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Alchemists and Mad Scientists: from Faust to Dr. Strangelove
Stephen Brophy, Lecturer, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Curiosity is perhaps the defining characteristic of scientists in the popular mind, but a popular belief asserts that "curiosity killed the cat." In the popular imagination scientists challenge the boundaries of human knowledge, frequently paying a dire price for their audacity, and sometimes bringing that price down on the population around them. In this activity we will consider how science and scientists have been depicted in popular culture, starting with one manifestation of the widely celebrated Faust legend. We will trace the development in mass media of the evolution of alchemists into mad scientists, using the films "Faust," "Metropolis," "The Bride of Frankenstein," and "Dr. Strangelove" as our texts. Our goal will be a deeper understanding of the history of representations of science and scientists in Western narrative media.
Advance sign-up isn't required, but please email Stephen Brophy (stephbr@mit.edu) if you plan to attend so he can give you access to the activity's Stellar site.
Sponsor(s): Science, Technology, and Society, Comparative Media Studies
Contact: Stephen Brophy, stephbr@mit.edu
| Jan/10 | Thu | 07:00PM-10:00PM | 3-133 |
What do you do when you have it all and it isn't enough? Faust was the most highly respected philosopher, theologian, and physician of his time, but because he wasn't satisfied with all that he sold his soul to the Devil. And then what happened?
Stephen Brophy - Lecturer, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
| Jan/17 | Thu | 07:00PM-10:00PM | 3-133 |
Back in the good old days, when you built a city that had sunshine and sport for the 1%, but endless drudgery for the 99% who kept it going, you needed a mad scientist to run it all. And no scientist has ever been madder than Rotwang, the genius behind Metropolis!
Nicole Labruto - PhD Student in History, Anthropology, and STS (HASTS), Stephen Brophy - Lecturer, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
| Jan/24 | Thu | 07:00PM-10:00PM | 3-133 |
What happens when you build a creature with parts collected from graveyards and gallows, but neglect to provide him with a companion? He becomes monstrous in his loneliness. But maybe building a companion from the same materials isn't the best solution¿
Stephen Brophy - Lecturer, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, Marie Burks - PhD Student in History, Anthropology, and STS (HASTS)
| Jan/31 | Thu | 07:00PM-10:00PM | 3-133 |
Mad scientists don't only haunt medieval castles - they also ply their wares in the most up to date War Rooms. What happens when a modern mad scientist builds a Doomsday Machine for the Pentagon? See this movie to learn how to stop worrying and love the Bomb!
Stephen Brophy - Lecturer, Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies, Benjamin Wilson - PhD Student in History, Anthropology, and STS (HASTS)
Building Story Worlds: Space, Time, Rules, and Narrative in Game Design
Guilherme Marcondes, MIT Visiting Artists Program, Philip Tan, Creative Director, Game Lab, Sonny Sidhu, Comparative Media Studies, Rosalind Williams, Bern Dibner Prof of the History of Sci & Tech (STS)
| Jan/14 | Mon | 10:00AM-05:00PM | 56-180 | |
| Jan/15 | Tue | 10:00AM-05:00PM | 56-180 | |
| Jan/16 | Wed | 10:00AM-05:00PM | 56-180 | |
| Jan/17 | Thu | 10:00AM-05:00PM | 56-180 | |
| Jan/18 | Fri | 10:00AM-05:00PM | 56-180 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/09
Limited to 20 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Visiting Artist Guilherme Marcondes, in conjunction with researchers from the MIT Game Lab and the Program in Science, Technology, and Society, will lead a workshop exploring the role of space in storytelling. The workshop will focus on exploring how artists can use the tools of game design—including space, time, and rule sets—to construct complex narratives that are deeply embedded in the settings in which they unfold. Participants will learn how to design and refine a game prototype through playtesting and observation; produce, gather, organize, and use concept art, music, sounds, and other source materials to establish the mood of a narrative setting; and evaluate their own and others’ creations in a critique-based studio environment.
No prior programming experience is required. Participants will review examples of stories that deal with spatial exploration; explore in and around MIT on foot; and work in teams to create tabletop game prototypes. Students who want to advance their projects may continue working with the researchers Jan. 21-24 & may exhibit and demonstrate these prototypes at a public event on Jan. 24 at the MIT Museum. There is also opportunity in the second week for exploratory visits with faculty and labs.
The MIT Visiting Artists Program will host filmmaker, animator, and mixed-media artist Guilherme Marcondes for a two-week residency. For more information visit http://arts.mit.edu/va/artist/marcondes/.
To register, email Meg Rotzel at mrotzel@mit.edu.
Sponsor(s): Science, Technology, and Society, Game Lab, Comparative Media Studies
Contact: Meg Rotzel, 617-253-2372, mrotzel@mit.edu
Designing Your Life
David Mindell, Gabriella Jordan
| Jan/28 | Mon | 10:00AM-01:00PM | E51-335 | |
| Jan/30 | Wed | 10:00AM-01:00PM | E51-335 | |
| Feb/01 | Fri | 10:00AM-01:00PM | E51-395 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/20
Limited to 65 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
This course (formerly called "Living an Extraordinary Life") provides an exciting, eye-opening, and thoroughly useful inquiry into what it takes to live an extraordinary life, on your own terms. This course addresses what it takes to succeed, and to be proud of your life and happy in it. You will tackle career satisfaction, money, your body, vices, your relationship to yourself. Address your own life and how you live it and learn from it. An inquisitive nature and willingness to face the truth are required.
Web: http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/311-span-classhighlightlivingspan-span-classhighlightanspan-span-classhighlightextraordinaryspan-lifemit
Sponsor(s): Science, Technology, and Society
Contact: Glenna Bedoya, glenna@mit.edu
Nuclear Weapons: Physics, History and Abolition?
Aron Bernstein, Professor of Physics, Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard; former Dep Dir IAEA
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: None
This course will give an overview of the physics of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects. The history of their development will be covered as well as the initial discussions of their implications, including the debates of the atomic scientists who developed them and then tried vainly to control their use and spread. The cold war history of the weapons deployment will be covered as well as the treaties which limited their use, such as the nuclear test ban and the anti-ballistic missile treaty. The threat of nuclear proliferation, the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) inspections will be covered with emphasis on Iran. The current discussion about abolition of nuclear weapons will also be discussed. The linking of these issues to the original scientists' debate will be covered. Students are welcome to participate in any or all of these sessions. There will be time for questions and discussion.
1)Tues. Jan 22, 2013: Overview: history, physics history, history of weapons numbers in the cold war, outlook for reduction and elimination. A.M. Bernstein
2) Thurs . Jan. 24, 2013: Nuclear proliferation, non-proliferation treaty, IAEA inspections, Iran: O. Heinonen
3) Tues. Jan. 29, 2013: The Cold War Era: weapons, strategies, and treaties; A.M. Bernstein
4) Thurs. Jan 31, 2013: Outlook for nuclear weapons policy, Obama Administration, abolition?; A.M. Bernstein
Sponsor(s): Lab for Nuclear Science, Science, Technology, and Society, Physics
Contact: Aron Bernstein, 26-419, 617-253-2386, bernstein@mit.edu
| Jan/22 | Tue | 03:00PM-04:30PM | 26-414 |
Overview: history, physics history, history of weapons numbers in the cold war, outlook for reduction and elimination.
Aron Bernstein - Professor of Physics
| Jan/24 | Thu | 03:00PM-04:30PM | 26-414 |
Nuclear proliferation, non-proliferation treaty, IAEA inspections, Iran.
Olli Heinonen - Senior Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard; former Dep Dir IAEA
| Jan/29 | Tue | 03:00PM-04:30PM | 26-414 |
The Cold War Era: weapons, strategies and treaties.
Aron Bernstein - Professor of Physics
| Jan/31 | Thu | 03:00PM-04:30PM | 26-414 |
Outlook for nuclear weapons policy, Obama Administration, abolition?
Aron Bernstein - Professor of Physics
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