To Re-Post or Not to Re-Post?

Thank you for sharing this again, Josh.

I think it is important to expose the new students to this each semester, so no problem with the reposting.

I always enjoy seeing their reactions. Sometimes it seems to have a sot of Hitchcock-esque effect on them.

Wow. I guess you could say that caught me a little off guard. However, it does not completely surprise me. Ok, maybe the fact that the rumor is this was made in the year 2014 surprised me, but I can imagine the world pretty much be taken over by the internet. I say this because of how internet-prone we are now, in 2005. People can do anything and everything online, from paying bills to buying a wedding dress. The power of computers/internet is definitely beyond what I can fathom, or would want to for that matter.
I found an article on identity theft written by Peter Katel that describes how identity theft is a problem, affecting nearly 10 million consumers annually. The article also discusses what congress can do to reduce these numbers. However, the main fear is that the way congress is thinking to stop identity theft would ultimately bring down the economy. And we all know we don’t need that. So, what can be done to stop EPIC and all the other types of theft that happen on the internet? I hope someone thinks of something fast.

Well, I can’t say that I’m surprised by these two videos. I have to admit that I find myself doing more and more things online these days. I can see the Internet being a big part of the world within the next few years. However, I don’t think it will totally take over people’s lives. There have been plenty of website ideas that have failed in the past and that will continue to fail, so I don’t think people are going to rely solely on the Internet.

The merging of two huge sites such as Amazon.com and Google.com would be a giant step in the next few years. I’ve read about sites that interact together but I’ve never heard or seen a site that has merged with another. That was probably the biggest shock to me when I watched the video. I’m not sure how people will view it. Some may think it a step in the right direction, while others may feel that the Internet has gone to far.

Eventually, I do think that the Internet will take over people’s lives, but I’m not sure if I can see it happening as soon as 2014. That just seems a little scary to me.

Very interesting, however, I believe that the internet has taken over all or most of our lives already today. These two videos demonstrate possibly what the future holds for us. If you stop to think about it, a majority of the tasks and everyday things you do are related to the internet. For example, less and less people are reading the newspaper and they are turning to certain news sources on the internet.

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check my e-mail. Most of the courses we take in college would not exist if there was not the internet. I guess my point is that I can see this happening very soon. I agree with Sara that this is a scary thing, but I believe the internet has already taken over, we just haven’t fully recognized it yet.

We, as a society do not even have to walk outside or go to the store to buy groceries anymore. The scariest aspect of the video I found was the fact that people will be able to point out exactly where you live by using the internet or ipods. The privacy of your home life will be in jeopardy. At the same time though, some of the “futuristic” items seemed intriguing, such as showing your friends that it is a sunny day outside, and not to go in this direction because there is a accident.

Above all, I believe that the internet has gone too far. It may not be too long before everyone’s own life and identity will be threatened, so I hope for everyone’s sake that something is done to limit these problems.

Wow! That was not at all what i was expecting. The video definitely caught me offgaurd. But like everyone has said, the internet is taking over our lives. We are constantly surfing the web. We can buy anything. We actually could never leave our houses again because of all the products available on the web.

The video did in fact scare me. Like Josh said, our identity and own life is threatened. I know already that you can type in your home phone number at Google.com and it will give you directions to your house. That scares me, knowing there are many criminals in our world today. The internet i think has gotten out of control. I hope that something is done to protect ourselves and others before the internet takes over our lives even more.

To end, it would be very interesting to see if all the merging and lawsuits that were said in the video come true.

Well, I can’t say I’m completely surprised. I certainly thought the hypothetical future that the presentations went into was disturbing. And their use of music, voice and ghost-like imaging was very eerie. Really helped to drive the idea home.

It’s scary to think of the massive amount of information that’s out there about each one of us. I would question the security of the entire internet and pose the question, isn’t it possible that there is a record of your every email message, online transaction, personality quiz, bank statement, EVERYTHING … on some server somewhere? Even if it was all randomly scattered amongst several locations, that still worries me. So of course, the idea of huge organizations (like Amazon and Google) teaming up is NOT appealing to me. That much information and — as a result — POWER under one command could have the potential to be very destructive.

On another note, I’m not sure I’d like the idea of purchase suggestions and news coverage personally tailored to preferences indicated by previous behaviors. That would somewhat limit you as an individual. It would very effectively construct a little bubble around you — making you less likely to be exposed to the world outside your “norm.” I think that’s dangerous. I understand personalized features like this are created in the spirit of efficiency and “giving the customer what they want,” but I don’t think external awareness should be sacrificed for this perk of advancing technology.

I found this view of the future of the Internet to be very interesting and very believable. I don’t know if it was the narrator’s voice, the music, or the eerie look into the future that made me uncomfortable, but I definitely had chills throughout both videos.

I think that we as consumers constantly seek new technology and thrive on technology that makes our lives easier. However, the ability of a technological source to know enough about a consumer personally, to be able to predict what they will consume is at the very least EXTREMELY unnerving. I, along with other’s who have posted, question whether the Internet and it’s giants such as Amazon and Google, are turning helpful media into an omnipotent monster.

I am certainly a supporter of advances in technology such as GPS tracking systems and of course the Internet, but I do believe these media advances should have boundaries that should be identified and policed so consumers won’t feel vulnerable.

I think the recent news coverage of potential identify theft victims involving many MasterCard holders is just the beginning of this growing problem resulting from the popularity of the various media such as the Internet.

The most important thing that should be done at this point is that legislation MUST be passed NOW to prevent misuse and to further protect all people and keep positive advances from turning into negative problems.

I was fully expecting one of those white-faced, screaming ghosts to pop into the screen while watching this. I had to watch out of the corner of my eye because I was so certain this would happen at any minute. Scary stuff!

This flash video is amazingly intruiging and deeply thought-provoking. The creators’ genius in creating something so disturbing, yet so real and personal to the entire world is astonishing. However, in contrast to previous comments, I believe that the predictions and assumptions made in this piece are inevitable. The internet/technology isn’t currently taking over the world, it HAS taken over the world. I don’t think we’re fully aware of how much it already controls everything. Like Erin said, basically everything is computerized and there are records of all sorts of things saved on the Internet. Everything anyone has or does is recorded, can be tracked and can be used against you or to your advantage, now, or in the future of 2014. But maybe the total domination of the Internet isn’t such a bad thing…its certainly an easier (lazier) way of life.

Scary? Yes. Inevitable? Most definitely. Preventable? Probably not.

The most shocking part of the EPIC video was the fact that computers would be allowed to think for us. By allowing fact stripping, we take the effort and passion out of the news. One of the greatest aspects of multiple news sources, print news, etc… is that we each interpret the facts in our own way. By condensing facts, we lose our public debate. I hope we’re never this lazy!

Big Brother is something that my mother worries about, a big factor in her generation. She isn’t a hippie, but I didn’t have a Social Security Number until kindergarten because she hated the idea of sharing me with the government. Allowing computers to have large databases of our personal preferences and vital information will open the door to scammers and identity theft.

The benefits of a program like this sound great. We would have our favorite type of news selected from the web, lying right there on our laptops. We would have emails telling us that our favorite products are on sale, or new products are available that we might like.
It sounds like a plot intro for a Sci-Fi movie about the intelligent computer taking over the world. A bad Terminator sequel in the making.

The sad thing is that the facts “reported” by EPIC can possibly happen. As a people, we can be led to creative slaughter like little lambs by the promise of fast bandwidth and the words USER FRIENDLY.

I agree with ErinM, the scariest part of EPIC is the idea that computers will be thinking for us. Has anyone seen iRobot starring Will Smith? I think iRobot is the name of the movie, where the computer controlled robots try to take over the world. Yes, this is far-fetched but I still think the whole concept is a little unnerving.

It was interesting to see the history of the entire system evolve. I didn’t know that the World Wide Web has been around since 1989. Now, 16 years later I feel pretty behind. According to EPIC, we only have 9 years until computers control everything.

For an assignment in our PR writing class this week, we wrote a press release about where we will be in 20 years. Wishfully thinking, I wrote about the A-list clientele that I would be representing. If EPIC happens, computers will be handling these clients. What about the millions of jobs that computers will be doing instead of people? What will this do for the economy?

EPIC is sure to happen, but we all need a plan for when it does. I am all for change and innovation, but not at the expense of mankind. This is certainly not a bridge we want to cross when we get there.

I was not expecting this movie to have an affect on me the way it did. It has made me think about the way the world works today, and how it will possibly run in the future. I use the Internet everyday for many things, but I’m not totally dependent on it. I agree that computers and the Internet already control our lives, but are we ready for total domination?

The world definitely needs to be prepared for the events described in EPIC. It is inevitable, believable and basically already beginning to take place. A merge between Google and Amazon will be huge, as well as computers knowing consumers every want and need. It sounds great at first, but I don’t want my entire personal life accessible to the entire world.

I don’t believe the public can do anything to control what the Internet will do in the next few years. Hopefully, the security aspect of the new Internet era will not be as scary at the video implied it will be. The video is there to make us think, show us what the Internet is doing to society and what it can do in the future. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Well, after watching this a second time it still seems just as interesting and thought provoking as it did the first. I think that this is a very sharp and insightful portrait of what the future could be like. The authors knew what they were talking about and logically projected a fantastic future. And right now, anyone who is a part of something like the facebook has already put alot of info about themselves out there and there are people at companies that are looking at that kind of stuff and finding out about each one of us. This has been going on for years.

However, we do have the ability to stop something like this, ironically enough using what will also feed this monster system. As the world does turn more and more toward a interactive media system, that system will depend on everyone to contribute to the that system. Essentially each one of us will be making news. So you take that oportunity and you make news about the very thing that is carrying the news. So you have two options…one, is simply don’t contribute, noble, but probably not going to have an impact. Or you use your contibutions to create negative news about the system. You see if enough people fight this, then it won’t happen.

All of this isn’t a forgone conclusion. What this thing didn’t talk about was how many hoops it has to go through. Consider for example privacy laws…you are talking about a computer that will inspect every thing you send or type on the internet…these computers will know some pretty intimate details about you. I can think of quite a few members of congress that aren’t going to like this at all. And if you have millions of people creating negative news, then congress is going to listen pretty closely to what is being said. And this really wouldn’t trigger the free speech activists who value the internet so much and apose legislation regulating it, because congress can simply go after googlezon as an individual company…since according to EPIC, it will be running everything anyway…would that make it monopoly?

As everyone has already commented, this look at the future of a world run by computers seems inevitable and definitely unappealing. However, even thought both videos did make us think about “big brother” and a lost identity as people, other ideas began to float in my head.

Why did the creators make EPIC II occur only one year after epic? It would have taken more time and creativity, but I think if EPIC II had perhaps occurred in 2025, that would have become more interesting. There could have been two scenarios: one that continued with computers becoming more engrained into our lives or one that had the computer world crashing and technology slipping as some sort of catastrophe (think Y2K hysteria) hits.

One of my favorite books is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. When he wrote about the future, it was all dreams and imagination. Reading it in the 21st century makes one wonder if he had some sort of insight, since so many of his imagined inventions are now a part of our daily lives. Will EPIC be the same type of thing and in 10 short years, computers run everything? It will be exhilarating to see what happens.

Unlike some of the above comments, I think that we have some say in how much control we allow computers to have. We must silently give up our privacy for it to be taken away.

The EPIC scares and interests me all at the same time. It scares me to think that the world could be totally controlled by technology and the internet. Our lives are already becoming more and more revolved around our computers, cell phones and PDAs. The question is: are we becoming to reliant on these technologies? Or are these technology improvements a good thing?

I am scared that people are going to become too dependent on these advances and forget about the other things in the world that make them happy. An example would be actually spending time with your family instead of just talking to them on a web cam. How can we remind ourselves where to draw the line?

The other scary problem is the security of technology. We already see problems with hackers and identity theft. Would a life style that focused on technology and the internet be safe?

The EPIC interests me because I am intrigued by how my family and I will live in the future. Yes, technology has its faults but it is also amusing and very helpful. Think of all the things we have already; iPod, Google, cell phones, PDAs and the internet itself is a big deal. I can’t imagine how I survived without the internet and my cell phone. So new technology advances could be just as exciting and helpful as the technology we already have now.

I was one of the last ones to view this video (seeing as how my computer isn’t up with the technology like it should be and the video wasn’t nearly as compelling without sound). I had heard it was creepy, but I didn’t realize how eerie it really would be. Everything the video shows could actually happen.

Think about 9 years ago and how much technology has grown since then. We can do nearly everything through the Internet: shop, communicate, find information on ANYTHING, etc. Natalie raises an interesting question, are we relying too much on technology? I hardly know anyone who doesn’t have things such as a computer or a cell phone including my 14-year-old brother, so it seems that as technology advances it will be less strange to have the Internet control our lives because we will become dependent on it.

It seems inevitable that the Internet will continue to grow because people are always looking for ways to make things easier. The video suggested that computers will think for us and make decisions for us. Is this going too far? It may be easier, but it is just going to make us lazier and less dependent on our own minds than we already are.

Who knows if one day we will have robot servants and flying cars, but I bet 20 years ago no one really thought computers would be as capable of doing all that that they are able to do now. 2015 doesn’t seem like that far away, but the way technology is growing, a million things can happen between now and then. Is EPIC II a prediction of what is to come? I guess we just have to wait and see.

Marcomm blog is a great site. I was in Robert’s class last year and we blogged some but not a lot. I’m in his higher level class this year and I’ve come across many more posts that I did not get to see last year. Obviously, people have been posting new comments, however, I’ve read some of the old ones and was able to pick up on things I missed. I’d never heard blogs before Robert’s class last year and now I feel like I’m much more aware of what they are and how they affect people’s and business’s lives.

I saw EPIC last year in Robert’s class and it was very interesting. A little spooky and hard to understand but interesting. We watched the second EPIC in class this week and it was a little easier to understand. The graphics were still spooky and the technology still a little over my head but I could follow it. I also saw how what they were predicting was already coming true. The future is very exciting. Marketing and communications will be so customized and personalized that the companies will pretty much do my shopping for me without me even giving them a list.

Marcomm blog continues to list postings of prominent public relations practitioners that pertain to things we, as students, are interested in. I love getting on this blog and reading the new, and old, posts and learning more about the “blogosphere”.

Ah, EPIC…I remember it well.

I saw it spring semester of last year when you first posted it. And, being ever so interested byt the first one, I definately had to watch the second.

It’s pretty interesting to note that some of the things that they added to the second one (such as podcasting) are things that I am currently tacking in my honors thesis. Right now I am attempting to prove that online communications do have a place in PR, but EPIC makes me see the limitations to that point. Yes, online communications, such as blogging, can be used as effective PR tools, but not when your target publics are customizing their own online content. How do you get the word out on something when everyone gets to choose whether or not they want to hear about it? Wouldn’t such highly customized content make introducing new ideas virtually impossible?

And a big wow on that last part. I do not look forward to the day when I look to my computer to tell me if it is a nice day outside.