UGS 302
Fall, 2013
Schedule of Topics and Reading Assignments
Thursday,
August 29 Introduction
Tuesday,
Sept. 3 Introduction,
continued
·
Taoist
parable from Lieh Tzu
·
Two
Hindu legends:
·
The
birth of Durga
·
Read:
http://www.theholidayspot.com/durgapuja/akalbodhan.htm
·
Watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kGdFxzVqqs
·
Watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPIHiseE--Y
·
The
birth of Ganesha
·
Read:
http://www.amritapuri.org/3714/ganesha.aum
·
Watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnUuL-SuDXI
Thursday,
September 5 Early
Legends and Stories
·
D.
L. Ashliman, “The
Golem: A Jewish Legend”
·
“The
Creation of the Golem”
·
Avram
Davidson, “The
Golem”
·
E.
T. A. Hoffmann, “The
Sandman” (optional)
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(The Golem)
Tuesday,
September 10 BDP
Presentation
Legends, continued
·
Hans
Christian Anderson, “The
Nightingale”
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(The Nightingale)
Thursday,
September 12 Mechanical
Automata
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(Mechanical Automata)
Tuesday,
September 17 TED
Talk Project presentations (click here
to view presentations after viewing them)
·
TURN IN your short project answers and come
to class ready to present
Thursday,
September 19 TED
Talk Project presentations, continued
Tuesday,
September 24 Pygmalion
·
Ovid,
the Pygmalion
Myth
·
Nathanial
Hawthorne, “Downe’s Wooden Image”
·
Giambattista
Basile, “Pintosmalto”
·
Bagrodia
and Harris, “The Perfect Painting
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(Pygmalion)
Thursday,
September 26 Doing
Research at UT
· Alan Turing, “Can Machines Think?”
Tuesday,
October 1 Discussions
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(The OED and the Library)
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(Metropolis)
·
TERM PAPER DEADLINE: You must have met at least once with
Amanda or me to talk about your term paper.
Tuesday, October 1 University Lecture Series (Hogg Memorial
Auditorium, 7:00 pm)
Wednesday, October 2 University Lecture Series (Hogg
Memorial Auditorium, 7:00 pm)
Thursday, October 3 University Lecture Series (Hogg
Memorial Auditorium, 7:00 pm)
Thursday,
October 3 The
Turing Test
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(The Turing Test)
Tuesday,
October 8
Discuss
University Lectures
Key Ideas in Computing, continued
·
TURN IN Notes from University Lecture
·
TERM PAPER DEADLINE: Turn in a topic, a short, tentative
outline, and, in the case of a research paper, a list of at least three
sources.
Thursday,
October 10 Key
Ideas in Computing, continued
Tuesday,
October 15 Key
Ideas in Computing, continued
Wednesday, October 16 Kronos
String Quartet with Laurie Anderson (Bass Concert Hall, 8:00pm)
Thursday,
October 17 Artificial
Intelligence
·
TURN
IN HOMEWORK
(PCP)
Tuesday,
October 22 The Turk, Chess and Other Games
Wednesday, October 23 Yamoto (Bass Concert Hall, 8:00pm)
Thursday,
October 24 Discuss
Yamoto
Grammar
·
Edgar
Allan Poe, “Maelzel’s Chess Player”
·
TURN IN Notecard (Maelzel’s
Chess Player)
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(Common Sense I)
Tuesday,
October 29 Visit
to the Blanton
·
TERM PAPER DEADLINE: Turn in the first draft of your
paper.
Thursday,
October 31 Movie:
Frankenstein (71 minutes)
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(Common Sense II)
Tuesday,
November 5 Discuss
Blanton visit
Discuss Frankenstein
Finish Games
Common Sense
Language
and Communication
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(Frankenstein)
· Edward Shanken, “Hot to bot: Pygmalion’s lust, the Maharal’s fear, and the cyborg future of art”
·
Robert
Bloch, “Almost Human”
Thursday, November 7 Robots
·
“Ave
Machina! Deus est Machina!!”
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Tuesday,
November 12 Robots
·
Karel Čapek, R.U.R.
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(R.U.R.)
Thursday,
November 14 What
Makes Us Us?
Can We Do It?
·
Douglas
Hofstadter, “Sounds
Like Bach”
·
Murphy
and Woods, “Beyond
Asimov: The Laws of Responsible Robotics” (To get this on the
web, you need to go through the UT library if you are off campus.)
·
Ray
Kurzweil, “Are
We Spiritual Machines?”
·
TURN IN Notecard (Hofstadter or Kurzweil or Murphy and Woods)
Tuesday,
November 19 Should
We Do It?
·
Noel
Sharkey, “The Ethical Frontiers of Robotics” (Science, Vol. 32, pp.
1800-1801)
·
Marshall
Brain, “Robotic
Nation”, Parts 1 and 2
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(The Luddites)
·
TERM PAPER DEADLINE: You should have visited the writing
center at least once by now.
Thursday,
November 21 More
on Should we Do It?
Recap of Creativity
·
Christopher
Steiner, “Can
Creativity be Automated?”
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(Creativity)
Friday, November 22 TERM PAPER DEADLINE: By 9:00 pm, submit
electronically an almost final draft if you have written a short story.
Tuesday,
November 26 Student
paper presentations
Thursday,
November 28 THANKSGIVING
Tuesday,
December 3 Student
paper presentations
·
“Better
than Human: Why Robots Will – And Must – Take Our Jobs”, NOTECARD
Thursday,
December 5 Final
discussion
·
Gordon
Bell and Jim Gemmell, “Total Recall”
·
TURN IN HOMEWORK
(Can/Should We Do It?)
Friday,
December 6
·
TERM PAPER DEADLINE: Turn in the final draft of your
paper (in my office).