ECS 188 – Ethics in an Age of Technology – Fall 2010
Last updated: December 13, 5:05 pm PST
Announcements
Our final meeting last Friday was a little rushed. I would have liked to say a few more words.
I’d have liked to have had a chance to discuss
Bronowski’s video clips, which
might have gone by too quickly for you all to get.
Very briefly, the first clip is a warning about our not letting science
be reduced to serving as the handmaiden of power—governments, Bronowski had most in mind,
but one would now hasten to add corporations/capital as well.
The second clip implores that we have humility in our beliefs,
to always remember that we may be wrong. It suggests that a root cause of the Holocaust, and our
loss of humanity more generally, is when mankind fails to internalize this humility.
Both clips—and indeed the
entire 13-hour documentary (available
from Netflix)—are infused with the belief that the advance of
science and technology is a human activity, a noble undertaking
that should add value to our humanity. I cannot help but think that Bronowski would have been
deeply saddened to live in today’s world, an era of even higher-tech weapons, science for profit,
and radical individualism.
Nor did we get to take a few minutes to read and think on
the pledges at the
end of your reader. I hope you will do so.
Exams have been graded. Stats: mean=64%, high=85%, low=45%. I guess it means the final was pretty hard.
Grades too have been assigned, too. Students earned from 63% to 90% of the available points.
You should be able to retrieve your grade on-line, however this is usually done.
If you want to write to me, or visit me in office hours next quarter, I can provide you the details.
I do hope you take with you from our class more than your grade and course credit.
You might reread the forward
to your course reader, which might capture thoughts that might resonate more the end of our class than they
did at the beginning.
Wishing you peaceful holidays, Phil Rogaway
Course information
Schedule grows with each class and contains your assignments
On-line reader has all our readings and then some (still,
you’ll probably want to get a hardcopy, which is available at Copyland copy shop).