FI:P039 Informatics -- Implications an

P039 Informatics -- Implications and Applications -- seminar

Faculty of Informatics
Autumn 1995

Extent and Intensity

0/0. 2 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: k (colloquium). Other types of completion: zk (examination), z (credit).

Teacher(s)

Chris Hables Gray (lecturer)

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

Syllabus

A very basic history of informatics including: logic, information theory, computing technologies, and cybernetics. Special focus on several philosophical debates about fundamentals of informatics such as the nature of intelligence (including the Turing Test) and the limits of computing.
An introduction to the basic ethical issues computer professions need to address.
Informatics and work. (Including the "myth of the paperless office", computing and the structure of business, and informatics and the changing nature of work itself.)
Informatics and war. (Including the concept of Postmodern War and an analysis of the role of informatics in contemporary conflicts.)
Informatics and popular culture. (From action figures to sex toys; from Terminator to Johny Mnemonic.)
Informatics and cultural change. (Technological determinism compared to social constructionism. Technophobia compared to cyberphilia. Historiography of technoscience.)
The Politics of Informatics (The New World informational order. The Cyborg Body Politic.)
Special attention will be paid to several specific issues, particularly: Artificial Intelligence, Human-Machine Communication and Integration, and Virtual Reality.

Language of instruction

Czech