Courses

POS 598 (LN 38735)

ASB 598 (LN 85899)

BIO 598 (LN 39029)

Spring 2007

Science, Technology, and Societal Outcomes
Thursday 1:40 - 4:30

West Hall 220

Professor: Jameson Wetmore and Ira Bennett
 

COURSE CONTENT: Science and technology are powerful transforming forces in today's global society.  They have fueled the world's economy to new heights; been an integral part of controlling disease; and provided new ways of traveling and communicating.  But  they have also been implicated in fostering unemployment, economic inequity, environmental destruction, and the development of new diseases.  This class will examine the ways in which science and technology contribute to large scale societal transformations.  As it analyzes the processes by which S&T are shaped, developed, and integrated into society, it will look for avenues of intervention and public participation to increase the likelihood that the social, political, economic, environmental outcomes are desirable. 

Throughout the semester, we will use one emerging field of science and technology - nanotechnology - as a case study. Nanotechnology - the ability to manipulate materials and devices on the order of a billionth of a meter - has been heralded as the next industrial revolution.  In this context, nanotechnology has been promoted in scenarios ranging from the utopian to the dystopian.  This class will explore these visions of nanotechnology and the context in which they were formed to better be able to understand emerging technologies, assess the societal changes that might accompany them, and consider ways of guiding them toward desirable ends.

Syllabus