Evolution towards Singularity: MIL
As we are now in the 21st Century, the peak of technology evolution, we began to rely on its capabilities, functionalities, and conveniences to do just the basics of living a typical daily life. A simple little box that can show a myriad of pieces for people to be in awe or to be comforted by its glow and tinging sound if ever a notification pops up. It may be a fascinating and wonderful invention that we as humans created however it also has its cons. Yet, despite that, we do things that we might think is fun but have dire consequences in the end. "With great power comes great responsibility" after all; in a world having unlimited space for power.
MIL or Media Information Literacy gave me a weird vibe at first, I thought that it only teaches students how to use the internet properly, how to utilize technology to your advantage, and promotes awareness to students on the ups and downs of the internet yet, just like the vastness of the world, it gets way deeper than that. From my perspective, it shows what I call "the road to singularity", meaning that technology becomes so advanced that they will eventually gain sentience and might cause discord to humanity's fate; in other words, it is a warning for me that the mind will never comprehend the fullness of technology's singularity. There is a great unknown in the world after all. With this in mind, I approached this subject with enthusiasm and fascination as I'm a bit aware of the "dark sides" of the technological space of reality. It was interesting indeed as we are so comforted and entertained in using the internet, to the point that we forget that there is a huge world out there, waiting for us to be released by these confinements. The subject promotes the bestowment of knowledge to students, who use the internet frequently and consecutively every single second (even milliseconds but I digress) to be fully aware and think critically before doing anything else, because with actions comes consequences, either good or bad. As time went on, the discussions become way more interesting as it covers topics that are only either covered in YouTube or in TikTok or 抖音 Dou yin. One time the subject tackles on the basic netiquettes to follow on the internet and it mentioned privacy concerns. Immediately my mind ringed as they are many privacy concerns on the digital side of reality including Doxing (the process of hacking personal information via fishing websites or Discord's "secret IDs"), hacking, and even posting sensitive information online. According to studies, sharing posts online is the same as doing drugs as the brain releases Dopamine that is responsible for pleasure. No wonder why people get so addicted in posting, tagging, tweeting, and more of that kind of stuff. That is why Media and Information Literacy exists, so that people are aware on what they are doing on the cyberspace is correct, logical, and critical. And I got to say, it was amazing.
As stated earlier, MIL promotes awareness, critical thinking, and creativity to students who uses the internet frequently. Let's admit it, we use the cyberspace for merely everything, even with the simplest of tasks (it can be a conspiracy that technology is one way for human minds to become degraded to the point that they can't comprehend anything even in the simplest of things but who knows?) or even things like entertainment, assignment/s, etc... Information spreads over the internet like wildfire that it gets to the point that it becomes distorted and manipulated, leading to misinformation or deepfakes that most people will likely to believe or utilize to do whatever they want to the point that we realize we live in an era full of lies, deception, and confusion thus I would like to call it "Loss Generation"; the truth is lost via the hands of a Rubik's cube constantly rotating on its own. Media and Information Literacy is like a person screaming at another person saying, "DO THE RESEARCH GOSH DA** IT!!!" because come on, we believe what we hear, not even questioning its authenticity and validity. It allows us to be fully cautious on the bright and dark sides of using not only the internet but technology too in order for us to combat the things that might come in harm's way in using such advancements. The utilization of technology can truly help in finding or doing jobs since that's the purpose of technology: to be convenient and efficient to people all over the world. I myself want to become a psychologist one day and yes, I have those times thinking that I may not need to use the cyberspace as it can harm not only on my mental state but also my way of thinking and doing things, however, a wise man one said, "You can learn not just from your mistakes but others too." and yes, I agree. The fact that a lot of people do reckless things on the internet can be a great insight to understand human minds and their behaviors on certain situations. With the help of MIL, I'll be able to know the dos and don'ts on using the internet and it can give me a head start in embracing probably the worst-case scenario: A.I. achieving Singularity (I mean understanding the whole view about the world we lived in :))).
"A single letter can mean a word, a single word can mean a meaning, a meaning can mean a concept, and a concept can mean an understanding." - Unknown.
The world has changed by a long run. It is not anymore like the 12th Century or the Renaissance era when people do things the "hard" way, right now it is easy, comforting, and dangerous, however, it is still having such great importance in creating a nation's identity; it allows everyone to express themselves to the whole world who and what they are (with the right things of course without violating people's privacy, culture, and race) to the point that it creates the sense of unity and friendship. Like the internet, we too connect as well, with others who're having similar traits or even past experiences, the same goes in creating and building one nation. All in all, MIL allows everyone to band together and create a mutual understanding that can lead to a unified nation. With highly critical individuals using technology in one nation, what more could we ask?
