Last modified 4/22/02
JLS 596
Law, Technology, and Society
Spring 2002
Prof.
Deirdre Golash
Class hours: Monday 5:30-8:00,
Ward 302
Office hours: Mon 8-9 pm, Wed
5-7 pm, TuF 2-3:30
Phone: x2955
email: dgolash@american.edu
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Description
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This course will explore problems arising from
technological innovation and their implications for law. The course
does not assume any prior knowledge of or facility with particular technologies.
Materials
K. Eric Drexler, Engines of
Creation [also available on
the web]
Course packet, available at bookstore in
late January
Most of the required reading will be obtained
from websites. You may want to print out some or all of this material
and keep it in a ring binder.
Recommended:
Lawrence Lessig, Code and Other Laws of
Cyberspace
Requirements
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All students are expected to attend class regularly
and to be prepared to discuss the readings.
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There will periodic assignments to be posted
to Blackboard.
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Each student will write a review
of a course-related book, and post it on the Blackboard discussion group.
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Each student will turn in a final
project, which may be a research paper or other approved project.
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There will be a final
exam.
Grading
Class participation and assignments - 15%
Book review - 15%
Final project - 50%
Final exam - 20%
January 14 - Introduction
The first class will meet in the
SPA computer lab on the subterrace (Ward ST-01).
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listserv signup
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skills inventory
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finding and printing course documents
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review of online search tools and strategies
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Basic encryption: PGP
registration
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overview of course
January 21 - MLK Day - Holiday
Computers and the Internet
January 28 - Law and Cyberspace
February 4 - Censorship
and the internet
Privacy in the information age
February 11
February 18 - Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
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Watch video (recommended) or read transcript
of the listed presentations from 2000 conference, Will Spiritual Robots
Replace Humanity by 2100?
01. Douglas
Hofstadter
Professor of Cognitive Science at Indiana,
Author, Gödel, Escher, Bach
02. Ray
Kurzweil
Author, The Age of Spiritual Machines.
04. Hans
Moravec (from 7:01 to end)
Pioneer of mobile robot research, Author,
Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind.
05.
John Holland
Inventor of genetic algorithms, artificial-life
pioneer; Professor of CS and Psychology at the U. of Michigan.
09. John
Koza
Consulting Professor (Medical Informatics),
Stanford University. Inventor of genetic programming.
Assignment (due Feb. 25): Go
to the Turing Test
Page and try out at least two of the programs. E-mail a report
of your experiences to the class (through Blackboard), discussing how you
could tell that the programs were not human and whether you think this
is a fair test of intelligence.
Recommended:
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Raymond Kurzweil, The
Law of Accelerating Returns
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Vernor Vinge, The
Singularity
"Within thirty years, we will have the
technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the
human era will be ended."
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More
links
Intellectual property in the digital era
February 25 - Copyright
March 4 - DVD's and eBooks
References:
Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, 1998
March 25 - April 1 - The
Human Genome Project, Cloning, Genetic Therapy, and Stem Cell Research
Nanotechnology: Promise and Dangers
April 8
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K. Eric Drexler, Engines
of Creation, ch. 1
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Neal Stephenson, Diamond Age, excerpts
[course packet]
April 15
April 22 - Life extension
April 29 - Review and
catchup
May 6 - Final
exam due at 4:00 pm