# Reading responses (1)

## 1/27 Learning

Researchers Peter Brown, Henry Roediger III, and Mark McDaniel say that our ideas about learning, practice, memorization, and rereading textbooks are wrong. Brown et al. emphasized that learning is putting information into long-term memory so that it can be quickly retrieved and used in new situations. They gave us three essential qualities for learning. 1) To use what you've learned later, you have to remember it. 2) It is important for people to maintain their minds active throughout their lives by always seeking new knowledge. 3) Learning is a skill that can be learned. Even while these are crucial, most individuals claim to learn best through rereading textbooks and engaging in extensive practice, which is not supported by studies. Although it may feel like you've mastered the content after reading over a textbook again, research by Brown et al. shows that these methods actually have just a short-term effect on retention.

The first chapter shows how important it is to remember things from the past because it makes the brain re-solidify memories, which strengthens the links between what people already know. Briefly, retrieval learning shows people not just what they know, but also what they don't know. This idea is closely related to the idea that learning is stronger when it matters, which promotes persistent learning through active involvement with the content. Co-op work experience is based on the idea that students learn best when they apply what they've learned in textbooks. In these situations, students personalize their education to the specific needs of the jobs they're doing, and their education becomes more concrete and real than it would be through more traditional methods of instruction like reading textbooks. Instead, abstract concepts are brought into the concrete, and cutting-edge education is completely realized when combined with time-honored teaching techniques. Co-op job experience is comparable in that both emphasize the need of applying newly acquired information in real-world contexts. Students gain a more realistic and applicable education through co-op than through traditional classroom study.

## 2/3 Cooperation

In China, the winner of a game is sometimes referred to as the "survival of the fittest" or the "rule of the jungle." Both terms are commonly used in conventional social and professional contexts. Both are metaphors for the constant battle of living things to stay alive. However, after reading the essay titled "Why We Help," I've come to the conclusion that there is a third approach that may be summarized as survival of the luckiest.Using Martin's logic, we can only keep our species alive by helping one another, since cooperation is the key to success. He also found that collectives, as part of their development mechanism, go through cycles of working together and then competing with one another.

Direct exchange can take on a variety of forms. Nowak argues that even if a player betrays or makes a mistake, they may still work together because of the tit-for-tat approach. Bats of the same species will remember the generosity of a particular vampire and reciprocate the favor if they ever find themselves in a food shortage. In addition, when people get together, they form clusters, which can lead to things like living in a community, while in the workplace, things like competition and cooperation are commonplace amongst those who are vying for advancement. Instead, cultural societies arise because of indirect reciprocity, which means that whether or not one person helps another depends on that person's reputation. The Prisoner's Dilemma experiment suggests that if there are four prisoners, two of them will choose to defect. However, it's still possible that one of them stays quiet while the other risks betraying the group. The witness will only spend a year in prison for providing the information. A risk-taker is the "survival of the luckiest" because he or she knows the game and how to play it well enough to win in the end.

## 2/7 Social Network

The power of the Internet to bring people from all over the world together has come to characterize the modern world, which places a value on interpersonal relationships.
Rheingold’s chapter titled "Social Has a Shape," discusses the ways in which these hidden relationships work. He discussed three different kinds of logic: Snaroff’s law states that (networks expand according to the number of nodes they include), Metcalfe's Law says that (growth is equal to two times the number of nodes.), along with Reed's Law which states that (the number of interconnected nodes grows exponentially as more nodes are added.)

Reed's Law is associated with the concept of network transmission, which is a relatively recent phenomena that characterizes the exponential rise of global interconnection due to the spread of various means of receiving and transmitting data. On the other hand, Metcalfe's Law is the one most closely associated with the concept of the Internet as "the Web," since it states that every node connected to the network may communicate with any other node on the network.

Connecting with others is as easy as clicking a button when using social media and sending a friend request. There are countless interactions occurring every day, and huge amounts of data are being gathered and analyzed by companies who have access to the information that people freely disclose. Both the economics and psychology of social networks demonstrate a universally high degree of interdependence among all humans. Because of the ease with which one individual can be linked to their extensive network, such relationships are invaluable in the corporate world.

## 2/10 Haters

While the vast majority of internet users express themselves positively, there are those who appear to take pleasure in bringing others down. According to [ajc.com](https://www.ajc.com/news/world/this-social-media-platform-the-worst-for-cyberbullying/nsTKWz7nRG4gmDUE07BE0K/
) 42% Instagram users experience bullying which was significantly higher than facebook. Instagram has added automatic harmful content removal software. It's not just comments that users can disable, they can also create their own blacklist of inappropriate words.

It's possible that some people will argue that bullying someone online is not nearly as horrible as bullying someone in person, but I can argue that this is a misconception and that it's even possible that bullying someone online is worse than bullying someone in person. Celebrities also face bullying on a daily basis because trolls will target anything, a picture can be positive but they will still find a way to include negative comments. I personally think that people who spend their time on any social platforms bullying they don’t do it because they enjoy it but rather they are trying to reflect their insecurity on others to make them feel better about their situation. Trolls will target anyone or anything; even if a photo is positive, they will find a way to comment negatively on it. Personally I believe that people who spend time on any social media bullying do not engage in this behavior because they find it enjoyable, rather they are seeking to project their own insecurity onto others.

## 2/14 The DarkNet

According to Jordan Wright's "How Tor Works" page, Tor is a service that allows its users to remain anonymous by hiding their IP address and other identifying information. The system functions by routing your computer's connections through a network of intermediary computers known as relays on the way to their final destinations. The browser's functionality is made possible via a global network of entry, middle, and exit relays that are entirely operated by volunteers. When Tor was first developed, it received government funding from the US. Now, not only do governments rely on it for secure communication, but so do many other groups. This includes activists who need a secure environment in which to spread their message, everyday internet users who seek anonymity, and criminals who exploit the anonymizing capabilities of the internet to conduct crimes in secret.

In the article "Explain Bitcoin Like I'm Five" by Nik Custodio, he explains the complexities of Bitcoin. It is difficult to send digital cash since you never know where it has gone or who could have a copy. However, in response to these problems, they have created a public ledger that can keep track of all of the transactions. The fact that the ledger is accessible to the public eliminates the need for a trusted third party to confirm transactions and ensures that everyone is on the same page regarding the total amount of currency in circulation and who now legally owns any given unit of currency that has changed hands due to an exchange. Tor and Bitcoin together make the Darknet possible, providing an anonymous and secure environment for criminal activity. An analysis of this relationship may be found in David Kushner's "The Battle for the Dark Net" article. Virtual anonymity is possible in the Darknet, making it a haven for criminals. Using the Tor browser, it facilitates anonymous Bitcoin transactions. This is risky because the government built Tor in the first place, so it can never be shut down. Hence, the same people who built and supported the software's supposed security are now attempting to capture criminals using it. Tor is also used by activists for good purposes. This adds to the problem because such organizations also want the browser to remain open for privacy reasons. Although illegal activities are a minor portion of Tor use, they are nevertheless pervasive. Darknet sellers can freely exchange illegal goods and services with little to no repercussions. To track down these criminal activities, the government employs deep web and darknet search engines such as Memex. It's also important to remember that, like any other software, it can be either beneficial or destructive. The ever-evolving nature of internet technology makes this problem complex.