The Cathedral and the Bazaar

In The Cathedral and the Bazaar Raymond said that the Linux community was organized in such a way that "a coherent and stable system could seemingly emerge only by a succession of miracles." It is my belief that this succession of miracles, which caused Open Source to emerge, came from God. One of the most obvious reasons I feel that the Lord has assisted the Open Source movement is to help The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with family history. Open Source led to the creation of the Family Search API, which allows anyone to build custom applications that can access and submit genealogical data. I believe the Lord will continue to inspire men to create and use technology until His work to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" is complete.

Internet Safety

Having people around produces a power that helps us make correct decisions when we encounter harmful material (such as pornography) on the Internet. Satan knows we are much more vulnerable when we are alone, so that is when he strikes. I find it very interesting that when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden Satan never tempted them when they were together. I believe that if we heed the advice given in Tangled in the Web to keep the computer in an open, public part of the home, we will be able to limit the flood of filthy material that is trying to get into our homes. Don't underestimate the power to resist temptation that comes from having good friends and family members around.

Thoughts After Reading Articles on Copyright

In the article MP3s Are Not the Devil by Orson Scott, he talked about how there were very few people who refused to sign work for hire contracts given to them by companies. Companies use these contracts to short change the people that come up with the creative ideas and take most of the profit for themselves. As I read this, I couldn't help but wonder why the majority of people so freely hand over the rights to their creative work. Perhaps the majority of people fear that if they don't sign every contract that a company puts in front of them, they will not be able to find work. Maybe some people are just too lazy or busy to invest the time to carefully read the contracts. Whatever the case may be, I feel that more people need to be stubborn about maintaining the rights to their creative work. Creative people should to be rewarded for their ideas instead of the people that took their ideas through a contract.

Thoughts after reading The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman

"When the world is flat, whatever can be done will be done. The only question is whether it will be done by you or to you" (p.442). Friedman was speaking specifically of how companies can survive in the flat world we now live in when he said this, but this statement caused me to ponder not just what companies need to do, but what we as individuals must do to survive in this flat world. Advances in technology have brought us many new opportunities, and with these new opportunities comes new responsibility.

Remember that life is still about people
As life becomes more virtual and wireless we must remember that it is still about people. Technology allows us to communicate in so many new ways: text messaging, instant messenger, email, and even what I'm doing right now--blogging. These ways of communicating can be very convenient, but we should not allow them to take precedence over meeting with people face to face. Let your mouth do the talking instead of your fingers.

Increased access to good also brings increased access to evil
Satan would use any good thing for his own evil purposes. Technology gives us access to so many good and uplifting things, but the adversary would pollute our world with filth. We need to be on guard. If we are cautious of the things we allow past our filters (digital and moral), then we can harness the good from technology and avoid the evil.

Not all knowledge is necessary knowledge
The amount of information available to us in this flat world can be overwhelming. Even though the information we access may not be blatantly evil, it may not be necessary. Elder Oaks in his October 2007 Conference talk said, "just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it." He later continues, "Make sure that the essential needs are met, but do not go overboard in creating so many good things to do that the essential ones are not accomplished." Spending time with family and friends, selfless service, and striving to become more Christlike are among the most important things we can do with our time.

"The world is being flattened. I didn't start it and you can't stop it...but we can tilt it, and shape it, for better or for worse" (p.635).

Implanted medical devices

Implanted medical devices are becoming so sophisticated that if measures are not taken to increase their security they could easily be used to hurt rather than help. In John Timmer's article entitled Hacking Implanted Defibrillators: shockingly easy he explains how defibrillators work. "These devices monitor the heart's electrical activity and, when an arrhythmic event is detected, can induce a shock that resets the heart. They also contain small radio transmitters that let doctors read their monitoring of the heart and even reprogram the device to customize it to the patient." At first glance this device sounds very cool and helpful, but after a closer look it has been found that it is "incredibly easy" to hack these devices. Not only could a hacker obtain medical information about you, but they could change the customizations on the device to make it harmful, even deadly. I believe that more laws need to be made concerning the security that is required to be built in to any medical electronic device. Action needs to be taken before some curious, teenage hacker accidentally shocks somebody to death with an implanted defibrillator.

Women in computing

As technology continues to advance it will become more important to have women in computing. I believe that because men and women have such different views of the world that the answers to many of the unsolved questions in computing could be tackled by a woman. Even those women who plan on staying home to raise children should become familiar with computing. The mothers who have an understanding of computers will be able to effectively help their children as the need to use computers to do homework continues to rise. They also benefit by being able to manage finances, organize important documents, and keep in touch with relatives and friends through email and blogs. Whether a woman plans on a career or to stay home and raise children, learning anything she can about computing would be a wise choice.

BitTorrent doesn't violate copyright laws, people do

In the November 1984 Ensign David B. Haight said, "New technologies that can bless our lives in so many positive ways are also being used to spread pornographic corruption." Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have taught that Satan tries to use things that can have a positive influence in our lives in order to do evil. Even though there is the potential that technology can be misused I do not believe that should be a reason to keep people from using it. In a recent article on Ars Technica, Tennessee legislation would turn schools into copyright cops, it talks about how schools have had to put restrictions on network traffic to keep students from violating copyright law. In order to fulfill these network restrictions some schools have implemented filters that block all BitTorrent traffic. I believe that this is not a wise move because the people that are violating copyright law will find a way around the filters and the people who are using BitTorrent to make legitimate downloads will suffer. Don't punish those who are using technology the right way for the actions of the few that would use it for evil.

Thoughts after reading The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll

In our day it is common to hear people say things like, "It's okay for me to download music using bit torrent programs as long as I don't sell it and make a profit from it" or "I just downloaded that movie to see if it's worth buying." As I read The Cuckoo's Egg my mind kept coming back to thoughts about software, music, and video piracy and the it occurred to me that people don't realize the impact of their actions on the Internet. It seems that many people fail to make a connection between the virtual world and the real world and it causes them to live by different moral laws when they are on the Internet than when they interact with people in real life. Below I have listed three things that we can do to keep our morality monitors in check as we enter the digital world.

Make the connection between the digital world and the real world.
In The Cuckoo's Egg Cliff Stoll compares networked computers to neighborhoods and he talks about how the hacker is simply trying each door to see if it is locked on all the houses in the neighborhood. This metaphor brings the hacker's actions from the digital world into the real world. A similar metaphor could be used to compare copying music from a friend's computer to stealing a CD from the store. Most people wouldn't steal a CD from a store, but thousands of songs are pirated by those same people who would "never steal." Comparing our actions online to real life events will help us make better decisions.

Look at piracy from a different point of view.
A friend of mine, we'll call her Jane, designs digital scrapbook kits that she sells online. Recently somebody broke into the online store, downloaded her scrapbook kits, and started posting them on forums so anyone could download them for free. Jane was furious because hours of her hard work was being distributed to thousands of people for free. In discussions with Jane prior to this incident she had talked about all the free songs she had downloaded from the Internet and how it was so cool that she could get them for nothing. I don't know if Jane has made the connection, but it is very clear to me that we need to realize that people have put a lot of work into their music, videos, software or whatever else they are selling and it is wrong to give out copies to the world.

Do what we know is right.
Laws governing technology will always be insufficient, but that does not mean we should abuse them. It took a long time to get laws in place that made it illegal to break in to other people's computers, but that did not change the fact that before the law was passed it was wrong to break into other people's computers. As technology continues to advance I hope that we will start living by what we know to be right even when we find situations where laws have not yet been passed.

Online gaming for children?

Online gaming addiction is a plague that is sweeping the world and our children are it's next target. In a recent article from Ars Technica entitled Disney wants your child online: MMOs for tweens (and below) it says that "[Disney] has thrown significant resources behind the creation of online, kid-friendly places." The article talks about making online games with a safe and friendly environment for kids but fails to address what Disney is doing to prevent children from becoming addicted. Play time restrictions, parental controls and other ways of informing parents of their children's online play need to be implemented so parents can help their children avoid an addiction that could ruin their lives.

Technology and Family History Work

I believe technology is a tool the Lord has blessed us with that enables us to accomplish the commandment to do family history work. There is so much work that needs to be done to find genealogical data for the entire human family that it would be impossible to finish before the end of the Millennium, so the Lord has inspired men to develop the technology that we have today. The use of computers has allowed members of the church to do genealogy work much more efficiently than ever before. Instead of spending hours reading through microfilms genealogists can search through thousands of records with the click of a mouse. The Internet allows people from all over the world to work collectively instead of duplicating their efforts. By providing these advances in technology the Lord is literally fulfilling the promise He made when He said, "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (1 Nephi 3:7, The Book of Mormon).

Technology and the LDS Church

Technology allows us to do church-related work and service faster, but should not reduce the amount of time and effort that we consecrate to serving the Lord. The ability to get as much work done in ten minutes that it used to take three hours to do does not give us an excuse to idle away the extra two hours and fifty minutes we saved into activities less worthy of our time. There is plenty of work for all when we are in the service of God, so we needn't worry that doing the work in an efficient manner is going to leave others with nothing to do. The Savior has said, "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27)." May we take this council to heart and foster the attitude of "How can I help move the work of the Lord forward" rather than "How fast can I get this done so I can play."

Good writing is not a big bang experience

The reason many people feel they are bad writers is not because they are lacking in intelligence, but they have failed to invest the time and effort to develop their skills and polish their writing. Mark Twain said, "The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is you really want to say." Even the best writers end up spending a lot of time revising and rewriting before they produce good writing. When people make excuses like "Writing just isn't my thing," and "I'm just not a very good writer," they are saying that they are not willing to invest the time and effort required to write well.

Anonymity != license to be rude

The anonymity behind online social networking is bringing out the monster in many of us. A report by Pew Internet reported that about one-third of all teenagers who use the Internet have been subject to some form of cyberbullying. It seems that many people are using the Internet to unload emotions that they would never share with a person face-to-face. Because what they say can't be traced back to them it somehow justifies the malice they inject into their online posts. Jacqui Cheng, a writer for Ars Technica, said in his article entitled Memo to Internet nutjobs: Please, think before you post that cyber-harassers need to "realize that [their] words aren't going into a black hole. They're being read by other people—a lot of them, in some cases." Internet users need to understand that the things they say online are not being sent off into a nonexistent virtual world, but they are published to real people in the real world. I'm sure many of us have had experiences that have taught us the importance of thinking before we speak. Now let us take that advice and apply it to the world we live in today and make sure we think before we post.

I left my brain in my cell phone

Reliance on technology can lead to a weaker memory. A few weeks ago I found myself without a cell phone thanks to the incompatibility of water and electronics. The following few weeks made me think about technology in a different light. I had come to rely on my cell phone so much that when I did not have it I was unable to call my parents. My phone remembered their numbers for me so I had not bothered to memorize them. Simple math problems are often delegated to a calculator even though they could be easily solved in our head. Papers are checked for spelling and grammar by the click of a button rather than carefully proofreading them ourselves. When we don't have our laptop or calculator handy we are left stranded. All this reliance on technology can make a power outage feel like the end of the world. If we continue to hand over every task that comes our way to the computer without exercising our minds we are going to lose one of the greatest abilities that God has given us: the ability to think.