This course centers around the guiding question: why do advancements in science and technology sometimes fail to produce sustained improvements in the human condition? The aim of the course is to enhance students' abilities to critically analyze both potential benefits and limitations of new technologies through political, social, economic, and environmental lenses. To this end, students will survey both historical case studies and cutting-edge research at Georgia Tech, identifying the benefits they provide – as well as barriers to their widespread adoption and their unintended adverse byproducts/consequences.