Simulation and Society Main Menu Section One: Weeks 1-4 Section Two: Weeks 5-7 Section Three: Weeks 8-11 Section Four: Weeks 12-16

Simulated Worlds

7911
Simulation and Society


CORE 499
Spring 2025
Thursdays 1:00PM-2:50PM
LVL 301
Dr. Curtis Fletcher
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Some technological developments can appear near totalistic in the way they remake how we think—they permeate everything, including deeply rooted perspectives about knowledge, politics, society, and even reality. Simulation is one such set of technologies. Simulation here refers to a broad range of settings: the temporary virtual reality and gaming environments into which we voluntarily enter; the app-based or online experiences which we increasingly favor over real-world interactions; the artificial, AI-media and bot-dominated online spaces into which we may soon find ourselves; and the fully simulated world in which we may unknowingly live.

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 in the course will also take advantage of technologies available at the Ahmanson Lab with support from the professor and dedicated Lab staff. Students will have the chance to explore and use XR technologies, generative AI tools, bot systems, and a brain-computer interface, gaining knowledge and hands-on experience while engaging with the themes of the course.

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.
 
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Over the course of the semester, the class will also build a website that features students' research, reflections, and insights on simulation and society. The website, which will consist primarily of the writing assignments and final projects outlined under “Course Requirements," and will include three sections: a collection of essays and creative projects that document and examine topics related to the history, philosophy, and politics of simulation; an interactive timeline tracing the evolution of simulation technologies and their impact on society; and a series of brief entries providing strategies for critically engaging the growing complexity of simulated and artificial online spaces. Finally, the site will feature ways for readers to meaningfully navigate between these sections, allowing them to move fluidly from larger argument-driven essays to specific moments in a timeline or individual strategies and back again.

Contents of this path:

  1. Section One: Weeks 1-4
  2. Section Two: Weeks 5-7
  3. Section Three: Weeks 8-11
  4. Section Four: Weeks 12-16