The Advancement of the Telephone

Once upon a time, telephones were much simpler. People connected with others through an operator, and phone lines were shared through out a community. This made conversations public for the world to hear, and rarely anything was private. A few years later, people were given individual numbers that allowed them to be contacted directly instead of through a group line. These technological advancement allowed people to carry conversations in private.

Now in modern times, cell phones are one of the biggest techonological advancements around. It seems like every other week a new cell phone is out, getting smaller and smaller, and with more ridiculous capabilities. The biggest attraction to cell phones is there mobility, giving you the ability to carry on a conversation with anyone, anywhere, at any time. This is ironic because carrying on a conversation in a public place, such as a bus or bathroom, makes conversations anything but private.

Even though we have made so many advancements with how we communicate, it seems our technology has brought us backwards. A creation that was meant to make a phone conversation better, or more efficient, merely created the same problem it had when it was originally introduced. It's ironic that when we try to advance something more and more, we still end up with the same mistakes or results that we originally.

Blog Post #2

So, while contemplating what to write about in relation to technology, I googled technological advancements. One of the first new items to come up was a "Talking Sex Robot". Roxxxy is a new invention that for $7,000 will do anything you want. Unlike previous versions she can also carry on a conversation or "respond" to your touch. In order to make her as life like as possible, she also has air pumping through her body to keep her feeling warm. Although she is not due out for months, she is already immensely popular with over 20,000 inquiries and 4,000 preorders.
I am personally a little surprised that so many people are willing to shell out such a huge amount for a doll. Although I understand the most of the people buying this product are old men with too much money and too much time, the article also suggested that female sex therapists and women were intersted in this doll as well. Still, although I'm sure "Roxxxy" is a fun time, I'm not sure she really has $7000 worth of value to her. She is fascinating for the sake of technology and how complexly she must have been programmed, but I do not understand how she could hold sometimes attention for more than a few rounds. Since she cannot literally think for herself, she will eventually run out of prerecorded sentences to moan, so after a while she will get repitive and boring. Yet at the same time, I can probably see someone getting unnecessarily attached to the doll, because not only of the sexual pleasure factor but the fact that she can hold a lifelike conversation. Plus, if you think about the money and time that is put into dinner dates, condoms, or even prostitutes, it could possibly amount to enough to make you want to spend $7000 and ditch dating altogether.
Overall, I think this glorified sex toy really is not enough to replace actual human companionship.
For further info, here is the link if you're interested:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/02/01/sex.robot/index.html