Play Money Parts 5, 6, and 7

Part 5 of Play Money talks about Gold Farmers. I thought the part about Bob explaining to Dibbell how a person could potentailly cheat the system and get lots of gold quickly without doing any work was interesting. By setting up all the computers and making them run the copy of UO and obtain gold for him is a very smart concept. In my view I believe that this is cheating, because no work is being done and everything is being obtained. Even though I think this is cheating I can't help but be impressed by what was done to make all the computers work the way in which it did.

Later Dibbell went sraight to the source and asked the operator of all these computers, Rich, to see how he did it. Rich said that bots control the charcters for him. But there are also things such GMs that try and look for these bots to kick them out of the system. Some ways they do this is by going up to a character they think is a bot and asking it what color a stick is that they hold up in front of them. If it is a bot they cannot think for themselves and anwser the question correctly. One way that Rich got around this was by making the bots Im him or text him when a GM sowed up. This idea seemed crazy to me. It seemed as if his cheating plan was fool-proof. Even though I still thought of this method as cheating I had to give ich credit for being able to think of a plan to run against the GMs. If someone was smart enough to think of all the loop-holes and cover them, I suppose they deserved to be able to cheat the system.

Later on Rich got tohether with Lee and for a time it seemed as if their parternership worked well together, but unfornatley it later crashed when they thought that they were lying to each other. The gloves were off and they were now at war.

Part Six talks about Dibbell's thousand dollar's and a dream. His goal was to make a thousand dollars by the time that his wife and daughter came back which was three weeks. His dream was to be able to make UPO and actual profession. He was able to make the thousand dollars and even a little extra. He wanted to tell the IRS that he job was selling UO goods as his primary source of income.

In part seven he talks about the IRS and he questioned how he would tell the IRS how much money he was making. He did not know how to report his income and was confused by the whole process of it. He wanted to do everything legally. The questions that he bring up were very interesting. I could not anwser any of them, without having more legal information. Overall, I like what Dibbell had to say about his whole experience so far in the book.

Play Money

At the begining of tis book I did not know what it would be about, but after reading a little of the first chapter I knew I would like it. It started out with the noob, which is a beginner at playing a game. I played online games before and everyone starts out as noobs, but once you get better at the game you get annoyed at noobs for being so stupid at the game. It's kind of ironic because everyone starts out as a noob yet no one else likes it. The idea of being able to get items that aren't real in a game, and sell it online at a site like eBay, for real money is a crazy concept. This was not the first time I have heard of this concept though. My brother plays online games as well and he tells me that he is able to sell some of the things he has in the game for a good amount of money online. He has never bought or sold any items for his profile, but it is out there for others to do if they wanted to. If I was playing a game online, I don't think I would buy things, but I am also not a fanatic at a game. I like the idea of getting money for things that are not real, but it seems like it would take a long time to do some of the things that is discussed. The idea of having spanish people playing the game for him is a good idea I suppose until he was caught and his operation was shut down. This idea was good at first but unfornately for him it did not work. The ideas in this book are very interesting. I wouldn't mind doing this for a living, but I would want to make sure I know exactly what I am doing, because it seems that this job could be risky. One problem with this profession would be my parents. I don't know how my parents would like me playing games for a living, but that's beside the facts.

A Whole New MInd Chapters 8 and 9

Chapter 8's topic was play. The concept of laughter clubs was brought up in this chapter. At first, well, I thought the concept of this kind of funny. It seemed weird to me to have a laughter club, but I understand what Pink says about laughter being infectious. When other people around me start to laugh, I start to laugh as well even though I might not know what they were laughing at. It goes back to the concept of empathy in chapter 7.

I think that play is necessary in life. Poeple can not be serious all the time. There has to be time to relax and play so the stress of the workplace will not be overwhelming. One way that people can do this is by playing games. Pink says that games are actually not as bad as parents think for thier children. It can actually teach thier children lessons. Pink also says that games are not only for children, but that it can also be used for adults, and is good to get away from other things. I agree with him. People get into a routine every day, and do not change what they do. This can be boring eventually. Some change is needed.

At the end of the chapter in the portfolio, Pink suggests that we play more right-brain games. He also says to dissect a joke. This can be done to find a deeper comprehension of the joke. This can be important as well, to see why people laugh at certain things, and what people get enjoyment out of.

The next chapter talks about the topic meaning. In this chapter Pink talks about the spiritual side of life and religion. He tells us to take spirituality seriously. Religion could be very helpful in our lives and even for our health. He says that people who believe in religion lead healthier and calmer lives. I find him to be correct with this concept as well, at least for me. I like to think of myself as a pretty religious person. I pray quite often and go to church as well, but this does not necessarily mean that I am religious. I have a deeper understanding for my religion and actually take part in it, and I believe that it helps me and makes me calmer when doing so.

In the portfolio section of this chapter Pink raises the question: what would you do if you inherited $20 million dollars, or what would you do if yo found out that you had at most 10 years to live? If you whould change how you live then Pink says that you should think of how you live your life now. I thought this was interesting as well, because I think that if anyone received either one of those questions above they would change around his/her life somehow. I know I would, but it still did not change me from doing what I am doing now on a day to day basis.

A Whole New Mind

At this point in the book (up to chapter 7) I have learned many things about R-directed thinking. The things that Pink says in his book are interesting. I think of myself as a more R-directed thinker, becasue I was always into the arts and reading and writing, which is why I am in the English field. It is interseting how Pink beleives that the future will be composed of more R-directed thinkers.

I like what Pink does at the end of the chapters starting with chapter 4. He relates back to the chapter and tells how the reader can get involved with projects that will trigger their right side of the brain. I like what he says to do about the design chapter (4). I have done this to a small extent, where I start drawing things which I see that I like. I have also tried to re-invent items that annoy me, but I have found that this is harder than just drawing things that I like. This actually made me think more adn put me into a more creative mind frame, but sometimes I would think to creative and the idea seemed a little farfetched after I finished. But in the end I found it to be a good excercise.

Chapter 5 discusses storytelling, and that people remember stories better with visual effects and acting them out. I can relate to this as well because I try and read a lot. When a movie comes out that was from a book, I almost always like the book more, because when reading a book, it lets me be creaive with how I perceive the story. When watching a movie in is through the view of the people who made it. An example of this would be the Harry Potter books and movies. I enjoyed the books so much more than I did the movies. Althought the movies were fun to watch and they were enjoyable, I believe that there can be no substiture for the actual book. I like the activities that Pink suggested at the end of this chapter better, because I am more of a reader and writer than I am a drawer. The mini-sagas that he suggested was fun to do, but as I did them I found them too short and I always eneded p going back to them and wanting to add more and more to them.

Chapter 6 refers to symphony, which was an interesting chapter as well. Going throught school and all the papers I had to write I was taught to analyze a lot, but with the more crative courses that I am taking in college the more I get to be creative and synthesize my work.

The boundary crossers was also interseting to learn about. Being about to do multiple things is amazing. It makes a person more interseting to me and I believe that person to be smarter. I am learning spanish currently, and I am thinking of taking spanish as a minor. It helps a lot that I have many friends who are native spanish speakers, so I constantly hear it and it is incorporated in my everyday life. I would love to be bilingual, especially with more spanish spaeking people in the United States and all over the world.

Overall, I am enjoying this book, and look foward to finishing it and seeing what else PInk has to say, and what little projects he has for me to do.

Spring Break

Hey everyone. Just came back from srping break as did everyone else. I hope everyone had a good time, I know I did. I went to North Carolina with Habitat for Humanity and it was a great time. We also went to D.C. on our way there and back and the whole trip was an amazing experience. Just wanted to say hi to everyone and get back into the blogging slowly.

Snow Crash

As I continue to read Snow Crash it gets more and more intersting, and I anticpate what is to come. Now that the drug Snow Crash has come into play and Raven the book is complicated. Some parts of the book is confusing at parts, pt overall I understand it. It has many references to religion and the Bible, which I found interesting. I liked the fact that Stephenson brings history and actual information into the book and work it in, because it seems to be more real. The characters in the book make it interesting as well. At this point I just finished chapter 32 in the book when Y.T. gets the sample of Snow Crash. This is a very important part of the book because it lets them have the access to examine the virus and determine ways to come up with a possible anti-virus., which could end up helping Da5id. The fact that Da5id is in the hospital from the drug Snow Crash is weird because he got it through the Metraverse. Overall, I am halfway through the book and the climax is coming soon with everthing coming together. I am excited to see what happens with the rest of the book.

NeoVox Article

For the NeoVox article I am choosing social networking as professor reid listed on Web-CT. I think that the websites such as myspace and facebook bring all different types of people together. As for facebook it is more of a college oriented website, but it is expanding. I like this because it helps me keep in touch with friends I might of not talked to and even leave small messages for people I see evryday in college. I have a myspace account as well, but this site is different because it can be used by anyone over the age of 13 and there are many potential stalkers on this site and poeple can easily lie about many things. I think that this would be a good topic because it relates to students like us and I'm sure many if not all college students between the ages of 17-23ish have facebook and a good amount would have mysoace as well.

Snow Crash

Before I started reading this book I knew I was going to like it from the small summary on the back of the book. It is a very interesting book of a futuristic world where technology seems almost boundless. I like the concept of the Metraverse where people just sign into it and can see and talk to people. It's AIM on a whole new and advanced level. The only problem with somthing like this program is that it could consume a person's life and when it comes down to it, it is only virtual reality and not real life. I like the concept of the book so far and I currently just finished chapter 15 where Hiro meet Raven who gave Da5id Snow Crash. I look foward to reading and finishing the book.

Reading Assignment #5

Rheingold talks about the potential threats of smart mobs on page 185 in Chapter 8. He lists three main ones which are: 1) Threats to liberty - government snooping on citizens. 2) Threats to quality of life - deteriorate communities. And 3) Threats to human dignity - the more we use machines to run our lives, the less humane we become. These are serious problems that we must face in order to make sure that they do not occur or our lives might end up becoming worse of then it is. This new technology could end up ruining us in the long run. One thing that could be done to fix some of these problems could be "safety nets" where people would monitor, warn, and aid each other by using wearing computers. "Surveillance will become a threat to liberty and dignity" as Rheingold states on page 188. If all of our movements are watched then there will be no such thing as privacy anymore and people rights of freedom will be taken away.

The book also points out that humans pay attention to other peoples facial expressions and tone of voice. With this information that we gather from other people "we make social decisions and life and death decisions" from page 192. With artificial intelligence it could be hard to determine these things and they would skew our judgements of people. On the following page the book refers to peoples time. It has been studied taht people have more leisure time in their day, but people say that they are busier, because it must be filled by something so that there is no lost time. Smart mobs have to compete with peoples time so that the people will use the new technology.

In the "posthuman era" artificial intellingence would lead to the abondonment of the human body. This would not be good because if we go to a world a AI and forget about the biological body it will effect us negativly.

Reading Assignment #4

Chapter 7 in Smart Mobs discusses "Generation Txt." Texting was a way that President Joseph Estrada of the Philippines was impeached. t was a peaceful way to do it and it was very effective. All that people did was take their cell phones out of their pockets and text other people to coordinate a peaceful demonstration. Over a million people showed up over four days and the President was toppled. This is not the only demonstration of smart mobs at work. It states on page 158 four more examples.

Netwars have emerged from this new technology. It has been used by a wide variety of people " "from terrorists and criminal organizations to militant social activists" quoting from page 162. On one side of this it is helpful to our military and would benefit us from many different threats and aid us in wartime, but on the other if terrorists were using new technology against us it could be very harmful tot he country.

Later on in the chapter Rheingold talks about "Lovegety and p2p Journalism"on page 164. On this page and the following page he has different bullet points of the many ways that people can now talk and contact each other using new technology. An example that he shows is the Lovegetty which was put out by the Japanese. It is a keychain device that singnals the wearer when a person, that also has a Lovegetty, of the opposite sex and a compatible profile is within fifteen feet of you. It is a new way to meet people you might have never of gone up to before. They also have a version for people of the same sex "Gaygar" that was introduced in North America. One concern in which all of this technology brings is privacy. There has to be some form of protection that would have to be made so people's profiles and personal information will not be leeked out into the public.

Reading Assingment #3

Chapter 6 discusses the concept of wireless technologies. On page 135 Rheingold discusses that this technology is "a cost effective way to bring high speed to the connection to people" This is productive since it is a way to reduce the price. Also on page 135 and onto 136 it has bullet points that discuss the ways that wireless networks will disrupt existing social arrangements. It goes into the new things that will emerge to wireless technology.

The book also goes on to talk about the electromagnetic spectrum, which at first may sound boring, but in reality is important. Since the military owns most of the spectrum only a little amount is left open to the public in which they would have to but this unlicensed use. Thsi is mostly used by telephone companies and wirelss networks.

One concept that is a problem which is mention later on in this chapter is "war driving" which is people who roam areas for wireless networks that are put out by companies. Not only are people getting free internet access but the unauthorized users will be able to obtain information that is confidential for that company. This is a problem that would have to be discussed and more secure ways would have to be made to fic this.

Reading Assignment #2

In Chapter 5 Rheingold talk about the free-rider This is people who use programs and take things from them such as dowloading music or videos from a certain program, but do not contribute to the program in any way. This is not good because if a big percentage of the the users are free-riders then the program will eventually be shut down due to lack of material being put into the program. There is also the flip side of the problem which Rheingold discusses as "hordes of compulsive contributors" on page 119, where there are too many users that contribute material.

Later on in the chapter, reputation is discussed. Rheingold says that good reputation must be built over time, and good reputation is needed for a program to be succesful. People build reputation by being honest sellers on sites such as e-bay and other buy/sell sites. When a persons reputation grows more and more people would be inclined to do buisness with that person. On page 127, cheating reputation is discussed. The main ways to cheat reputation are "ballot stuffing" which is to have people give unfairly high ratings, "shilling" which is conspiring to boost each others reputation, and "bad Mouthing", which is giving unfairly low ratings. A defense against this is to drop the highest and lowest and most frequently show ratings. I think that this is a good idea of how to run a site as long as cheaters are minimized.

Reading Assingment #1

Chapter 4 brings many new technologies into the world that would change a lot of things. In this chapter smart Rooms are discussed which would be an amzing advancement in technology. The smart rooms make me think of the Holo Decks in Star Trek and the possibilties could be endless of what people can achieve with technology. One thing that also come up with the mention of all this new technology is privacy. This is also discussed in the book, and I feel that our privacy should be somthing that should be protected first. I know I would not want people to know where I am from a chip that could be on my shirt and I would not want anyone to know what I am doing. It would be an invasion of my privacy, and I would feel as if I would not be able to do anything I don not want others to knbow about. It would kind of keep a lease on people and make them hold back some of the things they might want to do.
Also with more and more technology coming there would be less of a need more actual people to do work because a computer or something else more sophisticated would take that job. This would first make people lose jobs making it harder for some poorer families to survive, and it could also make poeple lazier. If there was some form of technology that did everything that a regular person does on a day to day basis that person might just end up doing nothing at all. I do not belive this to be a good thing.
When the book started talking about virtual reality and artifical intelligence, it made me think about the movie I Robot with Will Smith. Now I know this is a far stretch, but i suppose it could possibly happen. With VR technology coming there could be endless possiblities with what could occur. I am excited about what this book has to offer for the future, with the many ideas and new invetions that it has, but I am also a little bit wary of what will be in store for us way farther in the future.

About Me

Hey my name is Joseph Mannion. I am currently in my sophmore year and am an English and Professional Writing major. I live in Long Island with my brother and parents. I love Cortland and have made many friends while I have been here. I am a really like skiing and plan on going as often as I can this semester. I also like to read many different kinds of books, but mostly fantasy tpye books. This is my first online course that I have taken and everything is a little new to me but I am learning how to work with it everyday. If you want to know anything else about me you can always IM me at Juareztequila86.