My Genius Hour 2 research and presentation were about the topic of Artificial Intelligence, more specifically the risks and troubles it could cause humanity in the future, as in physical threat or moral controversy etc… I chose this topic because it’s becoming more and more related to today’s world as artificial intelligence keep accomplishing more and more feats, so I thought it’d be interesting to update my classmates on what researchers and scientists think about AI. I learned many things about artificial intelligence and its risks, including but not limited to where and how it originated, and why it could easily annihilate humanity if put into the wrong hands or if its goals diverged from our own, not unlike how a human would destroy an ant if it were to bother it slightly. I would say this research helped me grow as a person because it made me realize just how unpredictable or fatal things we think we control can be, as demonstrated by my research, which suggested that we had absolutely no idea if an extra line of code to today’s artificial intelligence could lead to an explosion of consciousness and lead to our doom. This presentation wasn’t really supposed to help the world,  like the first genius hour, but I believe it helped my classmates grasp the notion of technology risks a bit better. I’m not sure what my next Genius Hour project will be yet, but I strongly believe that I will be able to use the simple act of talking to my classmates and turn it into a large vulgarization of understanding of technology and awareness of risks, but most likely not Artificial Intelligence.

If you want to learn more about Artificial Intelligence, my presentation was almost entirely based on this playlist of AI Ted Talks I found:

click to view playlist

Here’s my whole presentation. Most of the content was said out loud so it doesn’t provide you with much extra information, but my Works Cited is there also if you’re looking for good pictures.

presentation

Twitter Connect Assignment Reflection

For my  Twitter Expect Connect Assignment, I chose to inquire experts around the world about the many uses of nanotechnology. I followed and connected with the following people:

-Phillip Mote (@pwmote)

-Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob)

-Gavin Schmidt (@ClimateofGavin)

-Nigel Golden (@scienceizgolden)

-Petra Pearce (@petra_pearce)

-Phillip Cook (@cookp)

-Christopher Becke (@BeckePhysics)

-Andrew Jones (@AboutPhysics)

-Ed Hawkins (@ed_hawkins)

-Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

-Angela Meyer (@AngelameyerPhD)

-Tom Grissom (@tomgrissom)

-ACS Green Chemistry (@ACSGCl)

All of these people are Chemistry/Physics/Climate/Space experts, all potential fields of interest for me, as well as the subject of my Genius Hour assignment. I thought nanotechnology could apply to all of those fields because of knowledge I had acquired with articles. Consequently, I asked them how technology could be used in their respective fields. For example, a common type of question asked was how nanotechnology could be used to help the issue of global warming or what were its uses in the domain of space exploration. All of my questions were based on the same format, which was:

1. A form of salutation, for politeness
2. A reference to something about their professional life or their tweets, to make it seem as though I wasn’t just asking them a question just because I wanted an answer, but because what interested them was genuinely something that interested me. This, I believe, increased my chances of getting an answer from them.
3. An invitation for them personally to answer the question (e.g I’d like to hear your input; I’d like to know what you think)

The information collected from all of those answers would, I believe, help me acquire the information I needed for my Genius Hour project, especially since the information was so rare about this topic.

After sending tweets to all of the experts listed above, I received very limited results, in fact, I only received 1 response from one of the professors I reached out to:

I leave “the next step” to the Decadal Survey! More robots, more humans, more private industry. Not sure what opportunities nanotechnology will provide.

— Christopher Becke (@BeckePhysics) December 11, 2017

Even though the responses weren’t numerous, and none of my experts followed me back, or offered further assistance, or even acknowledge my existence beyond that one tweet, the one answer I got was of quality, I would say, because it opened a whole different array of things to expand my question. Thanks to that tweet, I was able to research more the topic that was the Decadal Survey, which was a key point in learning the importance of nanotechnology in space exploration and solving the problem of climate change.

In retrospect, I now understand how these skills can be of use outside of a class environment: with just one tweet, I got more potential to expand my question than anything I searched before reaching out to the experts. If I polish this skill, I would be able to get additional information on any topic that isn’t very present on the internet, and of better quality than I could ever have researched myself.

(Genius Hour is a project in Digital Citizenship class in which the students are allowed to research their own subject for an entire class period every Day 1)

My topic for Genius Hour was Hacking, and more specifically, Ethical Hacking.

I originally chose the project because I wanted to use the internet and school technology for what I wanted, and not only what was asked of me. The reason for that would take an entire blog by itself, and it’s not really the point of my research, so moving on. That was my original question, which had to change because of my teacher’s beliefs concerning what qualifies as school appropriate. After some research, I found that there actually was a form of hacking that was considered legal, and that was ethical hacking. I could go on and on about what ethical hacking is all about, but here are some videos, all from TED TALKs, that summarize what it’s about and the values it stands for:

For those of you who don’t necessarily want to open those tabs, the shortened version is: ethical hackers protect digital media, like websites in which people put their credentials and important information that is meant to stay secret. Here is my presentation slide. There isn’t much information on it because most of the info was said out loud, but here ya go:

goo.gl/bsvhhp

I think this experience helped me grow personally because it made me realize that everything, no matter how bad it seems at first, can be used for good to help other people. The coding training I went through also helped me understand Javascript and HTML much better.

This particular Genius Hour didn’t really help impact the outside world directly, but it could be used to impact it. I could theoretically use the skills I acquired during this Genius Hour to become a certified ethical hacker in the future and help protect people’s information on the Internet, but I have other prospects in mind.

I think it’s quite sad that all this Genius Hour is being wasted on something that I’ll probably forget in a couple of years, so I’m planning on having a more long-term project for the next Genius Hour.

• Roman’s blog ( http://21romap.edublogs.org/ ) ⇒ Brooke’s blog ( http://bmdav.edublogs.org/ ) ⇒ Annika’s blog ( http://aicas92.edublogs.org/ )

My comment:

Hi,

Whoa. That’s a pretty legit blog you have going on there. I like how your posts are in video format, it makes the blog very unique and noice. You clearly invest a lot of time in these videos, and I assume I would not be the first when I say Good Job! This is probably the best blog I’ve seen on this Student Blog Challenge! I’ll make sure to advertise your blog on my SBC8, since you were #3 on my activity 1.

I picked this post at random, but I was immediately pleased by the uniqueness and style of the post and videos

• Joshua’s blog (http://21joshb.edublogs.org/ ) ⇒ Addy’s blog ( http://techkidaddy.edublogs.org/) ⇒ Ally’s blog ( http://techkidallisonp.edublogs.org/)

My comment:

Hey Ally,
Your school sounds nice! You have a great post, and your school celebrations look fun. I like how you used different media and colors to make your post more visually pleasing. I hope to see more of your posts!
I will put your blog on my post as part of SBC8 so that others can see your work.
Keep up the good work,
J.

• Agathe’s blog ( https://agathek.edublogs.org/ ) ⇒ Emma’s blog ( http://emmac23.edublogs.org/ ) ⇒ Mai Thao’s blog ( http://raindropdream.weebly.com/ )

My comment: 

Greetings Mai Thao,

Great post! I sincerely hope it gets featured, because you’re right, the topic needs to be shared so that people know more about it.
I would say I’m an indirect victim of terrorism, because my school got burned to the ground back in Tunisia in 2012. But we are all concerned and we should ALL inform ourselves about terrorism, and this post helps doing that.

(btw you are #3 on my SBC8 Activity 1, so your post will be on my blog. Spread awareness! Keep up the good work!)

I thought it was very good and noble how she used her post to tell other people about a topic this serious. I also liked some of the author’s previous posts, and this one was no different.

ATTENTION: this post contains spoilers about the following: Shokugeki No Soma, Shingeki No Kyojin, Mob Psycho 100, One-Punch man, and One Piece. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.

Good evening readers,

I guess this is a free choice post, and since my blog advertises posts about manga, it would be a shame if I didn’t at least write one post.

This week we had One Piece chapter 884, in which our protagonist Luffy unsurprisingly found a way to defeat an opponent twice as strong as him, who can see the future and is physically stronger than him. That’s plot armor for you, ladies and gentlemen.

I actually liked Brother Dogtooth’s character. I mean, just peek at how cool he looks.  But oh well. It’d sure be nice to have the MC lose for a change.

Next in awesome, we had One-Punch Man chapter 83. As a reader of the original webcomic, I have to admit that the beautifully drawn manga has made me appreciate the art much more than the story. It seems they are deviating a lot from the original source. I’m not complaining, because the story is a lot more fascinating than the webcomic’s, it has more character development for Genos and more sympathy built for the Hero Hunter, which is sweet because he’s my favorite character right now. What’s with me and my appreciation of villains?

And finally, we were gifted a new chapter of Mob Psycho 100, chapter 100.15. I was a fan since the very first chapter, and it pains me to realize that we are probably nearing the end of the story line here. It seems all character development options are closed or closing, with Mob nearing control (or loss thereof?) of his other self. At the very least, we can rejoice over the fact that even though the manga might be ending, the author, ONE (genius), still has plenty of other stories to finish.

That is all I have this week in terms of Manga. I am looking forward to Shingeki no Kyojin chapter 99 coming out probably sometime this week, since it has been revealed Eren is the mysterious soldier, (and most importantly, Warhammer Titan hype). Also, more Boku no Hero Academia action should happen this week after the break. Sweet.

I have almost caught up on Shokugeki no Soma, btw. If someone had told me a couple months ago I would get into a cooking manga so much, I would most likely have laughed it off, but I gotta say, I’m pleasantly surprised by it. It’s grown on me. Definitely check it out. Also, I just started the famous Assassination classroom, which looks like fun.

If you’re a manga enthusiast like me, comment down below suggestions of what I should read next. I’ll try anything you guys put on there. 😉

On a completely unrelated matter, you should check out this extension for Chrome. It gives you points for every tab you open, and you can use those points to transfer as money to a charity of your choice, among multiple on the website. If you have no other “new tab” extension you’re very attached to, you should consider this one to help people around the world for the price of nothing. If you’re on the internet everyday like me, you might as well turn it into something positive

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

http://tab.gladly.io/?r=11456960

Peace,

Julien