Dear FRIAMers, Our distinguished participant David West at St. John's College is transitioning to St. John's Church for a course on the science fiction works of Isaac Asimov about robots. The course is offered under the auspices of RENESAN and you can sign up on their website at renesan.com. Here are some details:
Isaac Asimov and the Robots <http://www.ssreg.com/renesan/classes/description.asp?id=102404>: code: LIT F17-02 / $30.00 2 Session(s) Thurs 3:15-5:15pm, September 7 - September 14 David West is a retired professor of software development/computer science. His education includes undergraduate degrees in Asian Philosophy and History, a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Cultural Anthropology, and a PhD in cognitive anthropology. He has been reading science fiction since the first grade – e.g. *Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine* by Abrashkin and Williams, and *Sirens of Titan* by Kurt Vonnegut – and continues today with at least one science fiction book per week. Isaac Asimov is one of the most prolific authors of all time — at least 500 books on physics, chemistry, Bible studies, Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan, mystery, and, of course, science fiction. He is well known for his *Foundation* trilogy (later supplemented with two prequels and two sequels); but, especially among the general public, is most famous for his *Robot* series. This course will use Asimov’s books, beginning with the short stories collected in *I Robot*, to explore society’s long-standing fascination with, and fear of, robots and robotic technology. In addition to *I Robot*, students are urged to read one of the trilogy (*Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, *or* Robots of Dawn*) with R. Daneel Olivaw as the central character. “R” in the name stands for robot and in the last of the trilogy the robots invent a Fourth Law to supplement the original Three Laws of Robotics introduced in *I Robot*. An alternative reading is Daniel Saurez’s *Kill Decision* – about autonomous drones. The robotic technology described by Saurez and the premise for the novel – autonomous, no human control, and swarming drones – was featured as “state of the practice” in a January 2017 *Sixty Minutes* episode. St. John's United Methodist Church 1200 Old Pecos Trail Santa Fe, NM 87505 Look forward to your joining me in this class! George Duncan Emeritus Professor of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University georgeduncanart.com See posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Land: (505) 983-6895 Mobile: (505) 469-4671 My art theme: Dynamic exposition of the tension between matrix order and luminous chaos. "Attempt what is not certain. Certainty may or may not come later. It may then be a valuable delusion." >From "Notes to myself on beginning a painting" by Richard Diebenkorn. "It's that knife-edge of uncertainty where we come alive to our truest power." Joanna Macy.
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
