Jump to: Part 1: Mind | Part 2: Body | Part 3: Spirit | Part 4: Portfolio

Part 1: Mind and AI

Tuesday, August 29 (Week 1)

• READ: Amy Kind, first third of “Machine Minds” from Philosophy of Mind: The Basics (2020), pages 97-107
• MEET: Tyler-Tallman Hall for a plenary session for a (re)introduction to the class
• PLENARY: Mini-lectures on the Voight-Kampff Test and the Turing Test
• SECTION: Move into sections for introductions and discussion of reading and mini-lectures
  

Thursday, August 31 AM

• READ: Amy Kind, final third of “Machine Minds” from Philosophy of Mind, pages 113-123 (starting with the section titled “Can Machines Feel?”)
  
• MOODLE: Emotions and the Mind (due by 8am)
• SECTION: Continue discussion from Tuesday morning, and also discuss the Kind readings
  

Thursday, August 31 PM

• MEET: Tyler-Tallman Hall
  
• PLENARY: Extending the Mind (Talks by Professors Robb and Sample, and small group and plenary discussions)
  

Tuesday, September 5 (Week 2)

• READ: Ted Chiang, The Lifecycle of Software Objects (2010), pages 62-123
• WATCH: Objectification Mini-Lecture Video (8 minutes)
• MOODLE: Objectification and the Digients
• SECTION: How individuals become objects

Thursday, September 7 AM

• READ: Ted Chiang,The Lifecycle of Software Objects (2010), pages 123-172
• MOODLE: Humanization and Software Objects
• SECTION: How objects become individuals

Thursday, September 7 PM

• PLENARY: Introduction of Annotation Writing Assignment; and the History and Philosophy of chatbots, virtual pets, and AI; and what they reveal about our own hopes, dreams, and anxieties

Tuesday, September 12 (Week 3)

• READ: Susan Schneider, “Could You Merge With AI?” and “Getting a Mindscan,” from Artificial You (2019)
• OPTIONAL READING: The Transhumanist FAQ
• MOODLE: Central Terms from Schneider
• SECTION: Debating virtual consciousness

Thursday, September 14 AM

• PLAY: Universal Paperclips (You don’t have to finish the game, but do spend at least one hour playing it.)
• READ: “Statement on AI Risk” from the Center for AI Safety (2023) and Arvind Narayanan, “Is Avoiding Extinction from AI Really an Urgent Priority?” from AI Snake Oil (2023)
• MOODLE: What is Universal Paperclips about?
• SECTION: Discuss Universal Paperclips
• WRITE: Draft of Paper 1 due by Friday, September 15, 5pm (final version due Friday, September 29)

Thursday, September 14 PM

• PLENARY: The existential threat of AI, with guest speaker computer scientist Jon Kleinberg
  

Tuesday, September 19 (Week 4)

• PLENARY: Writing workshop (on the sentence)

Thursday, September 21 AM

• SECTION: Writing workshop (on the paragraph)

Thursday, September 21 PM

• WATCH: The Metalhead episode of Black Mirror (Season 4, Episode 5) on Netflix
• MOODLE: Analyze a scene from Metalhead
• PLENARY: Discuss Metalhead and wrap-up the Mind unit

Part 2: Bodies and the Future

(Back to Top)

Tuesday, September 26 (Week 5)

• PLENARY: Organizing Questions; Bodily experience; Questions guiding our work

Thursday, September 28 AM

• READ: Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, We3 (PDF) (Also Available as a CBR file); Terms
• MOODLE: Discuss a We3 Panel
• SECTION: Discuss We3
• WRITE: Final draft of Paper 1 due on Moodle by 5pm, Friday, September 29

Thursday, September 28 PM

• READ: We3
• PLENARY: Hybrid Bodies, Discussion of We3 and intro to “Cyborg Manifesto.”

Tuesday, October 3 (Week 6)

• READ: Donna Haraway, “The Cyborg Manifesto”
• SECTION: Discuss Haraway, “Cyborg Manifesto”

Thursday, October 5 AM

• READ: Ben Spatz, “What Can a Body Do?” (2015)
• PLENARY: Physical practice – in relationship to reading,  **Meet in 900 room at the Union**

Thursday, October 5 PM

• SECTION (Meet in Tyler-Tallman, not section rooms): discuss morning experience/reading 
• Short Plenary: intro to Foucault

Tuesday, October 10 (Week 7)

• Fall Break (No Class)

Thursday, October 12 AM

• READ: Foucault, “Docile Bodies”; see reading guide
• SECTION: Discuss Foucault

Thursday, October 12 PM

• READ: Review Foucault
• PLENARY: Framing Foucault and bodies becoming

Tuesday, October 17 (Week 8)

• READ: “On the Threshold of Theatre” Bennett
• PLENARY: Theories of Spectatorship

Thursday, October 19 AM

• GUIDED TOUR OF Duke Family Performance Hall: Meet at main entrance in student union! Wear close-toed shoes — NO FLIP FLOPS!

Thursday, October 19 PM

• READ: Excerpts from Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal (read only 119-128 & 135-142); see reading guide
• READ: “Introduction to Augusto Boal” from Digital Theatre+
• Section: Theater of the Oppressed

Tuesday, October 24 (Week 9)

• PLENARY: Boal workshop; meet in Lilly Gallery
• Wear comfortable clothes, and rubber-soled, closed toe shoes

Thursday, October 26 AM

• SECTION: Discussion Reflecting on Boal

Thursday, October 26 PM

• PLENARY: Whither the paragraph?

Part 3: Spirit and the Immaterial

(Back to Top)

Tuesday, October 31 (Week 10)

• READ: W. E. B. Du Bois, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings” and “The Sorrow Songs” in The Souls of Black Folk (1903), 37–44, 185–194.
• PLENARY: Spirituals and Intro to Pentecostal Tradition in US 

Thursday, November 2 AM

• READ: Shane White and Graham White, “To Translate Everyday Experiences into Living Sound,” in The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African American History through Songs, Sermons, and Speech (Boston: Beacon Press, 2005), 20–37. 
• LISTEN: (Use whatever streaming service you prefer)
  • “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”
  • “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
  • “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”
  • “Go Down, Moses”
  • “Steal Away”
  • “Old Ship of Zion”
  • “Going Home”
• MOODLE: Spirituals that resonated (Optional)
  
• SECTION: Sounds of Slavery

Thursday, November 2 PM

• READ: No additional reading
• PLENARY: Spirituals and Intro to Pentecostal Tradition in US 

Tuesday, November 7 (Week 11)

• READ: W.E.B. DuBois, “The Comet” from Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil
• MOODLE: Annotations of “The Comet”
  
• SECTION: Du Bois

Thursday, November 9 AM

• READ: “The Threshing Floor” (249-272 stop at “Bless our God!”) from James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain
• SECTION: Baldwin
• DUE: Difficult Passage Paper, Friday, November 10 by 5pm

Thursday, November 9 PM

• WATCH: Blood at the Root: No afternoon class but students are required to attend the 7:30 p.m. performance of Blood at the Root by Dominique Morisseau, directed by James Webb in the Barber Theatre. Tickets are free and seats have been reserved.      

Tuesday, November 14 (Week 12)

• READ: “The Threshing Floor” (272-291) 
• MOODLE: Commonalities
• SECTION: Baldwin, cont.

Thursday, November 16 AM

• WATCH: James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni “A Conversation” 
• SECTION: Aesthetics of Possibility: Arts and Action

Thursday, November 16 PM

• READ: Ashon Crawley, “Introduction,” in Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility (New York: Fordham University Press, 2017), 1–31.
• PLENARY: Aesthetics of Possibility

Part 4: Portfolio, Scaffolding, and Building

(Back to Top)

Tuesday, November 21 (Week 13)

• PLENARY: Digital Learning Team

Thursday, November 23 – Thanksgiving (No Class)

Tuesday, November 28 (Week 14)

• DUE: Campus Commentary #2, Monday, November 27 by 5pm
• Portfolio Work – faculty meet with students individually (during regular class time)

Thursday, November 30 AM & PM

• Portfolio Work – faculty meet with students individually (during regular class time)

Tuesday, December 5 (Week 15)

• PLENARY: Recap & Looking Ahead

Thursday, December 7

• FALL PORTFOLIO DUE