Discussion Post: The “Short Arm” of Predictive Knowledge

The “short arm” concept that Jonas describes serves to emphasize the limits on our ability to predict the long-term consequences of new technologies and, therefore, requires the development of cyber policy and infrastructure in a way that prioritizes prudence, flexibility, and ethical responsibility. As digital technologies develop more quickly than regulatory frameworks can adapt, policymakers cannot rely on complete foresight. Thus, policies must be designed with the assumption that we will experience uncertainty and that we will need continual review and adjustment to our policies. Therefore, we must also develop flexible regulatory structures that can respond to new threats, new technologies, and new social impacts as they arise. Additionally, ethical considerations must be implemented early in the technological design process so that any infrastructure we create has built-in protections for users, even if we do not know what risks will arise in the future. The short arm of predictability suggests that we should not overestimate our ability to predict cyber-related harms and instead take a precautionary approach to the design of infrastructure, emphasizing resilience, transparency, and joint responsibility among governments, businesses, and individuals. By recognizing the limits of prediction, cyber policy can change from reactive crisis response to proactive stewardship, creating prepared systems capable of responding to unknown challenges while fostering continued innovation and societal benefit.

Write Up: Components of a Business

There are many core components when it comes to a business, these components work together to keep a organization running. Businesses and big corporations do not just run off employees running it but also with different departments. These departments include operations, finance, marketing, human resources, and, customer service. Operations is the department that runs the day by day work, such as producing goods or services. Finance is in charge of the money, how they spend it and where they spend it. Marketing leans into the advertisement area, they understand what customers to approach and promote their product. Human resources looks over the employees well being and also hires employees. Customer service makes sure that customers are happy and help them with what they need. These components “fit” together like a well ran system, they all rely on each other to produce results.

Information Technology (IT) is now a very key component in every corporation. IT isn’t like the other components where it just covers a certain area but instead it is across the whole organization. There is a very broad range of things that IT covers, this would include communications, data storage, and cyber security. They also make sure that all the technology the company uses runs well. Technology is in almost everything that a company uses, that is why IT is uses across all components. 

There are many roles and responsibilities that IT has. They run system management, tech support, software development, and data management. These roles make sure that everything related to technology is running smoothly and there are no breaches.

There are many ways that IT could be organized but the way I think they should be run by supporting daily procedures and thinking long-term. Since there are so many things to do in IT, they should separate and make teams so they can focus on certain tasks. This structure allows workers to focus on smaller tasks which allow them to do their job better.

Write Up: Hacking Humans

Despite the unique advantages of digitizing DNA, Juliette Rizkallah warns us about how permanent the records can be, giving us a reason to reevaluate how much risk we are willing to take. Genetic tests can give you access to valuable information, such as potential medical solutions, personality traits like resilience, health risks, and origins. However, if DNA gets out into the public domain, it can leave an individual open to this information being used against them for the rest of their life. DNA is not like a password or a credit card number in that we cannot reset it when it is compromised; therefore, the exposure of that information is a permanent and deeply personal violation of your privacy. Expanding on the impact of this risk, if employers were able to access a person’s DNA through authorized or unauthorized ways, potential discrimination based on their individual biology would become a real concern. Employers may take into account how an applicant’s individual biology could predispose them to developing an illness, being able to handle stress, etc., instead of using the applicant’s ability to do the job as the basis for hiring decisions. Lastly, when we think about the human factor in security breaches through a biological lens, the data being used in cyber-security today for training is typically focused on how to keep passwords safe. Biological data is much more critical as it is a part of a person’s identity and because humans are the easiest access point for hackers, the impact of compromising biological data is much greater. Understanding this, organizations must recognize that once biological data is compromised, it cannot be retrieved and treat it with extreme care.