Welcome to the public course catalog of Zeppelin University!
You can use the filters to sort courses by semester, lecturers or study programs ("Keyword"). You can also enter course titles or numbers in the text field ("Offer number/title").
Courses taught in English can be found by using the respective keyword.
Language courses and Additions (so called "ZUsätze") can also be found
via keywords.
Caution! At the moment only the course catalog for the spring termn 2025 ist displayed. Other semesters can be chosen via the filters but the course catalogs are incomplete. This is due to a change of the campus management system. Older course catalogs will be linked here as soon as possible. If you urgently need an older course description in the meantime, please contact kurswahl@zu.de.

Current Issues I - Ausgewählte Themen I : KI & Gesellschaft
Knowledge
Basic concepts of computer science and sociology
Description
The development of modern computer architectures is progressing from symbolic to statistical to neuromorphic machines. What does this mean for the structure and culture of society? How does society cope with the “surplus sense” (Niklas Luhmann) of the new electronic media? Based on the assumption that computers are no longer measured solely by the Tring test, but also by the Durkheim test, the seminar discusses the development from a technomorphic to a neuromorphic to a sociomorphic intelligence. In line with the motto “We don't just count to one”, the seminar is interested in the relationship between mental, social and technical systems.
Learning objectives
Basic terms to describe the interplay of computers, AI and communication in society
Preparation
Literature for the introduction:
Ralf Otte, Maschinenbewusstsein: Die neue Stufe der KI – wie weit wollen wir gehen? Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 2021.
Patrick Krauss, Künstliche Intelligenz und Hirnforschung: Neuronale Netze, Deep Learning und die Zukunft der Kognition, Berlin: Springer Nature, 2023.
Comment
the seminar requires reading of the texts, which are prepared for discussion by students through impulse presentations, discussed and tested using a case study
First additional field
Literature and plan:
14.04.2025: Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon, Computer Science as Empirical Inquiry: Symbols and Search, in: Communications of the ACM 19 (1976), pp. 113-126. impulse & discussion: NN; exercise
15.04.2025: Susan Leigh Star, The Structure of Ill-Structured Solutions: Boundary Objects and Heterogenous Distributed Problem Solving, in: Les Gasser and Michael N. Huhns (eds.), Distributed Artificial Intelligence, vol. 2, London: Pitman, 1989, pp. 37-54. impulse & discussion: NN; exercise
16.04.2025: Frieder Nake, Surface, Interface, Subface: Three Cases of Interaction and One Concept, in: Uwe Seifert, Jin Hyun Kim, Anthony Moore (eds.): Paradoxes of Interactivity, Bielefeld: transcript, 2008, pp. 92-109.
17.04.2025: Matteo Pasquinelli, The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence, London: Verso, 2023 (dt. Das Auge des Meisters: Eine Sozialgeschichte Künstlicher Intelligenz, Münster: Unrast, 2024).
Next events
1/4 | Block course | Mo, 14.04.2025 | 10:00 Uhr | 18:00 Uhr | 1.08 | Aquarium |
2/4 | Block course | Tu, 15.04.2025 | 10:00 Uhr | 18:00 Uhr | 1.08 | Aquarium |
3/4 | Block course | We, 16.04.2025 | 10:00 Uhr | 18:00 Uhr | 1.08 | Aquarium |
4/4 | Block course | Th, 17.04.2025 | 10:00 Uhr | 18:00 Uhr | 1.08 | Aquarium |
Course details
Offer code | 124401 | 121403 |
Version | 1 Erstversion A5_FS24 |
Credits / ECTS | 6 |
WSH | 3 |
Frequence | Every term |