This SDG will be led by Marilyn Ruman, who has served as a docent at the Getty for 27 years, since the Getty Center opened in 1997. In addition to her knowledge of the collection, she has inside stories to share. The primary focus will be taking a closer look at some of the the museum’s collection. Participants will make an in-depth study of 10 significant works selected by the coordinator. The goal is to give participants a new way of viewing and appreciating art.

The first week, led by the coordinator will  be introductory  and held at the Getty center.  It will cover its history and include a tour of the buildings and the garden. Weeks 2 and 5 will also be held at the Getty Center   These sessions will be held in the morning starting at 10, last 3 hours, with an optional group lunch in the cafeteria.

The last 7 sessions will focus on the collection. 2 of these sessions, to be led by the coordinator onsite at the Getty. These will focus on 2 major periods/movements: Renaissance and Impressionist. Each of the 2 visits will focus on a subset of the 10 significant artworks in the collection that we will study in depth. This will include works by artists including, but not limited to, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Gogh, Renoir, Titian, Monet, and possibly Turner. Note: the coordinator will arrange reduced price or possibly free parking for these visits but we will need to carpool.  The coordinator will also include some optional subjects on each of these two visits, from the following possibilities:  Photography, Manuscripts, Conservation, or special exhibits.

The remaining 5 weeks will be held at Gayley and led by the remaining participants. Each of these weeks will focus on 2 of the 10 selected artworks. We will do an in-depth study of the work itself, the artist, the historical context, and compare this work to related works by the same or other artists.  

Robert Sapolsky’s Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will is a thought-provoking exploration of human behavior and the science behind our decisions. This book challenges traditional notions of free will, arguing that genetics, environment, and neuroscience dictate our actions more than we realize. Sapolsky combines biology, psychology, and philosophy, making complex ideas accessible and engaging. For a science-oriented reading group, Determined offers rich discussions on morality, responsibility, and the biological roots of behavior. With its interdisciplinary approach and compelling storytelling, it’s an ideal choice for those eager to examine the scientific forces shaping human nature. 

The book argues that human behavior is entirely shaped by biological and environmental factors, challenging traditional notions of autonomy. The implications of determinism on ethics, justice, and personal accountability are explored, questioning how society should approach blame and praise.

But is he right? Contrary views are welcome throughout and will be the focus of the final session.

The core book is Philip Shenon's Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church.  The book provides an unprecedented look at the defining struggles of the modern Catholic Church from  the end of WW II until the present day. We will spend time on each pontiff but of particular interest is Pope Pius XII  and his controversial interactions with Mussolini and Hitler; Pope John XXIII who ushered in major reforms culminating in Vatican II;  John Paul II  who was a major actor in the fall of Communism in Poland;  Pope Francis of Argentina who also brought great changes to Catholicism during his papacy.    We will examine the struggles between liberals and conservatives, over modernity,  clerical celibacy, the role of women, abortion, birth control, gays, the relationship with other religions, obligations  to the poor, the role of the laity, the Vatican's bureaucracy,  the liturgy, and  the sexual abuse scandal. We will also view three films including Conclave, which explores how Popes are chosen, The Two Popes detailing the relationship between the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and the future Pope Francis and Spotlight, which examines the sexual abuse scandal in Boston.   

Today's Africa is no longer a place of open plains dotted by tiny villages. Africa has large cities with all the elements of modern life - global connections and instant communications, high rise buildings, world-class sports and entertainment.  They also have the same modern problems - poverty, homelessness, dangerous areas and violent crime.  Murder and mayhem are part our world and Africa has more than it's share.   In this SDG we will explore this dark side of the people and culture of Africa through seven distinguished crime novels set in five African countries; Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Botswana and Kenya.  This is a fourteen week SDG but we will only meet in Westwood every other week to discuss the dark side of the dark continent.

Today's Africa is no longer a place of open plains dotted by tiny villages. Africa has large cities with all the elements of modern life - global connections and instant communications, high rise buildings, world-class sports and entertainment. They also have the same modern problems - poverty, homelessness, dangerous areas and violent crime. Murder and mayhem are part our world and Africa has more than it's share. In this SDG we will explore this dark side of the people and culture of Africa through seven distinguished crime novels set in five African countries; Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Botswana and Kenya. This is a fourteen-week SDG but we will only meet in Westwood every other week to discuss the dark side of the dark continent.

   Cervantes' Don Quixote has long been seen as the first modern novel, indeed as the fountainhead of European and American fiction, the work that teaches us both how to read and the ways that the world reads us. As we follow the meandering path of the deluded Don on his ancient horse, accompanied by his faithful squire Sancho Panza, we learn how to feel, how to think. As Nabokov said, Don Quixote "stands for everything that is gentle, forlorn, pure, unselfish, and gallant. The parody has become a paragon." In this SDG, we will read the novel in Edith Grossman's acclaimed translation, about 85 pages a week. We will conclude by discussing the novel's impact on later art and culture, taking Picasso's etchings of Don Quixote and Dale Wasserman's filmed musical, The Man of La Mancha, as jumping-off points and ending with a clip of Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle.

 Coordinator: Anne Mellor

Format:  Gayley

 What is  the new shape of geopolitics—one in which the U.S. mobilizes its economic and financial pre-eminence for geopolitical objectives, especially in its clashes with China, Iran and Russia. It’s the story of a world economy that has moved from confident globalization to increasing fragmentation and in which economic warfare has become “a baseline feature of our world.”

Of course, there’s nothing new about economic warfare. Athens in the fifth century B.C. deployed its mighty navy to impose a trade embargo on the city-state of Megara. The blockade succeeded but also backfired, helping precipitate a war with Sparta that would shatter Athens’s golden age.

Today we see Mr. Trump’s penchant for tariffs, marking a reversion from the long trend toward trade liberalization that began with the revulsion against the trade wars of the 1930s. The second Trump administration is not hesitating to impose and brandish tariffs against both allies and adversaries, whether to offset trade deficits or to achieve other policy goals. At the same time, Moscow is already making clear in negotiations over its war against Ukraine that the removal of all sanctions is a primary objective.

If you are looking for a timely guide to the fragmenting of the global economy and the rising tensions that go with it, this SDG is for you!

"He was the theater’s most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century..."

So began the very first sentence of the New York Time’s obituary for Stephen Sondheim. It succinctly sums up Stephen Sondheim’s importance to the American Musical Theatre. He moved the musical from the tuneful, entertaining and formulaic storytelling of Jerome Kern, Rogers and Hammerstein and Jerry Herman to one of complexity, urban sophistication and the ambiguities of the human experience.

Each week we will view and discuss one of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals beginning with West Side Story and moving chronologically through to Merrily We Roll Along. Our constant guide for our journey will be none other than Mr. Sondheim himself as related in our core book, Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. This book, penned by Sondheim, as the title suggests, provides an inside look into each production including lyrics, history and personal insights. Our second core book will be He Never Did Anything Twice: Deconstructing Stephen Sondheim by Scott Miller which provides detailed critical analyses of the Sondheim oeuvre. These book will be augmented with archival interviews of Sondheim and other key members from each production. Each week will also include an analysis of one song from the show as well as a look at how the production was initially received by the theatre critics of the time.

"He was the theater’s most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century..."

So began the very first sentence of the New York Time’s obituary for Stephen Sondheim. It succinctly sums up Stephen Sondheim’s importance to the American Musical Theatre. He moved the musical from the tuneful, entertaining and formulaic storytelling of Jerome Kern, Rogers and Hammerstein and Jerry Herman to one of complexity, urban sophistication and the ambiguities of the human experience.

Each week we will view and discuss one of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals beginning with West Side Story and moving chronologically through to Merrily We Roll Along. Our constant guide for our journey will be none other than Mr. Sondheim himself as related in our core book, Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. This book, penned by Sondheim, as the title suggests, provides an inside look into each production including lyrics, history and personal insights. Our core book will be augmented with archival interviews of Sondheim and other key members from each production. Each week will also include an analysis of one song from the show as well as a look at how the production was initially received by the theatre critics of the time.

PLEASE NOTE:  This will be a hybrid.  11 persons at Gayley and 3 persons on Zoom.  If you are registered for Gayley you do not have the option of attending the class on Zoom.

Also the SDG will start promptly at 10:30 and end at 12:30pm.

Far beyond his early roles as a handsome cowboy, Clint Eastwood became one of the most successful and admired motion picture directors. In a working period surpassing fifty years, his work with his production team and his actors has become legendary  His films go deep within the motives and means of the protagonist.  He draws out the character of his characters. In some of these films he acts; in several he  is credited with the musical score. We will view and discuss fourteen of his most significant films, diving deeply into their content as well as reviewing their technical brilliance.

     Crises in foreign affairs are inevitable. They often happen without warning and they affect both the country and the reputation of the president.  The become immediately crucial and how the president acted had very important consequences, both short and long term.  Personnel in the government are tasked with gathering intelligence on possible coming crises and dealing with crises once they arise. But it is the duty of the president to evaluate a crisis and then to act in the best interest of the country.

     All of us can remember the listed crises. They stayed on the front pages and TV news shows for extended periods. They created strong feelings in all of us. They are etched in our memories. Now that time has passed, we can look back on them more dispassionately, place them in context and evaluate the risks they presented and the results.

     In reading about these crises, one is struck by the different ways in which presidents perceived the interest of the United States and the different ways in which they reacted when suddenly faced with a crisis. We can try to put ourselves in the position of the president facing a crisis.

      The purposes of this SDG are to re-visit some of the most important crises of the post-World War II period, to evaluate the performance of the president and the governmental apparatus with respect to each of them; to look at the results of the ways in which they were handled; and to see if they teach us anything about future crises should be handled. The schedule also includes a session on the reasons for and use of the White House Situation Room.

     Some of the questions we will address are the following:

What role do a president’s background, education and experience play in dealing with a crisis?

What role does a president’s personality and general outlook play?

How should a president use the advice of his principal advisors?

Should the president seek advice from outside his principal advisors?

Has the government been properly staffed to advise the president in a crisis?

What role does (should) domestic politics play in dealing with a crisis?

Are there instances where a considered reaction is at odds with the public perception of the need for presidential action? If so, which should prevail?

Is there, or should there be, a recognized way to deal with a foreign crisis, taking into account the crisis itself, the reputation of the United States in the world and domestic politics?

In each of the listed crises, did the president handle it successfully?  What other viable choices were available?  Why were they rejected?

 For 25 centuries Greek tragedy has had a lasting impact on Western culture: from Roman literature and Renaissance art, to the creation of opera, the language of philosophy and modern psychology (Freud’s ”Oedipus complex”), and innumerable modern plays These Greek plays remain deeply embedded in Western culture. In this SDG we will read and discuss three plays each by the three greatest tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

Each year the playwrights wrote, staged, and choreographed a slate of three plays – a trilogy - in a competition before an audience of 14,000 Athenians The actors were all men, but wearing masks they depicted a variety of characters from young girls to old men and even divinities. We will see how the dramatists took familiar myths and applied the intellectual insights of their own times. There are no easy moral lessons – most characters are a mix of good and evil as they pursue vengeance. The plays often end with the triumph of law over moral chaos.

 We will start with Aeschylus’ trilogy Oresteia containing Agamemnon, Libation Bearers and Eumenides. We will move on to Sophocles’ Oedipus, Antigone, and Electra, and conclude with Euripides Medea, Trojan Women, and The Bacchae.

Coordinator: Ron Mellor

Format:  Gayley

When I started noticing references to HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE, (written by Levitsky and Ziblatt)‚ I thought I should buy that book. Then I remembered – I own that book and read it half-way through D J Trump’s first term. Then I turned to PERPLEXITY to ask if the book had been updated, and the answer was no. Then I thought that we at PLATO should update it in an SDG, and that’s what I’m proposing.

In our weekly discussions we’ll discuss what’s happening now in each of the seven categories discussed in this book. We’ll also try to figure out how we’ve gotten to the situation we’re in now and how, if ever, we can make change happen.

METAPHYSICS

This SDG is designed for thoughtful enthusiasts who want to research and debate some of the most fundamental questions in philosophy. We will look together at the concepts that underpin our most basic ideas of what exists. These include what makes a thing a thing, matter, time and space, language, personal identity, and existence. There is a long philosophical tradition behind many of these ideas, going back to Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle, alongside more modern writers such as Descartes, Hume, Kant and Wittgenstein.

Don’t let this program intimidate you. You do not require any background in philosophy, just an openness of mind and a willing curiosity to engage with these ideas. 

Our central text is Metaphysics by Stephen Mumford, now Professor of Philosophy at Durham University in the UK. It is one of the Oxford Very Short Introductions, published in 2012, ISBN 978-0199657124. It is relatively short and clearly written, despite the complexity of the ideas involved. It is also available on Kindle and this is fine to use as the few photos it contains are not central to any of the arguments. Mumford has written other philosophy books including one on football (ie soccer).

We will take each chapter week by week, and the final week will let us discuss any matters we have not dealt with satisfactorily.

The SDG will meet in person at Gayley.

Have you ever wondered about

The origins of antisemitism

The Roman conquest of Jerusalem 

The differences and similarities of Ancient Roman and Jewish attitudes towards wealth, the elderly, entertainment, food, government, justice, and taxes

Who was Herod the Great

What is portrayed on the Arch of Titus in Rome

What happened at Masada

Why  the Romans destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem

Oxford University professor of Roman and Jewish history Martin Goodman explains all this and much more in our core book, Rome and Jerusalem, The Clash of Ancient Civilizations. In this sdg we will learn about the complex and tumultuous relationship between the Roman Empire and the Jewish World which set the stage for the profound cultural and religious shifts that have shaped Western Civilization. We will learn about the pivotal events and ideological clashes that culminated in the devastating Jewish Revolt and the subsequent destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Sixty years later, after further violent rebellions and the city’s final destruction, Roman Emperor Hadrian built the new city of Aelia Capitolina where Jerusalem had once stood. Jews were barred from entering its territory. They were taxed simply for being Jewish. They were forbidden to worship their god.  The book also offers an exceptional account of the origins of antisemitism, the history of which reverberates still. Our core book not only chronicles historical facts; we will step into an era where empires clashed and destinies were forged to uncover the echoes of antiquity that still resonate today.

Reviewers are raving:

“This is a splendid book. It aims to treat two peoples as well as cities in the ancient world by comparing them in terms of each other’s world views and values.” - Zachary Esterson, Cardiff University

“Magisterial...Brilliant...It can sometimes seem as though the 21st century is being shaped by the fall...of Jerusalem.” - Tom Holland, The Sunday Times

“His style is brisk and clear, his learning prodigious and his scope immense...A compelling and timely book.” - Dominic Sandbrook, The Saturday Telegraph

“Well-written, detailed and meticulous...Provides an intricate examination of life in the 1st century.” - The Dallas Morning News

“A triumph...Goodman’s easy prose style produces a work that will reward any reader.” - Jerusalem Post

To be coordinated at Gayley by Barbara Shuwarger with Ken Korman as Co-coordinator. 

Join us as we discuss six recent international novels that have made a big impact despite their slim length. In settings that span the globe, we will examine how these diverse writers have managed to weave magic in a mere 200 pages or less: Offshore, Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel depicts an eccentric houseboat community living along the Thames as they float between loneliness and connection. The Sense of an Ending from Julian Barnes follows a middle-aged man as he confronts a forgotten past. In the Café of Lost Youth, Nobel Prize-winner, Patrick Modiano explores memory and forgetting in the shadowy world of a 1950's Paris café. Embers by Sandor Marai Is an intense novel set almost entirely over a single night in a decaying Hungarian castle, circling around an old betrayal between two former friends, now in their seventies, who meet again after forty-one years of silence. Orbital, Samantha Harvey's 2024 Booker prize- winning novel takes us aboard the International Space Station where six astronauts navigate bereavement, loneliness and spiritual fatigue. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is set in a small Irish town in 1985, where the discovery of the abuse of young women in a Magdalene laundry leads the main character to confront the town's silence.

It's been said, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." This SDG will explore 14 groundbreaking films and directors of the 1960s and 1970s- a transformative period in cinema marked by innovation, rebellion against traditional norms, and a new level of artistic expression. These films got something different, as they reflect the social, political, and cultural upheavals of their time, reshaping the language of cinema and influencing future generations of filmmakers.

Knowing is not the same as doing. The directors featured in this course did it differently: Hal Ashby, Arthur Penn, Stanley Kubrick, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, John Schlesinger and Roman Polanski- artists who crafted narratives that pushed boundaries, explored complex themes, and introduced novel filmmaking techniques. Their works defined what is now referred to as the New Hollywood Era.

SDG participants will earnestly research and enjoy discussions on  how these films reflected and influenced a rapidly changing society. We will analyze creative, new techniques, narrative innovations and cultural themes, gaining an understanding of why this era remains pivotal in film history. Beyond simple storylines and characters' relationships, we will examine the historical and cultural contexts of these films, the directors’ artistic newness and influence on modern cinema, and identify and consider key themes, including alienation, societal upheaval and moral ambiguity.

Films scheduled as of now, pending availability: Coming Home, Being There, Bonnie and Clyde, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Graduate, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Midnight Cowboy, Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown.  

Join Linda Kelemer and me for friendly and in-depth discussions and analysis, culminating in an appreciation of the lasting impact of the 1960s and 1970s cinematic revolution.

We will follow Peter Frankopan's new book, The Earth Transformed, where he is trying to accomplish three goals: First, to reinsert climate into the story of the past and to show how changes in climate have had an important impact on the world.  Second, to set out the story of human interaction with the natural world over millennia and to look how our species exploited, molded and bent the environment to its will, both for good and for ill. And third, to expand the geographic horizons of how we look at history, beyond the 'global north'.

This SDG will be based on The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780, the second volume of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Rick Atkinson’s, trilogy on the American Revolution.  Paul Markowitz and Sam Pryor will jointly coordinate.  Markowitz and Pryor led a very successful SDG based on the first volume of Atkinson's American Revolution trilogy, and are confident this second one will be similarly well received. It is intended to be a free-standing SDG with no requirement that members participated in the earlier one. 

In this second volume,  we will examine the middle years of The Revolution, in which George Washington and his troops struggle to defeat the most powerful armed service in the world. During this period some of the crucial events of the war took place, including Fort Ticonderoga, the Battle of Saratoga, the British occupation of Philadelphia, Valley Forge, Charleston, South Carolina, and the entry of France and Spain into the war. Atkinson is a brilliant and very readable author. The New York Times review of this second volume asserts “There is no better writer of narrative history than the Pulitzer Prize-winning Atkinson, who is able to transport readers to a different time and place without minimizing the differences of the past from the present.” Atkinson is able to portray not only the major battles and characters on both sides of the Atlantic, but also lesser characters and conflicts, including on the American frontier and the  civil wars being waged on the American side. Atkiinson is a master of detail, including those about people, nature, and technology, that help make his story novel and fascinating. The Times review describes this volume as “a gripping, masterfully told story,” “a riveting narrative” and “[a] brilliant account of the lethal conflict between the Americans and the British [that] offers not only deeply researched and spectacularly dramatic history, but also a new perspective on the demands that a democracy makes on its citizens.” The Times also described this volume as "compulsively readable" and included it in its Best Books of 2025.

But Atkinson’s focus is not simply on the war in the colonies, but the way in which the war spread around the world after the French entry in 1778, a conflict reaching from the Caribbean to Europe to India. One aspect, virtually unknown to Americans is the naval and land battle of St Lucia, where 1500 French soldiers died.

This SDG will also be especially timely since 2025 is the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the Revolution and interest is likely to be sparked by the attention that will surely attend this occasion.

Many religions and cultures have rituals structured around remembrance, a fact that suggests how central the ability to remember is to our sense of self, both as individuals and as communities. But how accurate are our memories, and in what ways do they truly shape us? And why does some of what we remember come to us easily, while other things remain maddeningly just out of reach?  Charan Ranganath, our core book author and a leading memory researcher, writes: “The mechanisms of memory were not cobbled together to help us remember the name of that guy we met at that thing.”

Rather than viewing forgetting as a failure, we come to understand it as an essential function that helps us prioritize relevant information and adapt to new situations. We learn that forgetting can even facilitate learning by clearing out irrelevant details.

We will study and discuss the science behind memory formation, the interplay between remembering and forgetting, and practical applications for improving memory function.  

Finally, in the last two weeks, armed with all we have learned, we will read and discuss insightful essays dealing with memory.

You go to the airport and your picture is taken at the security checkpoint. What is the imaging software doing and how? What features of your face are being scanned and how are they being matched against a database? Can you conceal your identity through expressions? Make-up? How did we get here?

The design of artificial vision involves some analysis of human cognition/perception and considerable processing of visual images and representations. Automated systems capable of “machine vision” are already being integrated into our lives. This SDG will look at the theoretical issues, historical development, and critical ideas at play in the current research in this field. Since many of these issues touch directly on our daily experience, the discussions will have relevance to ongoing activities.

This SDG looks at the development of computer vision (the capacity for machines to “see”) through a combination of materials. The core book, Jill Walker Rettberg, Machine Vision: How Algorithms are Changing the Way We See the World. (Polity Press, 2023), will be supplemented by readings freely available online. These will address theories of vision, models of vision and cognition, and some of the ways computer scientists have designed systems capable of artificial vision. Rettberg’s book is lively and information-rich book, but also filled with ideas that touch on the integration of artificial systems into our daily lives. The author discusses the ways automated visual technology is changing our understanding of identity, security, and the visible world. This book is a cultural investigation of the changes that innovations in technology, specifically algorithms relating to visual images, impact our activities.

In her first chapter, she offers a succinct history of optical technology—beginning with the oldest mirror, a surface of polished black obsidian which may date to 6000 BCE, ground glass lenses used in antiquity for magnification, and other extensions of human visual capacity from light-based to infrared cameras.

The central argument of the book is that technology cannot be examined without attention to the situations and circumstances of its use. She terms these relations between technologies and users “assemblages.” To illustrate this concept, she describes the difference between attitudes and effects of surveillance systems in the urban United States and in small-town Norway.

The book is organized in five chapters, that focus on different aspects of visual experience—Seeing More, Seeing, Differently, Seeing Everything, Being Seen and a Conclusion. The book is much more about ideas, cultural patterns, and experience than it is about technology and the questions it raises about how we understand ourselves and the world through digitally mediated images. Who doesn’t have an opinion about selfies and the algorithms that adjust, without our realizing it, the proportions of our features? Or have thoughts about automated shopping that uses facial recognition? Or the ethics and dangers of surveillance cameras weighed against their benefits?

Professor of Digital Culture at University of Bergen in Norway, Rettberg is a clear writer whose prose is packed with interesting ideas and references. I know Jill Rettberg and would invite her to join one of our sessions which I think will add to the overall experience. Rettberg’s book is relatively new and has received little critical response, but that is not unusual for academic books. Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Vision-Algorithms-Changing-World/dp/1509545239

How Computers See and Why You Should Care About It

Monday 1-3, Hybrid, 10 Weeks

Coordinator: Johanna Drucker

Co-Coordinator Robert Goren

You go to the airport and your picture is taken at the security checkpoint. What is the imaging software doing and how? What features of your face are being scanned and how are they being matched against a database? Can you conceal your identity through expressions? Make-up? How did we get here?

The design of artificial vision involves some analysis of human cognition/perception and considerable processing of visual images and representations. Automated systems capable of “machine vision” are already being integrated into our lives. This SDG will look at the theoretical issues, historical development, and critical ideas at play in the current research in this field. Since many of these issues touch directly on our daily experience, the discussions will have relevance to ongoing activities.

This SDG looks at the development of computer vision (the capacity for machines to “see”) through a combination of materials. The core book, Jill Walker Rettberg, Machine Vision: How Algorithms are Changing the Way We See the World. (Polity Press, 2023), will be supplemented by readings freely available online. These will address theories of vision, models of vision and cognition, and some of the ways computer scientists have designed systems capable of artificial vision. Rettberg’s book is lively and information-rich book, but also filled with ideas that touch on the integration of artificial systems into our daily lives. The author discusses the ways automated visual technology is changing our understanding of identity, security, and the visible world. This book is a cultural investigation of the changes that innovations in technology, specifically algorithms relating to visual images, impact our activities.

In her first chapter, she offers a succinct history of optical technology—beginning with the oldest mirror, a surface of polished black obsidian which may date to 6000 BCE, ground glass lenses used in antiquity for magnification, and other extensions of human visual capacity from light-based to infrared cameras.

The central argument of the book is that technology cannot be examined without attention to the situations and circumstances of its use. She terms these relations between technologies and users “assemblages.” To illustrate this concept, she describes the difference between attitudes and effects of surveillance systems in the urban United States and in small-town Norway.

The book is organized in five chapters, that focus on different aspects of visual experience—Seeing More, Seeing, Differently, Seeing Everything, Being Seen and a Conclusion. The book is much more about ideas, cultural patterns, and experience than it is about technology and the questions it raises about how we understand ourselves and the world through digitally mediated images. Who doesn’t have an opinion about selfies and the algorithms that adjust, without our realizing it, the proportions of our features? Or have thoughts about automated shopping that uses facial recognition? Or the ethics and dangers of surveillance cameras weighed against their benefits?

A professor of Digital Culture at University of Bergen in Norway, Rettberg is a clear writer whose prose is packed with interesting ideas and references. I know Jill Rettberg and would invite her to join one of our sessions which I think will add to the overall experience. Rettberg’s book is relatively new and has received little critical response, but that is not unusual for academic books. Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Vision-Algorithms-Changing-World/dp/1509545239

The articles in the core book, Worlds to Explore, evoke that bygone era in which the pages of National Geographic were as close as most people could get to high adventure and faraway lands. The 54 tales, originally published between 1891 and 1952 , immerse us in the wonder and thrill of exploration before the age of mass tourism. Edmund Hillary, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Teddy Roosevelt and others take us to places few Americans had ventured. Each article is about ten pages long and introduced by a brief essay that provides context and perspective. These engaging selections speak for themselves―and trace the National Geographic Society's growth as it explored the unknown and brought it home to readers eager for knowledge of the world and all that is in it.

Each week we will visit a different region of the world.  The discussion leader(s) will choose two of between four and nine articles in the assigned Part(s) as we discuss these fascinating adventures, learn of the world as it was known at the time and how our understanding of it has changed, for better or worse.  The articles may even bring back memories of your own travels.  For example, we will start in Africa with Teddy Roosevelt's much heralded year-long African safari and with travels by the then British district commissioner for Eastern Darfur ( a region of Sudan that has unfortunately been in the news recently).

Please join us in what promises to be a fun and thought--provoking SDG.

Coordinator: Lee Wedman

Format is to be determined. 

This 12-week in-person SDG will explore the evolution of Hollywood’s portrayal of female characters in the movies. We will go decade-by-decade exploring the changing roles of women and how they have been depicted on screen vs. in the Real World.

Each week, we will critique, analyze and discuss a film featuring a female character from a singular decade (from the 1930s through the 2020s)

From serious “issue” films to light romantic comedy, this SDG will take its subject matter very seriously. From Norma Desmond to Norma Rae, we will examine Hollywood’s “gaze” on American women’s roles and expectations, while also exploring how successfully these films portrayed the changing roles of women in America. We will look at the films both in the context of when they were made, but also how they resonate in the world today, both socially and politically.

This SDG will be informative and entertaining.