This writing assignment asks you to interpret, analyze and comment on a short story by Stanislaw Lem. The story is The Seventh Sally or How Trurl's Own Perfection Led to No Good. Another online version is also available. This story is taken from a book of short stories about Trurl and Klapaucius called The Cyberiad. There is a wikipedia entry on The Cyberiad that you might find helpful.
In your discussion of this story, you may choose to elaborate on the details of the story, illuminate hidden assumptions, explain subtle points that you think a reader might miss, and try to fit the ideas of this story into the broader cognitive science ideas that we have started to discuss in class. I realize that the semester has just begun, but this story raises lots of provocative issues for you to consider and digest.
Your entire paper should be about 5 to 7 double-spaced pages, somewhere in the general vicinity of 1500-2000 words. It should be written using some kind of word-processing software.
Be sure to write the paper in your own words referring to any sources as necessary. Your paper is not required to have outside sources, but if you do have them you should be sure to list them in a bibliography at the end of your paper and cite them in the body of the paper where you refer to their ideas. By default you should use the APA (or perhaps MLA) citation style, but it is okay to use another nationally recognized citation style if you check with me first. Follow the general rules of academic writing.
The first draft of your paper will be read and commented on by me and by two of your classmates. You should expect to receive this feedback shortly after class on Friday, September 11, giving you a week to incorporate your responses to the feedback into your final draft.