Questions about Information Haves and Have-Nots (text, 9.1.2):

• What would be the problem (or problems) with giving a computer to each poor family in the United States?

   

• When the book talks about ``Information Have-Nots,'' what is it that they don't have? (Don't just answer ``a computer.'')

   

• Describe the pitfall or problem with spelling checkers that is high-lighted in the book (along with an amusing poem).

   

• Explain what part Alan Turing played in helping the Americans, British, and others win World War II.

   

• What is the connection between ATMs (Automated Teller Machines) and unemployment?

   

• ``Moore's Law'' says that computer speed will double every time what number of months or years have passed?

   

• Mention one problem with the idea of putting computers in primary and middle schools.

   

• What failed invention by B.F. Skinner is mentioned in the write-up?

   

• Mention one way that virtual reality systems could be used in medicine.

   

Recall the five main ethical theories that we studied:
1. Moral Sense: ``We just know.''
2. Ethical Egoism: ``Me first.''
3. Utilitarianism: ``It's the consequences.''
4. Social Contract (called ``Natural Rights'' in your text): ``It's an agreement.''
5. Kantian Moral Theory (called ``deontological theories'' in your text): ``It's the intentions.''

• Which theory keeps our lives from being "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short," according to the inventor of the theory?

   

• Which theory is concerned with balancing the total ``goodness'' against the total ``badness''?

   

• Which theory might be used by a self-centered child?

   

• Which theory is concerned with a ``built-in'' human capacity to tell right from wrong?

   

• Which theory rests on moral principles?

   

• In which theory might we be willing to sacrifice a few lives in order to promote the good of society?

   

• Is doing the right thing ethically the same as doing the right thing legally? (Explain.)

   

• Suppose someone checks an individual's drivers license, say by comparing the picture with the person's face. Is this identification or identity verification? Explain.

   

• In my write-up, I talked about a scheme of National Identification. What extra service would this provide beyond supplying a national ID card?

   

• Give one example of a biometric property of an individual that one might be able to obtain remotely, say using a video camera.

   

• Telephone answering machines often use a 2-digit code to allow the owner to access messages remotely. What is the problem with this method?

   

• Give an example of how a health insurance or a life insurance company might misuse personal and private data about you. (What kind of data might be at issue?)

   

• What privacy do you have as you walk around in public?

   

• How has the computer era made it harder to keep your personal privacy? (How can companies use computers and the Internet to more easily violate your privacy?)

   

• Give two specific benefits that people can obtain by using cryptography in their personal e-mail.

   

• Show how to use the ``Caesar Cipher'' described in class to encrypt the message SECURITY using the key 5. (Don't just give an answer, but show where it comes from.)

   

• What does Alice need to fetch from a public directory in order to use public-key cryptography to send a secret message to Bob?

   

• What damage or harm was caused in the Therac-25 incident?

   

• Give two reasons for the delay (2 years) in responding properly to the Therac-25 problems?

   

• Should society do anything about the bomb-making information that is available to children on the internet? (If society should do nothing, explain why; otherwise explain what society should do. There is no ``right'' or ``wrong'' with these answers.)

   

• Are the free speech rules on the Internet currently different from free speech rules in a newspaper? (Explain, not just a yes/no answer.)

   

• When one sends e-mail, the return e-mail address is automatically added by the system, so how is it possible to send an anonymous e-mail?

   

• Describe why Internet anonymity might be useful in an online discussion group.

   

• How could an anonymous service be used by one person to violate another person's privacy?

   

• What is special about computer sabotage that makes it different and more worrisome from old-fashioned sabotage such as setting fires or breaking windows? (Give at least two differences.)

   

• What is a network ``sniffer'' and what is it used for?

   

• What problem did several universities recently have with promotional photographs? (This was discussed in class.)

   

• What kinds of jobs will be taken over (and are being taken over) by computers, and what kinds of jobs will be left over?

   

• What is an ``electronic sweatshop''?

   

• How is e-mail and its use by employees different from ordinary phone conversations or ordinary memos? (At least two differences.)

   

• Why is it so much easier to monitor an employee now than it was in the past?

   

Consider the following part of the prolog example from class and from the web page:

male(ralph).
male(neal).
male(wayne).
female(alberta).
female(martha).
parent(ralph, neal).
parent(ralph, wayne).
parent(ralph, martha).
parent(alberta, neal).
parent(alberta, wayne).
parent(alberta, martha).
married(ralph, alberta).

husband(X, Y) :- male(X), married(X, Y).
wife(X, Y) :- female(X), married(X, Y).
sibling(X, Y) :- father(Z, X), father(Z, Y), mother(W, X), mother(W, Y), not(X = Y).
brother(X, Y)            :-  male(X),       sibling(X, Y).
sister(X, Y)             :-  female(X),     sibling(X, Y).

• Which are the rules and which are the facts? (Mark them above.)

• In ordinary words, describe how ``wife'' is defined by its rule.

   

• Explain how we know from the rule for ``sibling'' that wayne and martha are siblings.

   

• Using the rule for ``brother'', how do we know that wayne and neal are brothers?

   

• How does it make sense for a library to be an agent, rather than a place where books are stored?

   

• Can an agent be transported electronically, that is, over the wires of a network? (Explain, not just yes or no.)

   

• Joy uses the letters GNR to stand for the new 21st-century technologies that are powerful, dangerous, and within the reach of individuals or small groups. What are these technologies?

   

• What does Joy fear might happen to the microscopic robots that could be created using the new technology?

   

• What kind of an anti-technologist is Kirkpatrick Sale? (He was described in the write-up.)

   

• What kind of technology was the Unabomber (Kaczinsky) against?

   

• How is open information on the Internet a force for freedom?

   

• How do some fired bullets acquire fingerprints, and how do agencies like the FBI make use of these fingerprints? (This is not referring to ordinary human fingerprints.)

   

• In my write-up, what was the final, best method for putting fingerprints on a memo handed out to members of a committee? (Be specific.)

   

• Explain what is meant by ``crime-proof hardware''.

   

• Give the specifics about one of the crime-proof guns discussed in class. Explain why it could be called ``crime-proof''.

   

• What is the US going to do with tiny (dinner plate sized) flying vehicles in warfare?

   

• Besides problems with developing the software, give two major problems faced by the U.S. BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense) program.

   

• Give the topic you worked on (or were supposed to work on) for the Web Resource Project.

   

• Describe the most useful URL (web location) that you discovered during the course of working on this project. (Of course you may not remember its exact name. Just describe it as specifically as you can. This should be one of the sites that you actually reference in your project -- preferably the one you describe as the most helpful in supplying information.)

   

   

   

I want you to describe some aspect of the use of computers and computer technology in education. You description could focus on computer use in elementary, secondary, or college education. You should pick one of these three and describe a way computers are being used successfully, or describe a major problem with the use of computers. (You should make it clear which type of education you are focusing on, and which success or problem you are interested in. Try to keep the focus of your essay narrow.)