The Happy Cyborg

Catalog description

How much of a cyborg do you want to be? What aspects of your mental life do you want to offload to technology, and which aspects do you want to keep for yourself? Who should get to decide the limits of individuals' control over their own cybernetic implants? What will happen if some groups of humans become more integrated with technology than others? As our lives become increasingly intertwined with technology, how can we ensure that these advancements enhance rather than diminish human happiness? What unintended consequences might emerge from attempting to maximize happiness through brain-computer interfaces? Students will explore the present, near future and far future of human-technology integration through in-class activities, student discussion, interactive projects and media drawn from science fiction, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, human-computer interaction and futurism.