Future Human: Humanity and Technology A.D. 2100

Catalog description

One of the earliest fables that has come down to us is that of the sorcerer’s apprentice, where a bumbling assistant learns how to turn on his master’s creation, but doesn’t also learn how to turn it off. Whether it is a golem, Frankenstein’s monster, or the artificial intelligences of The Matrix movies, the fear that what we create will ultimately overpower us, enslave us, or even destroy us, is evident throughout literature and art. Yet, we live in a world where we can hardly exist without the constant assistance of computers. Every day, computers become more integrated into our daily lives, such as phones that talk to us, and even into our bodies, such as cochlear implants, gene therapy cures for cystic fibrosis, contact lenses that track blood sugar, and prosthetic limbs that respond to thought. In the future, when machines become ever more a part of our selves, what will it mean to be human? What will it mean to be a machine? And will we in control, or will they? Applied real-world opportunities: Students will be offered the opportunity to tour at least one local facility that demonstrates, in some fashion, the future of humans and their daily interactions with technology, and will be researching and interviewing people from local firms who are designing the future today.