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One topic I would like to explore more in class is language as a technology and how it shapes the way we think, and more specific to this class, how we construct gender. I've kept my eye out for a book that discusses this topic, and one I found called "Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages" by Guy Deutscher seemed like it could offer some interesting insights. However from reviews I've read, it seems that it focuses more on the idea of color, with gender only occupying a small part of the book. Another interesting option I found is called "What's Next: Dispatches on the Future of Science" by Max Brockman. This book is composed of several essays that focus on various issues related to ethics and the human mind, and while none of them explicitly mention gender, I think we could easily apply it to gender in our class discussions and postings. Some particularly interesting essays include:
    "How Does Language Shape the Way We Think?"
Language is a uniquely human gift, central to our experience of being human. Appreciating its role in constructing our mental lives brings us one step classier to understanding the very nature of humanity.

    "How to Enhance Human Beings"
Given our rudimentary understanding of the human organism, particularly the brain, how can we hope to enhance such a system? It would amount to outdoing evolution…

    "Watching Minds Interact"
Perhaps the least anticipated contribution of brain imagine to psychological science has been a sudden appreciation for the centrality of social thought to the human mental repertoire.

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I like that in this class we are able to have discussions both in class, and online. I think the postings, and the fact that our projects are also on the web really enhance our discussions. The online postings really help me to gather my thoughts after a week of in-class discussions. In this class, I think the topic that has really challenged my previous mode of thinking the most is the idea of redefining the self as having more ambiguous boundaries, and the inclusion of various technologies into this self.

Previous discussions I've heard/read that relate to our increased reliance on technologies have always involved an element of negativity, and it was really interesting to challenge that.

As a group I think we are all learning to listen to other's perspectives and to allow them some validity. Despite the cognitive dissonance that these different ideas may initially cause.