ARTS 3011 - Humans and Technology: From Stone Tools to Cyborgs

The young people of today will experience more change in their lifetimes than any previous generation of humans. They might even be the last generation of Homo sapiens. To grasp the magnitude of the current technological revolution, it is necessary to step back and place it in the bigger picture. This course explores the long history of the two-way relationship between humans and technology over the last 200,000 years. Humans create new forms of technology, but every significant technological innovation rewires society and changes us both physically and psychologically. During the course we examine in turn the impact on humans and human society of the following: (1) Stone tools, abstract language, and the domestication of fire; (2) The Neolithic agricultural revolution, metallurgy, and writing; (3) Gunpowder and the printing press; (4) The steam engine; (5) Telecommunications, e.g. telegraph, radio, television; (6) Digital technologies, genetic engineering and the hybridisation of humans and machines.