INST 470: Culture, Science, and Technology

Number of Section: 1 | Day and Time: W/F (08:00-09:40 ICT)

Course Description

This course explores the cultural dynamics of how science and technology are conceptualized, practiced, and opposed. The approach is interdisciplinary in that, for example, anthropological research is read alongside science fiction, the philosophy of science is accompanied by poetry, and postgenomic research is understood through film and time travel narratives. Throughout the course, students develop a learning journal in which they reflect both emotionally and critically on their experiences with science and technology.
The course begins by analyzing research on animal culture as a lens into the relations between race, science, and the Other. As the focus shifts to postgenomic research on humans, questions about eugenics, futurities, and indigeneity are raised. The colonial politics of data and computation are diagrammed during the final segment of the course. Virtualities past and future and discussed in relation to artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and the body.

The course concludes with working groups presenting semester-long multimedia projects that communicate a critical perspective on science and technology. Each project merges multiple media of expression and includes a bibliography that explains the influences of academic and artistic works upon the project. For all assignments in this class, the products of generative AI are may only be submitted if you explicitly identify and critique them as such. The work of generative AI will not be considered to be your own.

Prerequisites: SST 100: Craft of Social Inquiry OR DATA 201: Data Communication and Ethics