Algorithmic Revolutions: Fakery, Race, and Labor in the New Artificial Age
CHUM 357
Spring 2020
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
SISP 357 |
This course plays with artificial intelligence (AI) as a cultural, sociopolitical, and literary object. Course readings will begin with the observations of anthropologists at the post-WWII Macy Conferences on cybernetics. Students will put data mining and machine learning in historical context, exploring classification systems, intelligence testing, and forensic sciences. Students will also examine the reanimation of the artificial human in newer discourses of AI, such as big data and predictive policing, virtual reality and drone strikes in commercial and military operations, health and assistive technology, and play and labor on platforms like Fortnite and Mechanical Turk. Course texts will include speculative fiction on artificial life, social theories of simulation and virtuality, and new work from queer studies and critical race studies interrogating the basis for testing artificiality and humanity. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA CHUM |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Less than 50% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Katherine Hayles - HOW WE BECAME POSTHUMAN, Margaret Mead - CYBERNETICS OF CYBERNETICS, Jean Baudrillard - SIMULACRA AND SIMULATION, Tom Boellstorff - COMING OF AGE IN SECOND LIFE, Ted Chiang - THE LIFE CYCLE OF SOFTWARE OBJECTS, micha cardenas, Alex Weheliye - HABEAS VISCUS, Larissa Lai - THE AUTOMATON BIOGRAPHIES
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly readings, three short essay assignments, and semester-long avatar project |
| Instructor(s): Thakor,Mitali Times: .M.W... 10:50AM-12:10PM; Location: BOGH115; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 0 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 7 | JR non-major: 6 | SO: 2 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 4 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 2 |
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