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Jupyter at Bryn Mawr College |
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| Public notebooks: /services/public/dblank / ESEM Humanity and Technology / 2014-Fall | |||
Humanity and Technology: Speculations from science and fiction¶
Emily Balch Seminar¶
Overview¶
In this seminar, students explore predictions from science and science fiction on the relationships between humanity and technology. Specifically, we will be exploring the idea of the Singularity---the point in time when technology eclipses human mental and physical abilities. We will read and write about artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics and how these technologies could affect all aspects of our human existence: spiritual, environmental, political, economic, entertainment, social, biological, and more. As we anticipate the point of the Singularity, we will explore the possibility of intelligent robots. Will they help us, or will they harm us?
To my mind, emergence is a theme that runs through these topics. Emergence has been described in various ways. One of my favorites is "when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." We will explore this idea as it relates to intelligence (natural and artificial) and also to writing.
We also have an associated author and speaker as part of this seminar. She is Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction. We will read this book, and explore how the ideas of extinction could be affected by AI and robotics.
General information¶
Section: 22
Course website: http://cs.brynmawr.edu/esem/
Class Number: 2639
Professor: Douglas Blank, http://cs.brynmawr.edu/~dblank/
Office: Park Science, Room 248
Office phone: (610)526-6501
Office hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 2:30-3:30
When: Tuesday and Thursday 11:25am - 12:45pm
Where: Park Science Building, Room 328
Course Management System: http://moodle.brynmawr.edu
Course Goals¶
- to study and practice the art and craft of writing with a thesis
- to understand writing as a personal process
- to develop critical analysis skills
- to develop and refine techniques for reading and writing
- to learn how to use sources
- to explore artificial intelligence and robotics
- to learn to write individually and in cooperative groups
Resources¶
We will be using the following books:
- The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, by Ray Kurzweil. Available at the bookstore.
- Writing with Sources, by Gordon Harvey. I will provide you with a copy.
- The Sixth Extinction: An unnatural history, by Elizabeth Kolbert. I will provide you with a copy.
- Robot Uprisings edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams. Available at the bookstore.
Web resources:
- The Purdue OWL - Online Writing Lab.
- Jupyter Project at Bryn Mawr College - data-driven visualizations and writing
General Requirements¶
- Four rough drafts of formal essays
- Four completed formal essays
- Four short writing assignments
In addition, we will write a book together. Although we only have 14 weeks, we will plan on developing (through our shorter writings) a compilation with a coherent plotline. Together we will develop a process towards this end.
Details on the Singularity¶
Occasionally, you may see a line such as the following in a handout or class presentation. These are little bits of computer programming. The following display the wikipedia article below it:
from IPython.display import IFrame
IFrame("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity", "100%", 300)
Schedule¶
September October November December
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 1 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 26 27 28 29 30 31 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 28 29 30 31
30
| Week | Dates | Topic | For Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tues 9/2 | Intro | Get books |
| Thurs 9/4 | Discuss Robot Uprisings, part 1 | Read "Robot Uprisings", part 1: Complex God | |
| 2 | Tues 9/9 | Pair writing | Short Assignment 1 due |
| Thurs 9/11 | Discussion | Read "Robot Uprisings", part 2: Cycles, Lullaby, 80 miles an hour all the way to paradise | |
| 3 | Tues 9/16 | Discussion | Singularity, part 1: ch 1 and 2 |
| Thurs 9/18 | Discussion | Paper 1, rough draft due | |
| 4 | Tues 9/23 | Discussion | Singularity, part 2: ch 3 and 4 |
| Thurs 9/25 | Discussion | Short Assignment 2 due | |
| 5 | Tues 9/30 | Discussion | Singularity, part 3: ch 5 and 6 |
| Thurs 10/2 | Discussion | Paper 1, final due | |
| 6 | Tues 10/7 | Discussion | Singularity, part 4: ch 7 and 8 |
| Thurs 10/9 | Discussion | Paper 2, rough draft due | |
| 7 | Tues 10/14 | Fall break! | no assignments |
| Thurs 10/16 | Fall break! | no assignments | |
| 8 | Tues 10/21 | Discussion | Read Sixth Extinction, ch 1 through 5 |
| Thurs 10/23 | Discussion | Read Sixth Extinction, ch 5 through 9 | |
| 9 | Tues 10/28 | Discussion | Paper 2, final due |
| Thurs 10/30 | Discussion | Short Assignment 3 due | |
| 10 | Tues 11/4 | Discussion | Read Sixth Extinction, ch 10 through 13 |
| Thurs 11/6 | Discussion | Paper 3, rough draft due | |
| 11 | Mon 11/10 | Lecture | Elizabeth Kolbert, 7:30pm |
| Tues 11/11 | Discussion | Singularity, part 5: ch 9 | |
| Thurs 11/13 | Discussion | Short Assignment 4 due | |
| 12 | Tues 11/18 | Discussion | Read "Robot Uprisings", part 3: Executable, The Omnibot Incident, Epoch, Human Intelligence |
| Thurs 11/20 | Discussion | Read "Robot Uprisings" part 4: The Golden Hour, Sleepover, Seasoning, Nanonauts! | |
| 13 | Tues 11/25 | Discussion | Paper 3, final due |
| Thurs 11/27 | Thanksgiving! | no assignments | |
| 14 | Tues 12/2 | Discussion | Paper 4, rough draft due |
| Thurs 12/4 | Discussion | Read "Robot Uprisings" part 5: Of Dying Heroes, The Robot and the Baby, We are all misfit toys | |
| 15 | Tues 12/9 | Discussion | Read "Robot Uprisings" part 6: Spider the Artist, Small Things |
| Thurs 12/11 | Summary | Paper 4, final due |
Important dates:
- End of Add/Drop Period (at 4pm) - Wednesday, September 10, 2014
- 5th Course Drop Ends - Friday, September 19, 2014
- CR/NC Deadline for Semester Classes (5pm) - Friday, October 10, 2014
- Fall Break Starts (after last class) - Friday, October 10, 2014, through Sunday, October 19, 2014
- Last Day of Classes- Thursday, December 11, 2014
Experiment¶
One of the ideas from this seminar is that when things change exponentially, we able to make very good predictions or have very good expectations.
Here is a thought experiment: if you are given a penny on day one, and two pennies on day two, and four pennies on day three, and continue doubling the amount, how much total money will you have at the end of the month?
total = 0
for day in range(15):
pay = 2 ** day
total = total + pay
print("Day #{} Pay today: ${:,}, Total ${:,}".format(day + 1, pay/100.0, total/100.0))
print ("Total amount for month: $%s" % "{:,}".format(total/100.0))
Thanks to Jennefer Callaghan for many ideas used in this course design.