INQ120B
My Robot, My Frenemy

Instructor: Dr. Durell Bouchard
Office Hours: via Zoom by appointment
Office: Trexler 365-C
E-Mail: bouchard@roanoke.edu
Phone: 375-4901

Course Objectives

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Today there are autonomous self-driving cars on our roads. There are artificial intelligence programs that buy and sell billions of dollars of stocks every day. There are robots that vacuum our floors and mow our lawns. As we develop robots with greater capabilities, we create robots that are freer of human oversight. Is it possible to create robots with the ability to recognize right and wrong and to choose actions that will not harm people and themselves? In the not-so-distant future, there will be robots that are indistinguishable from humans. What rights should these synthetic intelligences be afforded? In this course, students will answer these questions by exploring the ethical and moral issues of the robots we have and the robots that will be.

Intended Learning Outcomes: At the end of the course the successful student will be able to

1. formulate and evaluate arguments about ethical positions.

2. describe connections between the course topic and broader traditions of critical reflections on the good life.

3. give an effective oral presentation.

4. write a paper with a clear thesis, cogent argumentation, effective organization, and a minimum of sentence-level errors.

Course Content

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Texts:

You Look Like a Thing and I Love You: How Artificial Intelligence Works and Why It’s Making the World a Weirder Place, by Janelle Shane, Voracious, 2019.

Our Final Invention, by James Barrat, Griffin, 2015.

Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, by David Levy, Harper Perennial, 2008.

EasyWriter (7^th Edition), by Andrea A. Lunsford, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010.

Project: For a final project, we will write, analyze, and present a story with ethical conundrums for fictional robots.

Oral Presentations: We will learn how to prepare and deliver two oral presentations. The midterm presentation connects the topics of robots and ethics to a robot chosen from popular culture. The final presentation is a presentation of the final project.

Participation: By participating in class discussions, we engage more deeply with the course material and develop presentation skills. Because we can not develop our presentation skills without practice, meaningful daily participation contributes to final grades.

Assignments: We will have regular reading assignments with short oral reflections. These assignments are an opportunity to demonstrate what parts of the reading are most interesting to you. This guides the in-class discussions to the topics and issues that we find most engaging. Because these assignments are necessary to prepare for class, late assignments can not be accepted.

Grading: Course grades are assigned based on the following weights and scale:

Course Policies

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Zoom: Our class will be meeting synchronously, during our scheduled time block, via Zoom. The following are some suggested best practices based on student feedback from previous courses:

• Have your camera on during class if possible! It is expected that you will have your camera on during all of our synchronous class meetings. I do understand that technical and other issues can pop-up. So, if you are having a problem with your camera, please email or chat with me.
• Treat our Zoom sessions like a real class – because they are! Avoid the temptation to lie back comfortably in your bed or a chair. Sit at a desk, have writing materials and texts ready, just as you would in a regular face-to-face class. Have a specific space to “go to class” for our meetings and separate the activity from your daily out-of-class routine. Avoid multi-tasking (tricky in an electronic environment). You will retain our discussions better if our class is the only thing you are focusing on at the time.
• Be on-time or early! I will get to our Zoom meetings at least 5-10 minutes early. Please stop in then and take the opportunity to chat with your classmates and me during this off-the-clock time. Attendance Policy: Class attendance is vital to your success in this course; material covered during missed sessions is the responsibility of the student. Conversations held in class illuminate the published class materials and are subject to evaluation on subsequent assignments. If you anticipate being unable to attend class, email me before class to be excused.

Make-up: If you have an excused absence, email me to arrange for a make-up. Unexcused absences will result in receiving no credit.

Late Assignments: Unless otherwise specified, assignments are to be turned in before the start of class on the due date. If you anticipate being unable to meet a deadline, email me before the deadline to request an extension. Unexcused late work will receive no credit.

Academic Integrity: Collaboration is a fundamental part of learning. During class, you are encouraged to discuss and learn from one another. However, unless expressly stated otherwise, all work outside of class should be solely your own. It is accepted that you have read and understood the standards for academic integrity at Roanoke College. If you are ever uncertain about how the policy pertains to any assignments in this course, please ask me for clarification.

Writing Center: The Writing Center @ Roanoke College offers tutorials focused on writing projects and oral presentations for students working in any field. Writers and presenters at all levels of experience may consult the Writing Center at any point in their process—including brainstorming, drafting, organizing, editing, or polishing presentation skills—to talk with trained peer tutors in informal, one-on-one sessions. Currently, all tutorials are happening in our virtual space, but we look forward to welcoming you to our home in Fintel Library as soon as conditions are suitable. Schedule an appointment at <www.roanoke.edu/writingcenter>, where our staff members and workshops are also posted. Questions? Email writingcenter@roanoke.edu.

Accessible Education Services: Accessible Education Services (AES) is located in the Goode-Pasfield Center for Learning and Teaching in Fintel Library. AES provides reasonable accommodations to students with documented disabilities. To register for services, students must self-identify to AES, complete the registration process, and provide current documentation of a disability along with recommendations from the qualified specialist. Please contact Laura Leonard, Assistant Director of Academic Services for Accessible Education, at 540-375-2247 or by e-mail at aes@roanoke.edu to schedule an appointment. If you have registered with AES in the past and would like to receive academic accommodations for this semester, please contact Laura Leonard at your earliest convenience to schedule an appointment and/or obtain your accommodation letter for the current semester.

Diversity: I consider this classroom to be a place where you will be treated with respect, and I welcome individuals of all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, ethnicities, genders, gender identities, gender expressions, national origins, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, ability – and other visible and nonvisible differences. All members of this class are expected to contribute to a respectful, welcoming and inclusive environment for every other member of the class.

Preferred Name/Pronoun: I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records.

Course Schedule

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This course expects you to spend at least 12 hours of work each week inside and outside of class.

In place of a spring break this year, we will have the following days off from class: