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Images of Computing
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:02:08
Abstract
This seminar will explore different areas of our social and scientific life where computational practices have a critical impact. The goal is to provide a pluralistic conception of computing based on what computing looks like when dealing with topics as diverse as climate, law, art, or war. The lectures are delivered by researchers from ETH and abroad, with different disciplinary backgrounds.
Objective
By the end of the course, students will be able to describe and compare different conceptions and practices of computing from multiple disciplinary perspectives. They will be able to evaluate both the differences and the convergences between those conceptions, and critically assess their relation to current trends in science, technology, and society.
Content
Computing has become omnipresent in all dimensions of scientific and social life. Not only have cultural phenomena increasingly become the object of computational analysis, but computational practices have also proved inseparable from the cultural environment in which they evolve. Therefore, it is urgent to critically address the entanglement of computing practices with the main cultural challenges our epoch is facing. The global and collective nature of such problems requires a comprehensive perspective on computing, where social and cultural aspects occupy a central position. For these reasons, thinking about machines asks today for an interdisciplinary approach, where art is as necessary as engineering, anthropological insights as important as psychological models, and the critical perspectives of history and philosophy as decisive as the axioms and theorems of theoretical computer science. In this new edition of the Turing Centre’s “Images…” lecture series, we will explore different areas of our current social and scientific life where computational practices have a critical impact in order to reflect on the multiple images of computing resulting from them. Instead of asking what computing is in general, the seminar intends to focus on what computing looks like when dealing, for instance, with a climate model, a text of law, a work of art, a mathematical proof, or a weapon of war. The goal is to achieve a pluralistic conception of computing where its scientific, technical, and cultural aspects remain indissociable. The lectures will be delivered by researchers from ETH and abroad with different disciplinary backgrounds. As part of the Turing Centre, this seminar intends to sow the seed of a suitable and long-term environment for exchanging ideas between multiple fields in the natural sciences and the humanities.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- DS , MSC
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise | Images of Computing |
|
2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Science in Perspective (In “Science in Perspective”-courses students learn to reflect on ETH’s STEM subjects from the perspective of humanities, political and social sciences. Only the courses listed below will be recognized as "Science in Perspective" courses.)
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Type A: Enhancement of Reflection Competence (SiP courses are recommended for bachelor students after their first-year examination and for all master- or doctoral students. All SiP courses are listed in Type A. Courses listed under Type B are only recommendations for enrollment for specific departments.)
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