Thinking, Learning, and Consciousness

in Humans and Machines

Course number: NODEP UA-158

Instructor: David Stasavage (PhD Harvard 1995)

Dean for the Social Sciences and
Julius Silver Professor of Politics

Tel: 1-212-998-8020
david.stasavage@nyu.edu
twitter: @stasavage
stasavage.com

Course elements: Two Credits, Pass/Fail

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

All meetings for this course will be asynchronous.

See below for description

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence are transforming our world today. Coordinated by
Professor David Stasavage, this course will bring together thirteen eminent thinkers in
separate modules to talk about how these new technologies are transforming the
relationship between humans and the machines we create. Students will hear from
prominent specialists who are developing ever more powerful algorithms, experts who are
researching the promises and pitfalls of AI in practice, as well as those who can speak to
broad questions about how all this affects our view of human consciousness while also
addressing the question of whether we should even think of mind and machine as separate
categories. Finally, we will also ask whether the past history of human technology can
suggest what the future holds for AI and our society.

Each of the thirteen sessions will consist of a forty-five minute pre-recorded lecture that
will have a release date as listed below. The video will be accompanied by an introduction
from Professor Stasavage as well as questions for discussion. One week after the release
date there will begin an online discussion using the forum in NYU Classes, moderated by a
teaching assistant, to discuss the video presentation. In order to contribute to these
sessions, each student will be expected to write a short, one to two paragraph response
paper to eight of the thirteen lectures. These papers may either be responses to one of the
discussion questions circulated by Professor Stasavage, or they may also be on a different
topic of the student’s choosing that is related to the lecture in question. These papers will
be due four days after the video is first released. Though this is a pass/fail course, the
response memos will be graded on a basis of check, check plus, check minus. Papers
graded check or check plus will be considered as passing. A grading rubric will be
distributed separately.

Faculty Presenters and Release Dates for Lectures:

September 8th – Denis Zorin “Milestones of Modern AI Technology”

September 10th – Brenden Lake “Building Machines that Learn and Think Like People”

September 15th – Catherine Hartley “Decision making in minds and machines”

September 17th – Julia Stoyanovich “Responsible Data Science”

September 22nd – Anna Harvey “AI and Criminal Justice Reform”

September 24th – Meredith Broussard “Artificial Unintelligence”

September 29th – Charlton McIlwain “Computerize the Race Problem?: Why We Should &
How We Can Plan for an Equitable AI Future”

October 1st – David Chalmers “On Consciousness”

October 6th – Ned Block “Consciousness in Meat Machines vs Silicon Machines”

October 8th – Faye Ginsburg “Making Disability Count: The Limits and Possibilities of AI”

October 13th – Emilia Barbiero “The Mind on Paper: Coming to Terms with the Artificial
Intelligence of Text in the Oral World of Classical Antiquity”

October 15th – Jordana Mendelson "The Mind on Images: Designing for commercial and
political persuasion in 1930s Spain"

October 20th – David Stasavage “AI and the Future of Democracy”

Required Materials: Several of the participant faculty will provide information about
readings that students may wish to consult. These will be referred to in their videos and
will be available on the NYU classes site. All will be available electronically.

Instructional Time: 1500 minutes composed of lecture segments with introductions (780)
with the remaining time composed of contributions to asynchronous recitations
Supplemental Time: Time to write required essays, to review lectures if necessary a
second time, and to consult suggested readings.

Course Objectives: By the end of this course students will have acquired a basic
knowledge of the challenges and opportunities that artificial intelligence presents for our
society. They will also have an understand of the similarities and differences between
thinking, learning, and consciousness in humans and machines.

Basis of grade assignment: A course pass consists of passing all activities. This includes
(1) review of the lectures (2) successful completion of the required essays with a grade of
check or check plus on each, and (3) evidence of significant contribution to asynchronous
discussion. A grading rubric will be distributed separately.