The video on Filter bubbles, spoken by Eli Pariser, brought back creepy memories of SkyNet in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. In that movie Skynet creates robotic life, and in doing that it gives power to artificial intelligence. The robots become smarter than the humans, thus creating an uncomfortable situation where they have to question whether they made the right call in advancing in the name of science. This can relate at the current moment to Google’s ability to track and follow each individual. We have given this information up willingly in the name of technology, but have we gone too far?
In my current British Lit class today we are discussing Victor Frankenstein, and his creation of the monster. SPOILER ALERT::: The name of the monster in Frankenstein is NOT Frankenstein, it is simply, “the monster.” In this novel we speak of the power of choice, and the topic discussed is often, “You spend so much time wondering if you can do something that you never stop to think about whether you should.” I also think it’s a common idea in Jurrasic Park. We as a society have come so far in technological breakthrough that many times the user never stops to think about the ramifications of the actions.
I have also been able to connect this theme to the current use of Twitter. Last year the students used Twitter in a way that gave it more power than any high school student has ever had in the history of mankind. They used Twitter to form a walkout in retaliation of the firing of a teacher. In 1995 if you wanted to hold a walkout, students would have to call their friends at home, pass notes in school, and spread the word at lunch. You may get 100 kids if you are lucky. In 2005 you could send some mass texts and do the same approach above. In 2011 if you want to hold a walkout, hashtag it and watch 1100 kids fall in line. Voltaire once said, “With great power comes great responsibility. I explained to these kids the negative and positive consequences of such a weapon. I don’t truly believe that they even understand it. They also used Twitter to make comments on a hashtag about the school. That trend picked up 100’s of followers instantly, and current and past students jumped on board to what they “thought” was a private forum. They didn’t quite understand that there are consequences to their online life, (refer to the first video on hiring practices). The end result was that many, many students were reprimanded (and some should have been expelled) for comments that they made which were out of line, inappropriate, and offensive. I am not sure how or why these comments were written or whether they believed that they were private, but it was a scary outcome. I believe that we have just touched the surface when it comes to knowing how far technology will take us, but teaching students the moral principles which we grew up learning is the key to their appropriateness. I was taught to believe that words can be hurtful, whether they are spoken or written.
Mike DiGennaro 
I concur with your insight about tracking us in the Cloud.
My son and I often playfully argue whether humans or machines will prevail. Since man has the ability to reason, has emotions and has a conscious, in my opinion humans will prevail. However, a machine is programmed by humans and we may be lossing some of our human capabilities. In a book entitled, iBrain, by Dr. Small and Ms. Vorgan, they site a Stanford Study that says that for every hour we spend on a computer, the time we spend in social interactions is reduced by 30 minutes. This may be that we are quickly losing our human skills like emotions. If this keeps up, humans may be at the mercy of machines.
I like that you are teaching your students your be digital citizens.