This course came about in a special program at Beloit College, a small liberal arts college where I currently teach. I hold a cross-disciplinary position, designed to support a few disciplines (philosophy, psychology, and computer science) as well as the new-ish cognitive science program. The goal was to have widely-accessible courses without prerequisites, especially in the beginning of my position when this was designed, to get students in the door to understand some taste of both the content and methodologies of cognitive science. My primary goal here, rather than introducing any canonical works as a foundation, was to make sure the students understood why we’re all so interested in the questions surrounding the nature of the human mind with regard to current debates about embodiment and extension. These are philosophical questions growing from the Clark and Chalmers (1999) paper The Extended Mind. Since the students in the class tended to be a mix of philosophers, psychologists, and a smattering of other majors, in a sense, the pedagogical goal was producing excitement and a sense of just how nuanced the problem is, and how many disciplines are implicated in making sense of the question and seeking answers. I saw this also as an opportunity to show them how otherwise abstract metaphysics questions already deeply matter to how they see themselves and their identities. (The course is cross-listed with our Critical Identities Studies program).
Part of the pedagogical intent here was to ensure that the students had to grapple with primary materials across a wide range of disciplines (in spite of the fact that the primary lens we used to evaluate them was largely philosophical). The class refuses to allow students the comfort of saying “I’m a philosopher, I can’t read neuroscience” or “I’m a biologist, I don’t know how to read Donna Haraway.” I intentionally push every student in the room outside their comfort zone as a way of bringing them all together. On day one, when they see the syllabus, each one is aware that everyone else is also likely to feel discomfort and unfamiliarity with at least something, and that makes them all braver when it comes to approaching the readings. Since there are likely to be students who have never read philosophy or read a scientific article (or whatever), I also spend some time trying to show them how to approach a different kind of reading, teaching them conventions and approaches that differ across disciplines (with the hopes that it will make them confident enough to take future classes that would otherwise scare them). In fact, I openly admit all semester that there are readings we’ll discuss that I, too, struggle with—putting me on equal footing with them and again giving them the confidence to be loud and brave with their critical reading. Additionally, we are extremely lucky at Beloit to have the Logan Museum of Anthropology, a teaching museum with an extremely involved and supportive staff. Dan Bartlett, our previous Curator of Exhibits and Education, made himself familiar with Clark and Chalmers’s original work, and would choose objects from the museum collection that would challenge students to think about their engagement with tools and their bodies differently. (We routinely get to spend an afternoon using an atlatl to throw spears in the quad, extending our arm length and, therefore, our Merleau-Pontyan “I can”s.)
The thing about a syllabus that is both exciting and frustrating is that it conceals as much as it reveals, by design. There are so many aspects of this syllabus that give me pause when I think about sending it widely into the world, because policies and things look rigid on paper when really I see the entire document as the opening to a conversation and a negotiation, but I hope there’s at least something here that others can find value in, whether it’s an approach to the readings, or engaging with on-campus resources like the museums, or the overall assignment structure, which is aimed at catching students who excel at different skills. (If there were more space, I would talk about the book review assignment, which is a perennial favorite of mine and students alike, and the assignment that has students engage with the digital collection of our Anthropology Museum). My classrooms are almost entirely run as discussions, where my goal is to get students to feel confident in discussing what they’ve read and to learn to engage critically with disagreement in order to deepen their understanding. My students tend to leave this class with a much wider view of what bodies are and how we tend to incorrectly believe there is one way they ought to appear in nature, alongside a new metaphysics of what the mind may actually turn out to be. (They also tend to really love learning about cutting-edge technologies and how they interface with our bodies, potentially as parts of our minds).
Here is the syllabus.
Cyborg Brains and Hybrid Minds
Spring 2018
COGS 260
MWF 1:30-2:35
SC 202
Professor: Robin Zebrowski (call me Robin!)
Date- To be read for this day
Monday- Jan. 22
(Course goals; Syllabus; Get to know one another)
Wednesday- Jan. 24
Tools are Temporary Body Parts – BBC Article;
Natural Born Cyborgs – pages 3-11 (Andy Clark)
SYLLABUS QUIZ DUE
Friday – Jan. 26
The Extended Mind (David Chalmers and Andy Clark)
Monday – Jan. 29
The Extended Mind (David Chalmers and Andy Clark)
Wednesday -Jan. 31
A Short Primer on Situated Cognition – (Philip Robbins and Murat Aydede)
Friday – Feb. 2
Philosophical Antecedents of Situated Cognition – (Shaun Gallagher)
Monday – Feb. 5
Chapter 1, Natural Born Cyborgs – pages 13-33 (Andy Clark)
Wednesday – Feb. 7
Chapter 2, Natural Born Cyborgs – page 35-58 (Andy Clark)
Friday – Feb. 9
Chapter 3, Natural Born Cyborgs – pages 59-87 (Andy Clark)
Monday – Feb. 12
Referral of Sensation to an Advanced Humanoid Robotic Hand Prosthesis – (Rosen et al.)
Wednesday- Feb. 14
Redirection of cutaneous sensation from the hand to the chest skin of human amputees with targeted reinnervation – (Kuiken, Marasco, et al)
Friday- Feb. 16
Chapter 4, Natural Born Cyborgs – pages 89-114 (Andy Clark)
Monday- Feb. 19
Controlling Robots with the Mind – (Miguel Nicolelis and John Chapin; Monkey Think, Robot Do– (Larry Greenemeier)
Wednesday Feb. 21
- Text-based communication influences self-esteem more than face-to-face or cellphone communication– (Amy L. Gonzales)
PAPER ONE DUE
Friday- Feb. 23
All Technology is Assistive – (Sara Hendren)
Monday – Feb. 26
Cyborgs in the News #1
Wednesday – Feb. 28
Introduction to How Things Shape The Mind– (Lambros Malfouris)
Friday- March 2
The Extended Mind (from How Things Shape the Mind) – (Lambros Malfouris)
Monday- March 5
Mandatory visit to the Logan Museum
Wednesday – March 7
If I were You: Perceptual Illusion of Body Swapping – (Valeria I. Petkova and H. Henrik Ehrsson)
Virtual Reality Made Me Believe I Was Someone Else – (Aaron Souppouris)
Friday – March 9
Cyborgs in the News #2
Monday – Friday – March 12-16
SPRING BREAK – NO CLASSES
Monday- March 19
Chapter 5, Natural Born Cyborgs – pages 115-142 (Andy Clark)
Wednesday – March 21
Animating Bodies, Mobilizing Technologies: Stelarc in Conversation– pages 215-241 (Stelarc and Marquard Smith)
Friday – March 23
Advising Practicum – NO CLASSES
Monday- March 26
Seeing With Your Tongue – (Nicola Twilley)
Wednesday- March 28
Chapter 6, Natural Born Cyborgs – pages 143-166 (Andy Clark)
Friday- March 30
Cyborgs in the News #3
Monday – April 2
Split Subjects, Not Atoms – (Sandy Stone)
PAPER TWO DUE
Wednesday – April 4
Chapters 7 and 8, Natural Born Cyborgs – pages 167-198 (Andy Clark)
VISITOR TO CLASS: Andy Clark
(7:30pm: Andy Clark public lecture; Moore Study Lounge)
Friday- April 6
Chapters 7 and 8, Natural Born Cyborgs– pages 167-198 (Andy Clark)
VISITOR TO CLASS: Andy Clark
Monday- April 9
Cyborg Manifesto – (Donna Haraway)
Wednesday- April 11
Cyborg Manifesto – (Donna Haraway)
Friday- April 13
Cyborgs in the News #4
Monday- April 16
Do Deaf People Have a Disability? – (Harlan Lane)
Wednesday- April 18
Conclusion: What Does it Mean to be Posthuman? – pages283-291 (N. Katherine Hayles)
Friday- April 20
Cyborgs in the News #5
Monday- April 23
Why the Mind is still in the Head – (Adams and Aizawa)
Wednesday- April 25
Spring Day – NO CLASSES
Friday- April 27
Cyborgs and Space – pages 29-33 (Clynes and Kline)
Cyborgs in the News #6
BOOK REVIEW DUE VIA EMAIL BY 11:59PM
Monday- April 30
Book Reviews
Wednesday- May 2
Book Reviews
Friday – May 4
Book Reviews
Monday- May 7
Book Reviews
Wednesday- May 9
Book Reviews;
Student evaluations
Monday- May 14
Final paper due in my office by 7pm
This is an inclusive classroom.
Inclusivity is a demonstration of equity and social justice through awareness, understanding, and respect for the differences in identity, culture, background, experience, and socialization, and the ways in which these forms of difference impact how we live and learn. Inclusivity requires equitable, institution-wide representation and access to resources. In practice, this manifests itself by each individual being aware of, committed to, and responsible for the well-being and care of all students, staff, and faculty.
We will almost certainly not get to all of these readings. This is the most ambitious version of this syllabus. The reading schedule will be adjusted as the semester progresses based on a number of factors. Do not be surprised to find some of these readings cut out- please be sure you’re always working from the most current copy of the syllabus, which will be distributed any time a change is made.
- GRADING
- In the news (15%)
- Two 3-4 page papers (17% each, 34% total)
- 6-8 page final paper (20%)
- 5 Reading responses (5%)
- Book review (11%)
- Preparation/participation (15%)
- Plagiarism Certificate (ungraded)
- Required attendance at Logan Museum Event(s) and follow-up assignment
- TEXTS
There is one text to purchase for this class, and a number of supplemental readings available on Moodle: http://moodle.beloit.edu
The text is available at the bookstore, and since it is several years old, you should be able to find an inexpensive used copy if you need to.
YOU MUST always bring a copy of the day’s reading with you to class.
- Natural Born Cyborgs– Andy Clark
- Additional readings available on Moodle
You must print out and bring a copy of the day’s readings with you each day. You may have a “reading buddy” who you share printing duties with, as long as there is at least one copy of the reading between the two of you each day. I will strongly discourage any laptops in class, and we will have a conversation about this on day one. Please be assured you will be able to use whatever you need to accommodate your abilities, but we will discuss the structure of the class right away.
- ASSIGNMENTS
Assignments are due at the beginning of class. The late timer starts ticking 10 minutes past the start of class (which means at 11 minutes after class begins, your assignment is a day late. That day runs for the first 24 hours, and at 24 hours and 10 minutes after the start of class, you start the second late day).
LATE POLICY: Late papers will be marked down 1 entire letter grade (10%) per day late without exception. After 3 days, late papers will not be accepted at all. You should never wait until the last minute to start your papers, because crashed computers or broken printers are not valid reasons to turn in an assignment late. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO START WRITING! Broken printers and crashed hard drives are certainly inconvenient, and neither matters if your paper is done the day before and printed out already. Back up your work via email if you don’t have any other system of saving it reliably.
I do not accept papers emailed to me- I accept hard copies only. HOWEVER, if you intend to hand in a paper late, you must email a copy to me (which will count as your timestamp) AND drop a hard copy off in the box outside my office. If either of these pieces is missing, your paper does not count as having been handed in. Please be sure to put your class on each paper. (This protects you and gives you the earliest possible timestamp for lateness).
We will talk in depth about expectations for each assignment, and you will have plenty of time to complete each one. If you are absent on the day a major assignment is handed out, it is your responsibility to come get the assignment from me or from a classmate. “I wasn’t there when it was handed out” is not an excuse for not handing in your work. Big assignments will always be uploaded to Moodle.
Grades earned on assignments reflect more than simply completing the assignment. The difference between an A and a B might be a question of originality, eloquence, or mastery of the concepts. I give a great deal of feedback on assignments, and encourage you to come and talk to me any time the basis of your grade is not clear.
If you receive a grade lower than C on any of your papers, I recommend that you visit the Writing Center (http://www.beloit.edu/writingcenter/) when the next paper is due. I will not require you to do so, as you are responsible for your own grades, but if you do visit the Center, please include the documentation when you hand in the paper so that I can consider it.
READING RESPONSES: You will need to write a short “reading response” five times over the course of the semester. These are short (1 page) reflections on the reading that you did for that day. They will be collected at the beginning of class. The point of these is not to expect you to have understood the readings entirely, but to show that you had interesting questions about them. These should be truly reflective, and can be somewhat informal. You are only being judged on whether you do them and the degree to which you put real thought into the reading for that day. If it appears you did not actually do the reading, you will receive a 0 and it will not count. You get to choose which 5 papers you write your responses on, with the following restrictions: you can write no more than 1 response in a given week. You must complete at least 3 of the 5 before midterm break. You cannot hand in one for the last reading we do in class.
BOOK REVIEWS: You will receive the assignment for the book reviews during the second week of classes. You have an entire semester to read a book related to the themes of our class, and write a review relating it to our topics. NO LATE BOOK REVIEWS WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR ANY REASON. You have an entire semester for this assignment.
IN THE NEWS: You will receive a detailed assignment that explains your expectations for this assignment, which includes a 10-minute presentation and a short, 2-page paper.
- ATTENDANCE
You need to come to class. Since the course is discussion-based, there is likely to be information introduced that you can only really get in class. You get 4 free absences to cover the contingencies of life-illness, family obligations, sports events, broken cars, leaving early for a holiday, or the day you want to go ice skating with friends. You will not get any more free absences, so you need to use these wisely.
Every absence over 4 will result in one point being deducted from your final course grade.
If you reach 10 absences, you will fail for the semester, and your absences will be reported to the Dean of Students, as indicated by policy of the Registrar’s office, pasted below. The only time exceptions will be considered to this policy is in the case of emergencies that come to me through the Dean of Students’ office. There may be days class is cancelled or held online, and those count as days you are present as long as you participate. PLEASE be in touch with the Dean’s office for any major disruptive events. We are all here to help and support you!
Official policy: “When a student has an emergency (death in the family, severe illness, or other compelling circumstances), the student should notify the Dean of Students Office, which shall inform the various administrative offices and the student’s instructor(s) and advisor(s) about the absence. However, all absences, including emergencies, are evaluated by the instructor. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor in advance whenever possible about an absence. In all cases, the student is responsible for course work missed.” http://www.beloit.edu/registrar/for_students/class_attendance/
If you are more than 10 minutes late to class, you will be marked absent for that day. Less than 10 minutes still gets you marked late. If you spend the class sleeping or texting, you may also be marked absent for the day, since being present means being present.
- PARTICIPATION AND PREPARATION
Participation is not the same as attendance! Participation and preparation count for 15% of your overall course grade: nearly as much as a paper.
A large part of learning is talking about the material, whether that involves asking questions or answering them. Much of this class will rest on the discussions that you and your classmates will have. I will almost never lecture: we will always be involved in a dialogue discussing what you’ve read for class that day. This requires you to not be browsing the web, reading your email, sleeping, or doing work for another class. You must speak up and show that you’ve read the material for each and every day, but there will be alternate ways to participate if this makes you anxious. You are required to bring a copy of the reading each day, but if you arrange to share with 1 person, then only 1 of you needs to bring a copy. However, you must make these arrangements between yourselves and do not simply assume a neighbor will share her reading with you. We will be doing close readings sometimes, and if you do not have a copy of the text with you, you are not prepared for class that day. (And recall, laptops are highly discouraged).
Preparation is generally shown through participation, and it demonstrates that you have done the reading in advance, done any assigned homework, and come to class ready to discuss what you’ve read. Some of these texts are difficult and you may need to read them more than once. Your participation grade is tied up with preparation because you may be tempted to come to class and try to participate without having done the reading. This will not go well for you in a class like this.
Please turn your cell phones off before you get to class. There is no reason to have your phone out – there are usually clocks in the rooms, and you’re in class to learn so you don’t need google at your fingertips. There is no texting permitted during class, and your cell phones should not be ringing – it is disrupting and disrespectful of me and your fellow classmates. If I see you using your phone, you may be marked absent for the day. (If you are expecting or receive an emergency call, of course take it! But in the hall. Just talk to me about your needs!)
To ensure the free and open discussion of ideas, students may not record classroom lectures, discussion and/or activities without the instructor’s advance written permission. Any such recording properly approved in advance can be used solely for the student’s own private use.
Loud Bodies Project: This semester this class will be part of the Loud Bodies Project. As part of this project, a bag of fidgets will be available for use in every class, so I welcome you to use them or to bring your own if you have them. More broadly, I encourage all of you to challenge preconceived norms of what the classroom experience should look like and consider how we can make this community an open and accessible one for all students. Around spring break, the student coordinator, Eli Johnson, will ask you to participate in a survey that assesses this project. If you have any questions or concerns about the project, talk to me or email the Eli at (redacted).
- ACCOMMODATIONS AND TUTORING
If you have a disability and need accommodations, contact Learning Enrichment and Disability Services (LEADS) located on 2nd floor Pearsons (north side), 608-363-2572, learning@beloit.edu or make an appointment through joydeleon.youcanbook.me. For accommodations in my class, you must bring me an Access Letter from the Director of LEADS and then we will discuss how to implement the accommodations. Contact that office promptly; accommodations are not retroactive.
Free peer tutoring is available for most classes. For a tutor, apply by going to your Portal, to the Student Life tab, and then apply using the Tutoring Forms (on left) and Request a Tutor. If you have any questions, contact LEADS.
- ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Academic Honesty
In an academic institution, few offenses against the community are as serious as academic dishonesty. Such behavior is a direct attack upon the concept of learning and inquiry and casts doubt upon all measures of achievement. Beloit insists that only those who are committed to principles of honest scholarship may study at the College.
Acts of Academic Dishonesty
Cheating is an act of deception by which a student misrepresents that s/he has mastered information on an academic exercise that s/he has not mastered. For example, intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information or study aids in any academic exercise is considered cheating.
Fabrication is the intentional use of invented information or the falsification of research, or other finds with the intent to deceive.
Plagiarism is the representation of someone else’s words, ideas or data as one’s own work. When a student submits work for credit that includes the words, ideas or data of others, the source of that information must be acknowledged through complete, accurate, and specific footnote references, and, if verbatim statements are included, through quotation marks as well. By placing his/her name on work submitted for credit, the student certifies the originality of all work not otherwise identified by appropriate acknowledgments.
Unauthorized audio or video recording of classes is prohibited. A student seeking to record any class must receive permission from the instructor before the recording takes place. If permission is granted for recording, all students in the class must be informed that the class is being recorded. Any recording is for the personal academic use of the individual student only, though the faculty member or the college may require the student to share the recording.
Other acts that will not be tolerated include the theft and/or mutilation of any library material; willfully providing College officials with false, misleading, or incomplete information; and forgery or unauthorized falsification of grades, college records, or documents. Collusion in any act of academic dishonesty will be treated as a commission of the act.*
Any student caught violating these policies will automatically receive a penalty of at minimum a zero on the assignment and up to an F in the course, and the violation will always be reported to the Dean’s office.
If you have any questions whatsoever about how to cite sources in a paper please see me in advance.
You will be completing an assignment to show that you understand plagiarism during this course. The plagiarism certificate will be discussed in class, and is due before you hand in your first paper.
*From the Student Handbook
- CONTACTING ME
Office Location: Science Center 232 (in the Psychology Department)
Email address: zebrowsr@beloit.edu
Office hours: Thursdays, 1:00pm-4pm (no appointment needed); also by appointment (but appointments must generally be scheduled several days in advance, not several hours.)
I will never go 24 hours without checking my email (except possibly on a break or weekend), and you will need to do the same. Sometimes it is necessary to change the schedule or keep you updated in the case of an emergency, and checking your email regularly ensures that your time is never wasted if I ever have to cancel class (for example). You should generally expect a reply within 24 hours, but do not expect one sooner.
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Robin L. Zebrowski
Robin Zebrowski is a Professor of Cognitive Science at Beloit College, where she chairs the cognitive science program and has a joint appointment in philosophy, psychology, and computer science. She has been working on the metaphysics of AI since the mid-1990s, and most of her work involves 4e cognition (embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive). Recent papers include enactive social cognition in AI, and anthropomorphism in relation to machine minds.
