Briefing: Tech Issues of Non-technical Problems

Briefing: Tech Issues of Non-technical Problems

Kiyotaka ISHIKAWA

#Three different topics

Man vs. Machine −Why a slowdown in tech progress is good news for jobs−*

The rise of social media, big data and other tech trends are expected to boost the economic growth in the similar way computers changed productivity of business a few decade ago, but what about workers less educated to catch up with the next IT innovation? It is suggested that too fast tech advancement delivers higher unemployment and inequality over income levels which many economists believe in turn slow down the pace of growth. Fortunately, some economic reports show that recent prices for IT equipment like software, computers, and networking technology fall at a much slower pace than the one Moore’s law predicted −computer chips double in power roughly every 18 months; technology is not increasing at the same pace it once did. Given that man’s ability to learn new things are limited, what is the optimal innovation speed that fuels economic growth most efficiently?

Electric-Vehicle −Will discounts persuade the masses to plug in electric cars−*

The electric car is in the middle of technological and also economical development. Cars that use at least some electricity for power accounted for under 3.5% of auto sales in the United States throughout 2012, and pure-electric cars represent a tiny fraction of that. One of the biggest hurdle for plug-in type vehicles is range; for example, Nissan Leaf runs only 130 km for every full-recharge that takes hours. Although range extends dramatically when it comes to the hybrid models that use both gas and battery power, another big problem, price, does not let the green cars prevail over the auto market. Despite generous rebates and tax credits, as much as $10,000 off the price, in addition to savings on gas costs that carmakers push for the purchase motive, today’s price fail to catch most drivers. To what extent do carmakers have to compromise price in order to make the electric cars popular, considering a series of relevant factors like switching costs from gas to electricity for users, potential revenue due to cost-effective mass-production after it gets popular, and social investment into infrastructure like plug-in power stations? 

What Free Costs −A suicide fuels the online copyright fight−**

Aaron Swartz was a top programmer who had thought that every idea and innovation must be open access so that people could share it to better the world, just like other ordinary hackers, but in his case, this was nothing like a policy but a lifelong crusade. He ended up with suicide during his trial with a potential sentence of 35 years in prison on 13 counts of fraud, cybercrime and other charges. One of his most remarkable works is the break into MIT’s repository of scholarly publications from which he downloaded some 4.8 million documents and tried to share them online before he arrested. He felt the articles produced with government funding should be available to all, which turned into s surprising result that the academic database have since released some of its collection for free. After his death, his supporters have encouraged the release of copyrighted materials, and hackers have attacked MIT’s network. How much information should be freely available and how aggressively the government should punish those who released it? 

#Articles from TIME, Jan 28 2013* and Feb 4 2013**