SYS 478: Fall 2026

SYS 478: Fall 2026

Syllabus Assignments

Course Schedule

1. Humans, Intelligence, and Judgment

Why Does AI Matter as a Public and Ethical Issue?Tue, Aug 18 How Do Humans Learn? Biological FoundationsThu, Aug 20 How Do Humans Learn? Psychological FoundationsTue, Aug 25

How Do Humans Learn? Sociocultural FoundationsThu, Aug 27

Judgment, Ethics, and Theory of MindTue, Sep 1

Imagining Futures: Who Gets to Define the Desirable?Thu, Sep 3

2. Machines, Data, and AI

How Do Computers Compute?Tue, Sep 8

Computing Is PhysicalThu, Sep 10

How Did AI Change Over Time?Tue, Sep 15

How Do Technological Change and Labor Markets Shape Life After College?Thu, Sep 17

What Changed With Machine Learning and Neural Networks?Tue, Sep 22

What Are Generative AI and LLMs Actually Doing?Thu, Sep 24

3. A Toolkit for Understanding AI in Society

How Does the World Become Data, and Why Is AI a Sociotechnical System?Tue, Sep 29

What Counts as Skill and Expertise?Thu, Oct 1

Fall BreakTue, Oct 6No class

How Do Predictions Become Decisions?Thu, Oct 8

Are Predictions Ever Neutral? Norms, Bias, and Technological SolutionismTue, Oct 13

4. AI Enters the World

Domain A: How Does This Institution Already Work?Thu, Oct 15

Domain A: What Changes When AI Enters?Tue, Oct 20

Domain B: How Does This Institution Already Work?Thu, Oct 22

Domain B: What Changes When AI Enters?Tue, Oct 27

Transfer Lab: How Does a Different Institution Work Before AI?Thu, Oct 29

How Are Opportunity and Professional Life Shaped by Networks and AI Tools?Tue, Nov 3

5. Patterns Across Domains: AI, Power, and Political Economy

What Patterns Recur Across Domains?Thu, Nov 5

Who Controls AI?Tue, Nov 10

What Responsibilities Do People Have Inside Organizations Adopting AI?Thu, Nov 12

6. Governing Futures That Do Not Yet Exist

University Senior SymposiumTue, Nov 17No class

What Is Technically Different About Neuromorphic Computing?Thu, Nov 19

How Can We Govern an Emerging Technology Before Its Uses Are Settled?Tue, Nov 24

7. Synthesis: Professional and Civic Responsibility

Thanksgiving BreakThu, Nov 26No class

What Responsibilities Do We Have as Professionals and Global Citizens?Tue, Dec 1

8. Final Public Explainers and ELSI Presentations

Thu, Sep 3

Module 1. Humans, Intelligence, and Judgment

Imagining Futures: Who Gets to Define the Desirable?

What futures do technologies promise, and who gets to define a desirable future?

Topic / Focus

We close this unit by asking what futures technologies promise, and who gets to define what counts as a desirable future. A career bridge on three possible lives and SMART goals connects your own future-imagining to the course’s account of sociotechnical imaginaries.

Format: Career ~50-60 min + integrated course ~40-50 min · Lesson template: Career + Course Bridge

Guiding Questions

What futures do AI systems promise, implicitly or explicitly?
Who gets to define what counts as a desirable future?
How are futures imagined and shaped, rather than simply predicted?

In This Class

In this meeting, we will:

complete Career 2: Three Possible Lives + SMART Goals
connect personal future-imagining to sociotechnical imaginaries
preview anticipatory governance as a tool for shaping, not just predicting, futures

Thu, Sep 3

Module 1. Humans, Intelligence, and Judgment

Imagining Futures: Who Gets to Define the Desirable?

What futures do technologies promise, and who gets to define a desirable future?

Topic / Focus

We close this unit by asking what futures technologies promise, and who gets to define what counts as a desirable future. A career bridge on three possible lives and SMART goals connects your own future-imagining to the course’s account of sociotechnical imaginaries.

Format: Career ~50-60 min + integrated course ~40-50 min · Lesson template: Career + Course Bridge

Guiding Questions

What futures do AI systems promise, implicitly or explicitly?
Who gets to define what counts as a desirable future?
How are futures imagined and shaped, rather than simply predicted?

In This Class

In this meeting, we will:

complete Career 2: Three Possible Lives + SMART Goals
connect personal future-imagining to sociotechnical imaginaries
preview anticipatory governance as a tool for shaping, not just predicting, futures