Welcome to HNR 101

According to some thinkers technology is what makes us human. Others argue that new technologies threaten human dignity and perhaps our very existence. We'll explore how different technologies like the internet, virtual reality, cloning, artificial intelligence, performance enhancing drugs, etc. raise ethical and social challenges as well as create possibilities for desirable human advancement. We will also talk about and learn to use some very practical technologies that might help you in your college career.

HNR 101 introduces you to the kind of work you will be expected to do as an Honors student. It also provides an orientation to the university and the resources available to help you succeed as a college student.

Biotechnology is the larger topic for this part of the course. Out text will be Francis Fukuyama's Our Posthuman Future: The Consequences of the Biotechnological Revolution. In addition to our emphasis on cloning, other topics might include the ethical and social implications of stem cell research, genetic engineering and genetically modified foods.

Here “drone” refers to an unmanned autonomous or remotely controlled vehicle. We'll inquire into the nature of intelligence and the larger issues we will discuss include artificial intelligence, the semantic web, telepresence, distance learning, virtual reality and the internet and its bearing on meaningful communication and human interaction. Our text is Hubert L. Dreyfus' On the Internet.

A cybornetic organism is a self-regulating human-machine system, partly organic and partly not. Andy Clark, in his book Natural-born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies and the Future of Human Intelligence, argues that our minds and bodies extend into the world of technology and culture. We'll look at how the union of biology and technology defines human nature.