Chapter 15 Flashcards
Most of the computing power owned by a typical middle- class American family of the late 2010s was in?
Cars eg: Tesla
What did Elon Musk say about Tesla Model S?
It is designed to be a sophisticated computer on wheels
Silicon valleys shifting focus:
Microchips > Personal Computers > Smartphones
What was FastTrak? What tech did it use?
Billing and payment system using batch processing system
Linux originated from where and with the help of what?
Linux originated from Unix with the help of time-sharing and interactive tools and is now used in the screens of Tesla and other cars.
Name one of the victims of Tesla’s self driving technology? What did Tesla do in response to the incident?
Joshua Brown. Tesla added more limits to its systems in response to the incident
Why did Uber stop it’s public test program of robot taxis?
It started the program in Arizona in 2018. However it struck and killed a pedestrian hence the public test program was cancelled.
What does Theranos’s example tell us?
It tells us that technological advancements have not led to proportionally great social advances or economic developments
How did Computerisation help with redistributing wealth instead of making the rich richer?
What was a thing computerisation helped with wrt to wealth? `
It helped redistribute wealth instead of making the rich richer.
What did the most successful web companies have in common?
They were able to monopolise on the attention of users, collect and mine data. Which was then used for targeted marketing to generate revenue.
“The Age of Surveillance Capitalism “ this name was given by?
Shoshana Zuboff
How were smartphones used to organise protests? eg George Floyd Killing
Smartphones could record incidents and they could be watched by millions of social media. This led to people getting angry and organising protests.
About Robinhood
An investment app with game like interface and social media elements which made investing a fun diversion. Gamblers used reddit tips to drive stock prices of random companies to insanely high levels for eg: Fangdd, a Chinese real estate companies stock went up 13x in 2hrs because it was confused with FANG group.
How has the history of computing become a part of history of everything?
Computing is deeply intertwined with vital structural developments in global relations, economics, society, and culture. Barring apocalypse, those connections will only deepen. As the computer has become a truly universal machine, the history of computing has become a part of the history of everything.
