ES462, "Emerging Technologies"
1.
Course Description: Focuses on skills and toolsets for evaluation of new and emerging technologies using a sociotechnological development model. Includes discussions of basic science, state-of-the-art technologies and current research trends in a variety of emerging areas, including biotechnology, nanotechnology, cybernetics, etc.
2.
Course Objectives: i) To develop an appreciation for the necessity of forward thinking in technology matters. ii) To build up a methodology for sound projection of emerging technologies. iii) To investigate a variety of important emerging technologies. iv) To develop an understanding of the modern environment for emerging technologies. v) To understand the roles of money, society and politics in technological development. vi) To tie projection and prediction of advanced technologies to life at the USNA and the military service.
3. Textbook.
The textbooks for this course are:
Required:
Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology , K. Eric Drexler. PDF to be distributed to class electronically.
Photocopies and electronic versions of further required readings will be promulgated as the semester progresses.
Useful Supplemental References
The Wonderful Future that Never Was, Gregory Benford et.al., Hearst Books, 2012
Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore, Collins Business, 2002
The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge, M. D., Viking, 2007
Building the Elite Athlete, Scientific American Editors, Lyons Press, 2007
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shapr Our Decisions, Dan Ariely, Harper, 2008
The Science of Fear, Daniel Gardner, Dutton press, 2008
Connections, James Burke, Simon & Schuster, 2007
The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness, Steven Levy, Simon & Schuster, 2007
Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, William Morrow, 2005
The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell, Back Bay Books, 2002.
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, Ray Kurzweil, Viking, 2005.
Juice: The Creative Fuel that Drives Today’s World-Class Inventors, Evan I. Schwartz, Harvard Business School
Publishing, 2004.
Understanding Nanotechnology, Scientific American, Warner Books, New York, 2002.
Nanotechnology: Basic Science and Emerging Technologies, Wilson, et. al., Chapman&Hall/CRC, Washington, 2002
Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Genetics and Artificial Intelligence Will Change Our World, D. Mulhall,
Prometheus Books, New York, 2002.
Of Bicycles, Bakelites and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change, W. E. Bijker, The MIT Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1995.
Arguing A.I.: The Battle for 21 st
Century Science, S. Williams, Random House, New York, 2002.
An introduction to genetic engineering , D.S.T. Nicholl, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2002.
Genetic Engineering: A reference handbook, H. LeVine, Santa Barbara, Calif. ABC-CLIO, 1999.