Reimagining Technology and Society

What is technology? An instrument, a phone, a rocket, an electric car? An idea? A particular way of knowing the world? And what is its relationship to society: does technology shape society, or does society shape technology, or does that framing itself need to be rethought?

This course rigorously enquires these questions through the perspectives of philosophy, history, social anthropology, human evolution, and civilizational studies. Drawing on examples from the past and present, it asks what the relationship between technology and society could look like in the future. Central to the course is understanding technology through a threefold matrix of thinking, knowing and making.

The course is organized into two parts. The first introduces different meanings of technology and examines its relationship with society through philosophy, history and the social sciences. The second explores technology in relation to ethics, politics, engineering and robotics, encouraging students to critically examine how technology shapes human experience and how society, in turn, shapes technological development.

• A capacity to think critically and creatively.
• A new understanding of technology.
• A basic awareness of the idea of society, culture and technology.
• An appreciation of how humanities and social sciences contribute to understanding technology.
• A capability to be imaginative and inventive.

•  Understand the functions and meanings of technology in society | Knowledge Outcome
• Acquire an overview of major theories concerning technology | Comprehend Outcome
• Demonstrate competence in understanding the socio-economic impacts of technology | Apply Outcome
• Design frameworks to understand the social, cultural and political embeddedness of technology | Apply Outcome
• Evaluate the functioning and future impacts of emerging technologies | Evaluate Outcome
• Construct models that place technology within social, historical and cultural contexts | Create/Synthesize Outcome
• Develop innovative definitions of technology suited to the human and non-human world | Synthesize Outcome

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