The Machine and the Garden: History and Prospects of Humanity Computing
This course may be counted toward the 12 hours required for the general education requirement in fine arts, history, philosophy, and religion (area 4) but may not be used to satisfy the requirement that courses be selected from two areas
How did computers become entwined in every aspect of our lives? What can we expect in the next 20 years of evolution of silicon-based life forms? This course uses classic texts, syntheses, predictions, critiques, and fictional extrapolations to explore technological history, scientific and social implications, philosophical issues, and utopian visions of the computer. Students undertake research projects presented as Web pages. (3 credits)
and
my log of thoughts on 201
(begun 29
March)
29 March
San Jose Mercury
News SiliconValley.Com --their technology section. See especially Dan Gillmor's
Ejournal column --a fine-grain look at what's Happening
28
March
Late-breaking
news on gnutella... and more on Sandy Lerner
27 March
from Interface Culture (Steven
Johnson). And see also www.wired.com. Note that you can get to
all the back issues of Wired via www.wired.com/wired/archive/. And
take a look at www.slashdot.org
23 March
nanocrystals and
hard disk capacity
21 March
preface to
Beyond Calculation, a 1997 summary of ACM
predictions/extrapolations (QA76 .D348), and some
stuff on the Internet, and transcript of
Nerds 2.0.1... and eventually you'll have to explore the Jargon File
16 March
Sprint in
Fords
14 March
Mapping
computer history (beginnings of a sketch...)
13 March
InfoWorld
Scoop for 13 March
1 March 2000
US101
Take a look at http://www.pbs.org/nerds/
and a wander through http://www.infoworld.com
(look at this article on
wireless computing)
and also at what you wrote last night.
Our recurring problem is the multifarious complexity of the subjects we've plunked ourselves into the midst of. How shall we make sense of this landscape of technologies, cultural tidal waves, firestorms, earthquakes... and my best answer is: by trying to write about what we see and hear and sense. The medium really ought to be that of the computer itself, making as much use as possible of its advantages (hypertext being the most prominent of those), but keeping our eyes peeled for its disadvantages, limitations, and infelicities.
If you already know how to make web pages, I'd like you to
If you've never made a web page, it's really not such a big deal. Take a look at this page and try to follow its instructions, substituting us101 for "bio182". Try it... and I'll be glad to help you disambiguate or patch up if anything goes wrong.