703 Matching Annotations
  1. Jun 2022
    1. "Do you think these people are mentally ill? Do you think it is possible they are making all this up?"

      Very ironic that he kept this in despite his own lies in the piece.

    2. You don't have to deny it. There's a wonder to seeing so much order laid out in front of you. And people are walking around, whispering statistics in your ear. It's easy to slip into a kind of Stalinist wet dream. And I try to subvert that by locking onto actual faces as they take me up and down the aisles.

      Details like this make it even more infuriating knowing that a lot of this is fabricated.

    3. "That's true. I'm not going to buy their products." And she says, "You will lie to them." And I say, "Yes, Kathy. I'm going to lie to lots of people."

      Could this not ruin Kathy's career as a translator?

    4. First there's one worker waiting. Then there's two. Then there's three.

      I'm amazed that nobody thought this might be fabricated. Especially with the guards reactions.

  2. Jun 2020
    1. The whole point of granite, that it is hard and durable, is also the reason it is difficult to mine and process

      This introduces the awareness of the difficulties of the granite mining

  3. Jun 2019
    1. 12 suicides at the Shenzhen plant in 2010.

      thats still low. but this is 12 suicides at ONE plant.

    2. I talk to an older man with leathery skin. His right hand is twisted up into a claw. It was crushed in a metal press at Foxconn. He says he didn't receive any medical attention, and it healed this way. And then when he was too slow, they fired him. Today he works at a woodworking plant. He says he likes it better. He says the people are nicer, and the hours are more reasonable. He works about 70 hours a week.

      people are looked at as replaceable and not important or cared for. It really breaks my heart

    3. And so when you start working at 15 or 16, by the time you are 26, 27, your hands are ruined. And when they are truly ruined, once they will not do anything further, you know what we do with a defective part in a machine that makes machines. We throw it away.

      the amount of time they have to work before being thrown out should be the time for them to explore what they want to do with their lives and learning valuable lessons by making mistakes. Not having their hands disintegrate.

    4. a worker at Foxconn dies after working a 34-hour shift. I wish I could say that's exceptional, but it's happened before. I only mention it because it actually happened while I was there.

      Imagine working your 8-10 hours work day and then multiplying that by 3 or 4. I would have no shot at surviving either. Literally being driven to death.

    5. They can exert a kind of eerie fascination. There's a beauty to industrialization on such a massive scale. You don't have to deny it. There's a wonder to seeing so much order laid out in front of you.

      Even though the working conditions are horrible and these people are treated with the worst respect, I think that Mr. Daisey is right. There is a fascination about that many people working in a such a large area.

    6. And I say to her, "You seem kind of young. How old are you?" And she says, "I'm 13."

      13... Thats insane to be working in a factory, in such terrible conditions and for such terrible hours.

    7. And along the edges of each enormous building are the nets. Because right at the time that I am making this visit, there has been an epidemic of suicides at the Foxconn plant. Week after week, worker after worker has been climbing all the way up to the tops of these enormous buildings, and then throwing themselves off, killing themselves in a brutal and public manner, not thinking very much about just how bad this makes Foxconn look. Foxconn's response to month after month of suicides has been to put up these nets.

      This is how they choose to "fix" that problem...?

    8. The Foxconn plant in Shenzhen has 430,000 workers. That can be a difficult number to conceptualize. I find it's useful to instead think about how there are more than 20 cafeterias at the plant. And then you just have to understand that workers told me that these cafeterias can hold up to 10,000 people. So now you just need to visualize a cafeteria that seats 10,000 people. I'll wait.

      Think about the amount of people that work on getting us our technology and compare that to how we take for granted the capabilities the technology has.

    9. The only sign that the exit ramp ends is a single solitary orange cone.

      This would be crossed off with 5 cops and many signs.

    10. And on the other side of the gates, it's the factory zone. And, whew. It's like going from the Eloi to the Morlocks. Everything changes. I've never seen anything like it. Everything is under construction. Every road has a bypass, every bypass has a bypass. It's bypasses all the way down.

      In America, there are not completely industrialized areas where there is nothing but construction. But this is how China makes our products and brings them to us.

    11. And in all that time, until I saw those pictures, it was only then I realized, I had never thought, ever, in a dedicated way, about how they were made.

      To me, we never think about how objects or products are made and how they are made before they magically end up on our lives.

    12. I should specify, have no actual news in them. They are instead filled with rumors about what Apple will do next, written exclusively by people who have no goddamn idea what Apple will do next

      To me, this is how all news is recently. There is no actual news in the articles; its all rumor and prediction.

    13. I will go back to my apartment and I will field strip my MacBook Pro into its 43 component pieces. I will clean them with compressed air. And I will put them back together again. It soothes me.

      Not a lot of people have this type of relationship with technology or technological company.

    14. Can I say, I love, especially, "I am not allowed to say"? Because it implies that Siri somehow knows the answer, but she's just not allowed to tell me, which is insane, because she's a machine. Especially because-- flip over the phone. Right here, on the back, it's printed-- "Assembled in China."

      I think it is very interesting that Siri was programmed to not say where she was manufactured even though the information is easily accessible.

    1. Slavery in granite quarries is a family affair enforced by a tricky scheme based on debt. When a poor family comes looking for work, the quarry bosses are ready to help with an “advance” on wages to help the family settle in. The rice and beans they eat, the scrap stones they use to build a hut on the side of the quarry, the hammers and crowbars they need to do their work, all of it is provided by the boss and added to the family’s debt. Just when the family feels they may have finally found some security, they are being locked into hereditary slavery.

      This is almost unreal. Readying about such things happening to simply create electronics isnt worth it. What an unethical way to turn families in need into slaves.

    2. We think of Steve Jobs in his black turtleneck as the origin of our iPhones, or imagine a local funeral director carving a loved one’s name into a tombstone. Whether we are grilling shrimp for our friends or buying T-shirts for our children we generally think of these things as beginning where we first encountered them, at the shop, at the mall, in the grocery store. But just as each of us is deeper than our surface, just as each of us has a story to tell, so do the tools and toys and food and rings and phones that tie us together.

      From a young age we are taught the basic decency that people have lives before and after us, but we aren't taught that objects are the same.

    3. Back in Germany the filmmakers quizzed the businessmen that sold the tombstones; these men were appalled when they saw footage from the quarries.

      This makes me wonder if it was an honest surprise or, if it was, whether or not they tried to fix it. I doubt both.

    4. Slavery is a great way to keep your costs down, but there’s another reason why that granite is so cheap—the quarries themselves are illegal, paying no mining permits or taxes. The protected state and national forest parks rest on top of granite deposits, and a bribe here and there means local police and forest rangers turn a blind eye.

      I've noticed this is a common practice in India for many government run facilities and programs. Bribing officials has become the norm and, in most of these cases, it only hurts the tourists, but this is taking it unbelievably far.

    5. Slavery in granite quarries is a family affair enforced by a tricky scheme based on debt. When a poor family comes looking for work, the quarry bosses are ready to help with an “advance” on wages to help the family settle in. The rice and beans they eat, the scrap stones they use to build a hut on the side of the quarry, the hammers and crowbars they need to do their work, all of it is provided by the boss and added to the family’s debt. Just when the family feels they may have finally found some security, they are being locked into hereditary slavery.

      People always talk about how everyone is always on their phones and social media and how that's affecting our mental states, but we never see what's really happening to get these phones in front of us.

  4. May 2019
    1. No electricity or running water, no paving on the roads, and good luck if you needed a doctor, but incredibly I had a signal. “This is why I am here,” I thought, “I can’t live without my phone, and people here are dying because of it.”

      A real juxtaposition. Who would assume in the middle of the African jungle you would have a cell phone signal?

    2. the enemy at the gates.

      a comparison to the old war movie? A literal explanation of the environment which these materials come from?

    3. Out of our sight, slaves numbering in the hundreds of thousands do the work that slaves have done for millennia: digging, cutting, and carrying.

      2019 and it still seems like the world has not changed. Businessmen using others to get ahead of there competitors and make some extra money

    4. Slaves are producing many of the things we buy

      I think consumers need to be more educated on where there products come from. If more people knew this I believe they would be against buying these products.

    5. these men were appalled when they saw footage from the quarries.

      Its crazy for me to think that these businessmen, whose job it is to know there product, did not know how it was produced. By enslaved children.

    6. a bribe here and there

      It amazes me how easy a bribe can make some one turn a blind eye, these people are supposed to be protecting these areas

    7. When a poor family comes looking for work, the quarry bosses are ready to help with an “advance” on wages to help the family settle in.

      they take advantage of them. they have nothing so even the littlest wage helps and the bosses know that and it costs them close to nothing

    8. Granite for German tombstones used to come from the beautiful Harz Mountains, but now no one is allowed to mine there and risk spoiling this protected national park and favorite tourist destination. So, like France and many other rich countries, including the United States, Germany imports its tombstones from the developing world.

      I like that they are protecting natural treasures, hate that I haven't even continued reading and see that its going to be at the cost of other people

    9. It’s not because they don’t know that people are going to die; it’s more a product of the complete control the government exerts over death and funerals.

      I think it is interesting that Germany's government has complete control and made a standard of how someone is to be buried

    10. No one “won” the Second Congo War; it simply collapsed from exhaustion as resources and energy ran out.

      Such a waste of resources and the fact that so many resources were used that they ran out is a little disturbing.

    11. By its end 5.4 million people were dead, a body count second only to the two world wars.

      Wild. I have never heard of this and am shocked.

    12. life has become a scramble for survival in a population divided between those with guns and those without. This chaos is the perfect breeding ground for slavery.

      Sad because people can't live their lives in their own country. Part of the population are slaves and are help at gunpoint to become one.

    13. “This is why I am here,” I thought, “I can’t live without my phone, and people here are dying because of it.”

      almost all of us have some sort of dependency on our phone and are always reaching it. He's recognized that and decided to do something to help the people who were involved in making our "addiction."

    14. There’s always been a moral case for stopping slavery; now there’s an environmental reason too.

      Gives people an extra push into making the world safe for others. Although I have to wonder why nothing is still being done to stop or help it.

    15. But all this normally happens far from any prying eyes. It’s a hidden world that keeps its secrets.

      Many do not "investigate" when buying something. Even if something everyone has is said to be involved with something problematic or something like slavery, people will react to it, but won't do anything to change it because many people are so materialistic. An example of this is when it came to light that some department stores still use child labor. People reacted but many did nothing to help or decrease it.

    16. Slaves are producing many of the things we buy, and in the process they are forced to destroy our shared environment, increase global warming, and wipe out protected species.

      Many people are very materialistic so it sucks to know that while this may improve with the increase of education about slavery and global warming, that many people will still contribute to it because people are so tied and attached to materialistic objects.

    17. these men were appalled when they saw footage from the quarries.

      So these people are selling something where they don't even know where it's coming from or how it was produced. makes me wonder how these men reacted being told this and if it affected them in anyway.

    18. “See the little girl playing with the hammer?” asked a local investigator. “Along with the child, the size of the hammer grows, and that’s the only progress in her life.”

      Hurt me reading this. This girl's childhood has been taken away from her. Not how someone should live their life.

    19. tombstone.

      Very intense right off the bat and a bit overwhelming but that's the point. If it's this intense at the very beginning then we're in for a ride with this one.

    20. he good news is that slavery can be stopped. We know how to bust slaveholders and free slaves, we know how much it costs and where to start, and we know that freed slaves tend to be willing workers in the rebuilding of our natural world. Ending slavery is a step forward in fixing our earth. There’s always been a moral case for stopping slavery; now there’s an environmental reason too.

      It's unfortunate that we need multiple reasons to end slavery. As if our example of slaveries within our own country are not enough.

    21. Slaves lured or captured from the pool of vulnerable migrants are then forced to rip up the earth or level the forests, completing the cycle. Out of our sight,

      "Completing the cycle" is such a poetic but gruesome way of describing how these slaves are forced to "rip up the Earth," "out of our sight." As consumers, this should never be out of our sight. They wouldn't advertise it. Then why are they allowing it? Cheap labor and more money for the company is all that is cared for. And as far as consumers, we want to think we are contributing to the better and becoming more technologically advanced. As long as it doesn't affect our community, our circle...

    22. If slavery were an American state it would have the population of California and the economic output of the District of Columbia, but it would be the world’s third-largest producer of CO2.

      This is crazy to think about... this really put the technological waste into perspective as well as the perspective of the amounts of people that are suffering today and slaving over the parts needed for our cellphones.

    23. Cellphones have become electronic umbilical cords connecting us with our children, our partners, and our parents with an immediacy and reliability hardly known before.

      This is describing the digital culture of technology and specifically cell phones being embedding into our lives .

    24. It’s never a happy moment when you’re shopping for a tombstone.

      This is a really ominous start to this article. The purpose of this article is to teach its players about the dark side of the phone and they show this by right off of the bat relating it to BUYING somebody a tombstone.

    25. slaves tend to work with primitive tools, saws, shovels, and picks, or their own bare hands

      Arguments have been made that we, as a society, are becoming obsessed with our phones. I think it's possible that a parallel could be drawn between slavery and the necessity of people in the modern world to have our phones on us every second of the day. We have become slaves to technology.

    26. an extraction that we never actually see.

      A fact that most of the smart phone user base is blind to as it is seen as the dirty little secret of the industry. It has become more exposed in recent years due to the efforts of such projects as the game we played for this class but has been hushed up by Apple banning it from their app store.

    27. Our lives are full of ways that we connect with other people—the food we serve and share, the rings and gifts we exchange

      a clear effort at the juxtaposition that people whom receive and use smartphones from those who make them.

    28. We know that, even though it comes all the way from India, slave-produced granite is cheap. We also know that, while some polishing and skillful carving of names and dates is needed,

      While some people do know the origins of their phones and the parts within them (the negative sides). It is commonly disregarded as people view a smartphone as a necessary evil in this modern world - everything is online these days and nobody wants to be behind the curve.

    29. Our view of cemetery monuments is normally restricted to what we see when we bury our loved ones or visit their graves. If we think about where the markers come from at all,

      Similar to how we view our smart phones coming out of the box. New and shiny and instead of being hand crafted by an elderly gentleman, it came to life on a assembly belt somewhere in the world built by some robot when in fact up until that point it had caused nothing but pain in the lives of the people whom created it and made profits for their bosses.

    30. Fortunately, early evacuation kept the death toll to 150.

      I know this is still 150 people too many but at the same time, it could have been a much higher death toll.

    31. hese groups work to protect human rights and women’s rights, end sexual violence, meet the needs of children and orphans, and promote disarmament, environmental justice, rule of law, medical care, food security, education, religious tolerance, democracy, and more.

      We need more organizations like this to fight for the people who cant fight for themselves.

    32. The ‘resource curse’ falls on the poorest parts of the world when their muddy pebbles, little-used forest, or some other natural resource suddenly becomes extremely valuable

      This is one of the most true and profound statements to me in this article.

    33. There’s a squad waiting to ambush you as soon as you leave town.”

      Unfortunately this is how societies that are pushed in a corner works. What would you do if you had literally nothing and had no chance of getting out of your situation unless you somehow acquire a lot of money?

    34. Experts believe that ten million people died

      Again a large number of people have lost their lives for us to be able to talk to each other and have the world at our finger tips. No matter how much we take it for granted and appreciate how much our phones can do, our phones are not worth the pain people are suffering from.

    35. Rubber and ivory worth millions were arriving in Europe, but the ships going back carried little besides weapons [and] manacles.

      More technologically advanced countries have taken and immense amount from barely developing countries along with taking advantage of their illiteracy.

    36. by the end of 2013 sales were up to two billion and there were more phones in the world than people.

      Think about that... more phones than people...

    37. Moments later, after our papers were checked, the UN pilot, a Russian with a rich baritone, called the children together and got them singing French folk songs. From the way the kids mobbed him, this had to be a feature of every landing. Their voices rippled with giggles, like water flutes.

      These kids haven't had any where close to the childhood they should have and it makes me happy that they get a little bit of joy. But they deserve so much more

    38. The good news is that slavery can be stopped. We know how to bust slaveholders and free slaves, we know how much it costs and where to start, and we know that freed slaves tend to be willing workers in the rebuilding of our natural world. Ending slavery is a step forward in fixing our earth. There’s always been a moral case for stopping slavery; now there’s an environmental reason too.

      If this statement is true, why haven't we done anything to make it happen????

    39. how can the estimated 35.8 million slaves in the world really be that destructive?

      Even though this number is "small" think about how many people that really is and the absolute hell we are putting people through that deserve nothing but the best.

    40. The profits generated when we go shopping flow back down the chain and fuel more assaults on the natural world, drive more people toward enslavement, and feed more goods into the global supply chain. Round and round it goes— our spending drives a criminal perpetual motion machine that eats people and nature like a cancer.

      This cycle is vicious and needs to end and is dispicable. We are literally killing people to make our kitchens look "most appealing"

    41. you can’t afford to die in Germany.”

      If you can't afford to die in your own country there is a serious problem...

    42. the cremated can be buried only in approved cemeteries, never scattered in gardens or the sea.

      This to me is not fair. I always believe that if you choose to get cremated you should be able to choose where you get your ashes spread because it usually has a significance in your life. My grandmother asked that her ashes be spread all over the Grand Canyon because that was her favorite place on Earth.

    43. We think of Steve Jobs in his black turtleneck as the origin of our iPhones

      Whenever I think about any type of product there is always something that comes to my mind that is the face of the company. You never think about how the product ended up there

    44. In the United States, the average cost of installing those countertops runs from $2,000 to $8,000, but the price charged by Indian exporters for polished red granite is just $5 to $15 per square meter—that comes to about $100 for all the granite your kitchen needs

      It reminds me of how within my lifetime the cost of Quinoa has risen from dirt cheap in Peru to nearly costing a leg when comparing prices from then and now. Cha-ching!

    45. Environmentalists are right to call for laws and treaties that will apply to the community of nations, but that is not enough.

      Not at all with the 1000 lb gorilla (aka the USA) down playing such concerns at international conferences.

    46. Laws and treaties may control law-abiding individuals, corporations, and governments, but not the criminal slaveholders who flout the gravest of laws.

      Of which they will wake up when they are in front of an international tribunal/ their home country decides to add more power to the judiciary.

    47. That cutting and digging moves like a scythe through the most protected parts of our natural world—nature reserves, protected forests, UNESCO World Heritage Sites

      Oh yeah the same UNESCO that told us that this would be protected?

      https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/d3jbk7/drone-footage-shows-extent-of-damage-from-greenpeace-stunt-at-nazca-lines

      A stunt like this, using slaves or not does not protect a UNESCO World Heritage Site from getting defaced/destroyed

    48. When they’re looking for territory to grab, the militias first seek out minerals. Throughout this part of the world, there’s gold, diamonds, coltan, cassiterite (the ore that gives us tin), and niobium for electronics, as well as molybdenum and wulfenite for making highgrade steel; all of these are near the surface and easily mined

      Niobium; never new it was used for electronics, hadn't heard of it till this. All of these things are easily mined which means people can easily grab it... but they want others to do it for them.

    49. We pull food from the earth, of course, but we also pull our cellphones from the earth, our clothing, our computers, our flat-screen televisions, our cars—it all comes from the earth, ultimately.

      A grand difference is that food is renewable, raw materials that make up electronics are less so...

    50. Nyiragongo’s unusually fluid lava sped down streets at up to sixty miles per hour, swept away buildings, covered part of the airport, destroyed 12 percent of the city, and made 120,000 people homeless.

      Why was this not talked about more in the media? 120,000 people homeless is too many.

    51. The same cycle that fueled the slavery and genocide of 1901 continues to revolve today, not just in Congo but around the world. It’s a four-step process; simple in form yet complex in the way it plays out.

      It is a process that such few people know about. The word needs to start going out.

    52. But the truth is out under there in the rain forests and protected habitats suffering the onslaught of slave workers driven by rogue militias. That’s why I’m in Walikale with my co-worker Zorba Leslie, lugging my backpack along a dirt track with ruts that would swallow a motorcycle.

      As I continue to read I feel like statements such as this one really show me just what is happening. Just how real this situation is.

    53. At the very beginning of the twentieth century there was an unquenchable demand in America and Europe for an amazing new technology—air-filled rubber tires. The Age of the Railroad was ending

      It is funny to think that now in 2019 we wouldn't even think twice about getting new tires on our cars. We don't even think about where they came from or where they go, we just know we need them. 100 years ago that was barely an issue. Time is crazy.

    54. Nineteen years later they are still there, living like parasitic plants, their roots driven deeply into the region

      The use of this simile really shows exactly what they did when they moved it. It creates a pictures that enforces the shock and devastation.

    55. “This is why I am here,” I thought, “I can’t live without my phone, and people here are dying because of it.”

      This sentence is the one that stood out to me the most throughout this article. My first thought was "that is me" I am constantly checking my phone and looking but as I have now learned people are dying over them. Something that I use all the time

    56. Adding together their slave-based deforestation and other CO2-producing crimes leads to a sobering conclusion. If slavery were an American state it would have the population of California and the economic output of the District of Columbia, but it would be the world’s third-largest producer of CO2, after China and the United States.

      This builds off of my last comment about how 1 person can really make an impact so those 35.8 million really make an impact that currently the world is trying to ignore.

    57. how can the estimated 35.8 million slaves in the world really be that destructive?

      Isn't there a phrase that says "1 person can be the difference" or something along those lines? 38.5 million SLAVES is a lot of people and it is sad that sometimes that we think about it that way. That those are people and not just numbers. They can do a lot of good things and a lot of bad things.

    58. Some of the best and cheapest tombstones come from India. In 2013 India produced 35,342 million tons of granite, making it the world’s largest producer

      This is interesting to me because I guess I never really thought about where the tombstones came from, I just knew that they came engaved and i never thought about who had to do it

    59. We think of Steve Jobs in his black turtleneck as the origin of our iPhones.

      Oh I certainly never have at all.

    60. It’s never a happy moment when you’re shopping for a tombstone

      This is bold introduction. It makes you want to read more.

    61. There is a deadly triangular trade going on today that reaches from these threatened villages and forests in the most remote parts of the earth all the way to our homes in America and Europe

      So sad not alot of people know about this.

    62. The good news is that slavery can be stopped

      Thank goodness. There is hope.

    63. Slavery, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas producers, is hidden from us.

      Nobody knows about how it is a hidden has producer. Let's let this be known!

    64. Surprisingly, slavery is at the root of much of the natural world’s destruction

      Never thought about this point until now

    65. he engineers that made our phones smaller and smarter

      But honestly is that a bad thing? I love that my phone is smarter than me because it tells me things I curious about and need to know on the spot.

    66. By 2014, 91 percent of all human beings owned a cellphone.

      In my opinion this is just sad because soooo many kids have phones that are just too young and I know they are in that 91%.

    67. Yours is probably within arm’s reach right now. Our phones are so ubiquitous, we tend to forget that they only arrived on the scene about twenty years ago.

      Not that I am happy with how our phones are made, but I am one of those people that ALWAYS have my phone right next to me and if I don't I actually get upset.

    68. It’s no wonder that we struggle and often fail to stop climate change and reduce the atmospheric carbon count.

      Of course we can do it, it's a matter of people stop being so greedy when it comes to money. These slaveholders are more worried about their own lives than those they are hurting and the future generations.

    69. Especially in countries where corruption is rife, slavers act with impunity after environmental devastation, luring and capturing the refugees, the destitute, and the dispossessed.

      The fact that people can really take advantage of other peoples losses is just horrific. When people in 3rd world countries go through disasters they have already lost literally everything the own, let alone being taken away and abused for the rest of their lives.

    70. But there’s no secret about the engine driving this vicious cycle. It is us—the consumer culture of the rich north.

      The game showed how this is true - if people stopped buying said products, then people would not be enslaved to make them. That is why the last part of the game showed the consumers.

    71. i

      Very surprising thought. If we buy something that is "good" for the Earth, we don't think about the slaves behind it thus making global warming worse.

    72. destruction

      Come to think of it- It does create much of the worlds destruction. Sad but interesting point.

    73. This is an interesting thought. When thinking of war lords- you would think they love criminal activities- this puts things into perspective.

    74. once

      This does put it into perspective. This did not happen too long ago. How times have changed!

    75. earth

      Very interesting point that slavery can be stopped. It doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon but the more people post articles like this, the closer it will end.

    76. Understanding American peonage slavery is important because it helps us to see Congo slavery as part of the long history of bondage. The close link between conflict, prejudice, and slavery unites the two stories.

      It is important to learn about history as to not repeat it. We MUST do better to help everyone going forward, and do our best to educate ourselves as to not fall into the paths of horrible decades ago.

    77. Black markets also need some stability, and with territories carved up and guns pointing at workers instead of other armed gangs, the lean and hungry men begin to grow fat themselves. Step four builds on this new stability that serves only the criminals. Secure in their power, the thugs ramp up production, finding new sources of raw materials and new pools of labor to exploit. Thus the curse has reached its full power. In that lawless, impoverished, unstable, remote region, slavery and environmental destruction flourish.

      Nothing will stop those who crave power. They will do anything to get what they want, even if that means becoming someone they aren't. The greed of some lead to the impoverished and slavery of others.

    78. Especially in countries where corruption is rife, slavers act with impunity after environmental devastation, luring and capturing the refugees, the destitute, and the dispossessed. This has happened in countries like Mali, where sand dunes drift right over villages, forcing the inhabitants to flee in desperation, seeking new livelihoods, only to find themselves enslaved.

      This is often very horribly true, as those in the top tier hierarchy never look down to see who they are stepping on, only up to see what they haven't conquered yet.

    79. at an incredible human cost.

      This shows just how little producers truly care for their own actions. Though they might think they're only hurting others and not themselves, they are wrong. If they keep hurting others and the earth, they will no longer have anything or anyone to sell to.

    80. Henry Ford was making cars by the million, bicycles were pouring out of factories, freight was moving in gasoline-powered trucks, and they all ran on rubber. The Congo had more natural rubber than anywhere else. To meet this demand King Leopold II of Belgium, in one of the greatest scams in history, tricked local tribes into signing away their lands and lives in bogus treaties that none of them could read. He sold these “concessions” to speculators who used torture and murder to drive whole communities into the jungle to harvest rubber.

      It seems as though this form of manipulation into slavery for producers is a repeat of history, and has been benefiting from it for decades.

    81. No electricity or running water, no paving on the roads, and good luck if you needed a doctor, but incredibly I had a signal. “This is why I am here,” I thought, “I can’t live without my phone, and people here are dying because of it.”

      This is the harsh reality of the situation. Even though there are no basic necessities in sight, all that is left is the phone reception- showing exactly what the priorities are for the producers. Truly sad and sickening.

    82. Especially in countries where corruption is rife, slavers act with impunity after environmental devastation, luring and capturing the refugees, the destitute, and the dispossessed. This has happened in countries like Mali, where sand dunes drift right over villages, forcing the inhabitants to flee in desperation, seeking new livelihoods, only to find themselves enslaved.

      This is heartbreaking. Those who find themselves in already devastating situations who are merely trying to find a new home after having to flee their own, then find themselves enslaved and trapped. This is beyond horrifying and heartbreaking to know this is real and probably still happening till this day.

    83. The profits generated when we go shopping flow back down the chain and fuel more assaults on the natural world, drive more people toward enslavement, and feed more goods into the global supply chain.

      Just like in the Phone Story game, we see how by buying more of these phones, it further incentivizes producers to keep the horrible cycle of slavery going.

    84. But all this normally happens far from any prying eyes. It’s a hidden world that keeps its secrets.

      This is a common producer tactic- if producers can keep consumers in the dark and ignorant, they often times have higher sales and get away with a lot more in today's world, unfortunately.

    1. This American Life has retracted the above story because we learned that many of Mike Daisey's experiences in China were fabricated.

      I appreciate what Mike Daisey was trying to do. He was worried about the workers in China and decided to do something about it, he just did not go about it the right way. That being said, it is not right to lie or make up stories about a very serious topic. It's going to be doing the opposite of what Daisey most likely wanted, spread awareness. People are going to see that he made it up and then not listen to anything that he has to say on the topic.

    2. Our staff did weeks of fact checking to corroborate Daisey's findings

      I appreciate that they went o great lengths to find out if Mike Daisey was telling the truth and if it really is as bad in China was he describes. They didn't hear him out and automatically believe him, they got the truth for themselves.

    3. Daisey sees some photos online from the inside of a factory that makes iPhones, starts to wonder about the people working there, and flies to China to meet them.

      Interesting way to go about things. You would think that we would maybe do some more research on this situation rather than just seeing photos, "wonder about the people," and then just get up and fly to China.

    4. This American Life has retracted this story because

      Absolutely true. People who have seen it will continue to believe it, as that's how people are nowadays. It's awful. Hopefully some people will see this too

    5. Each report surveyed over 100 Foxconn workers, and they even had a researcher go undercover and take a job at the Shenzhen plant.

      They went to great lengths to determine the false accusations.

    6. Daisey sees some photos online from the inside of a factory that makes iPhones, starts to wonder about the people working there, and flies to China to meet them

      This in itself is so strange. The way that it is wrote. He first sees photos online, believes them to probably be in an unfair work environment (as. the writer puts "wondering about the people") Then he takes it upon himself to fly there. Then, he sees it is up to the standards but lies anyways. I believe he sought out something against Apple but should have seeked it elsewhere as there's plenty of unjust work environments surrounding electronics

    7. We have removed the audio from our site

      I wished the audio wouldn't have been removed. It makes me feel as though there is more to hide, that there is more to the story. I don't know if I am overthinking it

    8. What should we make of what Mike Daisey saw in China?

      Well, he fabricated a lie based off of what he thought is morally incorrect, like unjust worker environment. But the fact that he based it off of a new lie doesn't right a wrong.

    9. This American Life has retracted the above story because we learned that many of Mike Daisey's experiences in China were fabricated.

      Even thought they have retracted the story, people still read it and learned about it so what is done is done.

    10. This American Life has retracted this story because we learned that many of Mike Daisey's experiences in China were fabricated

      The fact that someone could actually make these stories up for views is just morally wrong.

    11. This American Life has retracted the above story because we learned that many of Mike Daisey's experiences in China were fabricated

      This is stating that Mike Daisy did in fact lie.

  5. Mar 2019
    1. “A tribal chief will decide he wants to dig a big fishpond, so he will make a deal with a local militia captain. The captain will arrest people and find them guilty of some crime and then sell them to the chief to ‘work off’ their fines.” Businessmen buy workers this way as well. As one man put it, “A businessman will pay the police to arrest people, and then sentence them to three or six months of work, but once they are in the mine they just belong to the businessman, they’re not allowed to leave.”

      This sounds wide spread and gigantic. How can it be stopped as it seems impossible to arrest all of these people?

    2. “hippie chimp,”

      I would love to see what these chimpanzees look like. All I can think of are really relaxed chimps just lounging back in trees and snuggling each other.

    3. Yours is probably within arm’s reach right now.

      Or in your hand already

    4. There’s an intimacy in the stone we use to mark the final resting place of someone we love; there’s another sort of intimacy in the less obvious but still essential minerals that let us speak with our loved ones on phones or write to them on computers.

      Happy that many people in my family are switching away from burials with tombstones and such if this is where the slab comes from.

    5. The red granite tombstones that sell for $500 to $1,000 in the United States,

      So much for something the person never actually uses themselves.

  6. Jan 2019
    1. which predicts the tides.

      Speaking of the harmonic synthesizer that "predicts the tides," - that can now be connected to AI algorithms such as machine learning

    2. Faster material and lenses, more automatic cameras, finer-grained sensitive compounds to allow an extension of the minicamera idea, are all imminent

      With a product like the Smartphone now available to us, having an easily accessible and well working camera is common among people in our society. We can capture any moment we wish to with a phone in hand.

    3. advanced photography which can record what is seen or even what is not

      I am automatically reminded of our technologies advancing towards (and some which already exist) allowing us to see what is not visible with the naked eye in outer space.

    4. “Consider a future device …  in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.”

      He is talking about a computer/IPad/Smartphone without knowing that's what he's thinking about. It's likely that he never thought they would be so small or sleek.

    5. To make the record, we now push a pencil or tap a typewriter.

      And now I'm typing this out on a $700 computer.

    6. educing the size of the record,

      I forget what the actual measurements are, but I saw an article once that was talking about how we went from having computers in a whole room, to having one in our pocket

    7. The treated film

      if only he knew what snapchat was

    8. conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear

      We see this now with the rise of the internet. There is so much information out there that it is impossible to comprehend it all. This has lead to a sense of complacency, for what is the point of truly learning and understanding something if you can just google it?

    9. aterial environment.

      This brings to mind the movie Ready Player One, where the digital world was taken to a whole other level. The players were able to quite literally create a new life for themselves. They could create a whole new house, food, and outfit that would appear very real. When this article was written this type of revolutionary changing of ones material environment was not thought of.

    10. turn back the enemy

      In international affairs after the Cold War we are seeing more and more how diplomacy trumps the use of violence and these weapons that could turn back the enemy. Now that the world and scientists know the extent to what these technologies could be there is almost a sense that we went too far, that these weapons are too great for our use. So now countries do almost anything to avoid outright conflict, because the cost almost always outweighs the demand.

    11. It sees as if science, more than any other field has advanced since this "war", they might be searching for the same familiar objectives, but their laboratories have definitely changed. For example, the use of digital media allows for them to explore and study people and cultures they might not have been able to reach before.

    12. The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.

      I think that this entire section is absolutely fascinating. Just the idea that modern technologies could have been invented/thought up a very long time ago, but the cost of production in those times would have bankrupted a person (and the tech most likely would have broken very easily). And now, it's cheaper to make and it's way more reliable. I just think that's very interesting.

    13. specialization becomes increasingly necessary for progress, and the effort to bridge between disciplines is correspondingly superficial.

      i would think of this as the use of digital tools. They are, in my opinion, designed to help the average American easily navigate through the technological world.

    14. giving the promise of an improved mental health

      controlling the life of someone other than yourself...interesting.

    15. It is the physicists who have been thrown most violently off stride

      This intrigues me because when you think of "physicists", the first thing that comes to my mind is not exactly technology. But i can understand now where they are coming from with after reading this paragraph.

    16. There will always be plenty of things to compute in the detailed affairs of millions of people doing complicated things.

      So many things to compute. So many complicated things.

    17. The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.

      Something indeed has, but what? And why didn't that something come first?

    18. vironme

      This article is very intriguing. Science is mentioned a lot in this article referencing how much it influences communication and new instruments in discovering how research is found.

    19. Science has provided the swiftest communication between individuals; it has provided a record of ideas and has enabled man to manipulate and to make extracts from that record so that knowledge evolves and endures throughout the life of a race rather than that of an individual.

      This passage reminds me of the cell phone and how convenient it has made our lives. I use mine to record ideas, take notes, set reminders, and make schedules, and it is all accessible within seconds right from my pocket.

    20. They have improved his food, his clothing, his shelter; they have increased his security and released him partly from the bondage of bare existence

      This sentence stood out to me because it points out the incredible benefits we have received from technology. It has allowed to us to dramatically increase our life spans due to advances in medicine and increase food production by use of GMO’S and pesticides

    21. it would be advantageous to be able to snap the camera and to look at the picture immediately.

      Dude time travel confirmed son

    22. Science has provided the swiftest communication between individuals; it has provided a record of ideas and has enabled man to manipulate and to make extracts from that record so that knowledge evolves and endures throughout the life of a race rather than that of an individual.

      Definitely an interesting and accurate prediction here.

    23. Is it not possible that some day the path may be established more directly?

      absorbing information through multiple senses...I'm not quite sure what that could refer to today but with how technology has advanced it is a lot easier to gain access to knowledge, like using your computer and internet in the comfort of your own home.

    24. which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility

      exceeding speed and flexibility...immediately thought about the internet in general

    25. In the Bell Laboratories there is the converse of this machine, called a Vocoder. The loudspeaker is replaced by a microphone, which picks up sound. Speak to it, and the corresponding keys move.

      From a linguistic standpoint, this is interesting, knowing how speech-to-text programs still make mistakes in trying to decipher what a person is saying, and the issues that have arisen continuously with differing dialects and the varied phonological inventories of different languages.

    26. the whole affair, assembled and compressed, could be lugged off in a moving van. Mere compression, of course, is not enough; one needs not only to make and store a record but also be able to consult it,

      It's amazing to think how much this number has exponentially grown since then, and how with external drives and the like, we can store even more than Bush was imagining in this comment and still easily access it through search functions.

    27. The investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers—conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear.

      This flood of information is one that, with the widespread access to and ability to add to the internet, has become largely exacerbated in the modern day. This is a result Bush may not have been able to predict in his proposals for new directions of information-sharing technology, and the issues he discusses with the then-current methods of information sharing are problems we still encounter today.

    28. Rapid electrical counting appeared soon after the physicists found it desirable to count cosmic rays. For their own purposes the physicists promptly constructed thermionic-tube equipment capable of counting electrical impulses at the rate of 100,000 a second. The advanced arithmetical machines of the future will be electrical in nature, and they will perform at 100 times present speeds, or more.Moreover, they will be far more versatile than present commercial machines, so that they may readily be adapted for a wide variety of operations. They will be controlled by a control card or film, they will select their own data and manipulate it in accordance with the instructions thus inserted, they will perform complex arithmetical computations at exceedingly high speeds, and they will record results in such form as to be readily available for distribution or for later further manipulation. Such machines will have enormous appetites. One of them will take instructions and data from a whole roomful of girls armed with simple key board punches, and will deliver sheets of computed results every few minutes. There will always be plenty of things to compute in the detailed affairs of millions of people doing complicated things.4The repetitive processes of thought are not confined however, to matters of arithmetic and statistics. In fact, every time one combines and records facts in accordance with established logical processes, the creative aspect of thinking is concerned only with the selection of the data and the process to be employed and the manipulation thereafter is repetitive in nature and hence a fit matter to be relegated to the machine. Not so much has been done along these lines, beyond the bounds of arithmetic, as might be done, primarily because of the economics of the situation. The needs of business and the extensive market obviously waiting, assured the advent of mass-produced arithmetical machines just as soon as production methods were sufficiently advanced.With machines for advanced analysis no such situation existed; for there was and is no extensive market; the users of advanced methods of manipulating data are a very small part of the population. There are, however, machines for solving differential equations—and functional and integral equations, for that matter. There are many special machines, such as the harmonic synthesizer which predicts the tides. There will be many more, appearing certainly first in the hands of the scientist and in small numbers.If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability. The abacus, with its beads strung on parallel wires, led the Arabs to positional numeration and the concept of zero many centuries before the rest of the world; and it was a useful tool—so useful that it still exists.

      Bush's description sounds like that of calculator. He discusses the extreme cost of creating a machine that can calculate problems efficiently, as well as its instability and unreliability. Now, calculators are widespread tools that are used by students and adults to solve mathematical equations and problems. They are widely used and manufactured with different levels of complexity (for instance, scientific calculators have more functions than simple calculators).

    29. Compression is important, however, when it comes to costs. The material for the microfilm Britannica would cost a nickel, and it could be mailed anywhere for a cent. What would it cost to print a million copies? To print a sheet of newspaper, in a large edition, costs a small fraction of a cent. The entire material of the Britannica in reduced microfilm form would go on a sheet eight and one-half by eleven inches. Once it is available, with the photographic reproduction methods of the future, duplicates in large quantities could probably be turned out for a cent apiece beyond the cost of materials. The preparation of the original copy? That introduces the next aspect of the subject.

      Here, it sounds as though Bush is describing the framework for a modern-day printer. Currently, we are able to print mass quantities of documents at a time. We have also branched out into using copy machines and scanners to upload, edit, and print documents. Printers are widely available and are used by people of every age, from children in elementary school to elders.

    30. They have improved his food, his clothing, his shelter; they have increased his security and released him partly from the bondage of bare existence. They have given him increased knowledge of his own biological processes so that he has had a progressive freedom from disease and an increased span of life. They are illuminating the interactions of his physiological and psychological functions, giving the promise of an improved mental health.

      This passage really stood out to me. In it, the author does a great job of illustrating the relationship between technology and the everyday world, including basic life processes that we often take for granted. For instance, increased access to online information has greatly improved our understanding of the human body, as well as the causes and cures for specific illnesses. As a result, we can self-diagnose our symptoms with the click of a mouse. Using this example, it is evident that technological developments have impacted every aspect of our lives, including the way we receive information and our understanding of the world around us.

    31. “Consider a future device …  in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.”

      This is most of our devices today. We use our technology for the main reason of communication

    32. The summation of human experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate, and the means we use for threading through the consequent maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used in the days of square-rigged ships.

      He is saying that the way we use technology is like it is a necessity in our lives.

    33. To make the record, we now push a pencil or tap a typewriter. Then comes the process of digestion and correction, followed by an intricate process of typesetting, printing, and distribution.

      This is interesting because this is like trial and error for technology. Also, this is like making prototypes in technology today.

    34. If scientific reasoning were limited to the logical processes of arithmetic, we should not get far in our understanding of the physical world. One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability.

      This is very interesting to do because poker is a chance game.

    35. manipulate

      We have sites similar to this today, such as Wikipedia. People are able to change or add information about a particular topic very easily.

    36. Leibnitz invented a calculating machine which embodied most of the essential features of recent keyboard devices,

      technology comes from other technology

    37. “Consider a future device …  in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.”

      it sounds like he is referencing a cellphone or computer

    38. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It has other characteristics, of course; trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not fully permanent, memory is transitory. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature.

      The brain works like machines. Even with some differences, like the fact that people can't remember every single thing they process, their brain works like a web.

    39. Adding is only one operation

      It seems like this is a reference to PEMDAS. Not only do we have to use multiple operations to solve a problem; Bush suggests that we have to solve problems that use all these operations at the same time.

    40. Today we make the record conventionally by writing and photography, followed by printing; but we also record on film, on wax disks, and on magnetic wires

      Writing, photography, and film make up the backbone of Internet and mass media today. That's how we developed blogs, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, editing software, and much, much more.

    41. The economics of the situation were against it

      people struggle to advance technology when costs are expensive

    42. will the author of the future cease writing by hand or typewriter and talk directly to the record?

      There are several different technologies that do just this that are available to the public. It is amazing that Bush thought of this. Perhaps these technologies developed because Bush thought of this?

    43. Yet specialization becomes increasingly necessary for progress, and the effort to bridge between disciplines is correspondingly superficial.

      A lot of these specialties are complicated and require a lot of their own research, which means that they have to work on their own more than they work together.

    44. fighting has ceased

      science can focus on human progress instead of the science of warfare

    45. truly significant attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential

      Although information can now be shared easily and quickly, it does not mean that the important rises above the "inconsequential" any more. In anything, the internet has provided a vast "abyss" in which one could get lost for ages searching for the consequential.

    46. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.”

      This stands out to me because not only do electronics give us access to all sorts of information, but that information can leave a positive impact, hence "intimate supplement." For example, reading a book you love on Kindle or some other reading app gives you good memories of that book that will last a long time.

    47. security

      I find this interesting because the progression of technology in relation to the world wide web has created new dangers. In response, there have been new forms of ensuring security, but the danger from this technology still exists.

    48. The camera hound of the future wears on his forehead a lump a little larger than a walnut. It takes pictures 3 millimeters square, later to be projected or enlarged, which after all involves only a factor of 10 beyond present practice. The lens is of universal focus, down to any distance accommodated by the unaided eye, simply because it is of short focal length. There is a built-in photocell on the walnut such as we now have on at least one camera, which automatically adjusts exposure for a wide range of illumination. There is film in the walnut for a hundred exposures, and the spring for operating its shutter and shifting its film is wound once for all when the film clip is inserted. It produces its result in full color.

      What bush is talking about here sounds to me, at least like a GoPro camera. A camera that will take pictures for you but can not be viewed on the device, or at least not very well. But can be "projected" on to a larger screen for easier viewing, all of these things are modern technologies that we have today.

    49. The personnel officer of a factory drops a stack of a few thousand employee cards into a selecting machine, sets a code in accordance with an established convention, and produces in a short time a list of all employees who live in Trenton and know Spanish. Even such devices are much too slow when it comes, for example, to matching a set of fingerprints with one of five million on file. Selection devices of this sort will soon be speeded up from their present rate of reviewing data at a few hundred a minute. By the use of photocells and microfilm they will survey items at the rate of a thousand a second, and will print out duplicates of those selected.

      Bush's ideas about a selecting machine are not far of from how selecting and searching is done today. All of his ideas seem sound and modern but the application for how he thinks the tasks will be done is stuck in his time. He thinks there will be specific machines for specific tasks instead of one great machine that can do it all

    50. Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified. The lawyer has at his touch the associated opinions and decisions of his whole experience, and of the experience of friends and authorities. The patent attorney has on call the millions of issued patents, with familiar trails to every point of his client's interest. The physician, puzzled by a patient's reactions, strikes the trail established in studying an earlier similar case, and runs rapidly through analogous case histories, with side references to the classics for the pertinent anatomy and histology. The chemist, struggling with the synthesis of an organic compound, has all the chemical literature before him in his laboratory, with trails following the analogies of compounds, and side trails to their physical and chemical behavior.

      To me what he is talking about here just sounds like the internet. talking about the lawyer, or the physician, using the memex to find information they need just sounds like people searching for information online, checking different websites and articles.

    51. Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and, to coin one at random, "memex" will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.

      Computer. IPad. Smartphone. He has the right idea of what it will do but very very wrong about how it works and what it looks like.

    52. Now rapid selection can slide just the proper card into position in an instant or two, and return it afterward. Another difficulty occurs, however. Someone must read a total on the card, so that the machine can add its computed item to it. Conceivably the cards might be of the dry photography type I have described. Existing totals could then be read by photocell, and the new total entered by an electron beam.

      It is just done electronically with a computer. But Bush was right that it would be improved.

    53. If necessary, it could be made extremely fast by substituting thermionic-tube switching for mechanical switching, so that the full selection could be made in one one-hundredth of a second. No one would wish to spend the money necessary to make this change in the telephone system, but the general idea is applicable elsewhere.

      again, wrong about the way it would be done but also wrong of him to assume that this would never occur for the telephone.

    54. Selection devices of this sort will soon be speeded up from their present rate of reviewing data at a few hundred a minute. By the use of photocells and microfilm they will survey items at the rate of a thousand a second, and will print out duplicates of those selected.

      He was right that this process would be sped up but wrong about how it would do so.

    55. For this reason there still come more machines to handle advanced mathematics for the scientist. Som

      I am no scientist but I know that Bush was right on this count.

    56. As he ponders over his notes in the evening, he again talks his comments into the record. His typed record, as well as his photographs, may both be in miniature, so that he projects them for examination.

      While Bush was wrong that the recorder would type what was said, he did get the recorder right. Also, he was half right of talking to Siri and your words appear on the screen. Lastly, one could argue that he thought of an Alexa like when she was told to do something like add "Eggs" to the shopping list.

    57. The Encyclopædia Britannica could be reduced to the volume of a matchbox. A library of a million volumes could be compressed into one end of a desk.

      Bush was right that we would be able to make normal sized things very small in terms of computer files, but he was wrong in how we would do it. He thought we would use some kind of microfilm when we are actually using bites of files.

    58. but someone may speed it up, and it has no grain difficulties such as now keep photographic researchers busy. Often it would be advantageous to be able to snap the camera and to look at the picture immediately.

      Bush called this one correctly. We can now see pictures immediately and without fear of grain.

    59. On a pair of ordinary glasses is a square of fine lines near the top of one lens, where it is out of the way of ordinary vision. When an object appears in that square, it is lined up for its picture. As the scientist of the future moves about the laboratory or the field, every time he looks at something worthy of the record, he trips the shutter and in it goes, without even an audible click.

      Similar to the idea of GoogleGlass, but still with the mind of old tech. There would be no shutter cord and it would not do this automatically.

    60. Certainly progress in photography is not going to stop. Faster material and lenses, more automatic cameras, finer-grained sensitive compounds to allow an extension of the minicamera idea, are all imminent. Let us project this trend ahead to a logical, if not inevitable, outcome. The camera hound of the future wears on his forehead a lump a little larger than a walnut. It takes pictures 3 millimeters square, later to be projected or enlarged, which after all involves only a factor of 10 beyond present practice. The lens is of universal focus, down to any distance accommodated by the unaided eye, simply because it is of short focal length. There is a built-in photocell on the walnut such as we now have on at least one camera, which automatically adjusts exposure for a wide range of illumination. There is film in the walnut for a hundred exposures, and the spring for operating its shutter and shifting its film is wound once for all when the film clip is inserted. It produces its result in full color.

      While Bush is right that camera's will get smaller and produce color photographs, a normal camera now uses no film and is not embedded on anyone's head. Bush was still thinking about the technology of the past (their present) and thus didn't fully realize what technological advances could occur with the camera.

    61. Now, says Dr. Bush, instruments are at hand which, if properly developed, will give man access to and command over the inherited knowledge of the ages.

      Bush likely didn't realize that this power would be in the hands of the every-man. With handheld computers being all the rage now. It seems Bush thought scientists would be the first to come up with this type of technology, probably for the government or something similar.

    62. On this are placed longhand notes, photographs, memoranda, all sorts of things. When one is in place, the depression of a lever causes it to be photographed onto the next blank space in a section of the memex film, dry photography being employed.

      A scanner

    63. For this reason there still come more machines to handle advanced mathematics for the scientist.

      Not just for scientists. Everyone can now do advanced mathematics with help of a computer or cellphone. Just type it in google.

    64. the users of advanced methods of manipulating data are a very small part of the population

      not so small now.

    65. will the author of the future cease writing by hand or typewriter and talk directly to the record?

      Not just the author but everyone can do so. My dad does it whenever he wants to search something on his phone or send a text.

    66. A library of a million volumes could be compressed into one end of a desk.

      Or onto a device the size of a hand that could hold billions and access even more from all over the web.

    67. Consider film of the same thickness as paper, although thinner film will certainly be usable.

      Or no film at all, just a digital version that records it on a device that can easily be transferred to a computer with just a cord.

    68. The cord which trips its shutter may reach down a man's sleeve within easy reach of his fingers.

      Now the common public has selfie sticks that take pictures on a phone that can do more than simply call someone.

    69. record on film

      Now, many films are now being recorded digitally instead of on film, allowing for storage on computers instead.

    70. They have done their part on the devices that made it possible to turn back the enemy, have worked in combined effort with the physicists of our allies. They have felt within themselves the stir of achievement. They have been part of a great team. Now, as peace approaches, one asks where they will find objectives worthy of their best.

      This makes me think of A Farewell to Arms where one of the surgeons was considered the best in his field during WW1 but how his knowledge of amputation and dealing with bullet wounds would not work for him after he returned home from the war as that is not a common need when away from the battlefield.

    71. burying their old professional competition in the demand of a common cause, have shared greatly and learned much. It has been exhilarating to work in effective partnership. Now, for many, this appears to be approaching an end.

      What is interesting is how individuals still share their knowledge to create new things, artists and scientists collaborating together, but how there is still that tight restriction that controls what can be done. New inventions, artworks, music, and tools are still copyrighted and individuals must apply to work with them. You also have inventors that place an outrageous price tag on some of their products, limiting the number of people who can buy them and find out what things they can do that are beyond even the mind of the tool's creator.

    72. Is it not possible that some day the path may be established more directly?

      The Wachowskis plagiarized.

    73. Next, in a history, he finds another pertinent item, and ties the two together.
    1. Machines with interchangeable parts can now be constructed with great economy of effort. In spite of much complexity, they perform reliably. Witness the humble typewriter, or the movie camera, or the automobile. We have reached a point in technology now where all of these inventions can perform their jobs without human involvement.

      His description of the "humble typewriter" seems like such an understatement in comparison to the computers and recording devices we now have

    1. First, they have increased his control of his material environment. They have improved his food, his clothing, his shelter; they have increased his security and released him partly from the bondage of bare existence.

      It is amazing thinking of this in context of amazon and the amount of things we are able to buy and obtain in minutes without leaving the room...

    2. Had a Pharaoh been given detailed and explicit designs of an automobile, and had he understood them completely, it would have taxed the resources of his kingdom to have fashioned the thousands of parts for a single car, and that car would have broken down on the first trip to Giza.

      This is a really interesting comparison, and raises a good point. Cars have come a long way from what they originally were- and the number one reason for their development was market demand and competition which encouraged companies to start creating new models...and if people hadn't bothered buying the old models there would be no money for new ones...