EST 201 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Internet, Intelligence, University College London
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
EST 201
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Week 1 (1/29/2018)
Science is in trouble. More and more research findings turning
out to be mistakes or useless. Can Science be saved from itself?
●Perspectives: What people call work
○Most Undergrads: Getting Shit Done
○Most Grad Students: Working for that Money
○Most Doctoral Students: Is this worth it?
○Neuroscientists:
■Every time you shift your attention from one thing to another, the brain
has to engage a neurochemical switch that uses up nutrients in the brain to
accomplish that. So if you’re attempting to multitask, you know, doing
four or five things at once, you’re not actually doing four or five things at
once, because the brain doesn’t work that way. Instead, you’re rapidly
shifting from one thing to the next, depleting neural resources as you go.
●Technology is the ‘raw material’ for fighting economic inequality
○History is ruthlessly clear about what happens when too much wealth ends up in
the hands of the very few. Even as anger about economic inequality has fueled
movements - including the campaigns of populist political candidates - specific
causes and solutions remain elusive.
○One piece of the puzzle is rejecting the hollow claim of today’s technology
companies that innovation improves quality of life for everyone by default, and
beginning a serious conversation about how innovation can be leveraged to fight
inequality, rather than amplify it.
○Science, pride of modernity, our one source of objective knowledge, is in deep
trouble. Stoked by fifty years of growing public investments, scientists are more
productive than ever, pouring out millions of articles in thousands of journals
covering an ever-expanding array of fields and phenomena. But much of this
supposed knowledge is turning out to be contestable, unreliable, unusable, or
flat-out wrong.
○When the politics of scientific publishing prevent negative results from getting
out there, science can’t advance, and potentially dangerous errors - whether due to
fraud or an honest mistake - go unchecked.
○Ultimately, science can be rescued if researchers can be directed more toward
solving real world problems rather than pursuing the beautiful lie.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
○The history of science as a discipline emerged from the history of philosophy in
the early twentieth century. Its initial institutionalization took place mainly in
departments of history and philosophy of science. It is fair to say that history and
philosophy of science in recent years have gone their separate ways.
●Trend: a general direction in which something is developing or changing
●Technology: in this class technology is defined as a product of human innovation
●Negative Technology
○Negative #1: Technology Changes the Way Children Think
■Close to a third of children under the age of two use mobile media. That
number only increases as children age, with over 90% of teens 12-17
spending time online. The time spent with technology doesn’t just give
kids newfangled ways of doing things, it changes the way their brains
work.
■For example, while video games may condition the brain to pay attention
to multiple stimuli, they can lead to distraction and decreased memory.
Children who always use search engines may become very good at finding
information - but not very good at remembering it.
○Negative #2: Technology Changes the Way We Feel
■A study done over the past few years on two groups of sixth graders found
that kids who had no access to electronic devices for five days were better
at picking up on emotions and nonverbal cues of photos and faces than the
group that used their devices during that time. The increased face-to-face
interaction that the test group had made students more sensitive to nuances
in expression.
■Overuse of technology can also affect a child’s own mood. A report from
the United Kingdom revealed that kids who use computer games and their
home Internet for more than four hours do not have the same sense of
wellbeing as those who used that technology for less than an hour. One
expert explained that with less physical contact, children might have
difficulty developing social skills and emotional reactions.
○Negative #3: Technology Can Put Privacy and Safety at Risk
■Improper use of technology can expose people to numerous risks.
Children who use technology may unwittingly share information that can
put them in danger. In 82% of online sex crimes against children, the sex
offenders used social networking sites to get information about the
victim’s preferences. And the anonymity of technology can also make it
easier for people to bully others online. A quarter of teenagers say they
have been bullied by either text or on the internet.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
More and more research findings turning out to be mistakes or useless. Most grad students: working for that money. Every time you shift your attention from one thing to another, the brain has to engage a neurochemical switch that uses up nutrients in the brain to accomplish that. So if you"re attempting to multitask, you know, doing four or five things at once, you"re not actually doing four or five things at once, because the brain doesn"t work that way. Instead, you"re rapidly shifting from one thing to the next, depleting neural resources as you go. Technology is the raw material" for fighting economic inequality. History is ruthlessly clear about what happens when too much wealth ends up in the hands of the very few. Even as anger about economic inequality has fueled movements - including the campaigns of populist political candidates - specific causes and solutions remain elusive.
