CS 4002 Schedule CS 4002
Robots and Society
Schedule

Some readings are not firm as of now. Remember: there is no excuse for ignorance of the assigned reading material. Visit this page frequently. Bring a friend. Bring two.

Date

Topic

Reading for
Class Discussion

Assignment
Due

Jan 11 Introduction slides
Jan 13 Ethical Foundations I Digital People, Chapter 1
Robo Sapiens, Introduction
Why the future doesn't need us by Bill Joy
slides
Jan 18 Ethical Foundations II Introduction to Ethics by Michael Quinn
Jan 20 Argumentation slides
Jan 25 Asimov's Laws DP, Chapter 2
RS, Electric Dreams
slides
HWK #1: Introduction to Ethics
Jan 27 Bombs, Bonding and Bondage Motivation and Emotion in Behavior-Based Robots
Field Results for Tactical Mobile Robot Missions
Term paper assignment #1
Feb 1 Entertainment Robots I RS, Serious Fun
Feb 3 Entertainment Robots II
Feb 8 Privacy I cobot
Review of Code with explanation of the 4 regulatory forces (Focus on section titled 'What Regulates and How'
HWK #2: Many Manifestos
Feb 10 Privacy II
Feb 15 Robots and Jobs I RS, Workmates
UNECE press release #1
Feb 17 Robots and Jobs II UNECE press release #2
Feb 22 Defense: Killer Applications BBC article on Robot Troops
Feb 24 Trigger Pulling: Mixed Initiative RS, Remote Possibilities,
New York Times article: A New Model Army Soldier Rolls Closer to the Battlefield: page 1, page 2, page 3
March 1
Midterm Exam
March 3
Drop Day is 3/4
Exam II
March 8 Religion and Robots I DP, Chapter 4
Don Knuth, "God and Computer Science"
Rodney Brooks, "We are Special"
March 10 Religion and Robots II DP, Chapter 5
Anne Foerst,Commander Data: A Candidate for Harvard Divinity School
Technoethics
Boston Globe Article
Term paper outline
Debate topics
(both: 3/11)
March 15 Sexual Activity and Robots I DP, Chapter 8
Ray Kurzweil, "...And Bodies"
March 17 Sexual Activity and Robots II Guardian article (thanks to Nate J. for pointer)
Robot Mannequins
extra credit
March 22
March 24
Spring Break
March 29 Social and Cultural Distinctions I DP, Chapter 7
Who is afraid of the humanoid?
Cross cultural responses
slides
March 31 Social and Cultural Distinctions II
April 5 Intelligent Beings I RS, Robo Sapiens
April 7 Intelligent Beings II DP, Chapter 9
April 12 Presentations & Debates I: Privacy with robots All debate documents due at the beginning of class.
April 14 Presentations & Debates II: Job outsourcing to robots
April 19 Presentations & Debates III: Robotic war crimes and responsiblity
April 21 Presentations & Debates IV: Robot surgery and liability Term paper
April 26 Professional Ethics Using the new ACM Code of Conduct for Decision Making ACM Code of Conduct
IEEE Code of Conduct
IEEE Plagiarism
April 28 What's Next? A Challenge out: Take-Home Exam
May 2 - 4 Final Oral Exam 5/2: midnight slides and exam
5/4: oral exam (8:00-10:50) [schedule]