Psalm 62:7 — from Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day
My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge.
On 03/30/2012,
in faith, relationships,
by Daniel Christian
On 03/20/2012,
in 21st century, career development, faith, future, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, robotics, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Also see:
- Who’s responsible when robots kill? ‘We Robot’ Conference hunts answers — from Mashable.com by Peter Pachal
. - Goldman to fire employees who can be replaced by technology, miss performance targets — from HuffingtonPost.com by Lauren Tara LaCapra
. - The robots are coming! Better get used to it — from CNET.com by Stephen Shankland
Robots are widely used now, and they’re only spread even farther into daily life. The sci-fi future may be closer than you think.
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Opinion from DSC:
Technologies — by themselves — are neither good nor bad. It’s what we do with them that makes them good or bad. The concerns I have are when people try to play God. His ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. So when the We Robot Conference puts up a banner that would normally look like the hand of God touching a human hand — but in their case, they put a robot’s hand reaching out to touch a man’s hand — something just doesn’t set well with me re: that image.
Don’t get me wrong. I think robotics can be very helpful — especially in manufacturing, fire safety, other. But in some of the robotics space/spheres of work, when we think we can “do better” than the LORD — to make a better mind than what He gave us — I get a bit nervous.
On 03/16/2012,
in business, corporate / business world, ethics, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, religion,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
I couldn’t help but reflect again on the state of our hearts here in the United States when I read Greg Smith’s Op-Ed in the New York Times entitled, “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs”. It’s a depressing accounting of the rampant greed on Wall Street, with a disregard for deeper qualities and a true attention to meeting a customer’s/client’s needs and goals. It speaks to employees not giving a damn about clients, but only looking to make as much money as possible. (It’s fine to make a living, but how about sincerely trying to make a contribution to society at the same time?)
Some excerpts from Smith’s article:
And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
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What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm’s “axes,” which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) “Hunt Elephants.” In English: get your clients — some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t — to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.
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I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.
From DSC:
I don’t know this man and I’m sure Goldman Sachs will try to discredit him; and yes, he was part of that culture and made a serious living off of it for years.
However, my focus is not on Greg Smith but upon the type of culture he spoke of; such a culture is not only bad for relationships — and ultimately for souls — but regardless of what you believe in terms of faith-based items, it’s simply bad business and it doesn’t benefit our society. In fact, it destroys it and it’s a significant contributing factor to the anger that continues to mount in the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon that is sweeping the nation.
Some relevant graphics come to my mind:
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Addendum on 3/21/12:
- This CEO should be ashamed of himself — from fool.com by Sean Williams
Excerpt:
CEO gets 44% pay raise while “Pfizer is in the midst of a multiyear cost-cutting campaign instituted in 2005 that includes eliminating a grand total of 55,400 jobs. That’s not a misprint — that’s 55,400 jobs gone, eliminated, axed! Pfizer announced the final phase of those jobs cuts recently, which will target 16,300 jobs and save the company a purported $1 billion in 2012. I have to wonder, how out of touch with reality do you have to be to give yourself a 44% raise as you are in the process of eliminating 16,300 jobs?”
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Deuteronomy 6: 6-7 –– from Bible Gateway’s Verse of the Day
“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
On 02/27/2012,
in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society,
by Daniel Christian
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
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11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
On 02/22/2012,
in Apple, business, ethics, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society,
by Daniel Christian
10 staggering facts behind Apple’s Foxconn Factory — from Mashable.com by Samantha Murphy
From DSC:
I’m half-way through reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, and this report doesn’t surprise me in the least. According to what I’m getting from the book, Steve Jobs was a task-master who drove people incredibly hard. He was also an individual who didn’t value relationships and people — unless they served his purposes. So this report is not surprising. I just hope Tim Cook can be more honest and forthcoming about things involving their supply chain — as well as all other areas involving the way Apple does business — than Jobs ever was.
As disclosure, I own an iPhone, an iPad and our family has purchased 3 Macs. I just wish all businesses could make better attempts at serving Main Street while they are striving to serve Wall Street.
On 02/20/2012,
in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society,
by Daniel Christian
11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NIV) — from BibleGateway.com
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
On 02/08/2012,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, convergence, Daniel S. Christian, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, ethics, future, game-changing environment, innovation, internet, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, machine-to-machine communications, media/film, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, Near Field Communication (NFC), New "Amazon.com" of Higher Education, new media literacies, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, presentations, publishing, reinvent, relationships, robotics, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, social media, society, staying relevant, tablets, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), television, textbooks, tools, transmedia, trends, ubiquitous learning, user experience (UX), vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
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From DSC:
In case it’s helpful, clicking on this link or on one of the images above will link you to a recent presentation that I did for an Interim course at Calvin College entitled, “Social Media for Business?” As the class had already covered a lot of the topics relating to social media, my job was to focus more on some of the recent emerging trends and technologies. I will continue to keep pulse checking on those technologies which will allow for ubiquitous, mobile (as well as from the living room), 24x7x365, multimedia-based learning.
NOTE:
- Almost all of the images on the slides are linked up to web-based resources; so if you see something of interest, go ahead and click on that image/slide in order to learn more about that topic/article/etc.
On 02/06/2012,
in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society,
by Daniel Christian
“For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.”
Psalm 59:16 (New International Version) — from BibleGateway.com
16 But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
On 01/12/2012,
in Daniel S. Christian, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society, technology (general),
by Daniel Christian
A reflection on “Making Holes in Our Heart” from The Technium:
Excerpt — that is also quoted in that piece:
There is a hole in my heart dug deep by advertising and envy and a desire to see a thing that is new and different and beautiful. A place within me that is empty, and that I want to fill it up. The hole makes me think electronics can help. And of course, they can.
They make the world easier and more enjoyable. They boost productivity and provide entertainment and information and sometimes even status. At least for a while. At least until they are obsolete. At least until they are garbage.
Electronics are our talismans that ward off the spiritual vacuum of modernity; gilt in Gorilla Glass and cadmium. And in them we find entertainment in lieu of happiness, and exchanges in lieu of actual connections.
From DSC:
Readers of this blog know that I lean towards a pro-technology stance! 🙂 However, I also realize there are limits to what technology brings to the table. Though the author goes onto comment about his being ok w/ holes in our heart, I think he misses the greatest void in the human heart that only the LORD can fill — not technology and/or other things that humankind may create. I’m not saying that I’ve always known what that feels like to have the LORD fill that hole in my heart, but I continue my journey in my relationship with Him, pressing on…sometimes feeling His presence…hearing Him speak to me at different times and in different ways…all the while hoping that I will know that feeling intimately and consistently. But ultimately, all of this technology — when compared to knowing Christ – IS garbage.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way in Philippians 3:8 (NIV):
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ
On 12/30/2011,
in relationships,
by Daniel Christian
Six ways to be a media-savvy parent in 2012 — from CommonSenseMedia.org by Liz Perle