Matt Tuell's Idea's

2004-03-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

Reactions To Presentations.

Online Gambling. Why would anyone give money to a computer and then believe that they have a legitimate shot of winning. I would say the gamble itself is putting money in the computer to gamble with. I truly can't believe that the odds are the same as at a real table. Online gambling may say they give even odds but I don't believe that they do. At least at a table I can see what is going on and know that the hands played against me beat me not a computer.

DVD copying is theft. I believe that if you copy a DVD when it is still in the theatre that you are commiting a crime. Movie theatres lose money and the simple truth is that you are stealing there dollars. I also believe that if you copy a DVD or CD that you are also Stealing. This being said I still do it anyway. So It must make me a thief.

Video Games are becoming too graphic and violent and there needs to be some restrictions. When I was a kid Super Mario Brothers was about a graphic as it got now young kids are playing games that allow you to have sex with other characters in the games, you can kill people, light them on fire, or many other things that are not, in my opinion good for our youth's morale.

These are just a few of my thoughts,

2004-02-25T16:23:00.000-08:00

Video Gamers, Get your Head Out of the imaginary world!

During our discussion in Cybercultures class, many people were very aware about all the different games available via internet, X-box, Nintendo, playstation, or whatever other gaming systems available. I on the other hand, had know clue about some of the games available. There is one game named Everquest, that allows the player to create a new Identity and build a life by becoming whatever you want to be and buy houses, cars, and god knows what else. There is the game called the Sims, that allows you to have a family and create different ways of living. You can basically become who you have always wanted to be. I was very surprised to find out that many people spend massive amounts of time playing these games. I believe it is a way to escape reality. If you become another identity in these games 6-8 hours a day, as many people in our class confessed to, then you have a problem. There is the argument that playing video games for this amount of time is the same as anyone else that does too much of one thing like a swimmer, track runner, musician, or author. I believe that one needs balance in his or her life, and I agree that too much of anything is not good for you, but too much of these video games is worse to me then a lot of things. If you dislike what you are and you want to act like someone else in a video game for most of your day then why are you living. Get to grips with who you are and, get out of the gaming world. I can see if you play games once in a while, but 8 HOURS A DAY, you got to be kidding me. Wake up.

2004-02-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

Camera phones? What's next?

Digital camera on a phone. When I first heard of this I was shocked. I couldn't believe that anyone would ever have one of these but yet now not only do a lot of Americans have these phones but there are web sites where you can send your e-mail to post for the world to see. Times are changing. I remember in highschool, just 4 years ago, when only a few kids had cell phone. Yet now, if you don't have a cell phone you are considered abnormal. Technology is growing everyday. when will it stop? Some people believe that our bodies will be replaced and that artificial better bodies with advanced computer brains will replace them. I can't believe this will ever happen but yet I never imagined cell phones to be so widespread or camera phones to boom in the market. Digital equipment has allowed for camera phone and cameras in general to take off and become norms in our society. We can take pictures on digital cameras and look at the picture before it is printed. If we don't like the picture you can erase it. You can also send pictures on the internet or go to photo shop and change the picture to fit your liking. Technology is becoming one big entity and anything is possible, but where will it end. Will better more high-tech bodies replace our bodies? We or our children will soon find out!!

2004-02-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

Downloading Music, Is it a Crime?

I believe that downloading music really is stealing but I also believe it plays an advantage to some artists. There are many artists that feel that they are losing money on C.D. sales. This may be true for some of the artists but the ones that are on top have no trouble selling their music. Eminem just set a record in 2002 for the most sold C.D.s ever. I can also remember people downloading his music at this time but still buying the C.D. They knew it was a classic and they wanted to have it in their collection. In this case the people sampled the C.D. and found that they loved it, then bought it. If there is a person that downloads an artist then decides they don't like the artist then why should they buy the C.D.? Should the Artist be able to trick the buyer into buying his or her C.D.? If you don't like the C.D. then why should you buy it. By downloading a song a person might find a new artist that they like and buy his C.D. or go to his concert. In this way the artist gains money from downloading. A lot of rappers also put out many free styles or unheard tracks that you can't purchase. Is this stealing? I know that if you had to put a name on downloading it would be stealing but I believe that this stealing act can help some artists.

2004-02-21T17:46:00.000-08:00

Viruses, are they art?

NoNoNoNoNo. I experienced the infamous "Love Bug" Virus this last summer and of let me tell you I will never call it art. I first noticed the effects of the virus when my computer started to become a little bit slower, even though I had digital comcast high-speed internet. It then started to just shut down on it's own. I had to have a computer expert (Or so he said he was) help me completely wipe out every document I had and then restart all my programs. It was lucky that It was summer and I wasn't in school or I would have lost all the papers for that quarter. Now some people would say this was just a form of graphiti and therefore it was art. I could see that a hacker that did this might think that he had accomplished a goal of screwing up my computer completely but it is not art. I consider graphiti art under a bridge or on a wall but the graphiti that I don't consider art is when someone does it at a school, office building, or train. This I call vandalism. I call these hackers that gave me the love bug vandals also. It is not pretty, or cool what they did. They are extremely talented to be able to destroy my computer but they should use this talet in ways to uplift society, not cause me pain.

2004-02-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

Are We Living in The Matrix?

My Answer to this is "No". The Matrix is the theory that us humans are not really living and what we see is just a figment of imagination. In the Matrix The Main character is Neo and he is given the chance to take a red or green pill. One of the pills would let Neo find out the truth about life and what he thought was reality while the other pill would just allow him to forget he ever had the chance to choose and just go on about his life. In our cybercultures class, the question was posed, "Which pill would you take if you had the chance"? Most responded that they would want to find out the truth. Us humans have been trying to find this out for most of our existence. Why are we here? Who created us? Is reality really reality? This view is widely theorized throughout different cultures around the world. There are muslims, jews, christians, buddists, devil worshipers, and many, many, more. In my mind, Because I am a christian, I believe that god created existence. I don't believe that we are living in the Matrix. I believe that god created us to reflect his love. The bible is the evidence for my belief. There are many unknowns as to why god would let some of the things that happen on earth occur as they do, but god says he has a plan if you live the way he says to in the bible. He has a reason for everything. I know that many people want to know everything and want the truth to be revieled but I say that the bible is the truth, and if you read it you will see the truth. If we knew the whole truth about life what would be the fun of it. Every day is a new day to explore or be surprised. We live with ups and downs and we need these both in our lives because in order to be able to feel joy you need pain.

2004-02-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

Will Machines take over our bodies and will computers take over our minds?

In the next 1000 years computer might be able to take over our bodies but our minds will never be taken over. A computer might be able to inact every movement of our limbs with machines but a computer is only as smart as the person that made it. A person's soul, heart, and feelings are inside of our brain and that can never be replaced. A computer might be able to download memory from our brain but it will never have the free will that humans havein their brain. Like I said before a computer is only as smart as the person that programmed it. Even If it became possible to have a computer take over my body I wouldn't want that to happen. I don't want to live on earth forever. I want to go to heaven. I don't want to be frozen in hopes that my brain would be restored by a computer. I want to die when it is my home and go
to a better place.

2004-02-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

What Makes a Problem is a problem!

Addiction. It is a word that many people are completely oblivious to It's definition. In my mind, the definition of addiction is, what makes a problem is a problem. People could be addicted to sex if it affects the relationship between the two people that are involved in the act. If you drink too much and you do things you normally wouldn't do that affects you in a negative way then that is a problem. The internet is also a tool that could be used for addiction. If someone spends so much time on the internet that it affects this persons job or social life (in person) then that person is addicted. Many critics say that the internet is ruining our sense of virtual reality and that it needs to be regulated. There is a game called Everquest that allows online readers to create their own fantasy world, complete with houses, palaces, people, and much more. My response to these critics and this game is that there are so many terrible things in this world that shape our views of life, how come the internet is such a terrible tool. Perception is the key here. What one thinks is a terrible thing might not be a terrible thing to another. I want to just say that I have no no problem with what an individual does as long as it dosen't cause a problem. Too much of anything can might cause a problem and you just need to be aware of what you are doing in your life.

2004-01-28T21:55:00.000-08:00

Communities? Or are we one big community?

The internet has made the world a small place as far as communicating and getting information. We can see pictures of anything we want with a few clicks of a button. This has made the word community hard to define. Many people feel that they are in a community with people on a chat line that share the same interests with them. With the internet you have unlimited communities to become involved with. Like I have said before, you have to take these relationships with a grain of salt as to their real identity, but for the most part you are engaging with these groups because they share the same interest not because they are male, female, ugly, or beautiful. I feel that every person on planet earth should be one big community under god, but I know this will never happen. Community is described as being gays, lesbians, Christians, Jews, Muslims, your immediate family, your neighborhood, and the list goes on. So called communities, create wars, dilemas, controversy, and happines. With the internet we are able to find communities of people that share the same beliefs therefore strengthening or rather reinforcing that there are people out there who feel the same way you do. I believe that this is a good and bad thing. It is good because it creates communication worldwide but the bad is that it effects democracy. Democracy is supposed to be a forum to express ideas and opinions openly with the hope that the best idea will come out of it. With the internet these communities that come together with the same morals and ideas and that prevents other peoples opinion on the subject. This creates narrow mindedness and that can't help solving issuse that many people have. The Taliban is a great example of this. Many of the terrorists come together over the internet and talk about how Western culture effects the world negatively. No one is allowed to explain that there are good and bad things about Western culture and if there were anyone that gave this opinion on there web site they would be excluded from the community because they don't share the same views. My advice is that we need more communities in the world that are open to discussion and different ideas. We need a global community that will work together not just narrow minded communities.

2004-01-28T21:31:00.000-08:00

Who Are you?

My name is Matt Tuell. I am 6 feet tall (with shoes on!) and I have brown hair, blue eyes, with light color skin. I came into this world almost 23 years ago and there is no one else on this planet like me! I am proud of who I am and have become. There are times I wonder what it would be like to be someone else but I don't ever try to act like another person. The internet has given people all over the world another way to hide themselves and pretend they are someone who they are not. If you enter a chat room with some one, you really have no idea who you are talking to. There are stories of women acting like men, men acting like women, old acting like young, and ugly acting like they are supermodels. People have acted like they are poor, or their sister is dying, and even threats have been made across country. I really can't comprehend why you would want to act like someone else. Are people ashamed of who they really are. God made you who you are and no one can take that away from you. How does it enlighten your day to pretend you are someone other then who you really are? It isn't reality. The internet is great for communication but do you really ALWAYS know who you're talking too? While on a chat room, my advice would be to take that conversation with a grain of salt. Don't get too attached to that playmate model you are chatting with because it could really be a man.

These are just my thought to all you chat roomers, I don't want to offend any one.

Thanks, Matt

2004-01-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

NETWORKING AND GLOBALIZATION ARE GREAT FORHUMANITY!

Does this offend anyone? It offends me. The United States makes foreign workers work in terrible conditions with little regulations. Third world countries are trying desperatly to get the U.S. to "throw them a bone" so to speak. These countries make themselves as attractive as possible to the U.S. by offering to accept lower wages, insane overtime hours, and whatever terrible working conditions. This is Globalization at it's finest! These third world countries feel like they have to get involved in the Capitalism that Other high ranking countries are involved in. If they don't act now they will feel left out. The only way to get into capitalism is by entering at a lower level and for the most part be stuck in the never ending cycle of poverty. Alot of critics will use the "Survival of the fittest rebuttle", and to some extent they are right, but why does the U.S. Have to crush their opponent? They could become wealthy but at the same time show some decency. Give Workers a little more money, allow them to invest in their community, let them get clean drinking water, a litte more food for their family. Make some regulations of working conditions. Let the workers "ACTUALLY" get a break. Don't break their backs overworking them. AMERICA, Wake Up!!! Help out your brothers and sisters. I am a man of god and morals, and I believe that top countries in capitalism need to at least make some universal regulations to help third world countries out. Let's call them "NORMS FOR HUMANITY". Capitalism is the main drawback I see in Globalization and networking. If we can some how help out these third world countries and make it safe for them then I wiil be all for Globalization and networking but untill that day comes I will be a cynic of it. I do acknowledge that technology has improved for the world with net working but I feel alot of this networking was made to help out capitalism. I am all for new technology and faster communication but the only people that are communicating with this technology are the ones that oppress third world countries. I may sound redundant but I just want people to help other people out at least a little more often. We are only on this earth for a limited time and people get greedy and will do what ever they can to aquire "THINGS" of wealth. One final question, Can you take these things with you when you die? NO YOU CAN'T. Use your time on this earth to help people in need.
Thanks for your time.