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The Textbooks Course Description Course Policies Grading System Course Schedule |
Prof. Thomas A. Easton
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OFFICE: Rm. 108
OFFICE PHONE: 859-1331 HOME PHONE: 338-1074 CANCELLATION PHONE NUMBER: 859-1140 Click here to email me:  |
See "Course policies" below for details on grading.
The class will meet three times in a Thomas College classroom, on Tuesday January 4, on Tuesday February 8, and on Tuesday March 22, from 6 PM to 9:30 PM. The remaining classes will meet on-line. Brief lectures will be posted (linked to the syllabus); discussion questions will be posted on a Forum. It is absolutely essential that students have reliable computers (at home or at work) with Internet access.
There will be six papers on assigned topics. Each will be 5 or more pages long, double-spaced, with at least half a dozen references obtained from outside research. See the Schedule below for the topics.
All papers should be prepared as Word files (.doc or .rtf) and "handed in" by uploading them to
Moodle. I also accept emailed papers.
Students who plagiarize papers will receive zeros for the work in question, with no makeup opportunities.
| DATE | READINGS | |
| Jan 4 | The Nature of Technology | Week 1 lecture |
| (Classroom) | Volti, Ch. 1: The Nature of Technology | |
| Teich--4, Weinberg, Technology & Social Engineering | ||
| Teich--7, Edgerton, The Shock of the Old | ||
| Jan 11 | The Role of Technology in Society | Week 2 lecture |
| (On-Line) | Teich--1, Marx, Technology & Progress | |
| Teich--8, Mesthene, Technology's Role | ||
| Teich--9, McDermott, Technology as Opiate | ||
| Easton, Issue #1--Science, Politics, and Public Policy | ||
| PAPER 1: Mesthene tells us that technology can change our values. Discuss how this may relate to the way politicians often ignore scientific data in favor of other factors when determining public policy. | ||
| Jan 18 | Promise and Peril | Week 3 lecture |
| (On-Line) | Teich--10, Joy, Why the Future Doesn't Need Us | |
| Teich--11, Brown & Duguid, Response to Joy | ||
| Teich--12, Kurzweil, Promise and Peril | ||
| Easton, Issue #10--Nanotechnology | ||
| PAPER 2: Investigate 3D printing and discuss whether it is a threat or a boon. Who does it threaten? Who does it benefit? In what ways should this technology be restricted or regulated? And why? | ||
| Jan 25 | Who Does Technology Benefit? | Week 4 lecture |
| (On-Line) | Volti, Ch. 2: Winners & Losers: The Differential Effects of Technological Change; What Technology Can & Cannot Do | |
| Teich--5, Florman, Technology & Tragedy | ||
| Teich--20, Ceruzzi, Unforeseen Revolutions | ||
| Easton, Issue #9--DDT, Health, and the Environment | ||
| Feb 1 | The Roots of Innovation | Week 5 lecture |
| (On-line) | Teich--2, Pool, How Society Shapes Technology | |
| Teich--3, Tenner, The Technology of Shoelaces | ||
| Teich--23, Lessig, The Internet under Siege | ||
| Easton, Issue #3--Net Neutrality | ||
| PAPER 3: Discuss how society's decisions can hold back the development of a technology. | ||
| Feb 8 | Where Does Technology Come From? | Week 6 lecture |
| (Classroom) | Volti, Ch. 3: The Sources of Technological Change | |
| Volti, Ch. 4: Scientific Knowledge & Technological Advance | ||
| Easton, Issue #20--Open Access Publishing | ||
| Feb 15 | How Does Technology Spread? | Week 7 lecture |
| (On-Line) | Volti, Ch. 5: The Diffusion of Technology | |
| Teich--14, 9-11 Commission, Protecting Against Terrorism | ||
| Teich--15, Dempsey, Civil Liberties in a Time of Crisis | ||
| Easton, Issue #16--IT, Privacy, and Public Safety | ||
| PAPER 4: Discuss why it is impossible for any nation to maintain a monopoly on a technology. For a nation attempting to break such a monopoly, what is the role of education? | ||
| Feb 22 | Technology and Failed Expectations | Week 8 lecture |
| (On-Line) | Volti, Ch. 6: Technology, Energy, & Environment | |
| Easton, Issue #4--Geoengineering vs. Global Warming | ||
| Easton, Issue #5--Reviving Nuclear Power | ||
| Mar 1 | Technology and Communications | Week 9 lecture |
| (On-Line) | Volti, Ch. 12: Printing | |
| Volti, Ch. 13: The Electronic Media | ||
| Easton, Issue #13--SETI | ||
| PAPER 5: Printing and the electronic media have had an enormous impact on human thinking. The computer revolution may have as great an impact. What would you expect the impact of successful SETI to be? | ||
| Mar 8 | Technology and Human Life | Week 10 lecture |
| (On-Line) | Volti, Ch. 7: Medical and Biological Technologies | |
| Volti, Ch. 8: Genetic Technologies | ||
| Teich--16, Scott, Stem Cell Research: The Great Moral Divide | ||
| Teich--19, Greeley, Implications of Advances in Neuroscience | ||
| Easton, Issue #21--Transhumanism | ||
| Mar 15 | Technology and Work | Week 11 lecture |
| (On-Line) | Volti, 9--Work in Nonindustrial Societies | |
| Volti, 10--Technology and Jobs | ||
| Volti, 11--Technological Change and Life on the Job | ||
| PAPER 6 (DUE NEXT WEEK!): It seems a safe bet that technology will continue to change. Given what you have learned in this course, how will the teacher's job be different in, say, fifty years? | ||
| Mar 22 | Technology and War | Week 12 lecture |
| (Classroom) | Volti, 14--Weapons and Their Consequences | |
| Volti, 15--How New Weapons Emerge | ||