[Week 16: Tu 06/Th 08]

Week 16: Tu 06/Th 08
Class: Multimedia presentations
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (FINAL DRAFT)

Upcoming:

Week 17: Tu 13
Class: End-of-class review
Due: Process Analysis

[Futurism in the News 04.29.14]

• Google's self-driving cars log 700,000 miles, learn how to drive in "thousands" of traffic situations (Ars Technica)
• Russia to NASA: Get a trampoline to get to the International Space Station (Yahoo! News!)
• New chandelier can visualize a data stream of your choice (Wired)
• New "RainHouse" transforms rain water into purified drinking water (Inhabitat)
• How IED hunting technology can help in the fight against poachers (io9)

[Week 15: Tu 29/Th 01]

Week 15: Tu 29/Th 01
Class: Writers workshop; Multimedia presentations
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (UP TO PAGE 8; BRING 1 COPY)

Upcoming:

Week 16: Tu 06/Th 08
Class: Multimedia presentations
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (FINAL DRAFT)

Week 17: Tu 13
Class: End-of-class review
Due: Process Analysis

[Futurism in the News 04.24.14]

• Norwegian hexapod robot can morph into a sphere (Business Insider)
• NASA is going to Mars in style (Wired)
• Cryonics Institute will freeze you today to revive you in the future (Daily Beast)
• The cast of the future is here (Inhabitat)
• Saudi Arabia set to construct world's tallest skyscraper (Melbourne Herald Sun)
• Artificial skylights bring you sunlight whenever you want it (Gizmodo)

[Week 14: Tu 22/Th 24]

Week 14: Tu 22/Th 24
Class: Reading discussion; Multimedia presentations
Due: REFLECTION 6; RESEARCH PAPER (UP TO PAGE 4; BRING 2 COPIES)

Upcoming:

Week 15: Tu 29/Th 01
Class: Writers workshop; Multimedia presentations
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (UP TO PAGE 8; BRING 1 COPY)

Week 16: Tu 06/Th 08
Class: Multimedia presentations
Due: RESEARCH PAPER (FINAL DRAFT)

Week 17: Tu 13
Class: End-of-class review

Due: PROCESS ANALYSIS

[Reflection 06: Who Wants to Live Forever?—The Science of Whole Brain Emulation]

What if the end wasn't really the end? What if science and technology promised us life after death via the digital transference of your mind? That is the premise of Whole Brain Emulation (WBE) or "mind uploading." Specifically, WBE is the hypothetical copying of a person's consciousness, including personality and memories, into an artificial digital device or wireless network. Proponents argue that within our lifetime we will have the capability of electronically transferring our minds beyond a physical body. If this indeed becomes a reality (and there are many who say it is not), how would it affect how we define our own humanity? Is a human still a human when he or she is no longer contained in a flesh and blood vessel? And would death have the same meaning for us if we knew we had an electronic out? Finally, if WBE were available today, would you opt to transfer your consciousness into a machine at the time of your "death"?

Include at least two of the following in your discussion:

• "Will People Alive Today Have the Opportunity to Upload Their Consciousness to a New Robotic 
• Body?" (Popular Science)
• "'Transhumanists' are planning to upload your mind to a memory stick…" (Daily Telegraph)
• "'Mind Uploading' and Digital Immortality May be Reality by 2045, Futurists Say" (Huffington Post)
• "Scientists are Convinced Mind Transfer is the Key to Immortality" (Motherboard)
• "The Strange Neuroscience of Immortality" (Chronicle of Higher Education)
• "You Might Never Upload Your Brain Into a Computer" (io9)

Required:

• MLA Style
• Works cited 
• One full page in length

Due: Th 04.24

[Futurism News 04.17.14]

• "Smart Highways" debut in The Netherlands (Inhabitat)
• The mass production of artificial human blood nears reality (Telegraph)
• Women receive vaginal implants made from their own cells (Popular Science)
• Confirmed: Toyota will launch hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars in 2015 (AutoCar)
• Space cherry tree baffles scientists (USA Today)
• Japanese company giving maglev technology to US for free (Popular Science)