Alumni
Alumni College
Society and Technology:The more things change, the more things change . . . (or do they?)
Modern society drives and is driven by technology. While to some extent this has always been true (one could ask whether culture could exist without some technology), the accelerated pace of technological development and the immediacy of its consequences on society have made the topic one of inherent interest and importance.
Although the theme of Reunions 2010 is technology, it is not focused on any pre-identified technology or technologies; it is better to think of the consequences of technology: How does technology change society? How does society manage technology?
This year we will have a two-part Alumni College:
January 20–22: How does technology change
society?
June 2–4: How does society manage technology?
Part one: How does technology change society?
To answer this question, we began with selecting important
aspects of contemporary society that are being changed by technology.
We explored which technologies are driving those changes, for good
or for ill. We looked in further detail at the challenges that
technology poses and how best to meet those challenges. We dug
deeper into the overall questions as they related to:
• How we eat: One of the first major technologies adopted by humans was agriculture. For millennia, technology has changed what we eat and the way we eat it.
• How we live: Through so many so-called "revolutions," technology has changed the environment in which we live, influencing where we live, how we live, and how we transport ourselves.
• How we relate: From campfire storytelling to Twitter, technology has changed the ways in which we choose whom to relate with and how we interact with them.
• How we combat sickness and death: Thanks to technology, the average lifespan in the United States increased eight hours every day during the 20th century. In addition to how long we live, technology affects how healthy we are during our lifespan, what healthcare we receive, and the conditions under which we receive it.
See related readings below.
Faculty: A first-rate set
of Reed alumni will lead these sessions
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Keith Allen ’83 led the unit on food. He is head of computational biology at Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc. at the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. Presentation |
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Paul Manson ’01 led the unit on environment. He is an environmental-policy analyst focusing on ecosystem services for Parametrix, in Portland, Oregon. Presentation |
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Howard Rheingold ’68 was to lead the unit on relationships but was unable to attend in person and was represented virtually. He is well known for his work on the cultural, social, and political implications of modern communication media, affiliated with various institutions in the San Francisco Bay area (Institute for the Future, Stanford University, University of California). Presentation |
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Laura Leviton ’73 led the unit on health. She is special adviser for evaluation at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey. Presentation |
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Jim Kahan ’64 is coordinating this year’s Alumni College. He is a semi-retired policy analyst and consultant in Portland, Oregon. Presentation |
Collected Winter Alumni College 2010 readings
(pdf)
For Laura Leviton '73:
Laura C. Leviton, Scott D. Rhodes, and Carol Chang, “Public Health:
Policy, Practice, and Perceptions.” Excerpt of Chapter 4 in Anthony
R. Kovner, James R. Knickman (Eds), Health Care Delivery in the United
States (9th Edition), 2007. NY: Springer.
For Paul Manson '01:
Ted Williams, “Sin City Goes Dry,” Audubon, March-April
2007, pp. 92-100.
General reading:
David Nye, "Technology Matters." Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006.
Read chapters 1 and 2 (pp. 1-31). Note: this entire book will be assigned
for the Summer Alumni College.
Part two: How does technology change society?
The objective of the summer Alumni College session is to identify effective
ways for government, the private sector, and communities to exploit the
advantages of technology while preventing or mitigating their harms.
We will look separately and together at three ways of management—rule
based
(laws and regulations), economic (market forces), and cultural (norms,
values, and ethics)—and consider how these approaches may be combined
to best address the challenges that emerged from the work of the winter
Alumni College. We will begin with an examination of how the United
States has managed technology in the last century, and compare this to
at least one different approach.
Faculty:
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Collected Summer Alumni College 2010 readings (draft
schedule pdf):
For Colin Diver's "Clash of the Titans: Regulation, Technology,
and Expressions in the Internet Age":
--Ronald A. Cass, Colin S. Diver & Jack
M. Beermann, Administrative Law: Cases and Materials
--Lawrence Lessig, The Architecture of Innovation
--Tim Wu, A Brief History of American Telecommunications Regulation
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,
--COMCAST CORP. V. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
(pdf
of all four)
For Sheldon Hochheiser's "The Ubiquitous Home Washing Machine":
David Nye, Technology Matters. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006. Read
the entire book, which is supplied to all participants.
Sheldon's presentation: Powerpoint,
20 MB
For Alex Hrycak's "It’s Tough to Be a Despot":
--Taras Kuzio,
Civil society, youth and societal mobilization in democratic revolutions (pdf)
--Myroslaw
J. Kyj, Internet use in Ukraine’s Orange Revolution (pdf)
For Jeff Parker's "Intellectual Property and Technological Progress:
From Edison to the Anti-Commons":
--Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism,
and Democracy (pdf)
--Richard
Nelson, "What is 'Commercial' and what
is 'Public' About
Technology, and What Should Be?", in Technology
and the Wealth of Nations, edited by Rosenberg, Landau, and
Mowery (pdf)
Optional Reading
Recommended by Jim Kahan:
"Understanding Public Debate on Nanotechnologies," a
European Commission report (pdf)
Registration & cost:
Please see registration details here or contact Mike Teskey, director of alumni & parent relations, for more information.
