Monday, December 13, 2010

Bobby's section of the Final Exam

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Although there are many negative aspects associated with the Global Subject and the Global Gaze, there are also some extremely beneficial uses for the technology. A quick point brought to attention early on in the text is a case where a Korean plane was shot down by Russian military because the civilian filled plane crossed into Russian territory unknown to the pilot. After this tragedy, President Ronald Reagan allowed GPS tools to be utilized by non-military ventures to avoid another such incident. Because of this type of technology, a situational circumstance such as this one could be avoided. While this global gaze related technology worked well in such cases as this on a large scale, it also can work on a more localized level.

A very prominent example of global surveillance tools helping society are surveillance cameras (with prices starting as low as $40 it’s no surprise that they are being utilized: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=surveillance+cameras&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=8692273997468197511&ei=yZUGTfLuG8qFnAf3-6DlDQ&sa=X&oi=product_c), which are currently located in most stores, and even now in random outside areas. Many people see this as an invasion to privacy but in reality these technological devices (be it a camera or satellite) can offer unique opportunities to help out everyday life. A prime example would be in robberies. It is quite common that the video taken from a store could lend a hand to authorities in the apprehension of criminals such as bank robbers. A local example would be a Michigan woman from Lincoln Park being caught for five separate bank robberies (http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/24397145/detail.html) and caught primarily because of her footage captured on the global detection devices better known in this case as bank camera. Another such example was presented in Greenville, SC where police released video footage and captured the assailants because of public outreach (http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/101476644.html). These types of cases consistently occur and help utilize the positive benefits of global observation.

As with all forms of technology, the tools can present positive and negative benefits to society and everyday life. With the adaption of postmodernism, especially in media and entertainment, people are often likely to judge and cast a negative opinion onto emerging forms of advancements due to their possibility for negative associations, but often this is a harsh choice that should be reserved until fuller understanding of the true advantages can be presented. This is definitely the case with surveillance video and satellite imaging.

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