This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Course Schedule
The schedule of readings will almost certainly change during the course of the semester, depending on the interests in the class. We may not discuss all readings in class, but you should be prepared to discuss the readings if and when they come up in class discussions.
Week 1 (Jan 24 – 26): Course Intro
Reading: Wiener Intro, Chapters 1 – 2
Week 2 (Jan 31 – Feb 2): Information and Secrecy
Reading: Wiener Chapters 3, 5, & 7
Smith, "What is POSAT?"
Response 1 (on Wiener and Smith)
Week 3 (Feb 7 – 9): Humanity
Reading: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [DADES] Chapters 1 – 5
Quiz 1 (on DADES ch 1-5)
Week 4 (Feb 14 – 16): Psychology
Reading Assignment: DADES Chapters 6 - 12
Quiz 2
Week 5 (Feb 21 – 23): Society
DADES ch 13 - 22
Response 2 (on DADES)
Week 6 (Feb 28 – March 2): Writing about Literature
Essay topics and discussions
Essay 1 due Friday March 3
Week 7 (March 7 – 9):
Midterm review
Midterm Exam in class Thursday March 9
Week 8 (March 14 –16): Spring Break
Week 9 (March 21 – 23): The Singularity
Reading: Vinge, Technological Singularity; Kurzweil "The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine" (87), "Who Am I? What Am I?" (78), "Live Forever—Uploading the Human Brain" (81)
Response 3 (on Kurzweil)
Week 10 (March 28 – 30): Cyberspace
Neuromancer Chapters 1–5
Quiz 3 (on AI)
Week 11 (Apr 4– 6): (Virtual) Realities
Neuromancer Chapters 6–12
Quiz 4
Week 12 (Apr 11 – 13): AI
Neuromancer Chapters 13–19
Response 4 (on Neuromancer)
Week 13 (Apr 18 – 20): The Future
Neuromancer Chapters 20–24
Essay topics and Discussions
Essay 2 due Sunday April 23
Week 14 (Apr 25 – 27): The Self
Bostrum, "Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?"
Rambo, "Left Behind"
Nagata, "Nahiku West"
Quiz 5
Week 15 (May 2 – 4): Final Week
Chiang, "The Story of Your Life"
Response 5
Review for final
Final Exam: Thursday May 11, 10:30 – 1:15
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.