CYBORG LITERATURE
Spring 2014
Honors 350 - 002
Tues/Thurs 11:00 am – 12:15 pm
HON 180
Dr. Rachel N. Baum rbaum@uwm.edu
Office Hours: Tues/Thurs 2:00 – 3:15
Greene Museum 120(Center for Jewish
Studies, on Downer next to Sabin)
229-5156
Course Description : What is a human being? What is a machine? Technological advances are making the distinctions harder to discern. The idea of a cyborg – a being who is part human, part machine – is no longer science fiction in a world where many people have pacemakers and artificial limbs. Even outside of the world of medicine, our lives are increasingly lived in the digital world. Who could have imagined twenty years ago that in 2012, we would be able to carry a supercomputer in our pockets (now called a
“smartphone”), or that virtual worlds would allow us to interact with people around the world in massively multiplayer online games?
As technology advances, it is of vital importance that we consider our relationship to it. Science fiction literature is filled with warnings about the dangers of technology, but also with its possibilities. In this class, we will look at these texts and our current experiences to discern the complexity of the relationship between human and machine.
Can machines help us to be more human? Better humans? Will our love of technology create a better society, or is it causing us to lose our very humanity?

Course Goals: A student who engages fully with this class will develop a broad understanding of the intellectual issues that surround “post-humanism” and technology.
In addition, this course will allow the student to:

Understand and interpret primary literature

Understand and engage with secondary literature

Express ideas and engage with the ideas of others, in writing and speech

Be a better listener
 Enjoy popular culture more (it’s okay if you don’t, but I do, and it would be great to share with you)

Fly (just threw that in to see if you were paying attention)
Required Books:
Philip Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Jaron Lanier, You are Not a Gadget
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Marge Piercy, He, She, and It
Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
These books are available at the UWM Bookstore, and should be easily available from other booksellers as well.
All other readings will be available on D2L. Students are expected to print them out or have them to look at on a mobile device on the day we will be discussing them.
D2L/Facebook
This course has a D2L site, where you will find some of the course readings. I have also set up a Facebook page for the course. You can find the page by clicking on the Facebook link in the upper right hand corner of the D2L page. Through FB, I will send reminders of due dates, articles that might be of interest, etc……..It is not mandatory for you to use
Facebook, but you’ll find the FB page useful, and I recommend it. You only need to
“like” the page, you don’t need to friend anyone in the class. I think you can see the page through the D2L link even if you aren’t on FB. https://www.facebook.com/cyborgliteraturespring14

ASSIGNMENTS
1. Four one page papers (280 points): These responses should be well-thought responses to the readings. Their brevity gives you the opportunity to practice the skills you need for your longer paper, and gives you more frequent opportunities to engage with the readings.
Your papers should be one page, single-spaced. Your paper must quote from the text , but need not use outside sources.
* There are EIGHT one-page papers on the syllabus, but you need to do only FOUR .
You may choose which weeks you want to do them, but you cannot hand in two in one week.
2. Class Introduction/Critical Context (100 points).
Students will work in pairs to introduce a particular week’s reading with a critical context. The critical context should contain the following:
The important points of the author’s biography, if appropriate
The author’s major works
The major themes of the author’s works
A list of good references (min 4) about the text or author
A summary of one essay about the author or text
Interesting thoughts/ideas/questions to spur discussion
This assignment will require you to use not only the internet, but the databases at the library (accessible via the internet), and/or the library.
Students will hand in their critical context, and will begin class by presenting it to the class. Students are then responsible for starting off class discussion. The presentation to the class should be 5 – 15 minutes, and should not contain everything in the written assignment.
As part of the assignment, students must explain how they divided up the work load between the partners.
3. Midterm Paper (150 points). Students will complete a 4 – 6 page midterm paper.
Students will hand in a proposal (25 points) beforehand, in order to get feedback from me. The proposal will contain the thesis and a paragraph summarizing the argument.
4. Final Paper (175 points): The second paper will be 6 – 10 pp. Before the paper is due, students will be required to hand in a proposal containing their thesis, a paragraph summarizing the argument, and a list of five possible sources. The paper must quote at least one text from the class and two outside (and reliable) sources.

Students who need a writing sample for graduate school may combine the two papers into one longer paper of 10 – 15 pp.
Students who want feedback on their final papers before handing them in may hand in a draft (complete or incomplete) before the due date. The professor must be given a full week to return them to the student. Students are also encouraged to talk to me during office hours to discuss their work.
5. Final Portfolio (150 points) . I want you to have time to improve your work. This is how real life works, most of the time. You write a grant proposal and you get feedback from your colleagues and then you revise it. You give a conference paper, get feedback, and then revise the essay before submitting it for publication. At that point, the editor might ask for further changes before the final draft.
To let you experience this process, you will be putting together a final portfolio. This will give you the chance to revise your work, and also to reflect on the process.
If you want me to return your final portfolio, you must give me a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Otherwise, students can contact me next semester to pick up their portfolios.
6. Class Participation/Attendance (145 points) : Students will be graded not only on their attendance, but on their participation in class discussion. This includes attendance, since you cannot participate in class if you are not here.

Time Commitment
Students bring different skills to their work – some are quick readers and others can quickly put ideas into writing. So your mileage may vary, but here is an estimate of how your time in this class will break down:
In-class time: 37.5 hours (2.5 hrs a week)
Reading: 80 hours (approx. 5.5 hrs a week)
Class Introduction: 3 hrs
One-page papers: 8 hours (2 hours for each)
Midterm paper: 6 hours
Final paper: 8 hours
Revising for portfolio/writing reflection: 5 hours (the stronger your work is to start, the less time you’ll need for revising, so put in the time early on and you’ll have less to do later!)
POLICIES:

Attendance: Discussion is a vital part of this class, so it is very important that students attend and participate. Therefore, you are allowed two free absences. After that, you will lose class points for not attending. Here is how it lays out (attendance is worth 75 points of your grade):
1 absence: 75 points
2 absences: 75 points
3 absences: 65 points
4 absences: 50 points
5 absences: 33 points
6 absences: 20 points
7 or more absences: 0 points
Students who miss 8 or more classes will fail the course.
Late Assignments: If you are absent the day an assignment is due, please bring it to the following class.
Participation by Students with Disabilities:
If you need special accommodations in order to meet any of the requirements of this course, please contact me as soon as possible.
Accommodation for Religious Observances:
Students will be allowed to complete examinations or other requirements that are missed because of a religious observance.
Academic Misconduct
Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others' academic endeavors.
Claiming other people’s writing or ideas as your own is a serious offense. Be sure to credit your sources – including information you’ve gotten off of the Internet – in your work. If you are unsure how to do this, be sure to see me.
After several bad experiences, I have decided on a zero tolerance policy towards plagiarism. If you plagiarize, you will fail the class. End of story.
The University Policy about these issues and others (e.g., students called to active military duty, discriminatory conduct, incompletes, etc.) can be found at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf
Email Etiquette: I check my email regularly and will usually respond to email within 24 hours. Please make the subject line something identifiable, such as Honors 350, so that I don’t accidentally delete your message. Should you not hear from me within a day, please

resend it. Also, although email has made all of us less formal, please remember that this is a college course and I am your professor.
GRADING:
Your final grade is based on 1000 points, which will be broken down like this:
One-page papers: 280 points (70 points each)
Class Introduction/Critical Context: 100 points
Midterm Paper: 150 (25 for proposal; 125 for paper)
Final Paper: 175 (25 for proposal; 150 for paper)
Class Participation: 145 points (75 points for attendance; 70 points for participation)
Final Portfolio: 150 points
950 – 1000 points = A
900 – 949 = A-
860 – 899 = B+
821 – 859 = B
800 – 820 = B-
760 – 799 = C+
721 – 759 = C
700 – 720 = C-
650 – 699 = D+
600 – 649 = D
Below 600 points = F

Calendar
Subject to change
To see what homework to do, look at the following class period to see what text will be discussed. You are required to come to class ready to talk, with the text in hand!
Week One: Introduction What is a cyborg? What is a human?
T 1/21: Syllabus, introduction to class & each other.
HW: Buy course books, watch Amber Case, “We’re all Cyborgs Now” (on D2L &
Facebook page)
Th 1/23: Clips from Star Trek, Post-Humanism
Week Two: Humanism & Post-Humanism
T 1/28:
Kurt Vonnegut, “Unready to Wear,” and “Harrison Bergeron” (D2L)
Th 1/30:
Katherine Hayles, “How We Became Post-Human” (1999, excerpt, D2L);
Interview with Albert Borgmann & Katherine Hayles (1999, on D2L)
One-page paper #1 due
Week Three: Science & Human Society
T 2/4 : Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)
* Class Introduction ______________________
Th 2/6: Brave New World
Week Four: Brave New World
T 2/11: Brave New World
Th 2/13: Brave New World , Clips from Metropolis (1927)
One-page paper #2 due
Week Five: What Makes a Human Being?
T 2/18: Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
* Class Introduction ___________________________

Th 2/20: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Week Six: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
T 2/25:
Christopher Sims, “The Dangers of Individualism and the Human Relationship to
Technology.”
Th 2/27: Workshop essay #1 proposals. Clips from Blade Runner (1982)
Proposals for Essay #1 due; will be discussed in class
One-page paper #3 due
Week Seven: Cyberspace & Virtual Reality
T 3/4,
William Gibson, “Burning Chrome” (1982)
* Class Introduction ________________________
Th 3/6: Excerpts from Jim Blascovich & Jeremy Bailenson, Infinite Reality: Avatars,
Eternal Life, New Worlds, and the Dawn of the Virtual Revolution (D2L)
One-page paper #4 due
ESSAY #1 DUE
Week Eight: Gender & the Cyborg Body
T 13/11: Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-
Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century” (published in Haraway,
Simians, Cyborgs, and
Women: The Reinvention of Nature , Routledge, 1991).
* Class Introduction ____________________________
Th 3/13: Excerpts from B. Coleman, Hello, Avatar (D2L). Discussion of Second Life, the Singularity, etc.
One-page paper #5 due
Week Nine: Spring Break
T 3/18 and Th 3/20: No class – Enjoy your break!
Week Ten: A Cyborg Midrash (Jewish retelling)
T 3/25 : Marge Piercy, He, She and It (1991)
* Class Introduction ___________________________

Th 3/27: Rachel at Rutgers . He, She and It (?)
Week Eleven: He, She and It
T 4/1: He, She and It
Th 4/3: He, She and It; also, Workshop proposals for final papers
Proposals for final paper due; will be discussed in class
One page paper #6 due
Week Twelve: Our Cyborg Future
T 4/8: Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (1992)
* Class Introduction _________________
Th 4/10: Snow Crash
One-page paper #7 due
ESSAY #2 DUE (required)
Week Thirteen: Snow Crash
T 4/15: Snow Crash
Th 4/17: Snow Crash
Week Fourteen: Warnings about Technology
T 4/22: Nicholas Carr, excerpts from The Shallows (2011).
* Class Introduction ______________________
Th 4/24: Sherry Turkle, excerpts from Alone Together (2011)
Week Fifteen: Rethinking the Mind-Technology Connection
T 4/29: You Are Not A Gadget (2011)
* Class Introduction _________________________
Th 5/1: You are Not a Gadget (2011)
One-page paper #8 due
Week Sixteen: TBA (The Future is Now)
T 5/5:

Th 5/8:
Final Portfolios due: May 14, 2014, on D2L, before midnight.