Goodbye Privacy

Imagine you sit in a coffee shop and then you see this amazing guy. What do you do? Check Facebook if you find him and some information about him? Or do you even just use a simple app and write something on his own Facebook page, so he might notice you? This is possible if you use an open WiFi hotspot like the one in the coffee shop for surfing the internet. You only need a special app on your phone and then you can post something on someone else's site in her name. You can also read her emails or fill her shopping cart while she's shopping on Amazon.

We wanna look closely, but what do we expect to see?
pic by Beverly & Pack

The development is vast. But as good as technology is right now, there are also many risks. Just last week, while I was watching Modern Family, I thought of that again. They wanted to sell a house to a special customer and because no other guy was interested, they used all kinda social media sites to figure out what he likes and what not, that they can decorate the house just the way he wants it. But at the end, Cameron talks about the dog door they made, and he said that it would be perfect for his dog Otis. So that confused the guy: total strangers know that he has a dog named Otis.

How would you feel in such a situation? Someone you never saw and met before knows everything about you. That's the price a celebrity has to pay. She is followed everywhere she goes, and then there are pics of her on the internet, pics she's not even aware of were taken and published. And people come to her, kissing and hugging her, talking like they would know her for years. Some "fans" follow their stars to get closer to them, they wanna know everything. But imagine someone follows you and no matter where you go, you can't be sure who's watching you. Scary, isn't it?

Some people post everything on Facebook. Last week I talked to a friend that maybe in 50 years our grandchildren can read what we did these days. Like my grandchild will come to me, say: Granny, 50 years ago, you were in that coffee shop with this handsome man, remember? And I will just look at my sweetie kid, wondering if I ever told her about it. My friend said till then Facebook won't exist anymore, but I said that all the information won't be lost, they will still be on the internet, because what once was there, will never be deleted.

But why is it important to many guys to tell everyone every little detail like where they are? They write now I'm with Max and Milly at McDonald's, two hours later, the three are at Burger King, then Starbucks, or whereever, and some guys even post when they do their business in the bathroom. 50 years later his grandchild might be asking: were you successful? and he will probably just be confused.

is the next step that we all have a QR code and people can come with their phones, scan your code and know everything about you?
pic by Richard Cabrera

When last year college started and I added a few of my fellow students on Facebook, one was pretty scared when I knew her middle name and birthday. She was shocked, asked me how I know these things, coz it was our first week at college and she didn't tell me, and then I said it's on your Facebook page. So many guys are not aware that they put all these information about themselves on the internet. We become more and more like a glass. It scares us that total strangers know everything about us, but we make this possible. That's why I don't put too private things on the internet and why I don't use open WiFi hotspots. I don't want people to fill my Amazon cart with 5 TV sets, and then when I place my order I bought not only a book and a game, but also these 5 TV sets.

Now you say okay it's kinda scary when people know stuff about me, but I like to know stuff about new people, to figure out if I can like him or not. So when I meet someone I google him and try to figure out what he is like, to know the people he spend time with, and so on. Then I can decide if I really wanna know him in real life or not. It's just to make sure that he's not dangerous or something. But some years ago this wasn't possible, and isn't it better to get in touch with the real person and not her virtual accounts? I love to get in touch with people using the internet, but I still prefer to meet people in real life, that's how you really get to know someone.

Back in the coffee shop this man walks to me, tells me stuff about my family, knows my brother's name, where I live, knows my friends, where I love to be, what I love to watch and what music I like. It's like he knows everything about me, though I never met him before. No, you don't have to be a star anymore to be in such a situation. Luckily this didn't really happen to me, but thinking about it makes me shiver.

The amazing Garfunkel & Oates have a song called Google, singing about using the internet to find out as much as possible about someone:

Do you use Google to find out something about a person you just met? What information do you share on social media sites?

The android next door

'I feel that I feel, but compared to how deeply humans feel, it seems very superficial to me and that makes me sad sometimes.'

Bina48

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2175721/Rise-Machines-Meet-Bina48-robot-tell-jokes-recite-poetry-mimics-mankind-startling-ease.html#ixzz271JbgZOh

Yesterday I saw a TV contribution about Bina48. Have you already heard of her? She is an android, but decides on her own what she says and she looks and acts mostly like a real human being. Bina is a copy of a real existing woman, you can talk to her by speaking into a microphone, and you get a response that fits to your question. She just 'thinks' and choose what to say. She choose the words real humans put into her head, but she finds what's suitable and then she talks and talks and talks and doesn't like to stop. Real woman like, isn't it?

Bruce Duncan works with her for two years now, and 'she' still surprises him. He is sure that one day everyone can have such a human looking robot, which is therefore called humanoid. Currently she costs about $ 125,000. A lot of money, and it's really a great thing that robots become more and more human. But in the other hand, wouldn't it be strange when you, one day, maybe in about 50 years, can't be sure if it's an robot you are talking to, or an actual person?

Imagine you live next door with an android. You greet it, you see it as a 'normal' person. Maybe one day everyone has a robot to do everything for them - but what will be left for us? Do we sit in a chair and get served all the time? Of course this sounds great, and for sure the humanoid robots are a brilliant invention and shows that the technical knowledge developed very well in the past few years, but it wouldn't it be boring for us one day if the robots will do all our jobs? Or will we then have other things to do? Will we start building more robots, than bringing actual babies to life?

I don't wanna complain, as I said I love the robot, and I also love the amazing work of these brilliant minds like Mr Duncan's, but I'm just thinking. I mean, it can be scared in some way, right? And imagine someone can create an android who looks exactly like you. It's great that if your family lives far away and then you can have a copy from your parents all the time with you and the best thing is they can't die, but wouldn't it be also strange to know that another you is out there somewhere? And that some guys who love all that one actor or singer, all want to have such a robot and then the film industry don't know anymore who of them is the real actor?

The Daily Mail (UK) wrote this great article about Bina48. You can read it here.

Or watch that video, of 'that guy with the robot', Bruce Duncan, who presented Bina48 to the TEDxHarlem audience. It's really impressive:

Nothing’s more adorable than kids

Kids are really cute. They have such an imagination, simple incredible. When my aunt called me a few days ago and told me about her foster daughter Isa, I didn’t just had a lil smile on my face. My aunt told me that she was driving on the interstate with her hubby and the kids as the radio announcer talked something about a ghost driver. Isa heard that and asked: since when can ghosts drive cars? In that moment my aunt told me this, I felt like I needed to hug Isa for that. Have I also been so cute at that age?

Her brother Max is at least as cute as Isa. He is one of those 7-year old boys who can’t imagine playing with something non-technological. The last time he visited me, he asked me to use my smartphone, my computer, or my Nintendo DS. We had a conversation like this:

Me: You won’t like the games I have. 

Max: I don’t think so. I like them. 

Me: But you don’t know which games I have. 

Max: I don’t mind. I’ll like them anyway. 

Me: What makes you so sure about that? 

Max: I can play my games all the time, I wanna play something else.

I tried to convince him to play hide and seek or something like that with his sister, but he didn’t want to. Honestly I am not such a fan of giving such young guys already a computer or smartphone. A DS okay, but not all the time. When I remember back when I was a child, which is only about 15 years ago, I only had a simple Game boy, and that’s it. But I don’t wanna complain, because I really loved my dolls the most, and spent the most time with them and meeting my bestie.

But why I think that Max is at least as cute as his sister, is because of all these gadgets. This lets him think differently about things. We can’t think about them like that, because we know how life was like without it. When he once asked me a question, with which I finish this blog entry, I was totally confused. This shows how much the technology is already in the mind of kids. They take it for granted, it’s normal and they can’t imagine life without it. I couldn’t have thought about such a question. And even though it’s a bit sad, it’s also funny and creative.

When you had no computer, how have you used the internet?