Environmental Science & Policy 113 - Colloquium: Organic, Mechanical and Digital Environments

Beginning in the late 20th century, human organization and experience has increasingly been influenced by digital forms of communication, production and integration with the environment. This is an environmental, technological, social landscape that will likely dominate the rest of our lives, but how can we responsibly accept or use it without putting it in context with other forms of technology and communities? We will examine life and our relationship to nature in organic, mechanical and digital societies in order to understand the following: 1) How we may be different types of people as a result of our technology, and 2) How technological change can be linked to social transformations. Because technology and its effects on society are multifaceted, we will draw from several disciplines. Sources from historians, anthropologists, sociologists, philosophers, political scientists and ecologists will be used to reconstruct these worlds and place our own in clearer context. Enrollment limited to 18.