Humanities
HUMN 8
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Ex Machina, The Paradox of Being Human in the Digital Age
This course explores reality and human culture as a co-construct between technology and the arts. Focusing on technological revolution in the late 20th and early 21st century, through the study of film, television, music and video streaming, social media, and other cultural products, the course traces how new media and computer technologies such as artificial intelligence challenge our understanding of what it means to be human.
With specific and pointed discussion and short paper assignments, along with a final paper, the course tackles the age-old questions of mind/body, consciousness, as well as questioning the nature of reality in the world of social media, and where we are headed in the future of humanity and the ecosystem.
The students will view documentaries, read contemporary articles and essays to learn about how social engagement in the digital age is altered by the acceleration of time and the collapse of space.
Course Objectives
- Engage critically with key concepts and issues in digital humanities
- Apply critical approaches to the analysis of the impact of digital technologies from cultural, artistic, and social perspectives
- Discover the intersections of humanities, arts, cultural production, and digital technologies
- Explain the convergence of technology and humanities
- Analyze critically the relationship between humanities and new digital technologies
- Analyze critically the trends in sociocultural communication and society
- Develop the habit of learning and responding to new ideas and challenges in the digital age
- Evaluate the benefits and potential loss to humanity due to emerging digital technologies
- Improve critical and creative thinking, oral and written communication through critical engagement
