Assigned Readings

Week 1

Listen: Chalmers - The Singularity (interview)

Dusek - What is Technology? (deleted snow day reading)

Week 2

Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy (I and II)

Nagel - How Do We Know Anything?

Chalmers - Reality+

Moore - Proof of an External World

Week 3

Bostrom - You Are Living in the Matrix

Chalmers - The Reality Question

Chalmers - The Matrix as Metaphysics

Dupre - The Ship of Theseus

Week 4

Perry - Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality

Chalmers - Uploading and Personal Identity (read part 1)

Nagel - The Mind-Body Problem

Descartes - Meditations on First Philosophy (Review Meditation II)

Week 5

Searle - The Chinese Room

Block - The China Brain

Week 6

Nagel - What Is It Like To Be A Bat?

Jackson - The Qualia Problem

Chalmers - Uploading and Consciousness

Chalmers - Uploading and Personal Identity (read part 2)

Clark & Chalmers - The Extended Mind

Week 7

Le Guin - The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (optional)

Case - Would You Walk Away? (optional)

Nozick - The Experience Machine

Chalmers - The Value Question

Week 8

Danaher - Will Life Be Worth Living in a World Without Work?

Chiang - Why A.I. Isn't Going to Make Art

Trujillo - A.I. Art is Art

Silk - The Ethics of A.I. Art

Nguyen et al - Twitter Gamifies the Conversation (optional)

* Nguyen (simple pdf version) - optional here

Bostrom - The Dragon Tyrant & Life-Extension

Week 9

Williams - The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality

Fischer - Why Immortality Is Not So Bad

Kass - Preventing a Brave New World

Flanigan - Defense of Compulsory Vaccination

Week 10

Cohen - The Case for the Use of Animals

Week 11

Norcross - Puppies, Pigs, and People

Hopkins, Dacey, Milburn - Cultured Meat

Week 12

Roff & Sparrow - Autonomous Weapons and Moral Responsibility

Luck - The Gamer's Dilemma

Week 13

Danaher - The Sex Robot Debate

Parfit, Bostrom, Chalmers - On the Singularity

Week 14

Jenkins - Autonomous Vehicles, Ethics, & Law

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