HW1 - Technology memoir
Read the technology memoir linked below. Then use the linked Google form to add your own recollection. In a few paragraphs, describe an experience you had with technology that had a profound impact on you. Perhaps it was your first video game console, or maybe the first time you wrote a program that ran. Maybe it was the time you lost your smartphone.
“The Telephone Tree”, By Tony Scarlatos, The Southampton Literary Review, Volume IV No.2, Summer 2010
https://www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~tony/future/lectures//The_Telephone_Tree.pdf
HW2 - Emerging technology survey
Review the resources listed below and share your thoughts on the linked Google form. Choose two potential topics and corrollary texts for your research report and final presentation.
There are several criteria that you could have for your choice of term project. For one, it might be a topic indirectly related to your major, or a technology that you simply find fascinating. Second, it should be a topic that is big enough to have discernible impacts on culture and the economy, but not a topic so broad that the impact is ambiguous. Third, the topic should support a substantial research paper. The paper should be informed by, and contrasted to, a significant text chosen by the student (in consultation with the instructor). The class reading list is at:
https://xsrv.mm.cs.stonybrook.edu/future/301resources.htm
Finally, the topic you choose should provide opportunity for creative expression in the final project and presentation.
• Gartner Group
https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/5-trends-drive-the-gartner-hype-cycle-for-emerging-technologies-2020/
• MIT Technology Review
https://www.technologyreview.com/10-breakthrough-technologies/2020/
https://www.technologyreview.com/10-breakthrough-technologies/2019/
• World Economic Forum
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/top-10-emerging-technologies-2016/
• John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values (Notre Dame)
http://reillytop10.com/previous-lists/2018-list/
http://reillytop10.com/previous-lists/2019-list/
http://reillytop10.com/previous-lists/2020-list/
HW3 - Engines of Innovation
What are the conditions under which societies flourish, or decay? Jared Diamond claims in his book "Collapse" that social constructs may induce failure more than outside forces like natural disasters, climate change, or hostile states. Among the conditions Diamond cites are insulation of elites from consequences of their actions, and fealty to ideologies that may have been useful in the past, but are antiquated responses to new circumstances. In "Why Nations Fail", Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that successful, adaptive societies are "inclusive", while unsuccessful regressive societies are "extractive".
But what about the societies that innovate and overcome adverse circumstances? Is there a formula for success that is rooted in the cultural and social conventions of those societies? Are there ways of thinking and interacting that yield more optimal results?
The purpose of this exercise is to explore how innovation happens, and under which conditions. Please review the following videos, and share your thoughts on the linked Google form.
Steven Johnson - How We Got to Now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TEKYZfcI_c (55 minutes)
Sir Kenneth Robinson TED Talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity (20 min)
"The Empathic Civilization", RSA animation for a Jeremy Rifkin talk
https://www.thersa.org/discover/videos/rsa-animate/2010/05/rsa-animate---the-empathic-civilisation (10 1/2 min)
HW4 - The Case Against Civilization
Jared Diamond's theory of the rise of civilizations - that agriculture gave rise to sedentary, hierarchical societies, religion, and technology - has been challenged by the discovery of Goebekli Teppe, a sophisticated ancient temple that predates significantly any evidence of agricultural settlements. What is the implication of this discovery?
From the New Yorker:
"The idea of a religious monument built by hunter-gatherers contradicts most of what we thought we knew about religious monuments and about hunter-gatherers. Hunter-gatherers are traditionally believed to have lacked complex symbolic systems, social hierarchies, and the division of labor, three things you probably need before you can build a twenty-two-acre megalithic temple. Formal religion, meanwhile, is supposed to have appeared only after agriculture produced such hierarchical social relations as required a cosmic backstory to keep them going and supplied a template for the power relationship between gods and mortals. The findings at Göbekli Tepe suggest that we have the story backward—that it was actually the need to build a sacred site that first obliged hunter-gatherers to organize themselves as a workforce, to spend long periods of time in one place, to secure a stable food supply, and eventually to invent agriculture."
Read the article here:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/12/19/the-sanctuary
For an additional perspective, read this article by John Lanchester, also from the New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/18/the-case-against-civilization
Use the linked Google form to record your responses:
What is your assessment of the hypothesis that social, spiritual, or communal needs drove the creation of civilization, and not fulfillment of material needs?
What are the implications of the discovery of Goebekli Teppe for future studies?
HW5 - The Story of Stuff and the Power of Persuasion
• The “Story of Stuff” is a critique of global consumerism and its impacts on the environment and society:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-RnnEFWUM4
• “Big Box Mart” is a humorous parody of contemporary consumption and retailing :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKv6RcXa2UI
• The “Golden Arches Doctrine” is a theory of “capitalist peace” in support of highly integrated global trade, particularly in consumer goods:
https://mediawiki.middlebury.edu/IPE/Golden_Arches_Theory_of_Conflict_Prevention
Here is Tom Friedman’s NY Times op-ed piece explaining the theory:
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/08/opinion/foreign-affairs-big-mac-i.html
Here is a critique from Bloomberg News:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-05-11/the-end-of-the-golden-arches-doctrine-edward-luce
What is the role of the mass media in shaping global consumer sentiment?
Review this PBS Frontline report about the power of advertising, “The Persuaders”:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/showspersuaders/
Then use the space below on the Google form to reflect on these questions:
1) In decision-making the range of acceptable choices is sometimes referred to as the “Overton Window” (https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow) How would you assess the synergy of social forces and pervasive technology in shaping policy?
2) In relation to your research topic, what public perceptions are in play and are they susceptible to manipulation? What interests are competing to shape the narrative, and what are their methods?
3) Sophisticated techniques have always been employed to shape public opinion. Today, new technologies employing AI (such as DeepFakes) and Big Data (micro-profiling) will be powerful tools in constructing narratives to influence behavior, from politics to economics. Provide your assessment of the impact of these techniques in the future.
HW6 - The Modern Mulitnational Corporation
The modern multinational corporation is the preeminent institution of our time. It claims the legal rights of personhood (see - https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-become-people-excavating-the-legal-evolution). But if a corporation is a person, what kind of person is it?
The purpose of this exercise is to explore critiques of the modern corporation. You should begin with the documentary, "The Corporation" (stream at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFA50FBC214A6CE87). The film takes the point of view that the behavior of the modern corporation could be diagnosed as psychopathic, based on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist.
The prototype of the modern multinational corporation was the East India Tea Company. Here's a brief history - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/opinion/east-india-company.html
Historical examples of corporate malfeasance are not difficult to find. The Ford Pinto is a classic case (see - https://philosophia.uncg.edu/phi361-matteson/module-1-why-does-business-need-ethics/case-the-ford-pinto/).
In her book, "Merchants of Doubt", science historian Naomi Oreskes documents corporate deception on public health issues ranging from tobacco use, to acid rain, and climate change. (See - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJIW5yVk__w). Related to our earlier discussion of manipulation of public opinion, you may also want to review the PBS Frontline documentary, "Climate of Doubt" (see - https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/climate-of-doubt/).
Naomi Klein, in her book "This Changes Everything", challenges the idea that climate change is a technological problem which can be solved by new technological applications, and that economic growth can continue unabated. (See - https://charlierose.com/videos/23046).
Finally, economist Mariana Mazzucato explains the relationship between the public and private sectors in innovation. See https://www.ted.com/talks/mariana_mazzucato_government_investor_risk_taker_innovator
After you have reviewed these materials, please share your reflections on the linked Google form. Here are some topics you might want to consider:
1. What are the prominent features of the modern multinational corporation? What are its legal obligations and privileges? How does that structure influence how the corporation interacts with society? Where does it get its power? Are there any constraints?
2. The modern corporation has displaced other institutions, such as religious and political institutions, in terms of power and influence. What are the implications of this for the future?
HW7 - Limits to Growth
In our discussion of the limits to global economic growth we examined a formula environmentalists use to quantify the impact of human activity on the planet, known as IPAT.
Impact = Population X Affluence X Technology
For an explanation of IPAT, se