First Class

Tuesday, 2 February

Slides [PDF]

Please submit this survey by 4:59pm today (Tuesday): Initial Course Survey

Reading assignment: Ian Barbour, Ethics in an Age of Technology

This is from a 1993 book based on a series of lectures Barbour gave in 1989. Barbour considers three different views of technology: (1) Technology as Liberator, (2) Technology as Threat, and (3) Technology as Instrument of Power.

Before Wednesday at 9:29pm, post a response in the Discussion Site (see details there on what your response should be). (Note that it will get harder to post a satisfactory response as more students have posted, so it is advantageous to do this earlier and have more opportunities for discussion.)

You will need to acquire Ruha Benjamin’s book, Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code which will be the main reading for Weeks 2, 3, and 4. Here are some possible buying options: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org.