ECS 188 Ethics in an Age of Technology -- Winter Quarter 2009

UC Davis, Department of Computer Science

Back to Course Homepage: http://networks.cs.ucdavis.edu/~mukherje/188-wq09.htm


Schedule for WQ09 (Updated 2/5/09)

Jan. 6 (Tue): Film: The Decalogue

Jan. 8 (Th): Discuss Decalogue

Jan. 13 (Tue): "Children of Invention" by Morton Winston (Scanned copy of "Children of Invention" can be found here (approx. 5 MBytes))

Jan. 15 (Th): Style in Technical Writing (see Handout given in class)
AT&T to AT&T video
Quiz #1; Review Reports on Decalogue and Morton Winston article due

Jan. 20 (Tue): "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" by Bill Joy (Online version available here)
Quiz #2 (Bill Joy article and Principles of Community); Review Report on Bill Joy article due

Jan. 22 (Th): "Informing Ourselves to Death," by Neil Postman. Speech to Gesellschaft fuer Informatik (the German Informatics Society), October 11, 1990, Stuttgart, Germany.

Jan. 27 (Tue): "Technology and Responsibility: Reflections on the New Task of Ethics" by Hans Jonas;
Quiz #3; Review Reports on Neil Postman and Hans Jonas articles due

Jan. 29 (Th): "In Defense of Globalization" by Jagdish Bhagwati

Feb. 3 (Tue): "What Should Be Off-Limits to Globalization?" by International Forum on Globalization;
Quiz #4 (on Bhagwati and International Forum on Globalization);
Review Reports on Bhagwati and International Forum on Globalization articles due

Feb. 5 (Th): Two Articles:
1. "A Glimpse of Things to Come" by Lee M. Silver
2. "Preventing a Brave New World" by Leon Kass

Feb. 10 (Tue): "The Case Against Perfection" by Michael J. Sandel;
Quiz #5 (on Silver, Kass, and Sandel articles);
Review Reports due (one report on Silver and Kass combined... and one report on Sandel)

Feb. 12 (Th): "Ethics and Global Climate Change" by Stephen M. Gardiner

Feb. 17 (Tue): Film: Testament

Feb. 19 (Th):
Quiz #6 (Gardiner article and Testament)
Review Reports on Gardiner article and Testament due;
"Energizing Cities" by Janet L. Sawin and Kristen Hughes
Discuss Testament; Discuss Sawin article


STUDENT PRESENTATIONS:

Feb. 24 (Tue):
Quiz #7 (on Sawin article);
Review Report on Sawin article due;
Student Presentations:
Henry Finucane and Kevin Aragon: "The Perils of Alternative Energy"
Anthony Gadd and Craig Lowe: "Ethics of Gene Modification"

Feb. 26 (Th):
Charles Hollister and Derick Felsman: "The Ethics of an Online Economy"
Cheng-Hsiu Shieh (Raymond) andYucong Ye (Chris): "Ethics of Online Data Security and Privacy"

March 3 (Tue):
Emmanuel Villacampa and Emily Chen: "Ethics of Online Gaming"
Matt Simien and Alex Befu: "Ethics of Online Gambling"

March 5 (Th):
Jack Lau and Bryce Spycher: "Ethics of Commodity Markets"
Anatoliy Russ and William Zhang: "Ethics in Development of Artificial Intelligence"

March 10 (Tue):
Erick Carty and Arishneel Ram: "Disposal of Electronic Waste"
Sam Chou and Jeff Wu: "Technology and Ethics Concerning Climate Change"

March 12 (Th):
Yucho Ho and Jacob Goodwin: "Does Psychology Agree with the Philosophies of Technical Ethics?"
Moises Vasquez and Pooja Deopura: "Ethics of Copyright Laws"


This page is located at:
http://networks.cs.ucdavis.edu/~mukherje/188/188-wq09-add.htm

and is maintained by:

Biswanath Mukherjee (http://networks.cs.ucdavis.edu/~mukherje/)
Office: 3037 Kemper Hall
Phone: +1-530-752-4826
E-mail: mukherje AT cs dot ucdavis dot edu

February 5, 2009