volume #78, issue 3
monday, February 8, 2016
Man age r
Phone plans cost an arm and a leg
Sister schools celebrate 25 years
The Patriots have a gate problem
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VIEW
Would you like lead with that?
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pioneers press forward Delta’s Jon Swift, 2, drives the ball down the court and past Maccomb Community College’s defense in the Jan. 30 home game. Delta Pioneers won the bout 8468. (Delta Collegiate/Noah Surbrook)
Read our game coverage online at DeltaCollegiate. com
FOUNTAIN
TALK
What is one thing you are certain of? Jonathon Mansfield 19, Saginaw I’m certain that I am going to be graduated in two years. Right now I am just doing my general eds. [I will be] transferring to SVSU.
Melvin Hall 19, Saginaw
That I’m going to school. [I’m] studying political science... I want to get into the government.
Maiya Kaufmann 17, Frankenmuth
If you work or like put your mind to anything you want to accomplish, eventually it will be accomplished.
Marissa Jurek 21, Saginaw
Always making sure that I’m going to stay who I am and I’m going to follow through with everything that I do.
master the machines Technology and culture author to speak on campus
Nicholas Carr
harper skrzypczak As the world around us becomes more automated, few people are stepping back to examine the relationship between humans and machines. On Wednesday, Feb. 10, Nicholas Carr, a New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist will speak at Delta College about this topic. The speech, which is part of the President’s Speakers Series, will be held in the Delta College Lecture Theater, G-160, at 10 a.m. After his presentation the author’s books will be for sale and he will be available for book signing. Carr’s most recent novel, “The Glass Cage: How Our Computers Are Changing Us,” discusses our dependence on computers, machinery and automation and how this reliance affects us as individuals and as a society. “As human beings we seem to have this deep desire to make things easy for ourselves. And that’s why we’re so quick to look to machinery or computers to take over work we used to do ourselves,” says Carr, via phone interview. According to Carr, the more we automate the more control and information we give to computer companies. “What’s happening in essence is that because we can now program computers to automatically analyze information and output suggestions or recommendations, and because computers can do that very quickly, it becomes attractive for many companies to replace even white-collar workers, analytical workers with computers,” says Carr. “Or, if they don't replace those workers, they require workers to rely on software to do their jobs.” Few professional occupations are immune from automation, according to Carr. However, he says that doesn’t mean all jobs are going to disappear. Rather, all jobs are going to change as people become more reliant on computers and software algorithms. Carr suggests that we take a step back and “defend our human selves and not simply fall into the trap of saying that because computers are quicker at things they’re... better at them.” Although Carr believes that there are many positives that come from technology and automation, there are negatives that need to be examined. One of the biggest problems he has with automation, particularly computer automation, is that the design is often technology-centered. “The person who is writing the software or engineering the computer system starts by saying ‘Well, what can the computer do?’ And then everything that the computer can possibly do is handed over to the computer and then what’s left over is given to the human being. And, often what's leftover is pretty dull
Civil rights attorney encourages students to action greg horner
stuff like monitoring computer screens or inputting data,” says Carr. This is a problem because “it steals from people the opportunity to develop their own talent. We become very passive and defer to the computer.” Carr believes a better approach “is not to say, ‘Let the computer do everything the computer can do,’ but to think about what people are good at and what computers are good at. And, then divide responsibilities in a way that allows people to continue to build their own talents and their own insights while using the computer to speed up certain routine tasks.” This approach, according to Carr, is called human-centered design. This way “we can get the advantages that computers provide, but we can also make sure that we continue to be challenged... and to continue to get the satisfaction and the sense of fulfillment that comes from developing rich skills and overcoming hard challenges rather than simply saying, “ Well let the computer do it.” Kirk Wolf, a professor of philosophy at Delta and member of the President's Speakers Series Committee, recommended Carr as a speaker to the committee. Barb Handley-Miller, chair of the committee, made Carr’s lecture at Delta possible. Wolf says Carr is “not opposed to digital media or the internet. He’s not a Luddite,” and that “He does raise serious questions about our dependence on [technology].” The danger of our ever increasing dependence,” says Carr, “is that we become kind of trapped in a compulsive cycle of information gathering and messaging. And if you look at patterns of the way people use Facebook or use their smartphones or use Google what you see is really this kind of constant compulsive scanning of information.” Carr says that all of the distraction and interruption via phones and computers makes it so that “we have less and less time to back away from the flow of information and to concentrate and be attentive to very complex issues, complex subjects.” When asked what tips he can give to get into a state of flow and focus, Carr says that if people “value the deepest forms of thinking, then they need to make room in their day to day lives to engage in that.”
“When we’re talking about ordinary citizens and extraordinary change, you have to think about, ‘what does a leader look like?’ ” says Jasmine Rand during her speech at the Ricker Center, Saginaw, on Feb. 2. Rand, who teaches social justice at the University of Miami and worked as an attorney for Trayvon Martin’s and Michael Brown’s families, was invited by the Student and Civic Engagement Office in honor of Black History Month. “What does an agent of change look like?” asks Rand. “Is that somebody who never fails? Who walks around with this little cloud of hope above their heads every single day? Because there’s a little part of my day, everyday, where I think I’m insane for doing what I do.” A first generation college student and the daughter of a teenage mother, Rand dreamt of being an advocate for social justice since the age of 10. But her path toward being a modern civil rights advocate didn’t always seem within reach. “A leader is not somebody who never fails, [and] a leader is not somebody who never loses hope,” says Rand, who faced low scores on the LSAT ( the lawyers SATs) and faced rejection from law schools throughout the country. “I sat outside of this mall that was near my house and just cried and cried and cried,” says Rand. “I said ‘god why would you tell me who I am, why would you give me this vision as a little girl... Why would you fill my heart with this purpose and then fail me?’ ” Rand wants the story of her struggle to inspire others to achieve their vision.
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