Is Technology Reducing Social Interaction?

                                              Why would you visit when you can just call them? Why even call when you can just send them a text message?! Oh! Better yet, why don't you post a quick "hey" on their "wall". DONE! Posted! Now off to the bank!....but why would you go to the bank when you can just call and have that money transferred into your account? Oh! Better yet, you can just get on the web and transfer it yourself so don't put away that smart phone just yet! Good thing you are already online and you can order your groceries or else you'd have to go out for that. Now you don't have to deal with anyone today! Technology is great!
                       This may sound like a plan for an ideal and hassle free way to complete a couple of daily tasks on someones to-do list but while it may have been quicker to achieve and almost effortless due to today's technology this person is missing something that is definitely on every one's psychological to-do list: social interaction. Although he or she may have the choice to meet and socialize with as many people at any time, they have chosen to do what they are slowly being convinced is just as good or even better in some ways. Online social interaction grows at an increasingly rapid rate every day... however... does it qualify as a substitute for physical and real life communication rather than being an enhancement? Are they both the same? Which is preferred most in our society and most importantly why? In some instances we have become so psychologically dependent upon technology that it becomes even a necessary part of intimate and cordial relationships, e.i. showing public displays of affection on online social networks. One would think the relationship itself is suffering without an occasional profession of love over a public social network...as if PDA needed to reach a new level. Realizing that you could go to that significant person and tell them or actually show them that you care about them is no longer a top option but isn't this real life or have we reached some type of twilight zone where the Internet is now reality?

                         Technology has even reduced social interaction on a less psychological level. Take for an example the completion of common tasks such as shopping, banking, scheduling events, and handling medical affairs. How many times have you called an institution in search of a simple answer to a rather simple question and reached several recorded operating systems before somehow maneuvering yourself to a human being? Countless times no doubt on the basis of security and accuracy. Convenience has reached a whole new level but has the price become too high to pay? I s technology reducing our much needed involvement with one another and what effects will this have on our society's future?
                       
                                     It is already apparent. A lack of social involvement in our daily lives will hinder us and reduce the value of daily life activities, events, and situations. Things that were once deemed inconvenient will become things we will pay a high price to have. These are called "hand crafted" or " hand made" merchandise versus "manufactured" or "distributed " items. Our vocabulary has and will see significant changes. Consumer satisfaction will see significant changes as well. Relationships with others have already changed mentally and physically because of increased technology. Although we crave our gadgets, our easy accessibility, and the social universe we have created online, we must consider the results of such cravings. Do we really want to live in a world with billions of people and limit ourselves to all the possibilities physical social interaction can have for one that is shows half of who we really are? I don't want to be seen as just a "profile" in this vast world of opportunities and people. Neither do I wish to have a form of communication but rather communication itself. A recent study shows that because of television and computers people are staying inside more often. Instead of going out to meet a potential life partner they can now find one online on match making sites where it is predetermined who is right for them. Is this an example of giving away the right to think for yourself or is it an example of the new age in social life effected by technology? Technology of all forms tends to agree with humanities attraction to easy, fast, and convenient ways of doing things. The less troublesome the better but perhaps we're shooting ourselves in the foot by seeking to create this utopia by means of technology. Can we really do this without the creation becoming an ultimate creator of what we cannot control?

How Can My Feelings Effect My Reality?

              Sure it is a commonly used phrased and probably used to often but we get the gist of it! Whatever we think or believe about ourselves is who we will be and who we will become....but why? Why can't I believe I am inferior and indeed become superior? Why do I have to feel good in order to do good? How does it work? How can my feelings effect my reality?
          While some people may have actual evidence that the way they've felt in past situations did not
actually effect their reality, they may not have considered their core emotions and what was at the center of what they felt. The mind can be very deceptive even to ones own self, especially when what you want to believe isn't actually what you believe at all. The reality is that reality doesn't change without there being a cause. This cause always has its origin within the mind. The mind is a very complex and powerful entity that has the power to create wanted and unwanted results. How does the mind produce results? Through feelings. The way we feel about ourselves and particular circumstances is a product of our mind and this product (feelings) if not controlled will lead to a change in our reality. Lets take pain for instance. Pain is feeling, not a reality. It only becomes reality once our mind produces the feeling and we act upon the feeling and thus make the feeling a reality. Now lets apply this to concept to many other feelings we have, like insecurity, unworthiness, doubt, emptiness, prosperity, motivation, worthiness, capability, and acceptance. We have these feelings because of what we think in mind about ourselves, others, situations, and circumstances because feelings are products of the mind. In order to control what we feel we must first control what is being produced by the mind. Now that is a feat! This is what everyone would like to do, it is indeed a desirable and rare ability!
                      One reason why it is very difficult to control the mind is because we would have
to somehow rule out all other influencing factors that are processed by our mind everyday through our senses. We see and hear so much in just a few seconds and every bit of it is processed by our mind and stored! Imagine a computer that is always storing information and processing it and can never shut down. It would be rather difficult to control this computer or get it to do what we want it to do when we want it to do it. This is how our mind can be if we aren't careful. So what are methods we can use to control what our minds produce? After all, we don't want our minds to bombard us with unnecessary and negative feelings or we will go crazy! Well we must filter out what gets processed by the mind. These filters should be positive filter in order for our minds to produce positive feelings! A positive filter would be a positive belief or a set of positive memories or even images that affected us in positive ways. To create filters and have them work to our benefit is also difficult because at first our mind will reject any positive implements that we try to set in place. This is because our mind has so much negativity to process around us that we literally have to refrain from the media, refrain from news of troubling events, refrain from associating with negative people and thus save our brains the trouble of dealing with so much negativity. Then we get a chance to set our filters in place! Nothing like a clear mind and a clear conscience to start us out on the right path!

          It may seem rather hard to refrain from negativity in life, in fact it is hard! This is why a balance is needed. We can't do it all but we can do somethings to change our feelings and thus change our reality. Start using filters day by day, little by little. Take on one pesky negative thought at a time. Make goals and keep them. There is no such thing as instant success without practice to reach a desired goal. The ability to do this is up to you.
 

New Super Computer Has The Power Of 2 Million Laptops???

                                   As of last year 2011, what was once thought to be decades away has been debuted and whats left to ponder is what it means for our world. Since the early 1980's IBM has been developing a super computer...not just any super computer....one that has the power of two million laptops! The Sequoia puts the top 500 super computers in the world to shame and while it has made history it will dramatically change the future of not only our lives but our world as well...whether we like these changes or not.  Announced at The American Physical Society in Boston by IBM, the multi-billion dollar empire was contracted by the U.S. government to build such a computer. Amazing, huh?Lets take a look at some of the capabilities of a super computer that can make the technological advances of the past 40 years look like child's play and why some would have a problem with a super computer being able to make our world dramatically better or dramatically worse in the hands of the exceedingly wealthy and greedy.
             The basis of a super computer (.....and the Sequoia exceeds this...) is that it replaces regular binary bits "1" when on and "0" when off with quantum bits that have the ability to be "1", "0", or both simultaneously. However, although tremendously faster super computers was the expectation, the quantum bits were previously too unstable for use yet scientists have found a way to reduce their instability enough to put them on a chip...hence, the Sequoia, the only complete and solely quantum computer in the world. The speed of it is hard to imagine and it contains a whopping 1.6 million processors that work mind-bogglingly fast...in fact the word "fast" is an understatement. Well what can it do? The super computer developed in the 1970's  created all of the technological advancements we have today...like advancements in weather prediction, code breaking, encrypting and decrypting and so forth. This in turn has effected us by allowing more accurate models to be made. This is a crucial and key point. Models make up the entire world of technology and technology makes up our entire world. More accurate models effects business, money, capital, industries, politics and everything else you can think of. The Sequoia creates faster and amazingly accurate models, more accurate than any super computer ever created. This computer, belief or not, allows pharmaceutical industries to simulate the effect of drugs in the human body, giving them more control over whats getting put out in our world and what it can do to us. More power is not what the drug industries need but they now have it. This super computer also allows Wall Street to simulate the effects of events on the stock market, hence the appearance of man made catastrophes in the name of politics...because Wall Street is the vehicle for politics. The Sequoia can simulate human blood flow. This either means two things, crazy advancements in cloning...like cloning maybe...humans! Or it could mean creating artificial intelligence that isn't so artificial. All making sense yet? A super computer of this magnitude does not only have the power to change our world but it also the power to destroy it.

              The U.S government has allowed the use of the Sequoia to simulate nuclear testing for the U.S Department of Energy at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Yes, the super computers main use is for war. What did you think it was for? Making our lives better?
In conclusion, the love of money and insatiable greed has put the fate of our world into the hand of computers....excuse me...SUPER computers.
               

Racism is Taught. Stop Teaching It!

                     In reality, racism still exists and is NEVER going to end. Sounds a bit harsh but it is  indeed true simply because there will never stop being different types of races on our planet. As long as there's races there will be racism. However, has anyone ever taken the time to analyze the behaviour of children? Sure! We all have at some point, right? Children are always asking questions, exploring and trying to find out more and more about this world we live in, mostly because they're new here. This behavior implies what we already know is true; Kids don't know everything! That means to a child, unless he is taught to see people as different from himself, everyone is the same to him! Shocking, huh?
            Racism is not inherited. Its not a trait that gets passed down through our blood and through our genial lineage. Racism is taught. The only way that this ugly set of beliefs can be stopped is to stop the teaching of it to our future generations. This means our children.
          Would you agree that kids learn even when we don't want them to? Whatever you do you can almost trust that they are right behind you doing the same thing because they want to be like us. We're all that they know! This can be understandably frustrating, especially when you're doing and saying things you wouldn't want them to do or say. Yet the fact remains, children learn everything they are taught and we as adults never cease to be teachers, whether of good things or bad things. This is sadly how racism is carried on through generations in spite of years of trying to be corrected. One racial slur belted out in a fit of rage or softly whispered because you think no one is around to hear you is in fact being heard by the tiniest of ears. Comments and jokes that contain racially insensitive content is not "just a joke" or "just a comment". Its racism in its biggest form because of the fact that its taken so lightly. To think how many times a child encounters or over hears a racist remark or term expressed in everyday life is appalling considering that there are actually some people who literally tell their children not to associate or to be afraid of, and generally frown upon a certain race of people or all races that are not their own. Then there's the media, and though we cannot hide from it, we can counteract it by our own simple choice. We must choose to change ourselves first in order for racism to stop effecting future generations and though it is a change we all must make, each person must make their own personal commitment to stop teaching racism in our deeds, actions, habits, words, and beliefs because aren't these the real things that make us who we are?

Haiti Two Years Later: A Million Haitians Still Homeless

                    Two years ago January 12, a completely devastating earthquake hit the country of Haiti, a country that was already known to be one of the most poorest countries, and now the number of homeless and hungry has increased! Since the earthquake there has been over $4.6 billion pledged to the rebuilding of Haiti by donors across the globe yet experts reveal the shocking truth that it could very well be ten years before any "visual" recovery is made in the country. After two long years only a measly 43% of relief funds have been disbursed and still over 500,000 Haitians are without homes, not to mention the millions without food or decent amenities.

          So where did all the money go???? Watchdog groups claim that charities failed to govern and facilitate the funds properly, importing overpriced equipment and supplies /personnel, and shelling out millions for board members in high end renting. Another pitiful account for the funding is campaigns that cost millions! Telling people to help Haiti costed more than actually helping the country! Organizations, groups, charities, television appearances, newly formed social societies all in the name of the country's earthquake sucked the funding dry by the millions, leaving a still suffering Haiti to wonder does anyone care at all.

       American Red Cross, one of the largest organizations that fled to Haiti's rescue received a staggering $486 million in donations following the country's earthquake. They however announced that their main focus would be on building "permanent" homes and repairing the damaged ones instead of constructing temporary residences. So basically this means that they would rather take years to build permanent housing and risk the lives and safety of millions of women and children than to act now and build a home, permanent or temporary, to satisfy the quite obvious needs of the Haitian people. Poor excuse and reasoning in every one's book I'm sure. According to president and CEO of the American Red Cross, Gail McGovern, "Recovery is well underway". This statement is quickly contradicted pictures and first hand accounts of the suffering of people in Haiti two years later.

         So is there hope for Haiti? Oxfam, an organization created to solve infrastructure problems in Haiti states, "The second anniversary of the devastating earthquake must be a call to action!" (Cecilia Millan, Oxfam's country director in Haiti). While this sounds a tad bit promising, another organization offers a quite clear perspective on reality. "Quite honestly, donor funding is never going to be enough", says Tom Adams, U.S State Department's Haiti special coordinator to the Miami Herald. "In some areas we are really just starting".