The Blue Team

1. Leader – Colm Moore Speaker 1 – Ivan Lennon Speaker 2 – Brian MacMahon Speaker 3 – Phillippe Boutroy Rebuttal – Aindriu O Suilleabhan The Blue Team TEAM: Tarun Maitra, Roibeard MacArdail, Ciaran Mahar, Daniel O’Keefe, Howard Mannion, Martin McCauley, Declan Murphy, Derek McClatchie, Brian McElvaney, Eoin McGrath, Ronan McMaugh, Patrick O’Loughlin

2. BLUE GROUP The IT revolution is a far far greater thing than any revolution which has happened to society before Our group will put forward the motion supporting this statement

3. Our Argument • Speaker 3 - Phillipe Boutroy • The effects of IT on visions of mankind • The integration of technology and humanity • Summary of our motion Speaker 1 – Ivan Lennon Introduction and defintion of motion Benefits of IT Revolution Science Medicine Speaker 2 – Brian MacMahon Benefits of IT Revolution Internet Comparison to other Revolutions Industrial Revolution The Future of the IT revolution

4. Interpretation of the Motion • A revolution is defined as:- • “Any complete change of method or conditions” • «Oxford English Dictionary» • The I.T. Revolution has changed the methods of: • Communication • Business • Banking, and • Leisure • We will show the IT revolution to be great in terms of it being remarkable or outstanding in magnitude, degree, or extent • Internationally, we are witnessing the most profound changes in international telecommunications and information technology. We are rapidly heading for a post-industrial society in which information is produced, communicated and used intensively «Mary Robinson»

5. Benefits of the IT revolutionSCIENCE • IT has many applications for science • Scientific research is being transformed by IT • It has changed how we explore space • It has given us new technology • It has helped us to better understand our planet

6. Benefits of the IT revolutionMEDICINE • Medicine also has benefited from the I.T. Revolution • Sharing of Medical Information, Technologies and Breakthroughs • Devices have been developed to help monitor the ill • Methods of surgery have been changed • Human Genome Project uses computer extensively • Conditions of disabled people’s lives has been greatly improved by I.T.

7. Changes in Methods and Benfits of I.T. These points have shown the motion to be true, in that: • This period of time is truly revolutionary. Methods of communication, research, business and medicine have changed • The sheer number of people experiencing the I.T. Revolution and benefiting from it is unlike any other revolution in History • I.T. is advancing humanity’s understanding of space, our planet and ourselves at a phenomenal rate

8. Speaker 2 - Brian MacMahon Benefits of the IT revolution The Internet Comparison to previous revolutions Industrial Revolution The Future of the IT revolution

9. Benefits of IT – The Internet "How Citizens Assess the Digital Revolution“ Frank I. Luntz http://www.pff.org/nhreport.htm#_Toc464108344 One Third of Irish People now have access to the Internet, Research Published by the Information Society Commission – 14 October, 1999

10. Uses of the Internet REASONS FOR GOING ONLINE Heavy Users of Technology Total E-Mail 18% 22% Purchases 28% 21% Business/Stocks 30% 20% Entertainment 14% 14% Travel 15% 13% News 13% 11% Educational/School 6% 10% Medical/Health Information 10% 8% The Internet has flourished in the past few years because it saves people time and provides a convenience that was not even imaginable five years ago. "How Citizens Assess the Digital Revolution“ Frank I. Luntz, Luntz Research Companies http://www.pff.org/nhreport.htm#_Toc464108344

11. Comparison with Industrial Revolution • The first steam powered cotton mill in the US dated from 1847 - sixty three years after its adoption in Britain • The first electronic computers were developed in the mid forties • "If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get one million miles to the gallon..." -Robert X Cringely www.quoteland.com

12. Change in sectors • “In recent years, the U.S. economy has performed beyond most expectations …While the full economic impact of information technology cannot yet be precisely evaluated, its impact has been significant. “ • Information technology industries have doubled as a percentage of the overall GDP in the last ten years • “In 1985, 557,000 people worked in these industries. By 1996, the figure had more than doubled to reach 1.2 million workers.” www.ecommerce.gov/digital.htm

13. The Future of IT • Moore's law - processor power doubles every 2 years • Memory capacity doubles every 2 years • Disk size similar

14. EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IN THE NEXT MILLENIUM • Graph: No. of Computers in TCD 1982 – 0.01 Computers per person 1998 – 0.29 Computers per person This is a 300 fold increase

15. The past, the present and the future • The Internet gives a voice to the masses • The IT Revolution has brought about More changes in a quicker time than any previous revolutions • The future possibilities because of IT are endless • And the future is now

16. Philippe Boutroy • A new vision of Nature and Mankind • I.T. - Integration of humanity and technology • Summary of case

17. How computers change our cultural outlook (I) For the computer, this is binary digits and algorithm A picture of some beautiful French village? COMPUTERSCHANGE OUR VISION OF NATURE Pictures, sounds, biological processes, physical laws, almost anything can be represented by binary digits and algorithms

18. Modern psychology talks about the input and output of the brain Modern linguistics refer to language as information to be processed The brain consists of electrically sensitive cells…This is comparitive to the computer Information may be defined as the knowledge that resides in the human brain, in all electronic and written records, and potentially, in physical artifacts. Information science is the scientific study of that information: how it is created, transmitted, encoded, transformed, measured, used, and valued.  "Information Science," Microsoft Encarta. Computers provide very handy metaphors for the human brain and the way we work as sentient beings

19. How computers change our cultural outlook (II) “Technologically and in other ways, civilisations proceed at their own pace and with their own inner logic, and each possesses a characteristic set of materials, techniques and devices that help to shape their cultural outlook” «“Turing’s Man”, J. David Bolter» Computers are a defining technology, that make us think of intelligence in mechanical terms Comparing the brain to a computer makes us see ourselves as machines “The electronic digital computer has overcome in part the objections to the materialisation of the mind” «“Turing’s Man”, J. David Bolter»

20. I.T. - Integration of humanity and technology (I) “In the I.T. age, technology is becoming more and more integrated to mankind”… or is this the other way around? Computers make you think in terms which are suggested by the software, e.g. Internet browsers, spreadsheets, word processors, etc.

21. I.T. - Integration of humanity and technology (II) Computers are no longer restricted to the office and home: I.T. is about having access to information any time, anywhere We are relying more and more on computers and computerised tools in our everyday life

22. I.T. – Integration of humanity and technology (II) • Our capabilities as human beings depend more and more heavily on our capacity to communicate quickly and to process information in efficient ways • Laptops, organisers, mobile phones and so on are not just ordinary tools. They are extensions of ourselves • “Men and women of the electronic age, with their desire to sweep along in the direction of technical change, are more sanguine than ever about becoming one with their electronic homunculus. They are remaking themselves in the image of their technology” «“Turing’s Man” J. David Bolter» • We are becoming information processors, Turing’s Men, wired men

23. Is this what our future will be? “The Matrix” 1999 Warner Bros. eXistenZ, 1999 Alliance Atlantis Communications

24. The Army soldier modernization effort is a comprehensive, multifaceted program designed to maximize the operational capabilities of the soldier as a "battlefield system" capable of executing a full range of military operations by enhancing command and control, lethality, survivability, sustainability, and mobility • [Command and control] is integrated with digital head–mounted displays, combat identification, and navigation aids. Improvements will focus on individual communications, computer control systems, position navigation, information fusing and management, visual and aural enhancement (including image capture and transmission), and situational enhancement • Additionally, the benefits derived from developing the soldier system like other major weapon systems by applying a systems approach will result in accelerated product development cycles, lowered acquisitions costs, and reductions in overall size, weight and power requirements • People are the most critical component of weapon systems. They are also the most costly component • «Army Science and Technology Master Plan (ASTMP), 1998 »

25. http://www.army.mil

26. Summary • IT has had a quicker, wider impact than any previous revolution. • It has changed the world we live in : communications reduce distances, computers help us to tame Nature. • In the world of IT, our methods have changed : we communicate in new, unprecedented ways, we use powerful tools that we have completely integrated. This changes our ways to do business, to educate ourselves, to look at science etc. • In the world of IT, the condition of mankind has changed. For the first time in the history of humanity, we see mankind in mechanical terms. What’s more, mankind is becoming more and more machine-like. • All this proves that IT is a far, far greater thing than any revolution that happened before. The question is : “WHEREDO WE GO FROM HERE?”