To Be Determined: Study Journal #6

Technology and the Church

November 19

You do not have to sacrifice what you know to be right to fit into the business world.
I think that conducting business after 7PM is not very good. Even if people are traveling, they should be able to do everything they need to do between 7AM and 7PM. If any more information is needed, then extend the visit, write more emails, conduct more Skype sessions in order to get the information you need.
"There will be many inventions of labor-saving devices, so that our daily duties could be performed in a short time, leaving us more and more time for temple work." - Brigham Young

December 1

The Church is a wonderful example of how to create technology that has a great purpose. The machine translation tools created by the church allow people all over the world to be more productive and more accurate in translating enlightening messages for people all around the world.
Machine learning is an amazing thing. I don't think it would be humanly possible to read millions of sentences, receive a new sentence and then recall back to any similar sentences to see if the new sentence is valid. I shudder to think of where we would be with our translation projects in the church if we did not have computers.
It's funny how the church tests their system against the Google translation tools. Even more funny is that the church translation tools are up to 10-15% better than the Google tools. I guess Google hasn't recruited all of the best and brightest after all.

December 3

Just because we can do something, should we do it? This is a great question to ask with every new technology as it is discovered or invented. Most technology is a double edged sword. It can be used for good, and it can be used for bad.
Quick reminder: "We are what we repeatedly do." - Aristotle
Bednar - All advancements are from God to further His work.
Every discovery in science and art, that is really true and useful to mankind, has been given by direct revelation from God, though but few acknowledge it. It has been given with a view to prepare the way for the ultimate triumph of truth, and the redemption of the earth from the power of sin and Satan. We should take advantage of all these great discoveries, the accumulated wisdom of ages, and give to our children the benefit of every branch of useful knowledge, to prepare them to step forward and efficiently do their part in the great work. - Brigham Young
Be Authentic & Consistent, Edify & Uplift, Respect Intellectual Property, Be Wise & Vigilant - Bednar

December 8

What compelled the priests of the middle ages to keep records? The Church wasn't around at the time, and I'm pretty sure no other churches had a concept of redemption of the dead. The hand of the Lord was truly still in action during this time.
I am in a digital signal processing class right now. It has been one of the most advanced concepts I have ever studied, and I wish I was better at it. Seeing how DSP is used to help automate processing historical records is absolutely amazing.
It is really cool to see how technology is used in the church for a good purpose. However, I feel like this topic is kind of pushing it for an ethics class. I feel like we should be talking about those gray areas in life and have in depth, open discussions about controversial topics. Again, I do like hearing about how the Church uses technology for good, but I don't know if it is in the scope of this course.