{"id":6079,"date":"2021-02-09T08:34:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-09T13:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=6079"},"modified":"2021-02-09T08:52:22","modified_gmt":"2021-02-09T13:52:22","slug":"what-does-the-future-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2021\/02\/09\/what-does-the-future-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does the Future Hold?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustrations by Stuart Bradford<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past year has been described by many as a dumpster fire. Knowing our world problems won\u2019t magically disappear, we need to ask: What\u2019s next? Professors offer their insights. <\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Fragile Web <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If 2020 taught us anything, it\u2019s how much we rely on the internet. Whether shopping (Amazon), working (Zoom), or just relaxing with the family (Netflix), we rely on digital connection for nearly every aspect of life. We\u2019re so used to being online, we hardly realize how dependent we are \u2014 that is, until a technical glitch crashes part of the internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA network goes down, and suddenly hundreds of flights are grounded,\u201d says Aaron Gember-Jacobson<\/a>, who teaches the course The Unreliable Internet. \u201cOr half of Japan experiences an outage because of one small error Google made in an update.\u201d In fact, he says, the internet is much more vulnerable than we realize, with implications for future economic stability, international security, and personal privacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An assistant professor of computer science<\/a>, Gember-Jacobson has studied networks for more than a decade, examining what makes them break down and how to make them more resilient. Part of the trouble is the complexity of the infrastructure, which relies on multiple layers all communicating seamlessly. At the same time, decisions on protocols made more than 30 years ago remain embedded in the internet today. \u201cThe main way traffic gets routed on the internet was thought up by some people and written on a napkin over lunch,\u201d he says. Then there is the physical nature of the internet \u2014 the vast network of cables running beneath the streets and the massive data centers vulnerable to environmental threats such as the wildfires or rising sea levels due to climate change. Through his class, Gember-Jacobson says, \u201cstudents start to realize that the internet is a very tangible thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of his class, he also shows students just how easily hackers can steal personal information. Gember-Jacobson builds a fake, seemingly secure wireless network, and then shows his students how much information is exposed when he connects to the fake network and browses the web. Even though security systems exist, he says, they aren\u2019t as widely used as they should be because network administrators often find them onerous. \u201cYou have to create motivation to use them,\u201d he says. Finally, he drives home the growing disparity in internet access, with communities of color particularly losing out on connection that creates prosperity. [For more on this, see Bridging Divides.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a form of redlining that\u2019s taking place with broadband infrastructure,\u201d he says. As our lives continue to move online, he says, it\u2019s crucial we take steps to secure the internet physically and virtually, and create future access for everyone. \u201cThere are a lot of moments in class [in which students say], \u2018Oh wow, I never thought about that before,\u2019\u201d Gember-Jacobson says. \u201cStudents start to realize just how much they\u2019ve taken for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Michael Blanding <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"a<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Artificial, but Intelligent? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From 2001: A Space Odyssey <\/em>to WALL-E <\/em>to Ex Machina<\/em>, contemporary culture is crawling with robots. So is real life, Krista Kennedy<\/a> says: spellchecker software corrects our typos, Alexa plays our favorite songs, and Google Maps tells us how to get where we need to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as Kennedy, an NEH visiting professor of writing and rhetoric<\/a>, also points out, \u201cWe humans have desired objects that can do our bidding for a very long time.\u201d One of the earliest examples is the Antikythera mechanism, a complex mechanical \u201ccomputer\u201d that was used to track the cycles of the solar system at the end of the 2nd century B.C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her Rhetoric and Robots class, Kennedy wants students to explore robots through cultural rhetorics. Whether ancient, medieval, or modern, the stories we tell ourselves about automation reveal how we process our anxieties and hopes with regard to technology and our relationship to it. They also bring up interesting, sometimes challenging questions: Why do we prefer a robot to be humanoid, rather than just a square metal box? Can a robot have rhetorical agency?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students investigate these and other questions by reading Greek myths, academic articles about artificial intelligence and human\/machine collaboration, and news reports about robotic caregivers. They also watch movies \u201ctogether,\u201d viewing them as a class via Zoom while discussing them using the chat box. This in itself is interesting, according to Kennedy. \u201cYou see a different side of your students when they\u2019re \u2018talking\u2019 in a purely textual manner,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toward the end of the course, Kennedy, who has worn a hearing aid since age 2, invites students to consider medical wearables and prosthetics and what constitutes a \u201ccyborg body.\u201d Her current smart assistive device uses algorithms to, among other actions, modulate the quality of sounds in different environments. Taking into account what the students have read, watched, and discussed over the semester, she asks, \u201cDoes that make me a cyborg?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Sarah Baldwin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s War Good For?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When students come into Danielle Lupton<\/a>\u2019s Global Peace & War class, they often arrive with an extreme view of international conflict. \u201cThey come with preconceived notions about war being this exceptional event that we somehow happen into,\u201d she says, \u201cwhen actually there\u2019s lots of stuff that happens before we end up in war.\u201d Most importantly, Lupton explains, war is a policy choice, entered into deliberately by world leaders for specific reasons and with specific hoped-for ends. \u201cSo why do we go into war in some cases and not in others?\u201d asks the associate professor of political science. \u201cWe need to look at the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can see changes in response as a leader\u2019s reputation changes throughout that leader\u2019s tenure.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>Prof. Danielle Lupton<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That evidence-based approach to world conflict reaches as far back as Greek city-states and the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia in order to better explain when and why countries use military force as opposed to negotiation or crisis bargaining to achieve their political ends. While the class considers a range of international relations theories, Lupton\u2019s own work particularly stresses the importance of decisions made by individual leaders, rather than more monolithic concerns of states. In her recent book, Reputation for Resolve<\/em>, for example, she examines the crucial part individual reputations play in international relations through the differing approaches of the Soviet Union\u2019s Nikita Khrushchev toward presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. \u201cWe can see changes in response as a leader\u2019s reputation changes throughout that leader\u2019s tenure,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In past semesters, Lupton\u2019s course has lent itself to rich debates, with students ranging from first-year art<\/a> majors to senior political science<\/a> majors, and including participants from all over the world. \u201cIt\u2019s been really exciting to have such a globally engaged and diverse student body with many different views and perspectives,\u201d she says. They are now applying the lessons of the past at a crucial time for the United States, as Americans face a crisis of legitimacy following Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cgo it alone\u201d approach to foreign policy that often left allies out in the cold. \u201cOne of the questions we need to ask is how much [President] Biden\u2019s foreign policy will be constrained by decisions made by the Trump administration,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat are the trade-offs between being able to pursue one\u2019s own self-interest versus acquiring legitimacy? And how does one exercise their power when there are tensions with allies?\u201d How the country answers those questions could determine its role in global conflict for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Michael Blanding<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Glimpse Into Colgate\u2019s Future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The forthcoming expansion of Olin Hall, with a new east wing, will integrate the physical environment with the ideals and mission of the Robert H.N. Ho Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative (MBBI). Launched with a $15 million gift from its namesake, this is a central component of Colgate\u2019s commitment to rigorous interdisciplinary research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This space will include a two-story atrium as well as areas for study, collaboration, and conversation. The perimeter will house faculty and administrative offices, while the upper floors will feature labs, classrooms, and offices. A basement level will provide opportunities to develop labs and other spaces that respond to future needs of scientific inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A renovated Olin Hall will house Colgate\u2019s Brain Recording and Cognitive Science Lab; an integrative molecular genetics and genomics hub, including technology for DNA and RNA sequencing and transcriptomics; and the Human Interaction Lab, hosting research into leadership as a dynamic force rooted in the traits, competencies, and motives of those who lead.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Examining What Matters <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Jessica Davenport<\/a> came to Colgate as a postdoctoral fellow this academic year, she radically transformed the course Religion in the Contemporary World. The course focused on one issue: Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe expectation is for students to think about how religions inform some of the most pressing issues of our times,\u201d Davenport explains. \u201cIt seemed apt to talk about this movement that has galvanized young people around racial justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she re-envisioned it, the course engaged two questions: how Black Lives Matter compares to other historical movements such as the civil rights movement; and how the movement expands our notions of what religion can be. \u201cWe don\u2019t necessarily affiliate Black Lives Matter with religious traditions in the same way that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was adamantly part of the Christian tradition,\u201d Davenport says. Black Lives Matter leaders such as Patrisse Cullors, however, have framed the movement in spiritual terms. \u201cIn light of how Black death has in many ways become normalized in larger society, Cullors sees the movement as what she calls \u2018spiritual work.\u2019 That is, as a \u2018re-humanizing project\u2019 that emphasizes the flourishing of Black lives,\u201d says Davenport, a scholar of Black religion who earned her doctorate at Rice University. \u201cIt\u2019s not institutional religious traditions; they see themselves as having a spiritual and moral responsibility to their communities and to their ancestors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe expectation is for students to think about how religions inform some of the most pressing issues of our times.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>Prof. Jessica Davenport<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While Black Lives Matter activists have used church resources in their organizing, many have also critiqued institutional religion\u2019s discrimination, for example, against queer and gender nonconforming people. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging the church to rethink ideas about how it is engaging in exclusionary religious practices.\u201d The class also challenged some students\u2019 ideas about religion as a negative influence in the world, breeding fanaticism and even terrorism. \u201cSome students come into class wanting to throw the book at religion as this fundamentally oppressive enterprise,\u201d Davenport says. \u201cIt\u2019s pushes them to think more expansively about how religion has been used in the interest of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than anything, she says, Black Lives Matter asks questions of eschatology \u2014 the theology of the end times. \u201cBlack Lives Matter engages with this idea of the \u2018end of the world as we know it,\u2019 meaning the end of a world that is built on white supremacist power structures,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s asking, \u2018What does the world look like after those structures are brought to an end?\u2019\u201d On one level, of course, that question is answered by the Black Lives Matter platform of criminal justice reform, health care expansion, and other policy positions. But on another level, Davenport argues, it can only be answered in spiritual terms. \u201cMany people look at Black Lives Matter as a resistance movement, and that\u2019s true \u2014 they are trying to tear down a lot of things,\u201d she says, \u201cbut they are also trying to imagine and build a more just world in its place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Michael Blanding<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"collage<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s All Connected <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Poverty and pandemics. Warfare, floods, and fires. It\u2019s easy to see how the prevalence and intensity of such problems can lead to catastrophic thinking about the state \u2014 and the fate \u2014 of the world. When Teo Ballv\u00e9<\/a>, assistant professor of peace and conflict studies<\/a> and geography<\/a>, explores these problems in his course titled Is the Planet Doomed?, he does so through the framework of \u201cthe four Cs of the Apocalypse\u201d: climate, capital, conflict, and cities. Above all, Ballv\u00e9 wants his students to understand that these problems are interconnected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[We try] to break down the kind of mental boxes that we use to think about the world,\u201d he says. \u201cWe often confuse academic disciplines like economics, sociology, or environmental studies for the way in which the world actually works. But there is no little box called \u2018society\u2019 that\u2019s hermetically sealed and independent from a little box called \u2018the economy\u2019 that\u2019s independent from a little box called \u2018global health.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From climate change to geopolitics to the global economy, all \u201cworld systems\u201d constantly interact with each other, creating feedback loops and knock-on effects. Students learn to connect the emergence of new diseases to capitalism, as in the case of the 1990s flu strain tied to China\u2019s adoption of the industrial factory farm model, which originated in the southern United States. And they unpack how climate change caused an El Ni\u00f1o event in the Pacific, which in turn caused widespread drought, which destroyed wheat crops, which sent global food prices soaring, which fomented protests across an already unstable Middle East, contributing to the Arab Spring of 2011. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the world through the lens of geography enables students to see how, in Ballv\u00e9\u2019s words, \u201cwhat\u2019s happening way over there is connected to what\u2019s happening way over here, and vice versa.\u201d It\u2019s also a way to bring problems down to scale, showing students that while trying to get 8 billion people to make their behavior more environmentally friendly can seem daunting, regulating an entire single sector, such as the cement industry or petrochemical manufacturing, can lead to vast reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who enroll in Ballv\u00e9\u2019s course in hopes of hearing an unequivocally reassuring answer to the question it poses will be disappointed. But they will gain a deeper understanding of the world\u2019s most vexing problems \u2014 and perhaps ways to begin to fix them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnderstanding that these challenges are not as random or chaotic as they seem, that there are systems at work,\u201d he says, \u201cis a first step toward action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Sarah Baldwin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Teo Ballv\u00e9 recently organized the panel discussion \u201c21st Century Plagues: The Political, Ecological, and Environmental Dimensions of Pandemic Disease,\u201d with experts from around the country. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Diversifying the Faculty and the Curriculum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Colgate became part of the Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD), which brought two scholars \u2014 including Jessica Davenport \u2014 to campus in the fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In becoming a member of the consortium, Colgate joined more than 60 other liberal arts colleges. The CFD partners premier research universities in the nation with leading liberal arts colleges to appoint scholars of color who have recently completed their doctoral degrees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CFD scholars come directly to Colgate through new postdoctoral fellowships and teach the University\u2019s curriculum. During 2019\u201320, Colgate identified the two fellows who would begin in fall 2020. This University initiative is a facet of Colgate\u2019s Plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the advantages of the CFD, says Associate Dean of the Faculty for Faculty Recruitment and Development Lesleigh Cushing<\/a>, is it allows Colgate to take its curriculum in new directions \u2014 like Davenport\u2019s Religion in the Contemporary World course. \u201cThe idea that we could bring somebody in who could talk about race and religion right now in America and the Black Lives Matter movement was really exciting for us,\u201d Cushing says. \u201cShe took a course that we\u2019ve had and made it into something that speaks to this past year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davenport is teaching three courses this academic year, and although they\u2019re all housed under the religion department, her courses count for credits in other areas like art and art history and Africana and Latin American studies<\/a>. \u201cWe see her as a person who can connect us to other programs and departments,\u201d says Cushing, who is also the Murray W. and Mildred K. Finard Professor in Jewish studies<\/a> and professor of religion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CFD was founded more than 30 years ago and is hosted by Gettysburg College. Its mission is to increase the diversity of faculty members at liberal arts colleges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also provides scholars from Research I universities the opportunity to experience the liberal arts setting and potentially become full-time faculty members, Cushing notes. \u201cI really like that aspect of opening up the liberal arts for more people to think about it as a professional choice \u2014 giving people a chance to see what it\u2019s like to be in a much more engaged, teaching-oriented but research-focused area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the 2021\u201322 academic year, Colgate will invite three more scholars to campus. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past year has been described by many as a dumpster fire. Knowing our world problems won\u2019t magically disappear, we need to ask: What\u2019s next? Professors offer their insights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1210,"featured_media":6088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[249],"coauthors":[521,153],"class_list":["post-6079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","tag-faculty"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-1A3","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/02\/2-FutureOpenerFinal2f.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6079"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6249,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6079\/revisions\/6249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6079"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}