Society & Technology College Courses Fall 2011

Fulfills the following requirements:
Engineering Social Science, First-Year Course, Writing Level 1

Women and men have always been curious about the future. We are constantly asking ourselves, "What will happen tomorrow, next week, or a century from now?" In this foundation seminar, we will ask ourselves: What can we know about the future? How do people react to these predictions? Should we genetically engineer the perfect baby? How should Bucknell react to a flu epidemic on campus? Is genetically modified food really food? Will alternative energy technologies ever really replace oil? Is the internet helping or hindering our social connections to one another? This course is NOT an engineering course - we are concerned with the ways in which society is impacted by technology and how society directs technological change. We will examine some predictions of the future, both those made in the past about our current world, and the predictions now being made about the near and distant future. In "The Future is Now," we will ask and answer ethical questions relating to technologies from genetic engineering to surveillance technologies to food production to social networking, among others.