After watching the Ted Talks, I am scared! I feel uneasy, and I honestly feel a little unsafe.
Beginning with the first Ted Talk, the speaker Juan Enriquez says "Lets take four subjects that obviously go together, big data, tattoos, immortality, and the Greeks."
Initially I was confused, like anyone would be, but after listening and understanding the connection between the four points, I have gained a different perspective on privacy.
What happens if these platform turn out to be electronic tattoos?
What if all of us are close to immortality? Electronic tattoos will live much longer than our bodies will and we have to be fully aware of that fact.
Juan uses the Greek Gods in place of words that we use and think about as humans daily. He uses Sisyphus for reputation, Atalanta for remembering the purpose, and Narcissus to not fall in love with your own reflection.
Jorge Luis Borges says "How else can one threaten, other than with death?"
Well the response is, we can now be threatened with immortality.
The second Ted Talk Video was presented to our class by Catherine Crump. This Ted Talk gives us information about surveillance equipment and how easy the government can see exactly what we are doing when we are doing it.
The government has the power to gain a detailed description of everything about you.
The techniques that the law enforcement has been using are unlimited and will be used at some point. We have no privacy due to location information, surveillance equipment, and automatic license plate readers that capture images of every passing car.
The third Ted Talk was given by Christopher Soghoian. He talks about how computing has changed everything!
When we are having simple calls between our significant others, parents, children, or even doctors, someone could be listening such as any government across the world, or anyone that breaks into the surveillance system. It is that easy.
The governments want full access to everything and when tech companies change settings by default, that is what makes them mad.
Criminals, terrorists, drug dealers or bad people, it does not matter, we all use the same technology. If their messages and phone calls can be intercepted, ours can too.
In conclusion, we have less and less privacy with more technology advancing. The government has power that we as citizens need to be aware of.
Our privacy is limited and we need to be careful about what we post for the internet to see because once it has been posted to the internet, it will be there forever, even if you delete it off of YOUR page.
In September of 1927, Philo Taylor Farnsworth developed an object that would change the world. He created the first Television.
This is an invention, that people may not know who created off the top of their head. When you think of Thomas Edison, you may think of the light bulb. When you think of Steve Jobs, you know that he created Apple. But when you think of the first television, most people do not know who created it.
Philo Farnsworth was born on August 19th 1906, in a log cabin built by his grandfather.
Farnsworth grew up on a farm and at the age of 14, he had his first idea about the creation of the Television. "His "big idea" was that if he could train electrons to scan a picture from side-to-side, the way his horses moved across the field, he could send images to distant locations where they could be reconstructed line-by line. "
If there were any issues on the farm that needed a repairman, Farnsworth would swarm the repair man with questions due to his curiosity.
While working on the farm, Philo had his first idea of the television, and the impact that this creation would acquire.
Farnsworth attended Rigby High School and discussed his ideas of the electrical television system with his physics and chemistry teachers. Down below is the sketch that Farnsworth drew for his teachers.
Philo was a talented scientist and inventor from a very young age. "He turned his family's home appliances to electrical power during his high school years and won a national contest with his invention of the tamper-proof lock."
Farnsworth went to Birmingham Young University in 1922 but was forced to drop out due to his father becoming sick. He continued to invent a created while taking care of his father.
He then met a woman named Elma who went by "Pem", they got married and ended up moving to San Francisco together.
While in San Francisco, Farnsworth hand picked a team of scientist and inventors to help him make his television system come to life.
Throughout his time in San Francisco, Pem became his right hand. Philo trained her to do technical drawings, how to take lab notes, and even how to help with experiments.
On September 3, 1928, Farnsworth showed his innovation to the press.
In 1929, he improved his design by eliminating the motorized power generator. This was a huge step for the electronic television system because the TV now had no mechanical parts.
Shortly after the showing, he received an offer from RCA, (Radio Cooperation of America). Farnsworth denied the offer. Radio Cooperation of America wanted to purchase the rights to his device, but Farnsworth did not want to give that up.
RCA ended up hiring and working with Russian scientist, Vladimir Zworykin . Vladimir reached out to Farnsworth claiming that he wanted to be an investor for Farnworth's inventions.
Farnsworth took him through his lab in San Francisco and showed him everything that his team had been working on, including all his secrets.
Vladimir took this information back to RCA and claimed he had the rights to the first electrical television system.
This situation was taken to court. Throughout the late 20's and 30's, during the Roaring 20's, Farnsworth delt with legal charges saying that his inventions were in violation of patent filed prior to his by the inventor Vladimir Zworykin.
While in court, RCA had no proof, no evidence, and no sketches. Farnsworth had all of them. Farnsworth ended up pulling his sketches from high school, which proved that he came up with the idea first.
After years and years of Farnsworth not getting the recognition he deserved, NASA selected Philo Farnsworth's original image dissector as the television camera to use on the moon.
"On July 20,1969, as Neil Armstrong took his historic first step on the Moon, Philo Farnsworth told his family, “OK, turn the damned set on”. He watched as the world marveled at the live television pictures from the moon. But Philo wasn't just an observer. Month earlier, when NASA was selecting the perfect television camera system to use on the Moon, they chose Philo's original image dissector. It had no moving parts and the electromagnets created their own gravity. His satellite cameras had already withstood the rigors of space travel. So Philo Farnsworth’s story had came full circle. His camera being the first to televise the Moon in 1935, and the first to televise from the Moon over three decades later. When his wife, Pem, asked him how it made him feel, he said, “This makes it all worthwhile. Before, I wasn't too sure."
Farnsworth's invention of the television has changed our world. The invention the television has allowed us to have the TV industry.
The TV impacted actors and athletes in a negative way due to less attendance for shows, movies, plays, and even sporting events. Why would you pay to attend an event when you could watch it live at home.
On the positive side, television has transformed how information has been given. It has given us live footage, faster news delivery, a greater audience reach, and has given people the ability to have more political participation.
The creation of the television changed our knowledge and perspective of the world.
The next year, Farnsworth presented his innovation to the press. He then revealed his all-electronic prototype. What was funny was that this was the same device that he sketched to his professors in high school.
How can a speech theory help explain a situation that is going on in the real world?
I am here to tell you!
What is a Theory?
The American Museum of Natural Historydefines theory as a well-substantiated explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can incorporate laws, hypotheses, and facts. The theory of gravitation, for instance, explains why apples fall from trees and astronauts float in space. Similarly, the theory of evolution explains why so many plants and animals—some very similar and some very different—exist on Earth now and in the past, as revealed by the fossil record.
So what does this definition have to do with a speech theory?
The video above takes more of a scientific perspective when it comes to explaining theories, but even with the analogies that are mentioned, it can help us as humans to gain different perspectives and apply them to our daily lives.
In my Media Law and Literacy class we have learned about the Eight Values of Free Expression. These are called speech theories which are used to understand the protection of speech under the First Amendment.
A specific Value of Expression that resonates with me is Individual Self-Fulfillment. "Free speech enables individuals to express themselves and thereby create their own identity."
According to Princeton University, self-fulfillment consists in carrying to fruition one's deepest desires or one's worthiest capacities. It is a bringing of oneself to flourishing conception, and unfolding of what is strongest or best in oneself, so that it represents the successful culmination of one's aspirations or potentialities.
This Individual Self-Fulfillment theory allows us to have free expression and free personal growth. Our thoughts change, our opinions change, and our emotions change.
We are human.
I feel that the Individual Self-Fulfillment theory and value is the most important expression because I am going through it right now. I am a nineteen-year-old college student, and not only have I drastically changed since high school, but I have drastically changed since freshman year.
In the last five years, I have started to pay attention to politics and the news around the world. I have seen things firsthand, on social media, and by word of mouth.
In the last five years, I have also seen movements across the country that have had a direct impact on people.
For example; The Black Lives Matter movement which advocates for racism, police brutality, and injustice. The #MeToo Movement that advocates against sexual violence. Also including Pro-Democracy Movement, Women's Rights and Gender Equally Movement, LGBTQ+ Rights Movement, and Mental Health Awareness Movement.
With diversity across the world, whether it is expressed on social media platforms, rallies, or in a speech, diversity gives others a different perspective. The viewpoint may be controversial, but if we did not have controversy in this world, there would be no such thing as an opinion or even a theory!
It is more than just an opinion; it is people showing their identity and asserting their rights. Individual Self-Fulfillment is about defining yourself how you chose when you chose.
"Freedom of speech thus becomes an aspect of human dignity, human agency and autonomy. "
This quote helps put into context that free expression, free speech, and freedom are all fundamental to personal growth. We cannot grow as humans if we are not making mistakes and then being corrected.
I see Individual Self-Fulfilment more in my life now than I ever have. I see it with my roommates my teammates, and I see it with in myself.
As a sophomore in college living in the world at this time, I can say that I am grateful for this right and value. If did not get the chance to reinvent myself from middle school to now, or even if I felt the pressure to have my life figured out for my forty-five-year-old self, then I would be the unhappiest version of me.
So how can a speech theory help explain something going on in the real world?
Social media is a platform that is used by anyone and everyone to explain themselves and show who they are if they chose. It gives people opportunities to state their opinion and show their viewpoint on situations around the world.
Individual speech theory used on social media can offer different perspectives for national movements across the world, or even a simple controversy or debate between a community.
By hearing and having an open mind, one can appreciate and fully understand what has happened through social media.
As a Generation Z member, I know more about politics through social media than I have ever learned by watching the news. Even though I may have used sources and statements that could be controversial, having the ability to listen all sides and then form my own opinion, only benefits my knowledge in the long run.
Individual Self-Fulfillment theory has allowed others to give me a new viewpoint on their freedom of speech on social media. This viewpoint has enlightened me on situations around the world and has made me more aware.
After watching the videos, I learned a number of things about the Supreme Court. I learned that the Supreme Court remains the most powerful judicial body on Earth, but their power rests on public faith in their independence and impartiality.
The Supreme Court deliberates and reach their decisions in private.
When the government moved to Washington in 1801, The Supreme Court was given temporary quarters in the capitol. Slowly the Judicial Branch earned respect as a co-equal branch of the government. After two hundred years is when American people accepted the Court's authority.
The First Supreme Court in 1869
In all of American history, there have been just over a hundred Supreme Court Justices and each Justice serves an average of sixteen years.
The most important take away about the Supreme Court was that we as Americans, are living in the fact that the people who created the Constitution used words that guide us in solving problems, situations, and circumstances two hundred years later.
The videos taught me things that surprised me, one being that whenever a new justice arrives, the group poses for a new portrait. Imagine if we took a class photo every time we had a new class member join!
I did not realize how overwhelming emotionally exhausting it was to get appointed to the Supreme Court. One Justice said "Being appointed to the Supreme Court is Akin to being struck by lighting.
Another thing that surprised me was that every petition whether it was written by someone in the government or a prisoner behind bars, gets the same individual consideration.
"Many people would call the 14th Amendment as the second Bill of Rights. By that they mean that just as the Bill of Right was put into place to protect citizens against Federal Power, The 14th Amendment has been used pervasively in our time to protect individuals against the excesses of State Power."(A. E. Dick Howard).
This video changed the way I thought about the Supreme Court. I did not understand or appreciate how much work ethic and patience goes into their day to day life. I also did not realize how many petitions they get and the stress that they are put under by the U.S. Citizens.
Fox News is my first choice of information based on how quick they get information out. I receive messages on my phone before most of my surroundings do. Fox News is what my family watches the most and because of that, that association is my go to.
New York Times is another source that I genuinely trust. Last spring we dove into the history on The New York Times, which led me to pay attention to more of the content they were producing. After keeping my eyes on them this summer, I would like to say that I am fully attached.
NBC Newsis a place I appreciate and will quickly jump to specifically because of the consistent updates. They are quick to get on the latest story, and they do a great job of summarizing situations when I do not have the time to research the full story.
The Daily Wire is a source I use for sources of news that do not have to do with politics. I enjoy the news that is given to me by this platform because it helps me keep up with the world outside of the presidential race.
CNN is a source I use strictly to grasp a different perspective. CNN is knows for leaning far left, and within my family I typically only get more conservative news. I appreciate hearing other sides on politics to grow my perspective so I can then form my own opinion.
Good morning. I will be missing class Wednesday due to leaving for a game against College of Charleston at 10:00AM. Thank you. If there is anything that I should do to make up that class period please let me know!
Hi! Me again! I the minute I got the email from High Point Women's Soccer, I went to google. I looked up HPU and obviously, the fist thing I noticed was how beautiful the campus was. I continued to look through pictures and I quickly became interested. I talked to my parents and after a couple of emails and text messages back and forth between me and the coaches, I had scheduled my official visit. I tore my ACL a year prior to receiving this email which had me feeling hopeless about college sports especially because I was in my peak recruitment during my injury. I continued to pray and hope that God would lead me in the right direction.
I was at my last showcase tournament for soccer and had visited many schools and nothing felt right. I did not know what God had in store for me or where I would end up attending college. After my last club soccer game ever I received an email from HPU and my life had been forever changed. I went on my official visit not much long after exchanging phone calls and messages and I stepped on campus and it immediately felt like home.
I went on the academic tour and learned of all of the resources and connections that this school could offer me and I was amazed. I toured the athletic facilities and had lunch with some of the girls. I soon realized that I wanted to spend my four years of college at High Point University regardless of if I played soccer or not.
After leaving my official visit, I soon committed to play soccer and was so thrilled with my choice. God had a plan for me and coming to HPU was no mistake. That is why I am here.
