Syllabus: http://www.cs.brown.edu/~rbb/risd/CompCon.syllabus.html
Last Update : 2/16/07
Weekly Descriptions | Books & Bibliography | Reference Page
Briefly: Computer science is barely a half-century old and yet its impact has been extraordinary. This course is about the developments in mathematics and machinery that gave rise to modern computing, and the consequences of these developments for the way we think about ourselves and other people, about society, and about the present and the future. Beginning with a discussion of the work of John von Neumann, Claude Shannon, Alan Turing, and Norbert Weiner, the course traces the connection between technical innovations in computing (from the 1940's to the present), and the social and political questions and formulations they affected in each decade. The course concludes with an examination of computer networks, computer-brain interfaces and the goals of "ubiquitous" computing in the 21st century, and the questions these developments raise about our humanity and our future.
Requirements:: The foundation of our work in this course will be our discussions of the assigned readings, and your weekly writing assignments designed to capture your reflections on the readings and your experiences with computing and computers. In addition, each student is responsible for an essay discussing the books by Chorost and Ullman (along with any others you may be reading). Students are expected to read critically and contribute regularly to class discussions. There will be a final exam.
Required Reading
Recommended Texts:
We will rely on the World Wide Web for some of the assigned texts, and for recent publications. All links to the electronic required readings will be part of the electronic version of the syllabus.
Baudrillard, Jean. Simulations, trans. Paul Foss, Paul Patton and Philip Beitchman (Semiotexte, 1983)
Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations, edited by Hannah Arendt, trans. Harry Zohn (Schocken, 1968/1936) pp. 217-252.
Berry, Wendell. "Why I Am Not Going To Buy A Computer," from What Are People For? (North Point Press, 1990).
Borgmann, Albert. Holding on to Reality: The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium. (University of Chicago Press, 1999).
Brin, David. The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? (Addison-Wesley, 1998).
Brook, James, and Boal, Iain. Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information (City Lights, 1995)
Castells, Manual. The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, 3v. (Blackwell, 1996).
Dreyfus, Hubert L., and Spinosa, Charles. "
Ess, Charles. Philosophical Perspectives on Computer-Mediated Communication (SUNY Press, 1996).
Feenberg, Andrew. Critical Theory of Technology Oxford University Press, 1991)
Fukuyama, Francis. Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (FSG, 2002).
Gray, Chris Hables (ed). The Cyborg Handbook (Routledge, 1996)
Hickman, Larry A. Philosophical Tools for Technological Culture: Putting Pragmatism to Work (Indiana University Press, 2001).
Kargon, Robert H. and Molella, Arthur P. "Culture, Technology and Constructed Memory in Disney's New Town: Techno-nostalgia in Historical Perspective," in Cultures of Control, edited by Miram R. Levin (Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000), pp. 135-150.
Kranzberg, Melvin. "The Information Age: Evolution or Revolution?", in Bruce R. Guile (ed.), Information Technologies and Social Transformation (National Academy Press, 1985).
Lagarias, Jeffrey C. "The 3x+1 Problem and its Generalization," (AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1993). Electronic version at: http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/organics/papers/lagarias/index.html. This is an update of Lagarias 1985, which appeared in the American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 92, pp. 3-23.
Marx, Karl. "The Meaning of Human Requirements," in Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, edited by Dirk J. Struik, trans. by Martin Milligan (International Publishers, 1964), pp. 147-164.
Moser, Mary Anne, with Douglas McLeod. Immersed in Technology: Art and Virtual Environments (MIT, 1995)
Mumford, Lewis. Art and Technics (Columbia University Press, 2000/1952)
Neumann, Peter G. (moderator). The Risks Digest: Forum On Risks To The Public In Computers And Related Systems (ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy: http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks, 2003).
Pacey,
Scheffler, Israel. "Computers at School?" in In Praise of the Cognitive Emotions and Other Essays in the Philosophy of Education (Routledge, 1991), pp. 80-96.
Searle, John R. "Minds, Brains, and Programs," The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 3, pp. 417-457, 1980..
Techné: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology. Electronic version available at the Digital Library Archives of Virginia Tech: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/.
Tenner, Edward. Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Knopf, 1996)
Weizenbaum, Joseph. Computer Power and Human Reason (W.H. Freeman, 1976)
Winner, Langdon. The Whale and the Reactor (University of Chicago Press, 1986).
Week #1 (January 8 and 9): When Computers Stopped Being Human: We'll discuss the motivations for and outline of the course, and turn first to the history of computing, to see when electronic computers replaced human computers in large-scale human computing projects.
Required
Recommended
Week #2 (January 16): Information and Intelligence (for Computers)
Required Reading: Alan
Turing's "Computing
machinery and intelligence" Mind, 59, 433-460 (1950), and
Claude E. Shannon's "A Mathematical
Theory of Communication" (1948) (at bell-labs.com)
Recommended Reading: The Turning Test Page
(at ucsd.edu); Alan
Turing Scrapbook (at Andrew Hodges' turing.org.uk); An
introduction to information theory and entropy," by Tom Carter (at
csustan.edu); "Virtual
Bodies and Flickering Signifiers," by N. Katherine Hayles (at Hayles'
site at ucla.edu).
Week #3 (January 22 and 23): Computing, Control, and the Character of Modern Society
Required Reading: James R.
Beniger, The Control Revolution : Technological and Economic Origins of
the Information Society (pp. 1-60); Norbert Weiner, Cybernetics:
or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
(Introduction); and Michael S. Mahoney, "Cybernetics
and Information Technology", in R.C. Olby et al. (eds.), Companion
to the History of Modern Science (London/New York: Routledge, Chapman
& Hall, 1989), Chap. 34.
Recommended
Week #4 (January 29 and 30): Computing and Communication: Apples, PCs and the Rise of the Information Society
Required
Recommended Reading: Vannevar Bush's "As We May Think", The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945; Doug Engelbart's "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework", October 1962; and MouseSite Digital Archive, at Stanford; and The Information Age: An Anthology on Its Impact and Consequences, edited by David S. Alberts and Daniel S. Papp (NDU Press, 2002).
Week #5 (February 5 and 6): The Web and the Network(ed) Society
Required Reading: The
Information Society Reader (selections)
Recommended Reading: "A
Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late
Twentieth Century," by Donna Haraway, from Simians, Cyborgs and
Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991),
pp.149-181; "Why
The Future Doesn't Need Us," by Bill Joy (from Wired 8.04
(April 2000); Information,
Communication and Society(selections)
Week #6 (February 12 and 13): Computing and Its Consequences: Past, Present and Future
Required Reading: The Information Society Reader
(selections)
Recommended Reading: "Computers and
Organisms", History 598 at
The Final Exam (this link will be activated on Saturday, the 17th, at 6 p.m., and the exam is due by noon on Sunday, the 18th).
I am most easily reached by e-mail (rbb@brown.edu) and am happy to schedule regular weekly office hours if requested.
© 2007 Roger B. Blumberg