SPRING QUARTER, 2006
Department of History
University of California, Irvine
 Instructor:    Dr. Barbara J. Becker

Essay 2.  Writing the Future

The Set-up

The online readings from Weeks 5-10 are arranged topically within following four over-arching categories:

Man as Machine Man a Machine (1748) by Julien de la Mettrie (1709-1751) An Account of the Mechanism of an Automaton (1738) by Jacques de Vaucanson (1709-1782) Conversation between D'Alembert and Diderot.... (1769) by Denis Diderot (1713-1784) Inanimate Reason.... (1784) Letters of Karl-Gottlieb de Windisch (1722-1793) The ... Automaton Chess-Player, Exposed and Detected (1784) by Philipp Thicknesse (1719-1792) "Maelzel's Chess-Player" (1836) by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1865-1915) Robots -- stories from The New York Times "IS MAN ONLY ROBOT?...." by Waldemar Kaempffert (1877-1956) "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (1950) by Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954)

Spontaneous Generation "...Some Late Observations upon the Generation, Composition, and Decomposition of Animal and Vegetable Substances...." (1748) by John Turbervill Needham (1713-1781) "The Temple of Nature...." (1803) by Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) Zoonomia.... (1803) by Erasmus Darwin Observations and Experiments.... (1809) by Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844) by Robert Chambers (1802-1871) "On Spontaneous Generation" (1864) by Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) "Biogenesis and Abiogenesis" (1870) by Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) "Reply to Professor Huxley's Inaugural Address..." (1870) by Henry Charlton Bastian (1837-1915) "Dr. Bastian and Spontaneous Generation" (1870) by Thomas Henry Huxley "The Evolution of Life:  Professor Huxley's Address at Liverpool" (1870) by Henry Charlton Bastian

Creating Life Galvanic Experiments -- stories from the Times of London Galvanic Creations from the Times of London "Description of some Experiments ... in the process of which ... certain Insects constantly appeared" (1839) by Andrew Crosse (1784-1855) DAEDALUS, or Science and the Future (1923) by John Burdon Sanderson Haldane (1892-1964) Test Tube Babies -- stories from The New York Times Creating Life -- stories from The New York Times

Fiction "The Sand-man" (1817) by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) Faust:  The Tragedy (1832) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) "The Nightingale" (1844) by Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875) Erewhon (1871) by Samuel Butler (1835-1902) "The Ablest Man in the World" (1879) by Edward Page Mitchell (1852-1927) The Adventures of Pinocchio (1881) Carlo Collodi (1828-1890) "The Lady Automaton" (1901) by Ernest Edward Kellett (1864-1950) "Moxon's Master" (1909) by Ambrose Bierce (1842-1913?) R.U.R. (1920) by Karel Capek (1890-1938)

The Assignment

Select one of the categories. Review the readings listed within that category, focusing particular attention on one of the bulleted items. Provide a clear and concise summary of the bulleted document you have chosen to serve as a foundation for your discussion. Compare the views presented in this document with those in at least two other selections from the category: How do the authors of your selected items view the nature of the boundary between living and non-living things? How do they believe this boundary can best be explored? What questions can be asked? What expertise is required? What methods can be used? What instruments are appropriate to employ? What answers can be accepted? On what authority? Finally, What are your views? Are the boundaries between living and non-living things becoming clearer or fuzzier? Is the metaphor of the machine still a fruitful one for modeling the complexities of animate beings and their life processes? What is the best balance among the organic, mystical, and mechanical traditions for today's explorers? Submit your essay in class on Thursday, June 1. NOTE:  I'm not particular about the format you use for citations, but whenever you use the words or ideas of another, include the following basic information organized in a methodical and uniform manner: author (who) title of the work (what) date written/published (when) relevant pages, lines, paragraphs, chapters, books ... to clearly lead the reader to the source (where) Keep in mind that the purpose of the citation is not only to credit the original source, but also to lead interested readers to a place where they can learn more. Please be sure to proofread and correct your work before submitting it.

We find ourselves almost awestruck at the vast development of the mechanical world, at the gigantic strides with which it has advanced in comparison with the slow progress of the animal and vegetable kingdom.  We shall find it impossible to refrain from asking ourselves what the end of this mighty movement is to be.... --Samuel Butler, Darwin Among the Machines (1863)

Go to: History 135E Home Page Readings for Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Lecture Notes for 4-4 4-11 4-18 4-25 5-2 5-9 5-16 5-23 5-30 6-6 4-6 4-13 4-20 4-27 -- 5-11 5-18 5-25 6-1 6-8