EOTO: Citizen Journalism

 Citizen journalism is a fairly simple idea which describes something we already do and have done for thousands of years: rely on word-of-mouth information. Now, for most of human history, this has been a terrible idea, because as a facet of our physical existence we cannot find and consume enough information to have a decent idea of what is going on around us at any given time. The internet has changed that. Smartphones, ones which in the modern day are all equipped with high definition cameras, enable information to pour onto an open forum endlessly and easily. 

So much information being uploaded makes it again impossible to see everything out there because of our own limitations, but therein lies the solution. We, as people, know some information is inherently more useful or interesting. Social media algorithms, while nowadays more convoluted with user-specific targeting, operate at their core on the Marketplace of Ideas. In general, posts starting off are only shown to a few people, but if those people engage with the post enough it will be shown to more people, and so forth. The more valuable a post is, i.e. how interesting or useful people find it to be, the more engaged they would be. In principle, the system operates well to disseminate information, and we are just now entering a period in time in world history where it is becoming useful.

Many events in recent world history have benefitted from the knowledge of citizen journalism. 9/11, the Arab Spring, and the current Russia-Ukraine conflicts come into mind when discussing the topic. The accounts of people on the ground can be useful, informative, and heartbreaking. People recording themselves becoming victims of war crimes, troop movements of enemy forces, and vital wartime information for civilians are being disseminated to the peoples of countries at a pace never seen before.

For that, I believe social media to be of a general good to society, but to our use of it when we are divided I detest. Citizen journalism is a bright spot in humanity, a means for the truth to be sought out in a world of disinformation. 

Privacy

 Privacy is a topic which comes up frequently in the modern discussion of social media and the digital age. We are in a time where we no longer are the main target for products online; we are the targets. Data collection and analyzation are a major industry now, raking in billions of dollars to pick apart every aspect of our digital lives. This collection of information on a massive scale is unprecedented in what it means for society as a whole.

In the recent movie Don't Look Up! which is available on Netflix, (Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet!) Peter Isherwell, who is a mash-up between Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates, and various tech billionaires, says to DiCaprio "Our algorithms can even predict how you’ll die with up to 96% accuracy. I looked you up after we first met. Your death was so unremarkable and boring... I can’t even remember what it said. Apart from one thing. You’re going to die alone." (Ouch!) We will soon reach a future where the data collected on us will be able to tell anyone with the money to buy it our most intimate secrets. Some say the phone knows us better than we know ourselves. If that is true, then what does that say about this rapid monetization of our usage habits?

Nothing good. Already it can be debated recent elections have been influenced by that fact. It would be naïve to think otherwise. With the billions of dollars spent on political campaigns, a scenario a-la House of Cards is definitely not out of the question, where the NSA's data-pool on American citizens could be utilized by an incumbent President to help sway the election in their favor. None of this is good news for democracy, and it is up to the people to fight for their own privacy, even if they can't see the direct effects of loss. We are screwed. 

EOTO: The Typewriter

The typewriter is a machine that today is antiquated, but at it's time was obviously revolutionary. In the same way that personal computers put what once filled an entire room onto the table, or now the palm of your hand, the typewriter put a printing press in the hands of anyone who could read. With it's invention in 1867 coinciding around the same period where education became mandatory, millions of people could now create high quality documents and paperwork.

The original 1873 Sholes and Glidden Typewriter

This revolutionized business, as instead of having to use slow, labor intensive printing presses or professional drafters, professional documents could be drafted by women with a formal education, who in turn received well paying jobs for their work. The typewriter changed the world quickly, and the typewriter changed along with it. In less than a year after the first production typewriter model was released, it was immediately improved by the work of Thomas Edison, who used his knowledge of electricity to invent the first electric typewriter. Subsequent models made improvements in usability, adding additional functions to make the process more streamlined.   

The typewriter revolutionized the print world, and it's effect can still be seen today. The QWERTY keyboard found on most English speaking country's computer keyboards today came from Christopher Latham Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter in 1867, had the QWERTY layout we are all familiar with. The typewriter brought improvements to business, the labor market, women's rights, and it's effects will continue to resonate throughout time.

Anti-War: Why we don't hear the other side

War is hell. We as a society know this, acknowledge that war is an ugly, messy affair. We know the effects war has on soldiers, terms such as "shell-shock", "combat fatigue", "soldier's heart" and "war neurosis" are all terms used to describe throughout time the brutal results of war on soldiers, not to mention regular people whose lives are destroyed because of it. 

But war makes money. After WWII, the United States was in a unique position, being one of the only belligerents in WWII who came out the other side better for it. Using this position, the United States asserted its authority now as "leader of the free world" Since then, the United States has engaged in numerous lesser conflicts for various reasons

Money, oil, ideas, threats, attacks, all pretexts for various wars over time. Throughout the cold war, the United States has continued to assert its authority and policed the world. As the U.S. is in such a position, for them to be not in conflict presents a significant security risk. The United States military is so strong in part because of their immense budget, but mainly because of the well trained, battle hardened troops the budget funds. 

The wars the United States has taken place in since WWII could almost be called training missions, to keep the troops well regimented for the main threat, the USSR, and now Russia/China. And it works. In 2018, the New York Times wrote about an engagement between around 500 Syrian soldiers, including trained Russian mercenaries and 40 U.S. soldiers in Syria. Reports listed around 200-300 Syrian/Russian deaths, with 0 injuries or deaths reported from the United States. Battle hardened and tested soldiers do better than those fresh out of basic training. 

Syrian troops receiving treatment at hospital after aforementioned engagement 

So with the immense wealth the defense industry has at it's disposal, and it's clear objective to have well trained troops, it makes sense that the defense industry will use some of that wealth to support pro-war sentiments, and attempt to quiet anti-war ones. It is up to us, the people, to recognize the situation, and take measures separate from what is most easily accessible, and attempt to gain insight into other perspectives to have a more well-rounded understanding of what goes on day to day.

EOTO Blog: The Mail

 Ever since the invention of writing, it naturally follows that people have been paid to transport documents from one place to another. Writing is meant to be spread, and to do that required logistics. Men, horses, roads to ride on, accurate directions, safe places to stop along journeys, and much else. To accommodate this, numerous governments in numerous places in the world, such as Mongolia, Persia, India, Rome, and a handful of other places developed postal systems for government and military post. 

For most of history, if you wanted to send a letter somewhere, you had to hire someone to deliver the letter, whether that be by horse, wagon, boat, or foot. This costed money. Couriers and cargo would often go missing or get lost, and there was often little recourse for those affected. So, when Enlightenment ideas came around, many nations when reconstructing created postal services accessible to common people.

Mail in the United States

The United States was one such country. The Crown had a postal network of its own in the colonies for a substantial period of time, even headed by none other than Benjamin Franklin at one point. So when the Founding Fathers set out to create there own Government, they decided a postal service was explicitly necessary, even going as far to establish it directly in the Constitution, Article 1 Section 8, otherwise known as the Postal Clause. 

For much of early America's history, the postal service was the main way Congress could influence the public on what they should and shouldn't read. So naturally, it became a hotbed of first amendment issues. For example, Northern Abolitionists were sending pamphlets promoting the cause to the South, and Congress debated blocking their delivery, but ultimately decided against it. Congress continued to use the postal service as precedence for legislation, using postal roads to develop national routes, and affecting numerous other industries and areas. 

To put it simply, to have good connection to the outside world makes it easier to sell your stuff, and that makes the economy grow if everyone has that. Theres more examples than just post roads, but the postal service was and still is crucial to the Government's function. The postal service was also heavily linked to the press at the time, with the first Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin also being a major newspaper publisher at the same time he held office. The news was largely disseminated through the mail, and that led to a number of first amendment hangups. 

Technology

In 1840, Sir Rowland Hill invented the postage stamp system, which revolutionized the process for letters, making it simple and easy for any citizen to send a letter to another at minimal cost. The United States adopted the system in 1847, and the practice continues today. 

Postal services developed alongside technologies during the Industrial Revolution, including usage of rail lines, industrial practices in package sorting, air travel, and computer processing of mail for sorting. Private couriers still exist, but they largely service larger packages from delivery sites like Amazon and eBay, while each Government's postal service cooperates with others for the delivery of letters.