Assignments

GC1Y 1000 Critical Thinking: SciFi & Philosophy, Spring 2021

Section 02: TR 2:00-3:15 p.m., Online

Section 03: TR 3:30-4:45 p.m., Online

Attendance Make Up Posts

You are required to attend all classes on Zoom. However, you can make up one missed Zoom class per week by submitting a 100-200 word post to the GeorgiaVIEW discussion forum entitled Response Papers and Discussion Questions by the Sunday after you missed class. Reply to questions tied to material from the missed class period. Posts made after this day will not be counted toward your weekly attendance record. If you attend all Zoom classes in the week, you do not need to post to the discussion board.

Small Group Activities

1. Philosophical Questions and Passages

In order to get to know some of your peers and help everyone become accustomed to discussing philosophical issues, today we're going to

  1. divide into five groups
  2. articulate or extrapolate the key philosophical question posed by the article,
  3. explain the article's main philosophical concept, and
  4. explicate two significant passages from the article.

Here are the article groups:

  1. Eric Schwitzgebel and R. Scott Bakker, "Reinstalling Eden: Happiness on a Hard Drive"
  2. Nick Bostrom, "Are You in a Computer Simulation?"
  3. Plato, excerpt from The Republic
  4. René Descartes, excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy
  5. David J. Chalmers, "The Matrix as Metaphysics"

2. Literary Analysis

For the first two weeks of class, we have discussed philosophy, namely, the nature of reality inspired by the question what do we know and how do we know it. For the next two weeks, we are going to discuss how science fiction short stories and film engage the issue of reality. Refer to our handout on Literary Analysis for a more complete methodology on how to interpret fiction and film. Today, we'll begin our discussion of Heinlein and Borges stories by focusing on how setting, character, and conflict raise questions about reality. Break into six groups, respond to your group's assigned disccusion question, and then share your group's ideas with the class.

  1. Heinlein, "They," setting: Where and when does the story take place? How does the social environment affect the main character's pysche and structure her conflicts and the overall conflicts of the story? What philosophical idea or theme does the setting suggest about the nature of reality?
  2. Heinlein, "They," character: What do we learn about the main character from his inner thoughts, what she says, what she does, and what others say about him? What is his core conflict? What is the arc or throughline of his development through the story? Does she resolve or transcend the core conflict by the story's end? What philosophical idea or theme does the character suggest about the nature of reality?
  3. Heinlein, "They," conflict: What is the primary cause and motivation of the story? What tension must be traversed? How is the main character's inner conflict resolved, or not? How is the external plot conflict resolved, or not? What philosophical idea or theme does the story's core conflict suggest about the nature of reality?
  4. Borges, "The Library of Babel," setting: Where and when does the story take place? How does the library affect the people in general as well as the main character in particular? In other words, how do characters in the story respond to the library? What philosophical idea or theme does the setting suggest about the nature of reality?
  5. Borges, "The Library of Babel," character: Who is in the story, and what do we learn about them? What conflicts or issues do the characters have? Do the characters resolve or transcend the core conflict by the story's end? What philosophical idea or theme do the characters suggest about the nature of reality?
  6. Borges, "The Library of Babel," conflict: What is the primary cause and motivation of the story? What tension must be traversed? Is the main character's inner conflicts resolved, or not? Is the external plot conflict resolved, or not? What philosophical idea or theme does the story's core conflict suggest about the nature of reality?

3. Brainstorming the Philosophical Essay

Spend five minutes on your own brainstorming a possible topic for the upcoming philosophical paper by answering the following questions.

  1. Select a short story or film from the syllabus up to February 23
    • Heinlein, "They"
    • Borges, "The Libary of Babel"
    • Bradbury, "The World the Children Made"
    • Gibson, "Burning Chrome"
    • Inception
    • Leiber, "Catch That Zeppelin!"
    • Dick, "Impostor"
    • Dick, "The Minority Report"
    • Dick, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale"
    • Dark City
  2. What philosophical question(s) does the short story or film pose?
  3. What philosophical conflicts or debates does the short story or film illustrate?
  4. To what philosophical conclusions does the short story or film come?
  5. Which two philosophical essays from the syllabus up to February 23 include concepts that are aptly applied in the short story or film?
    • Schwitzgebel and Bakker, "Reinstalling Eden: Happiness on a Hard Drive"
    • Bostrom, "Are You in a Computer Simulation?"
    • Plato, excerpt from The Republic
    • Descartes, excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy
    • Chalmers, "The Matrix as Metaphysics"
    • Dennett, "Where Am I?"
    • Olson, "Personal Identity"
    • Parfit, "Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons"
    • Kurzweil, "Who Am I? What Am I?"
    • Huemer, "Free Will and Determinism in Minority Report"
    • Goldman, excerpt from "The Book of Life"

Next, find a partner and spend ten minutes sharing and evaluating each others' answers to the above questions.

4. Developing a Thesis and Outline for the Philosophical Essay

Divide into groups of three. Using ideas from the In Class Activity: Brainstorming the Philosophical Essay (or determining the philosophical questions, conflicts, and conclusions from a different short story or film on the syllabus) and applying the The Thesis Sentence page, compose a potential thesis for the Philosophical Essay, one that makes a claim about the philosophical meaning of the literary work, defines the scope of the argument about the literary meaning and philosophical concepts, and shapes the argument. Then, develop an outline that breaks down and proves component claims of the thesis. We'll share a couple of thesis statements and outlines at the end of class.

5. Practicing MLA Style

According to the Online Writing Lab at Purdue, formal essays require a standard style in order to

Your reader cannot focus on your essay's ideas when she is distracted by unconventional or careless formatting. Moreover, your essay will lose credibility because it does not indicate awareness or concern for standards. Unless or until you are comfortable writing in MLA format, I strongly recommend that you not only use an MLA formatted template for writing and submitting papers, such as this one, but also refer to an MLA guide and perform an MLA checklist before submitting a paper, such as this guide and checklist. Today, you're going to practice MLA style in advance of the first formal essay. Open up a new document and respond to the following questions. After a few minutes, you'll share your answers.

  1. Running Header: What does the running header consist of and where is it located?
  2. Font: What font and font size should the essay use, including in the running header and Works Cited page?
  3. Margins: What margins should the essay use?
  4. Heading: What four items make up the essay's heading?
  5. Title: Where is the essay title located? Should it be boldfaced, italicized, underlined, or put in quotes?
  6. Spacing: What is the line spacing of the entire essay, including between paragraphs and in block quotes?
  7. Spacing: Does your word-processing program automatically adjust the line spacing between paragraph?
  8. Titles of Works: Should the titles of books and films be put in italics or quotation marks? Should the title of essays and short stories be put in italics or quotation marks?
  9. Quotation, Part I—Introduction: Select and introduce a passage from Ray Kurzweil's "Who Am I? What Am?"
  10. Quotation, Part II—Style: Does the selected passage require in-text quotation format or block quotation format? Style the passage accordingly.
  11. Parenthetical Citation: Provide a parenthetical citation for the quoted passage.
  12. Quotation Explanation: Explain or interpret the passage.
  13. Works Cited: Compose a Works Cited entry for Ray Kurzweil's "Who Am I? What Am I?"

6. Composing an Annotation

Since the upcoming research project requires you to read and annotate a book, today, let's practice writing annotations. First, divide into group and elect a secretary to record your 75-100 word answers to the following questions:

Here are the groups:

  1. Clark, "Cyborgs Unplugged"
  2. Kurzweil, "Superintelligence and Singularity"
  3. Chalmers, "The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis"
  4. Schneider, "Alien Minds"

7. Small Group Activity: Questioning Humanity

Today, let's divide spend 15 minutes discussing the following questions about robots and humanity in your group's short story assigned from the three stories we read today. Students who are scheduled to respond to the stories will report their response and their group's discussions.

 

Here are the stories and respondents:

  1. Isaac Asimov, "The Bicentennial Man"
  2. James Causey, "The Show Must Go On"
  3. Brian W. Aldiss, "Who Can Replace a Man?"

Here are the questions:

  1. How are robots characterized in the story, i.e., what is their core trait?
  2. How are humans characterized in the story, i.e., what is their core trait?
  3. What is the core conflict in the story and how is it resolved?
  4. What does the story say about humanity?

8. Composing an Annotation, Redux

After discussing Blade Runner as a class, break into groups in order to practice writing an annotation for the Research Project. Each 75-100 word annotation should summarize and evaluate Deborah Knight and George McKnight's scholarly journal article "What Is It to Be Human? Blade Runner and Dark City" by

  1. identifying the question, issue, or topic that the source is investigating,
  2. defining the source's thesis or conclusion regarding Blade Runner, and
  3. explaining how the essay helps your literary and philosophical understanding of Blade Runner.

After returning to the large group Zoom room, submit your annotation via Chat.

9. AI Ethics

Let's break into groups to discuss the key issues involving artificial intelligence and ethics.

  1. In Isaac Asimov's short story "The Last Question," what is the last question and why do the characters consistently ask it? What are the AI's two answers to the last question and what do those answers suggest about human life and meaning?
  2. In Susan Leigh Anderson's "Asimov's 'Three Laws of Robotics' and Machine Metaethics," how are machine metaethics and moral standing defined? What is Anderson's conclusion regarding AI ethics?
  3. In Susan Leigh Anderson's "Asimov's 'Three Laws of Robotics' and Machine Metaethics," how is personhood defined? What is Anderson's conclusion regarding AI ethics?
  4. In Nick Bostrom's "The Control Problem," what are the two agency problems? What is Bostrom's main idea regarding AI ethics?
  5. In Nick Bostrom's "The Control Problem," what are some methods to control artificial intelligence? What is Bostom's main idea regarding AI ethics?

10. The Philosophy of Time Travel

Let's break into groups to discuss the key issues of the philosophy of time travel.

 

  1. Bradbury, "A Sound of Thunder": What is the butterfly effect? What does the short story suggest about the ethics of time travel?
  2. Sider, "Time": What is the space-time theory? What are some arguments against the space-time theory?
  3. Lewis, "The Paradoxes of Time Travel": Define external time, personal time, and extended personal time. What is the Grandfather Paradox?
  4. Deutsch and Lockwood, "The Quantum Physics of Time Travel": What is a closed timelike curve (CTC)? What is the difference between classical physics and quantum physics? What is the multiverse picture of reality?
  5. Hanley, "Miracles and Wonders: Science Fiction as Epistemology": What is hypertime? How does Hanley define the supernatural?

Response

Written Component: GeorgiaVIEW Response

The written response compels you to practice responding to philosophical or literary ideas

 

If you are scheduled to respond to a philosophical text, summarize and evaluate—appreciate and interrogate—one of the philosophical readings for the scheduled day. What is the main idea of the text and how does it function in human life? What questions do you have of the main idea and how do you assess the value and validity of the idea? Include 2-3 questions for class discussion.

 

If you are scheduled to respond to a science fiction short story or film, analyze the characters and conflicts and posit what main thematic and philosophical ideas the story or film suggests. Avoid plot summary. What are the core issues of the work, and with what philosophical concepts does the work tarry? How do you respond or answer back to the ideas posed by the story? Include 2-3 questions for class discussion.

Oral Component: Informal Presentation

The informal presentation compels you to participate in and direct class discussion.

 

Without simply reading your written response, you will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation, which should either introduce the philosophical essay by defining key points and terms and main ideas and broaching issues for class discussion or introduce the short story/film by explaining key characters and conflicts and themes and broaching questions for class discussion.

Due Dates

  1. Your written assignment will be due in both GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Response and GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Discussions > Response Papers and Discussion Questions two days before we are scheduled to discuss the work. (Note: Responses will be penalized one letter grade for each day, not class period, that they are turned in late. It is your responsibility to check the sign up schedule and complete the assignment on time.)
  2. Your informal presentation will be due on the day we discuss the text in class. This date is approximate for we will sometimes fall a day behind. (Note: Failing to present the text to the class without providing a valid absence excuse will result in a one letter grade penalty.)
  3. I will return your graded assignment to you in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Response approximately one week after we discuss the article in class. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I am unable to return graded assignments to you unless and until you submit them to the Assignment dropbox.
  4. For example, we are scheduled to discuss Leiber's "Catch That Zeppelin!" and Dick's "Impostor" on Tuesday, February 16. Therefore, someone's written response will be due in GeorgiaVIEW by Sunday, February 14; and that person will be able to respond to either Leiber or Dick. In class on Tuesday, February 16, that student will informally present on the main ideas and issues of the text. I will return the graded response to her the following week in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Assignments > Response. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I cannot return your graded paper unless and until you upload it to the Dropbox. Here's how to calculate your course grade.

Parameters

Sign Up

For complete author, title, and location information of the assigned text, check the syllabus and note that the oral date corresponds with the syllabus schedule date.

 

Written Date

Oral Date

Text

2:00 p.m. Student

3:30 p.m. Student

S, 1-24

T, 1-26

Schwitzgebel, Bostrom, Plato, Descartes, or Chalmers

 1 Griffin Peavy  

T, 1-26

R, 1-28

Heinlein or Borges

 2  

S, 1-31

T, 2-2

Bradbury

 3 Tori Johnson Catie Sander

Gibson

 4 Madison Mevers Keenan Finneran

T, 2-2

R, 2-4

Inception

 5 Addison Resh Kaylin Carter

S, 2-7

R, 2-9

Dennett, Olson, or Parfit

 6 Simon Roode Sean Marsh

T, 2-9

R, 2-11

Kurzweil or Huemer

 7 Gus Dunn Alex Heller

S, 2-14

T, 2-16

Leiber or

Dick, "Impostor"

 8 Faith Ussery Malik Farrakhan

T, 2-16

R, 2-18

Dick, "We Can Remember Wholesale"

 9 RJ Collier Samuel Corry

S, 2-21

T, 2-23

Dark City

 10 Buffy Lewis Jake Chace

S, 2-28

T, 3-2

Asimov, Clark, or Class

 11 Brooke Judd

T, 3-2

R, 3-4

Kurzweil, Chalmers, or Schneider

 12 DJ Adebonojo Annalise Ray

T, 3-9

R, 3-11

Asimov

 13 Carter Barfield Anya Ricketson

Causey or Aldiss

 14 Taylor Almazan

S, 3-14

T, 3-16

Blade Runner

 15 Christian Patrick Sheraden Martin

T, 3-16

R, 3-18

Annas or Schneider

 16 Christian Culver Andrew Kafati

S, 3-21

T, 3-23

Anderson or Bostrom

 17  

T, 3-23

R, 3-25

Le Guin

 18 Emma Dixon Angelina Ochoa

Jemisin

 19 Peyton Doran Lauren Mattson

S, 3-28

T, 3-30

Wells

 20 Ethan Hadaway Claudia Hawkins

S, 4-4

T, 4-6

Metropolis

 21 Jack Carter Zoey Gagnon

T, 4-6

R, 4-8

Golub or Jiang

 22 Carter Foley Jacob Hawkes

S, 4-11

T, 4-13

Derecho or Lamerichs

 23 Noah Cantrell  

T, 4-20

R, 4-22

Sider, Lewis, Deutsch, or Henley

 24 Rory Norville Matt Norton

S, 4-25

T, 4-27

Heinlein or Spinrad

 25 Adeline Lunsford (Spinrad) Elaina Perez
26 Barbara Jefferson (Heinlein)

T, 4-27

R, 4-29

Twelve Monkeys

 26 Alex Sanchez Sami Dilisio
Ava Thomas

Philosophical Essay

We have discussed the nature of reality and the self with the help of philosophers such as Schwitzgebel and Bakker, Bostrom, Plato, Descartes, Chalmers, Dennett, Olson, Parfit, Kurzweil, Huemer, and Goldman. As a class, we have applied their philosophical concepts to short stories by Heinlein, Borges, Bradbury, Gibson, Leiber, and Dick as well as the films Inception and Dark City. Many of you have written philosophical or literary responses to these texts. For the first formal paper, you will interpret a short story or film through the lens of a philosophical concept in a 4-5 page essay. Choose a short story or film on the syllabus up to Thursday, February 25. Write a well-focused, well-organized, thesis-driven essay, formatted in MLA style, that combines philosophical and literary analysis of the short story or film, making sure to incorporate pertinent ideas from at least two of the philosophical texts we have read so far. Beside quoting and analyzing significant passages from both philosophical and literary texts, your essay should answer the following questions: What philosophical question(s) does the text pose? What philosophical concept(s) does the text convey? What conflict(s) and theme(s) does the text suggest, and how do the conflict(s) and theme(s) apply the philosophical questions and ideas?

Parameters

Research Project

You will annotate the essays in an edited book collection from Wiley's The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series or Open Court Publishing Company's Popular Culture and Philosophy Series about a science fiction or fantasy novel, film, comic book, or video game. These books are called secondary sources that critically comment upon the primary text of the novel, film, etc.

 

After signing up below, you can request your book from the library using GIL or interlibrary loan. Alternatively you can purchase your book through an online bookstore. Note that GIL takes approximately one week to receive a book, interlibrary loan usually takes two weeks, and online book stores ship in two days to two weeks.

 

While a normal annotated bibliography requires you to summarize books, book chapters, and scholarly journal articles for a research paper, the bibliography you annotate in this class focuses solely on the chapters in your scholarly book on a science fiction or fantasy product. You should annotate at least 10 critical essays from the collection. Each 75-100 word annotation should summarize and evaluate a research source by

  1. identifying the philosophical issue or question that the essay is investigating,
  2. defining the secondary source's thesis or conclusion regarding the primary text's philosophical theme, and
  3. explaining how the essay helps your understanding of the primary text.

After you've written the annotations, write 1-2 pages summarizing the dominant philosophical trends and issues you see running through the entire book.

Parameters

Sign Up

Book Series 2:00 Student 3:30 Student

Alice in Wonderland

Blackwell

 1 Buffy Lewis  

Alien

Blackwell

 2 Faith Ussery  

Avatar

Blackwell

 3 Christian Culver 1 Brooke Judd

The Avengers

Blackwell

 4 Jack Carter  

Batman

Blackwell

 5 Carter Barfield  

Battlestar Galactica

Blackwell

    

BioShock

Blackwell

   2 Lauren Mattson

Black Mirror

Blackwell

 6 Simon Roode  

Dungeons and Dragons

Blackwell

   3 Alex Heller

Ender's Game

Blackwell

   4 Malik Farrakhan

Final Fantasy

Blackwell

    

Game of Thrones

Blackwell

 7 Addie Resh 5 Sean Marsh

Green Lantern

Blackwell

    

Harry Potter

Blackwell

   6 Sheraden Martin

Heroes

Blackwell

    

The Hunger Games

Blackwell

 8 Ethan Hadaway 7 Sami Dillisio

The Hobbit

Blackwell

   8 Zoey Gagnon

Inception

Blackwell

    

Iron Man

Blackwell

    

Lost

Blackwell

    

Lost (2: Ultimate)

Blackwell

    

Spider-Man

Blackwell

 9 Barbara Jefferson  

Star Trek

Blackwell

    

Superman

Blackwell

    

Supernatural

Blackwell

   9 Evangelina Ochoa

Terminator

Blackwell

    

True Blood

Blackwell

   10 Kaylin Carter

Twilight

Blackwell

   11 Ava Thomas

The Walking Dead

Blackwell

 10 Addie Lunsford  

Watchmen

Blackwell

    

Westworld

Blackwell

    

X-Men

Blackwell

    

Avengers Infinity Saga

Open

   12 Catie Sander

Batman and Superman

Open

    

Battlestar Galactica

Open

    

Blade Runner 2049

Open

 11 Alex Sanchez  

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Open

    

The Chronicles of Narnia

Open

    

Deadpool

Open

 12 Noah Cantrell 13 Jacob Hawkes

Divergent

Open

 13 Rory Norville  

Doctor Who

Open

 14 Emma Dixon  

Doctor Who (2: More)

Open

   14 Anya Ricketson

Dune

Open

 15 Carter Foley  

Dungeons and Dragons

Open

    

Ender's Game

Open

   15 Andrew Kafati

Frankenstein

Open

    

Futurama

Open

    

The Golden Compass

Open

    

Halo

Open

    

Handmaid's Tale

Open

 16 Griffin Peavy  

Harry Potter

Open

   16 Annalise Ray

His Dark Materials

Open

    

Inception

Open

   17 Jack Chace

Iron Man vs Captain America

Open

 17 Gus Dunn 18 Keenan Finneran

Jurassic Park

Open

    

Legend of Zelda

Open

 18 Tori Johnson  

The Lord of the Rings

Open

    

The Man in the High Castle

Open

    

The Matrix

Open

    

The Matrix (2: More)

Open

    

Neil Gaiman

Open

    

Philip K. Dick

Open

    

Planet of the Apes

Open

    

Rick and Morty

Open

   19 Samuel Corry

Star Trek

Open

    

Star Wars

Open

 19 Christian Patrick  

Superheroes

Open

    

Supervillains

Open

   20 Taylor Almazan

Transformers

Open

    

Twilight Zone

Open

   21 Claudia Hawkins

The Walking Dead

Open

    

The Wizard of Oz

Open

    

World of Warcraft

Open

    

X-Men

Open

 20 Madison Mevers 22 Elaina Perez

Zombies, Vampires

Open

    

Learning Beyond the Classroom Project

At this point in the course, you have informally responded to a philosophical or literary reading and formally composed a full-length essay proving how a short story or film applies philosophical concepts. For the learning beyond the classroom component of the course, you can either write a reflective essay about your participation in a science fiction and fantasy social activity or record a 30 podcast, with two classmates, that analyzes a science fiction short story, novel, film, or television episode.

Option 1: Reflective Essay

First, participate in a science fiction and fantasy social activity—such as a role playing board game like Dungeons & Dragons, massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) like World of Warcraft, an online fan convention like Dragon Con, an online cosplay event, or an online fan fiction community—subject to professor approval, and then write an essay critically analyzing the experience. For instance, you could join a guild in World of Warcraft compose a reflective essay thinking about how the experience affected your sense of self and/or reality, in the philosophical ways we've been discussing, like Golub and Lamerichs', to support your ideas. Your topic must be approved one month before the essay is due; therefore, submit three possible science fiction and fantasy participatory experiences on Tuesday, March 16. Your essay has three goals: first, describe and analyze the social experience you attended and/or participated in; second, reflect upon the experience by making a claim about the key philosophical ideas that are in play; and, third, incorporate ideas from two applicable philosophical essays from our course.

Option 2: Podcast

With two other students from the course, record a 25-35 minute podcast episode that discusses a science fiction short story, novel, film, or television episode not studied in class, subject to professor approval. Be sure to address not only literary (character, conflict, symbol, theme, etc.) and/or film elements (shots, scene, camera, lighting, etc.) but also philsophical issues such as reality, self, mind, technology, and/or time travel, etc. Your science fiction text must be approved one month before the podcast is due; therefore, submit three possible science fiction texts, along with the names of your three group members, on Tuesday, March 16. Your podcast has three goals: first describe and analyze the text from a literary perspective; second, apply the key philosophical ideas that are present in the text; and, third, incorporate ideas from two applicable philosophical essays from our course.

Parameters

Topics

2:00 Student Option Topic

DJ Adebonojo

 

  

Carter Barfield

Essay

Elder Scrolls Online

Noah Cantrell

Essay

World of Warcraft

Jack Carter

Podcast

Star Wars (one Star Wars film, with Barbara Jefferson and Christian Patrick)

Christian Culver

Essay

DC Universe Online

Emma Dixon

    

Peyton Doran

    

Gus Dunn

Podcast

Donnie Darko (with Taylor Almazan and Simon Roode)

Carter Foley

Podcast

I, Robot (with Addie Lunsford and Faith Ussery)

Ethan Hadaway

Essay

RPG

Barbara Jefferson

Podcast

Star Wars (one Star Wars film, with Jack Carter and Christian Patrick)

Tori Johnson

Essay

Magic: The Gathering

Buffy Lewis

Essay

Magic: The Gathering

Addie Lunsford

Podcast

I, Robot (with Carter Foley and Faith Ussery)

Madison Mevers

Essay

Magic: The Gathering

Rory Norville

    

Christian Patrick

Podcast

Star Wars (one Star Wars film, with Jack Carter and Barbara Jefferson)

Griffin Peavy

Essay

Cherry Blossom Shrek Trivia and Cosplay

Addie Resh

Essay

Magic: The Gathering

Simon Roode

Podcast

Donnie Darko (with Taylor Almazan and Gus Dunn)

Alex Sanchez

Essay

Black Desert Online

Faith Ussery

Podcast

I, Robot (with Carter Foley and Addie Lunsford)
3:30 Student Option Topic

Taylor Almazan

Podcast

Donnie Darko (with Gus Dunn and Simon Roode)

Kaylin Carter

Essay

Wattpad

Jack Chace

Essay

online fan fiction convention

Samuel Corry

Essay

Grand Theft Auto Role Play

Samantha Dilisio

Essay

Wattpad

Malik Farrakhan

Podcast

Rick and Morty episode (partners with Keenan Finneran and Sheraden Martin)

Keenan Finneran

Podcast

Rick and Morty episode (partners with Malik Farrakhan and Sheraden Martin)

Zoey Gagnon

Essay

Star Wars fanfiction

Jacob Hawkes

Essay

The Sims

Claudia Hawkins

Essay

Dungeons and Dragons

Alex Heller

    

Brooke Judd

Essay

World of Warcraft

Andrew Kafati

Essay

Destiny 2

Sean Marsh

Essay

Dungeons & Dragons

Sheraden Martin

Podcast

Rick and Morty episode (partners with Malik Farrakhan and Keenan Finneran)

Lauren Mattson

Essay

Dungeons & Dragons

Matthew Norton

    

Angelina Ochoa

Essay

Archive of Our Own (Supernatural)

Elaina Perez

Essay

Dungeons & Dragons

Annalise Ray

Essay

World of Warcraft

Anya Ricketson

Essay

Starfinder

Catie Sander

Essay

fanfiction

Ava Thomas

Essay

fanfiction

Exam

You have responded both informally and formally to literature and philosophy, you have researched the philosophy informing science fiction and related genres, and you have completed a learning beyond the classroom project that entailed either reflecting upon a participatory science fiction or fantasy experience or producing a podcast about a science fiction work. For the final assignment, you will be examined on the literature and philosophy we have collectively studied on the syllabus after the formal philosophical essay (Tuesday, March 2 through Thursday, April 29; the exam does not include learning beyond the classroom projects and reflective experiences). Here is the list of scifi and philosophical texts to choose from on the exam:

 

SciFi Texts

Philosophy Texts

In class on Tuesday, April 27, we will generate topics from which the questions will be generated.

Topics

2:00 Section

  1. definitions and criteria of the human
  2. paradoxes of time travel
  3. the ethics of scifi stories
  4. issues of identity and representation in scifi media
  5. issues of exclusion and inclusion in scifi media

3:30 Section

  1. cyborgs and clones, robots and androids
  2. paradoxes of time travel
  3. morality of science and technology
  4. science fiction and fantasy participatory experiences
  5. the dangers of advancing technology
  6. superintelligence and singularity

Questions

The questions will be posted here on Thursday, April 29. Answer two of the six questions below, using scifi and philosophy texts from the list above to answer the questions. Do not use a scifi or philosophy text in more than one essay, i.e., use only a text one time. Compose a comparative thesis that bridges the texts being discussed. Prove your thesis with demonstrated knowledge of the key issues and ideas in the texts. Be sure to both compare and contrast the texts' pertinent ideas.

 

2:00 Section

  1. Humanity and Identity: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), discuss how scientific advances in biotechnology (cloning, cyborgs) and/or robotics (robots, androids) affect and construct our understanding of the nature of human identity. What is the scifi theme, what is the philosophical thesis, and how do their core ideas about identity compare and contrast?
  2. Theories and Stories of Time Travel: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), debate the theories and paradoxes of time travel. What is the scifi theme, what is the philosophical thesis, and how do their core ideas about time travel compare and contrast?
  3. Morality and Ethics: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), debate the moral and ethical implications underlying a single scifi issue such as dystopias, time travel, cyborgs, clones, androids, or genetic engineering. What is the scifi theme, what is the philosophical thesis, and how do their core ideas about morality compare and contrast?
  4. Identification and Belonging: Using three philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), discuss how science fiction stories and films, and/or science fiction participatory experiences such as role-playing games, cosplay, and fanfiction invite audience identification with scifi characters and create a sense of belonging.
  5. Exclusion and Inclusion: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), discuss how science fiction stories and films, and/or science fiction participatory experiences such as role-playing games, cosplay, and fanfiction exclude certain audiences and fans, and then explore how those same media and events might be more inclusive.

3:30 Section

  1. Humanity and Identity: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), discuss how scientific advances in biotechnology (cloning, cyborgs) and/or robotics (robots, androids) affect and construct our understanding of the nature of human identity. What is the scifi theme, what is the philosophical thesis, and how do their core ideas about identity compare and contrast?
  2. Theories and Stories of Time Travel: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), debate the theories and paradoxes of time travel. What is the scifi theme, what is the philosophical thesis, and how do their core ideas about time travel compare and contrast?
  3. Morality and Ethics: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), debate the moral and ethical implications underlying a single scifi issue such as dystopias, time travel, cyborgs, clones, androids, or genetic engineering. What is the scifi theme, what is the philosophical thesis, and how do their core ideas about morality compare and contrast?
  4. SciFi Fan Culture: Using three philosophy texts, discuss the fluctuations of identity or permutations of reality across two different kinds of fan experiences like video games, cosplay, or fan fiction. For example, you could compare and contrast cosplay and video games using Lamerichs, Jiang, and Golub.
  5. Humanity and Technology: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), discuss how scientific and technological advancements enhance and/or endanger humanity. What is the scifi theme, what is the philosophical thesis, and how do their core ideas about enhancement and endangerment compare and contrast?
  6. The Limits of the Human Mind: Using three scifi and philosophy texts (at least one scifi and at least one philosophy), explore how science and technology test the limits of the human mind. What is the scifi theme, what is the philosophical thesis, and how do their core ideas about the human mind compare and contrast?

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