DESIGN 283Q: Tinkering with Inequity in Emerging Tech

Course Description

A historically-informed and multidisciplinary approach to designing emerging technologies like AI, the metaverse, NFTs, IOT, and the systems in which they exist to be equitable.Throughout history, innovations in science and technology, while bold and visionary, have often resulted in catastrophic consequences for Indigenuous, Black, immigrant and other historically oppressed communities, and the environment. Today's emerging technologies, which span everything from deep fakes to self-driving vehicles, have incredible capabilities, and at the same time are plagued with algorithmic bias and lack accountability. What can we learn from our precarious past that we are not learning today, but need to? This class welcomes the curious and the creative, from interdisciplinary fields including design, computer science, art, history, political science, ethics, feminist and gender studies and professionals of diverse backgrounds. Through a variety of hands-on design projects including historical excavations, speculative fiction and world building, students will learn how to create prototypes of emerging technologies and evaluate their implications on diverse communities, the environment, and our past and future selves.