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SUMMARY:IEET Summer Course on Technoprogressive Worldbuilding Online
DESCRIPTION:Syllabus – Sign up \nInstructor: Matteo MacDermant\, ABD \nTeaching Assistant: James Hughes\, PhD \nDates: June 20 to August 20 (Times TBD) \nFormat: Weekly 90–120 minute seminar + 60 minute cohort studio \nCourse Description\nTechnologies do not emerge in a vacuum. They are shaped by political values\, economic interests\, cultural imaginaries\, labor relations\, and design choices—and in turn\, they shape society at every level. This course introduces technoprogressivism as a framework for understanding and actively shaping technological change in democratic\, inclusive\, and future-oriented ways. \nRather than treating technology as neutral or inevitable\, the course emphasizes praxis\, feedback loops\, and collective agency. We function as an organizing tool: a space to develop collective capacity and expand technoprogressivism across domains of social life to address pressing challenges like authoritarianism and crises in housing\, healthcare\, and governance. \nLearning Objectives\nBy the end of this course\, participants will be able to: \n\nExplain the technoprogressive framework and how it differs from techno-optimism\, techno-pessimism\, and technological determinism.\nAnalyze technologies as sociotechnical systems shaped by politics\, culture\, labor\, and design.\nIdentify power dynamics embedded in technological infrastructures and work toward transforming them.\nDevelop a practical vocabulary and “shared grammar” for participating in public debates and coordinated action.\nImagine and articulate alternative futures grounded in democratic values and universal abundance.\n\nExpectations & Core Lenses\nThe course is interactive and cohort-based. Participants are grouped into stable teams that function as discussion groups\, peer circles\, and project teams. We examine technology through five interrelated lenses: \n\nTechnopolitics: Power\, governance\, and institutions.\nTechnophilosophy: Ontology\, epistemology\, and ethics.\nTechnoculture: Narratives\, media\, and everyday practices.\nSociotechnics: The co-production of technology and social systems.\nLabor & Design: How technology is built\, by whom\, and under what conditions.\n\nWeek-by-Week Schedule\nWeek 1: Why Technoprogressivism Now?\n\nFocus: The 2026 conjuncture and the need for intervention.\nCore Reading: The Technoprogressive Declaration.\nSuggested Additional Readings: Citizen Cyborg (James Hughes); Transforming Technology (Andrew Feenberg).\nArtifact: A current techno-political controversy.\nStudio Deliverable: Cohort charter + “Why Technoprog Now” statement.\n\nWeek 2: What is Technology? Sociotechnical Systems\n\nFocus: Demystifying technology as “crystallized labor” and social process.\nCore Reading: Selections from The Philosophy of Living Experience (Alexandr Bogdanov).\nSuggested Additional Readings: Capital (Marx – Excerpts on Machinery)\nArtifact: “How it’s made” style mini-doc or teardown video.\nStudio Deliverable: Sociotechnical profile of a specific technology.\n\nWeek 3: Design Justice & Politicizing the Build\n\nFocus: How justice traditions change what we build and how we build it.\nCore Reading: Selections from Design Justice (Sasha Costanza-Chock).\nSuggested Additional Readings: Data Feminism (D’Ignazio & Klein); Race After Technology (Ruha Benjamin).\nArtifact: A dataset or “AI harms” case from mainstream journalism.\nStudio Deliverable: Justice redesign brief.\n\nWeek 4: Tech Workers & Movement Ecology\n\nFocus: Contesting technology from inside institutions; workplace power.\nCore Reading: The Making of a Tech Worker Movement by Ben Tarnoff\nSuggested Additional Readings: Abolish Silicon Valley (Wendy Liu); Rodrigo Nunes on movement ecology.\nArtifact: A worker testimony clip or organizing story.\nStudio Deliverable: Power map + theory of change.\n\nWeek 5: Political Economy: Monopolies & Enshittification\n\nFocus: The business models of contemporary tech: venture capital and platform power.\nCore Reading: Enshittification (Cory Doctorow).\nSuggested Additional Readings: Chokepoint Capitalism (Doctorow & Giblin); Platform Capitalism (Srnicek).\nArtifact: A platform’s product changes (ads\, lock-in\, API closures).\nStudio Deliverable: Political economy diagnosis.\n\nWeek 6: What Is Progress? Left Futurism\n\nFocus: Defending progress without reproducing domination; Enlightenment vs. Reactionary Modernism.\nCore Reading: Inventing The Future (Srnicek & Williams).\nSuggested Additional Readings: Russian Cosmism (Boris Groys); The Cybernetic Brain (Pickering).\nArtifact: Dystopia vs. “critical hope” film clips.\nStudio Deliverable: “Progress criteria” (values + indicators).\n\nWeek 7: Security Stack: War\, Policing\, & Borders\n\nFocus: Technology entangled with state violence and carceral regimes.\nCore Reading: Selections from The Palestine Laboratory (Antony Loewenstein).\nSuggested Additional Readings: Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence (Ruha Benjamin).\nArtifact: Investigative piece on surveillance tech in public life.\nStudio Deliverable: Safeguards & governance specification.\n\nWeek 8: Reclaiming Futurity: Transhumanism\n\nFocus: Reclaiming the future from libertarian techno-utopianism.\nCore Reading: Selections from The Transhumanist Reader.\nSuggested Additional Readings: From Transgender to Transhuman (Martine Rothblatt); The Transhumanist Bill of Rights 3.0.\nArtifact: A “future of humanity” narrative treated as ideology.\nStudio Deliverable: “Futures stance” (commitments + refusals).\n\nWeek 9: Public vs. Private: Rebuilding the Internet\n\nFocus: Digital infrastructure as a public good; the commons and interoperability.\nCore Reading: Internet For The People (Ben Tarnoff).\nSuggested Reading: Platform Socialism (James Muldoon); Peer to Peer: The Commons Manifesto.\nArtifact: Participants join a federated service (e.g.\, Fediverse).\nStudio Deliverable: Public Internet Plan for a city or region.\n\nWeek 10: Worldbuilding Studio: From Framework to Movement\n\nFocus: Sustaining communities of practice and coalition pathways.\nCore Reading: Selections from Envisioning Real Utopias (Erik Olin Wright).\nSuggested Additional Readings: Liberal Socialism and Cosmopolitan Socialism (Matt McManus).\nArtifact: Participant showcase of projects as “world fragments”.\nCapstone Deliverable: Cohort “Worldbuilding Intervention” and a 90-day continuation plan.
URL:https://ieet.org/event/ieet-summer-course-on-technoprogressive-worldbuilding-online/
LOCATION:Online
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