Syllabus (Summer term 2022)

Two-week intensive course (7 April - 22 April, 2022)

Session 1 Intro..technology defined, why it is vital to human

Progress, principal course reading: The Code: Silicon Valley and the

Remaking of America, intro p-7, https://interestingengineering.com/19-great-inventions-that-revolutionized-history

Session 2 History of Silicon Valley, where is it, why is it important,

Starting with Dave Packard’s garage 1939, Stanford, engineering

government money, transistors, computers, internet, software, assignment:

https://archive.icann.org/en/meetings/siliconvalley2011/about.html

Session 3 Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital the ease of starting a

business and finding investors willing to take a chance, assignment: Elon Musk

book, chapter 4

Session 4 People who have made a difference, Steve Jobs, Sergei Brin,

Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Meg Whitman, Jack Dorsey, Elon

Musk—others, assignment: book, The Facebook Effect, chapter 2; The Four,

chapters 3, 4,5

Session 5 Offshoring Manufacturing, Rise of Tesla computer, chip

production moves offshore while Tesla, led by tech entrepreneur

Elon Musk, becomes California’s biggest manufacturer. Assignment:

Elon Musk, chapter 5

Session 6 Apple, Google, Facebook market dominance, power, wealth, assignment:

Session 7 Ubiquitous Social Media Facebook whistleblower Frances

Haugen “I believe FB’s products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy,” regulation, assignment: Facebook Effect, chapter 3

Session 8 Disruptors, Failures Yahoo, Theranos, Airbnb, Uber, Zoom, assignment:

The Upstarts, chapters, chapters 1

Session 9 Competition from China Greater Bay Area, Huawei, Tiktok, assignment:

https://www.wired.com/2015/05/why-silicon-valley-will-continue-to-rule/

Session 10 What’s Next? Summing up, where is Europe? Assignment: https://spectrum.ieee.org/foreign-born-engineers-dominate-bay-area-tech-jobs-says-joint-venture-silicon-valley, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/01/why-silicon-valley-and-big-tech-dont-innovate-anymore/604969/