Reflective Post

Setting aside the religious studies aspect of the class and also the main focus of community, one of the most influential parts of class has been learning about the history of the personal computer. I am not tech-savvy, I'm a disgrace to my generation, haha. Needless to say, I learned A LOT about the evolution of computers and the marketing war that was occurring between Microsoft and Apple. And I can see evidence of this everywhere now - watching commercials for the Surface Tablet, which is just like an iPad, then seeing the Microsoft logo flash at the very end. Or seeing an ad for Bing, thinking "oh, that already exists, it's called Google" then seeing yet another Microsoft logo displayed on the screen.

In addition, reading Steve Jobs' biography really instilled an appreciation for the motivation and creativity behind all these gadgets. I used to have a strong aversion to iPhones and Macs, solely based on the cost. But now I can see the artistic side along with the efficiency and practicality. And it does make sense, things that are well made do cost more. (Although I will always argue that my $350 PC is doing a dec job compared to a $1,000 Mac).

It was a bit of stretch to relate the communities of Apple and Microsoft to religious communities, but it is evident that the end goals share similarities. I think that studying online communities on social media forums really tied in well. First learning the background of personal computers and the creation of such platforms was a helpful segway into how communities and lifestyle enclaves form themselves from said creations. It's made me reevaluate the different social medias that I personally use. It's always given me more respect for such platforms - I used to be biased in thinking that such things were too egocentric and/or narcissistic. But it's amazing how fluid and unifying such sites are. There are hundreds of millions of people on facebook worldwide. That's nuts.

So overall, this class offered insight into a world that I was not too familiar with. I can't tell you how many Apple, Jobs, Zuckerberg, etc. conversations I've gotten into in Andrew's Commons/ the cafe. This is a field that I previously would never have been able to talk about, due to lack of knowledge. Literally 10 minutes ago I corrected a friend on a mistake he made about Steve Wozniak. Ha.

Bionic eyes

This is cooler than Google glasses! These glasses help with people who are nearly blind, but not completely blind. I wonder if they could redo the design, like hook up the gear to more common designed glasses. Not like it really matters...

I wonder, since companies like Google and Apple wanted to revolutionize things and make the best products for consumers, why they didn't go into tracks like this? I bet they could have come with some really crazy helpful stuff for people with disabilities. I'm not well versed on their endeavors, so maybe they have tried and I'm unaware. It also a different field from pure tech, but maybe they can pair up with scientists. That'd be cool.