Project2
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IAH206Summer2020ProjectTwo.docxProject #2: AI as Humanity’s Mirror
( Creating effective writing and analyses means considering each of the following elements, as well as their relationships: Revision : What beliefs, actions, and/or knowledges will your argument revise/change? Arrangement : What is the best way to present your argument/claims? Comparison-contrast? Description? Evaluation? Etc. Invention : What ideas, experiences, and/or knowledges will you draw from to compose your argument? Delivery : Through what medium will you deliver your argument? Style : What style (sentence structure, word choice, voice, etc) will you use to make your argument? ----------------------------------------- --------------- The above concepts are developed by paying close attention to the demands of… Subject : What is it that you are writing about? What demands does the subject make on your choices? Writer : What sort of ethos do you want to establish? What do YOU, as the writer, bring to your argument? Audience : Who will read your paper? Who/what are you responding to? What do they expect ? Purpose : What is the point of your argument? Why are you writing in the first place? To persuade? To inform? To Entertain? Please consult the PowerPoints for more information. Remember, the relationship between SWAP and RAIDS is recursive! )“As brains increased in size from one hominid species to its descendents, tools became sophisticated and more common” (133).
“[O]ur brain treats the tool we’re using as if it were part of our body. So there is nothing unnatural about technology. On the contrary, using technology is one of the key things that makes us human” (134).
-Sloman and Fernbach, The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone
Overview
Since the beginning of the semester, we’ve come to understand much of the history and development of Artificial Intelligence, as well as some of the implications (the “Singularity,” labor/economy, machine-warfare, machine-medicine, etc.). We’ve done this through an examination of scholarly, popular, and artistic representations of AI. Too, we’ve honed our skills of summary, analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and evaluation. For this project, you’ll be asked to reflect on/inquire into your experience learning about AI in order to create new and original arguments (delivered through rhetorically savvy pieces of writing).
To do so, let’s imagine the following situation: Courses in the Integrative Arts and Humanities (IAH) Program in the College of Arts and Letters at MSU focus on key ideas and issues in human experience by:
· Encouraging appreciation of the roles of knowledge and values in shaping and understanding human behavior;
· Emphasizing the responsibilities and opportunities of democratic citizenship;
· Highlighting the value of the creative arts of literature, theater, music, and arts;
· Alerting us to important issues that occur among peoples in an increasingly interconnected, interdependent world.
With that said, the Director of IAH at MSU is soliciting you to write a brief memo about your experience studying AI. If technology is an extension of the human mind, then what has your study of AI revealed about humanity?
Engaging in this writing task will help us make progress towards the following learning goals:
· Critically apply liberal arts knowledge in disciplinary contexts and disciplinary knowledge in liberal arts contexts.
· Reflect on experiences with technology and Artificial Intelligence.
Audience
Obviously, you’re writing for Dr. Kirk Kidwell, the Director of the IAH Program.
Purpose
Dr. Kidwell will use your memo/argument to design a follow-up class to this one that is titled “What Robots Can Tell us About Being a Human.” Your thesis will help to provide recommendations about the focus and direction of the class.
Invention
As you begin writing, you might consider (among others) the following questions:
· Why has AI occupied so much of society’s collective imagination?
· Why are governments and companies investing so much into the development of AI?
· What are the implications of the “singularity” or AI “superintelligence”?
· Is AI different from or similar to past technologies?
· What are the things we fear most about AI? What are the things we want from AI?
· Which of our past readings will help you to make your case?
· What would you have students understand about the relationship between AI and humanity?
Arrangement
As I hope you’ve come to realize, summary and analysis plays an important part in rhetorical invention, and also influences how we structure our essays (we have to summarize/describe the phenomena we are investigating before we analyze it, interpret it, and synthesize our interpretation against the works of others. Of course, all of this is done as we invent and support our own unique opinions on the subject). You’ll find this holds true as you analyze the genre of “memo.” In addition, as you read over the foregoing link, you’ll notice that the website uses different language for what we’ve been talking about (“introduction” = “opening segment”). Pay close attention to the names because they’ll cue you to how writing is talked about and put to use elsewhere. But also be sure to pay attention to the rhetorical moves each section makes (they are the same moves we’ve been making in our own writing).
Delivery
Your typed essay should be:
· a 1200-1500 word memo.
· formatted according to MLA.
Final Note
Because this is an open-ended and inquiry-based writing assignment that requires you to exercise your judgment as you create and communicate an original message, your essay will be accompanied by a cover letter that explains and justifies your decisions, as well as makes the case for how well your writing meets the “Success Criteria” we develop/ed.
Materials
While this might seem like a lot, it's manageable (it should take an hour or so to get through most of this stuff). Actually, you might enjoy some of this week's readings/videos/podcasts. Here we go (all links and documents are linked up below):
1) Watch this: https://www.npr.org/2018/01/26/580617998/cathy-oneil-do-algorithms-perpetuate-human-bias
2) Read/listen to these: https://michiganstate.sharepoint.com/sites/Section_US20-IAH-206-733-97RD3S-EL-04-075/Shared%20Documents/Project%20Two/Nick_Bostrom_on_the_Simulation_Argument.mp3
5) Read: http://www.npr.org/2016/03/27/472067221/internet-trolls-turn-a-computer-into-a-nazi
7) Read: https://cpr.unu.edu/ai-global-governance-turning-the-tide-on-crime-with-predictive-policing.html
