The first thing you have to do this week is fill-in the online Course Evaluation for this course. Please do this before coming to class.
For this week's assignment I would like you to write about the future instead of just read about it. You are welcome to earn more points and on the Activity Page for this week, I have linked a few suggestions to read as well as curated some relevant Youtube selections. But the major assignment for this week is to write some detailed answers to the following questions. You will earn 2 points for each question you answer provided the answer is significantly developed with concrete detail and is at least 200 words in length (no filler). The point of this assignment is to think like futurists, the practical application of the impulse behind Science Fiction as a genre. You are being asked to do some worldbuilding around the future you see and although your aspirations will obviously play a part in how you see the future, this is not about your individual aspirations but about the worlds you see ahead that you will likely inhabit. Try to write in a fashion that shows us what you see.
Sketch One: Write at least 200 words
It is ten years from now, the holiday season of 2030. You are thinking about a present you might be getting for the holidays. What is it? Talk about how you did your holiday shopping, What is your job and how are you doing it? What is your living situation and what are the major issues of the day? Please make these questions relevant to any appropriate holidays you celebrate.
Sketch Two: Write at least 200 words.
It is 50 years from now, the holiday season of 2070, it's looking like it might be probably that you will live to see the next century. What are the dominant technologies of 2070 and how have they changed the way people behave and relate? How do you fit in to this technology environment?
Sketch Three: Write at least 200 words.
It is 200 years from now, the year 2220. Nobody alive today is still alive, at least in the way we think of being "alive" now. What are the main aspects of the technology environment? How do humans fit into this environment? How has the technology environment changed humans. How do your descendants live, what do they care about, what does it mean to be an artist in the world of 220?
Final Blog Deadline
Your blogs are due for final grading by Thursday, Midnight, Dec. 17.
Make sure you have listed points for each of the readings or viewing that you have done, as the last entry in your blog, list the total number of points you have earned including one point for each Zoom class attended and any points you have earned for cos-play. List the number of classes you have missed. I will review your blogs after the deadline and I will determine if I agree with the points you have claimed as earned. I reserve the right to lower your point total for written responses I consider too underdeveloped or lacking relevance or interest. I am the final judge of your responses but I will let you know if I disagree with your total and give you the opportunity to make an argument for your interpretation of worth. Grades are issued in letter terms as expressed on the syllabus and using the school's standard scale. The mid-term grade was doubled as a means of estimating your progress in the course at the mid-term. The final number of points earned is the final number, it is not doubled.
Please post all your blog entries and complete your blog before the deadline. If you haven't yet submitted a blog for review, do so as soon as possible. No blog will result in an automatic F in the class.
