ECS 188 – Fall 2009 – Phil Rogaway

Links to the readings can be found in the on-line reader. .

ECS 188 – Ethics in an Age of Technology – Spring 2009 – Phil Rogaway

Class How we spent the class Reading/HW due today Notes

#01 0R 9/24 Class canceled on account of the system-wide walkout. Welcome letter. Surprise! Nothing due on our first non-day of class! See Tuesday's slot for assignments due Tuesday. Some links on the UC budget crisis: Prof. Cole's letter to students; Yudof speech; recent news; admin view; town hall; budget central; admin growth; response; winners and losers; Charlie Schwartz.

#02 1T 9/29 Prof. Premkumar Devanbu will lead the class. We watched Kieslowski, Dekalog, Part 1 Homework 1 .

#03 1R 10/1 Quiz 1. Discussed Dekalog and the Disciplined Minds reading. Read H24, Disciplined Minds, by Jeff Schmidt. .

#04 2T 10/6 Quiz 2. Discuss Barbour reading. Read H1, Views of Technology, by Ian Barbour. .

#05 2R 10/8 Quiz 3. Dr. Earl Barr led our classroom discussion today, on the Johnson reading. Read H7, Philosophical Ethics, by Deborah Johnson. .

#06 3T 10/13 Quiz 4. Finished discussion of Johnson. Discussed Joy and Kurzweil readings. Read H6, Why the Future Doesn't Need Us, by Bill Joy, and S8 (softcopy), Promise and Peril, by Ray Kurzweil. .

#07 3R 10/15 Quiz 5. Discussed Heilbroner article. Read H2, Do Machines Make History?, by Robert Heilbroner, and H3, Do Artifacts have Politics?, by Langdon Winner. You might wish to read S4, Do Politics have Artefacts?, by Bernward Joerges.

#08 4T 10/20 Discussed Winner and Postman articles (small-group discussion for Postman). Milestone 1 due.
Read H4, Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change, by Neil Postman; and H9, Industrial Technology and Technological Systems, by Ruth Schwartz. .

#09 4R 4/22 Quiz 6. Discussed McLuhan interview. Watched Terence McKenna on McLuhan. Read H5, Marshall McLuhan interview. Helpful vocabulary for McLuhan. The video Epic 2015, by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson (Jan 2005), that I had meant to show. A well-known poem by Yeats, The Second Coming, alluded to at end of McLuhan article (among 100+ other allusions in the interview...).

#10 5T 10/27 Quiz 7. Finished discussion of McLuhan reading. Discussed the Friedman and Chang readings. Read H10, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Tom Friedman, and H11, The Lexus and the Olive Tree Revisited, by H. Chang. .

#11 5R 10/29 We discussed the LLH article then watched 40 mins of the film The Corporation. Read H12, A Road Map for Natural Capitalism, by Lovins, Lovins, and Hawken. Panel discussion at RMI2009 (10/2/09)

#12 6T 11/3 Quiz 8. Discussed the Therac-25 reading and the SE Code of Ethics. Watched another 20 mins of The Corporation. (1) Read S30, The Therac-25 Accidents, by Nancy Leveson (excellent but long) or you may study the Therac-25 Case Materials from ComputingCases.org. (2) Read H22c, The Software Engineering Code of Ethics. .

#13 6R 11/5 Finished The Corporation. (1) Read H19, Bhopal Lives, by Suketu Mehta. (2) Homework 2: Find an interesting and recent (< one year old) on-line article discussing a company or companies not acting in the public interest. Write for me a one-paragraph summary. Please make me a tinyurl pointing to your article so that I can see what you found and read it if I wish. Bring your hardcopy writeup to class on Thursday. The Right to Read, by Richard Stallman. I wanted to assign this but didn't because of Milestone 2. Please read it if you have time before class tomorrow.

#14 7T 11/10 Quiz 9. Discussed the recent readings and film. Read H13, The Tragedy of the Commons, by G. Hardin, and H14, The World as a Polder, by Jared Diamond. .

#15 7R 11/12 Watched Food, Inc. (1) Watch F1, Moving Beyond Fast Food Nation, with Peter Singer and Eric Schlosser. (2) Read F2, the Michael Pollan lecture. Oprah Winfry and Mad Cows

#16 8T 11/17 Quiz 10. Saw the last bit of Food, Inc and discussed it and the readings. Read H17, Fencing Off Ideas, by James Boyle, and H18, Microsoft DRM talk, by Cory Doctorow. One day's patents (11/10/2009).
What is "fair use"?

#17 8R 11/19 Quiz 11. Discussed Giving Good Talks. Discussed the day's readings. Watched Its Eyes. (1) Read S28, The Transparent Society, by David Brin (2) Milestone #2 due. .

#18 9T 11/24 Quiz 12. Discussed Jonas reading. Watched a clip from Jacob Bronowski's (available here) from The Ascent of Man. (1) Read: H8, The Altered Nature of Human Action, by Hans Jonas. Helpful vocabulary for this difficult reading. (2) Homework 3: Do quotes from the Jonas reading. (3) Homework 4: Evaluation of another group's milestone-2. .

#xx 9R 11/26 Thanksgiving - No class . .

#19 10T 12/1 Student presentations 101, 102, 103, 104 Read the writeups of the students presenting today .

#20 10R 12/3 Student presentations 201, 202, 203, 204 Read the writeups of the students presenting today .

#F 11F 12/11 Final (1:00 - 3:00)
Student presentations 301, 302, 303, 304 Read the writeups of the students presenting today .

ECS 188 – Ethics in an Age of Technology – Spring 2009 – Phil Rogaway
Class	How we spent the class	Reading/HW due today	Notes
#01 0R 9/24	Class canceled on account of the system-wide walkout. Welcome letter.	Surprise! Nothing due on our first non-day of class!	See Tuesday's slot for assignments due Tuesday. Some links on the UC budget crisis: Prof. Cole's letter to students; Yudof speech; recent news; admin view; town hall; budget central; admin growth; response; winners and losers; Charlie Schwartz.
#02 1T 9/29	Prof. Premkumar Devanbu will lead the class. We watched Kieslowski, Dekalog, Part 1	Homework 1	.
#03 1R 10/1	Quiz 1. Discussed Dekalog and the Disciplined Minds reading.	Read H24, Disciplined Minds, by Jeff Schmidt.	.
#04 2T 10/6	Quiz 2. Discuss Barbour reading.	Read H1, Views of Technology, by Ian Barbour.	.
#05 2R 10/8	Quiz 3. Dr. Earl Barr led our classroom discussion today, on the Johnson reading.	Read H7, Philosophical Ethics, by Deborah Johnson.	.
#06 3T 10/13	Quiz 4. Finished discussion of Johnson. Discussed Joy and Kurzweil readings.	Read H6, Why the Future Doesn't Need Us, by Bill Joy, and S8 (softcopy), Promise and Peril, by Ray Kurzweil.	.
#07 3R 10/15	Quiz 5. Discussed Heilbroner article.	Read H2, Do Machines Make History?, by Robert Heilbroner, and H3, Do Artifacts have Politics?, by Langdon Winner.	You might wish to read S4, Do Politics have Artefacts?, by Bernward Joerges.
#08 4T 10/20	Discussed Winner and Postman articles (small-group discussion for Postman).	Milestone 1 due. Read H4, Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change, by Neil Postman; and H9, Industrial Technology and Technological Systems, by Ruth Schwartz.	.
#09 4R 4/22	Quiz 6. Discussed McLuhan interview. Watched Terence McKenna on McLuhan.	Read H5, Marshall McLuhan interview.	Helpful vocabulary for McLuhan. The video Epic 2015, by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson (Jan 2005), that I had meant to show. A well-known poem by Yeats, The Second Coming, alluded to at end of McLuhan article (among 100+ other allusions in the interview...).
#10 5T 10/27	Quiz 7. Finished discussion of McLuhan reading. Discussed the Friedman and Chang readings.	Read H10, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Tom Friedman, and H11, The Lexus and the Olive Tree Revisited, by H. Chang.	.
#11 5R 10/29	We discussed the LLH article then watched 40 mins of the film The Corporation.	Read H12, A Road Map for Natural Capitalism, by Lovins, Lovins, and Hawken.	Panel discussion at RMI2009 (10/2/09)
#12 6T 11/3	Quiz 8. Discussed the Therac-25 reading and the SE Code of Ethics. Watched another 20 mins of The Corporation.	(1) Read S30, The Therac-25 Accidents, by Nancy Leveson (excellent but long) or you may study the Therac-25 Case Materials from ComputingCases.org. (2) Read H22c, The Software Engineering Code of Ethics.	.
#13 6R 11/5	Finished The Corporation.	(1) Read H19, Bhopal Lives, by Suketu Mehta. (2) Homework 2: Find an interesting and recent (< one year old) on-line article discussing a company or companies not acting in the public interest. Write for me a one-paragraph summary. Please make me a tinyurl pointing to your article so that I can see what you found and read it if I wish. Bring your hardcopy writeup to class on Thursday.	The Right to Read, by Richard Stallman. I wanted to assign this but didn't because of Milestone 2. Please read it if you have time before class tomorrow.
#14 7T 11/10	Quiz 9. Discussed the recent readings and film.	Read H13, The Tragedy of the Commons, by G. Hardin, and H14, The World as a Polder, by Jared Diamond.	.
#15 7R 11/12	Watched Food, Inc.	(1) Watch F1, Moving Beyond Fast Food Nation, with Peter Singer and Eric Schlosser. (2) Read F2, the Michael Pollan lecture.	Oprah Winfry and Mad Cows
#16 8T 11/17	Quiz 10. Saw the last bit of Food, Inc and discussed it and the readings.	Read H17, Fencing Off Ideas, by James Boyle, and H18, Microsoft DRM talk, by Cory Doctorow.	One day's patents (11/10/2009). What is "fair use"?
#17 8R 11/19	Quiz 11. Discussed Giving Good Talks. Discussed the day's readings. Watched Its Eyes.	(1) Read S28, The Transparent Society, by David Brin (2) Milestone #2 due.	.
#18 9T 11/24	Quiz 12. Discussed Jonas reading. Watched a clip from Jacob Bronowski's (available here) from The Ascent of Man.	(1) Read: H8, The Altered Nature of Human Action, by Hans Jonas. Helpful vocabulary for this difficult reading. (2) Homework 3: Do quotes from the Jonas reading. (3) Homework 4: Evaluation of another group's milestone-2.	.
#xx 9R 11/26	Thanksgiving - No class	.	.
#19 10T 12/1	Student presentations 101, 102, 103, 104	Read the writeups of the students presenting today	.
#20 10R 12/3	Student presentations 201, 202, 203, 204	Read the writeups of the students presenting today	.
#F 11F 12/11	Final (1:00 - 3:00) Student presentations 301, 302, 303, 304	Read the writeups of the students presenting today	.