CS 4002
Robots and Society
Spring 2013
TR 9:35-10:55
College of
Computing 53
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/AY2013/cs4002_spring/
Instructor: |
Required Texts: Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong By Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen (2009) Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids Robo Sapiens: Evolution of a New Species |
Graduate TA:
Ryan Kerwin, ryankerwin@gatech.edu
238
Technology Square Research Building
Office
Hours: 3:00-4:30PM Wednesday and Thursday
General
Information
Robots and
Society
examines the role and impact of robotics, distributed sensing and actuation,
ubiquitous computing and related technology in society. Robots and Society is
an alternative to Computers in Society (CS 4001), and satisfies the required
course on ethics for Computing majors. Like 4001, it is not a typical computer
science course. Here we are less interested in the technical content of
computing and robots, and focus instead on the effects of such
technology on individuals, organizations, and society, paying close attention
to what your responsibilities are as a computing professional.
There will not
be any programming in this class, but you will do a lot of reading, a lot of
analyzing, and a lot of communicating (both orally and in writing). Although
there are some lectures, this is not a lecture course. Getting the most out of
this course (including the best grade) will require your active participation
throughout the semester. On any given issue, you may be asked to critique
reading assignments from a variety of readings or to summarize group
discussions or positions... but don't worry, it should still be fun.
Objectives
There are
several outcomes for the course. By its end, you should be able to:
·
Communicate
and argue coherently with others about technology and its impacts both in
writing and orally
·
Engage in
the global debate on the ethical issues that arise from robotic technology,
identifying the salient issues and evaluating the reasoning behind them
·
Achieve and
demonstrate a more than adequate writing ability
·
Understand
and explain the consequences of your profession on individuals, organizations,
and society.
·
Understand
and explain the importance of all these issues
You will be
challenged to broaden your understanding by learning something of the history
of robotics, the similarities and differences in public attitudes and policies
concerning robotics in the U.S. and in other countries. Some of these issues
are unique to robotics; others arise in the context of computing in general as
well as in other technologies; still others are new manifestations of more
general ethical, political and constitutional law issues.
You will have
ample opportunity to analyze critically various situations and descriptions in
papers, books, on the web, and from your own observations.
You will be
able to practice your ability to communicate by writing coherent and
well-structured critiques of situations and papers, researching and organizing
a longer paper, and leading and participating in class discussions and debates.
A detailed
topical outline is given below. The actual schedule is available as well.
Teaching
this Course
The primary
purpose of this course is to help you develop into a responsible and effective
professional, and that means having a basic understanding of and sensitivity to
the ethical issues and principles of our field.
This is not
going to happen with a professor lecturing at you about Kant (although this
will happen as it turns out). As is the case in most courses, this is less
about teaching and more about learning. Our role is to assist you in this
process, and to provide enough structure so that a class of forty students can
do this effectively.
If we think in
terms of data structures, the fundamental one here is the thoughtful dialogue.
We will make extensive use classroom discussions and writing assignments. You
will be given many opportunities to express your positions on a variety of
situations where robotics is having or may one day have an impact. Equally, you
will be expected to read and listen critically to the arguments of others, and
to demonstrate that you have done so.
This is not a
debate course. The goal is not to persuade others with your rhetorical
skill--though you will develop the skills to do so--nor is it to
"win" the argument. The goal is to gain a better appreciation and
understanding of how robotics is changing society and what your
responsibilities should be as an effective professional.
In line with
this, you are entitled to your opinions on these topics, whatever they happen
to be. You will not be penalized for your positions even when we might think
said position is insane; however, you must be able to support your
arguments effectively. This means showing that you have actually given a
position some thought and can discuss the various trade-offs and implications
of the position you have chosen. This also means that you should be able take
any side of an issue and explain it and argue for it sympathetically, even
though your personal views may be different.
Disclaimer
We reserve the
right to modify any of these plans as need be during the course of the class; however,
we will not do anything capriciously, anything that is changed will not be too
drastic, and you will be informed as far in advance as possible.