful part from the song is "It made my father work the graveyard shift, and still makes his graveyard shift." The song is about poverty and struggles and Tablo's father worked very hard his entire life to support him and died at a very terrible time. Here is a picture of the Mongolian steppe.
https://www.youtube.com

Assignment- Joonyoung Park

My name is Joonyoung Park. I play tennis for Henry Clay. When I was 1, my family moved to Vancouver from Korea and then when I was 8, we moved here and we have been living here ever since. This year my goals are to get straight A's and get a 4 or higher on all of my AP tests. The most meaningful moment of my summer was when I finished all 6 seasons of Game of Thrones. In my free time I like to watch movies and play tennis. My favorite movie is Inception. My favorite website is https://www.youtube.com/

Assignment 1 Howdy Nick Falk

Hi, my name is Nick Falk. I am currently unemployed because i want to try to keep my grades steady and until i do that i will remain jobless as such.. I enjoy watching tv on the occasion. My academic goals are to get as many As as possible and also to retain all the knowledge I learned throughout the year because that is very important but is lost in the educational mindset of kids nowadays. My personal goals are to get a construction management degree from Eastern Kentucky University. I want to do this because when I worked for a landscape design company during the summer, we did a couple of small jobs for this big construction company, and I was around a lot of people in that field and what they did really interested me. The most meaningful part of my summer vacation was when my grandparents needed my dad,brother and I to take down their garage for them because it has fallen into disrepair and the city threatened to fine them if it was not taken care of. At their age it is a very unreasonable request to make them do it so they had to ask for our help.Seeing how grateful my grandparents where made me forget all about the injuries I had suffered all throughout the process. It felt good to help out my family in a big way and I will always remember the good memories that came out of the experience.My super power I would want would be the superpower to absorb other peoples superpowers kind of like Apocolypse. That is the best superpower to have because eventually I would just have all the super powers.Impractical Jokers "geeks me out" I guess.

netflix.com

Assignment 1- John Felty

Hello. My name is John Ethan Felty. I play football for the school and will be starting varsity as a junior this year at defensive tackle. This year I want to make straight A’s and pass all my AP tests. This summer I went to Savannah, Georgia with my mom and sister. The coolest thing there that I saw was the actual square in Savannah where they filmed the park bench scene from Forest Gump. I also got to go to the beach about everyday and that was lit. Also, this summer I got my intermediate license, so be cautious if you see me driving. I love to watch movies, my favorite being Empire Strikes Back. I also love listening to 80s music (mainly the Eagles and James Taylor). I spend most of my free time watching Netflix or http://youtube.com/ . I have two jack russell terriors named  Miley and Mojo. I like taking pictures of them, like so:

Paige Barricklow Assignment 1- Howdy

Hi, my name is Paige Barricklow!

I was born in North Haven Connecticut and lived there for four years before moving to Lexington in July of 2004. I am a junior at Henry Clay High School. I have one older brother named Drew who is a sophomore at the University of Kentucky and I live with my two wonderful parents named Timothy and Jennifer. I also have an extremely fat orange cat named Fluffy.

I enjoy a lot of very geeky things. I love Harry Potter, I have read all the books at least 2 times each and watched the movies at least 4 times each. I also love musical theater, my favorite shows are Legally Blonde, Beauty and the Beast, The Last 5 Years, and recently I've gotten into Hamilton. I'm also a fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, super heroes (DC and Marvel), and too many TV shows and internet personalities to name.

This summer I didn't really do a lot. I slept, I read, I watched TV, and I spent way more time with my family than I ever intended, but I actually enjoyed that time. I did do one interesting thing. I was a part of a Lexington Childrens Theater summer theater school week where I was in a group that prepared and performed a version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, I was one of the three witches.

I have a lot of favorite websites, as I spend more time on the internet than any normal human should, but I would have to say my favorite website is netflix.com.

This is a picture of me, my cousin Jon, my cousin Brianna, and my brother Drew at Disney World quite a long time ago. I am the extremely happy child on the far right. I was clearly very happy to be there.

Assignment 1 - Leighanne Guettler-James

My name is Leighanne. I am the daughter of Karen Guettler and John James. Born in Santa Barbara, I was the third of four children. My two older brothers (Colin and Taylor) and I were born in California but my younger brother, Nathan, was born here is Lexington. Because of my upbringing surrounded by rowdy boys I am a little loud sometimes and I often annoy people with my energy. Honestly, I just tell people to tell me to shut up if I'm being too loud.

Since I was very young, I've had a large interest in Dance and have been on a competitive dance team for seven years. Dance has been a huge part of my life because it has taught me how to work on a team and also how to be a leader among peers. I spend so much of my time dancing that you can often spot me dancing at seemingly random moments during school and just my life, in general. There is never a time that I don't feel like dancing.

I've been in accelerated classes since third grade and in the accelerated program since fourth grade. I think being in these special programs has had a huge impact in my life because I have always been surrounded by extremely smart people who have goals that are far above average. At the same time, I find the accelerated cluster to be largely exclusive and limiting as far as demographics are concerned.

The best part of my summer was teaching dance camp for three weeks and finally getting paid after four years of volunteering. I got to teach little kids (mostly girls), ages 6 to 1, tap and jazz classes and enjoy all of their funny kid moments. Even though there was always a couple girls who wouldn't listen, I still enjoyed every moment of camp. I also got to attend a dance camp for my own education and go on a wonderful vacation to Destin, Florida with my family.

This year, I am also adding vice president of the Y-Club at Henry Clay and salaried dance teacher to my repertoire. I am excited to improve my reading and writing skills this year and hope to be successful in this class.




This is me on stage during my recital this year. I'm the wicked with btw.
 

 This is me with some other girls on my dance team at dance camp this summer. We earned All American.

This is me with my Brothers and Mom in Florida this summer.