tommywolfblog

December 1, 2011

Should Robots Run Airport Security?

A recent article in Discover discussed the pros and cons of replacing current airport security techniques for identifying and preventing ill intentions with a more futuristic and potentially more effective approach by using a battery of sensors designed to determine human intention through subtle, subconscious changes in heart rate, gaze, and other physiological markers which are considered misaligned with normal behavior when passing through airport security. This 20 million dollar system which exposes airport passengers for their true intentions is called Future Attribute Screening Technology, or FAST. Its functions include four tools to detect physiological stimulus correlated with criminal intent:

Cardio Sensor – detects heart and breathing rates with Doppler radar.
Thermal Camera – detects temperature fluctuations due to changes in blood flow to the brain.
Eye Tracker – camera which tracks position and gaze of eyes and measures changes in pupil size.
Video Camera – analyzes body movements and shifts in weight. It also has a microphone to analyze pitch change.

The very idea of the system has been criticized for several reasons. Many suspect it will flag innocent travelers through false positives, and allow ill intentioned travelers through who have trained themselves to not emit signals interpreted by FAST as justification for further search by airport security. It is also argued that the system violates the basic tenet of free will, since thinking about doing something and doing it are very different things. While the Department of Homeland Security concedes that errors in criminal identification may well happen on occasion, they submit that FAST is still more reliable than human judgment, our current primary mode. In addition, Daniel Martin, a clinical psychologist, claims, “the system analyzes responses that people have little or no control over,” suggesting that one would lack the ability to train themselves to trick the system. A series of tests have been run to determine the accuracy of FAST. Among these, a handful of volunteers involved were told to commit a minor crime, such as stealing a magazine, after passing through security. All the volunteers were then asked innocuous questions, (“Have you been in the area all day”) and direct, (“Are you planning to commit a crime”). While there was evidence of greater stimulation of triggers in those who planned to commit a crime, many concluded that the study was impractical since it was done in an interrogation setting. While there are still many kinks in FAST protocol and implementation to work out, it will likely be the foundation for future security systems in airports and beyond.

More airport security developments:

http://www.energyrebels.com/blog/2011/10/31/groundbot-keeps-an-eye-on-airport-security/

November 3, 2011

The Final Frontier

As promised, in this post I’ll be discussing the importance of space technology, issues we are currently having with it, and how these issues might be solved. Today, two of the biggest concerns with space travel are the distance between planets, and the hazards which riddle the space between. Today scientists are proposing a bizarre array of technologies in the hope of not only traveling faster through space, but making space travel safe and accessible. Innovative methods of propulsion such as solar sails and laser beams are among the technologies in discussion, as well as antimatter, which scientists have suggested open up possibilities for faster-than-light travel. In addition, it has been theorized that worm-holes, (tunnels through space-time that connects two distant points in space), can be created due to the immense warping of space time resulting from the effects of a black hole. However, discussion concerning this mode of travel is strictly theoretical, since we are not only unimaginably far from being able to voluntarily manipulate space time by such a great degree, but we don’t even know for sure that worm-holes exist. Besides the problem of distance, anyone who ventures outside the earth’s protective magnetic field is at risk of being bombarded with lethal surges of radiation and bullet-like impact from space dust, as well as the harmful effects of being exposed to a zero gravity environment for extended periods of time, such as deterioration of bones, muscles, and cardiovascular system. Currently, the most popular suggestion for solving these issues is the incorporation of a force field. This also is a theory that is currently out of reach since any shield which might protect the inhabitants of the ship from space dust is a poor deterrent of radiation and weighs the ship down too much, while any shield which could potentially protect against radiation isn’t strong enough to stop ballistic particles.

While there are many questions raised over how to implement safe, effective space travel, these are irrelevant without first answering a more basic, fundamental question: Why? While there are currently more pressing issues with humanity and our world which take priority over this, it is nevertheless inevitable and necessary that we eventually take the step towards interstellar exploration, travel, and subsequently, space and planetary colonization. Following the same trends as any virus, humanity expands and consumes at an exponential rate. It follows that the only expectation of stagnant expansion is overpopulation, not only resulting in starvation and depletion of necessary resources, but providing the perfect conditions for a mass epidemic. These pressures dictate that we explore, expand, and look for resources elsewhere. As an article in www.nature.com puts it, “Exploration is an important survival strategy in evolution.” Space exploration is not only necessary to satisfy our innate curiosity of the unknown, but to ensure our survival as a species.

http://space.about.com/od/frequentlyaskedquestions/a/SpaceExploration.htm

http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v4/n11/full/embor7400016.html

To see “The Universe” full episode on space travel, see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vyulQt7e3M

October 31, 2011

Psychological Effects of Modern Warfare

It’s obvious that technology has had drastic effects in the changes on humankind’s oldest tradition: war. It has changed how we fight, and proposed new motives for fighting. However, instead of discussing these changes, I find the changes it has had on the psychological effects on the soldiers to be more a more relevant topic of discussion, since so many have a loved one or know someone who is immersed in these potential effects. Furthermore, studies have shown that in the last century, a soldier is more likely to become a psychiatric casualty than being killed. One example of these effects is “shell shock”, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Were it not for technology used in modern warfare, shell shock would be a foreign concept. Shell shock is caused by damage to the nerves, typically as a result of being in close proximity to artillery fire. Symptoms of shell shock include fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one’s surroundings, and inability to prioritize. While generally people correlate shell shock with trench warfare in World War I, shell shock continues to be an issue even today. The U.S. government is reviewing 72,000 cases in which veterans have been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. For the story of a veteran who suffered from shell shock, as well as an in depth analysis see: http://www.salon.com/2005/08/09/vets_6/singleton/

Besides the inadvertent psychological effects of military technology, technology is also utilized to intentionally inflict psychological harm to enemy soldiers. For example, projecting repetitive and annoying sounds and music for long periods at high volume towards groups under siege can have harmful psychological effects. In Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. troops used music, most commonly American heavy metal or rock music, to confuse or scare insurgents. Bright flashing lights can also be used to deprive the enemy of sleep. Aeronautical technology is also utilized by the U.S. military in psychological operations to reinforce attitudes and behavior favorable to U.S. objectives. Military planes are often used to drop leaflets over civilian regions of foreign countries. Finally, increased capacity for efficient killing in large numbers due to the destructive power of technological advancements such as cruise missiles, allows for the use of shock and awe campaigns, whereby the enemy becomes paralyzed with fear by a display of overwhelming military force and loses the will to fight due to the speed at which large numbers of soldiers are killed. For those who are curious, cruise missiles are made possible by advances in transistor and computer technology which allow self-correcting avionic and aeronautical designs allowing missiles to be guided in flight, as opposed to only at launch. For more on cruise missiles, see: http://www.vectorsite.net/twcruz_5.html. If the trends of negative psychological effects in war continue, we can safely assume with the rise of technology, new techniques in psychological warfare will rise with it.

October 23, 2011

Satellites and Space Travel

As the technological boom continues, the lifestyles of people all over the planet are adapting. Among the biggest changes are how people receive knowledge, and how they communicate, primarily by the rate at which technological advancements allow information to travel. This transfer of information to all corners of the world at break-neck speeds can be completely attributed to space technology. The first satellite put into space, “Sputnik”, was launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957 and could only transmit signals to earth, so it wasn’t used for two-way communication. Since then the utilization of satellites has become completely integrated into our society as a necessity for functionality. In addition to contributing to the primary mode by which we communicate and spread information (through phones and television), satellites provide data from space to monitor the Earth to analyze the coastal waters, relay life-saving emergency beacons, track tropical storms and hurricanes, can be used to study and map stars, planetary surfaces, and study mysterious phenomena in the universe such as black holes and quasars to name a few of their functions. Besides being an effective method of exchanging information because of the speed by which they allow the exchange to transpire, the effectiveness of cell phones for this purpose is amplified by the number of people in the world that use them, which now stands at 5.3 billion, or 77% of the world’s population. (For statistics on television’s role in information exchange, see post “Knowledge and Opinion”).

Another division of space technology is space travel. Although it is currently much less relevant to our everyday lives than the employment of satellites, it will likely play a large role in the future of humanity. I will discuss this more in depth in a future post, but for now I’ll be focusing on a new technological advancement in space exploration. NASA’s new space exploration plan includes a heavy emphasis on robotic missions that would land on the moon, Mars and even asteroids to pave the way for human exploration. Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, a foundation which has been developing space robots, might eventually take initiative for spear-heading lunar robotic missions. “The goal here is to develop a low cost, reliable, turnkey exploration system where NASA can purchase the ability to fly to the moon with a lander, hopper or rover on a regular basis,” says Diamandis. Innovations such as this will help guide a future necessity of our society to where it must be.

For more technological innovations in space travel, visit:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/deltav/25709/

Sources:

http://www.braeunig.us/space/index.htm

http://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/kidszone/satellite/kidz/who_invented_sats.html

http://www.satellites.spacesim.org/english/engineer/copy/index.html

http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats

http://www.space.com/8766-nasa-thinks-big-quest-space-technology.html

October 21, 2011

Technology and Ethics

Technology not only raises new questions regarding ethics, but changes the answers to old questions as well. One of the most controversial and popular issues which immediately comes to mind when observing technology’s effect on ethical discourse, is stem cell research. Stem cell research in a nutshell is the study of the process of turning back the clock in a young skin cell, to bring it back to an early-stage cell that could become any other type in the body. This research might be able to correct any number of life-threatening and disabling conditions. Much sooner, these cells will almost certainly serve as extremely useful models for studying disease. However, despite the numerous benefits of pursuing stem cell research, there are many ethical issues which lead large numbers of people to believe its progression should be halted. Stem cell research presents the possibility of human cloning, a concept which many find to be unethical since it implies those involved to be “playing God”, which may not necessarily have a logical basis for immorality, but still can appear unethical because of religious pre-notions. In addition, ethical quandaries concerning the definition of human life contributes to triggering the hostile response stem cell research does. These quandaries include the questions: What if scientists needed to destroy excess fertilized eggs from in vitro fertilization procedures that are only a few days old and have not yet been implanted in a woman’s uterus? Is the destruction of these “pre-embryos” ethically acceptable? Is it ethical to allow the destruction of pre-embryos to obtain stem cells for research that may some day save thousands of lives? As science and technology continue to advance, so will new ethical questions such as these inevitably arise.

Stem cell research is an example of a new ethical discourse raised by technological progression, but what of old ethical discourses? A famous thought experiment in the field of ethics is the “Trolley Problem,” which goes something like this: a madman has tied five innocent people to a trolley track. An out of control trolley car is careening toward them, and is moments away from running them over. Luckily, you can pull a lever and divert the trolley to another track. The only problem is that the madman has also tied a single person to that track. Considering the circumstances, should you pull the lever? In a similar situation, five people are tied to the track with a trolley careening toward them, and the only way to stop it is to shove a single person in front of it. Is that any less ethical than pulling the lever?

While it may seem like it’s not since the outcomes are identical whether you sacrifice the single man to save the five in either scenario, shockingly, a large majority of people polled on the question believed it was less ethical to shove the man in front of the train rather than pull the lever. While a lever may not seem like quite a technological breakthrough, keep in mind that a nuclear weapon which can be many million times more powerful than the most powerful conventional detonations in existence can be fired simply by the press of a button. While this of course is likely to be almost universally considered to be an unethical act, the results of polls in the trolley problem, because of technology’s effect on our ethical viewpoints, can’t help but make you wonder if this act is in the realm of possibility.

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/medical/IPS-stem-cells.html

http://www.aish.com/ci/sam/48969936.html

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/10/ethics-trolley-problem/

October 14, 2011

Knowlege and Opinion

Technology has completely reshaped how knowledge and opinion spreads in a very short time. The most obvious example of how technology spreads knowledge and opinion is the internet. Not only does the internet provide easily accessible information to anyone with a computer, but its availability grows every day. From 2000 to 2011, the number of internet users has increased by 480.4%, from 360,985,429 to 2,095,006,005. As the technological boom continues, technology becomes cheaper and more readily available to the general public. This means more people are expressing their opinions online, as well as being exposed to all the knowledge of others. Granted there is plenty of material online that doesn’t accomplish any proactive possibilities the internet provides, and opinion is often misled and misinformed. However, the rhetoric in online posts reveals credibility and allows us to distinguish between fact and fiction, making the internet a reliable source of information despite these misinformed opinions. This is why some blogs, (which are a good example of people demonstrating their knowledge and expressing their opinions online), are heavily followed by communities that demand accountability, while others fizzle and fade away.

Television is another good example of how technology spreads knowledge and opinion. In a way it does so even more effectively than the internet does because although it is not subject to the opinions of the large number of people that use the internet, it requires that anyone who does have access to it to be a reliable and credible source of information, (reality shows aside). With television, someone can be informed of a major event that took place on the other side of the world in a short period of time, the president can address the entire nation in person at once, and highly respected people can express their opinions on their talk shows. In addition, like the internet, televisions have become very available to the public. 99% of American households have at least one television, and more than half have three or more. While knowledge or opinion expressed on the internet is viewed primarily by those who specifically search for it, television reaches a much higher percentage, since the content is much more narrowed down. Technology has allowed the spread of knowledge and opinion to increase almost exponentially, and it appears that nothing can stop this trend from continuing.

October 5, 2011

Medical Technology

Technology continues to revolutionize medicine at an exponential rate. While my past blogs have discussed both negative and positive impacts in respective fields such as culture, environment, and physiological health, medicine seems to be one field where technology has had an almost exclusively positive impact. For this post I’ll summarize the functionality of some new medical technologies and how they have improved from past techniques. For example biologists have developed a new technique for tracking neural stem cells in vivo. This technology is projected to be a catalyst for the discovery of new treatments for brain injury caused by trauma, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological disorders. It is also a big step towards discovering how the brain regenerates cells which could be redirected to different parts of the brain, allowing us to potentially cure brain injuries.

Another medical breakthrough assisted by new technology contributes to the reliability of optical imaging. A team of researcher has demonstrated that a high resolution optical imaging technique that works by bouncing near infrared lasers of biological tissue can distinguish between pancreatic cysts that are low-risk and high-risk for becoming malignant. Past optical techniques have been unsuccessful in doing so. The team recently received FDA approval for testing this technology in human patients by using an optical coherence tomography probe small enough to be inserted into the pancreas through a biopsy needle, which will be guided into suspect masses in the pancreas by endoscopic ultrasound imaging.

The last medical technology I’ll be discussing is sensor chips for monitoring tumors. Medical engineers have developed an electronic sensor chip that can determine the oxygen content in a patient’s tissue fluid. A drop in oxygen content in tissue surrounding a tumor indicates that the tumor might be growing faster and becoming aggressive. This can effectively allow surgeons to determine if a high-risk operation is necessary. In addition, the chip can be monitored at all times, allowing the patient to be diagnosed without the stress of frequent hospital visits.

While most of my posts discuss negative impacts of technology, new technologies in the medical field are one good example of why despite these negative impacts, new technology is necessary for the progression and well-being of our society.

For more on medical technologies visit:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/matter_energy/medical_technology/

September 21, 2011

Modern Royalty

In order to keep my blog from becoming too formal and dry, I’ll be alternating my posts between technology’s effect in academic studies, and its cultural, psychological, and social influence on our society, since as social animals that is what we have a natural inclination to take interest in. In that spirit I’ll be discussing technology’s affect on the qualifications and general public’s perception of royalty, or as we call them today, celebrities.

Royalty then...

A person of royalty is one who controls a large share of power, status, or authority in the social hierarchy of their society. In a broad sense this typically refers to a monarch and all of his extended family, or at least it did before the influence of technology. It used to be that the noblest of traits in man were revered, and those who possessed them were the subjects of their peers’ adulation, (at least in Greek aristocracy). While this truth hasn’t completely diminished in our society, our exaltation has extended far beyond only what is virtuous. To best demonstrate this alteration in the qualifications of royalty as a direct result of technological progress, I’ll give the most extreme example I can think of: reality television stars. You may shake your head and laugh at the thought of the Situation being classified as royalty, but it is hard to dispute that fact when considering the criteria for royalty. Does he control a large share of power, status, or authority? In our society, money is power, and he makes millions of dollars every year. His status is through the roof, and while he may not seem very authoritative, it might surprise you what people are willing to do for a moment of attention from a celebrity. I’m not saying technology has necessarily changed our values or denigrated what is generally considered entertaining. On the contrary I’d guess that in the Middle Ages court jesters were often the object of a room’s attention. However, without modern technology, the scope of the jester’s antics were limited to just that, a room. Technology has allowed the jester to reach millions of people at once, subsequently elevating him to royal status.

...and now.

September 19, 2011

Technology and the Environment

Technology has had many negative impacts on the environment in the past century. Most know that global warming is among these impacts, but in addition new technologies have also contributed to the exposure of hazardous chemicals, diminishing the life supporting capacity of natural ecosystems, and the depletion of natural resources. However, while technology may be the cause of these major issues, it can also be the solution. We already have many techniques for countering these problems using new technologies. For example environmental remediation, which deals with the removal of harmful pollutants from soil or surface water in areas at ecological risk, is nearly at the point where nanotechnology is being fully implemented. Desalination is the process by which salt water becomes consumable or useful in irrigation by applying reverse osmosis technology. This can also be done by cogeneration, which uses excess heat from power production. Among other examples using revolutionary technology and techniques are biofiltration, biosphere technology, hydro-electricity, solar power, and thermal depolymerization to name just a few.

Desalination Plant

In addition to the production of technologies which solve the problems mentioned in the above paragraph, technologies are also being renovated to function without contributing to these problems. Already regulations on airplanes used by airlines are in place, and the airlines have responded with new environmentally friendly technology. In June of 2011 a flight on Dutch airline KLM between Amsterdam and Paris was fueled partly by chip fat. Boeing is researching carbon recycling for weight and waste reduction and using the scraps to develop secondary aircraft structures. All over the world airlines are adjusting their technologies to accommodate demand for fuel alternatives and efficiency. There is even a CleanEra project in effect which hopes to reduce fuel emissions of airplanes by 50% by completely changing its design to something that looks more like a flying saucer.

Airplanes only account for about 2% of all carbon emissions, but this is just an example of how new technologies are being implemented to cultivate an eco-friendly world. Similar work is being done in all industries which are responsible for contributing to carbon emissions. Technology can be bad when used irresponsibly or prematurely, (by which I mean it is being used on a large scale before we really understand the consequences), however its continued progression is a necessity for the comfort and well-being of our society and our world.

Learn about environmental remediation:

http://www.clu-in.org/techfocus/default.focus/sec/Nanotechnology%3A_Applications_for_Environmental_Remediation/cat/Overview/

Learn about desalination:

http://www.gewater.com/what_we_do/water_scarcity/desalination.jsp

Learn about eco-friendly airplane renovations:

http://www.greenaironline.com/

Learn about the CleanEra project:

http://www.livescience.com/4531-flying-saucer-designed-greener-air-travel.html