Sunday, April 09, 2023

Our Response to AI: IA

I listened to a very informative podcast episode on the Harvard EdCast, the conversation centered around the topic of "Educating in a World of Artificial Intelligence." The podcast highlighted the need for education to evolve and adapt in order to work alongside the growing field of artificial intelligence (AI). The conversation focused on the concept of Intelligence Augmentation (IA). IA, which I heard for the first time, refers to the use of technology and tools to enhance human cognitive abilities, rather than replacing them entirely with artificial intelligence. The goal of IA is to improve human performance and decision-making by augmenting human intelligence with advanced computational and data processing capabilities.

The podcast highlighted the need for education to evolve and adapt in order to work alongside the growing field of artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, it suggested that AI should be used to complement human intelligence, rather than replace it. Educators should focus on developing human skills that cannot be easily replicated by machines, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, emotional intelligence, and practical wisdom. 

A simple example I can think of how AI can help with IA is the language translation. I, myself, make use of translation tools time to time, I usually end up making intensive editing to get the result I want. It seems that AI powered language translation tools can provide quick and accurate translations, however I often come across that they struggle with nuances in language and culture. By using IA, a human translator can work alongside AI to provide context and cultural understanding, enhancing the accuracy and nuance of the final translation. In this case, the AI is augmenting the human's cognitive abilities by providing advanced computational and data processing capabilities, resulting in a more effective and accurate translation.

The podcast emphasized the importance of understanding the distinction between what AI does well (reckoning, or calculative prediction) and what humans do well (practical wisdom). While machines may be able to perform certain tasks faster and more accurately than humans, they are still limited in their ability to understand and respond to complex human emotions and experiences.

Given this distinction, educators need to consider how much of what they are teaching is reckoning, and how much is practical wisdom. By emphasizing practical wisdom, they can help prepare students for a future where AI is likely to play a major role, while also ensuring that they have the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Vedat YOZKAT

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/edcast


Saturday, October 15, 2022

Coding for Children: Skills, Not Paths

Teaching coding to children is not necessarily imposing a job selection at an early age. However, it is true that learning to code can help children develop valuable skills that can be applied in a wide range of careers, including those in the tech industry.

Coding teaches children problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and the ability to break complex problems down into smaller, manageable parts. These are all valuable skills that can be applied in a wide range of careers, not just in technology.

Geleceği Kodlayan Çocuk

It's important to note that while coding can be a valuable skill to have, it's not necessary for every child to become a programmer or work in the tech industry. Coding can be a fun and engaging way for children to learn and explore new ideas, regardless of what they eventually choose to do as a career.

Ultimately, the goal of teaching coding to children should be to help them develop valuable skills and foster a love of learning, not to force them into a specific career path. By providing children with a well-rounded education that includes coding, we can help them become confident, creative, and adaptable individuals who are equipped to succeed in an ever-changing world.

Vedat YOZKAT

Extended version of this article was originally published on the book "Geleceği Kodlayan Çocuk" by Vedat Yozkat

Sunday, February 20, 2022

The Rise of the Digital Ecosystem

The rise of the digital ecosystem is a phenomenon that has been taking place in recent years, and it is set to continue growing at an exponential rate. The digital ecosystem is essentially a network of interconnected digital technologies and services that work together to enhance the overall user experience. This ecosystem encompasses everything from social media and mobile apps to virtual reality and the Internet of Things.

One of the main drivers behind the rise of the digital ecosystem is the proliferation of smartphones and mobile devices. With over 5 billion people worldwide now owning a smartphone, these devices have become an essential part of our daily lives. They provide us with a constant connection to the internet, allowing us to access a wide range of digital services and technologies.

Another key factor in the rise of the digital ecosystem is the increasing availability of high-speed internet and the growing number of connected devices. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a prime example of this, with more and more devices being connected to the internet every day. This includes everything from home appliances and cars to industrial equipment and medical devices.

The digital ecosystem also encompasses a wide range of services and technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and big data. These technologies are enabling new and innovative ways of interacting with the digital world, and they are set to revolutionize the way we live and work.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a major contributor to the rise of the digital ecosystem. It has the ability to process and analyse large amounts of data, making it a valuable tool for improving the performance of various digital technologies. For example, AI is being used to enhance the capabilities of virtual assistants, making them more intuitive and better able to understand natural language. In addition, AI is being used to improve the performance of self-driving cars, making them safer and more efficient. Another important area where AI is contributing to the rise of the digital ecosystem is in the field of predictive analytics. By analysing large amounts of data, AI algorithms can make predictions about future events, which can be used to improve decision-making and optimize business operations. This technology is already being used in various industries such as healthcare, finance, and retail, and its application is expected to grow in the future. AI is also being used to improve the performance of various digital services such as search engines, recommendation systems, and social media platforms. By analysing patterns in user behaviour, AI can personalize these services, making them more relevant and useful to users. In summary, AI is a vital component of the digital ecosystem, and it has the potential to drive significant improvements in the performance of various digital technologies and services. As the capabilities of AI continue to improve, it is expected to play an even greater role in the rise of the digital ecosystem in the future.

One of the most notable effects of the rise of the digital ecosystem is the way it has changed the way businesses operate. Companies are now using digital technologies to improve their operations, increase efficiency and drive revenue growth. The digital ecosystem is also playing a key role in the rise of the gig economy, sharing economy, crowd-sourcing, crowd-funding etc.

In conclusion, the rise of the digital ecosystem is a trend that is set to continue growing in the coming years. It encompasses a wide range of digital technologies and services that are interconnected and work together to enhance the overall user experience. With the proliferation of smartphones and the growing number of connected devices, the digital ecosystem is revolutionizing the way we live and work. Businesses and individuals alike must adapt to this new digital world in order to remain competitive.

Vedat YOZKAT

This article was originally published on the book "Geleceği Kodlayan Çocuk" by Vedat Yozkat


Sunday, June 27, 2021

The Future of Connected Devices

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly growing network of connected devices that are all connected to the Internet and to each other. This includes not only our smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs, but also everyday devices like tea makers, washing machines, refrigerators, traffic lights, and wearable technology. By connecting these devices to the Internet, we are able to increase energy efficiency, reduce human impact in production, and ultimately save costs.

One example of this is in the manufacturing industry, where machines and machine parts can be connected to the Internet to increase production efficiency and reduce costs. For example, a factory could use IoT-enabled machines to monitor and optimize production processes in real-time, reducing the need for human intervention and increasing efficiency.

But the benefits of IoT extend beyond just the manufacturing industry. In our homes, IoT-enabled devices can make our lives more convenient and efficient. For example, a smart thermostat can learn our personal temperature preferences and make adjustments accordingly, saving energy and reducing costs. A smart washing machine can recognize our clothes and choose the appropriate program, and even order detergent when needed. And a smart tea maker can brew our tea at the perfect temperature, and even order more tea when running low. These are just a few examples of the many ways IoT is making our lives easier and more efficient.

However, as the number of connected devices continues to grow, so do concerns about security. With so many devices and protocols governing how they communicate, it is essential to ensure that these devices are secure and that the data they collect is protected. This is where AI comes in, as it can be used to monitor and analyse large amounts of data from connected devices, identifying potential security threats and implementing countermeasures to protect against them. Overall IoT will bring many benefits for society, but we need to be aware of the security concern and take necessary actions to prevent any harmful cyberattacks.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to revolutionize various industries in the near future with its wide range of applications. Some of the most notable examples include smart homes, connected cars, and industrial internet, which are expected to bring significant improvements in terms of efficiency, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. In the field of smart homes, IoT-enabled devices will be able to control and monitor various household appliances and systems such as lighting, heating, and security. The connected cars will allow for real-time monitoring of the vehicle's performance, automatic diagnostics, and improved navigation. The industrial internet, on the other hand, will enable real-time monitoring of industrial equipment and machinery, leading to improved efficiency and reduced downtime. Other applications that are expected to see significant growth in the near future include healthcare, retail, and agriculture. Overall, the IoT has the potential to greatly enhance the way we live, work and interact with the world around us.

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Gamifying Coding Education with AI

Teaching coding to children can be a great way to introduce them to the world of technology and equip them with valuable skills for the future. One approach is to use interactive and visually-based programming languages which allow children to create their own animations and games while learning basic coding concepts. Another approach is to use hands-on activities, such as building robots or coding-based board games, which can help make the learning experience more engaging and fun. It is also important to give children the opportunity to work on projects of their own choosing, as this allows them to develop their creativity and problem-solving skills. Additionally, incorporating coding education in a collaborative environment, where children can work together, can help them develop teamwork, communication and critical thinking skills. To make the process of learning coding more engaging and enjoyable, incorporating gamification and game-based learning methods is crucial. These strategies can help to increase motivation, participation, and overall engagement in the learning process.

Gamification refers to the integration of game design elements into non-game contexts, such as education and training. This can include elements such as points, leader boards, and rewards, to motivate learners and increase engagement. Game-based learning, on the other hand, involves using actual games as a learning tool. Both of these approaches can be highly effective in making coding education more interactive and enjoyable. The use of gamification and game-based learning in education is not a new concept. Many companies have been using these methods to gain customer loyalty for years. However, in the age of technology, it is more important than ever to use these techniques in education to increase motivation and participation in learning about coding.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, can help take gamification and game-based learning to the next level. By incorporating AI into the game design, the game can adapt to the learner's skill level and provide personalized feedback and challenges. AI can also help analyse the data from the game, such as the player's actions and performance, to provide insights into their learning progress and areas where they need improvement. Furthermore, AI can assist in creating more realistic and engaging virtual environments, making the learning experience even more immersive. Overall, AI can help make gamification and game-based learning more effective and efficient in terms of motivating and engaging learners, providing personalized feedback and analysing progress.

Many educational institutions have already begun experimenting with various forms of gamification and game-based learning in their coding curriculum, and have seen great success. The integration of AI in these methods can take the effectiveness to a whole new level. By incorporating AI in game-based learning and gamification methods, students can receive a more personalized and interactive coding education, which can lead to better understanding and retention of the material, making the learning process more fun and enjoyable.

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, September 13, 2020

The Next Big Thing in Technology: Assumptions and Predictions

As the world continues to evolve and technology advances, it can be difficult to predict what the next big thing will be. However, there are a few key characteristics that the next big thing may possess.

First, it may be socially responsible, addressing important issues such as sustainability and equality. It may also present a trace of innovation, utilizing new technology in unique ways.

Additionally, the next big thing may use existing technology with a twist, giving consumers something new and exciting. It may also be young, created by a start-up or emerging company.

Moreover, it may be environmentally friendly, addressing the need for sustainable products and services. It may also be something "cool" and simple to use, appealing to a wide range of consumers.

It may also be crowd-sourced and/or crowd-funded, gaining support from a large number of people. The next big thing may also solve a problem that many people didn't know existed.

Lastly, it may be promoted by a big shot, such as a celebrity or influencer, and it may be disruptive, shaking up the industry and changing the way we do things.

In today's market, there are countless products and services vying for attention, but the next big thing will likely possess some or all of these characteristics. It's important for businesses and individuals to stay informed and be ready for the next big thing, as it could greatly impact the market and change the way we live our daily lives.

Based on the current trends and developments in technology, it is likely that the next big thing in technology will be related to artificial intelligence and its various applications. AI has already begun to revolutionize various industries such as healthcare, finance, and transportation, and its potential is far from being fully realized. The next big thing in technology could be a new application of AI that solves a problem we didn't know existed or an AI-powered product that completely disrupts the market. Additionally, with the increasing emphasis on sustainability and environmental responsibility, it is likely that the next big thing in technology will also be focused on creating solutions that are environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

Vedat YOZKAT

Saturday, March 14, 2020

AI: Loading...

Given the recent advancements and significant new investments in AI, I have decided to revisit and update the article I wrote in 2015.

Years ago, as a computer science student, I was first introduced to the concept of artificial intelligence while studying the Lisp programming language. What started as a simple homework assignment quickly became a captivating topic that I couldn't help but continue to explore. Although my final project was far from passing the Turing test, which aims to determine if an intelligence is real or artificial, it was still a thrilling and enlightening experience.

Artificial intelligence, or AI for short, refers to computer software that can perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence, such as learning, decision making, and problem solving. There are also specialized forms of AI, such as software that can only play chess or analyse stock market data.

Nowadays, many of the world's top technology companies are dedicating a significant portion of their budget to AI research. The scope of AI projects is vast, ranging from modelling the effects of climate change to developing self-driving cars, and from translating languages to making smart predictions based on customer behaviour. Every day, we hear about new breakthroughs in AI, and in the future, we may even see it surpassing human abilities in areas like playing complex games or creating artistic works.

AI is also expected to play a major role in the advancement of other emerging technologies, including cloud computing, data analytics, and virtual reality. As technology continues to impact our lives, the impact of AI will only continue to grow and it will have a significant impact on the job market and education too. Some jobs will become obsolete as AI can perform them more efficiently, while others will be created as a result of this exciting new technology. It's important for individuals and educators to start preparing for this shift by learning the skills necessary to thrive in an AI-driven world. This includes understanding the basics of AI, data analysis, and programming. Additionally, it's crucial for education systems to incorporate the teaching of these skills at an early age to ensure future generations are equipped to succeed in the job market. By embracing the potential of AI, we can not only improve our own futures but also pave the way for a more efficient and prosperous society.

Vedat YOZKAT

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Sustainability in IT Operations: The Importance of Virtualization and Other Techniques

The environmental impact of IT infrastructure is often overlooked when setting it up. Traditional considerations such as initial cost, performance, compatibility, and maintenance are prioritized, but the increasing number of server equipment leads to higher energy consumption, cooling expenses, and maintenance costs. To address this issue, organizations such as Dell, Sun Microsystems and others have formed non-profit organizations like "The Green Grid" to promote efficient energy consumption in IT equipment. 

Another organization, SPEC, which is formed by Oracle, IBM, and HP, conducts research to help compare energy-saving practices in IT organizations like data centres and server rooms. Both of these organizations, along with other market leaders, recommend virtualization as an energy-efficient practice.

Virtualization is a technology that enables multiple server software to run on a single server hardware. This results in a reduction of the number of server hardware needed, which in turn leads to lower cooling expenses, lower energy consumption, and less floor space. Virtualization projects promote server consolidations that lead the way for better management of the servers and lower maintenance costs. It is important to note that while virtualization is not a sufficient effort on its own to make IT operations more environmentally friendly, it is a step in the right direction.

There are several ways to reduce the environmental impact of IT infrastructure other than server virtualization. One way is to use energy-efficient hardware such as servers, storage devices and cooling systems. Another way is to use renewable energy sources to power the IT infrastructure, such as solar or wind power. Additionally, implementing power management systems, such as power capping and automatic power-down of idle systems, can help reduce energy consumption. Another approach is to use cloud computing and remote hosting, which can reduce the need for physical servers, and can also reduce the energy consumption and environmental impact of data centres. Additionally, proper disposal of electronic waste, and recycling of old equipment, can also help reduce the environmental impact of IT operations. Overall, a comprehensive approach that considers energy efficiency, renewable energy, power management, and waste reduction, is needed to fully address the environmental impact of IT operations.

In conclusion, all these techniques should be used in combination. Overall, it is crucial for organizations to adopt a holistic approach towards sustainability in their IT operations and continuously strive to improve their environmental footprint.

Vedat YOZKAT

Friday, January 11, 2019

Screen-free Algorithm Learning: Engaging Children in Coding Education

Coding is a vital skill that is becoming increasingly important in today's digital world. It is no longer just for computer scientists and engineers, but is a valuable skill that can be learned by anyone, including children. However, many children today are exposed to screens from a very young age, and too much screen time can have negative effects on their development. So, how can we teach children coding algorithms without relying on screens?

One approach is through screen-free activities. These activities are hands-on, interactive, and do not require a computer or other electronic device. They are a great way to introduce children to coding concepts in a fun and engaging way.

One example of a screen-free coding activity for children is using blocks or blocks with symbols to represent basic coding concepts such as loops and conditional statements. This can help children understand how algorithms work and how they can be used to solve problems. Another approach is using games or puzzles that require children to think logically to solve problems. These can also be used to introduce children to concepts such as loops, conditional statements and functions.

Another way to teach coding algorithms to children without screens is through storytelling. Children love stories and by using storytelling, children can learn coding concepts through relatable scenarios. For example, a story about a robot that needs to navigate through a maze can be used to teach children about loops and conditional statements.

Another screen-free activity that can be used to teach coding algorithms to children is through role-playing. Children can act out scenarios that involve coding concepts such as loops, conditional statements, and functions. This can be done by using props such as blocks and symbols, or by using everyday objects such as toys and household items.

In conclusion, teaching coding algorithms to children can be done without relying on screens. screen-free activities such as hands-on interactive games, puzzles, storytelling, and role-playing can be used to introduce children to coding concepts in a fun and engaging way. These activities can help children understand how algorithms work and how they can be used to solve problems, preparing them for a digital future.

Vedat YOZKAT

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Children Coding the Future

Teaching coding to children is becoming increasingly important as technology becomes more integrated into our daily lives. Coding, or computer programming, is the process of creating instructions for a computer to follow. It is a valuable skill for children to learn because it helps them understand how technology works, and it can also be a fun and creative outlet for them.

There are many benefits to teaching children how to code. For starters, coding helps children develop problem-solving skills. When children are faced with a problem, they must think logically and break it down into smaller steps in order to find a solution. This is a valuable skill that can be applied to many other areas of life.

Coding also helps children develop their creativity. Children can use coding to create games, animations, and other interactive projects. This allows them to express themselves in new and exciting ways. Additionally, coding can be a great way for children to learn about different cultures, as they can create digital projects that reflect different parts of the world.

Another great benefit of teaching children to code is that it can help them to become more comfortable with technology. As technology becomes more prevalent in our daily lives, it is important for children to be able to use it effectively. By learning how to code, children will be better equipped to navigate technology and understand how it works.

There are many resources available for parents and educators who want to teach children how to code. Many online platforms such as Code.org, Scratch, and CodeAcademy offer tutorials and interactive activities for children of all ages. There are also many coding camps, classes, and workshops available for children in many cities.

It is important to note that when teaching children to code, it is crucial to start with the basics and build up slowly. Children need to be given the chance to explore and experiment, and to understand how different elements of coding work together. Also, it is important to take into account the child's age, skill level, and interests.

In conclusion, teaching children to code is an important and valuable skill. It helps children develop problem-solving skills, creativity and comfort with technology. With the right resources and approach, children can learn to code in a fun and engaging way. It is important for parents and educators to make sure that children have the opportunity to learn coding and to explore the possibilities of technology.

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Unlocking the Potential: An Introduction to the World of Blockchain

Blockchain is a promising new technology that offers a distributed database on a decentralized network to potentially make interactions cheaper, faster and more secure. It's like a digital notebook that's shared between a network of computers, making it almost impossible to tamper with or cheat.

Blockchain was first introduced in 2008 as the underlying technology for the digital currency, Bitcoin. Since then, it has grown and evolved into much more. Today, blockchains are being used for a variety of applications, from supply chain management to healthcare to identity management.

One of the best things about blockchain is its transparency. Since all transactions are recorded on a public ledger, anyone can see what's going on. This makes it great for tracking things like the movement of goods in a supply chain. But blockchain is about more than just transparency. It's also incredibly secure. The decentralized nature of a blockchain means that there's no central point of control, which makes it much more difficult for hackers to tamper with the data. And since each block in a blockchain is linked to the previous block using complex cryptography, any attempt to change the data in one block would be immediately apparent, making it easy to detect and prevent tampering.

So what does the future hold for blockchain? Well, the possibilities are almost endless. We're already seeing exciting new applications in the world of finance, with the creation of decentralized financial systems that operate without intermediaries. And we're also seeing the rise of smart contracts, which use blockchain technology to automate contractual processes and make transactions faster and more efficient.


But that's just the tip of the iceberg. In the future, we could see blockchain used to create decentralized energy grids that are more efficient and resilient. We could also see decentralized data management systems that improve privacy and security, and protect against data breaches.

In short, blockchain is a truly exciting technology with a lot of potential. And while it's still in its early days, the future looks bright for this revolutionary new technology.

Vedat YOZKAT

Monday, May 15, 2017

Outsourcing IT

In the current business environment with ever-increasing organizational complexity, the use of outsourcing services has become almost necessary to simplify the operations. Regardless of its scale and scope, IT is definitely one of the most important choice for outsourcing that can help organizations to stay up-to-date with the latest technologies, reduce complexities, lower the costs and do the things more efficiently. IT outsourcing services should be designed with flexibility, scalability and agility in mind to properly provide first-class support for the various sizes of enterprises. With proper planning and execution, outsourcing IT services would allow enterprises to focus at their core businesses while enjoying the great benefits that vary from cost saving to risk reduction.


There are several different functions within IT services that could be outsourced to move the enterprises away from complex IT environments. Most obvious and mostly outsourced IT service is service desk outsourcing. Service desk outsourcing is designed to address client issues promptly and effectively either with on site or remote support capabilities. Outsourcing companies can ensure consistent quality by keeping highly qualified service desk staff in a shared talent pool to help enterprises get the best services at a reduced cost. Another common IT outsourcing option is cloud based services. Cloud based services can help enterprises to reduce the operating costs, mitigate risks, improve utilization and reduce complexity. Cloud based services can offer software, storage, computing and other types of IT infrastructure under a monthly billed operational expense instead of a capital expense. Network outsourcing would be another option for enterprises that would like to minimize the network downtime and reduce the network operating costs while establishing more secure and robust network infrastructure. In network outsourcing, enterprises have the option of outsourcing the entire network or a part of it at different levels of operations such as outsourcing only the network administration, virtualization or hosting the entire network. IT security outsourcing is yet another outsourcing option to ensure highly secure internal and external IT networks with frequently conducted security audits for constant improvement. IT departments in organization would manage a high volume of assets including hardware, software, services and contracts. Asset management outsourcing services would address the total lifecycle of these assets to to provide a rapid return on investments. By properly managing assets, organization could lower the asset costs and place themselves on the safe side for the software license audits. A lesser known outsourcing option is business analyst outsourcing. A business analyst is an IT professional who analyses and studies an organization’s business processes to enable efficient and accurate IT implementation. Business analyst outsourcing comes into play when enterprises who want to meet the needs of businesses without moving away from their core business focus, use outsourcing support for finding and developing business systems and services. Other IT outsourcing options may include IT consulting, IT audit, IT equipment rental, etc. Furthermore, some enterprises might not have the internal resources to quickly comply with new regulations; flexible, scalable and agile IT outsourcing companies would help in such cases to provide outsourcing services in specific areas such as e-invoice, e-archive hosting services.

In summary, IT outsourcing would help companies to reduce their IT operation costs, mitigate risks, help focusing their core operations, get access to a larger knowledge base and talent pool, free up internal resources to put in to effective use for other purposes, gain access to resources that might now available internally. No matter what reason is behind for practicing outsourcing option, benefits are similar for most of the enterprises and IT outsourcing quickly become a core component of their business strategies.

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, March 05, 2017

Programming for Children

Software has become a critical layer in our entire life and will quickly increase its impact over time. I think it would not be very ambitious to say that our new world’s language will be software. According to many experts, not knowing the computer languages in the future may be equivalent to not reading or writing today.

Programming should be introduced to children at a young age, when their minds are more flexible and open with higher learning abilities. We can think of learning programming as learning another language. Starting at a young age, as in the spoken languages, is an advantage for children and making it easier to learn. As any additional spoken languages, learning programming ​​develop the children’s ability to communicate with other people. Programming would also allow children to create technologies that affect the people in their surroundings, to look at what's happening around them in different angles and to approach the problems in a solution-oriented manner.


Some experiences that the children gain during programming will also contribute to their character development. Taking lessons from their mistakes is one of them, correcting the mistakes made during coding repeatedly will help children to overcome fear of making mistakes. Programming requires patience and continuity, encourages teamwork and would be a driving force for children to develop themselves in these areas.

We could only imagine what kind of world the children will be facing in the future. With the rapid development and exponential growth of the information technology, it would be safe to assume that it will not be enough for the children to just establish a relationship with the technology only as a user or consumer; they should well understand the dynamics of the technology and set themselves as a producer and contributor for this great digital transformation. Introducing children with programming practices early and often will shed light on what is behind all these technological developments and helps children getting prepared for the future with full confidence.

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Internet of Things

In a simple definition, the Internet of Things (IoT) is basically a large Internet network that is created by connecting all kinds of electronic devices to the Internet and to each other over the Internet.

Our computers, tablets, phones, smart watches and smart TVs are already falling under this definition, all of which are already connected to the Internet and to each other at some extent. The Internet of Things concept adds all other electronic devices that would normally not come to mind, such as tea makers, washing machines, refrigerators, traffic lights, wearable technology devices and more. And of course, including, machines and their parts used for production or non-production purposes.

So why do we want to connect all these devices to the Internet and each other?
For machinery and machine parts used for production, as one would imagine, it would make it possible to increase energy and production efficiency, reduce human impact in production, and as a result, reduce costs.

How about the tea maker, why does it have to be online again?
For example, when your smartphone wakes you up in the morning, your smart phone can tell your tea maker to brew tea. Your tea machine can know how many packs of tea left at home and can automatically order when it gets low. Your washing machine can recognize your clothes, choose a program accordingly, and order detergents when necessary. The thermostat you use at home or at work can learn the personal temperature preferences of you and other individuals, so it can make the most efficient adjustments automatically. It is possible to provide more of these examples. Also, I would like to mention that the examples that I give here are not fictitious examples, and that devices that can do all these things are either on sale or being prepared for sale.

In this new world where devices will be in constant contact with people and other devices, all the devices and the protocols that governs how devices communicate will be dependent on software. As the number of devices on the Internet will increase exponentially, security concerns will also be increased in parallel.

Vedat YOZKAT

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

A Cinematographic Approach To Project Management

A project is a set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within certain cost and other limitations and project management is planning, scheduling and orchestrating of these project activities to achieve objectives within a specified period of time with the specified resources.  There are several different project management approaches available such as Scrum, Kanban, Agile, Lean, etc. Traditional approach is most used in business projects as well as in movie making. Steps in the traditional project management approach for business and movie projects are as follows:  
  • Initiation
  • Planning and Design
  • Executing
  • Monitoring and Controlling
  • Closing

Movies are large business projects in nature and movie making definitely requires an intensive project management. Especially in commercial movies, large number of staff, large sum of money and tight schedules are involved. Without applying certain principles of project management, keeping everything and everyone on track would be highly difficult. This is the main reason for the producers of the large commercial movies always hire a project manager to oversight all production. Similarly in business projects, without applying proper project management techniques, the projects are more likely bound to fail. Although, some different terminologies are used, the steps of project management in movies and in business are quite similar:


Movie Projects
Business Projects
  • Developing an idea
  • Getting a producer
  • Scripting
  • Storyboarding
  • Getting resources
  • Scheduling
  • Filming
  • Editing
  • Releasing the movie

  • Developing an idea
  • Getting management approval
  • Breaking down tasks
  • Prototyping
  • Getting resources
  • Scheduling
  • Executing
  • Auditing
  • Launching the project



For a successful project management in movies or business; definition and the objective of the project should be clear and concise, schedule should be realistic, the budget should be carefully considered and should be very accurate, resource planning should be viable, all the risks should be assessed beforehand and contingency plans should be developed, throughout the project, budget and all the other resources carefully monitored and all progress and problems should be communicated with everyone involved. Failing to do any of these properly might cause projects to fail.

Vedat YOZKAT

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

The Dark Side of Connectivity

As we rely on computers and connectivity for an increasing number of reasons and connect a substantial number of devices to the Internet, our lives get exposed and vulnerable to a greater extent. There are various ways to damage or exploit one's computer, mobile or other connected devices.


The best known threat of all is the viruses. With harmful intentions, viruses are tiny computer programs that are not intended to be run by the device owner. Automatically and without users' permission, they copy and run themselves and they always have another additional motive that would range from harmless message spreading to crashing the entire system. There is a never-ending race between the security companies and the virus developers. In a vicious circle, virus developers create an unknown virus, while security companies write a protection against it as soon as the virus is out. Some viruses are extremely simple and easy to attain protection while some others are elaborately written with high technology coding techniques. There is even an advanced virus called Mytob that is not only spreads itself to the computer, but also alters the virus protection programs on the computer to disguise itself as legitimate. Another interesting virus called GPCoder encodes all the files in the computer, asks for money to reveal the encryption password. This virus is the first blackmailer in the history of the computer viruses that is now categorized as RansomWare.

Similar to viruses; worms, malicious macros and trojans somehow copy themselves to the systems and forward themselves to the other victims in the same network. Worms specifically utilize the mailing systems or networks, attaining the addresses in the vicinity, they copy or send themselves to the every system in the environment. In some cases, they basically spread messages, other times they execute harmful actions such as bringing the entirety of the network to its knees. Macros spread themselves with Office programs or similar macro-using software. For example, one can receive a spreadsheet from a known source and open to process it, all of a sudden a macro runs automatically and perform an action that is not intended in the first place. With users' insecure download habits, trojans are easy to distribute. There are a significant number of computer users who incautiously open, receive or download email messages from other sources. Some of these files are considered to be Trojans, the user thinks it is just an amusing video or his/her favorite mp3 song, however along with this intended content, these files also have vicious content that would harm the computer, this is called malware. Just as the historical Trojan horse, thought to be a gift in reality there were soldiers inside it. In order to collect private information such as account numbers and passwords, trojans are opening the necessary ports to allow external connections. These types of trojans are also called Spyware. Taking control of the network, spywares are redirecting victims to some not pleasant addresses instantaneously, for example, the user would click to open a newspaper site in contrary the spyware redirects to the user to a porn site.

Another widely common security threat is the email spams. An immense number of unwanted email messages are distributed to users' mailboxes by the second. These types of unwanted emails are called spams. Number of people or companies exercise spam as a naive marketing tool. Supposing, if they send enough number of emails, they would have a chance to let people acknowledge about their company and products and they will have a market share as an outcome. Over the time, it becomes annoying to receive unrelated emails, even the ones that would be beneficial treated as junk mails. Furthermore, some spam emails contain malware to harm the hosting systems. Another email using scheme is called phishing. This term comes from fishing, it is exactly same as throwing a line into the sea and wait for someone to get hooked. Relying on people's ignorance, phishers send vast number of email messages and expect someone to fall for it. In their messages, they either claim they are from a bank or they are in need of the target's financial assistance to transfer a vast amount of money through the bank account. Sometimes, they even claim the lottery winner and ask for filling out a form which usually contains personal and financial data to claim the prize. Phishing is also called on-line identity theft, their primary motive is to steal as much personal and financial information as possible.

With the rise of number connected machines and increase our dependencies to these devices, the stakes are getting higher. Not only are these threats affecting our computers, network systems and mobile devices, other online devices such as smart TVs, smart home systems and other connected devices that are collectively called Internet of Things (IoT) would be adversely affected. Of course, using anti-virus programs, firewalls or having strong passwords would facilitate to reduce the risks; however, no matter how much money is invested and how top of the line security systems are installed, eventually, it always comes to the people. The users should always be aware of these types of threats, maintain their systems up-to-date, utilize the passwords cautiously, not submit personal, security or financial data through mails or Internet no matter how authentic and reliable the sources may appear.


Vedat YOZKAT

Friday, November 27, 2015

The Next Big Thing

What would be the next big thing?
With more brands, start-up or established companies and individuals emphasizing the importance of a solid presence on the market, everybody is working hard to take a market share from the next big thing in the market. In today’s business environment, it is very difficult to point out a single thing that would be the next big thing, however, I hereby try to make assumptions how the next big thing would be like. 
- probably it's something socially responsible
- probably it presents at least a trace of innovation
- probably it uses an existing technology with a twist
- probably it's young
- probably it's environment friendly
- probably it's something cool
- probably it's something simple
- probably it's something crowd sourced and/or crowd funded
- probably it's solving a problem that we didn't know existed
- probably something promoted by a big shot
- probably something disruptive

There is only so much attention from consumers and customers to go around, and the all new products and services are overflowing in all shapes and sizes, it would take a lot of efforts to stand out. 
Be there or else...

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, June 07, 2015

AI is Here To Stay

I have met the concept of artificial intelligence and completed my first artificial intelligence project when I met Lisp programming language during my studies as a computer science student years ago. Actually it started as a homework but I got so drawn to it that I could not help myself to continue to work on this fascinating topic. My final work was far away from passing the Turing test which aims to determine whether the intelligence in the background was real or artificial. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining and enlightening experience.

Artificial intelligence or short for AI, is a broad name for computer software that has the ability to perform intelligent tasks such as intelligence, learning, decision making, problem solving, perception and understanding of spoken languages. Apart from this definition, we may also mention applied artificial intelligence software designed for specific purposes, such as artificial intelligence software, which can only play chess or which is designed to evaluate only stock market data.

Today, most of well known technology firms are allocating the biggest share from their budget for AI researches. AI projects may vary in size and content. There are so many concurrent AI projects are being worked  by various sized companies and institutions and the projects may vary from modeling the impacts of global climate change to traffic modeling in major cities, from developing self-driving cars to space research projects, from health research, to translating between spoken languages, from smart chat companions for service industry to making smart predictions from customer behaviors for retail industry and many more. Almost everyday, we hear another astonishing news about the development of AI as it gets more advanced in time we will probably hear on the news that it beat the go champion as it did to chess champion years ago or it started to express itself more artistically such as composing songs or writing movie scripts.

It seems that artificial intelligence will also help to exponentially increase the effect of almost all the emerging technologies in the coming years. It will always come to the forefront in the more efficient use of cloud computing, data analytics, big data and, of course, the virtual reality. Artificial intelligence, regardless of the sectors, will continue to increase its impact on our lives in every area that technology already has an impact.


Vedat YOZKAT

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Schedule a Walk

Many of us, as office workers, spend great deal of time sitting at our desks for long hours. Sitting for prolonged hours do not do any good to any of us. Not only, it increases our stress level and risk of having health problems but also decreases our metabolism speed and our productivity as a result. Years ago when smart phones were not very popular and wearable technologies were not on the market yet, I bought a simple mechanical pedometer to measure my daily activity. Aside from my gym routine, I wanted to see how many steps I was taking on a regular day. My car is parked right in front of my home and after a short drive I park in front of my work place. I sit all day long in front of my computer and do my short commute in the evening to go back home. I was doing my regular gym activities but take that aside, I found out that on a regular day, I was not active at all. My step count was less that 5000 steps a day which may be considered as a "sedentary lifestyle." I needed to do something to change my daily routine.

My workplace is in an industrial zone, there are no green parks, not even a decent walking route, and however, I decided to take walking breaks in the middle of the day right before my lunch. I started taking 20 minutes fast pacing walks around the neighborhood which added almost 3000 steps to my daily step count. I have been doing this for years now, if I am not preoccupied with something extremely important or if it is not raining heavily, I am taking a 20 minute walk almost every day.


I do not see this as a calorie burning activity or a replacement of my daily exercise routine; I continue doing my regular exercises. This is just a short time off for getting away from what I do, clearing my mind, boosting my energy level to return back to work more focused and for a chance to get exposed to the sun and fresh air. I found out that other than increasing my energy level and concentration, these short walks improve my problem solving capability and increase my creativity.

Many people take smoking breaks, coffee or tea breaks and get away from their desks frequently. I highly recommend taking a walking break once a day which would facilitate harmonizing your mind and body, replenish your concentration and focus and finally enhance your productivity. Once you start moving, you will be more open to the idea of moving more and being more active.


Vedat YOZKAT

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Developing World Class IT Infrastructure

When it comes to IT infrastructure, people think that it only consists of the hardware, software and other infrastructure items such as cabling, conduits etc. IT is actually no different from the other internal functions, IT infrastructure also include processes and services. How IT processes and services are managed and delivered impacts the overall goal of all corporations to develop a world class infrastructure.

In order to help achieving a world-class infrastructure in IT perspective, planning should be made very carefully. Planning phases could be divided in 3 categories:
  • Short term: what are the low hanging fruits and how the quick improvements can be made.
  • Mid-term: what areas require or would benefit from quick communication to recognize that the issue is acknowledged and rectification will be made. 
  • Long term:  what areas require more long term focus and strategic planning.

All IT should be aware of its assets, service portfolio management is a part of this process to define existing and even retired IT services and applications.
IT should make plans into increasing the accessibility of all of its assets and better streamlining the existing assets, increasing number of training sessions for the target users.
It is crucial to help develop and maintain share of knowledge, extending access rights and providing more automation to systems and tools to all levels would accelerate decision making and ensure timeliness. Protecting information from the staff is a practice from the last century, today, organizations go more flat and no staff is deprived from the information resources. It is important that for all colleagues to stay current to build up their competency levels to manage and sustain innovation.

Of course, for the long run, corporations strategically work toward a more integrated system to reduce the manual work by increasing the automation. IT nowadays create strategies to work more closely with the business units to identify non-value added processes, duplication of work, critical business processes, improvement opportunities, etc.

Vedat YOZKAT

Friday, August 22, 2014

Business Continuity Planning

Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is a proactive planning process to pinpoint all the critical functions of a corporation, identify the priorities and define likely situations that would present an obstacle to these functions. After identifying all these, standard procedures are set up formally to raise the awareness and proactively prevent the damages that would create.

Most corporations make the plans ahead of the time to ensure all critical operations will continue uninterrupted during and after an emergency situation and in case of sudden interruptions reestablishing these critical operations is formalized. An effective plan not only make sure the critical down time is shorter but also help increasing the safety, improving the productivity, helping the employee moral, improving the corporate image in customers' and other parties' eyes and complying the contractual or regulatory policies.


BCP should be designed to be a clear and efficient guideline to limit the magnitude of any adverse affects, to minimize the service interruptions, to standardize the communication, to meet the legal and regulatory requirements and to improve health and safety of all staff.

Vedat YOZKAT

Saturday, March 08, 2014

Think Global, Act Social

Technology is usually to blame for environmental problems and for promoting social detachment, being in the heart of the technology, is it possible for IT operations to be more social, is it possible for IT departments to contribute to social and environmental projects?

Although, IT departments have always been the leader for productivity, we think, we still could find room to improve our services and help contributing to social initiatives without compromising the service quality. Other than participating to the global projects and programs, we think by acting smart and making minor adjustments we can consume less, help reducing our carbon footprint locally and contribute to the society more.

IT departments contributes substantially in many green initiatives within corporations, such as paper reduction campaigns, energy conversation projects, promoting communication projects to reduce business travels and involving heavily in recycle & reuse projects.

Not only we “think green” for such activities, but also as IT teams, we take parts on socially responsible activities. We have been getting in touch with vocational schools in the vicinity to make a difference for the students in these schools. We provide a workplace experience for the students in such vocational schools. For students who are studying in computer science, programming and electronics, it is at upmost importance to find a workplace to put their learning at use. Not only, we provide a workplace experience for these students but also we involve them in IT projects to increase their take from this experience.

Furthermore, IT departments usually provide many training opportunities. Corporations consist of both well-educated, experienced staff and junior and not well equipped staff. One of IT departments' aim to bring everyone at an average level of understanding the technology and increase everyone's level of computer literacy. We provide many training opportunities to those that are not very well equipped with all the skills and qualification for their career targets. Without the required computer skills, many people cannot reach their career targets. We believe by helping them the break this barrier, IT departments play an important role in people's development and reaching their career goals.

Every year, number of personal computer systems retired or no longer needed by IT departments. While these are not the most powerful computers, they are still very useful for teaching basic computer skills. We refurbish these computers, remove all software licenses from them and reinstall free software licenses. After completing the installation and testing, we donate the equipment free of charge to eligible schools that are truly in need. This donation program has helped bring access to computer technology to many students. We are proud of these efforts that help create and foster foundations for enhanced learning. We will continue to donate such equipment to the schools and other educational nonprofit organizations in need.

We believe that environmental and social problems will not go away overnight by itself, all of us have to make collective efforts, we have to think smart to find more ways to be sustainable and increase our involvement in social initiatives.

We always have to keep in mind that the small details make the difference.

Vedat YOZKAT

Saturday, February 01, 2014

Go: Just Another Board Game...

The game of go, dating back 4000 years ago, is perhaps the oldest game in the history. Its most important feature is that the rules have never been changed since the first time it was played. It was originated in China and later it was played in Japan, Korea and other far east countries. Today, including western countries, it is widely known and played by many. It takes only a few minutes to learn the rules of the game, but it may take a lifetime to master.

Go is played on a square board, marked with 19 horizontal and 19 vertical lines. Each of two contestants, in turn, places a stone, one playing black stones, the other white, onto the board--ultimately attempting to surround the opponent's pieces. At the end of the game, the player who controls the greatest territory on the board is the victor.

Although the rules of the game itself is quite simple, high probability calculations could take the game toward unpredictable directions. Probabilities in the game of go is 10541  times more than chess. Go always amazes people who are interested in computer science, mathematics or artificial intelligence. After a great struggle and heavy investments, IBM’s big bleu super computer defeated chess champion Kasparov in the game of chess. However, despite very large cash prizes and great research, even the best computers cannot be a match for an average go player.

According to American Go Association:
  • Go is the easiest game to learn
  • Go is the most difficult game to master
  • Go is the oldest game still played in its original form.
  • Go is about building, not destroying
  • You always know where you fit in: a beginner starts from the level called 50 Kyu and could advance up to 1 Kyu. When mastered, a player can be 1st Dan master. highest degree of mastery is 7th Dan.
Koreans say, playing a single game of go with someone is equivalent to spending a year with him or her. You could learn a lot about your opponent’s character during a game.

Vedat YOZKAT

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Ego or Eco...

“Is the relationship between humans and the rest of the nature hierarchical and are humans, being superior to the rest of the nature, thus morally permitted to use nature in any way they see fit?”

Throughout the history, humanity had seen itself as the center of everything. It was widely believed that humans were created by the God and in the image of the God. Anything around us is created by the God to serve the humans’ needs. According to this view, humans had a special place in the environment, they were superior to the nature because the nature was explicitly created for their use. Below diagram depicts this view by showing a human male on top of the ecosystem pyramid.

Not only did they see themselves in a special place in this planet, but also they believed that the earth, being inhabited by humans, was the center of the universe thus was a special planet, too. This school of thought led the development of anthropocentric or human-centered world view.
Under the principles of the anthropocentric (human-centered) world view, humans are thought to be masters of the rest of the nature thus the nature is only a resource for the well-being of the human race. Since the nature is only a resource, humans are allowed to use the nature in any ways they want without taking any considerations for the nature itself.

I believe that today’s widely accepted environmental movements such as conservationism and the movements toward achieving a sustainable society are also products of the anthropocentric world view. Although, these movements do concern about the well-being of the nature and they support the idea that the nature is valuable, they still perceive the nature in human terms, that is, they believe that the nature should be protected to serve the humans better in terms of using it for sustaining human life, providing for future generations to come, recreation, appreciation and enjoyment.

Historically, some counter ideologies have been established against the anthropocentric world view also. Some scientific findings, such as Newton's geocentric discoveries and Darwin's theory of evolution, have been used to support these counter ideas. Even though, these ideologies establish good views in terms of defining the nature as an entity with an intrinsic value, they are still far from being practical in the current way of thinking. We have to devise new ways and change our way of thinking to find our righteous place in the ecosystem: not on top, just a part.
I believe that no matter what happens, the nature will survive and our existence will depend on the way the nature shape into when it manages its survival.

Vedat YOZKAT

Thursday, August 22, 2013

How Would PCs Survive?

We have been hearing a lot of sales figures that PC sales are slowing drastically. Recent sales figures indicate that tablet sales already exceeded PC sales.

Users, nowadays, prefers mobility and ease of use over performance. Tablets can do variety of tasks such as playing media, browsing the Internet, using the social networks as well as the PCs, if not better.

On the verge of the mobile revolution, is it possible for PCs to survive?

Although the sales figures are not that great, PCs are still getting better. Performance of PCs are being improved gradually to satisfy the game addicts as well as designers, video editors, 3D rendering jobs etc. Besides the better performance, PCs are getting smaller and getting additional features such as touch screens.

Other than using it for business purposes, PCs can convert itself to be the center of household entertainment. All PCs offer a TV and audio system connection. They can be the center for TV-on-demand systems, gaming, music etc. PCs can also offer tablet and phone integration to serve for the storage needs.

Overall, tablets and mobile devices are good for consuming media however PCs are better in creating content. I think they will be still around for the time being.

Vedat YOZKAT

Monday, April 01, 2013

Using QR Codes for Interactive Presentations

QR code is short for Quick Response code. It is considered to be evolved version of barcodes. It is a 2 dimensional barcode with capacity of holding matrix of information.

A QR code can be scanned and read by a specifically designed reader device or any type of imaging device with proper software support. Nowadays, all smart phone devices have QR code reading applications to read the QR codes.

QR codes have so many application areas, endless opportunities to discover.
Here is a way that I use QR codes to enable the audience to see the presentations on their mobile devices:  http://youtu.be/GFkAyFE3igQ



Vedat YOZKAT

Friday, March 29, 2013

3D Printing: Evolution or Revolution?

It is not science fiction anymore... It was only in the science fiction movies that a small device is constructing a three-dimensional tangible object with the help of a computer. Now, it is the reality.

3D printing is an additive manufacturing technique (as opposed to conventional subtractive manufacturing that deals with getting rid of the excessive material) which means adding layers of material one after another to form the shape of the object.

3D printers are in use for more than couple of decades, they have been mostly used for making quick prototypes. As 3D printers get cheaper, faster and more capable, its use will get wider for prototypes and even for final products.

Since it is much cheaper, required less skills and less material use, many industries turn into using 3D printers for their prototyping and end products. Producer do not have to make a certain number of items to cover up the fixed costs, each item can be customized at the same low cost with minimal risk. In some cases, even transporting the item is not necessary, downloading the digital design file and printing it elsewhere is also possible. 3D printer prices get lower very fast, with this pace, even the end users could buy a machine and use it at home to customize or design own 3D objects. Some companies already started using for; rapid prototyping, medical modeling, fashion accessories, custom fit shoes or helmets and most importantly spare parts for expensive machinery.

I think 3D printing techniques will continue to evolve. As it gets more affordable, it will get more adoption. In my opinion, eventually, it would revolutionize the industries as well as individual users' capabilities to put their innovation at work.

Vedat YOZKAT

Monday, September 10, 2012

Virtualization as a Sustainable IT Practice

When setting up an IT infrastructure, usually its environmental impact is overlooked. Initial cost, performance, compatibility and maintenance are usually the major points that are taken under consideration. As the number of server equipments increase, energy consumption also increases. Overall, using more server equipments would mean higher cooling expenses in the server room, higher energy consumption, higher server support costs and higher maintenance costs.

IT market leaders such as Dell, Sun Microsystems and others have formed a non-profit organization called “The Green Grid” to promote the efficiency at the consumption level of IT equipments. Similarly SPEC, another organization formed by Oracle, IBM and HP, conducts research to help comparing energy saving practices in IT organizations such as data centers, server rooms.

Both of these organizations along with other market leaders recommend virtualization as an energy conservative practice. Virtualization is basically allowing multiple server software to run on a single server hardware. The result is reduced number of server hardware, less cooling expense, less energy consumption and less floor space.

Virtualization projects promote server consolidations that lead the way for better management for the servers and lower maintenance costs. This is, of course, by itself not a sufficient effort for environment friendly IT operations but it is an important measure toward the right direction.

Vedat YOZKAT

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Ethical Obligation toward Ourselves

Nowadays, heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in industrialized nations. One of the major causes of heart disease is the excess intake of fat and cholesterol, and meat is the main provider of fat and cholesterol. Since a balanced vegetarian diet greatly eliminates the fat and cholesterol intake, the risk of having heart disease for a vegetarian is very small. In fact, as early as 1961, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported, “90% to 97% of heart disease can be prevented by a vegetarian diet”

Cancer is another disease that can be prevented by following a vegetarian diet. Researches strongly suggest that eating a meat-based diet puts us greatly at risk in terms of cancer. For instance, the studies published by the Himalayan Academy show; the risk of contracting breast cancer is 3.8 times greater for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week, and for men who consume meat daily, the risk of fatal prostate cancer is 3.6 times greater.

Another great concern is the chemicals that meat contains. These chemicals could be very harmful to people who obtain them through eating meat. One class of these chemicals is the antibiotics. Large amounts of antibiotics are fed to livestock to control certain diseases among the animals. Since the bacteria causing these diseases are becoming immune to the drugs very quickly, the meat industry is increasing the amount of the antibiotics given to livestock every year. It is not healthy for humans to consume the meat that contains high levels of antibiotics because by the gradual increase of antibiotics in the human body, disease causing bacteria which affect humans build a resistance against these antibiotics, and this causes a rapid decline in effectiveness of all “wonder-drug” antibiotics.

Another group of chemicals that the meat contains includes pesticides and herbicides. These chemicals are commonly used to increase crop efficiency. Even in a vegetarian diet, people receive these chemicals. However, since livestock is feeding on this crop, as well, they are biologically magnifying the chemicals in their bodies and passing these chemicals at a much greater rate to the humans who consume their meat. For example, a research published by the Himalayan Academy clearly indicated that contamination of breast milk due to pesticides found in meat-eating mothers versus non meat-eating mothers is 35 times higher.

I also truly believe that adopting a vegetarian diet would also provide us more internal peace. As Tolstoy asked once, “while our bodies are the living graves of murdered animals, how can we expect any ideal conditions on earth?” In my opinion, violence creates more violence. When we treat other creatures violently, I do not think that we can find internal peace of our own.

Vedat YOZKAT

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Ethical Obligation toward the Animals


One of the most important issue related to the meat consumption is dealing with animal rights. It is very simple that, in order to eat meat, animals should be killed. However, the necessity of killing another living being is highly controversial. Must we really kill in order to live? My answer for this question is a simple answer: no. I think that we can sustain our well-being without killing other living creatures. We can very well nourish our bodies with a plant-based diet, and in today’s way of living, we do not have to kill the animals to protect ourselves or eliminate the competition for other food resources either. I think that we have no right to kill the animals or treat them badly for only pleasure; since we can nourish ourselves very well without eating them, our only reason for doing all this to the animals is our enjoyment of the way they taste. And this will not even come close to justifying the cruelty.

Today, most of us do not live in wild habitats; we do not even see most kinds of animals anywhere other than zoos. Our encountering with animals is minimized in today’s comfort-driven society; therefore, it is much more impersonal. Today, we do not have to kill the animals for ourselves either because others in the meat industry are killing them for us. I think that this impersonalization and the disassociation of meat from the animals are the major human perceptions that are contributing the growth of the meat industry. Whenever a person goes shopping, she or he sees these little packages of meat in the cooler. There is nothing to associate the meat in the cooler with a living-breathing animal. For the shopper, this is only another food item to be bought. I truly believe that if everybody were reminded of the fact that these little, clean-looking packages are products of careless, malicious handling followed by violent, bloody and terrorful slaughtering, the meat consumption would promptly drop. This theory is also backed by the fact that of all occupations in the US, slaughterhouse workers have the highest turnover rate because most people cannot deal with the daily experience of screams of terror and the anger of the animals.

Some opposers think that if the animals were living in their natural habitat, they would be eaten by carnivore species anyway; therefore, there is nothing wrong with our eating them. However, they overlook the fact that, for example, whereas cows have a lifespan of 25 years under natural living conditions, they are only allowed to live 3 to 5 years on animal farms. They also overlook the fact that the treatment that the animals receive before they are killed is very different from how nature treats them in their original habitat.

I think that it is morally wrong to treat other living creatures badly and kill them for only pleasure. Since we are the only moral creatures on this planet, I think that we have an ethical obligation toward the animals, as well. I also tend to believe that, as Leonardo da Vinci wrote once, “the time will come when men will look upon the murder of the animals as they now look upon the murder of men”.

Vedat YOZKAT

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Our Ethical Obligation toward the Environment

In the earlier stages of human history, individuals who ate meat did so at their own expenses, that is, whatever an individual could hunt or raise for himself or herself was whatever she or he could eat. However, especially after the industrial revolution, humanity found itself in a comfort-driven society. People in such a society do not like to be bound by their own performances and limitations but want more of everything. This has been a driving force behind the fact that meat production has become a huge industry in recent decades. As it is the case for most major industries, capital-driven enterprising of the meat industry has created major problems in the environment.

First, livestock growers realized the fact that in order to obtain maximum efficiency, they have to take the animals under their total control; this meant that the animals of commercial value should be removed from their natural habitats and put in well-defended places. This separationist attitude created several problems. By doing this, growers removed a valuable item from the food chain of the nature; this was a major cause of disruption for carnivore species that heavily depend on these animals. Not only did some weaker carnivore animals die because they could not find food readily available, but also they were killed by people who were defending the livestock under their supervision. This resulted in the decreasing of some carnivore species’ numbers and in some cases even led to extinction.

Another problem occurred. When under the supervision and protection of humans, these captivated animals increased their population dramatically to an extent that they could never reach in their original natural habitat. With the increasing population of the livestock, land and food problems have been raised. In order to keep the animals alive and well, the meat industry needed a lot of land for animals and for more crop land to feed the animals. To meet the increasing demand, each year a lot of forest land is cleared for crop land to feed livestock and produce more meat. Because of this mass clearing of forest lands, many species face extinction; a lot of wild animals die because they lose their homes in the woods. For most forest species, the forest is the major source of food and protection. With the forest destroyed, many species cannot resist the difficulties presented and die either because of starvation or because of weather conditions. The destruction of forests not only presents a problem for forest species but also creates problems for the earth’s ecology. It is widely known that forests are the major source of oxygen and oxygen is needed for life on earth. By destroying the forests, the meat industry is actually destroying the earth’s major source of oxygen. Destroying these forest lands is also a major contributor to floods and top soil erosion, as well. Trees help the soil hold together by absorbing the water, cutting these trees and planting crops with short roots would weaken the soil against winds and water and the top soil would be eroded by these external forces. With the rich and fertile soil eroded, we would not even be able to grow crops for ourselves, let alone for the livestock.

Another major environmental problem related to raising livestock is that the energy needed to produce meat is much greater. According to the scientists, the energy needed to produce meat is fifty times more than the energy needed to produce same amount of crop. This would mean that for every pound of meat fifty times more fossil fuels needed to be burnt, and the ecological problems associated with fossil fuel burning are so widely known that there is no need to discuss it here in detail other than mentioning its disease causing effect on mine workers such as black lung disease, its contribution to increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere, its contribution to acid rain and its alleged contribution to global warming..
Researches also show that in order to produce a pound of meat, 2500 gallons of fresh water are needed as opposed to 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat. Because fresh water consumption is so much greater in raising livestock, the livestock growers are said to be one of the main contributors of fresh water pollution. Although the major portion of the earth’s surface is covered with water, most of the water is water with sea salt; that is, it is not usable for agricultural and household purposes unless it is treated. Only a small portion of the water is fresh and readily usable water. Water pollution in the industrialized nations is a big problem because fresh water is a precious and essential source for life, and we are rapidly polluting our resources. Although treatment techniques for sea water and some polluted water are scientifically available, they are neither practical nor economical solutions to the pollution problem. In some cases of polluted water, it is not even possible to clean up the pollution. Because of its cost-increasing effect, most industries are inattentive to take precautionary steps to decrease the amount of their water polluting waste unless they are forced by governmental regulations. One of the main industries that contribute to the pollution of the fresh water is the meat industry because the meat industry in the US, for example, uses more than half of all water used for all purposes in the US. As I stated before; fresh water conservation is so important for all the present and future life forms on earth, and we should minimize the pollution that we pour into this precious source of life.

I think that we should respect the wildlife in forests as well as the animals under captivity and let them live their lives in their natural habitats. I also think that we should be more concerned about the future of this planet and act accordingly to eliminate fossil fuel burning, deforestation, polluting of fresh water and our contribution to the extinction of species. I not only think that we should be concerned more about the future generations, animals, the environment and the earth’s well-being than what it is on our plates, but also I strongly believe that we are ethically obligated to do so. Keeping these facts in mind, I conclude by repeating that we must fulfill our ethical obligation toward the environment by eliminating our meat consumption so that this world would be a better place to live for us, for all the other species and for the future generations.

Vedat YOZKAT

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Hunger, a Game?


World hunger is one of the most important of the problems that humanity is facing today. Each year, approximately 60 million people die either because of malnutrition or under nutrition. The major portion of these deaths is occurring among children who are much more fragile and prone to starvation than the adults. According to the studies, a child starves to death every two seconds. I think that these people who face starvation every day of their lives should not be deprived of their most basic right of continuing their lives, whereas people in the industrialized countries take this right for granted and continue to live in a consumption based society where massive and unacceptable wasting of resources has become a way of life. Today, with the help of our advanced science and technology, we are very efficient in growing crops. As a result, the world’s crop yield, today, is greater than anytime in the history. One would think that since we have a very large amount of crop production, we should not have any problems related to lack of food resources for every person in the world. However, the hunger problem is not a result of insufficient resources but a result of unequal distribution of resources among the individuals. Somehow this could be taken as a fortunate recognition because it would mean that the resources in the world are adequate for every people to nourish themselves if the distribution problem is solved. The major portion of the distribution problem comes into the scene with our preference for using the crops in a very inefficient conversion process to produce a more expensive food: meat. Instead, we can use the crops to feed people directly and prevent a massive waste in the conversion process. When people are starving in one part of the world, a massive amount of food is consumed by livestock in other parts of the world to produce meat in a ridiculously inefficient ratio; for every pound of beef, for instance, approximately 16 pounds of grains and soybeans needed. In a more focused example, the United States of America is one of the major producers of corn, wheat, oat, soybeans and potatoes. However, the statistics show that only a small portion of the US production is consumed by people (approximately 10-20%) because the US is also one of the major producers of livestock, and the major portion of the US grain and soybeans production is eaten by livestock. Some researchers argue that if only the people in the US reduced their intake of meat by 10%, with the grain saved from the reduced feeding of livestock, all the people who face starvation each year in the world would be adequately fed .

I think that it is morally wrong to let people die because of starvation when we could eliminate our waste of resources and let everyone nourish himself or herself. I also think that every member of the earth community should have an equal right to the sharing of resources, and she or he should not wave this right to the others who think their shares should be bigger because they are better than the rest. Under the light of these facts, it is clear, in my opinion, that people have an ethical obligation toward others not only to reduce but also to eliminate the meat consumption completely so that hunger would disappear from the face of the earth forever.

Vedat YOZKAT