Course Description:

How does a living, thinking, feeling human being compare with a machine? This question has been with us for centuries, especially since the culmination of the Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century. It was then that philosophers, physiologists, engineers, authors, political actors and artists of every kind inaugurated taking humanity’s measure by comparing humans to machines. Our course follows this tradition from its beginnings up until the present.
We explore the shifting boundary lines between the mechanical and the human by considering how human individuals have created, connected with and interacted with machines. We see how humans may be conceived, designed and manipulated as machines, and how artificial machines in turn reflect and reflect upon their human creators.
Together, we ask a number of questions about what it means to think of the human body as a machine. Or, on the contrary, what it means to think of the body not as a machine. What is a machine? What forms can machinery take? What is a living body? What do the central concepts of "machine," "human," "alive," "intelligent" mean in different times and places and how have their meanings changed? We generate a deep understanding that the philosophical, scientific and ethical questions regarding the relations of humans to machines are not preoccupations of the current moment. These questions have generated long, rich traditions of responses. We must draw upon these if we are to confront our current concerns, not as isolated actors, but as members of an ever-evolving culture.

Course Goals:

The programmatic goals of a fall IHUM course are to develop students' abilities to read closely; think critically; recognize the possibility of different readings produced by approaching texts from different disciplinary perspectives; learn effectively from lectures; and engage in sustained intellectual discussion.
The programmatic goals of a fall IHUM course are to develop students' abilities to read closely; think critically; recognize the possibility of different readings produced by approaching texts from different disciplinary perspectives; learn effectively from lectures; and engage in sustained intellectual discussion.

Composition of Course Grade:
Paper #1 will be assigned on Thursday, October 2nd and will be due on Thursday, October 16th. This will be a 3-4 page paper (1050-1400 words). This paper is worth 15% of your total grade.
Paper #2 will be assigned on Tuesday, October 28th and will be due on Tuesday, November 11th. This will be a 4-5 page paper (1400-1750 words). This paper is worth 20% of your total grade.
The Final Project/Paper will be assigned on Tuesday, November 18th and will be due on Thursday, December 4th. Details TBA. This paper/project is worth 35% of your total grade.

Grading Guidelines for Papers

There will be three unannounced quizzes given in lecture on material covered in lecture, each worth 5%. Two of these quizzes will count toward your final grade. If you take all three, the lowest grade will be discarded. Missed quizzes will receive a "0". There will be no make-ups offered (10% total)

· Your participation in the section component of this course is designed to develop critical thinking, speaking, reading, writing, and argumentation skills and to provide a forum for the exchange and discussion of ideas. Participation in section is worth 20% of your total grade, and includes the following:

Important Notes on Participation, Expectations and Grading Guidelines for Participation

Failure to complete any one assignment will result in a failing grade for the quarter.

Course Policies and IHUM Policies including discussion section absence policies, the Provost’s statement concerning students with disabilities and the honor code

Course Texts:

Course Reader includes:

Dick, Philip K. "The Father Thing" (1954); "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (1966); "The Electric Ant" (1969); "Autofac" (1955); "The Minority Report" (1956); "Sales Pitch" (1954); "Small Town" (1954); Three Stigmata (excerpt) (1964).

Giedion, Siegfried. Mechanization Takes Command: a contribution to anonymous history. (1948), (excerpts)

Kleist, Heinrich von. "The Puppet Theater (1811)" in Selected Writings,

Turing, Alan. "Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950)," in The Essential Turing: Seminal Writings in Computing, Logic, Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, and Artificial Life plus The Secrets of Enigma.

La Mettrie, Julien Offray de. Machine Man. (1748).

Lerner and Loewe, My Fair Lady (1964) (DVD)

Please note that Films will be screened in Bldg. 420, Rm. 041 at 7:30 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings unless otherwise noted. Please note that on 10/7, 10/8 and 10/21 the screenings will be held in different locations.

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I. Introduction:

Week 1

Tuesday, Sept. 23
Introductions; overview of IHUM requirements and goals.
For next lecture: Read Giedion , pp. 13-44, 77-127 (Optional: pp. 44-77)
Download
Viewintro.ppt

Film: World of Tomorrow (USA, Lance Bird and Tom Johnson, 1984) 83m

Thursday, Sept. 25
Mechanization Takes Command: History and Themes
For next lecture: Read La Mettrie , Machine Man
Download
ViewMechanization Takes Command2.pptx

Week 2

Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Movement, Machines and Progress

Film: 2001: A Space Odyssey (US/UK, Stanley Kubrick, 1968) 141m

first paper assignment will be distributed via Coursework on October 1st

Thursday, Oct. 2
La Mettrie. Are we Hardware or Software?

Week 3

Tuesday, Oct. 7
La Mettrie. Mechanism and Freedom
For next lecture: Read Turing, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence," and Dick, "The Father-Thing" and "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale"
Film Series: Blade Runner (USA, Ridley Scott, 1982/92) 113m
Please note that on Tuesday 10/7 this film will be shown in Bldg. 370-370 and also in Bldg. 260-002; On Wednesday 10/8 the film will be screened in Annenberg.

Thursday, Oct. 9
Turing 1. "The Imitation Game."

October 10th and 11th we will be taking a field trip to the San Jose Museum of Art to view an exhibit on the History of Robot Iconography.

Week 4

Tuesday, Oct. 14
Turing 2. "How Do You Know You're Human?"
OPTIONAL: For next lecture read Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century"

Film Series: "My Fair Lady" (USA, George Cukor, 1964) 170m

First paper assignment is due on Coursework, Thursday Oct. 16 by 10am. Your hard copy is due in lecture.

Thursday, Oct. 16
Turing 3. "Thinking Is What It Is: Return to Turing."
For next lecture view My Fair Lady

Week 5

Tuesday, Oct. 21
My Fair Lady 1. "Machinic Mimicry."

Film Series: Being There(USA, Hal Ashby, 1979) 130m
*Please note that this film will be screened in Bldg. 200, Rm. 002

Thursday, Oct. 23
My Fair Lady 2. "I Said I'd Make A Woman."

Week 6

Tuesday, Oct. 28
My Fair Lady 3. "Eliza."
For next lecture: Read Kleist, "The Puppet Theater," and Dick, "The Electric Ant"

Film Series: Pinocchio (USA, Walt Disney Studio, 1940) 88m and Tales of Hoffmann: Olympia Sequence (UK, Powell & Pressberger, 1951)

*Second paper assignment will be distributed on Coursework on October 29th

Thursday, Oct. 30
Kleist 1. "Performing Machine."

Week 7

Tuesday, Nov. 4
Kleist 2. "Performing Human."

Film Series: Ghost in the Shell (Japan, Mamoru Oshi, 1995) 82m

Thursday, Nov. 6
Kleist 3. "Disobedient Machines."
For next lecture: Read Dick , "Autofac" 'Minority Report" "Sales Pitch"

Week 8

Tuesday, Nov. 11
Machinic Mimicry
For next lecture: Read Dick, "Small Town," and "The Three Stigmata" (excerpts)

Film: DOUBLE FEATURE!! The General (USA, Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, 1927) 75m and Dr. Strangelove (UK, Stanley Kubrick, 1964) 93m

Second paper assignment is due on Wednesday, Nov. 12, by 11:59 pm on Coursework

Thursday, Nov. 13
PKD. "God Games"

Final paper/assignment will be distributed on Coursework Friday, Nov. 14th

Week 9

Tuesday, Nov. 18
PKD "Simulacra and Science Fiction" 
For next lecture: Read Giedion, pp. 511-627

Film Series: The Nutty Professor (USA, Jerry Lewis, 1963) 107m

Thursday, Nov. 20
PKD & Giedion 1. "Megamachines"
For next lecture: Read Giedion, pp. 209-56

Week 10

NO CLASS, 24-28 Nov. -- THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week 11

Tuesday, Dec. 2
Giedion 2. "Meat Space and Virtual Reality."
For next lecture: Read Giedion, 713-23.

Thursday, Dec. 4
Conclusions.

Final Project/paper assignment is due Friday, 12/4