Science, Society and AI

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

The modern history of science and technological discoveries to the present are surveyed, to track methods of empirical inquiry and examine major impacts of theories on the understanding of humans, our capabilities, and our interactions with each other and the world. Through standpoints from science, innovations in technosciences, and incorporations of artificial intelligence into our capabilities, it is possible to reimagine and reinterpret how we experience life and engage with the social world. Scientific advances powerfully interact with the cultural context of moral norms, social institutions, political forces, and legal regulations, which in turn shape the utilization of emerging technosciences. This course examines these engagements from the 1940s to the present day and into the near-future. The course emphasizes the public understanding of science and technology, the growing role of AI in academic and professional fields, ethical viewpoints on technosciences, and broader social impacts due to technoscience on global scales.