{"id":19559,"date":"2021-03-08T16:36:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T16:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=19559"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:50:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T21:50:05","slug":"philisophical-explorations-of-science-fiction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/premajor\/first-year\/discovery-core\/autumn-dcx\/philisophical-explorations-of-science-fiction","title":{"rendered":"Philosophical Explorations of Science Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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a Discovery Core Experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This course may be taken as either a BCORE 107 (Social Sciences)<\/strong> or as a BCORE 104 (Arts & Humanities) <\/strong>course.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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About This Course<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While science fiction may seem to be about other worlds, most of it is really about us. In this class we\u2019ll explore science fiction as a way to examine our own time and place. In the process, we\u2019ll investigate various philosophical concepts like free will, time travel, artificial intelligence, knowledge, justice, and the meaning of life. 足彩app哪个是正规的 instructor has a Ph.D. in Philosophy and a background in computer science and the performing arts, so students can expect to be part of engaging and entertaining group discussions about the Big Ideas that we\u2019ll see in the sci-fi movies we\u2019ll watch together and the sci-fi stories we\u2019ll read. This course involves frequent creative writing exercises and students will author their own original science fiction short story as a final project. As a Discovery Core course, this class will also introduce students to some important parts of UWB life, like research in the library, use of various campus resources, interdisciplinary inquiry, and others. 足彩app哪个是正规的 class is meant to be a fun and intellectually stimulating class that\u2019s also a great introduction to your new life at UWB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Should I Take This Course? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019ll be fun and we\u2019ll read a bunch of science fiction stories and talk about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Will I Study?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll study a few different issues in philosophy: knowledge, ethics, philosophy of mind, AI, utopias & dystopias, nihilism and the meaning of life, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected Texts & Films<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll read one long novel (I change it around from year to year, so I haven\u2019t picked this year\u2019s yet), and a bunch of short stories, including Escape From Spiderhead<\/em> by George Saunders and Liking What You See: A Documentary<\/em> by Ted Chiang, and many others. We\u2019ll also read some philosophy. We\u2019ll watch a few episodes of Black Mirror<\/em>, and some movies like Her<\/em>, Everything Everywhere All At Once<\/em>, probably others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n