How Human? Cyborgs, Robots, and Artificial Intelligence

Catalog description

Robots Are Coming for Your Job Sooner Than You Think," declared VICE in a September headline. Two months later, physicist Stephen Hawking said AI could be the "worst event in the history of our civilization." Are these statements of pragmatism, or doom-and-gloom? What do our concerns about robots say about our own humanity? In this course, we examine the changing boundaries between artificial and real bodies through readings in studies of science and technology, feminist theories of embodiment, studies of race and ethnicity, posthumanism, futurism, and science fiction - while also building and programming our own robotic toys. Topics include the machine/human boundary, potential machine futures, and the ethics of our technological present (and future). No prior experience in coding or robotics required.