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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 (Aug 26 - Sept 1) Course Intro.
Vinge, "Technological Singularity"
Week 2 (Sept 2 - Sept 8) Visions of Past Futures
Smith, "What is POSAT?"
Dick "Second Variety"
The stories are available online at Project Gutenberg. PDFs are available on BlackBoard
Quiz 1
Week 3 (Sept 9 - Sept 15) Humanity
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [DADES] Chapters 1 – 5
Quiz 2
Week 4 (Sept 16 2 Sept 22) Psychology
DADES Chapters 6 - 12
Quiz 3
Week 5 (Sept 23 - Sept 29) Reality
DADES ch 13 - 22
Quiz 4
Week 6 (Sept 30 - Oct 6) Writing about Literature
Essay topics and discussions
Essay 1 due Friday Oct 4
Week 7 (Oct 7 - Oct 13)
Midterm review
Midterm Exam in class Thursday Oct 10
Week 8 (Oct 14 - Oct 20) Past Futures
Fall Break: Monday classes meet Tuesday. Tuesday classes do not meet
Gibson, "The Gernsback Continuum"
Quiz 5
Week 9 (Oct 21 - Oct 27) Cyberpunk
Gibson, "Johnny Mnemonic"
Quiz 6
Week 10 (Oct 28 - Nov 3) The Sprawl
Gibson, "New Rose Hotel" and "Burning Chrome"
Quiz 7
Week 11 (Nov 4 - Nov 10) Mind and Machine
Gibson "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" and "The Winter Market"
Quiz 8
Week 12 (Nov 11 – Nov 17) The Unknown
Gibson "Hinterlands"
Quiz 9
Week 13 (Nov 18 - Nov 24) PostHumanity
Nagata, "Nahiku West"
Rambo, "Left Behind"
The stories re available from Clarkesworld. PDFs are on BlackBoard.
Quiz 10
Week 14 (Nov 25 - Nov 26) Essay Topics and Discussions
Thanksgiving Recess: Nov 27 - Dec 1
Week 15 (Dec 2 - Dec 7) Review
Essay 2 due Friday Dec 6
Reading Days: Dec 9 - 10
Final Exam: Thursday Dec 12
7:30a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.