Technology as a Frontier, Market and Constraint: Observations of Actuality

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Speed, efficiency and productivity. As three major determinants of success in today’s world, these notions are also necessary components of modern day technology, separating the good from the bad. In today’s world, the users of technology are provided with various options to make the most out of their experiences. Whether it be electric cars running on batteries, automated drones flying over huge distances, modern day technology adds all the three mentioned elements into the routine of life. Consequently, technology and human life continue to interact with one another to produce utilitarian and constructive results while the future holds nothing but promises, possibilities and opportunities for the human race.

Apple’s introduction to human lives has a long history stretching back to the 80’s, but it was essentially the introduction of the iPhone in 2008 that established the company’s dominance in the electronics markets. Every year, the company releases new products and the new iPhone makes the headlines, adding fuel to tech-related discussions. Being the first company in the American history to reach a market value of one trillion dollars, Apple seeks to bypass this year for releasing a groundbreaking phone and observe its competitors' experiment with new technologies. Samsung has a plan to release a phone with a flexible screen, OnePlus has announced that it will embed a fingerprint sensor into its new device’s screen while Huawei also has plans to build a more flexible smartphone. While a new iPhone XS and iMac are expected to surface sometime during the new season, the company seeks to observe the novelties in the markets and pick up on successful technologies to utilize them in future phones and computers.

One feature that separates iPhones from Androids is the iMessage function that enables iPhone users to “read receipts, text over Wi-Fi and send high-resolution pictures and video.” Google and Samsung have teamed up in their pursuit to integrate this function into the Android system under the label of ‘Rich Communication Services (RCS)’ which will provide all the mentioned functions described above for Android users. iPhones currently provide these preset functions to their users but prior to RCS, the Android systems would require specific applications such as WhatsApp to carry out such functions. Samsung has announced that its Galaxy S8, S8+, S9, S9+, Note 8&9, Galaxy A and J devices will include RCS while Google will be integrating the system into its Android Messages platform. This way, all the smartphones running on the latest Android system will have access to RCS. The innovation shows that the smartphones market is getting more integrated and saturated on a daily basis, with shared expectations shaping the capabilities of future products.  Modern day life simply cannot exist without social media and as outlets such as Facebook and Twitter are gaining worth and value by the minute and various SEO Sydney agencies have sprung up in the process, opposition and criticism also build up. Kara Swisher, a “veteran Silicon Valley journalist” is one of the leaders of such opposition and she believes that “Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are doing great damage to the world, perhaps without realizing it.” Swisher believes that these services are responsible for supporting massive political disinformation campaigns, publicizing and legitimizing hate speech as well as disclosing personal information. In other words, the social media giants are ‘weaponizing’ the human societies by controlling, altering and manipulating communications which in turn puts people at each other’s throats. What is even scarier, according to Swisher, is that they are utilizing the First Amendment for this purpose to disrupt civil discourse and political stability. The modern day philosopher believes that there is further damage that the global society will suffer from these services in the future, meaning that societies will have to develop a new sense of social responsibility to counter the effects of disinformation.

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