Summer 2008 Reading and Essay Assignment

(To be turned in on the first day of class)

The Crown Core course is your first course in composition at the university, and its function is to help you learn to engage in critical analysis through reading, writing, and thinking about issues related to emerging technologies. To prepare you for the course, we ask that you purchase and read Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies – And What It Means to Be Human, by Joel Garreau. You can find this book at Baytree Boostore (at UCSC), in most other bookstores, or at Amazon.com as well as other on-line sources.

Please read the entire book, including the “Epilogue.” The ideas and issues outlined in the book set the foundation for the course. To be prepared for Crown Core, it is crucial that you understand the issues sparked by the GRIN technologies that Garreau examines, and are familiar with the three scenarios and the thinkers whose views inform each scenario. Take notes as you read, and bring your insights to your seminar discussion.

You will turn in a 3-5 page essay (typed and double-spaced) to your seminar instructor on the first day of class. The purpose of this assignment is threefold: to ensure that you are familiar with the content of the text; to get you thinking about the ethical quandaries raised; and to provide a sample of your writing to your instructor. Please turn in an essay that accurately reflects your current writing abilities. We are interested in your interpretation of and response to the book, so you needn't do any additional reading or research.

The assignment, 3-5 pages, typed and double-spaced:

Joel Garreau, a journalist and editor for the Washington Post, explores the possible outcomes of enhancement technologies that give us the capacity to engineer our own evolution. Write an essay in which you explain Garreau's analysis of the scenarios – what conclusions does he draw about "Radical Evolution" and what it means to be human? What do you think about his views and about these issues? In developing your essay, refer to specific parts of the text as well as to your own experiences and observations.