UAB Film Series to Examine Impact of Modern Technology

UAB’s (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Lister Hill Library will host a six-week film and discussion series called Research Revolution: Science and the Shaping of Modern Life that will examine the interaction between technology and our culture. Sponsored by National Video Resources in partnership with the American Library Association, the series will feature six documentary films that examine some of the most critical areas where technology has potentially leaped ahead of human comprehension.

September 2, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — UAB’s (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Lister Hill Library will host a six-week film and discussion series called Research Revolution: Science and the Shaping of Modern Life that will examine the interaction between technology and our culture. Sponsored by National Video Resources in partnership with the American Library Association, the series will feature six documentary films that examine some of the most critical areas where technology has potentially leaped ahead of human comprehension.

The series runs on six successive Tuesday evenings, beginning September 16 with Natural Connections, an Emmy-award winning film that examines biodiversity and the effect of technology on the environment. The film will be shown at 6 p.m., with discussion to follow, in the Ireland Room, 3rd Floor of the Lister Hill Library, 1700 University Boulevard. Subsequent films will explore topics such as gene manipulation, DNA testing, robotics and bio-ethics.

“We live in an age of scientific and technological explosion, amid a swirl of discoveries and advances that have fundamentally altered almost every aspect of our daily lives,” says Andre Millard, Ph.D., professor of history at UAB. “Americans tend to believe that technology is benevolent and that we have it under control. That’s not necessarily the case. Sometimes we need to step back and evaluate the changes brought on by technological advances and make sure we understand the ramifications those changes bring.”

Milliard says that technology of today has given us things undreamed of in times gone by such as atomic bombs, the Internet, DNA testing, video-equipped cell phones and countless other products that shape modern life. The rapid pace of these advances has made our world more complex and complicated, threatening to outrun our ability to make sense of the changes that confront us.

“The films will look at areas where technological change will affect us the most,” says Millard, who will moderate a discussion session following each film. “Technology by itself is neither good nor bad, the question is how we control it and apply it to our lives. Unfortunately, reasoned thought on how to use technology often comes long after the technology itself proves to be a serious problem.”

The series is free and open to the public. UAB is one of only 20 sites across the country participating in this film/discussion series. Major funding for the series comes from the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the New York Council for the Humanities.

The film series is:

  • September 16, Natural Connections, directed by Sharon Howard and Michael Rosen, Distributed by Bullfrog Films, 1999

  • September 23, What’s up with the Weather?, produced and directed by Jon Palfreman, Nova/Frontline, distributed by WGBH Boston Video, 2000

  • September 30, Into the Body, written and directed by Brian Knappenberger, Ambrose Video Publishing, 2002

  • October 7, Sound and Fury, produced and directed by Josh Aronson, distributed by New Video, 2002

  • October 14, The Gene Squad, written and directed by Jerry Thompson, Canadian Broadcasting Company, 1999

  • October 21, Offspring: One Man’s Search for Family, written and directed by Barry Stephens, Barna Alper Productions, 2001