There is no longer a corner of public debate -- political, legal, cultural, ethical -- that is not deeply entangled with questions of science and technology. Scientific knowledge and technological innovation are moving at light speed, and impinge on every aspect of our lives. At the same time, they are less and less the exclusive domain of researchers and engineers; you and I know more (or at least hear more) about the workings of the Internet and anthrax than our grandparents did about the telephone and polio. To be a citizen today requires being able to debate the role of technology, the place of science, and our social responsibilities towards both. However, too often these debates seem to get stuck on the same assumptions, to bounce back and forth between the same standard positions.

This course is an introduction to the some of the public policy issues surrounding science and technology. But it is more than that. It is a chance to ask questions yourself about the role of science and technology in our society, to have a voice about these issues that infuse our lives. Using current controversies, you will work out your own opinion about these issues and you will think critically about science and technology as social phenomena. Through active classroom discussions around topical readings, you will develop new tools for thinking about these issues, a better grasp of the concepts of science and technology, and the right to be a force in these debates as they continue to arise.

Course Requirements

The most important assignment is to complete all of the reading assigned; a deep engagement with the materials is crucial to your success in this course. (prepared participation = 10% of your grade) We will have six in-class, semi-formal debates; students will be placed into debating teams at the start of the course and assigned to participate in two debates each. Each team will receive a shared grade for their preparation for and participation in each debate. (each debate = 20% of your grade) On the day of your debate, you will also be required to hand in a 2-3 page paper that in some way articulates the opposite side of the issue than you were assigned to argue. (each paper = 10% of your grade) A 10-page final paper, addressing a current controversy of your own choosing, will be due at the end of the semester. (final paper = 30% of your grade) Further explanation of these assignments will be provided in class.

Materials

Most of the readings are online; a few are available through the Cornell Library website; the rest are in a course packet, available at the Cornell Bookstore.

INTRODUCTION

August 29: introduction

September 1, 3, 5: technology and democracy

Richard Sclove, Democracy and Technology, Chs 1-3 [[READER]]

TOPIC ONE: SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL CRISIS: SARS

September 8: what makes an epidemic?

CNN.com: "Special Report: SARS"
      go to "EXPLAINER: What is SARS?"

Robert Aronowitz, "Lyme Disease: The Social Construction of a New Disease and Its Social Consequences" Milbank Quarterly v69n1 (1991) [[READER]]

Sheila Jasanoff, "Civilization and Madness: The BSE Scare of 1996" Public Understanding of Science v6 (1997) [[LIBRARY]]

Ellen Ruppel Shell, "Could Mad-Cow Disease Happen Here?", Atlantic Monthly (Sept 1998) [in 3 parts]

David P. Fidler, J.D, "Globalization, International Law, and Emerging Infectious Diseases", Emerging Infectious Diseases , March 2003 v9n3

Roderick Macfarquhar, "Unhealthy politics", Newsweek (May 12, 2003)

Mark Hertsgaard, "Our Real China Problem", Atlantic Monthly (Nov 1997)

Ronald Bayer and Amy Fairchild-Carrino, "AIDS and the Limits of Control: Pulbic Health Orders, Quarantine, and Recalcitrant Behavior" American Journal of Public Health v83 (1993) [[LIBRARY]]

Reuters, "Infrared Tech Scans Stop SARS", Wired News (Apr 16, 2003)

TOPIC TWO: COURTROOM SCIENCE

September 19. fingerprints

Simon Cole, "The Myth of Fingerprints", Lingua Franca v10n8 (Nov 2000)

Michael Specter, "Do Fingerprints Lie?", New Yorker (May 27, 2002)

William Saletan, "Polygraph Theism", Slate (Jul 19, 2001)

Phillip W. Davis and Pamela McKenzie-Rundle, "The Social Organization of Lie-Detector Tests", Urban Life , v13n2-3 (Oct 1984) [[READER]]

Arthur Daemmrich, "The Evidence Does Not Speak for Itself: Expert Witnesses and the Organization of DNA-Typing Companies" Social Studies of Science v28n5 (Dec 1998) [[LIBRARY]]

Sheila Jasanoff, Ch 3 of Science at the Bar: Law, Science, and Technology in America [[READER]]

TOPIC THREE: TERRORISM AND WMDs

September 29: terrorism and technology

Langdon Winner, "Complexity, Trust, and Terror"

John Seabrook "The Tower Builder", New Yorker (Nov 2001)

Robert S. Root-Bernstein, "Infectious Terrorism", Atlantic Monthly (May 1991)

R.E. Hoffman, "Preparing for a Bioterrorist Attack: Legal and Administrative Strategies", Emerging Infectious Diseases , v9n3 (Feb 2003)

National Research Council, "Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism" (2002)
      http://www.nap.edu/html/stct/1-24.pdf
      http://www.nap.edu/books/0309084814/html/index.html
      read "Executive Summary"

Oliver Morton, "Divided We Stand", Wired , 9.12 (Dec 2001)

USA Patriot Act, summary

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, "Comments on Legislative Proposals to Protect National Security and their impact on the Communications Infrastructure"

Domestic Securaity Enhancement Act ("Patriot Act II") summary

Center for Democracy and Technology, "Legislation Gutting Privacy Standards Passes Congress; Several Provisions Survive Sunset"

Charles Mann, "Homeland Insecurity", Atlantic Monthly (Sept 2002)

Walter Kirn, "The Mother of Reinvention", Atlantic Monthly (May 2002)

Adam L. Penenberg, "The Surveillance Society", Wired , 9.12 (Dec 2001)

Hugh Gusterson, Hugh, "Secrecy", Ch 4 in Nuclear Rites [68-100] [[READER]]

TOPIC FOUR: THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

October 15: the digital divide

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) "A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet" (Feb 2002)
      read "Executive Summary" and Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 8

Benton Foundation, "Bringing A Nation Online: The Importance of Federal Leadership" (July 2002)

Trevor Haywood, "Global Networks and the Myth of Equality: Trickle Down or Trickle Away?" in Brian Loader, ed. Cyberspace Divide: Equality, Agency, and Policy in the Information Society [[READER]]

Langdon Winner, "The Handwriting on the Wall: Resisting Technoglobalism's Assault on Education"

Benton Foundation, "Losing Ground Bit by Bit: Low-Income Communities in the Information Age" (1998)

Jorge Reina Schement, "Of Gaps by Which Democracy We Measure" in Benjamin Compaine, ed. The Digital Divide: Facing a Crisis or Creating a Myth? (2001)

Susan Herring, "Gender Differences in CMC: Findings and Implications", CPSR Newsletter v18n1 (Winter 2000)

Mark Warschauer, "Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide", First Monday , 7.7

"United States et al v. American Library Association et al", Supreme Court (June 23, 2003)

TOPIC FIVE: TECHNOLOGIES OF COUNTING: THE 2000 ELECTION

October 27: counting and being counted

Ted Porter, Ch 2 of Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life [[READER]]

Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star, "Pure, Real and Rational Numbers : The American Imaginary of Countability" Social Studies of Science , v31n3 [[LIBRARY]]

Stephen Hilgartner, "Election 2000 and the Production of the Unknowable" Social Studies of Science , v31n3 [[LIBRARY]]

Stephen Turner, "The Resentation Machine... Breaks" Social Studies of Science , v31n3 [[LIBRARY]]

Philip E. Agre, "Legitimacy and Reason in the Florida Election Controversy" Social Studies of Science , v31n3 [[LIBRARY]]

Federal Election Commission, "How the Electoral College Works"

"Hayes v. Tilden: The Electorial College Controversy of 1876-1877", Harper's Weekly [in 4 parts]

Sheila Jasanoff, "Election 2000 : Mechanical Error or System Failure?" Social Studies of Science , v31n3 [[LIBRARY]]

Bush v. Gore, Supreme Court Case
      Read the "per curiam" opinion and Rehnquist's concurrence

Bush v. Gore, Supreme Court Case
Read the dissenting opinions by Steven, Ginsburg, Souter, and Breyer

Michael Lynch, "Noises and Politics" Social Studies of Science , v31n3 [[LIBRARY]]

Lorrie Faith Cranor, "Voting After Florida: No Easy Answers", CPSR Newsletter , v19n1 (Winter 2001)

John Carson, "Opening the Democracy Box" Social Studies of Science , v31n3 [[LIBRARY]]

California Internet Voting Task Force, "A Report on the Feasibility of Internet Voting" (Jan 2000)

Deborah M. Phillips, Hans A. von Spakovsky, "Gauging the Risks of Internet elections, Communications of the ACM v44n1 (Jan 2001)

Joe Mohen, Julia Glidden, "The Case for Internet Voting", Communications of the ACM v44n1 (Jan 2001)

TOPIC SIX: DIGITAL COPYRIGHT

November 10: authorship and knowledge production

Martha Woodmansee, "On the Author Effect: Recorvering Collectivity",10 Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal 279 (1992)

American Bar Association, "Copyright Basics"
      skim Sects 1-12

Jessica Litman, "The Art of Making Copyright Laws", Ch 2 of Digital Copyright (2002)

Charles Mann, " Who Will Own Your Next Good Idea?", Atlantic Monthly (Sept 1998)[in 3 parts]

"Life, Liberty... and the Pursuit of Copyright?", Atlantic Monthly (Sept 1998)
(roundtable: John Perry Barlow, Lawrence Lessig, Mark Stefik, Charles Mann)

Charles Mann, "The Heavenly Jukebox", Atlantic Monthly , (Sept 2000)[in 4 parts]

Brad King, "A Chat with Hilary Rosen", Wired News (Oct 2, 2000)

Brad King, "Napster CEO Gets Intellectual", Wired News (Oct 2, 2000)

Latour, Bruno (a.k.a. Jim Johnson). "Mixing Humans and Nonhumans Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer.", Social Problems v35 (1988) [[READER]]

Lawrence Lessig, "The Code is the Law", Industry Standard (April 1999)

Universal City Studios v. Reimerdes, 111 F.Supp.2d 294, 326 [S.D.N.Y. 2000]

CONCLUSION

November 24, 26: presentations

November 26: thanksgiving

December 1, 3: additional current controversy, readings TBD

December 5: conclusion