UGS 302 Freshman Seminar

Mirrors on Ourselves: Attempts to Build Artificial People

Elaine Rich

Fall, 2013

Unique:

65080

TTh 2:00-3:30

GDC 3.516

Staff

	Email	Office	Office Hours
Elaine Rich	ear@cs.utexas.edu	GDC 5.810	W 10:00 – 12:00
Amanda Lacey	empyreangoddess8@yahoo.com

The Structure of the Class

Over the course of the semester, we will:

• Read:

• Fiction and literature
• Philosophical essays
• Historical surveys
• Scientific papers

• Analyze and discuss what we have read
• Write:

• Short essays
• One significant term paper

• Watch movies. Some we will watch in class. Others you can watch on your own. If you want to watch them on your own, you can check them out of the UT film library:

• Metropolis
• Frankenstein (the original)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (the original 1951 version)
• Forbidden Planet
• I Robot

In this class it will be very important that everyone come to class prepared to participate in the discussions. On the Schedule of Topics page, you will find a schedule for the semester (which will evolve as the semester progresses).

Required Reading

There’s just one actual book that you’ll need to get:

• Čapek, Karel, R. U. R. (This is a play, first published in 1920. The word “robot” was first used in this play.)

In addition, we will read many short articles and stories. Many of them are available on the web. I will hand out copies of any that are not.

Additional Books that You May Find Interesting and Possibly Useful for Your Term Paper

• Benford, Gregory and Elisabeth Malartre, Beyond Human: Living with Robots and Cyborgs.
• Cohen, John, Human Robots in Myth and Science. (This book is out of print. But it is available used on Amazon and at PCL.)
• Crevier, Daniel, AI: The Tumultuous History of the Search for Artificial Intelligence. (This book is out of print. But it is available used on Amazon and at PCL.)
• Diamond, Jared, The Third Chimpanzee.
• Ford, Martin, The Lights in the Tunnel
• Hawkins, Jeff, On Intelligence.
• Levy, David, Robots Unlimited.
• McCorduck, Pamela, Machines Who Think. 2004 Edition.
• Moravec, Hans, Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind.
• Perkowitz, Sidney, Digital People. You can access this book electronically from the UT Library: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/
• Riskin, Jessica (ed.), Genesis Redux: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Artificial Life.
• Standage, Tom, The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine. (This book is out of print. But it is available used on Amazon and at PCL.)
• Wood, Gaby, Edison’s Eve.

Grading

• Attendance: 5%
• Class participation: 10%
• Homework: 40%
• Term paper: 45%

There will not be a final exam.

Homeworks

There will be two kinds of assignments:

• Reading assignments. For some of these, you will be asked to choose a topic that is covered in the reading, do some research on it, sketch your results (to hand in) and come to class prepared to discuss what you have learned.
• Written homework assignments. For these, you may work with other people to come up with answers, but each person must write up his or her own solutions. These assignments must be turned in at the beginning of class so that we can discuss them in class. If you must miss a class, you may turn in your homework electronically or at my office prior to 2:00 on the day of class. Late homework will incur a penalty of 20% per day.

All homework assignments must be typed.

Attendance and Class Participation

You need to come to class and participate. Starting with the 4^th class, there will a sign-in sheet at each class. Assume there are n remaining classes. Then 1/n^th of the total attendance points will be deducted for each missed class. If you must miss class for a legitimate reason, let me know as soon as possible.

Piazza

Piazza is a free online gathering place where students can ask, answer, and explore 24/7. Read more at www.piazza.com. We will use Piazza for important class announcements. In addition, you can use it to post questions and get answers both from other students and from the instructors. Once registration has settled down, we will enroll everyone in the class Piazza forum.

Canvas

We will use Canvas to record grades. You can access it at http://canvas.utexas.edu/. From the calendar, you can see when assignments are due. But you should also check the schedule page on our class website for reading assignments.

Academic Integrity and the UT Student Honor Code

UT’s Student Honor Code states: "As a student of The University of Texas at Austin, I shall abide by the core values of the University and uphold academic integrity." You can watch an excellent video about the honor code here.

You should read carefully the class policy on academic integrity. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated and will result in a failing grade in the class.

Students with Disabilities

Any student with a documented disability (physical or cognitive) who requires academic accommodations should contact the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 471-4641 (TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing) or http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/ as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations.

Religious Holidays

By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, or an assignment in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.

Additional Class Policies

You should read CS Department Code of Conduct. The policies described there will be followed in this class.