More to Come With Moore's Law?

In 1965, Gordon E. Moore wrote a paper describing a phenomenon he noticed in the computer chip industry. He found that " since the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958, the number of transisters that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has increased exponentially, doubling approximately every two years" (Wikipedia). So far, this has been proved true. What does this mean for us? First off, it means that computer technology is ever-changing and "getting better". It means that a better, faster, stronger piece of technology will arrive and be very expensive, but we can safely bet that after a couple years it will reduce in price because by then the latest and greatest technology will already be on the market to replace it's predecessors. Even the not-so computer savvy have seen this in their lifetime - the iPod. It's surprising to look at the facts, here James R. Stoup has a great article and breakdown of the iPod generations and their price per GB. As it stands, we are paying roughly 7 dollars per GB as opposed to the 80 dollars when it first hit the market. 7 dollars! 

N.B. In my opinion, it is helpful toexplain Moore's Law very loosley using this example, but Moore's Law is not meant to explain anything but circuit transistors. 

Will Moore's law hold true indefinitely? In my opinion, probably not. Again, according to Wikipedia, Moore was interviewed in 2005 and noted that because the amount of transistors has increased SO rapidly we are approaching the atomic level here. That soon, each molecule will have it's own space. He also points out that since the atom is pretty much as small as we get, the stopping point for Moore's law is very much in sight.  Despite the grim outlook, some believe that new technology could be invented that would perpetuate Moore's Law into the future. Intel certainly hopes so. They definitely pride themselves on the fact that Gordon E. Moore is one of their co-founders. On their company website they boast, Moore's Law: Made real by Intel Innovation. They are looking to the future, and purpose that Moore's Law may someday be responsible for the implementation of cars with autopilot and real-time language translators. That would be cool, but we'll see... 

In the beginning...

As part of a class assignment I am making my blogging debut to address the following topics: (1) the relative merits of different blogging services and why I chose blogger.com (2) the phenomenon of blogging. So away we go...

Blogger comes in first while LJ and Wordpress tie closely for last place...
I'd like to tackle the first topic, which is actually two topics entwined. As I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each site it will be easy to point out why I chose Blogger.
Through the examination of three blogging websites (Blogger, LiveJournal, and Wordpress) I felt that my style was most compatable with blogger.com. While I am sure that each blogging site is designed to attract as many bloggers as possible (thus trying to offer enough diversity within their services to catch the attention of several "species" of bloggers) I think that the opposite turned out to be true...

As I looked at each website I thought about the kinds of features they had to offer and the overall "style" of each. They were very distinct from each other. LJ was very busy in my opinion. That is to say, there was a lot going on. They encourage their users to join and/or start different communities of bloggers. It seemed like a lot of work. There were also different tags for each blog. In fact, while I was previewing the site I was shown the latest updates in conversations from communities. For me, it was a turn off. I didn't want attachment to yet another website that gave me constant feedback from other users. It was a little too reminiscent of Facebook.com, the increasingly popular social and professional networking site that probably needs neither introduction nor explanation here. The point is, I hadn't even joined LJ and I was already feeling pressured to join a community, add this feature, and try not to get distracted by the half page of "pimp my profile" ads that was consuming my screen. I think that LJ is useful for people who want to actively participate in conversations and debates online, upload the latest "best week ever" from VH1, and find people with similar interests. Though it probably started as a true online journaling effort it has evolved to a social networking site. I could guess and say that the reason probably stems from the fact that with the explosive arrival of Myspace.com and Facebook, online journals needed a way to stay in the game.

Wordpress was interesting. I thought it was very hip and unique to be laid out like a newspaper. Something set up like that is probably very attractive to journalists and journalism students. I think the layout of the site added an element of sophistication to the process of blogging. It also carries with it the assumption that what is published to the site will be read by others. It was very cool. Unfortunately, it was also laden with categorized blogs and groups and what not. Now, Blogger has group blogging as well...and labels for posts. But if you'll note, group blogging is listed as an advanced feature way at the bottom of the features page as if it were merely an after thought. To me it looked as if Blogger was the only true online journaling/blogging site left. The other two had traveled a little too far down the social-networking path for my taste. To sum up what I was getting at before, LJ is perfect for highschool/college age students trying to stay in touch with friends and maybe get a little feedback about their writing, Wordpress is a more grown up version of LJ that is geared more toward writing about current events and engaging in online "conversations" with people about current events, and finally Blogger can be all of those things but has still maintained it's purity as a blogging site perfect for people who just need to log on and do a little writing....


In the wise words of Brad..."I'm so much cooler online"
On several occassions I have thought about the role of blogging websites and the subsequent positive and negative effects on human relationships. I think the main attraction for sites such as these are the feeling that you can be whoever you want to be (you choose your own blog name!) and you can write whatever you want to write. And unless you specifically give someone the link to your blog, the majority of people who read your blog don't even know you. For the otherwise shy person this might seem like a dream come true..the chance to express feelings without really having to own them. Unfortunately, that's also where the trouble begins. There are numerous stories of (mainly highschool) kids getting humiliated and generally devastated by something that is said about them online. In this circumstance, writers are friends who are subscribing to each others blogs and the posts become lunch table conversation topics. "Did you see what Sarah wrote about Leslie?" or "I can't believe he actually LIKED that movie...what a loser".

All of this sounds stupid...and it is. But that's high school. And high school was hard enough without the potentially hurtful blogs that can be written about a student. The main idea from this is that now with blogging websites people have the freedom to write down things that they may not have said out loud. And in cases where hurtful words are considered, it's cowardly. In a lot of ways I think it can be both healthy and unhealthy. I personally love to write...have notebooks stacked up of short stories or novellas I've started that never got anywhere. There are even times when I cannot sleep at night until I take out a notebook and write a few lines down. Weird...I know. But, I understand the cathartic process of writing. I wish that everyone could feel as whole as I do when I sit down and see my thoughts inked out on a page. It's amazing. With that in mind I think that blogging has provided that opportunity to a lot of people. Not everyone wants to use an actual notebook and a pen, and thanks to technological advances they don't have to. I get it. I'm glad for them. But there are extreme cases in which people live vicariously through their identity on the internet. In real life they may be somebody completely different than they are when they log into LJ or Blogger. I just think it's really sad. I think that the internet is here as a tool that provides a lot of modern benefits and conveniences. It should not, however, replace the natural human instinct of forming relationships and friendships with actual people. In my opinion, an internet pen pal or a AIM buddy is not a replacement for an actual friend who can hold your hand during a scary movie or pat you on the back for a job well done. It's unnatural.



And this the part where I've been writing for so long that I'm not even sure I've been making sense for the last four paragraphs. I never read over work before I hand it in or "post" it...which might sound reckless or dangerous (especially where papers are concerned) but in this case I feel like what I've written is what I felt I needed to say....and isn't that the point of blogging?