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Design · MS elective · 3 credit hours · 16 sessions

Critical Issues on Technology

This seminar-style course provides a forum for deep critical inquiry into the social, political, and ethical dimensions of emerging technologies. Students will move beyond the “hype” of AI and tech to examine structural issues such as algorithmic bias, surveillance capitalism, the environmental cost of computing, and the displacement of labor. The course aims to cultivate responsible creative leaders who understand the weight of the tools they use.

§ 01 By the end you can
  1. Analyze the social impact of algorithmic decision-making and bias
  2. Critically evaluate the trade-offs between convenience and privacy (Surveillance Capitalism)
  3. Discuss the environmental and material footprint of digital technologies
  4. Debate the ethical implications of deepfakes, misinformation, and digital identity
  5. Formulate personal and professional ethical guidelines for technology use
§ 02 Sixteen sessions

The whole semester.

  1. 01Philosophy of Technology: Tool vs. Master
  2. 02Algorithmic Bias: Race, Gender, and Class
  3. 03Surveillance Capitalism & Data Privacy
  4. 04The Black Box Problem: Explainability
  5. 05Tech Colonialism & Global Inequality
  6. 06Social Media Algorithms & Polarization
  7. 07The Ethics of Autonomous Systems
  8. 08 · MidtermMidterm Examination
  9. 09The Attention Economy & Mental Health
  10. 10Deepfakes, Truth, and Post-Reality
  11. 11The Environmental Cost of AI & Crypto
  12. 12Automation & The Future of Labor
  13. 13Intellectual Property in the AI Age
  14. 14Transhumanism & Bio-Ethics
  15. 15Regulation, Policy, and Governance
  16. 16Final Paper/Presentation: Ethical Manifesto

Midterm around session 8. Final project briefed at session 8 or 9 and developed in stages until the juries.

Recommended reading
  1. Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil
  2. Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence by Kate Crawford
  3. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
  4. Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin
  5. Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
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