Issue 29 9.1.18



Blockchain Technology in Environmental Sustainability

abstract:

The use of the internet has created a great way for people to work collaboratively. However, the process can be further enhanced by the use of blockchain technology. Blockchains would allow people with similar ideas to share data and resources with the goal of improving upon previous designs. One such application of this technology could be the redesign of architecture with both structural integrity and environmental sustainability in mind.

Blockchain Technology is a new form of decentralized information technology that can be applicable to many situations beyond beyond cryptocurrency and financial assets; it can be used in various applications, including design practices. Blockchain technology opens up a platform for more collaboration, information sharing, and trackability (Swan); it is beneficial for designers because they can expand off previous data and analysis, and update other collaborators on their advancements as well. In addition, blockchain ability to distribute information will be beneficial for Artificial Intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence aims to replicate human behavior like identifying and solving tractable information processing problems (Marr). Although Artificial Intelligence is an extension to human cognitive, they are backed by computational power; they can process everything more efficiently than humans can. In addition, Artificial Intelligence can run simulations and model to aid in various applications (Wiederhold). Especially in the design process, utilizing Artificial Intelligence to run simulations on real-world model is beneficial to designers because they can analyze and build solutions from the information, and further expand their research.

With Blockchain technology, designers have access to various sources of data to implement into their Artificial Intelligence or simulation programs. The Artificial Intelligence will take care of the simulations, and generate new data; designers can take various approaches based on the data produced, and distribute it to organizations that are aiming to achieve the same objective.

authors: Leon Quach Joseph Ferreira Tom Lin Anthony Astorri


The Traveling Salesman Problem and AI

abstract:

Artificial technologies are advancing so fast that they are now used in many mainstream applications. The growing numbers of smarter AI raises concern in their effectiveness of making autonomous decision. Understanding the traveling salesman problem will help locate some issues within modern AI technology use by big companies like YouTube. YouTube uses AI to moderate and control the types of videos that shows up to the user. Evaluating its algorithm reveals that the system have certain flaws YouTube is ignoring. Self-driving cars are another hot topic that use AI to make important decisions. How does an AI determine which decision is better than the others and is it morally right? As technology extends human tasks, it is important to evaluate inseparable scenarios between humans and machine.

authors: Garrick Kwan Gerson Belmonte Jeremy Miller Kong Vue


Hate on the Internet

abstract:

In contemporary society, individuals have gathered on many social media websites in order to express their personal thoughts and opinions to an anonymous public. However, there are many cases in which these thoughts can be framed as attacks or insults, thus garnering controversial backlash. Hate speech is not uncommon in America with its almost polarized citizens. Individuals, especially those belonging to far right-wing groups such as the Alt-Right, will provide hateful remarks on cultural, racially, political, and social topics throughout multiple platforms on the internet. Facebook and Twitter are two of the main social media sites that deal with this issue on a day to day basis.

What has been done is that websites have begun to ban these groups from their sites, forcing Alt-Right groups to abandon mainstream platforms to sites with fewer filters; furthering the marginalization of varying groups online. The consequence is that hate speech from these individuals will disappear from the eyes of the general public, but still continue to exist elsewhere. People want to express their ideologies freely, but with censorship, many feel they are being silenced and treat unfairly. The challenge these tech companies continue to face is the issue of allowing hate speech to go through the cracks or eliminating it completely that it hinders opinions and expression. If they do wish to proceed in eliminating hate speech online, they can counter-attack them by use of hate speech detection and filtering tools. However, even then, there are issues and challenges these companies continue to face that make these elimination methods far from perfect.

authors: Lam Hoang Norka Espinal Jennifer Cacal Stephanie Cacal


Fake News: A Modern Issue

abstract:

Modern technology has become one of the fundamental things in our daily lives. With easy access to the Internet and through social media, users can make a living based on the content the user provides. Monetization through out the web has become a common method for a lot of people to make easy money. It has been used in online news, Youtube videos and even in Facebook pages, some have even made monetization a actual career. While monetizing content does provide easy access to content and may even entertainment, it also easily controls lives of its audience. The content shown can slowly become addictive and might even change the perspective of many over time. Monetization over social media is considered a method to make easy money, but it also slowly manipulates the mind into thinking of the latter instead of seeing and experiencing content naturally.

authors: Wen Wen Stacey Chan Rajeev Bbhayro