Instructor: John Wermuth
Course Time: MW 7:30-9:15
General Education: Social Science
Term: Winter 2013

Stone Age to IT Age: How Did That Happen? asks students to consider another challenging concept. “I think; therefore, I am.” Is technology doing the thinking or am I? The answer to this question asks for a serious review of historical technological developments. In class discussions and other research will encourage students to understand how technology has shaped human thought and activity. To use or not to use technology presents a focus of current technological developments and its control of societal behaviors. This discussion will continue through the looking glass. Perhaps both students and instructor will see how technology will be integrated into the human mind to shape the future cultural direction of society.


Texts:

Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television

By Jeffrey Sconce


Where Nobody Has Gone Before: A Collection of Commentaries about Science, Technology, Society, and the Future

By Timothy McGettigan


Human-Built World: How to Think about Technology and Culture

By Thomas P. Hughes


Technology: A World History (New Oxford World History)

By Daniel R. Headrick