Mar 28, 2024  
Academic Catalog 2015-2016 
    
Academic Catalog 2015-2016 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

LASS237 Ethics, Technology and Change 3cr


We live in a period that promises dramatic technological changes. Information technology continually spawns new and popular applications, and genetic technology promises to revolutionize food production and medicine. The emergence of these and other technologies raises new ethical and social issues and recasts existing issues in new forms. What will our technological future be like? Which kinds of technologies should we develop? How should they be utilized? This course will examine ethical issues arising from developments in biotechnology and medical engineering, modern agriculture, machine intelligence, and information technology. Should we produce ‘bio-hybrid’ humans by making genetic and robotic enhancements available to the able bodied? What are the ethical implications of factory farming and genetically modified foods? How do information technologies impact our rights to privacy and free speech? The course explores the real-world implications of emerging technologies on issues of equality, privacy, poverty and the health of our bodies, our societies and our planet.

Prerequisites: LALW100, FRSM100

Lecture
Undergraduate Elective
Fall & Spring