submitted by maruggi@augsburg.edu
RLN 295: Robots, Androids, and Cyborgs. Science fiction literature and film is an ideal laboratory for philosophical questioning because it allows us to imagine worlds where what we take for granted may not hold. This course explores sci-fi stories about robots, androids, and cyborgs to help us think about what it means to be human. Topics include the shrinking distinction between agency and technology, whether artificial intelligence is really intelligent and, if so, how should we treat it, and the ways in which our growing dependence on information technology may be rewiring our brains.