Smallish Post 8: Last One!

How do faith, hope, and charity relate to ethics? Without these three values, ethics becomes nothing more than a code of conduct or a set of behavioral guidelines. Were the Pharisees ethical? That depends on your definition—they surely adhered strictly to every nuance of the law. And yet, the Savior condemned them. Christ admonished, "Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." No set of laws or guidelines can fully enumerate ethical behavior, for it is inconceivable to define correct action for every possible situation. It is only by internalizing our faith and developing hope and charity that we become truly ethical people, who will choose what is right in all situations we face.

Smallish Post 6: How did we ever, ever survive?

I remember the time my family recorded a session of General Conference over our videotape of a popular John Grisham movie; we later noticed that the label read: "Sunday Conference, A Time to Kill." Now, the thought of recording General Conference on VHS is itself laughable. I have difficulty imagining life without the ability to look up videos and transcripts of Conference talks at the click of a mouse, and I don't know what I would have done when I lost my scriptures for 2 weeks if they weren't published online at LDS.org. As long as I have been speaking in sacrament meeting, I have found materials on the Church's website—to me, it is incomprehensible that people prepared talks and lessons without this resource. Is there any wonder that, without the ability to find and verify information on the Internet, erroneous quotations and false doctrines spread rampantly in earlier days of the Church? Of course, these types of rumors still exist (and often travel via the World Wide Web), but the ability to locate original sources and reliable information has helped alleviate the problem. Indeed, today in the Church we find ourselves heavily dependent on technology for a wide array of purposes.

Smallish Post 5:

What attributes constitute a good software developer? Some might suggest that skills such as abstract problem solving or the ability to debug effectively make a programmer great, and these certainly are important attributes. This article by Eric Raymond, however, indicates that humility and flexibility are at least as valuable in software creation as any other competencies. Raymond stresses the importance of listening to user feedback and being willing to throw away or rewrite parts of programs. Both of these tasks require recognition of one's own imperfections and the strengths of others. People do not get far in life (or in any profession) by trying to solve all of their problems on their own—humans were meant to depend on one another. For some reason, this is especially difficult for many in the computer industry to understand, but until these types of programmers learn how to listen and adapt, their success will be limited.

Book-Inspired Post 2: The World is Flat

"Standards don't stop innovation, they just clear away a lot of extraneous stuff so you can focus on what really matters" (Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat, p87)

A major undercurrent in The World is Flat is the role standards play in innovation and the flattening of the world. Standards such as TCP/IP and HTTP make the World Wide Web possible by telling machines across the globe how to communicate with each other. JPEG formatting allows music and pictures to be transmitted anywhere, and PayPal accounts arrange a simple, uniform way for individuals to make purchases online. In short, standards provide to computers what languages give to human beings—a means of conveying information; just as two people cannot communicate if they speak different languages, two machines cannot talk to each other without some standard of communication. The theme of standardization is also witnessed in the creation and expansion of supply chains in the last decade. Wal-Mart's rigid structure and uniform methods for tracking absolutely everything may seem stringent at first, but they allow it to maintain lower prices than its competitors and thus contribute greatly to its success. Friedman also discusses the current trends towards outsourcing and offshoring, both of which require global standardizations of communication in order to function effectively. Clearly, standards enable our world to interact in the way it does today.

Standards are just as vital in other fields as they are in communication. Many amateur artists, writers, and musicians think they can be successful by following every whim that strikes their imagination. The truly gifted in these areas, however, have mastered the fundamentals and know how to work within the bounds of proper technique to produce something truly creative. Similarly, some software developers believe that following standard programming practices hinders inventiveness or efficiency, but, in reality, working under a set of guidelines leads to faster and cleaner code production. Even more important than standards for communication, writing, or programming, moral standards provide a framework within which individuals may experience the most growth and development. Although some consider ethics and values restricting, they (like the other standards we've discussed) are crucial to success in this life and should not be treated lightly.

Smallish Post 4: Arrrrgh, Pirates!

MP3's Are Not the Devil

There is a lot of debate surrounding copyright law and its enforcement. Trying to decide how much copying should be legal and, furthermore, figuring out how to prevent infringement (while still allowing individuals to copy their own music for legitimate purposes) are both difficult tasks. To be honest, I have no idea how these issues should be resolved—I'll leave that to the lawmakers. What I do know is my personal responsibility: to help create a society where illegal file sharing is looked down upon, not condoned by the public. This begins, of course, with my personal integrity in following all copyright laws and not trying to justify exceptions to them. If I encourage those around me to do the same, the attitude will spread. I think that most people are basically honest and will follow these laws if they can be brought to recognize the wrongness in not doing so. I, along with Card, believe that social pressures and personal integrity have a much greater capacity to uphold copyright law than any legal punishments or enforcements ever could. Therefore, the solution begins with me.

Current Event 4: The Age of Connectivity

Connecting Your Car, Socks, and Body to the Internet

The other day I had my roommate call my misplaced phone so I could find it. Afterwards, we expressed our shared desire to be able to dial our iPods and house keys when they, too, mysteriously disappear. According to this article, the days of missing items could soon be over forever. As microprocessor size continues to decrease, sensors are being embedded in more and more devices—an exciting but somewhat discomforting trend. I am reminded of a recent Daily Universe Police Beat in which a girl used satellite to track her missing phone . . . to the boot she was wearing at the time. Although it is ironic that someone had to send a signal to outer space and back to find an object in her shoe, it is a pretty amazing thing to contemplate. These days, sensors have a wide range of beneficial applications in fields from medicine to farming. There are, however, many privacy issues raised by this type of technology. If I can locate any of my things at any moment, there's a chance that somebody else can, too. Also, embedded cameras can be hidden almost anywhere, which is a pretty unnerving thought. All things considered, though, I believe that the benefits of this great connectivity will greatly outweigh any associated risks. Now excuse me while I go charge my socks.