Homework will consist of weekly readings and a discussion. Students will meet in groups of three or four each week to discuss readings, and will turn in a brief report writing up the key takeaways from the meeting. What seemed most important to your group?
If you anticipate having to hand in your assignment late, please mail the staff in advance to request it and extensions are available.
The one lowest homework grade will be dropped during the semester, for computing the final grade.
The Techno-Optimist Manifesto - Marc Andreessen
Do Artifacts have Politics? - Langdon Winner
Silicon Valley Fairy Dust - Sherry Turkle
What does "Image of God" mean? - Pete Enns
"Human Dignity in the Jewish Tradition" - Yair Lorberbaum.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence and Human Dignity - Rosalind Picard
Wearables and Human Flourishing, Barczi & Picard
Example of class final project, Caitlin Morris
Your homework for week two will require you to read these papers and meet with a group from the class, outside of classtime, for ~1.5 hours to discuss these readings. We will email you group assignments for the discussion. You might find it useful to structure the conversation by asking the following conversations:
What did you like about the ideas presented in the readings?
How did the author support their points? Were the ideas useful? Interesting? How? Or if not, why not?
Did you come upon ideas that might inform your own work? Which and how?
How do the ideas move forward the notion of what it means to be human or the basis of human dignity?
What do you think it means to be human, and to have human dignity?
Remember to honor the class policy on Confidentiality.
Your written assignment is to submit (1) a confirmation that your group meeting took place; and (2) a less than one page description of your project ideas. (Two or three ideas, very rough, are fine). If you have a question or two that you'd like to continue exploring related to the intersection of the readings and science/technology advances, then feel free to add that as well.
Email your half-page report by 4pm Monday Feb 10 to betterfuture-staff (at) media.mit.edu.
NOTE: No class on February 18, when MIT observes a Monday schedule. You have two weeks to do this work: Please book to meet w/your discussion group (we'll email assignments).
Read the readings below, which cover three kinds of ethical frameworks before your group meeting. While we'll go deeper into these topics later in the class (we will discuss them on March 11), we want you to read them and start discussing them with your classmates while you're also thinking about frameworks for your project area.
John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, Excerpts
John-Jacque Rousseau, The Social Contract, Excerpts
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Excerpts
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Excerpts
Julia Annas, "What is Virtue Ethics For?" on the Philosophy Bites Podcast (note: if you are interested in Virtue Ethics, Annas' relatively short book Intelligent Virtue is a good introduction and modern account)
You are encouraged to use these questions to shape your group discussions:
a) The readings above represent some of the foundational ethical theories in the west, covering the Enlightenment project and (in Aristotle) a branch of ethical thought called virtue ethics. What are some of the common threads connecting them?
b) Where does Lincoln's address seem to fit among the other readings? What sets it apart on its own, if anything?
c) Which of these models (if any) do you find personally compelling, and why (or, if none - why not)? How might they help with a project topic that you're thinking of?
Search online for more readings related to your project interests. Make a one page document citing these with a couple lines describing each (and a link to it if possible online).
Prepare 3-4 slides that describe two ideas you have for your class project. Consider: What is the area of science, technology, architecture/environment or "building" of a better future that you are interested in addressing? What ethical-philosophical-religious frameworks interest you most in digging deeper to explore how they apply to your area? What are two questions you are most interested in trying to answer through your project ideas? You will have ten minutes in class to present. Our class will discuss the topic in an effort to help you with shaping your project plan.
Send your slides, 1 page bibliography of things you've been reading, and the time when your group met to betterfuture-staff (at) media.mit.edu by the deadline above.
Virtue and Artificial Intelligence by Derek C. Schuurman - Consider how this paper combines an issue for future AI with a theological framing
The Suitcase by Olivia Dasté. (Chapter from book Evocative Objects by Sherry Turkle)
Interact with the technology FutureYou and read some of the articles of people's experiences with the project Future You, e.g. Wall Street Journal recent piece on "AI Has Shown Me My Future. Here's What I've Learned"
Using AI to talk to the Dead, New York Times, 12/11/2023
Clip from Eternal You, documentary film that premiered at 2024 Sundance Film Festival
Michael Sandel's podcast discussion - listen to this, especially to the part about whether you should ask a chatbot or your parents for advice on who to marry
[stay tuned while we locate this one: TeleAbsence: A Vision of Past and Afterlife Telepresence. by Hiroshi Ishii, Daniel Pillis, Pat Pataranutaporn, Xiao Xiao, et al.]. An alternative (shorter) reading you can replace it with is here: Digital Avatars and Our Refusal to Die - Rosalind Moran
In addition to the general discussion questions suggested in week two, you might consider these questions:
How does building avatars of dead people, a technology starting to be known as "grief tech," change the experience of mourning?
Can you see ways in which it might give mourning new and positive dimensions?
Can you see ways in which it might inhibit the constructive processing of loss?
We will email you a new group assignment. This week we encourage your groups to discuss your project ideas. In this discussion, imagine you have completed a paper on your final project. What 1 or 2 well-defined questions do you wish to have dug deeply into and answered? Which ethical-philosophical-religious framework would you like to explore applied to this area?
Send the time when your group met to betterfuture-staff (at) media.mit.edu by the deadline above. Include also a paragraph, related to your project, describing what you think you most need help with to further focus it and frame it. Continue to search online for readings and work related to your project ideas. Make sure you have scheduled a meeting with Nathan or Roz or both to discuss your project in more depth.
Please put "BetterFuture" in the subject of the email (no space between the words - it helps us with email filtering). Also put your name inside the file you attach, and also name the file with your name: Lastname-firstname.{pdf,docx}
Remember to honor the class policy on Confidentiality.
The Questions Concerning Technology by L.M. Sacasas
Michael Sacasas in conversation with Ezra Klein on the Ezra Klein show (NYT paywall)
Lecture Slides from March 11 - What Do Ethical Frameworks Do?
Read (or re-read) the "before week one" readings (we don't expect people to have read these before the first week of class).
Review the foundational readings from Week 3.
If you plan to use a different philosophical, ethical, or religious framework than those referred to so far in the class readings, find one or two excellent descriptions of it and share the pdf/link to those with us.
Meet with the same group you met with last week. If you can meet in person, that is encouraged. When you meet, each of you should share your project idea and describe the ethical/philosophical/religious framing you want to use as a lens into it. Please help each other dig deeply into this, generating questions that you want to address in your project.
Send the time when your group met to betterfuture-staff (at) media.mit.edu by the deadline above. Include also a paragraph, related to your project, describing a schedule for what work you plan to do on your project between now and the midterm deadline (Mar 21).
Make sure you have scheduled a meeting with Nathan or Roz or both to discuss your project in more depth.
Please put "BetterFuture" in the subject of the email (no space between the words - it helps us with email filtering). Also put your name inside the file you attach, and also name the file with your name: Lastname-firstname.{pdf,docx}
Remember to honor the class policy on Confidentiality.
Can we Have Pro-Worker AI? Choosing a path of machines in service of minds by Daron Acemoglu, David Autor, and Simon Johnson
Generative AI and the Future of Inequality by Nathan Wilmers
Feed Drop: How AI Will Change Your Job With MIT’s David Autor (podcast)
Will AI Help or Hurt Workers? One 26-Year-Old Found an Unexpected Answer - Wall Street Journal story about David's student, referenced in the podcast, who examined AI's impact on quality, not merely availability, of jobs. The full paper (and two others) are linked at the top of the link to the podcast.
Optional: Applying AI to Rebuild Middle Class Jobs by David Autor (a not-too-technical working paper published by the National Bureau of Economics; you should be able to have a pdf emailed to you, but let us know if you have trouble accessing it)
Read in advance of the next class (these are non-technical short slides/papers by Autor that we'll send you links to) and prepare 1 or 2 questions for him next week based on your understanding and questions. Bring these to class with you to ask him.
Meet with the group we'll send you by mail. When you meet, discuss the ethical frameworks and how they do or don't relate to your project topics.
Send the time when your group met to betterfuture-staff (at) media.mit.edu by the deadline above. Include also the 2-3 questions you plan to ask Autor so we can give them to him in advance.
Send in your midterm paper by end of day Friday March 21.
Please put "BetterFuture" in the subject of the email (no space between the words - it helps us with email filtering). Also put your name inside the file you attach, and also name the file with your name: Lastname-firstname.{pdf,docx}
Nick Bostrum, Letter from Utopia
Kevin Esvelt, When Are We Obligated to Edit Wild Creatures?
Scott Alexander, The Tails Coming Apart as Metaphor for Life
Kevin Esvelt, The Character of Computation
Meet with your same group as last week. You are encouraged to discuss these questions:
a) What about Nick Bostrum's utopia appeals to you? What does not?
b) A theme that arises in these readings is the idea that choosing a given technological path might not merely be "better," but morally obligatory. Do you find this compelling? Can such an obligation be sustained within a pluralistic society?
c) Another theme that is raised in this week's readings is the idea that new technological capabilities force new moral questions (they "push us past West Oakland," in the Alexander piece). Can you think of examples within your own field of work? How can our capacity to respond to new moral questions keep pace with technological development? In other words, what alternatives exist or should be created to what Esvelt calls "the traditional closeted model of science...[that] actively denies people a voice in decisons intended to affect them"?
Submit by Monday: (a) when your group met and one "take away" sentence or two that you learned from your discussion. (b) a paragraph or two (less than half page) naming briefly one of the points in the readings and describing an opposing or counter-view to it.
Please take care of yourself. Know that (1) This is a hard time of year for many people, even if they look happy outwardly, they may be struggling inside. (2) If you or anyone you know is having thoughts of hurting yourself, please know that you are not alone. If you’re in danger of acting on suicidal thoughts, call 911. For support and resources, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text 741741 for the Crisis Text Line. (3) If you are worried about a friend or fellow student or colleague, it is not only OK, it is *advised* to ask them how they are doing and if they have thoughts of harming themselves. This kind of outreach can be helpful in *preventing* such harm. Please let's help take care of each other.
We mention this not only because of this difficult time of year, but also because the readings for this week and for our next visitor deal with topics that can be hard for some individuals. **Taking care of yourself is more important than doing the work for this class, or any class**. If you need help please reach out. Our course staff are also available to speak. At MIT, please also feel free to reach out to resources also listed at https://doingwell.mit.edu/support-3/. You are not alone and there are many people in our community who are here to help you.
This week's assignment:
Read
All Pathology, All the Time, by Joseph E. Davis
The Last Children of Down Syndrome, by Sarah Zhang
The Outer Limits of Liberalism, by David Brooks
Discuss with your group from last week: What issue did you find most controversial to your views in the readings? It is fine to have differences in your group on these big issues, and you are encouraged to ask each other to explain why you see things differently. If you don't see differently, then you are encouraged to "assume a different point of view to your own" and try to set up a conversation describing opposing sides of view. Practice intellectual hospitality. Please write a paragraph or two about your experience doing this with your group.
Submit by Monday: (a) when your group met and the paragraph or two above. (b) an update of what you did on your project this week.
There are no new readings for this week. Next week, on April 15, class will be spent on your final project progress report, which you should treat as a short (10-12 minute) 'dress rehearsal' of your final project, and another chance to get feedback from the whole class. Please work on incorporating the comments you received on your midterm papers and making progress on the work plans you shared with us. If you have not met with Roz or Nathan (or both) since your midterm, please write to betterfuture-staff@media.mit.edu to schedule a time to do so.
In your discussion groups, spend some time "painting a picture" of the better future you envision. What does it look like? How does it feel to live there? What are some scenes from the movie version? This can be a useful exercise in its own right, and might find its way into your final project.
Submit by Monday (a) when your group met and (b) a paragraph describing the "picture" above. Please also submit whatever slides you plan to use in class so we can have them ready to go Tuesday morning.
This week's assignment:
Read:
The Century's Decline, Wislawa Szymborska
Climate Signs, Emily Raboteau (Harvard and MIT students should have free NYR access through the library websites; if you have difficult please email for a pdf version)
Try to Praise the Mutilated World, Adam Zagajewski, in Without End: New and Selected Poems
The Inward Migration in Apocalyptic Times, Alexis Wright
“Descending” (excerpt), Underland: A Deep Time Journey, pp. 10—16 [first paragraph of pg. 16], Robert Macfarlane
Listen (on your favorite music service, or available on youtube.com - look up/read the lyrics):
The Weather Station, “Parking Lot,” Ignorance, 2021
Sylvan Esso, PARAD(w/m)E, 2018
Optional, but highly recommended: When We Talk About Animals: Robert Macfarlane on being good ancestors across deep time (audio)
Our guest this week, Garnette Cadogan, is working on a book about walking and is the author of this (optional) article: Walking While Black. So, your first assignment is to go for a walk! You can do this solo, or with your assigned discussion partner (see email); if you walk with a partner, this counts as your discussion meeting for the week. Ideally, walk somewhere with some greenery - a park, along the river, etc. While walking, look for things that are good, beautiful, and true, whether in the natural world, things people have built, or people treating each other kindly and caring for one another. Report what you saw!
In your discussion group (whether on a walk or, if you aren't able to walk together, at another time of your choosing), discuss:
The readings and listenings this week deal with questions about hope and despair. What one idea stood out to you as most pressing? Did the author offer reasons for hope in the face of threats, or some other path forward?
Give each other any additional feedback on your projects that you weren't able to give in class.
Submit by Monday: (a) when your group met and a paragraph on the discussion above, INCLUDING what you saw on your walk; (b) an update of what you did on your project this week.