Week 2:
In your own words, restate Yali’s question and explain its significance. Is Yali’s question the type of question that a scientist or engineer would pursue? A historian or social scientist? Why or why not?
Diamond, “Under Montana’s Big Sky”
What types of environmental problems does the Bitterroot Valley of Montana currently face? Are these problems historical in nature? Why or why not? Do you think the Bitterroot Valley, in particular, and Montana, in general offer good explanatory models for understanding the world’s environmental issues? Why or why not?
Week 3:
Achenbach, “Why Do So Many Reasonable People Doubt Science”
Shermer, The Baloney Detection Kit (video)
Johnston, “TheTechnological Fix as Social Cure-All”
Douthwaite, “The Terrible Temptation of the Technological Fix”
Douthwaite states that technological fixes are necessary to solve social problems. How would the other two authors critique his argument? Why do technological fixes to social and environmental systems have negative repercussions? Should unintended consequences prevent us from finding technological solutions to our problems?
Week 4:
Harari, Sapiens, pp. 1-159
Harari argues that the Cognitive and the Agricultural Revolutions form the basis for our modern civilization. What are these revolutions and how did they affect the development of human civilizations?
How does Harari explain why homo sapiens became dominant, especially in relation to imagined orders? What do you think about his arguments? What did you find persuasive? What are you skeptical about? That is, why do you think homo sapiens became dominant?
Week 5:
Harari, Sapiens, pp. 245-349
Paragraph One: According to Harari, how are science, empire and capitalism linked? Give an example of how scientific discovery shaped, and was shaped by, political and fiscal interests.
For Harari, the idea of “progress” plays a pivotal role in this linkage of science, empire, and capitalism. What do you think about his argument?
Week 6:
Johnson, The Invention of Air
In the epigraph (a quote at the very beginning of the book), Joseph Priestly sates: “The English hierarchy (if there be anything unsound in its constitution) has equal reason to tremble at an air pump, or an electrical machine.”
Why should governments or religions fear air pumps and electrical machines? Explain your response with evidence from the second half of Johnson’s book. Does Johnson’s work shed new light on any current examples of scientific or technological research that also holds social or political consequences?
Week 7:
“We Need GMO Wheat”
“Stop Bashing GMO Foods”
GMO Myths and Truths
Week 8:
LeCain, “Between Heavens and the Earth”
Sandos and Keeling, “Zombie Mines and the (Over)burden of History”
John Blodgett, “Libby, Montana Tries to Shake Its ‘Superfund Stigma'”
Justin Nobel, “Postcards from the Edge”
In “Between the Heavens and the Earth,” Tim LeCain explores how mining engineers developed complex technological systems to meet the challenges of mining in extreme environments. How do technological advances allow underground mining to occur and what are the consequences of these technologies?
The readings show that mining is an environmentally damaging process, both during a mine’s operation and long after the mine closes. How should these negative aspects of mining be addressed before, during, and after the mining process? Can mining ever be a safe proposition to humans and the environment? Does it need to be?
Week 9:
Reidy, “The Strange Deaths, Varied Lives, and Ultimate Resurrection of John Tyndall”
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Headline Statements”
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Press Release – Summary for Policy Makers”
Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040 – The New York Times
The articles about the IPCC report discuss the ramifications of global warming at 1.5 degrees C and 2.0 degrees C. The IPCC argument is that those temperature changes by 2040 will lead to catastrophic environmental conditions. How can technological fixes address rising temperatures? Can an effective socio-technological fix be employed in this timeframe? How could this be achieved?
You’ll often hear from climate contrarians that climate science is still in its infancy, too young to be reliable. Reading historian Michael Reidy’s article and the articles from the IPCC, is that statement even true?
Week 10:
Steffen et al., “The Anthropocene”
Kolbert, “Enter the Anthropocene”
Kahan, “Why We are Poles Apart on Climate Change”
The International Commission on Stratigraphy is supposed to make a decision on the formal adoption of the Anthropocene epoch to the geologic time scale. If you had a vote on the commission, would you accept or reject adding this new epoch to the geological calendar? And in your opinion, when should it begin (if at all)? Use evidence from the readings of Steffen, Kolbert, and Malm to back up your decision.
Dan Kahan argues that peoples’ views on climate change are not based in their inability to understand climate science, but rather in their need to fit in with their social peers. How does this affect our ability to develop solutions to remediate climate change? What are your ideas about how to encourage conversations between different peoples about climate change?
Week 11:
Darwin, “Recapitulation and Conclusion”
Darwin couldn’t definitively prove evolution though natural selection. But, he did argue that it was correct. In his last chapter, “Recap and Conclusion,” what arguments did Darwin use to convince his readers of evolution through natural selection?
What do you think was most convincing and/or least convincing?
Week 12:
E. O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis
Gould, “Sociobiology: The Art of Storytelling”
Michael Specter, “How the DNA Revolution is Changing Us”
John Harris and Marcy Darnovsky, “Pro and Con”
Both of the National Geographic articles (Specter and Harris and Darnovsky) suggest that CRISPR technology is both exciting and terrifying.
Pick ONE example from the readings and discuss its exhilarating and frightening aspects.
Should gene editing be done on humans? Why or why not?
Week 13:
“Academic-Military-Industrial Complex” in Major Problems in American Technology, pp. 427-441
Harari, Sapiens, pp. 350-414
According to Harari, how did the state and the market become the central aspects of human culture?
What role do you think historians should play as we consider the future (or end) of homo sapiens?
Week 14:
No Class — Thanksgiving Week
Week 15:
Review and Class Discussion