The recent guest lecture on social media has got me thinking about the effects social media has on advertising and the long term effects it might have on advertising.
I believe (as Scott Stratten does) that advertising has no place in an ideal society. Because when it comes down to the bottom line, advertising is always biased. No company is going to point out its limitations because that is bad for business. But with the emergence of social media, it is now possible to get first hand experience of other people without actually experiencing it yourself.
Realistically speaking, I don't think advertising will be completely abolished in the near future if at all. But with the increasing abundance of "pull" media, I think "push" media is losing a lot of its points for existing and I would like to see more companies breaking out of their norm and try different approaches to marketing.
Please feel free to comment about your view on this subject.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Technology and Climate Change (or Global Warming or the Impending Apocalypse)
Humans have always been a crafty species. We've invented many things since the wheel, and progressed at an exponential rate. But... that is a big but, quantum processors and rockets came at a high price. Our environment took a big hit for us to develop all this technology. Mostly, it was due to the oil industry and the consumption of fossil fuels as vehicle food both ground, air and sea (not space they use water derivatives, mainly, hydrogen fuel). Our progress was so great, that by now we need one and a half Earth's to sustain our consumption! On the other hand, chronologically, if we considered Earth's life as one day, dinosaurs have been living for hours while humans lived for mere seconds and we've made the Earth this bad in that short a time.
As for the condition of Earth, we are facing some serious global warming issues in the next few decades, if not in our life times, definitely in our children's. So the challenge is, can we invent our selves out of this predicament? We have been so ingenious in the previous generations to overcome our difficulties, inventing vaccines to cure polio, and chicken pox, which happened to be lethal to Natives in America but that's besides the point. It only goes to reinforce the fact that humans leave destruction and death wherever they go. Getting back to our climate problem, I think the whole "inventing ourselves out of this" is a wrong mindset to put ourselves in. In fact, our intelligence is already past figuring out how to live with nature. The aforementioned Natives knew how, and all the early civilizations knew also. We just have to reduce our carbon emissions and remove the blanket of CO2 coating Earth and let it vent the heat into space. One idea that's currently out there is carbon taxing.
Global warming has been continuously proven by science to be the greatest threat to mankind since Godzilla. Yet the corporations hire scientists to provide bogus counter evidence to calm the public and keep them buying the products. I think the most obvious reason that we are ignoring this problem is that we can't physically see the problem. But that's where they get you again, we fully can see the problems. There are heat surges in other countries, causing draughts and extreme heat in countries like Russia and Somalia.
It is a new age and we have to get into the new mindset of being a global community. With the invention of the Internet, a global communication device within the blink of an eye, our first step to the next stage of global civilization has started. Recently, there has been a lot of awareness given to Joseph Kony. While that's all well and good, we need that same kind of awareness for our environmental issues and more on further from there.
To conclude, there are completely harmonious solutions and as an environmentalist, of course I would prefer to live with nature than make a compromise like we do with everything else. Please leave a comment of your view on this impending situation.
As for the condition of Earth, we are facing some serious global warming issues in the next few decades, if not in our life times, definitely in our children's. So the challenge is, can we invent our selves out of this predicament? We have been so ingenious in the previous generations to overcome our difficulties, inventing vaccines to cure polio, and chicken pox, which happened to be lethal to Natives in America but that's besides the point. It only goes to reinforce the fact that humans leave destruction and death wherever they go. Getting back to our climate problem, I think the whole "inventing ourselves out of this" is a wrong mindset to put ourselves in. In fact, our intelligence is already past figuring out how to live with nature. The aforementioned Natives knew how, and all the early civilizations knew also. We just have to reduce our carbon emissions and remove the blanket of CO2 coating Earth and let it vent the heat into space. One idea that's currently out there is carbon taxing.
Global warming has been continuously proven by science to be the greatest threat to mankind since Godzilla. Yet the corporations hire scientists to provide bogus counter evidence to calm the public and keep them buying the products. I think the most obvious reason that we are ignoring this problem is that we can't physically see the problem. But that's where they get you again, we fully can see the problems. There are heat surges in other countries, causing draughts and extreme heat in countries like Russia and Somalia.
It is a new age and we have to get into the new mindset of being a global community. With the invention of the Internet, a global communication device within the blink of an eye, our first step to the next stage of global civilization has started. Recently, there has been a lot of awareness given to Joseph Kony. While that's all well and good, we need that same kind of awareness for our environmental issues and more on further from there.
To conclude, there are completely harmonious solutions and as an environmentalist, of course I would prefer to live with nature than make a compromise like we do with everything else. Please leave a comment of your view on this impending situation.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
PHONY KONY 2012
Recently, I watched an inspiring film dedicated to exposing an international war criminal named Joseph Kony.
It's times like these that I really admire the power of technology. As early as 20 years ago, no one knew about the atrocities that Kony was committing. But with the help of technology, it is now possible for everyone in the world to be aware and take action.
During the video, it mentions how money controls the government and media. While this is a sad fact, I believe there is a change in the world that is happening NOW. As more and more people get involved and see what the world is really like, it becomes harder for media to control us; it becomes harder for the government to ignore us. This is what real democracy should be. It should be about the people, not money, not politics.
2012 is the year. It is the year of change. The solution to any problem begins with understanding the problem, knowing that the problem exists. Only then can we formulate an approach to a solution. It is completely possible, with the help of technology, to be aware, to know and to take action - no matter how insignificant. There are now 7 billion people on this planet, and still more being added everyday. One small voice is easily ignored, but 7 billion small voices, cannot and will not be ignored.
People need to realize that we are the majority. The government and media cannot control us. We have minds, we have thoughts, we have what it takes to make this world a better place.
Become aware and help us show the world what we can do. Click Here.
*EDIT - After looking more into the matter, Joseph Kony is now 9th on the world's most wanted list and more importantly he is currently a fugitive. If he is a fugitive, it is not completely correct to say "STOP Kony". It gives a sense of false urgency while the continued attention will still make him flee, it is not a matter I personally would even spend money on. Most of these "charities" give large percentages of money to the non-deserving anyway, for instance, the "Because I'm a Girl" movement and the organization that it's tied to gives more than 20% of their donations to "administrative" purposes. By no means am I saying that we should let Kony run about doing whatever he wants, I'm just saying you should have a more carefully developed opinion on the matter before you go ahead and decide to spend your life savings for a "noble cause".
It's times like these that I really admire the power of technology. As early as 20 years ago, no one knew about the atrocities that Kony was committing. But with the help of technology, it is now possible for everyone in the world to be aware and take action.
During the video, it mentions how money controls the government and media. While this is a sad fact, I believe there is a change in the world that is happening NOW. As more and more people get involved and see what the world is really like, it becomes harder for media to control us; it becomes harder for the government to ignore us. This is what real democracy should be. It should be about the people, not money, not politics.
2012 is the year. It is the year of change. The solution to any problem begins with understanding the problem, knowing that the problem exists. Only then can we formulate an approach to a solution. It is completely possible, with the help of technology, to be aware, to know and to take action - no matter how insignificant. There are now 7 billion people on this planet, and still more being added everyday. One small voice is easily ignored, but 7 billion small voices, cannot and will not be ignored.
People need to realize that we are the majority. The government and media cannot control us. We have minds, we have thoughts, we have what it takes to make this world a better place.
Become aware and help us show the world what we can do. Click Here.
*EDIT - After looking more into the matter, Joseph Kony is now 9th on the world's most wanted list and more importantly he is currently a fugitive. If he is a fugitive, it is not completely correct to say "STOP Kony". It gives a sense of false urgency while the continued attention will still make him flee, it is not a matter I personally would even spend money on. Most of these "charities" give large percentages of money to the non-deserving anyway, for instance, the "Because I'm a Girl" movement and the organization that it's tied to gives more than 20% of their donations to "administrative" purposes. By no means am I saying that we should let Kony run about doing whatever he wants, I'm just saying you should have a more carefully developed opinion on the matter before you go ahead and decide to spend your life savings for a "noble cause".
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Internet as a platform of communication
The invention of Internet has changed many industries. Notably, the movie rental business is almost obsolete due to the convenience of being able to stream things straight from home instead of going outside to go through all the hassle.
The Internet has even enabled us to use methods never possible to do things we want, like gather data. Sites like Kickstarter have used the Internet's functionality to gather funds from people that are interested in ideas being pitched on the site. With innovations like these, it really opens up a new way to think about how we can use the Internet for our own benefit.
One main reason Internet is so successful is the ability for anyone to communicate with another instantly. Why, then, is the world still not communicating with each other?
There are a multitude of communication failures in this world today. Of those failures, the most noteworthy are the failure between the countries to communicate, and between the scientific community. What I mean by scientific community is; say we have a top of the line physicist, and a top of the line biologist. In the real world, these two people would rarely get together and try to solve problems together. In both of these cases, the main problem is the lack of interest.
I believe if the Internet would facilitate meaningful conversation between these members of society, the world would be a much better place. The traditional forums would fit the role but if that were the case, it would be extremely hard to get publicity to get all the members communicating. It would have to be an interactive environment that has features to make explaining things on the Internet much easier. For example, physicists would need to write down equations in most cases to explain what's going on.
It's true that the world is fast becoming a better place to live with new technologies and gadgets to play with, but with lack of communication and restriction of access, people are not being as productive as they can be. I think if there were a platform for easy communication, the world would be a slightly better place.
Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below, we can talk it out!
The Internet has even enabled us to use methods never possible to do things we want, like gather data. Sites like Kickstarter have used the Internet's functionality to gather funds from people that are interested in ideas being pitched on the site. With innovations like these, it really opens up a new way to think about how we can use the Internet for our own benefit.
One main reason Internet is so successful is the ability for anyone to communicate with another instantly. Why, then, is the world still not communicating with each other?
There are a multitude of communication failures in this world today. Of those failures, the most noteworthy are the failure between the countries to communicate, and between the scientific community. What I mean by scientific community is; say we have a top of the line physicist, and a top of the line biologist. In the real world, these two people would rarely get together and try to solve problems together. In both of these cases, the main problem is the lack of interest.
I believe if the Internet would facilitate meaningful conversation between these members of society, the world would be a much better place. The traditional forums would fit the role but if that were the case, it would be extremely hard to get publicity to get all the members communicating. It would have to be an interactive environment that has features to make explaining things on the Internet much easier. For example, physicists would need to write down equations in most cases to explain what's going on.
It's true that the world is fast becoming a better place to live with new technologies and gadgets to play with, but with lack of communication and restriction of access, people are not being as productive as they can be. I think if there were a platform for easy communication, the world would be a slightly better place.
Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below, we can talk it out!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
ACTA, the new SOPA and PIRATES YARRGH!
In the recent past, there has been much attention hovering around SOPA/PIPA and its internet restricting laws being attempted to pass. I think it was due to overwhelming response, that they had to withdraw the bills.
But what about ACTA? I think people got too relaxed too fast. There isn't half as much interest about this bill being tried (Europe on the other hand, is on point), and its just as bad as SOPA/PIPA; in the sense it allows the authorities to seize and stop any operations that facilitate the act of piracy.
Who writes these bills anyway? To put it bluntly, it's most likely those who think they've lost something due to the existence of pirates. Theoretically speaking, to encrypt or hinder any kind of digital theft, there needs to be some kind of software or hardware that prevents theft (ie. DVD copy protection). Ultimately, it's going to be people making things and people breaking things.
These bill writing capitalists need to smarten up and look at the big picture. They need to stop writing these dumb bills and start looking at the real issue. It's pretty evident that the reason people pirate things is because they don't want to pay for it! On the other hand, micro-transaction environments such as Netflix, Steam, and various games have shown to be quite effective. It might not be a complete solution to the problem but its a start.
Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment below and we'll talk it out
But what about ACTA? I think people got too relaxed too fast. There isn't half as much interest about this bill being tried (Europe on the other hand, is on point), and its just as bad as SOPA/PIPA; in the sense it allows the authorities to seize and stop any operations that facilitate the act of piracy.
Who writes these bills anyway? To put it bluntly, it's most likely those who think they've lost something due to the existence of pirates. Theoretically speaking, to encrypt or hinder any kind of digital theft, there needs to be some kind of software or hardware that prevents theft (ie. DVD copy protection). Ultimately, it's going to be people making things and people breaking things.
These bill writing capitalists need to smarten up and look at the big picture. They need to stop writing these dumb bills and start looking at the real issue. It's pretty evident that the reason people pirate things is because they don't want to pay for it! On the other hand, micro-transaction environments such as Netflix, Steam, and various games have shown to be quite effective. It might not be a complete solution to the problem but its a start.
Agree or Disagree? Leave a comment below and we'll talk it out
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)