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This course examines the interaction of the technologies developed by a culture with the values and social organization of that culture. The course exposes students to various definitions of society, technology and values, and it presents alternative views about how the three interact. These views are then applied to a number of spheres of influence, including patterns of employment and the role of work; medicine and health; polity and economy; sustainable development and the environment.

This course draws on a variety of worldviews, especially Indigenous ones, relating to the role of engineering in a healthy and sustainable future.

Winter 2024

Instructor: Matt Borland

The objective of this course is to introduce students to ethical and social concerns relating to Artificial Intelligence (AI). These concerns include historical determinism, governance, utopianism, biopower, human rights, robo-ethics, justice, accountability, and fairness. An overview will be provided on these issues as they arise in areas like art, commerce, education, finance, journalism, law, healthcare, transportation, warfare, and work.

Winter 2024

Instructor: Cameron Shelley

The course has been designed to provide a framework or set of intellectual tools to help students understand and evaluate technological change. These tools will be applied to the development of information technology, its interaction with society, and possible future scenarios. Selected topics include understanding digitization as culture, visions of the future and the perils of prediction, as well as issues related to application areas such as the home, manufacturing, office work, design and services, education, and law. The course will also consider some of the privacy and personal dignity issues associated with information technology.

Winter 2024

Instructor: Cosmin Munteanu 

Cybernetics is the study of the interfaces between humans and machines. This course will present an overview of cybernetics from automation and robotics to prosthetics and wearable computing. The roles of men and women in a post-human era will be discussed along with related themes dealing with gender, cyberspace, politics and popular culture.

Join your fellow students this Spring to discuss and explore!

Instructor: Mark Morley

What is information technology? How did it get this way?  What is it doing for us, or not?

Join your fellow students this Spring to discuss and explore!

Instructor: Scott Campbell

What is information technology? How did it get this way?  What is it doing for us, or not?

Join your fellow students in STV 302 in Winter 2023 to discuss and explore!

The course is being taught by Cosmin Munteanu, the New Schlegel Research Chair in Technology for Healthy Aging.

How did the technology of modern city life arise?  How does it all fit together? What is to come?

Join your fellow students in STV 305 in Winter 2023 to discuss and explore!

Prereq: Level 3A or later, or a previous STV course, or permission of the instructor: Cameron Shelley (cshelley@uwaterloo.ca).

What are the social implications of the ability to manipulate genes?  Join your fellow students in STV 306 in Fall 2022 to discuss and explore!

Prereq: Level 3A or later, or a previous STV course, or permission of the instructor: Cameron Shelley (cshelley@uwaterloo.ca).