Interview

Unfortunately, I missed class today to attend an interview at Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tn. It is not unfortunate that I had an interview, but it is unfortunate that I missed Casey Park's talk. 

But, while I was in Kingsport, I discovered something amazing that I did not know existed.. Eastman. I arrived right as it was getting dark on Sunday, to check into the Marriott and go have dinner with the other applicant and a host. My hotel room overlooked a golf course, which was not impressive in itself. But, as we carpooled to dinner, Eastman illuminated the near sky. It was truly a beautiful sight.

Bright and early the next morning, it was time for the interview. We started with breakfast, where my host was late. Then we rode over to the plant and as the other applicant interviewed my host showed me videos on the Eastman Innovation Lab portion of their site to showcase what Eastman really does. My favorite video was of the Eastman Titan plastic, a baseball team was shown hitting and breaking other types of drinking cups in one hit, when they hit the Eastman Titan cup the cup just bounced around and continued to bounce hit after hit.

One of the videos that stuck out to me was a partnership Eastman had with ASU where they gave ASU industrial design majors a chance to use Perennial Wood in ways other than just for decks and siding.

After the videos, it was my turn to interview. The interview consisted of a panel of four workers, who took turns asking me questions that were based on my resume. They were looking for things that displayed teamwork, motivation, and a drive to learn new things. At the end of the interview, they commented that I displayed all of the qualities of an IT employee that they were looking for. They also commented that my interview went well.

Before I arrived at Eastman, I was sure that I did not want the job. But, after seeing Eastman and learning what they do I changed my mind. 

Final Presentations

Today we watched half the class give final presentations. The one I found the most interesting was Ethics of Violent Video games. I am not as avid a gamer as most college students my age, but I do play my fair share of games. In fact, I was recently at the midnight release of Batman: Arkham Origins.. I have not had time to beat it yet.

I have been aware of video games negatively affecting children because they are easily influenced because they have not learned their own value system yet. It never occurred to me that they could affect adults that way. When I play a violent video game, like Call of Duty, I do not get the urge to go out and shoot people. I choose to play violent video games because they let me be in a place where I would never normally be, I try to avoid fights.. in video games, the fights are the major part.

I recently discovered Saints Row (pictured above). Which is a more laid-back, and less expensive, version of Grand Theft Auto. For me, the fun of the game is to go around and beat people with a giant purple dildo. Why? because it is funny. Would I ever do that in real life? Most definitely not.

In my opinion, given the opportunity to play an ethical game that forces you to think about your decisions would be less popular for those playing violent video games. Sims is a decision based game where you make your sims a life (and in my case, find creative ways to burn down their houses), ethical decisions could be built into a game like this. But you are missing out on what most violent games give, lots of action. Though I do believe ethical games would be successful for the market of gamers who play the reality games like the sims.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is defined as measures taken to protect a computer or computer system against unauthorized access or attack. It is also what I have spent this semester learning about. 


There are a lot of threats in the realm of cyberspace; ranging from small personal annoyances like spam emails to national-scale security threats. Though all protection starts at the same place, awareness. 

I have done several exercises in my Computer Security class that proves just how easy it is to pull off a cyber crime. I have made a spoofing website and learned how to send an anonymous email to get traffic to that website. I have also learned how to monitor traffic to and from a computer, as well as how to use a password cracker.

If you go and google "how to hack a computer", thousands of results and videos come up. People can also buy software that other people have written to hack into a computer. The realm of possibilities is nearly endless and very easy to access.

With all of these things readily at anyone's fingertips, the world needs to be more aware of what information they have available and how to better protect themselves from attackers.

Ethics

Kantianism is an ethical theory that focuses on the act and not the consequences when deciding if the act is ethical. The only inherently good thing in the world is good will.

Act Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that focuses on the consequences. Act Utilitarianism specifies that morality of an action has nothing to do with intent. To decide of an act is ethical, you add up change in happiness of all affected beings.

Rule Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that advocates the adoption of moral rules that, if followed by everyone, will lead to the greatest increase in total happiness.

Social Contract Theory is an ethical theory that states that in a society there is a social contract which is generally accepted. In Social Contract Theory the government is capable of enforcing said rules.

Even though these theories are clearly defined, our own personal interpretation on if a certain circumstance should be considered ethical by these theories was not the same in class. This could be due to a difference in our interpretation of the actual action, or our interpretation of the theories.

Kantianism seems to be the most lenient in saying an action is ethical because kantianism factors in the intent of the person who took the action. Social contract theory is most what our current society goes by for ethics. We have a set of generally accepted rules that people are supposed to follow, if they do not follow those rules they are punished.