Headline Dec. 15/ ''' ! TECHNOLOGY THE TERMINATOR ? '''

''' ! TECHNOLOGY 

THE TERMINATOR ? '''

TECHNOLOGY has obviously brought endless benefits to mankind. It has advanced with years and have changed the way we, live, work and play.

It makes life better, allows to work more efficiently, and add more fun and and colour to our leisure pursuits.

When the  Internet became mainstream, it was hailed as one of the best technological advancements with its ability to break down geographical barriers, and even more importantly bring change.

Its derivatives such as social media and *Internet of Things* are a further testimony of technology's positive impact on our lives.

But over time, with more innovations and advancements, we are also beginning to see the *dark side of technology*.

In fact, we have already been given previews of what technology catastrophic consequences could be in the future through post-apocalyptic and dystopian science fiction movies such as Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Terminator, and more.

In April, Google announced an initiative called Project Owl to provide ''algorithmic updates to surface more authoritative content'' and stamp out fake news stories from its search results.

To some, that was an uncomfortable step toward Google's becoming an arbiter of what is and is not a trustworthy news source.

''They're really skating on thin ice,'' said Michael Bertini, a search strategist at iQuanti, a digital marketing agency. 

''They're controlling what users see. If Google is controlling what they deem to be fake news, I think that's bias.''

When David North, the editorial chairman of the World Socialist Web Site, noticed a drop in the  site's traffic in April, he initially chalked it up to news fatigue over President Trump or a shift in political consciousness.

But when he dug into the numbers, Mr. North said, he found a clearer explanation : *Google had stopped redirecting search queries to the site. He discovered that the top search terms that once brought people to the World Socialist Web Site were now coming up empty.

''This is not an accident,'' Mr. North said.  ''This is some form of deliberate intervention.''

Accusations that Google has tampered with search results are not uncommon and date to the earliest days of its search engine. But they are taking new life amid concerns that technology behemoths are directly or indirectly-

Censoring controversial subjects in their response to concerns over so called fake news and the 2016  presidential election.

Despite Google's insistence that its search algorithm undergoes a rigorous testing process to ensure that its results do not reflect political, gender, racial, or ethnic bias, there is a growing political support for regulating Google and other tech giants like public utilities and forcing them to disclose how exactly they arrive at search results.

Most people have little understanding of how Google's search engine ranks different sites, what it chooses to include or exclude, and how it picks the top results among hundreds of billions of pages.

And Google tightly guards the mathematical equations behind it all -the rest of the world has to take its word that it is done it is done in unbiased manner.

''The complexity of ranking and rating is always going to lead to some lack of understanding for people outside of the company,'' said Frank Pasquale, an information Law Professor at the University of Maryland:

''Thee problem is that a lot of people aren't willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.''

In his book : ''The Black Box Society,'' Mr. Pasquale warned about the potential risks from an overreliance on secret algorithms that control what information we see and how critical decisions are made.

As the dominant search engine, with an estimated 90 percent global market share,  Google was criticized by both the right and the left of the political during the 2016 election.

In June 2016, a video from the pop culture site SourceFed accused Google of manipulating automatically completed search suggestions to favor Hillary Clinton.

Google denied the claim, but right-wing media seized on the video as an example that the company was tipping the scales in her favor.

So, But, When the culprit is not tech : Technology can be both hero and villain, depending on how it is being used or abused.

We all like to believe that technology was created with virtuous intentions, but not all are what it seems. 

Its virtuousness lies in the fact that not everyone who uses technology, uses it for the right reasons. The fact that one can find anything and everything on the Internet can make it a double edged sword.

It makes us more knowledgeable, about everything and yet knowing too much may not be a good thing for some people. anyone, anywhere can now just go online to search for information.

While it's at our convenience now, it does cut off our social interactions, since we do have to physically connect with others to do research.

Besides the lack of social interactions, other Internet abuse include cyber-bullying, malware, spam advertising, identity theft, hacking, bootlegging and more.

The list is added every year when people with bad intentions become more creative with the Internet.

The technology itself is harmless since it only carries out what it is programmed to do. However, it offers a big black hole for people to direct its possibilities to negative uses.

The honor and serving of the latest Operational Research on Life, Living and Technology continues. And with thanks for research and authorship from Daisuke Wakabayashi and Ahmed Kushairi.

With respectful dedication to the Scientists, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all register on !WOW! -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW! -the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Tech & News '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless