Reading and reflection: Each Friday I'll distribute a reading and reflection prompt. Complete the reading and review the reflection questions before you attend class. This should take a few hours. I'm intentionally choosing engaging readings that are not too long. These are some of my favorite writings on their respective topics.
Conversation: Our Friday meetings will be devoted to conversation. We'll pair up to discuss that week's reading, and switch partners a few times to ensure everyone gets a chance to be exposed to multiple viewpoints. Please don't join if you have not completed the reading!
Experimentation: During our Friday conversation we'll also be developing ideas for experiments that we'll use to better understand the role of technology in our own lives—inspired by the previous week's readings. For example, if we're discussing the potential harms of social media, an obvious experiment would be to limit our usage of social media. I'll come with a few ideas for you, but you are welcome and encouraged to come up with your own. Size permitting, students will share their experiment ideas during class.
Completing a week means completing the reading and reflection, joining the conversation, and performing a experiment. My expectation is that every student will earn an S grade. But you will need to devote a few hours per week to complete the reading and be open to personal experimentation. If you're really off track, you'll hear from me.
Throughout the semester, we'll also be reading "Playground" by Richard Powers.
The schedule below is subject to change.
8/29/2025: First day discussion and introductions. Please attend!
9/5/2025: Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz, Chapter 1, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, Chapter 8, (PDF) 🔒
9/12/2025: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, Chapter 1 and Chapter 5, (PDF) 🔒
9/19/2025: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff, Chapters 1–2, (PDF) 🔒
9/26/2025: The Sirens Call by Christopher L. Hayes, Chapters 6–8, (PDF) 🔒
10/3/2025: Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil, Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 3 and Chapter 10, (PDF) 🔒
10/10/2025: Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Cass Sunstein, Daniel Kahneman, and Olivier Sibony, Chapters 9–12, (PDF) 🔒
10/17/2025: The End of Programming, A Coder Considers the Waning Days of the Craft, So Much For 'Learn to Code', Discussion Questions 🔒
10/24/2025: Permanent Record by Edward Snowden, Preface and Chapters 19–26, (PDF) 🔒, Snowden Effect (Wikipedia)
10/31/2025: Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble, Introduction and Chapter 1, (PDF) 🔒
11/7/2025: Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom, Chapter 1 and Chapters 3–4, (PDF) 🔒
11/14/2025: Discussion of Playground by Richard Powers.
11/21/2025: Fall break, no meeting.
12/5/2025: Semester recap and discussion of readings to use in future semesters