This class helped me realize how much I take certain luxuries for granted and I now appreciate them a lot more than I did before. I think a lot of privileged people disregard how easy their lives are since they experience so much technology everyday they overlook how some people in the world live hard poverty stricken lives without it. I realize how technological advance mainly only help people who can afford to pay for them and just help the line between the rich and the poor to become thicker and keeping the poor down.   

     In class this week we discussed the economies of Vietnam and China and compared their differences and similarities. China has definitely become a world power over the last few decades and our relationship with them should be closely monitored and kept in tact. Over the last half century the United States has had faltering ties with both China and especially Vietnam. We were at war with Vietnam in a brutal struggle to put down communism and allies with China in World War 2 against the axis of evil. Both countries share a history of communist and socialist ideas in their governments.

     Vietnam has a significantly large population; however China is the most heavily populated country in the world. Both countries are impoverished with a work force that highly out numbers what the labor market can offer in terms of job opportunities. Vietnam is very much in debt and they lack a sufficient budget system to overcome their economical problems. China has a booming economy due to the high amount of goods they export and produce all over the world. China has developed at an alarming rate considering they were not a superpower twenty years ago. I think it is very important for the United States to remain allied with China because they are a country that poses a major threat to us. 

      The video explained how it is important for the members in the city to work together with each other instead of competing in order to better the city and make it a better place to live. Transportation was not only way to make a city come together but the people also developed parks, museums, opera houses, malls, 24 hour business districts available to all citizens, and many other projects. The Curitiba plan was to make the city more economically sufficient, enhance the transportation system by making it more available to the public, promote public improvements to the city, and create helpful institutions to better the city overall.

Many people are fear the destruction of Nuclear technology with weapons of mass destruction and their known affects. Unfortunately these weapons are necessary for our country to possess because they protect us and deter other countries from attacking when we have such a powerful arsenal. Even though they were made for warfare, they seem to help prevent it since the days of full scale invasion during World War 2 are over, which has helped save many American lives. Even though it is devastating technology, it has helped our society in many ways such as cutting down on pollution from other sources of power, providing a more reliable and better source of power, and giving our country a defense that is almost unrivaled in the world today.

There are many positive impacts that come with up to date forensic sciences such as being able to obtain concrete evidence against someone with the help of DNA and fingerprinting in order to ensure guilt more effectively to a jury, judge, and the public. Scientists have also been able to go back to previous cases where DNA evidence was not available since it hadn’t been developed in the past and they have been able to free wrongfully convicted citizens. Certain cases require police officers to rely solely on DNA in order to make a case and get a criminal convicted. SOme negative effects of DNA are that I think it gives juries the idea that there should always be DNA as evidence a conviction. Due to such shows as Law and Order and CSI I think many people get the wrong idea that it is possible to get precise DNA results in a very short amount of time when in reality it is very hard and can take weeks or even months for tests for one case to be administered and developed. I think people hold it up to high compared to other aspects of a case and it enables criminals to be let off if there is no DNA evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person is guilty.

Topic: For my research paper on technology and inequality I have chosen to research the use of steroids in sports and the effects they have on players who use them. I will also discuss how steroids uneven the playing field and the ethical and medical reasons why they should not be used for sports.

I. Introduction

A. Overview of topic and thesis statement.

B. Methods of research – Articles, Books, Online sources, Interviews, Surveys…

II. Literature review

III. Views on Steroids

A. History and invention.

B. Political and public views on them.

C. Sports industry views.   

IV. Social groups and frameworks that steroids impact.

A. What kinds of people use steroids other than athletes.

B. Morals and ethics behind their use

C. Health and Medical impacts and side effects.

D. Reasons why steroids are acceptable to some.

V. Interviews and Surveys and an interpretations of their results.

VI. Conclusions based on research, interviews, and surveys. Thesis questions answered and why steroids create inequality in society.

     The main focus of class this week was Thomas Hughes’ concept of technological momentum and what it entails. Hughes describes technological momentum as being when a civilization, either a young social constructivist one ranging to a mature deterministic one, arrives somewhere in the middle of those two and is more open to change and susceptible of welcoming new cultural ideas and technology. Hughes describes how technological systems are shaped by and shape society, and eventually when they become very large they tend to mostly shape society, and technological momentum is an easier view to take when explaining how the present uses technology from the past and creates new forms rather than taking the social constructivist or deterministic view. It is easiest for states that have not fully developed economical, political, and social structures to make changes that benefit their societies. Sometimes it is necessary for states to make technological advancements and changes in order to better adjust their societies to deal with future problems or errors in judgment. New technology enable a society to flourish and it is when a society becomes dependent on technology that they grow to this mature deterministic state since there is no need for them to advance until the new technology is out dated.

     The example of change discussed in class was the automobile industry and how the world became dependent on oil and for awhile everything was fine and the industry produced oversize vehicles since there was an abundance of oil. However with the embargo of 1973 the U.S. had to make a change in order to try and conserve oil as best as they could and the production of smaller more efficient cars began. Civilizations in the Middle East grew dependent on the oil industry since it made them what they are and created all their sources of income and wealth. Once the industry became what it is there was no going back for them and their economies are based largely in part on oil and the rest of the world is dependent on oil at this time.  

     The availability and utilization of technology by a person in our society all depends on the choices that person has made in their lifetime as those choices relate to their level of education, skill, and their location. Due to the way our economy is structured there is a high demand for wealth and in order to achieve that wealth a person must generally be well educated through college, have a specific skills set in their area of interest or occupation, and be in the right place at the right time in order to benefit from the developments of technology in the workplace. Technological achievements also only help those who can afford to get them, and in places like Africa, India, and so forth many people cannot afford to get them and this causes them to stay unequal with those who can.

     Education is a big factor when it comes to how technology and inequality are directly related. It is proven that a person who graduates high school and goes on to college immediately to pursue a career is more likely to get the benefits of technology than a person who drops out of high school and gets a minimum wage job. Through different levels of education a person learns specific skills needed to succeed which a person who has no education would have a hard time of achieving. The jobs that require skills are the ones that mainly use technology and their employees benefit from that, while minimum wage jobs don’t need as much technology to be operated and their employees lose such benefits like gaining technological experience. Once all the education and skills have been acquired then a person must be able to find out where those specific skills are needed and the market must have a demand for those skills in order for the person to benefit. People who haven’t acquired any education or skills aren’t in the position to benefit from any kind of technology since they aren’t on an equal playing field with those who have and will always be unequal.