No previous experience with the Internet is required for this course. Students without Internet experience should be sure to attend class regularly, as we will be offering help in the lab during class hours. Everyone is required to have Internet access at Rutgers or elsewhere. If you work at Rutgers, it is recommended that you look for the newer computers using Windows 95, which are currently being installed in the BSB.
Unless you have another computer account where you can send and receive email, access the Internet, and post a WEB page, you should open an account at the Rutgers-Camden computer center in the Business and Science Building. Information on accounts is available at http://crab.rutgers.edu/HELP/accounts.html
Information on using the Internet with the Rutgers-Camden system, including posting a WEB page, is available at http://crab.rutgers.edu/HELP/internet.html
The instructors are Benjamin Goertzel (ben@goertzel.org) and Ted Goertzel (goertzel@camden.rutgers.edu). Class materials will be posted at http://crab.rutgers.edu/~goertzel/internet.html
Additional material by Ben Goertzel can be found at http://goertzel.org. Each student should also join the class mailing list by sending email to majordomo@clam.rutgers.edu The email should include the following two lines in the message field:
subscribe mlist-soc-socialmovements
end
Information about assignments, examinations, etc. will be sent to the mailing list, so you should read your mail periodically. You can also send messages to the mailing list, to be distributed to the class as a whole. Just send mail to mlist-soc-socialmovements@clam.rutgers.edu
Grading in the course will be based on the following:
Midterm examination 20%;Final examination: 30%Review essay WEB page: 3 0%Group Presentation: 10%Attendance and Participation: 10%
The examinations will be multiple-choice and based on the lectures and assigned readings. The review essay will be a 1000 word review of WEB pages in your area of interest, complete with links to the sites reviewed. It will be posted on the WEB. Attendance and participation will include joining with a group to make a presentation on WEB sites you have reviewed. The outline of these presentations will also be posted on the WEB.
Three books have been assigned:
Additional readings assignments will be on the Internet, including some items from The New York Times. This includes information not available in the paper edition. Everyone should subscribe to the Times
Internet edition (free) at http://www.nytimes.com.
Additional reading assignments include: Vannevar Bush's article "How We May Think" can be found at: http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/computer/bushf.htm
And a brief history of the Internet that can be found at: http://www.isoc.org/internet-history/brief.html
The following schedule of classes is subject to change.
July 8: Introduction to the class. Ben discusses the future of the Net as an emergent, symbiotic human-digital intelligence Overview of complexity science, AI, mind, brain (Introduction, Ch. 1-3)
July 13 Monday Ted Discussion of the Interface Culture book chapters 1-3 (Bitmapping, The Desktop and Windows)- also History of the Internet Article and Vanevaar Bush article. Discussion of McLuhan, media is the message theme. How will the new medium change the way we think? Discussion of WEB issues as covered in the net.wars book and elsewhere.
First part of Triumph of the Nerds.
July 15 Wednesday Ben Further discussion of AI Cognitive science, and its vision of mind as computing ie-in between cognitive science and Jungian, transpersonal psychology (Ch. 4-9 from the World Wide Brain, however, Chapters 1, 4 and 5 are most important for this class.
July 20 Monday Ben Network computing, electronic commerce, Java, mobile agents, etc. -- current and next-wave Internet technology as making the Net more mind-like (Ch. 11-13)
July 22 Wednesday - Ted Discussion of Interface Culture, chapters 4 to 6 (Links, Texts and Agents). More of the Triumph of the Nerds. Review for midterm.
July 27 Midterm Examination - Test to cover Interface Culture book and first 13 chapters of Ben's book, plus incidental readings.
After the exam, work in groups on issues on the WEB including pornography, dominance by Microsoft, governance of the WEB, social norms on discussion groups and internet communities, copyright, censorship, hackers, security, encryptation, etc. etc. Students will be assigned to groups to research one of these topics using the NY Times on the WEB as a source, as well as any other sources. These issues are discussed in net.wars
July 29 - Continued discussion of WEB issues - finish the Triumph of the Nerds.
August 3 Monday Ben Philosophy of the World Wide Brain -- Teilhard, Jung,Nietzsche and other relevant philosophers -- the idea of an intelligence transcending humanity -- the dangers to the human race of this possibility (Ch. 14,15)
August 5 Wednesday - Presentations by student groups on issues on the WEB.
August 10 Ben Detailed discussion of IntelliGenesis Webmind technology, and how it synthesizes cognitive science & network computing, moving toward the possibility of a World Wide Brain.
Review of previous classes' material, for the final exam.
August 12 Final examination and any left-over student presentations or other business.