Two years ago this morning, the World Trade Center in New York was destroyed by two passenger jets that were flown deliberately into the Towers. Thousands of people were killed. Interpreting the historical/national/global significance of events we live through is always difficult (e.g. can/should we try to understand the event by comparing it with others? can/should we understand it by thinking about how it will likely be remembered by future generations?), but for the purposes of this course we might consider whether the tragedy sheds any light on issues/controversies concerning humanity and technology. For example, do events like the WTC crash speak at all to any elements of Moravec' vision in ROBOT?
The "Robopet" Exercise
Before returning to the details of ROBOT, we'll have each person give a 5-minute summary of their Robopet response. The purpose is to learn which questions peaked the curiosity/enthusiasm/ire of the class, but also to brainstorm a bit about responses and reactions.
From "Power and Presence" to the "Age of Robots"
David will lead the discussion of chapter 3, and Aaron and Kyle will take over when they feel we've moved into the realms of chapters 4 & 5.
For Next Time:: 1) By noon tomorrow (Friday), post a
more formal response (i.e.one that is clearly presented and
nicely written) to the
Robopet exercise to the CHV-L list (by mailing it to:
chv-l@listserv.brown.edu); and 2) finish Moravec'
ROBOT) for Tuesday.
Tom Dean
will be joining
us on Tuesday to discuss the Robopet responses and Moravec'
view. If you have time, please begin reading Hannah Arendt's