Science Fiction: Foretelling the Future?
Prof. Rosalind Williams
Wed Jan 13, 02-04:00pm, E51-191
No limit but advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 10-Jan-2010
Single session event
Prereq: Read E.M. Forster's “The Machine Stops” before class
Many MIT students enjoy reading science fiction. Does it offer more than pleasure? Does it also have a value in understanding the present and foretelling the future? To answer such questions, we will discuss a fantasy short story, “The Machine Stops,” by E.M. Forster, which will be distributed on-line so students can read it before Jan. 13.
The story is startlingly prophetic: written a century ago (in 1909), it imagines a world organized around a Machine that resembles a contemporary supercomputer, or network of computers, pervading both institutional and personal life. We will discuss resemblances and limitations; the connections between the imagined Machine and human life; how current sci fi might or might not have prophetic value; and the general role of technology in history. Hot chocolate and nibbles will be served.
Contact: Rose Rizzo, E51-185, x3-4085, rizzo@MIT.EDU
Sponsor: Science, Technology, and Society
Latest update: 04-Dec-2009
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