STS.069 | Fall 2002 | Undergraduate

Technology in a Dangerous World

Calendar

Note: No formal calendar was created for STS.092, which met weekly for two hours in a seminar/discussion format as described in the syllabus document.

STS.069 Technology in a Dangerous World

CLASS # TOPICS / ACTIVITY READINGS ASSIGNMENTS
1 Introduction to Class Gras, Alain. “Big is Beautiful.”

The Role of MIT in a Dangerous World. (Continued).

Castells, Manuel. “Prologue.” In The Network Society.

Castells, Manuel. “The Rise of the Fourth World.” In The Network Society.

Reading Assignments.

Risk, Safety, and Accidents.

2 Reading Assignments

Questions to be discussed

Videotape of MIT Teach-in.

Homework due: Two Assignments.

3 CBS Documentary on World Trade Center Attack of 9/11/01    
4 Discussion of Documentary Questions on Reading: “Missile Accuracy” MacKenzie.

Questions on Reading: “MIT as System-Builder: Sage.” Hughes. (One Day After Class #4).

Homework #1 due.

5 The Role of MIT in a Dangerous World General Information. Homework #2 due.
6 Guest: Claude Canizares   Homework #3 due.
7 Technological Disasters

Guest: Wade Roush, HSSST Alumnus, Now with Technology Review.

Roush, Wade. “Catastrophe and Control.”

Perrow, Charles. “Normal Accidents.”

Galison, Peter. “An Accident of History.”

 
8 Risk, Safety, and Accidents   Project proposal for single-authored report due. (Homework #4)
9 Guest: Jamie Lewis Keith Speech by President Charles M. Vest, MIT.  
10 Risk, Safety, and Accidents (Continued)    
11 Environmental Risks   Assignment: Environmental Risks.
12 Tour of the MIT Museum Current Events. Homework #5.
13

Discussion of MIT Museum Tour

Discussion of Castells Reading

 

Homework #5 due.

Turn in first draft of single-authored report. (Homework #4).

14 Further Discussion of Castells

Handouts will be provided in Class #13

Castells. “The Global Criminal Economy.”

Root Causes.

15 “Artificial Hearts,” by Shelley McKellar

Guest: Thomas P. Hughes

   
16 National Security

Guest: Ted Postol

Technology and Identity.  
17 Technology and Identity   Technological Imagination.
18 Technological Imagination   Technology and Identity.
19 Trust in a Dangerous World   Long Paper due. (Refer Homework #3)
20 Root Causes

Guest: David Marks

Castells. “The Global Criminal Economy.”

David Mark’s Slide Presentation.

 
21 Final Review (PDF)   Single-authored report due.

Trust in a Dangerous World.

22 Recommendations for MIT Williams, Rosalind. Retooling: A Historian Confronts Technological Change. Chap. 1.  

Course Info

As Taught In
Fall 2002
Learning Resource Types
Workshop Videos
Projects with Examples
Written Assignments