Word count: 150-200 per question (a few dozen words more or less is ok, but try to keep it within this range!)
PROMPT
Week 1 Virtual Section Discussion
Welcome to our first discussion everybody!
Please respond (by replying to this post) to the questions (by Wednesday, August 7th) AND reply to a classmate’s response (by Friday, August 9th) to any 1 of the following questions for this discussion’s participation.
1) The theme of this course and Professor Rahimi’s lectures and the assigned course readings is science and technology as an engine of modernity. Throughout the next 5 weeks we will explore ideas and views on science and technology that are both optimistic and critical, perspectives that see the human species as a form of technology (machine) or identify the world as a site of domination through science and technology.
keeping the goal of this course in mind, draw on at least 1 specific example from this week’s video lectures, and at least 1 example from the assigned readings to answer the following question:
· Professor Rahimi mentions that we will explore ideas and views on science and technology that are both optimistic and critical. After going through this week’s required material, do you get more of a sense of optimism or criticism regarding science and technology in the case studies of this week’s lectures and in the assigned readings?
2) Your writing project ( Writing Project Overview, Guidelines, and Resources link) for this course, which you will develop further next week in the Writing Forum, asks you to make an argument about how a current human rights issue, included in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Links to an external site.
link), is framed in news media coverage of a current event. Please get started on your topic by listing potential current events that you are interested in working on, as well as a human right, or a couple of human rights, from the Declaration that you might want to connect to your current event.
· In one sentence, tell us what current events you are interested in are, and point out what the connection(s) is/are between your current event(s) and the human right(s).
****Please note that you CAN still change your topic from what you post on here by the time you submit your Writing Forum next week, but you really need to start thinking about your topic ASAP. This will make the development of your project easier down the road, trust me!
In order to get full credit, make sure that your posts are detailed and directly respond to the prompt. Be sure to give examples from the relevant readings and course materials to support your positions/arguments! In responding to your peers, be sure to explain why you agree or disagree with them by sticking to the course material as you elaborate.