<html>
<body>
Hello all. The holiday next week leaves us with a light
schedule. Since I only have two STS events to bring to your
attention, I'll mention them below. Hope to see you at both of
them!<br><br>
<font color="#FF0000"><b><u>Monday, November 20<br>
</u></font>STS Colloquium -- Science, Technology, and Society: The Big
Questions<br>
What Questions do "Sociable Robots" Pose for STS?<br>
Sherry Turkle<br>
</b>4:00 pm, MIT, E51-095<br>
<br>
Sherry Turkle is Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies
of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology and
Society at MIT and the founder (2001) and current director of the MIT
Initiative on Technology and Self, a center of research and reflection on
the evolving connections between people and artifacts. She is the
author of <i>Psychoanalytic Politics: Jacques</i> <i>Lacan and Freud's
French Revolution</i>; <i>The</i> <i>Second Self: Computers and the Human
Spirit</i>; and <i>Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the
Internet</i>. Professor Turkle is currently completing a book on
robots and the human spirit and editing a three volume collection on the
relationship between things and thinking. <br>
<br>
<b>Abstract:<br>
</b>Roboticists talk about today's robot creatures as
"affective," "relational," "sociable."
Here, I discuss ethnographic materials from children's first interactions
with Furbies to relationships with contemporary "sociable"
robots such as Paro, designed to have a therapeutic effect, particularly
on the elderly. Key issues for STS include: ethical questions about
deploying machines as companions for times in the life cycle
(childhood/the elderly) where we claim to not have enough people as
caretakers, the psychodynamics and sociology of human-robot encounters,
and the moral issues one encounters as one creates increasingly
believable cybercompanions.<br>
<br>
<br>
<font color="#FF0000"><b><u>Wednesday, November 22<br>
</u></font>X-ray Laser- The story behind the story*<br>
William J. Broad<br>
</b>11:00 am, MIT, E51-275<br>
This talk is sponsored by STS in conjunction with STS.073/.421 (The
Science, Technology and Politics of Weapons Systems Procurement)<br>
*Please note this is an "off the record" conversation.<br><br>
William J. Broad writes about science for <i>The New York </i>Times and
has twice shared the Pulitzer Prize with colleagues there. Covering such
topics as outer space, he has worked at the newspaper since 1983 and had
written about science for more than two decades, receiving every major
journalistic prize in the field. Born in Milwaukee, he studied the
history of science at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of
<i>Teller's War: The Top-Secret Story Behind the Star Wars Deception,
Star Warriors : A Penetrating Look into the Lives of the Young Scientists
Behind Our Space Age Weaponry,</i> and <i>Betrayers of the Truth: Fraud
and Deceit in the Halls of Science</i>. He lives with his wife and three
children in Larchmont, New York <br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Debbie Meinbresse<br>
STS Program, MIT<br>
617-452-2390<br>
</body>
</html>