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17.449 | Fall 2024 | Undergraduate

# Emerging Technology and International Security

#### I. Foundations

Session 1: Introduction: What Is an Emerging Technology and Does It Matter?

Session 2: Thinking About the Future

- In-class futures scenario exercise
- Pitch teams assigned

Session 3: Key Tenets of International Relations Theory

Session 4: Conceptualizing Innovation

Session 5: Diffusion of Innovations

Sessions 6 and 7: Technology’s Effects on International Relations

- Shark tank pitches

#### II. Historical Innovations

Session 8: Dynamite

- Short form analytic article topic proposal due

Session 9: Stealth and Secret Innovations

#### III. Emerging Technologies and Their Security Implications (Thinking About Innovation as an Independent Variable)

#### Information, Intelligence, and Decision-Making

Session 10: Information Asymmetries, Big Data, and the Democratization of Information

- Quiz #1

Session 11: Delegating the “Disclosure Decision”—Commercial Satellites

Sessions 12 and 13: Artificial Intelligence

- Guest speakers: US Air Force AI Accelerator Representatives

Session 14: In-Class Midterm

#### Emerging Technologies, Stability, and the Use of Force

Sessions 15 and 16: Internet, Social Media, and Domestic Stability

Session 17: Social Media and the International Stage

- Midterm essay due
- Paper outline and bibliography due

Sessions 18 and 19: Cyber Warfare

- Peer reviews assigned

Session 20: Drones and Autonomous Weapon Systems

- Guest lecture: Dr. Alex de la Paz, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

#### From the Lab to the Front Lines

Session 21: Biotech

- Guest lecture: Lt. Col. Jennifer Wolf, US Air Force
- Peer reviews due

Session 22: Additive Manufacturing

- Quiz #2 due

Session 23: Everyday Technologies and International Relations

#### IV. Application

Sessions 24 and 25: Student Presentations

- Session 25: Short form analytic article due

Session 26: Looking Ahead

## Course Info

### Instructor

- Prof. Erik Lin-Greenberg

### Departments

- Political Science

### As Taught In

Fall 2024

### Level

Undergraduate

### Topics

- Social Science
  - Political Science
    - International Relations

### Learning Resource Types

assignment Activity Assignments
notes Lecture Notes
auto_stories Readings
assignment Written Assignments

Browse Resources

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