Scribner Seminar Program
Course Description

how do you know?

Instructor(s): David Read, Computer Science

They are the best band. I was born in 2002. That company is the worst polluter. These cities offer the most diverse recreational facilities. How do you *know*? Where does information come from? Why trust it? How does memory inform thinking, learning, and reasoning? How are intelligence and computation related to these concepts?

As a group, we will explore the idea that you can only know and be known through data. All your interactions and sensory experiences arrive as packets of data. Further, our computers and phones, providing much of our world view, can only store and retrieve data. Here we seek to define "data," its limitations, and our interactions with it. Whether "compression algorithms," "fake news," or "artificial intelligence," we and our devices actively and passively collect, modify, and ignore data. These actions define how we perceive reality. Understanding data is fundamental to understanding ourselves.

Course Offered:

• Fall 2022