Bigger, Faster, Better: article 1

I think most graduate students TA during their first year at school. In my department, it is different. You have to TA for as many semesters as you are not supported by a research fellowship from a professor. As I was not in a research group for the entire fall semester of my first year, I owe 1 semester of TAing. I might owe another one down the line, but we'll see.

They called on me to TA a freshman "I series" course. The "I" stands for issues, imagination, intellect, inspiration, innovation, and implementation. It's basically a freshman seminar, but I think it is only for engineering students. The course is called "Bigger, Faster, Better: The Quest for Absolute Technology." I'm really looking forward to it. The course description on the syllabus reads:

Applied science and engineering concepts necessary to understand technological advances, breakthroughs and world-leading achievements that have shaped our present lives and will impact our future will be covered. The political, economic, and personal driving forces behind selected technological transformations, societal contexts, and conflicts that are inherent in unsustainable technology will also be covered.

The class meets on Tu/Th and there are two discussion sections on Fridays (half the class in each). Let it be known that this is the first of a series of articles on what gets discussed in the class. Hopefully we can get our minds stirring...