Andy Clark, Chapter 6

In chapter six one of the most interesting parts to me is how technology is adapting to us. I think it’s cool that technology is capable of creating way to get what a particular person wants faster. It’s great that they have come up with ways for computers and programs to associate word with other words. It’s almost in a sense like its learning. Another thing that I found interesting was web sites can re-route themselves in response to usage. It’s amazing that it can expand and contract the amount of users based on site popularity. Or even it can do the same based on the time of day. I also like the comparison to slugs saying that when we use cell phones and credit cards that it leaves behind a trail of information. It’s almost scary knowing that we can be tracked down by the trail of information our devices leave behind. It’s almost like wearing a tracking device because basically anything we do can and will be traced to where we are. It’s confusing to try to figure out how some of the technologies like adapting websites can help with learning capabilities. It was hard for me to relate the two together. For the most part chapter six gave great insight on what technology is capable of.

Modeling the World

When we as people create symbols, it develops a relationship that always remains unchanged. Symbols for us are similar to rule which we chose to follow. Sometimes we understand things even though they are not exactly real for example the sign that says bigfoot crossing. Even though there is no bigfoot we take the sign as if it were real. To me it’s almost crazy to see how much symbols and the meanings that they have can affect us and the way we think.

The Nature of Information

I believe that the nature of information does a great job of explaining the many different ways there are to convey information in our every day lives. Its very interesting to see that people don’t question why information is the way it is. We as people just except things the way they are. It also puts in perspective how we as people use information to communicate with one another whether it’s from using street signs or the radio. Trough technology information is influencing our lives in numerous ways.

Infoport

The Library of Babel

The Library of Babel was very good, I really liked this selection. However, it was very confusing while reading just because of the depth the author went into some things. Even though the story was very confusing, I enjoyed the fact that I had to really figure-out what was being stated and that made it more interesting to read. Some parts were very difficult to comprehend what was being said, because of the way this piece was worded. It became clearer to me in my second reading what was being said.