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1 - 10 of 26 results for: STS

STS 1: Introduction to Science, Technology & Society

The course introduces students to critical perspectives on the history, social context, epistemology, and ethics of science, technology, and medicine. The goal of the course is to learn about major concepts and methods from science & technology studies, introduced in the context of real-world issues. STS 1 is the required gateway course for the major in Science, Technology & Society, but is open to students from all departments and disciplines. A final paper will be required. There will be no final exam.
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-SocSci, WAY-A-II, WAY-SI

STS 10: Introduction to AI Safety (CS 120)

As we delegate more to artificial intelligence (AI) and integrate AI more in societal decision-making processes, we must find answers to how we can ensure AI systems are safe, follow ethical principles, and align with the creator's intent. Increasingly, many AI experts across academia and industry believe there is an urgent need for both technical and societal progress across AI alignment, ethics, and governance to understand and mitigate risks from increasingly capable AI systems and ensure that their contributions benefit society as a whole. Intro to AI Safety explores these questions in lectures with targeted readings, weekly quizzes, and group discussions. We are looking at the capabilities and limitations of current and future AI systems to understand why it is hard to ensure the reliability of existing AI systems. We will cover ongoing research efforts that tackle these questions, ranging from studies in reinforcement learning and computer vision to natural language processing. W more »
As we delegate more to artificial intelligence (AI) and integrate AI more in societal decision-making processes, we must find answers to how we can ensure AI systems are safe, follow ethical principles, and align with the creator's intent. Increasingly, many AI experts across academia and industry believe there is an urgent need for both technical and societal progress across AI alignment, ethics, and governance to understand and mitigate risks from increasingly capable AI systems and ensure that their contributions benefit society as a whole. Intro to AI Safety explores these questions in lectures with targeted readings, weekly quizzes, and group discussions. We are looking at the capabilities and limitations of current and future AI systems to understand why it is hard to ensure the reliability of existing AI systems. We will cover ongoing research efforts that tackle these questions, ranging from studies in reinforcement learning and computer vision to natural language processing. We will study work in interpretability, robustness, and governance of AI systems - to name a few. Basic knowledge about machine learning helps but is not required. View the full syllabus at http://tinyurl.com/42rb2sfv. Enrollment is by application only. Apply online at https://forms.gle/v8msM8nJ5FgeEHx1A by 9:00 PM PDT on Saturday, March 16, 2024.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3
Instructors: Lamparth, M. (PI)

STS 10SI: Introduction to AI Alignment

As we delegate more and more societal responsibilities to Artificial Intelligence, we raise pressing ethical questions about what will happen if these systems aren't aligned with our values. Increasingly many AI experts across academia and industry believe there is an urgent need for both technical and societal progress across AI alignment, ethics, and governance to understand and mitigate risks from advanced AI systems and ensure that their contributions benefit humanity and the world. Intro to AI Alignment explores these questions in lectures and small discussion-based environments led by student facilitators with targeted readings, weekly quizzes and group discussions, and a small final project. After recapping recent advancements in AI development, we will start by exploring two sides of the AI alignment problem that prevent us from building AI systems that reliably understand and follow human-compatible values. Next, we'll discuss current harms from AI as well as risks that future more »
As we delegate more and more societal responsibilities to Artificial Intelligence, we raise pressing ethical questions about what will happen if these systems aren't aligned with our values. Increasingly many AI experts across academia and industry believe there is an urgent need for both technical and societal progress across AI alignment, ethics, and governance to understand and mitigate risks from advanced AI systems and ensure that their contributions benefit humanity and the world. Intro to AI Alignment explores these questions in lectures and small discussion-based environments led by student facilitators with targeted readings, weekly quizzes and group discussions, and a small final project. After recapping recent advancements in AI development, we will start by exploring two sides of the AI alignment problem that prevent us from building AI systems that reliably understand and follow human-compatible values. Next, we'll discuss current harms from AI as well as risks that future systems could pose and arguments for and against the importance of various AI safety work. Finally, we will learn about existing AI safety technical research, efforts to implement policy and governance measures that reduce AI risk, and how you can personally contribute to AI safety. Basic knowledge about machine learning helps but is not required. Enrollment is by application only. View the full syllabus and apply online at https://linktr.ee/stanfordaialignment by Sunday, Dec 17, 2023 at 9:00 PM PST.
Terms: Aut, Win | Units: 2
Instructors: Edwards, P. (PI)

STS 20SI: Advanced AI Alignment

This advanced follow-up to STS 10SI: Intro to AI Alignment explores the frontier of current AI alignment research directions and helps you develop your own inside view on AI safety research. In Advanced AI Alignment, we will first spend 7 weeks discussing readings and completing technical alignment exercises in small groups. Like STS 10SI, you will meet in small discussion groups for up to 1.5 hours each week to discuss the week's content. In weeks 6 and 7, your group will choose between three branches of content: Eliciting Latent Knowledge, Agent Foundations, or Science of Deep Learning. In weeks 8-10, you will develop a literature review or a research proposal on an AI alignment topic of your choice to set yourself up for impactful AI safety research after the class, and you will have the opportunity to present your work at Stanford AI Alignment's quarterly Research Symposium during finals week. Prerequisite: STS 10SI or equivalent intro AI alignment knowledge; a course in AI or ML. Enrollment is limited and by application only. View the full syllabus and apply at https://linktr.ee/stanfordaialignment. Enrollment is only by instructor permission. The deadline to apply is Sunday, March 26, 2023 by 9:00pm
Last offered: Spring 2023

STS 51D: Ethical STEM: Race, Justice, and Embodied Practice (AFRICAAM 151, ARTSINST 151C, CSRE 151C, ETHICSOC 151C, SYMSYS 151D, TAPS 151D)

What role do science and technology play in the creation of a just society? How do we confront and redress the impact of racism and bias within the history, theory, and practice of these disciplines? This course invites students to grapple with the complex intersections between race, inequality, justice, and the STEM fields. We orient to these questions from an artistically-informed position, asking how we can rally the embodied practices of artists to address how we think, make, and respond to each other. Combining readings from the history of science, technology, and medicine, ethics and pedagogy, as well as the fine and performing arts, we will embark together on understanding how our STEM practices have emerged, how we participate today, and what we can imagine for them in the future. The course will involve workshops, field trips (as possible), and invited guests. All students, from any discipline, field, interest, and background, are welcome! This course does build upon the STS 51 series from 2020-21, though it is not a prerequisite for this course. Please contact the professor if you have any questions!
Terms: Win | Units: 4-5

STS 132: Earth, Space, Bits: Debating the Nature and Future of Humanity

Are humans fundamentally symbiotic organisms who cannot exist apart from the rest of earthly life? Should humans try to alter their physiology in order to inhabit other planets? Or might the ultimate purpose of human existence be to leave organic biology behind entirely? This course explores a range of competing contemporary claims concerning the nature and future of humanity. It begins by reviewing the efforts of mid-20th century cybernetics to reconceive human beings as "complex information processing systems." It then traces how this redefinition has led to the development of several competing camps: an ecological wing that views human beings as complex systems that must achieve environmental homeostasis; a posthumanist wing that stresses the radical plasticity and adaptability of human organisms; and a transhumanist wing that seeks to unleash the potential of human information processes on a cosmic scale. Participants will have the opportunity to survey the scientific foundations of each position and debate their ethical and political implications.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-4
Instructors: Zimmer, D. (PI)

STS 139: Designing Regenerative Societies (EARTHSYS 139A)

The world is changing in contradictory ways. Emerging technology, the evolving geopolitical economy, and ecological challenges present opportunities but also cascading risks. The pathway from our current destructive and extractive economy towards a more regenerative economy is unclear. There is a stark tension between gigascale opportunities such as AI, fusion energy, nanotech, quantum tech, space colonization, and biomanufacturing on the one hand, and degrowth necessities such as rethinking growth and using less resources on the other. This tension is steeped in political choices constrained by industrial power dynamics and conditioned by inequality. To what extent do visions and incentives align across industry, government, and social movements? What would the choice to scale or descale entail in each case - and are they mutually exclusive? The course introduces empirically driven systems thinking with in-depth modules on both emerging tech and degrowth, and scenario-based tech fores more »
The world is changing in contradictory ways. Emerging technology, the evolving geopolitical economy, and ecological challenges present opportunities but also cascading risks. The pathway from our current destructive and extractive economy towards a more regenerative economy is unclear. There is a stark tension between gigascale opportunities such as AI, fusion energy, nanotech, quantum tech, space colonization, and biomanufacturing on the one hand, and degrowth necessities such as rethinking growth and using less resources on the other. This tension is steeped in political choices constrained by industrial power dynamics and conditioned by inequality. To what extent do visions and incentives align across industry, government, and social movements? What would the choice to scale or descale entail in each case - and are they mutually exclusive? The course introduces empirically driven systems thinking with in-depth modules on both emerging tech and degrowth, and scenario-based tech foresight. We combine the tools of technology foresight, gaming, scenarios, speculative fiction, and worldbuilding, exploring and assessing utopian or dystopian trends, visions, and projects (e.g. the Eden project, biomanufacturing at scale, smart cities, the Metaverse, generation spaceships, space colonization, human longevity, mega-disruptive startups, global health governance, radical longtermism, and religious `heavens'). The goal of the course is to gain clarity on the innovation boundaries within which the next 50 years might develop. The course prepares students to become disruptors of governance principles, strategies, and leadership of corporations, philanthropies, economies, and civilizations.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-4
Instructors: Undheim, T. (PI)

STS 144: Adventures in Video Gaming and Society

By framing video games as complex sociotechnical systems, this course works to reveal the threads of identity, power, and politics present throughout the video games that, in turn, configure players and play. Although the primary 'texts' of the course will be video games themselves, we will intersect these readings with work in STS, the Philosophy of Technology, and constellated fields to draw out the deeper social orders video games reproduce, amplify, and challenge. Material understanding will be evaluated via discussion, debate, written assessments, and a final conceptual design of a video game.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4
Instructors: Fox, A. (PI)

STS 156: The Future of Global Systemic Risk (EARTHSYS 156, SOC 128)

The global risk environment is changing. Seemingly distinct large-scale risks affect what we now realize are mutually interdependent human, socio-technical, and ecological systems. As a result, consequences are more catastrophic, and costs are set to accelerate. How do we determine the top risks of this decade to prioritize actions, and how are both risks and actions likely to evolve and interact? This course investigates the data, methods, and insights mobilized by key actors such as corporations, governments, and academics to assess systemic risk, create future scenarios, and generate predictions. What are the track records of recognized systemic risk assessment and modeling toolkits? Going forward, how can we get better at risk prevention and mitigation? This year, the course will focus on combined risks from the environmental, health, and emerging tech domains. The key objective is to quickly learn relevant vocabularies (risk, tech, and futurist) by engaging with both traditional a more »
The global risk environment is changing. Seemingly distinct large-scale risks affect what we now realize are mutually interdependent human, socio-technical, and ecological systems. As a result, consequences are more catastrophic, and costs are set to accelerate. How do we determine the top risks of this decade to prioritize actions, and how are both risks and actions likely to evolve and interact? This course investigates the data, methods, and insights mobilized by key actors such as corporations, governments, and academics to assess systemic risk, create future scenarios, and generate predictions. What are the track records of recognized systemic risk assessment and modeling toolkits? Going forward, how can we get better at risk prevention and mitigation? This year, the course will focus on combined risks from the environmental, health, and emerging tech domains. The key objective is to quickly learn relevant vocabularies (risk, tech, and futurist) by engaging with both traditional and emerging assessment methods, in order to discover how to shape positive societal outcomes in the next decade and beyond. The course prepares students for key roles in the assessment, management, and prediction of risks, technologies, markets, industries, infrastructures, and futures. People with these skills can affect the governance principles, strategies, and leadership of corporations, philanthropies, states, economies, and entire societies.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3-4
Instructors: Undheim, T. (PI)

STS 158: The Science and Politics of Apocalypse (HISTORY 241F, POLISCI 232)

For millennia, an apocalypse has been just around the corner. This course examines how expectations surrounding the end of the world - and the role that human beings might play in bringing it about - have transformed over the last two centuries. After a brief look at traditional religious apocalypticism, we explore how apocalypse came to be reconsidered as an entirely this-worldly phenomenon that falls within human power to achieve and demands political attention. Along the way, the course addresses the discovery of entropy in the 19th century, development of the hydrogen bomb in the mid-20th, and the planetary science that has transformed the Apocalypse into a primarily ecological concern over the last half-century.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-4
Instructors: Zimmer, D. (PI)
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