Against Tech?
FYSEMR 58D
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
Do machines make life easier or more difficult? Do new technologies create jobs or destroy them? Do we lose a part of our humanity when we interact with machines, or do machines help us to understand what it means to be human? What relation—if any—do technological improvements have with economic, political, and moral improvements? These questions occupy many of us living in contemporary America. They are also questions with long histories. We are not alone.
In this first-year seminar, we will explore different ways people have raised fears and expressed anxieties over technology. The seminar will not take a stance on whether technology is good or bad. Rather, we will investigate how different people across history have confronted technology and questioned its value.
The seminar will encourage students to see themselves as a part of a long history of both excitement and worry over machines and technological life. Along the way, we will explore how people affiliated with Harvard—from Henry David Thoreau to Jacob Bigelow to James Bryant Conant to Lawrence Summers—struggled with machines, technology, and the society around them.
NOTE: There will be a class trip to Walden Pond, Concord MA with no cost for the student.
Class Notes
First-Year Seminars are available only to first-year students. You may apply to both Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 First-Year Seminars via the FYS lottery between July 6 and August 6, 2026 at 11:59PM-midnight.
You may apply to as many seminars each term as you would like, but we recommend you apply to at least six in fall and three in spring.
As part of your application, you must provide a brief statement on why you are interested in each seminar. You will be notified of lottery results for both fall and spring seminars at 5 pm on August 11. If you are unsuccessful in the lottery, you may still join any seminar with open seats. A list of open seminars and instructions on next steps will be available on the First-Year Seminar Program website August 11 at 12 Noon.
Not Available for Cross Registration
