CB Big Idea 5.1 Beneficial and Harmful Effects Student Lesson

Presented by Team WRONG

General Idea

Technology will always move forward with each innovation. These innovations have both upsides and downsides, and both are important to acknowledge and understand. Technology is designed with a purpose in mind but always has unintended effects as it is impossible to predict every single way an innovation will be used, so we have a responsiblity as consumers to use technology for its intended function and for the good of others and as programmers to guide the technology’s function to benefit others and to be clear on its purpose. Here, we will explain some common technological innovations that have greatly shaped our world and their beneficial and harmful impacts.

UAVs and Drones

Benefits

Disadvantages

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artifical Intelligence is the ability of a computer or robot to perform tasks usually associated with human intelletual processes. Put simply, that means a computer with the ability to think and reason through problems (or at least have the semblance of reasoning). Today’s most famous AI models - such as GPT-3.5, DALL-E, or Bard - are all LLMs (large lanuage models). An LLM works by using deep learning to perform natural language processing tasks on huge datasets. This allows them to mimic human intelligence at high speeds, making AI incredibly useful yet also incredibly threatening to human society.

Benefits and Negatives

Because of AI’s immense capabilities, many worry the loss to human society will be greater than the gains it brings us.

Pros of Video Games as a Technological Advancement:

Cons of Video Games as a Technological Advancement:

It’s essential to note that the impact of video games can vary based on factors such as content, duration of play, and individual differences. Moderation and responsible use are key considerations for reaping the benefits of video games while minimizing potential drawbacks.

Social Media

Benefits

Overall, Social Media provides many benifits as it alows for people to connect all over the world and share information that can be used to provide enjoyment for a user or help someone educationally. It can help people build confidence and express themslevs and provide a way for people to promote their business or product to a wide audience.

Negatives

Overall, Social Media has plenty harmful effects that go with the good. People deal with privacy problems all the time and are concerned that their information may be stealed by a user or even by the app. Bullying is also very common as it is much easier online. People deal with depression and anxiety which may come from socia media. Lastly, Social Media is extremely addictive and it can mess with your overall dopamine levels. People get addicted to scrolling on Tiktok and it can take many hours of your day away.

Popcorn Hack

Automated Telephone Trees

Automated telephone trees is a system where it can communicate using fixed voice menus with the caller, who can then respond by pressing buttons on the phone or by verbally responding. The system takes and interprets this input as information and can reroute calls, play another response, log information, and more.

  • One common example we all know is customer service. We call some business or place and are greeted with an automatic message asking us what we need help with –> we press a button and the system takes that information and moves us to an actual person or another automated message.
  • An example of a phone tree is shown below:

Beneficial effects:

  • 1: Lowers the workload on employees. A call center like customer service gets a massive number of calls all the time, and it is incredibly inefficient and borderline impossible to have every single person be immediately transferred to a human working at the service center. Furthermore, the person who picks up the call may not be in the department or qualified to deal with the issue. Automated phone trees can prompt the caller for a response (such as what type of issue they are having) and sort the calls so they can be transferred to qualified professionals, and some can even give an automated message with the instructions to fix the problem. As a result, automated phone trees greatly alleviate the burden on employees.
  • 2: Greater reliability. An automated phone tree does not require manual use, and thus it can accept calls 24/7. While it may not connect the caller to a human, there will (most often) always be an option to leave a voicemail, so later someone will contact you back. This guarantees that every call will be received and read.

Harmful effects:

  • 1: Terrible at handling emergencies. Emergencies require instant attention and information relaying and automatic phone trees fundamentally require time, as it uses automatic messages, call queues, holds, transfers, and more until finally reaching a human. This creates many delays which can worsen the emergency.
  • 2: Customer dissatisfaction. The phone tree requires the caller to input information, and sometimes this can take a long time as they need to listen to the complete automated voice message, press 1 button, hear another message, press another button, and so on. This can annoy the caller and lead to them simply hanging up. Hold times can also sometimes be long and wait times are a big issue. Furthermore, if the phone tree is set up to have the caller verbally respond to a question, the phone tree might not be able to interpret their response, leading to further dissatisfaction. Lastly, the caller might need to repeat their situation multiple times over and over again and no one wants to do that as it is a waste of time.

Homework

For each of the following technologies, please list 2 beneficial and 2 harmful effects and briefly explain.

  • Online shopping: Benefits such as

And harmful effects such as:

Harmful effects:

Below are examples of a technological innovation and one impact. Classify them as beneficial or harmful and explain. Remember that effects are subjective and can be seen as beneficial or harmful depending on the purpose. There is no single “right” answer, so this is graded based on how clear your explanation is.

I believe this is a beneficial effect because quantum computing has the potential to solve problems that may be difficult for the lower computing power of a regular computer. With stronger advancements in computing, scientific research becomes more of a possiblility and could become even more advanced. It could revolutionize fields that aren’t related to computer science such as chemistry or drug discovery. It could help companies do data analysis and finance.

The creation of the internet is beneficial because it was able to connect computers together all across the globe. It made the methods for people to obtain information revolutionarily quick, and also revolutionized communication / social interactions. These technological advancements has posibilites for economic growth and advancements in human society.

Consider this hypothetical scenario. 15 years from now, Team WRONG is planning to launch a new virtual reality system to be streamline gaming and make the experience more immersive. The team has planned for the beneficial effects of attracting more people into gaming and helping people relieve their stress, and for the harmful effects of making the addiction issue worse.

  • What is one potential unintended effect and why can it lead to it? Is this effect beneficial or harmful and why?

In this hypothetical scenario, a potential unintended effect could be a decrease in social interaction in non digital space. The whole purpose of virtual reality is to be immersive, and given that digital environments are easy to modify, virtual reality can seem more purposeful than real life. People might spend extended periods in virtual reality as being disconnected with physical interactions becomes the new normal.

This is a harmful effect as humans are social creatures; however, through virtual reality those interactions are quite literally being simulated.