Course Description

Exploring Issues

Course Number: GNED054

This is a multidisciplinary, theme-based General Education course. The theme for Fall 2007 is 'Exploring the human future: dreams, nightmares and questions'. At the dawn of the new millennium, questions about what the future holds for life on Earth are more pressing than ever. The pace of change continues to accelerate in all facets of social life, confronting us simultaneously with visions of exciting technological advances and threats of impending environmental and biological catastrophes. At the same time, curiosity about the future is a longstanding obsession in the human imagination. This multidisciplinary course will explore the future from three angles: science and technology (environmental crises, space exploration, emerging technologies), social and political issues (the future of work, demographic trends, social conflict and war), and the arts and humanities (the future in science fiction, utopias vs. dystopias).

Note: commitment to weekly readings and seminar discussion is an important component of this course.

Units: 45.00
Hours: 45.00