Links to the readings can be found in our on-line reader.
Q1, Q2, Q3, ... are quizzes;
#A, #B, #C, ... are written assignments.
ECS 188 – Ethics in an Age of Technology – Winter 2013 – Phillip Rogaway |
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Class | How we spent the class: | For today you need to: | Comments: |
01 M 1/07 | Attitudes towards technology. Intuitively held ethical beliefs. | Surprise! Nothing due on our first day of class. | See Wednesday’s slot for assignments due Wednesday, etc. |
02 W 1/09 | Watch Dekalog 1 by Kieslowski. | Please come to class 2 mins early. Read the (1) Course information sheet, (2) A Brief Note to the Student, and (3) Philisophical Ethics by Johnson. (A) Write a Summary (click for what I mean by this) of the Johnson reading. | More by Kieslowski: Blue, Red, The Double Life of Veronique |
03 F 1/11 | Q1. Discuss Dekalog I. Discuss the Johnson reading. | (1) Finish the Johnson reading, if you didn’t manage to. (B) Write an Analysis (click for what I man by this) of Dekalog I. With proper attribution, you may consult secondary sources as desired. If needed, you can rewatch the film with the link to the right. | Link to Dekalog 1. |
04 M 1/14 | Q2. Discussed ethical relativism (Pojman and part of Johnson) | Read Ethical Relativism, by Pojman. | . |
05 W 1/16 | Q3. Discussed Aaron Swartz, copyright, activism, and suicide | Discuss the life of Aaron Swartz: (1) read Dotorow’s blog, Lessig’s blog, and watch a conference keynote. (2) Spend another hour investigating an issue close to Swartz. (3) Come to class prepared to give a 2-3 minute impromptu talk on it. | Rest in peace, Aaaron Swartz |
06 F 1/18 | Q4. Discussed utilitarianism. Began discussion on deontology. | (1) Review the Johnson reading if you have have forgotten what it said of utilitarianism, deontology, or virtue ethics. (2) On your own, find an interesting & understandable article or book chapter, reasonably scholarly, on one of these three topics. Come prepared to discuss what you learned. Google scholar is a good way to locate academic readings. | Many articles archived by Google-scholar will require you to be on campus or use the UCD library proxy |
xx M 1/21 | Holiday | Martin Luther King’s birthday | . |
07 W 1/23 | Discussed deontology and virtue ethics. Began discussion of Jonas reading. | (1) Read: The Altered Nature of Human Action, by Hans Jonas. (C) Write up Quotes from the reading (click for what I mean by this). | The reading is hard. Leave time; read slowly; lookup words you don’t know. Some notes on Kant. |
08 F 1/25 | Q5. Discussed environmental ethics / Leopold, and a bit more of Jonas. | Read The Land Ethic by Aldo Leopold. | A Sand County Almanac. Callicott, The Conceptual Foundations of the Land Ethic |
09 M 1/28 | Q6. Discussed the Barbour reading. | Read Views of Technology, by Ian Barbour. | . |
10 W 1/30 | Q7. Discussed McLuhan reading. Watched a quick video. | (1) Read this interview of Marshal McLuhan. (2) Read something else—you choose—on or by McLuhan | . |
11 F 2/01 | We watched Testament | (1) Come to Discussion section. (2) Read Why the future doesn’t need us by Bill Joy. (D) Write an Analysis of the reading. | 50 facts about U.S. nuclear weapons |
12 M 2/04 | Discussed the film Testament. Discussed student writing and swapped assignment D’s | (E) Milestone 1 due (today, by email). (F) Brief essay on Testament | No new reading for today. |
13 W 2/06 | Q8. Discussed the Hertsgaard reading. Watched part of James Hansen video | Reading from Hot by Mark Hertsgaard | . |
14 F 2/08 | Watched The Corporation | (1) Watch Amory Lovins; (2) Watch Ozzie Zehner; (G) Write a one-paragraph (at most one page) essay comparing their basic views. | . |
15 M 2/11 | Q9. Discussed The Corporation | (1) Finish The Corporation (Sect 1 watched 1-19; Sect 2 watched 1-17) (H) What person who spoke in the film did you find most creepy or most likable (you get to choose)? Identify a particular and memorable quote s/he said (no more than a couple sentences) , and prepare a 3-minute talk discussing it. | . |
16 W 2/13 | Q10. More discussion of The Corporation. Discussed the Friedman reading. | (1) Read this selection from The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman | . |
17 F 2/15 | Q11. Rant on advertising & coke. Discussed Stiglitz reading. Watched part of a video of him. | (1) Read Another World is Possible from Making Globalization Work by Joseph Stiglitz. (2) Come prepared to compare Stiglitz’s view on globalization with Friedman’s. | Amusing book review for Friedman’s The World is Flat |
xx M 2/18 | Holiday | President’s Day | . |
18 W 2/20 | Q12. Discussed the Schmidt reading. | Read this selection from Disciplined Minds by Jeff Schmidt. | . |
19 F 2/22 | Watched Why we Fight (2005) by Eugene Jarecki | (1) Read Computers, Ethics, and Collective Violence by Summers and Markusen (2) Read something on any follow-up experiment to the Milgram experiment described in the reading. | Eisenhower’s Farewell Address to the Nation |
20 M 2/25 | We discussed Anh Duong and others from “Why We Fight”. Sect 1 discussed the Therac-25 reading. | (I) Write an analysis of the moral character of Anh Duong as you understood it from Why we Fight (offsets 22:14 and 55:18 (53:46 for context)). (2) Read The Therac-25 by Nancy Leveson. | . |
21 W 2/27 | Q13. Sect1: Giving Good Talks; New Yorker reading. Sect2: Therac-25 reading; New Yorker reading. | (1) Read The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis. (2) Read the ACM Code of Ethics and the IEEE Code of Ethics | . |
22 F 3/01 | Q14. Sect2: Giving Good Talks. Discssed Unlocking the Clubhouse reading. | Read this selection from Unlocking the Clubhouse by Margolis and Fisher. | . |
23 M 3/04 | Q15. Discussed Boyle (patents and copyrights) | (0) Learn your number i∈[1..25] from the class photo. (1) Read the Preface of The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle. (2) Then read Chapter (i mod 10)+1 from the book ( html, pdf) (J) Come prepared (bring hardcopy notes) to give a 4-min talk describing what you read. | . |
24 W 3/06 | We continued our discussion of the Boyle reading. | (1) Milestone 2 due: upload (to Resources) d101.pdf (or the like). (2) Bring your chapter from Boyle and the notes you prepared on it. | . |
25 F 3/08 | Finished discussion of Boyle. Discussed ethical scenarios. Disc sect | (1) Markup your two reviews (uploaded by the time class begins). (2) Once again, please bring your chapter from Boyle and the notes you prepared on it. | . |
26 M 3/11 | Q16. Discussed the two videos. | (1) Watch Food, Inc. (2008), by Robert Kenner. (2) Listen to Singer and Schlosser lecture (2007). | The videos are about 90 mins each. |
27 W 3/13 | Presentation Day #1 |
Section 1: Read papers p101,
p102 Section 2: Read papers p201, p202 (K) Write a one-paragraph assessment of each paper. Put each on a separate page. After reading them, I will cut off names and give each to that group. | Can Psychology be Taught?, by Daniel Kahneman. |
28 F 3/15 | Presentation Day #2 | Section 1: Read papers
p103,
p104,
p105,
p106,
p107 Section 2: Read papers p203, p204, p205, p206 (L) Write a one-paragraph assessment of each paper. Put each on a separate page. |
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29 M 3/18 | Presentation Day #3 | Section 1: Read papers
p108,
p109 Section 2: Read papers p207*, p208 (M) Write a one-paragraph assessment of each paper. Put each on a separate page. |
. |
yy W 3/20 | Section 1 Final, 8-10 am; Presentations Day #4 |
Read papers p110, p111, p112 | . |
zz S 3/23 | Section 2 Final, 6-8 pm; Presentations Day #4 |
Read papers p209, p210, p211 | . |