CPSC 430 Studying Exam Solved 100%
1.2 What social effects did 1900s-style cash registers have? - ANSWER-- Made
embezzlement by clerks more difficult
-- There was a bell that made it impossible to sneak money and made sure every sale
was rung up
-- Printed logs made it easy for owners to compare cash on hand against receipts
1.3 List two ways that WWII stimulated the development of the modern computer -
ANSWER-1) ENIAC created to speed up computation of artillery tables for US army,
followed by EDVAC that introduced improvements like primary memory storage
2) F.C. Williams - development of cathode ray tubes in radar systems led to use as
storage device for digital information
1.4 Describe three ways in which the widespread adoption of the telephone changed
society - ANSWER-1) Traditional boundaries between private family life and business
life became blurred
2) Eroded traditional hierarchies (high profile people could receive phone calls from
"lower" people)
3) Loss of privacy, telephone workers could overhear confidential conversations
4) Creation of first online communities
1.5 In what ways were transistors an improvement over vaccuum tubes? - ANSWER--
Tubes required a lot of power, generated a lot of heat, burned out easily - transistors
improved all of these
1.6 What are two advantages of packet-switched networking over circuit-switched
networking? - ANSWER-1) Loss of any single computer or link would not prevent the
rest of the network from working
2) Can have multiple pairs communicating simultaneously
1.7 Describe three technologies that were demonstrated in the Douglas Engelbart's
1968 "Mother of all Demos" - ANSWER-1) Video display divided into windows - users
could interact directly with computers and view output on a CRT, like images
2) Email - sending mail over the internet
3) Computer mouse - to direct a cursor
2.1 Explain the difference between morality and ethics - ANSWER-- Morality is the rules
of conduct in a society that describe what people ought and ought not to do in various
situations
- Ethics of the philosophical study of MORALITY
2.2 Describe one similarity and one difference between subjective relativism and ethical
egoism - ANSWER-Similarity:
, - Highly individualistic because in ethical egoism, each person focuses exclusively on
their own self-interest and in subjective relativism, each person decides right or wrong
for themself
Difference:
- In subjective relativism, individuals can decide that the wrong thing to do is act in their
own self-interest and the right thing to do is to benefit others with no gain to themselves
- This is not possible in ethical egoism
2.3 Describe one similarity and one difference between rule utilitarianism and social
contract theory - ANSWER-Similarity:
- Both ethical theories measure whether an action is right or wrong based on a
group/social outcome
Difference:
- SCT ensures that happiness in society is more evenly distributed compared to rule
utilitarianism where a distribution of happiness might be more skewed to a certain
subset of a population
2.4 Describe one similarity and one difference between social contract theory and
cultural relativism - ANSWER-Similarity:
- Both have an emphasis on the behaviour of society in how they judge the morality of
actions
Difference:
- Actions accepted by SCT may be considered wrong from a cultural relativist point of
view (e.g. a culture might not think honesty is right but in SCT, honesty is the correct
thing to do)
- SCT = objectivism, Cultural relativism = relativism
2.5 Describe one similarity and one difference between virtue ethics and Kantianism -
ANSWER-Similarity:
- Both focus on the will
Difference:
- Virtue ethics also considers emotion (e.g. parent and their child), acknowledges that
people's virtues develop over time
- Kantianism doesn't allow any exceptions
2.6 Why is it inaccurate to say that utilitarianism means "the most good for the most
people" - ANSWER-- Utilitarianism takes into account the highest maximum total
positive effect. It doesn't account for an unjust distribution of positive effects
2.7 Give two reasons why cultural relativism is an unworkable ethical theory -
ANSWER-1) Just because two societies do have different views about right or wrong,
doesn't mean that they ought to have different views
1.2 What social effects did 1900s-style cash registers have? - ANSWER-- Made
embezzlement by clerks more difficult
-- There was a bell that made it impossible to sneak money and made sure every sale
was rung up
-- Printed logs made it easy for owners to compare cash on hand against receipts
1.3 List two ways that WWII stimulated the development of the modern computer -
ANSWER-1) ENIAC created to speed up computation of artillery tables for US army,
followed by EDVAC that introduced improvements like primary memory storage
2) F.C. Williams - development of cathode ray tubes in radar systems led to use as
storage device for digital information
1.4 Describe three ways in which the widespread adoption of the telephone changed
society - ANSWER-1) Traditional boundaries between private family life and business
life became blurred
2) Eroded traditional hierarchies (high profile people could receive phone calls from
"lower" people)
3) Loss of privacy, telephone workers could overhear confidential conversations
4) Creation of first online communities
1.5 In what ways were transistors an improvement over vaccuum tubes? - ANSWER--
Tubes required a lot of power, generated a lot of heat, burned out easily - transistors
improved all of these
1.6 What are two advantages of packet-switched networking over circuit-switched
networking? - ANSWER-1) Loss of any single computer or link would not prevent the
rest of the network from working
2) Can have multiple pairs communicating simultaneously
1.7 Describe three technologies that were demonstrated in the Douglas Engelbart's
1968 "Mother of all Demos" - ANSWER-1) Video display divided into windows - users
could interact directly with computers and view output on a CRT, like images
2) Email - sending mail over the internet
3) Computer mouse - to direct a cursor
2.1 Explain the difference between morality and ethics - ANSWER-- Morality is the rules
of conduct in a society that describe what people ought and ought not to do in various
situations
- Ethics of the philosophical study of MORALITY
2.2 Describe one similarity and one difference between subjective relativism and ethical
egoism - ANSWER-Similarity:
, - Highly individualistic because in ethical egoism, each person focuses exclusively on
their own self-interest and in subjective relativism, each person decides right or wrong
for themself
Difference:
- In subjective relativism, individuals can decide that the wrong thing to do is act in their
own self-interest and the right thing to do is to benefit others with no gain to themselves
- This is not possible in ethical egoism
2.3 Describe one similarity and one difference between rule utilitarianism and social
contract theory - ANSWER-Similarity:
- Both ethical theories measure whether an action is right or wrong based on a
group/social outcome
Difference:
- SCT ensures that happiness in society is more evenly distributed compared to rule
utilitarianism where a distribution of happiness might be more skewed to a certain
subset of a population
2.4 Describe one similarity and one difference between social contract theory and
cultural relativism - ANSWER-Similarity:
- Both have an emphasis on the behaviour of society in how they judge the morality of
actions
Difference:
- Actions accepted by SCT may be considered wrong from a cultural relativist point of
view (e.g. a culture might not think honesty is right but in SCT, honesty is the correct
thing to do)
- SCT = objectivism, Cultural relativism = relativism
2.5 Describe one similarity and one difference between virtue ethics and Kantianism -
ANSWER-Similarity:
- Both focus on the will
Difference:
- Virtue ethics also considers emotion (e.g. parent and their child), acknowledges that
people's virtues develop over time
- Kantianism doesn't allow any exceptions
2.6 Why is it inaccurate to say that utilitarianism means "the most good for the most
people" - ANSWER-- Utilitarianism takes into account the highest maximum total
positive effect. It doesn't account for an unjust distribution of positive effects
2.7 Give two reasons why cultural relativism is an unworkable ethical theory -
ANSWER-1) Just because two societies do have different views about right or wrong,
doesn't mean that they ought to have different views
