Faculty

Dr. Scott Campbell, Director of the Centre for Society, Technology and Values (CSTV) and instructor of STV 100, still finds it useful to introduce students to the idea expressed by scientist and novelist C.P. Snow that Western intellectual life is split into two cultures—the sciences and the humanities. How Snow developed this basic idea is not the point here—or in STV 100.

The history of the Centre for Society, Technology and Values (CSTV) can tell us a lot about the history of the University of Waterloo. Founded in 1984, the Centre has been around for more than half of Waterloo’s 60 years. It began during a period of expansion and optimism on campus. Although the scope of its activities later contracted during a time of fiscal restraint, the Centre has survived and even thrived, in a modest way. As the university’s mission and goals have evolved to meet the demands of a rapidly changing society, CSTV has remained relevant and significant.

The World Economic Forum recently released its annual jobs report.  As Emma Teitel of the Toronto Star points out, one of the issues flagged by the report is potential loss of 7.1 million jobs in the "office and administrative jobs" category by 2020.

British insurance company Adrian Flux has issued an insurance policy to cover self-driving cars.  Highlights of the policy include coverage in the following circumstances:

• Crashes due to loss of communication with satellites or software failures;
• Crashes due to hacking.

Even failure of drivers to take manual control in these cases is covered.

However, other situations are not covered, including: