In-Class Essay #3

The final in-class essay will take place during Finals Week on Monday, December 8th at 10:30 AM, which is our scheduled final examination time according to the Fall 2025 Final Exams Calendar.

Write a short essay of at least three handwritten pages that addresses the prompt on page two. There is one prompt, but it gives you the option to focus on one or two of a wide array of topics.

Think carefully about the question and your own intuitions about it. Which texts and objects from this course best help you think through the prompt? Then put yourself in conversation with at least two authors that we have read in class.

Make sure at least one of the authors comes from the following list from the last third of the course readings (in order of appearance in the reader):

Kim Stanley Robinson (Jevons’ Paradox), Li Zehou (human evolution), Søren Mau (social toolbuilders), Sarah Henderen (disability and the built environment), Don Ihde (embodiment), James Gibson (affordances), Albert Borgmann (the device paradigm), Lewis Mumford (tool vs machine), Gilbert Simondon (form and matter), David F. Noble (automation), James Boggs (automation), Beth Coleman (race as technology), Yuk Hui (cosmotechnics), Donna Haraway (cyborg politics), Sylvia Wynter (re-enchanted humanism), Walter Benjamin (distraction and “To the Planetarium”).

The other author may come from any part of the reader or course. You may discuss more than two authors but are only obligated to cite two. By “cite,” we mean you must reference and adequately represent the author’s ideas, and preferably engage in conversation with them.

This is an open-book exam: You are allowed to use your course reader (yellow bound volume), including any hand-written notes you have taken in it. No other notes or references are allowed. No phones, laptops, or other electronic devices are allowed.

For more on what we expect from these essays, see Grading Levels for In-Class Essays.

Students who have active disability accommodations that conflict with the guidelines above (such as extended testing time, low-distraction testing environment, screen/keyboard access, or others) should contact DRS testing services at least 10 days before this in-class essay to schedule in-center testing. You may schedule your test any time within 36 hours (before or after) of the in-class testing time.