Image: The Comparative Literature Department introduces a new course titled Playing with Robots for spring 2019. CMLT 3080 (CRN 48058) invites students of all academic interests and political persuasions to join "the most important conversation of our time" (Max Tegmark). The course is designed to be an interdisciplinary introduction to concepts of cyberspace and intelligent machines, stimulating reflection on the ethical and socio-political consequences of future developments in artifical intelligence. Through concepts such as play and liminality, and drawing from literature, history, politcal theory, international relations, and philosophy, CMLT 3080 explores topics such as new media, hacking and hacktivism, cyber warfare, as well as fiction on emotional and political simulations by intelligent machines to observe agonistic mentalities that seek relationships of replacement rather than non-zero-sum games. The course proposes that cyberspace, where A.I. operates, can serve as a laboratory to simulate irenic (peaceful) values in new, artificial worlds developed outside the parameters of the familiar. In this sense, cyberspace may serve as a liminal place where new realities and new values may emerge. For more information and syllabus contact Dr. Vlad B. Jecan at jecan@uga.edu.
