Next Steps

 I would be most interested in reading Brave New World and watching X-men.  For me, these suggestions are most interesting because I have already seen or read them before.  I would be interested in seeing how my perception of the book and the movie has changed given our current exploration of gender, technology and information.

I think the suggestion for some of the James Bond movies is great. As she mentioned two of the movies, Goldeneye and Die another day, have some interesting gender, science, and technology mixes. It will be very different from the movie we watched last time, conceiving Ada, even though they are somewhat similar in terms of the fact that you can find gender and technology in the theme of both movies.

I would still be interested in seeing the film "Source Code" because I'd like to see what kind of science is behind the movie and how much of that is valid. I think it relates to "Conceiving Ada," and it could be interesting to talk about different way that people perceive computer science and technology. This film suggests that essentially anything is possible with computer science, and I'd like to see if people think that's true and why. A suggestion I really liked was to read Douglas Hofstadter's Goedel, Escher, Bach. In my cognitive science class last semester, my professor referenced the book several times, but we never had a chance to read it. 

 I'm seeing a general consensus that we should try one source from each form, fictional/filmic/non-fictional. My suggestions are:

Fiction: Brave New World, Feed, or 1984

Film: X-Men or the Matrix

Non-Fic: Cinderella Ate My Daughter

I have a bias towards films and fiction, I admit it, but some of the nonfiction that people suggested might look interesting through the course lens. I like m.aghazarian's idea about three difference mediums for three different days, so here are my suggestions:

Fiction: House of Leaves.  riki says it's very long, so maybe sections of it?

Nonfiction: Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Film: Futurama

 Thanks, m.aghazarian, for supporting my suggestions of World Wide Mind and/or Cinderella Ate My Daughter. I stand behind them as relevant choices for this class.

I'm also interested in Uglies, which I've heard of and always wanted to read. But I'm most excited about cara's suggestion of Through The Language Glass, which seems like a really interesting approach to the nature vs nurture debate, even seeming to blur the boundary of that binary. 

A note about the Jake Gyllenhaal movie Source Code: it's coming out on April 1. Class field trip? Then we could talk about it in class. 

I'd really like to do something fictional or filmic, but I think in terms of balance over three days, one fictional work, a filmic work, and a nonfiction/theory work would be a great idea.

So, this is my input:

filmic--Source Code sounds really cool, but apparently it's not released yet..? Battle Angel Alita is a great manga series that has a two episode OVA (original video animation). Wikipedia overview: The series is set in the post-apocalyptic future and focuses on Alita, a cyborg who has lost all memories and is found in a garbage heap by a cybernetics doctor who rebuilds and takes care of her. Paprika also sounds rather cool, along with Alphaville, Metropolis.

fiction--Brave New World, Uglies, Feed.

nonfiction--World Wide Mind, Cinderella Ate My Daughter.