The coming years

Lectures: 1 session / week, 2 hours / session

In this seminar, we will explore what the future might hold. We will draw upon anthropology, history, human system dynamics, fiction, and current movements to illuminate our speculations. Our fields of interest will include changes in science and technology, culture and lifestyles, and dominant paradigms and societies. Each aspect, we'll try to predict 20 years out, and then project into the future. The scope of the class will range from the effects of the internet over the next decade, to the worldwide political changes we can expect in the next century, to the feats of engineering that might emerge in the coming millennium. Class will be organized around discussion, with assignments including reading and writing of non-fiction and fiction, scenario games, simulations, and creative design.

Our time each week will be divided as follows:

For the last five weeks of the semester, out-of-class time will be largely used for working on a final project. Each student or group of students will choose a project, which must have a simulation component, a creative component, and a research component.

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