Final Reflection

I enjoyed this class.  Our weekly topics kept the class interesting.  In addition, some of the readings gave me a new perspective on what is considered technology.  Before this class I never would have thought of bicycles, hammers, tables or chairs as technology.  In addition, this class exposed how inequalities may be constructed into technology.  The example of Edward Moses’ Long Island bridges showed how technology can be designed to exclude certain groups of people.  In this example, Mr. Moses was trying to keep people who utilized public buses from being able to live on Long Island.  He designed the bridges to be too low for buses or large trucks to use them. 

This class also taught me how to blog (which I had never done before).  Another reason why I liked this class was that we did not have to purchase an expensive textbook.  All of the necessary readings were available on Blackboard.  Another one of the lessons that I enjoyed was the one on nuclear technology.  My sister who recently graduated from ASU, works as a nuclear technician at a plant in California.  It was interesting to tell her about what we were learning; she helped me understand how the technology is both a safe and efficient energy source. 

The last day of class, Dr. Lim ordered pizza and played the guitar for us.  Now if that isn’t cool, I don’t know what is!

Reflection #13 – S&T In Emerging Economy

Science and Technology in the emerging economies of China and Vietnam was this week’s topic.  Although the readings were not all that exciting, our class discussion aided in understanding the subject.  I did not know much about current day Vietnam and was surprised to learn that they did not even have traffic signals in their cities until 1992-93.  An advantage that Vietnam has towards further science and technology research and development is that 93% of its population of 80 million people are literate.  However, a challenge for Vietnam is that it has little access to the World Trade Organization and equivalent pay to other countries for science and technology research and development.  While the government’s ideology remains mainly communist and socialist, their economic market has embraced capitalism. 

Emerging issues that Vietnam is facing in Science and Technology is the assimilation of foreign advanced technology in their culture, the development of Hi-Tech Parks and how to promote the technological market to investors.  Currently Vietnam’s High Tech Development is taking place in Hanoi, Saigon and Ho Chi Mahn.  Vietnam’s current economic growth is about 8% annually. 

In addition, most of our class gave their final paper presentations this week.  Mine was on Wednesday and in addition to sharing, I got to learn about the Internet and Educational Inequality, the controversy of using knowledge obtained through Nazi experiements, Healthcare inequality in South Africa and several others.  The presentations were very informative and I enjoyed them.

Reflection #12 – Local Initiative — Case of Curitiba

I enjoyed this week’s topic, “Local Initiative, Case of Curitiba”; it showed that a lot can be accomplished when people work together with a willingness to share power and technology instead of dominate it.  As Dr. Lim pointed out in class, the master plan for the city of Curitiba was not that different from many other cities.  However, their resolve to put the plan into action made all the difference.  One of the major areas that changed as a result was the city’s Transportation system.  They constructed a highly accessiable public transportation system to and from the city.  In addition, they adopted a policy of no cars, buses or vehicles of any kind in the heart of the city.  The massive use of public transportation resulted in negligible emission levels, little traffic congestion and an extremely pleasant living environment. 

The heart of the city has an “Urban Design” and is open 24 hours a day.  Not only does this provide safe nightlife for the youth of the city, it also increases security because there is no down time for crime to occur.  In addition, the city runs a recycling program.  Seventy percent of the city’s trash is recycled by its residents; in exchange for the garbage, people receive bus and food tickets.  What a good way to involve everyone in the maintenance of their city.

Reflection #11 – Technology and Education

I thought that Thursday’s lecture on technology and education was interesting.  People of the Millennial or Generation Y have never known life without computers; technology has been a part of their life.  While I agree that there are some benefits to this such as increased access to information, I also believe that they have missed out.  As we discussed, millenials’ rarely read newspapers and books and most often times they learn by  doing.  I feel that they have missed out on using their imagination and other creative approaches to learning.  I also agree that too much technology in our schools ignores the skills, experiences otherwise known as human capital of teachers, professors and other students in the class. 

Next, we discussed the idea of a university being a corporation.  The idea that I am a customer at ASU as well as a student was weird.  But there is some truth to that; people could take their tution money to another school if ASU did not keep up technologically and did not offer convenient classes (which sometimes are online classes).  Then we got into groups and tried to list all of the technology that is utilized in our classroom.  Then we talked about how they aided in the learning process.  Finally, we discussed how technology may promote inequalities at school.

Voting – 2008

After waiting over an hour in line, I voted today.  I felt that this was a very important election.  There are so many things are in turmoil, the economy, healthcare, the war in Iraq and job creation.  While I realize that these issues cannot be fixed overnight, at least the people I voted for will give a good start. 

My dad lives in California during the week and only comes home to Arizona on the weekends.  He missed the deadline for getting a mailling ballot, so he flew out here yesterday morning so he could vote.  He went back to California a few hours later.  I think that epitomizes how important this election was to most people.

Reflection #10 – Inequality in Latin America and Dr. Smith’s Lecture

On Tuesday, we had a guest speaker, Dr. J.W. Smith.  He spoke to our class about the causes of war and poverty.  According to Dr. Smith, capitalism promotes 5 monopolies; land, healthcare, insurance, technology, and banking.  He believes that each of these monopolies wastes labor and valuable resources.  He then gave a brief history of how city states started exploiting rural resources.  Although I agree with some aspects of his presentation, I think that the solutions to these issues are more complex than he presented them.  One fact that I found interesting was that in the “insurance monopoly”, half of your insurance premium goes to cover the cost of selling you the insurance.  That is outrageous!

In today’s lecture, we were able to share our comments and questions regarding Dr. Smith’s lecture.  We also briefly discussed this week’s readings.  I agree that there is a large gap in equality between the North countries and Southern countries.  However, I don’t understand why the United States does not help these third world countries by providing medication for malaria.  I believe that we should also help these countries build infrastructures for education, healthcare and government.  Once those frameworks are in place, perhaps then the U.S. will find a market in these countries for research and product development.

Reflection #9 – Nuclear Technology and Inequality

It is hard not to think of the dropping of the atom bomb when you hear the word, “nuclear weapons”. No one thinks about how nuclear power plants provide 20% of our country’s energy in a cleaner, more efficient way than fossil fuels. Instead of being this fearsome, scary issue, we have a chance to make this technology an equalizer. If all countries had access to nuclear energy and weapons, perhaps the technology would in a sense, level the playing field.
Today we talked a lot about Iran. I don’t know that much about the country or its leaders, so I was kind of lost.
My sister, who graduated from ASU, works at a nuclear power plant in Southern California. I have learned a lot from her employment there. She was hired in March of this year and will be completing her company training at the end of this month. She has completed several certification tests and is finally ready to begin her job as a nuclear technician. We joke with her that she is going to be like Homer Simpson (in the cartoon, he is a nuclear technician). But in reality, we are very proud of her accomplishment; becoming a nuclear technician.
In addition, I asked her to give me a short version of how nuclear energy works and it was basically the same as the video we saw except that the U.S. does not use heavy water, they use purified water.

Reflection #8 – Climate Change, Consumption and Globalization

Global warming is a complex issue.  Until Al Gore’s film, “An Inconvenient Truth”, I had never paid much attention to the issue of climate change.  It is hard to think about planning for the future in 5 years let alone 100 years.  But, when I think of the issue in terms of my family and the earth that my daughter and her children will inherit from us; it makes it easier to see that climate change affects all of us.  And we need to address the issue as a global family; otherwise, there is no way that we will be able to make even a minor change in the 2 degrees Celsius warming cap. 

In addition, globalization and consumption were also issues we discussed this week.  As we discussed in class, our government needs to provide incentives for citizens to recycle and cut down on the amount of waste we produce.  Money, and possible tax breaks are examples of incentives that could be used to increase recycling.  In addition, as other countries, such as India and China, become larger consumers, we must try to develop alternative energy sources.  The change does not have to be drastic; small steps can help us begin our journey to widespread use of renewable energy.

New Mid-term Paper Outline

Angela Coughlin

JUS 350: Science, Technology and Inequality

October 10, 2008

 

General Paper Topic:  Taser Usage in Law Enforcement

Is it a safer alternative to guns?

The purpose of this paper would be to explore the usage of the Taser among law enforcement.  This paper will explore the use of this technology and whether it is a safer alternative to a gun.  First, the history of the Taser will be described and how the technology functions.  Next, the essay will examine the protocols of when to utilize the Taser.  This paper will also explore injuries and deaths that have may have resulted from its usage.  Lastly, we will explore how decisions made regarding the safety of the weapon may affect future law enforcement policies.

Methods Utilized to Research Topic

Scholarly Journal, government websites, Taser’s website, books, reports

 

I.                   Advent of Taser in the United States

a.       How, when and why it began

                                                              i.      Does it make us safer?  Is it a better alternative to a gun?

b.      Who was it made available to?

II.                Law Enforcement Protocols

a.       When should an officer resort to use of the Taser?

b.      Are there situations when the Taser should not be used?

III.             Taser related injuries and deaths

a.       The governments role in controlling the weapons use

                                                              i.      FDA, DEA, CDC

                                                            ii.      Taser lobbyists and how they are effecting policies

IV.            Putting it all together – how and why is does this weapon promote equality?

References:
1. Mangus, Barry E. (2008), Taser and Taser Associated Injuries: A Case Series, American Surgeon, 74(9) p.862-865.
2. Noorani, A.G. (1999) Amnesty and Human Rights in the US, Economic and Political Weekly, 34(34-35) p.2375-2376.
3. Perkins, Sid (1998), Not so deadly force, Science News,153(10) p.156-157.
Upson, Sandra (2007), How A Tasers Work, IEEE Spectrum, 44, p.25-30.
4. White, Michael (2007), The TASER as a Less Lethal Force Alternative, Police Quarterly,10(2), p.170-191.

Methods:   This paper will be a formal survey of professional literature that is pertinent to Taser usage and equality in law enforcement. This method will allow for the exploration of what others have learned in relation to the research question. This process will also help frame and focus my hypothesis.

Reflection #7 – Race and Gender Readings

This week’s readings, “How much justice can technology afford?” and  chapter one in,”Missing Links” were about the role of race and gender in science and technology.  The second reading examines how the role of science and technology has not always had a positive impact on society.  It also makes the point that ” (Technological change ) is a consequence of countless decisions made by scientists, engineers, corporations, and
governments, which collectively govern the impact of science and technology on all of our lives.” (pg.8)  The reading then goes on to discuss gender and the inequalities between them that factor into who and how science and technology develops.

The article on DNA questioned the use of DNA technology as exacerbating or mitigating inequality in the criminal justice system.  Then two frameworks through which technological innovations can be measured are given: one is a pessimistic view and the other is optimistic.  The pessimistic view believes that new technologies will always be used in ways that are beneficial to the powerful and wealthy.  On the other hand, the optimistic view holds that technologies have the power to foster equality.  As discussed in class and read in this paper, minorities, the poor and men are over-represented in the current prison population.  This pattern is cyclical in nature and produces further inequality.