Honors 184-15: Boundaries of the Human in the Age of Robots and Clones (2004)
Spring 2004 HONORS 184-15 Prof. Michael Bess
TR 2:35-3:50 (Integrative Seminar) 208 Benson
michael.d.bess@ 322-3340
vanderbilt.edu Office Hours:
W3:10-5; TR 4-5
Course Description
Human beings are rapidly acquiring an unprecedented capacity to manipulate their own biology, through advanced medical interventions and genetic alterations. At the same time, they are also developing machines so sophisticated that they may soon begin replicating some behaviors previously considered unique to the human species. As these two processes unfold over time, the net result is a blurring of the boundaries between humans and machines – a “convergence of opposites” that entails the progression of man-made entities toward the functional level of humans, and the simultaneous movement of human beings toward the qualitative status of partial artifacts, shaped by conscious will and design.
In this seminar we examine the challenges posed to human identity by these accelerating developments in genetics, robotics, and computer science, focusing in particular on the following questions: What are the defining features of human personhood? To what extent can those features be modified or extended, before human personhood begins to break down? Can some (or all) of those features find embodiment in an entity other than a human being? And finally, the most practical question of all: How much control do we have over the direction in which science and technology are taking our civilization?
Our approach will be interdisciplinary, encompassing developments in the natural sciences, technology, socioeconomic change, politics, popular culture, and philosophy.
The course will be divided into five thematic parts:
I. What’s at stake?
II. Redesigning Humans
III. Robo Sapiens
IV. You got a problem with this?
V. Where do I stand in the ongoing debates?
Readings
– Alan Lightman, et. al., eds., Living With the Genie: Essays on Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery
– Gregory Stock, Redesigning Humans: Choosing our Genes, Changing our Future
– Rodney A. Brooks, Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us
– Bill McKibben, Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age
– Francis Fukuyama, Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution
Assignments, Grading
You should ALWAYS finish each day’s assigned reading before class meets on Tuesday or Thursday. In order to carry out a satisfying discussion, it is essential that all students come to class well-prepared to contribute their thoughts and observations on the readings. I encourage you to take notes on the readings as you go along; this will also help you considerably when you are writing your research paper.
Each student will be asked to choose one class session during the semester in which he or she will start off the discussion with a 10-15 minute analytical report on that day’s reading.
There will be no examinations in this course. Written assignments will include a one-page topic proposal for your research paper, and three one-page (single-spaced) reaction papers to major portions of the assigned reading. The culminating assignment for the course will be a 10-page (double-spaced) research paper on some aspect of the course subject matter that grabs your fancy; you will revise this paper and resubmit it after intensive discussion of it by the whole class. Late assignments will be penalized at the rate of 5% per day.
Semester grades will be determined according to the following percentages:
Discussion participation: 20%
1-page papers: 5% each x 4 = 20%
Research paper, first polished (not rough!) draft: 30%
Research paper, revised draft: 30%
All assignments for this course will be governed by Vanderbilt’s honor code. Please read carefully the description of the honor code in the student handbook and the section on plagiarism in the class pack for this course. If you have any questions about this very important matter, please come and discuss them with me.
Course Schedule
Part I. What’s at stake?
Week 1
Thursday, Jan. 15 — Intro and overview; film: The Measure of a Man
Week 2
Tuesday, Jan. 20 — Film: Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein
Read Bess, NIH proposal (on reserve)
Read “BINA 48″ mock trial transcript entitled “Biocyberethics,” by Martine Rothblat, available on reserve or at: http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0594.html
Thursday, Jan. 22 — Finish Frankenstein film; start discussing it
Read Bill Joy, “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us,” at:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html
Week 3
Tuesday, Jan. 27 — Discuss Commander Data, Frankenstein, Bess, Bina 48, Joy, Gilmore
Read David Gilmore, “Our Monsters, Ourselves” (on reserve)
Part II. Redesigning Humans
Thursday, Jan. 29 — Discuss Stock
Read Stock, chapters 1-3
Week 4
Tuesday, Feb. 3 — Discuss Stock and Schick/Toth
Read Stock, chapters 4, 5
Read Schick and Toth, “The Origin of the Genie,” in Living With the Genie
Thursday, Feb. 5 — Discuss Stock and Addington
Read Stock, chapters 6, 7
Read Addington, “Your Breath is Your Worst Enemy,” in Living With the Genie
Week 5
Tuesday, Feb. 10 — Discuss Stock and Andrews
Read Stock, chapters 8, 9
Read Andrews, “Changing Conceptions,” in Living With the Genie
Part III. Robo Sapiens
Thursday, Feb. 12 — Discuss Brooks and Kurzweil
Read Brooks, chapters 1, 2
Read Kurzweil, “Promise and Peril,” in Living With the Genie
Week 6
Tuesday, Feb. 17 — Discuss Brooks and Sarewitz/Woodhouse
* One-page description of your research paper topic due (copies to classmates)
Read Brooks, chapters 3-5
Read Sarewitz and Woodhouse, “Small is Powerful,” in Living With the Genie
Thursday, Feb. 19 — Discuss Brooks and Wolbring
Read Brooks, chapters 6-8
Read Wolbring, “Confined to Your Legs,” in Living With the Genie
Week 7
Tuesday, Feb. 24 — Discuss Brooks and Moravec
* One-page single-spaced response paper due on Stock, Brooks (copies to classmates)
Read Brooks, chapters 9, 10
Read Moravec, Mind Children, chapter 4 (“Grandfather Clause”), on reserve
Part IV. You got a problem with this?
Thursday, Feb. 26 — Discuss McKibben and Sarewitz
Read McKibben, chapters 1, 2
Read Sarewitz, “Science and Happiness,” in Living With the Genie
Week 8
Tuesday, March 2 — Discuss McKibben and Kitcher
Read McKibben, chapter 3
Read Kitcher, “What Kinds of Science Should Be Done?” in Living With the Genie
Thursday, March 4 — Discuss McKibben and Kapor
Read McKibben, chapter 4
Read Kapor, “The Humpty Dumpty Problem,” in Living With the Genie
Week 9
Spring Break
Week 10
Tuesday, March 16 — Discuss McKibben and Lightman
Read McKibben, chapter 5
Read Lightman, “The World is Too Much With Me,” in Living With the Genie
Thursday, March 18 — Discuss Fukuyama and Thornstrom
Read Fukuyama, chapters 1-3
Read Thornstrom, “Who Owns Your Dinner?” in Living With the Genie
Week 11
Tuesday, March 23 — Discuss Fukuyama and Schapiro
Read Fukuyama, chapters 4-6
Read Schapiro, “Blowback in Genetic Engineering,” in Living With the Genie
Thursday, March 25 — Discuss Fukuyama
* One-page single-spaced response paper due on McKibben, Fukuyama (copies to classmates)
Read Fukuyama, chapters 7-9
Week 12
Tuesday, March 30 — Discuss Fukuyama and Desser
Read Fukuyama, chapters 10-12
Read Desser, “Only Connect,” in Living With the Genie
Part V. Where do I stand in the ongoing debates?
Thursday, April Fool’s !!! — Discuss Powers short story
Draw lots for days for discussion of papers, Weeks 14-15
* First Polished (Not Rough!) Draft of research paper due (copies to classmates)
Read Powers, “Literary Devices,” in Living With the Genie
Week 13
Tuesday, April 6 — No class: paper conferences with Bess
Read all of your classmates’ research papers; prepare separate sheet with your comments on each paper (to be handed in during Weeks 14-15)
Thursday, April 8 — No class: paper conferences with Bess
Read all of your classmates’ research papers; prepare separate sheet with your comments on each paper (to be handed in during Weeks 14-15)
Week 14
Tuesday, April 13 — Discuss 4 student papers
Thursday, April 15 — Discuss 4 student papers
Week 15
Tuesday, April 20 — Discuss 4 student papers
Thursday, April 22 — Discuss 4 student papers
* One-page single-spaced response paper due: What have I learned? (Copies to classmates)
Week 16
Tuesday, April 27 — Closing discussion: What have I learned?
Bess splits for last 20 minutes of class: course evaluation forms filled out
* Revised research paper due in Bess’s mailbox in History Dept., by 3 pm, Wed., April 28
Written assignments and class presentations
I. Written assignments.
A. Response papers. These short essays are designed to focus your thoughts about the major segments of course readings, giving you an opportunity to sum up the main issues very concisely. The response paper should be about 1 page long, typed single-spaced. Try not to exceed this limit. In this paper you should set forth what the main issues are in the assigned readings, discussing them critically and analytically. How persuasive is the author? Is he or she leaving anything out? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the way the author treats the subject? Explain succinctly.
B. Topic description for research paper. Lay out, in a single page (typed single-spaced), what subject you have chosen for your semester research paper. Your task for the research paper will be to take a stand on some issue that is central to the course subject matter. Choose any aspect that particularly grabs you, and delve more deeply into it.
Be careful not to make the topic so vague and vast that it’s impossible for you to tackle in a single semester — such as, for example, “The history of artificial intelligence,” or “Brain research in the past half century.” Try to focus your topic as concretely as you can, so that it strikes a balance between the universal and the particular — between the “big questions” that make a research paper interesting to write, and the tangible specifics that render it doable as a project. Include a list of at least five books and/or articles you have found on the subject. Feel free to come discuss your possible topics with me as much as you wish in the weeks before February 17, when this one-page assignment is due.
C. Research paper. This essay is to be about 10 pages long, typed double-spaced. Include footnotes (as appropriate) and a bibliography (not included in the 10-page limit). Try not to exceed the 10-page limit for the main body of your paper’s text. Be pithy, hard-hitting, eloquent, and concise in your writing! See my handout on essay writing for tips.
II. Class presentations
A. Each student will be asked to pick one class session during the semester in which he or she will start off the discussion with a 10-15 minute analytical report on that day’s reading. The report should VERY BRIEFLY summarize the main issues of that day’s reading, then devote the majority of time to discussing those issues critically and analytically. How persuasive is the author? Is he or she leaving anything out? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the way the author treats the subject? Try not to exceed the 15-minute limit.