SOCIO 1101 · A Cultural History of Machines

Led by Fritz Lang Simulacrum

Will machines destroy the world or rescue it? From Metropolis to Sun Ra to AI existential risk — the cultural history of technological fear and hope across the twentieth century.

1. Module 1

   The City Is a Machine: Fritz Lang's Metropolis

   Led by Fritz Lang Simulacrum

   The question

   The machine Maria is made of metal but shaped like a woman. The workers live underground; the owners live in towers. What does the visual grammar of Metropolis encode about the relationship between technology, class, and the body?

   Outcome

   The student can analyse Metropolis as a cultural representation of mechanisation and trace the class politics in its spatial design.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 1.1 Close Reading: The Machine Maria Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 1.2 Essay: The City as System Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Begin the course → Print certificate of completion
2. Module 2

   The Veil and the Machine: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Technologies of Race

   Led by Fritz Lang Simulacrum

   The question

   Du Bois built data visualisations of Black American life for the Paris Exposition of 1900. "The Comet" imagines the survivors of apocalypse — and what the ending reveals about the limits of the utopian moment. What does it mean for technology to reinforce the colour line?

   Outcome

   The student can apply double consciousness to the analysis of race and technology and compare Du Bois's speculative fiction with canonical SF.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 2.1 Primary Source Analysis: "The Comet" Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 2.2 Essay: Technology and the Colour Line Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
3. Module 3

   Space Is the Place: Sun Ra and the Afrofuturist Machine

   Led by Fritz Lang Simulacrum

   The question

   The US space programme excluded Black Americans. Sun Ra sent the Arkestra to Saturn. Both are claims about who belongs to the future. What is Afrofuturism — and what is the machine Sun Ra's film is escaping from?

   Outcome

   The student can describe Afrofuturism, analyse Sun Ra's work as cultural philosophy, and explain the racial politics of Cold War technological optimism.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 3.1 Film Analysis: Space Is the Place (1974) Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 3.2 Essay: The Space Race and Its Exclusions Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
4. Module 4

   The Culture Industry: Frankfurt School Critiques of Technological Mass Culture

   Led by Fritz Lang Simulacrum

   The question

   Adorno: mass culture standardises consciousness and produces consumers, not citizens. Benjamin: mechanical reproduction destroys the aura but creates democratic access. Who is right — and what does twentieth-century radio, film, and television decide?

   Outcome

   The student can describe the culture industry critique and apply the Adorno-Benjamin debate to specific mass media technologies.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 4.1 Close Reading: Dialectic of Enlightenment Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 4.2 Essay: Benjamin vs Adorno Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
5. Module 5

   Will Machines Destroy the World? From Cold War Panic to Existential Risk

   Led by Fritz Lang Simulacrum

   The question

   From Metropolis to Hiroshima to The Day the Earth Stood Still to contemporary AI risk — is the fear of machines a rational response to genuine risk, or a cultural displacement of other anxieties? Select three texts from the course and answer the question.

   Outcome

   The student can trace the cultural history of technological fear and write a synthesis essay connecting visual, literary, and musical representations.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 5.1 Film Analysis: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 5.2 Final Essay: The Long History of Technological Fear Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion