Mirrors on Ourselves: Attempts to Build Artificial People

Elaine Rich

 

Over the course of the semester, you will work on one significant term project.  You may choose to do either of the following:

·         Write a research paper on some topic related to the theme of the class.

·         Write a short story that is related to the theme of the class.

You may work by yourself or with a partner. 

There are many intermediate deadlines for this project.  Check the class schedule page.

Your Paper

The final paper should be at least 3,000 words (per person) and no more than 6,000 words (per person). 

Click here to see the grading rubric that we will use for the final papers.  Notice that there’s a separate one for each of the two kinds of papers.

Your Class Presentation

In addition to submitting your paper, you will present your work to the class and lead a discussion of it:

·         If you are writing a research paper, you should prepare a short (about 6 minutes/person) powerpoint presentation that introduces all of us to your topic.

·         If you are writing a short story, you should pretend that you, as the author, have been invited to a book club to lead a discussion of your work.  Come prepared with a list of five questions for the audience.  And be ready to answer questions from them.

Click here to see the grading rubric that we will use for the presentations.  Notice that there’s a separate one for each of the two kinds of presentations.

A Note to Everyone about Short Stories

The idea is that we’ll all read all the stories that people write.  So, if you are writing a story, you will need to have an almost final draft ready about three weeks before the end of the semester.  See the class schedule for an exact date.

The stories will be posted on Piazza.  All of us need to read them and come to class ready to discuss them.

Topic Suggestions

Here are some suggestions for topics:

·         Human figures in mythology.

·         Human figures in modern religions.

·         If Pygmalion had been a woman.

·         Frauds: human imitations that weren’t.

·         Rivaling people as artists.

·         Rivaling people in chess.

·         Why are chatbots so bad?

·         Human images in art.

·         Suppose we can make artificial people.  What then?

·         Learning from the Luddites.

·         The common theme: artificial people run amok.

·         Artificial people that don’t look like people.