Week 3

 Last week I wrote about how we looked at a document called Effective Study Skills, and how one of the areas in studying I'm weak in is taking notes. This week we looked at various study techniques covered by the website AcademicTips.org. Some of the study tips were about note taking. One tip the website gives is to only write down the important information, instead of writing everything down. This is something I somewhat struggle with. With classes with a live lecture, typically in-person classes, I feel pressured to retain all of the information. This causes me to try to write everything down. I'm better with this with classes with recorded lectures or slides. In these classes I don't feel pressured to write everything down since I can always go back to look at the lecture material. 

Another tip given by AcademicTips is to divide the pages of your notebook into two halves, keeping lecture notes and textbook notes on separate sides. The idea is that it's easier to distinguish between the two different types of notes. Another tip is to take turns taking notes as a group. The idea is that you can spend less time during lectures trying to make notes, which lets you focus on what's being said in the lecture. Another tip is to record the lecture. Similar to the group notes tip, this lets you focus on what's being said in the lecture instead of trying to write everything down. Another tip is to rewrite your notes the same day you take them, ideally writing them in clear, complete sentences. The idea is that by rewriting your notes you remember the material even better, and by writing clearer notes you make the notes themselves more useful.

This week we read an article called What every computer science major should know. It discussed what computer science majors should know to get a good job, maintain employment, enter graduate school, and benefit society. The article discussed many topics CS majors should know to satisfy these questions. The first is how to build a portfolio, as it's more useful at showing your ability than a resume. The next is how to communicate to others, especially non-programmers, as communicating your ideas clearly to others is vital to success. Another is knowing engineering concepts, such as physics or linear algebra, as these concepts will appear during a CS major's work. There are many more topics the article discusses. Reading this article helped me realize how much depth there is to computer science. This is a field where one has to constantly learn, adapt, and read or risk falling behind.

Another article we read this week was ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, by the Association for Computing Machinery. The article discusses how computer scientists should act to make a positive impact on the world. The article has four sections. The first section are foundational ethical principles, one example is that everybody is a stakeholder when it comes to computing, and how computing should positively affect everybody because of this. The second section discusses additional principles that professionals in the field should consider, one example is striving to always put out the highest quality work possible. The third section discusses principles that those in leadership positions should consider, one example is that the focus should always be how everyone is affected by computing. The fourth and final section discusses how one should comply with the principles discussed. Reading this article helped me realize how impactful computer science and computing is. Computers affect the entire world in countless ways. If the people making or in charge of the computer systems don't have the world's interest in mind, then many could suffer. This is why it's important to consider the ethics of what we're doing as computer scientists.

We watched a video this week called The Ethics of AI, which was uploaded by World Economic Forum to Youtube. The video discusses some ethical questions about AI. The topics relate to using AI to edit images and videos to appear younger, using AI to insert dead actors into movies, and using AI to find romantic partners. The presentation played clips of interviews for each question, and asked the audience for responses. The presentation helped show how nuanced the ethics of AI are, these aren't questions that can easily be answered. The ethics of AI need to be considered and questioned now, before AI has a chance to deal major harm.

We watched a Ted Talk this week called What Is an AI Anyway?, by Mustafa Suleyman. The presentation talks about how the rate at which technology has evolved has increased rapidly, which means that AI is going to revolutionize our lives within the next couple of decades. The presentation describes AI as a new digital species, which has the potential to completely revolutionize our lives. It discusses how AI will be felt on a personal level, such as being a companion we can talk to, and how AI will be felt on a large-scale level, such as managing power grids. The presentation discusses how AI has the potential to cause harm, but that we have the ability to ensure that AI has a positive impact because it's in its infancy. The overall tone of the presentation was inspiring. We have this new tool that is unlike any other, that will reshape our lives, that we have control over how it will develop. Like the previous video, this presentation made me think about how we need to consider questions about AI now. For AI to have a positive impact we need to consider it carefully before it develops too far.

We also learned about ethics this week. Ethics is defined as the study of morality in determining right from wrong. Ethics is considered in various frameworks, which consider what is moral based on certain rules or contexts. 

Ethical Relativism states that nothing is universally right or wrong. 

Cultural Relativism states that different cultures have different standards for what is right and wrong. 

Individual Relativism states that different individuals have different standards for what is right and wrong. 

Utilitarianism rates the morality of actions based on how it affects everyone involved, with moral actions affecting those involved positively, and immoral actions affecting them negatively. 

Care Ethics rates the morality of an action by how it affects those whom one as a close relationship with, with more positively being more moral.

Ethical Egoism rates the morality of an action by how much it benefits the one doing it, with more beneficial being more moral.

Divine Command Theory rates the morality of an action by how in accordance with God's will it is.

Natural Law Theory rates the morality of an action by how much it aligns with our natural instincts as animals. Theorists in this framework believe that following our instincts is moral because our instincts were designed by God, therefore following our instincts is following God's will.

Kant's Ethics rates the morality of an action by how rational it is, with more rational being more moral.

Virtue Ethics states that those who have certain traits, such as courage, wisdom, or truthfulness, naturally make moral decisions and actions. This framework was popular with the ancient Greeks, and has seen a recent increase in popularity recently.