Julia Tomasson

This course introduces students to the critical and historical study of science, technology, and medicine by investigating “The Scientific Revolution.” While the extent to which it is singular, scientific, and/or revolutionary continues to be debated, from 1450 to 1750, the world and how humans came to know, engage, and change it were dramatically and rapidly transformed.

Information is everywhere—and a lot of it. But what is “information”? How is it different from “data” and “knowledge”? How have humans tried (successfully and unsuccessfully) to manage it? These are not modern problems; in fact, humans have been anxious about “information overload” for centuries now. This course offers a global survey that takes us back to the earliest systems of information management, storage, and retrieval (like early writing systems, i.e., cuneiform) to “solutions” to the “problem” of information that defy our expectations (like Andean textile record-keeping with Quipus) to the essentials of modern life (like computers and chip architecture). (D1; STS minor credit)