Dear all,
I teach every year (this fall fourth time) a general education
course Information Science for freshmen and sophomores which
has as its main objective to present not an existing
discipline, but a potential unified approach to study complex
issues related to globalization. Globalization is a leitmotif
of the curriculum at our university. I am trying to show that
the concept of information, although not very clearly defined
yet, can be useful in dealing with several fundamental
problems for the future of humanity. I am giving short and
very general expositions of topics such as, language and other
forms of communication, telecommunication, cryptography,
genetics, life and organism, computation. Then we are trying
to identify what makes the mechanisms involved
similar, and the expected answer is "information". I am
referring to the five great metaphors in the history of
Western Thought, which were used to model reality: Human
organism (as microcosm to explain functioning of macrocosm in
medieval interpretations of neoplatonism), mechanical clock,
steam machine, telecommunication, computer. In each case, I am
showing the presence of the intuitive concept of information.
Finally, I am presenting analysis of global warming,
pandemics, and other threats to humanity from the unified
perspective of information.
The biggest problem for me is to find materials for students
which are not exceedingly detailed and difficult, but also not
trivial. Do you have any suggestions?
Regards,
Marcin
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