Short Talk and Film Schedule for Summer 2005: Advanced Composition in the Natural Sciences and Technology

On Feynman, SYJ & WDYC

Week 1: Tuesday/Thurs, June 7th & 9th

• The class watches Ralph Leighton's The Last Journey of a Genius.

Week 2: Tues/Thurs, June 14th & 16th

• 6/14: Short Talk 1: RFeynman, boy and young man: The Qualities that Make up the Good Scientist (SYJ, Parts 1 & 2, WDYC, Chapter 1): Ambreen Khalil/Kari Saade
  
  
• 6/14: Short talk 2: RFeynman's criticisms of abuses of authority particularly at Los Alamos (i.e., his stories about counterproductive uses of secrecy), but you may include stories exemplifying this theme from elsewhere in the book thus far (so from SYJ, Parts 2 & 3, especially "Los Alamos from Below" and "Safecracker Meets Safecracker" and WDYC Part 1): Zanib Rafig/Brian Dombrowski
  
  
• 6/14: Short Talk 3: RFeynman's ideas on what is real scientific learning: what ought to go on in a classroom, be in a book &c (e.g.,"O Americano Outre Vez" and "Judging Books by Their Covers" in SYJ and relevant Letters in WDYC). WDYC Part 1): ________________________________/____________________________
  
  
• 6/16: Short Talk 4: RFeynman's Adventures in Art, Music and Anthropology ("But Is It Art?"; "O Americano Outra Vez!," "Bringing Culture to the Physicists", "Found Out in Paris" in SYJ, and relevant "Letters" in WDYC): Christine Duong/Steve Farfan
  
  
• 6/16: Short Talk 5: RFeynman's Investigations into the Conscious and Unconscious Mind and Antagonisms towards Modern Psychiatrists and Psychology ("Mee", "Always Trying to Escape", "Uncle Sam Doesn't Need You!", "Altered States" from SYJ and "It's as Simple as One Two Three" from WDYC): Anna Kaur/Joy Clemens
  
  
• 6/16: The class watches Peter Jones and David R. Axelrod's Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude.
  

Week 3: Tues/Thurs, June 21st and 23rd

• 6/21: Short Talk 6: Mr Feynman Goes to Washington: Why some NASA officials are driven to delude themselves and mislead the public about the safety, cost and usefulness of shuttle flights ("Mr Feynman Goes to Washington" and "Appendix F" in WDYC): Darrell French/Ross Coffett
  
  
• 6/21: Short Talk 7: A World of Pseudo- and Corrupt Science as Opposed to True Science: "Cargo Cult Learning" in SYJ and "The Value of Science" in WDYC: Katie Faigen/Jae Kwak
  
  
• 6/23: The class watches Christopher Hale's In Search of a First Language.
  

Week 4: Tues/Thurs, June 28th & 30th

Short Talk 8: On the film, Lost at Sea: The Politics of Science, or How Do You Tell a Crank from an Original Scientific Genius?: ________________________________/Mohamed Mohamud

On Olson, Mapping Human History

Week 5: Thurs, July 7th

• 7/7: Short Talk 9: Olson: The Unity of Mankind: "The Human Pageant" and "The End of Evolution" (pp. 1-31): Mateo Johnson/Ran Li
  
  
• 7/7: Short Talk 10: Olson: Migrations: "Individuals and Groups" and "The African Diaspora" (pp. 32-69): Brian Evans/Mary Annor
  
  
• 7/7: Short Talk 11: Olson: Interactions and Diversifying: "Encounters with the Other" and "Agriculture, Civilization and the Emergence of Ethnicity" (pp. 73-105): Rebecca Schmidt/____________________________
  
  

Week 6: Tues/Thurs, July 12th & 14th

• 7/12: Short Talk 12: The Unity and History of Languages: On the film, In Search of a First Language and Olson, "Sprung from a Common Source" (pp. 137-54): Deborah Rice/Maraea Harris
  
  
• 7/12: Short Talk 13: Olson: Across the earth, climate and place: "The Great Migration and "Who are the Europeans" (pp. 123-36, 157-74): ________________________________/Lu Wu
  
  
• 7/12: Short talk 14: Olson: Difficulties and Why Don't People Want to Find out?" "Settlement of the Americas" and "The Burden of Knowledge" (pp. 193-220): Ambreen Khalil/Xiaollang Tang
  
  

On Gawande, Complications and Ofri, Singular Intimacies

• 7/14: Short Talk 15: Gawande: The Disturbing Need to Practice and Talent: "The Education of the Knife" and "The Computer and the Hernia Factory" (pp. 11-47): Arefa Shaikh/Christopher Cook
  
  
• 7/14: Short Talk 16: Gawande: Who is Watching the Doctor?: "When Doctors Make Mistakes" and "When Good Doctors Go Bad" (pp. 47-74, 88-106): Lorena Ruiz/Mark Chaney
  
  
• 7/14: The class watches the first hour of Mike Nichols and Emma Thompson's film, Wit.
  

Week 7: Tues/Thurs, July 19th & 21st

• 7/19: Short Talk 17 Ofri: Doctor and Patient Learning, or does class and ethnicity/race count? (SI: "Possessing Her Words", "AA Battery," "Change of Heart," pp. 17-32, 53-70: Surbhi Kalra/Vera Hwang
  
  
• 7/19: Short Talk 18: Ofri: When Knowledge Doesn't Help ("The Professor of Denial," "The Burden of Knowledge," "Immunity", pp. 89-112, 138-60): Woo Jun/Karla Chang
  
  
• 7/19: The class finishes watching Wit
• 7/21: Short Talk 19: Gawande: Fallibility: "The Pain Perplex," "The Crimson Tide" and "The Man Who Couldn't Stop Eating" (pp. 115-29, 146-83): Huma Hussain/Steven Ton
  
  
• 7/21: Short Talk 20: Gawande and Ofri: Should Doctors be so in charge? (C, "Final Cut," "Whose Body Is it, Anyway," pp. 187-201, 208-22, andSI, "In Charge," pp. 113-30: Jenny Jeon/Mary Annor
  
  

Week 8: Tues, July 26th & 28th

• 7/26: Short Talk 21: Ofri: Why Can't We Talk Usefully?: "M&M," "Intensive Care," "Merced" (pp. 138-72, 188-207): Efrain (Tony) Martinez/Khaled Al-Neami
  
  
• 7/26: Short Talk 22: The Abuse of Vivian Bearing in Wit, film and screenplay: __________________________________/Kari Saade
  
  
• 7/26: Short Talk 23: Presentations of Men and Women Medical Personnel in Wit, Complications, and Singular Intimacies: _____________________________________/Maraea Harris