Lavender, Isiah
TR 12:45 PM
Park Hall 0144
This class explores the technologically derived ethnicities—robots, artificial intelligence, androids, clones, cyborgs, and personality transferences—just over the horizon. They are faster than us; stronger than us; smarter than us; more durable than us. How will we interact with our technological offspring? Will they occupy new ethnic positions? Are they dangerous or liberating? How do we confront our own anxieties about human specificity? Is there even room for us if flesh doesn’t seem to matter? Fortunately, science fiction already forecasts and reflects upon the emergence of these technologically powered races. Ready or not, artificial peoples are coming! Our job is to contemplate what comes next in human evolution as we read novels, short stories, films and particular television episodes.