Speculative Fiction: from Pygmalion to ChatGPT

Description

Course page

Long before ChatGPT, speculative fiction imagined the promises and perils of Artificial Intelligence in literature. This course will introduce students to literature and ethics through the topic of AI, asking such broad questions as: How can literature help us think through philosophical questions and ethical problems? How does culture borrow from literature in ways that are ethically dubious? What can the literature of the past tell us about our society's present and future?

Sample Reading List

• Ovid, Selections from Metamorphoses
• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
• Isaac Asimov, I, Robot (selections)

Reading/Writing Assignments

Approximately 100 pages of reading per week. One oral presentation, one midterm paper, and one final paper. Students will also engage in three in-class, hands-on "lab" activities.

Requirements/Grading

Term Assessments:

• Project(s) - 25%
• Presentation or performance - 10%
• Papers/writing assignments - 25%
• Participation - 15%

Final Assessments:

• Final paper or project - 25%

Other Requirements

• Open to First Year Undergraduates Only.