Minds, Robots, and the End of Humanity (FYS-IFS-G)
Reading and Essay Schedule
Required Texts
• Diana Hacker, A Writer’s Reference (the Campus Store is selling the 6th edition, which is OK).
• All other readings are available on this page (as pdf files), which you should print out for class discussion.
Always bring Hacker to class, along with any other readings that we might be discussing.
Key Dates for 2015-2016. [pdf]
Mon, Aug 24
Introduction to the Class
OTHER RESOURCES:
Video: “Artificial Intelligence: Are we engineering our own obsolescence?” — panel discussion with Adam Rutherford (chair), Nick Bostrom, Daniel Glaser, Murray Shanahan, and Riva-Melissa Tez. Digital Summit, sponsored by Vanity Fair and Intelligence2 (7 Jul 2015) [YouTube (25m 42s)]
Essay Collection: The Edge Foundation Annual Question for 2015: “What do you think about machines that think?” [website].
As reported in the Huffington Post (3 Feb 2015): “Every year Brockman sends to about 200 thinkers a single question, and he posts all the answers on his website, edge.org. The question for 2015 was 'What do you think about machines that think?' ... I strongly recommend reading all the answers, since they are quite fascinating....”
Artificial Intelligence: The Very Idea
Wed, Aug 26
Definitions & Citing Research
Reading: Naragon, “Definitions and the Meanings of Words.” [web page]
Fri, Aug 28
Thinking Things
Reading: Naragon, “Thinking Things.” The Nature of Mind and Self, §1 [pdf]
Due: Research paragraph. [see sample]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Video: V. S. Ramachandran on the Brain (“Secrets of the Mind,” NOVA, 1st aired: 23 Oct 2001) [Part One (19m 54s)] [Part Two (20m 42s)] [Part Three (14m 39s)] The discussion of blindsight begins at the 15:40 mark of Part One, and continues for a few minutes into Part Two. If you have time and interest, of course, you may wish to view the entire episode.
Mon, Aug 31
Conscious Machines
Reading: Pinker, “Could a Computer Ever Be Conscious?” (1994) [pdf]
Due: Summary of Pinker essay. [rubric]
OTHER RESOURCES:
New Product: “Jibo: The World's First Social Robot for the Home.” YouTube (3m 13s) [video]; Wall Street Journal interview with Cynthia Breazeal (8 Jan 2015) YouTube (8m 48s) [video]
Video: “Five Most Advanced Humanoid Robots (USA/JAPAN).” YouTube (9m 54s) [video].
Web Article/Video: “Cute Nao robot exhibits a moment of self-awareness.” engadget (38s) [web].
Documentary: “RoboSapiens.” YouTube (45m 19s) [video].
Documentary: BBC Science, “Robots Rising.” YouTube (1h 45m 14s) [video].
News article: John Markoff, “Software Is Smart Enough for SAT, but Still Far From Intelligent” The New York Times (20 Sept. 2015) [website]
Wed, Sep 2
Criteria of Mindedness
Reading: Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637) (selection) [pdf]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Video: “Profile: Irene Pepperberg & Alex.” Nova ScienceNow (9 Feb. 2011) [11m 55s] [web]
Newspaper article: Sara Robinson, “Human or Computer? Take This Test.” New York Times (23 Dec. 2002) [pdf]
Fri, Sep 4
Turing Machines
Reading: Naragon, “Artificial Intelligence.” The Nature of Mind and Self, §4 [pdf]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Website: AlanTuring.net [see], and in particular the article “What is a Turing Machine?” [see].
Journal article: Alan Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Mind 59 (1950): 433-60 [pdf (reformatted)]
Mon, Sep 7
Can Machines Think? (part 1)
Reading: Law, “Could a Machine Think?” (2003) [pdf]
Wed, Sep 9
Can Machines Think? (part 2)
Reading: Searle, “The Myth of the Computer.” The New York Review of Books (29 Apr 1982) [pdf]
Due: Summary of Searle essay. [rubric]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Interview: Daniel Dennett on the Chinese Room (Philosophy Bites)(16m 28s) [audio]
Fri, Sep 11
Thesis Drafting: Definition Essay
Reading: Hacker, C1-C2, and the Definition Essay assignment.
Due: Thesis paragraph due; 1st draft of essay due on Monday.
Mon, Sep 14
First Draft of definition essay due (beginning of class) [rubric]
The online Strong Interest Inventory needs to be completed by today. [info]
Workshop on your Definition Essay
Wed, Sep 16 — Fri, Sep 18
No class: Individual meetings.
Will Robots Take Our Jobs?
Mon, Sep 21
—— Definition Essay Due (beginning of class) ——
The Luddites
Reading: NPR’s Planet Money: “When Luddites Attack” (broadcast: 6 May 2015) [website].
Either listen to the broadcast (below) or read the transcript.
OTHER RESOURCES:
Interactive website: Will your job be done by a machine? [see]
Web Article: Keven Kelly, “Better than Human: Why Robots Will — and Must — Take Our Jobs.” Wired (24 Dec 2012). [web]
Web Article: Tim De Chant, “Navigating the Robot Economy.” NOVA Next (PBS) (15 Oct 2014). [web]
Web Article: David Glance, “The threat of automation taking jobs is being overstated.” MLU: Machines Like Us (30 Aug 2015). [web]
News Article: Russ Mitchell, “Your next boss: A computer algorithm?” Los Angeles times (5 Oct 2015). [Good discussion of machine learning.] [web]
Wed, Sep 23
The Automation of Work
Reading: John Lanchester, “The Robots are Coming” London Review of Books (5 March 2015) [pdf]
Due: Summary of Lanchester essay. [rubric]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Article: Sue Halpern, “How Robots & Algorithms are Taking Over.” New York Review of Books (2 Apr 2015) [pdf]
Debate: "Be afraid, be very afraid: the robots are coming and they will destroy our livelihoods" Intelligence2 (13 Apr 2015) [video]
Magazine Issue: July/August 2015 issue of Foreign Affairs. [website]
News Video: CNET News: “Meet the robots making Amazon even faster” (YouTube)(2m 26s) [video]
Interview: NPR’s Fresh Air interview of Martin Ford on his recent book, Rise of the Robots (2015) [see]
Audio Program: NPR’s Planet Money: “Humans vs. Robots” (broadcast: 8 May 2015) [website]
Article: NPR’s Planet Money: “Watch Robots Transform a California Hospital” (27 May 2015), featuring an automated system in the pharmacy [website]
Fri, Sep 25
What is Work For?
Reading: Thompson, “A World Without Work.” Atlantic Monthly (Jul/Aug 2015) [web][pdf]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Audio Program: NPR’s Planet Money: “The Last Job” (broadcast: 20 May 2015) [website]
News article: Hannah Devlin, “Rise of the Robots: How long do we have until they take our jobs?” The Guardian (4 Feb 2015) [website]
News article: David Cox, “The Beginnings of Advertising Created by Artificial Intelligence” The Guardian (8 Jun 2015) [website]
Mon, Sep 28
A.I. in Recent Cinema & Thesis Drafting
Reading: Mendelsohn, “The Robots are Winning!” New York Review of Books (4 June 2015) [web][pdf]
Due: Summary of Mendelsohn essay. [rubric]
Due: Thesis paragraph due; 1st draft of essay due on Monday, Oct. 5.
NB: The Career Expo (required of all FYS students) is this afternoon from 4-6 PM.
Creating Creatures
Wed, Sep 30
Early Creation Stories in the Western Tradition
Reading: “Creation Stories from the Ancient Western Tradition” [pdf] — selections from Homer (8th century BCE), Hesiod (late 8th century BCE), Genesis (6th century BCE), Plato (c.428-348 BCE), Ovid (1st century BCE/CE).
OTHER RESOURCES:
Wikipedia: Talos (“In Greek mythology, Talos or Talon was a giant man of bronze who protected Europa in Crete....”). [see]
Video: Georges Méliès Pygmalion and Galatea (Pygmalion et Galathée) from 1898 [YouTube]
Fri, Oct 2
Artificial Life as Mechanical Simulation
Reading: Riskin, “The Defecating Duck.” Critical Inquiry (2003) [pdf]
Due: Summary of Riskin essay. [rubric]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Video: Simon Schaffer, “Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams” (28 May 2013) BBC Four (2m 12s) [see]. A longer clip is available [here].
Mon, Oct 5
First Draft of analysis essay due (beginning of class) [rubric]
Workshop on your Analysis Essay
Wed, Oct 7 — Fri, Oct 9
No class: Individual meetings.
Mon, Oct 12 — Fall Break
Wed, Oct 14
—— Analysis Essay Due (beginning of class) ——
Artificial Life as “Vivified Matter”
Reading: Riskin, “Eighteenth-Century Wetware.” Representations (2003) [pdf]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Web page: a brief discussion of “artificial life” on a course page [see] at complit.illinois.edu; it also includes a small set of useful links.
Documentary: The topic of virtual worlds is related, but one for which we lack the time to explore. For those interested in how worlds like Second Life intersect with the so-called “real world,” you might sit down with this Oprah Winfrey endorsed documentary, Life 2.0 (1h 40m 55s). [YouTube]
Article: Arthur House, “The Real Cyborgs.” The Telegraph (20 Oct 2014) [web]
Fri, Oct 16
Catching-Up & Fall Registration
What is a Person?
Mon, Oct 19
Dualism
Reading: Naragon, “Cartesian Dualism.” The Nature of Mind and Self, §2 [pdf]
Wed, Oct 21
Physicalism
Reading: Naragon, “Physicalism.” The Nature of Mind and Self, §3 [pdf]; Bisson, “They’re Made Out of Meat.” Omni (1991) [pdf]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Interview: Tim Crane on Mind and Body (Philosophy Bites)(10m 45s) [audio]
Interview: David Papineau on Physicalism (Philosophy Bites)(15m 50s) [audio]
Fri, Oct 23
Consciousness
Reading: Christof Koch, “Is Consciousness Universal?” Scientific American (1 Jan 2014) [pdf]; Marcus, “How Much Consciousness does an iPhone Have?” New Yorker (6 Jun 2013) [pdf]
Due: Summary of Koch essay. [rubric]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Online magazine: Mo Costandi, “When Does Consciousness Begin and End?” NOVA Next (27 May 2015) [web]
Mon, Oct 26
Research Strategies/Evaluating Sources
• Research day in the library.
Wed, Oct 28
Locating the Self
Reading: Dennett, “Where Am I?” (1978) [pdf]
Due: Summary of Dennett essay. [rubric]
Fri, Oct 30
Thesis Drafting: Research Essay
Due: Topic proposal and one or more research questions [Choosing a good research question]; 1st draft of essay due on Mon, Nov 9.
Mon, Nov 2
Personal Identity
Due: First version of an annotated bibliography [How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography].
Reading: Naragon, “Personal Identity” [pdf]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Interview: Christopher Shields on Personal Identity (Philosophy Bites)(21m 35s) [audio]
Website: Carsten Korfmacher, “Personal Identity” in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy [see]
Website: Tim Urban, “What Makes You You?” WaitButWhy.com [see]
Can We Live with this Technology?
Wed, Nov 4
Is A.I. Dangerous?
Reading: Caleb Scharf, “Is AI Dangerous? That Depends...” Scientific American (13 Feb 2015) [web][pdf]; and brief comments by Nick Bostrum, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Stuart Russell.
OTHER RESOURCES:
Lecture: Stuart Russell, “The Long-Term Future of (Artificial) Intelligence.” The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, Cambridge University (15 May 2015) [YouTube (1h 19m 41s)]
News Article: Stuart Dredge, “Artificial intelligence and nanotechnology ‘threaten civilisation’.” The Guardian (18 Feb 2015) [web page]
News Article: “Killer Robots: Tech Experts Warn against AI Arms Race.” BBC News (28 Jul 2015) [web page]
Opinion: Jerry Kaplan, “Robot Weapons: What’s the Harm?” The New York Times, A19 (17 Aug 2015) [pdf]
Website: Campaign to Stop Killer Robots [website]
Fri, Nov 6
What is the Singularity?
Reading: Vernor Vinge, “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era” (1993) [pdf]
Due: Summary of Vinge essay. [rubric]
OTHER RESOURCES:
News Article: Alan Winfield, “Artificial intelligence will not turn into a Frankenstein’s monster.” The Guardian (9 Aug 2014) [web]
Mon, Nov 9
First Draft of research essay due (beginning of class) [rubric]
Workshop on your Research Essay
Wed, Nov 11
Reaching the Singularity
Reading: Tim Urban, “The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence.” WaitButWhy (2015) [website]
Due: Summary of Urban essay. [rubric]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Essay: Raffi Khatchadourian, “The Doomsday Invention: Will Artificial Intelligenc Bring Us Utopia or Destruction?” The New Yorker (16 Nov 2015) [web]
News Article: Carole Cadwalladr, “Are the robots about to rise? Google’s new director of engineering thinks so....” The Guardian (22 Feb 2014) [web]
Fri, Nov 13
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Reading: Tim Urban, “The AI Revolution: Our Immortality or Extinction.” WaitButWhy (2015) [website]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Interview: “The Next Wave: A Conversation with John Markoff.” Edge (16 Jul 2015) [web]
News Article: Mark Ward, “Does Rampant AI Threaten Humanity?” BBC News (2 Dec. 2014) [pdf]
Essay: David Berreby, “Artificial Intelligence is Already Weirdly Inhuman: What kind of world is our code creating?” Nautilus (6 Aug. 2015) [website]
Video: Rodney Brooks, “The Robots are Coming” (2003) (18m 44s)[TED talk]
News Article: “Robots that teach us about ourselves” YaleNews (28 Oct 2015) [website]
Mon, Nov 16 — Fri, Nov 20
No class: Individual meetings.
Mon, Nov 23
—— Research Essay Due (beginning of class) ——
Weaponized Robots
Reading: Christian Caryl, “Predators and Robots at War.” The New York Review of Books (29 Sep 2011) [pdf]
OTHER RESOURCES:
News Article: Tim Bowler, “Killer robots: Are they really inevitable?” BBC News: Business (21 May 2014) [web]
— Thanksgiving —
Mon, Nov 30
Final Exam Strategies
Wed, Dec 2
Can We Program Robots to be Moral?
Reading: Gary Marcus, “Moral Machines.” New Yorker (24 Nov 2012) [pdf]; Gary Marcus, “Teaching Robots to Be Moral.” New Yorker (12 Mar 2015) [pdf]
Due: Summary of “Moral Machines” essay. [rubric]
OTHER RESOURCES:
News Article: “Morals and the Machine” The Economist (2 June 2012), includes a 7 minute discussion between two editors — Edward Carr and Tom Standage — at The Economist [web]
Web Article: Mark Hay, “Why Robots are the Future of Elder Care.” Good: A Magazine for the Global Citizen (24 June 2015) [web]
Article: Chase Padusniak, “Artificial Intelligence: Virtue in the Age of the Computer.” Ethika Politika (11 Feb 2015) [web]
Web Article: Keith Wiley, “Interstellar Might Depict AI Slavery.” h+ Magazine (11 Nov 2014) [web][text]
Web Article: George Dvorsky, “Why Asimov's Three Laws Of Robotics Can't Protect Us.” io9 (28 Mar 2014) [web]
News Article: John C. Havens, “The Ethics of AI: how to stop your robot cooking your cat.” The Guardian (23 June 2015) [web]
Conference Paper: Carl Shulman, Henrik Jonsson, and Nick Tarleton, “Machine Ethics and Superintelligence.” AP-CP 2009: The Fifth Asia-Pacific Computing and Philosophy Conference, ed. Carson Reynolds and Alvaro Cassinelli (2009), pp. 95-97. [web]
Book: Michael Anderson and Susan Leigh Anderson, eds. Machine Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011)
Fri, Dec 4
The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Reading: Russell, et al., “Robotics: Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.” Nature (27 May 2015) [web]
OTHER RESOURCES:
Video: Mike Rugnetta (host), “Is Developing Artificial Intelligence Ethical?” PBS Idea Channel (29 May 2013) [YouTube (7m 7s)]
Article: Robert A. Freitas, “The Legal Rights of Robots.” Student Lawyer (January 1985) [web]
Article: Alex Knapp, “Should Artificial Intelligences Be Granted Civil Rights?” Forbes (4 Apr 2011) [web]
Article: Eric Schwitzgebel, “We have greater moral obligations to robots than to humans” aeon (12 Nov 2015) [web]
Finals Week
Exam
Wednesday, Dec. 9, 10:30-12:30
Bibliography (for the readings)
This is totally not finished...
Bowler, Tim. “Killer robots: Are they really inevitable?” BBC News: Business BBC, 21 May 2014. [online magazine]
Caryl, Christian. “Predators and Robots at War.” The New York Review of Books. 29 Sept. 2011: pages.
Costandi, Mo. “When Does Consciousness Begin and End?” NOVA Next PBS Online, 27 May 2015. [online magazine]
Lanchester, John. “The Robots are Coming.” Rev. of The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brillian Technologies, by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Average is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation, by Tyler Cowen. London Review of Books 5 March 2015: 3-8 [book review]
Mendelsohn, Daniel. “The Robots are Winning!” Rev. of Her, dir. Spike Jonze, and Ex Machina, dir. Alex Garland. The New York Review of Books 4 June 2015: 51-54. Print. [review]
Riskin, Jessica. “The Defecating Duck, or, the Ambiguous Origins of Artificial Life.” Critical Inquiry 29.4 (2003): 599-633. Print. [journal article]
Riskin, Jessica. “Eighteenth-Century Wetware.” Representations 83.1 (2003): 97-125. Print. [journal article]
Robinson, Sara. “Human or Computer? Take This Test.” New York Times 23 Dec. 2002, U.S. ed.: F1, F4. Web. [newspaper article]
Scharf, Caleb A. “Is AI Dangerous? That Depends....” Scientific American. ScientificAmerican.com, 13 Feb 2015. [blog entry]
Urban, Tim. “The AI Revolution (part one): The Road to Superintelligence” Wait But Why: New post every sometimes. WaitButWhy.com, (date?). [blog entry]
Urban, Tim. “The AI Revolution (part two): Our Immortality of Extinction” Wait But Why: New post every sometimes. WaitButWhy.com, (date?). [blog entry]
Vinge, Vernor. “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era.” Vision-21 Symposium. NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland. March 1993. [lecture]
Manchester University // Registrar // Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies // Last updated: 8 Dec 2015