U.S. Technology Facilitates Chilean Mine Ordeal

Technology is not always about computers, mobile devices, or other clever gadgets the technological advancement of this decade has brought about. Technology is also about the complex mechanisms that foster and facilitate small tasks like everyday chores to large tasks like liberating 33 Chilean miners from the depths of the Earth’s crust. It was an amazing sensation to witness the first successful rescuing of one of the 33 trapped Chilean miners, who had been stuck about 2,000 feet below the Earth. Just to give an illusion of how far that is depth wise here is a mind boggling chart that compares the depth of the mine to some of the world’s tallest man made buildings.



The rescue effort behind the Chilean mine disaster has given the United States an opportunity to establish a monumental political stance. The fact that American engineers, and various other professionals are taking part in the rescue effort in a regime that has long rivaled the United States for its attitude towards Latin America’s progress as a whole, adds a positive aspect to the complex political relation between the two regimes. This has largely been made possible by the various technological capabilities our country has to offer. NASA officials offered council and advice to a Chilean engineers working alongside American engineers from the U.S. Both countries were able to come up with a plan that would rescue the men in almost half of the 4 months that had been estimated. This kind of situation provides the illusion of possible peaceful negotiations and trade agreements in the future for both countries, seeing the possibility of being able to work well in one field hopefully can lead to others. Thanks to technology we not only witnessed the aide provided by the U.S. worldwide but we also saw the vital role the aide played in warming Latin American sentiments towards Americans. This bestows further significance to the ordeal, in terms of historical and political context; Latin American sentiments towards the U.S. have been mostly negative. Since the early 19th century vis-a-vis the imperialistic role the U.S. took on during that time to contemporary issues today with security, terrorism and immigration, the U.S. has not been excessively concerned with its overall appearance to its Latin American global partners. As I witnessed U.S.-Chilean Company Geotec Boyles Bros. operate the first drill to reach the miners, I realized the importance this technology personified in terms of U.S. and Latin American relations. To be able to observe how technology allowed two nations to look beyond their differences and work together for a greater purpose says more than what could be put in words of how society benefits from technology at large.


sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/12/gergen.miners/?hpt=T2

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/26/graphic.chile.mine/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

From Streetcorners to Craigslist....

As if Craigslist isn’t sketchy enough. Apparently they have an adult services section on their site which according to CNN Wire staff, Craigslist has finally made moves to monitor the interactions on its site by “censoring” this section of their site. Craigslist has been accused of promoting prostitution via from their website due to this particular section. "These prostitution ads enable human trafficking and assaults on women," claims Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal who “spearheaded a recent letter from 17 attorneys general urging Craigslist to discontinue its adult services section”(CNN Wire staff).
I think this is very important seeing as Craigslist is a pretty popular website and there have been quite a few attacks and even murders in the past year having to do with encounters arranged via ad’s placed on craigslist’s adult services section. For example the infamous, Craigslist killer case covered by CBN in September 2009 having to do with a young man named Phillip Markoff, who basically went on a seven day killing spree. He would meet the prostitutes/escorts from the craigslist ads in hotels or motels, attack them, rob them, and eventually killed one of the three women he had attacked.
This story alone gives reason for further investigation on why and how Craigslist as well as other major sites should be more careful and somehow have more censorship in sections that deal with such matters, seeing as prostitution is perfectly illegal in the U.S. except for in specific areas in the state of Nevada. I found it interesting that in today’s society we can hold Craigslist a bit more accountable for allowing itself to be so easily accessible to such activities, and yet we would never hold any specific street in the infamous red districts of the U.S. accountable for the same sort of accessibility.
What do you think?

Aisha

sources:

CNN Wire Staff, . "Critic praises Craigslist move to censor ads, calls for more info." CNN Justice. CNN, 06 Sept 2010. Web. 7 Sep 2010. .

"The Craigslist Killer: Seven Days of Rag." 48 Hours Mystery. CBN NEws, 10 July 2010. Web. 7 Sep 2010. .