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Technology is assumed to be the best engineered solution for a particular goal and good science is supposed to be objective; however, this is never truly the case: values and moral choices underlie all of our systems for understanding and interacting with the world around us. These values and choices are almost always contentious. Through a series of historical case studies, we explore how science and technology are products of human choices—but at the same time, how science and technology enable and constrain the choices we can make. Case studies include algorithms and inequality, artificial intelligence (AI) and surveillance, privacy and social media, lay expertise and medicine, and environmental and technological disasters. Our goal will be to learn to question and think critically about the things we create, the tools we use, and the ideology and practice of science. First year students are welcome.

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