5.1 Beneficial and harmful effects

Beneficial and Harmful Effects of Technological Innovations

  • People are the driving force behind creating computing innovations.

  • Innovations are crafted with specific goals in mind. But they can have unforeseen consequences, both positive and negative.

  • A creator cant predict all the things that can be done with their innovation as there are so many things that could be done and as technology evolves, new uses are made

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Dopamine

Postives

  • Social Connection: Social media platforms allow people to connect with friends and family, especially those who may be geographically distant. It facilitates communication, sharing of experiences, and staying updated on each other’s lives.

  • Learning Opportunities: Many video games are designed to be educational and can enhance cognitive skills such as problem-solving, strategic thinking, and hand-eye coordination. Some games even incorporate historical or scientific elements, providing players with additional knowledge.

  • Creativity: Video games often stimulate creativity and imagination. Games with open-world exploration or creative building elements encourage players to think outside the box and express themselves in unique ways.

  • Community Building: Both video games and social media can foster a sense of community. Gamers often form online communities where they share tips, strategies, and experiences. Social media also allows people with common interests to connect and form communities.

Negatives

  • Anthony Rosner story.
  • Played up to 18 hours every single day and became extremely succesfull in world of warcraft but suffered in every other aspect of his life: school and relationships
  • Eventually quit gaming, became a succesful DJ, and created a documentary.

Example Beneficial and Corresponding Harmful Effects of Computing

Tik Tok

  • Postive: Platform for people to share their creativity and talents
  • Negative: “Doom Scrolling”

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Popcorn Hack 1

What is an example of a computing innovation with unintended consequences, whether positive or negative?

  • ANSWER

Mitigating Risks/Responsiblity

  • Targeted advertising, machine learning, and data mining are all good exampels of how unintended uses can have both positive and negative effecs

  • Even though it is impossible to predict all possibilities, a responsible programmer’s goal it to forsee and prevent any unintended/negative uses and effects

  • Rapid sharing of a program can lead to events outside the creators control

Popcorn Hack 2

How can responsible programming help contribute to minimizing unintended harmful impacts?

  • ANSWER

Finding Balance

  • Finding a balance between innovation and responsibility is important

  • Programmers shape the impact of their creations on society.

  • Unintended uses of innovations may potentiallyhave harmful impacts on society

  • While negative effects could occur, Innovations often bring unintended benefits by helping advance the current states of technology.

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Popcorn Hack 3

Why is it important for programmers to consider the unintended consequences of their innovations?

  • ANSWER

Bonus Hack(0.05 extra points)

Self Reflect on your use of technology? Whats your daily screen time? What beneficial effects of technology do you utilize and what are some negative consequences you succcumb to?

  • ANSWER

Homework

  • Choose an innovation(Social media, computers, phones, etc.) and talk about an alternative use than what its actually use for. Then, give the potential positive and negative impacts of the use you came up with
  • One alternative use could be leveraging social media platforms for civic engagement and community organizing, mobilizing individuals around social and political causes. The potential positive impacts include amplifying marginalized voices, fostering social change, and facilitating grassroots movements. However, there are also negative impacts to consider, such as the spread of misinformation, echo chambers, and the potential for online harassment and abuse that may arise from contentious discussions and polarized opinions.
  • How might you as a programmer implement code that helps your program have less unintented risks.
  • As a programmer, I can implement several practices to mitigate unintended risks in my code. Firstly, I will prioritize thorough testing and debugging to identify and fix potential issues before deployment. I will also adopt defensive programming techniques, such as input validation and error handling, to handle unexpected situations gracefully. Following coding best practices, such as modular and well-documented code, will enhance code maintainability and reduce the likelihood of introducing bugs. Additionally, I will stay updated with security practices and apply secure coding principles to protect against vulnerabilities and potential breaches. Regular code reviews and collaboration with other developers can also help identify and address potential risks.