First-Year Writing Seminar (101-8-22)

Topic

Puppets, Robots, & other Uncanny Doubles

Instructors

Kevin Buckelew

Meeting Info

Shepard Hall Classroom B05: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

Long before the modern age of AI, stories of humanoid automata—walking statues, puppets come to life, golems on patrol—circulated across the world. Like AI chatbots, such automata are fabricated by humans in our own likeness. They resemble us, but they are somehow different. Sometimes they are radically helpful or smart, better at what they do than any human could be. Other times they are evil and destructive, more malicious than we might think humanly possible. In still other cases they are just creepy, combining the familiar with the strange in an unsettling way. This class treats such automata as our "uncanny doubles" that hold up a mirror to humanity. What forgotten or repressed aspects of ourselves might we glimpse if we stop to gaze in that mirror? In other words, how have puppets, robots, and other such figures served in different times and places to stage the problem of human doubleness—whether divine, demonic, or simply uncanny? And how should we analyze the unsettling psychic effects ensuing from such glimpses of our own multiplicity? Searching for answers, our class will scrutinize a range of sources from the ancient world through contemporary popular culture.

Learning Objectives

- Introduce ourselves to studying in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.
- Learn about resources from the humanities for thinking critically and constructively about robots, AI, and other automata.
- Build skills in analyzing complex subjects through reading, writing, discussing, undertaking research, and formulating original arguments.

Teaching Method

Class Materials (Required)

Class materials will be uploaded to Canvas.

Class Attributes

WCAS Writing Seminar

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Weinberg First Year Seminars are only available to first-year students.