Simulated Worlds
This course will provide students with the opportunity to use the technologies of extended reality (XR) and AI-powered simulation as a lens through which to explore the shifting nature of human values, interactions, and attitudes in the early 21st century. In doing so, the course will engage students in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary study of virtual worlds, preparing them to engage with our increasingly simulated digital spaces in critical and informed ways.
Students will also have the chance to explore and use XR technologies, generative AI, and bot systems, gaining knowledge and hands-on experience while building digital class projects. These group projects will take advantage of technologies available at the Ahmanson Lab and will be supported by the professor and dedicated Lab staff. They will constitute students’ final assignment and will demonstrate their critical engagement with the themes of the course, reflecting the complex ways in which the technologies used in the project reshape our perceptions of knowledge, society, and reality.
Through readings, discussions, and the thoughtful, hands-on application/exploration of relevant technologies, students will examine the evolution of virtual worlds, from their origins in early science fiction, mechanical and computer simulations as well as stereoscopic technologies and early film, to present day immersive digital environments; the philosophical questions raised by VR, immersive environments, and in particular, the Simulation Hypothesis; and the social and political implications of virtual worlds, including the capacity to counterfeit people and to simulate human behavior at scale.