2.

1 SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES IN UNDERSTANDING - earliest forms derived from arsenic

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY compounds (toxic to practically all biotic cells
— safety issue)

Perspectives on Science and Technology - discovery of compounds binding to specific

- going beyond definitions, textbook illustrations, and bacteria

laboratory experiences
- compounds responsive to variations in
- how does science and technology reflect in the bacterial composition (specificity issue)

larger social context?

- continuous development in response to
bacterial resistance (utility issue)

What is Technology?

- going beyond “application of science”

Economics of Technology and Innovation

- tools + manner of use

1. technology as innovation
- material and non-material technologies
2. technology as economic driver
- “includes all tools, machines, utensils, 3. technology as market influence
weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, 4. technology as needs creator
communicating, and transporting devices
and the skills by which we produce and - technology push (Schumpeter, 1935)

use them” (Bain, 1937)

- s c i e n t i fi c p ro g re s s a n d t e c h n o l o g i c a l
- changes in practice and tools throughout the development as main driver of innovation

ages
- science advancements -> technology

- Toffler’s waves of technology (The Third - e.g. internet -> wireless, apps, online deliveries

Wave, 1980)
- demand pull (Schmookler, 1966)

- Science as an institution (Merton, 1942)

- market demand drives innovation

- institutionalist perspective - public demand can lead to the development of

- Mertonian Norms: technology

- Communalism (science is for the benefit - Synthesis: push-pull mechanism

of everyone)
- exploring both supply-side R&D and market
- Universalism (for the benefit of everyone research

regardless of status, etc)

- making the most out of both schools of
- Disinterestedness (for the common thought

objectives of the scientific community; not - e.g. Artificial intelligence

for self-interest)
- tech-push: miniaturization, improvements in
- Organized Skepticism (undergoes programming and algorithms

validation such as scientific methods)

- demand-pull: decision support systems with
- technological development is a result of the fast processing and output

scientific ethos, referred to as Mertonian

norms, practiced by scientists adhering to the Social Perspectives (Structure vs Agency)

ideals brought about by the Scientific - science and technological innovation as product of
Revolution
social groups vs influenced by subjective, individual
- Science as a social construction
actions

- constructivist perspective
- heavily influenced by local space and time
Structural Perspectives

- practice based on which social groups exert 1. Functionalism

significant influence
- Comte, Spencer, parsons, merton (latent
- technological development is a result of input function)

and response of relevant social groups and - society as a complex system working
pertinent social contexts (Pinch and Bijker, together to promote stability — stability by
1984)
consensus

- Example: The Penny-Farthing Bicycle (design has - Science as Part of the Complex System

many flaws [no breaks, hard to balance], but it’s the - role: as a means of understanding nature,
prototype of modern bicycles)
it seeks to bridge different forms of
- Example: Antibiotics

1
 knowledge across nations and groups in Example: (Agent-based Perspectives)

a rapidly globalizing world

Nutrition and Eating Habits

- technological innovation as tools that ensure - symbolic interactionism

functionality, cooperation between different - food preparation and consumption as symbols
social groups
of identity

- fast food preference —> perception?

2. Social Conflict
- utilitarian perspective
- French liberalism, Marxist tradition
- food as basic physiological need

- Society as a system composed of groups with - when is utility maximized in food consumption

their own interests and objectives (display of

power relations; problem: conflicting interests)
Implications

- Science as a Display of Power Relations

- starting points for analysis of current technologies

- role: ensure that a powerful group - why do we have these kinds of technologies?

remains in power by controlling - impact of these technologies on modern

knowledge production and dissemination
lifestyle

- technological innovation as tools that ensure - for non-science majors

stability via domination

- situating the whole scientific enterprise beyond
science “as a textbook subject”

Example: (Structural Perspectives)

- primer for information on technological
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)
innovation

- functionalist perspective
- for science majors

- stable crops, maximized food yields

- looking-glass self (better understanding of the
- pest control
discipline)

- conflict perspective
- theoretical and applied underpinnings of the
- corporate control?
discipline

- need for genetic purity leaves farmers

disadvantaged
2.2 BIOTECHNOLOGY: ALTERING LIFE’S DESTINY

Agent Perspectives Biotechnology

1. Interactionism - use of microorganisms to produce specific

- Mead, Blumer (symbolic)
products for food, industrial, or health applications

- Symbolic interactionism: everything has a - any technological application that uses biological
meaning
systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof,
- social phenomenon is the totality of to make or modify products or processes for specific
meaningful interactions between individuals
use

- Science as a System of Interactions

- role: as a means of understanding nature, Scientific Progress in Biotechnology

it helps in creating a better, more - Gregor Mendel: Principle of Inheritance

meaningful sense —-
- Punnett Square (recessive/dominant and
2. Utilitarianism homozygous/heterozygous)

- Homans, Becker, Kahneman, Coleman (Social - Friedrich Meischer: discovery of DNA

capital)
- James Watson & Francis Crick: chemical structure
- ???/??
of DNA as a double helix

- Science as a tool for Rational Choice

- Marshall Nirenberg: genetic code

- role: as a means of understanding nature, - codons (three nucleotide bases) translated into
it helps in discerning whether a decision amino acids

would yield the most benefits for the - e.g. cancer - changes in the genetic code
majority of people involved
(proliferate and increase)

- technological innovation as either tools that help - Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer: recombinant
with creating rational choice, or produces that DNA technology

“pass” the cost-benefit analysis

- joining DNA; cloning

2
- Kary Mullis: DNA amplification through Polymerase 4. Science and Technology is our fix for world killers
Chain Reaction (PCR)
(infectious disease, cancer, inflammatory diseases)

- usually used in forensic medicine

5. The future is in personalized medicine

- Francis Collins: human genome project

6. Social implications of longevity

- mapping of genes in chromosomes

- Craig Venter: automated gene sequencing and new Life expectancy

strategies for gene mapping
- how we measure longevity

- number of years a person is expected to live based

Biotechnology: Agriculture on age-specific death rates

1. Genetically Modified Organisms - average age at death

- genes from the DNA of one species are - life expectancy at birth: measures deaths from birth
extracted and artificially forced into the to old age

genes of an unrelated plant or animal

- Humans live twice as long compared to our nearest
- the foreign genes may come from bacteria, ape relatives

viruses, insects, animals, or even humans

Reasons Why we Live Longer

1. Genes vs. Environment

- both play a role

- Nature: some mutations confer an increase in

life expectancy by 25%

- Nurture: laboratory organisms with the same

genetic make up placed in the same
environment would still vary in life expectancy;
even monozygotic twins would vary in their
2. Cloning
longevity

- a process of creating an exact genetic replica

of a cell, tissue, or DNA

2. Evolution
- e.g. Dolly, the cloning of a sheep (1996)

- as humans were subjected to environmental

challenges, natural selection allowed humans
Biotechnology: Health
with genes that were better suited for survival
1. Stem Cell Therapy
to stay alive and reproduce

- transplant of a cell with unique ability to

- Physical evolution
develop into specialized cell types in the body

- somatic investment: the body allocates

more resources towards enhanced
Biotechnology and Social Decision-Making
immunity, DNA repair, etc.

- lactose tolerance: humans have

traditionally been lactose intolerant

- CCR5 mutation: protects the body

against HIV and smallpox

- Social determinants
- social animals live longer

- intergenerational transfer of wisdom

Causes of Death in the 1900s

2.3 LONGEVITY, HUMAN HEALTH, AND THE [insert diagram]

FUTURE OF MEDICINE
1. Pneumonia

2. Tuberculosis

Major Points
3. Diarrhea

1. We live longer

2. This happens by evolution and through Science *Infectious diseases were the major killers (leprosy
and Technology
and small pox)

3. Evolution is an interplay of nature and nurture

3
Causes of Death in 2015 and 2014
Inflammation

1. heart diseases
- root cause of many illnesses

2. cancer
- atherosclerosis: narrowing of blood vessels caused
3. chronic lower respiratory diseases
by fat and calcium, leading to reduced blood flow,
causing heart attack / stroke

Variolation and Vaccinations

- mortality rate from atherosclerotic diseases have
- Variolation: lesions of small pox were inoculated to declined over time

people who had no small pox

- Vaccination: body is exposed to weakened or killed Treatment

pathogens, stimulating immunity without causing the 1. anti-inflammatory

illness
2. statins

3. anti-hypertensives

Pasteur and Koch: Germ Theory

4. lifestyle modifications

- Germ Theory: diseases caused by the presence of

microorganisms inside the body
Future of Medicine: Personalized Medicine

- gene editing

Ehrlich, Domagk, Fleming: Magic Bullets - organ regeneration: removing organs with
- antibiotics: syphilis, infected wounds
infections / disease

- personalized diagnostics

Hygiene: Semmelweis and Childbed Fever - Process:

- Childbed Fever
1. The genetic changes in a person’s cancer are
- postpartum infection
discovered

- after spontaneous abortion

2. drugs that target these genetic changes are
- disease contracted in the reproductive track
identified

- addressed through handwashing (before 3. the patient is treated and their response to
assisting in the delivery of babies)
therapy is monitored

Joseph Lister and Safe Surgery 2.4 NANOTECHNOLOGY

- aseptic or clean techniques (carbolic acid) to clean

equipment
Nanotechnology

- nano: a billionth of a meter (10-9 meter)

John Snow and Epidemiology - materials and devices developed within the
- cholera: water-borne disease
nanometer scale (1nm to 500nm)

- he identified the cause of the cholera outbreak - tools and phenomena manifested within nanometer
through looking at patterns
scale (through the collaboration of chemistry,
- traced the source to a single water source (water physics, engineering, and biology)

pump)
- nanowires: shrink or pull a material too thin in both
width and length

Cancer
- nanotubes: shrink a material to make it short and
- diagnosed more and more as populations age
stubby

- Cancer diagnosis: catching it earlier means living - nanosheet / nanofilm: flatten a material too thin

longer
- nanoparticle: any material that’s less than 100nm in
- Cancer Treatment: The Range of Possibilities
dimension

- radiation
- nanodot: 1-10nm in diameter

- hormonal therapy

- surgery
Two Ways of Developing Nanotechnology
- chemotherapy
1. Bottom-up Synthesis: building up structures from
- targeted therapy
the separated atoms

- decline in cancer mortality

2. Top-down Synthesis: starting from bulk material
and carving it out to reduce it to nano-size
*present problems: non-communicable diseases since dimensions

these are caused by lifestyle

4
Uses of Nanotechnology
- the menu suggests the personae of what we eat and
1. energy - efficient ICT
do not eat

2. better processing of products

3. environment-friendly packaging of products

Food and Its Nutritive Function

4. affordable alternative energy

- food is a basic need

5. better fuel efficiency

- food undergoes biochemical changes in the body

6. remediation of environmental pollutants

- food provides energy needed for bodily functions

7. cheaper, faster medical diagnosis

8. less invasive medical testing

Food and PublicHealth
9. efficient and effective drug delivery
- the pleasure of eating, however, does not happen
10. crop protection and yield
without consequences

11. disaster mitigation and management

- food safety and quality: risk factor for
communicable diseases

Nanotechnology Uses for the Philippines

- food choices: risk factor for non-communicable
- tool for human development
diseases (e.g. diabetes, hypertension)

- but the PH is lagging due to the lack of funds

- food processing, food additives, food packaging,
nutritional content

How Can Our Country Nano-engage?

- work on skill and capability building
Food and Convenience

- target niches aindigenous sources

- preference for incorporating health and convenience
- health and biomedical applications
into food products

- energy
- nutritious food are only secondary considerations

- ICT

- food and agriculture

Food and Environment

- education and training

- food packaging and wastes

- metrology and standardization

Food and Social Condition

What Are We Worried of? - widening gap between rich and poor

- unknown long-term effects of nanotechnology on - disparity in consumer demand and actual purchases

health and environment

Food and Social Change

What Can Be Done? - food choices are increasingly being called on to act
1. risk-assessment as tools for social change

- public health and safety

- food integrates the world and allows us to see the
- environmental protection
social consequences of private actions

2. general public education - food choices remind us of our moral

- curriculum integration
responsibilities even as we engage in a private and
physiological act

2.4 Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too

Food and Social Decision-Making

Food and Lifestyle

- choice and consumerism

- food represents

- national, regional, linguistic, and religious

variations

- differences in gender

- class and social status

- “we are what we eat”

- our choices of food form an important part of the

identities of both individuals and social networks

- the food we consume reveals what we value and

who we share those values with

5
 - rational thinking governed by precise “laws of
2.5 Artificial Intelligence: A Balancing Act
thought”

- syllogisms

“A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it - notation and logic

could deceive a human into believing that it was - systems (in theory) can solve problems using such
human.” — Alan Turing, 1950
laws

“Of course machines can be intelligent. Computers are Systems Acting Rationally
able to solve complex mathematical equations, why - building systems that carry out actions to achieve
would one even cast doubt on the intelligence of the best outcome

machines?”
- rational behavior

- may or may not involve rational thinking (e.g. reflex

The Definition of Intelligence
actions)

- solve equations = intelligence?

- this definition is usually adopted for targeted
- what does a machine actually do when it solves problem solving

equations?

- true intelligence = involves a real understanding of Foundations of AI

the problem at hand, a true judgment on the 1. Philosophy: logic, mind, knowledge

strategies that can be implemented to solve it

2. Mathematics: proof, computability, probability

3. Economics: maximizing profits

What is Artificial Intelligence? 4. Neuroscience: brain and neurons

- Alan Turing (1950): Can machines think?

5. Psychology: thought, perception, action

- John McCarthy (1955): Can machines be made to 6. Control Theory: stable feedback systems

reason like human?

7. Linguistics: knowledge representation, syntax

- definitions of AI vary

- Artificial intelligence is the study of systems that:

A Common Machine Learning Task: Classification

- think like humans

[insert diagram]

- think rationally

- act like humans

Artificial Neural Network

- act rationally
[insert diagram]

Systems Acting Like Humans

Let Us Demystify Artificial Intelligence

- Turing test: test for intelligent behavior

- machine learning and the value of big data

- interrogator writes questions and receives - agent-based artificial intelligence

answers

- system providing the answers passes the test if Machine Learning: Classifiers

interrogator cannot tell whether the answers - classifier: system that categorizes instances

come from a person or not

- input to a classifier: feature/attribute values of a
given

Systems Thinking Like Humans

- output:

- formulate a theory of mind/brain

- express the theory in a computer program

Machine Learning

- approaches: - a classifier’s intelligence will be based on a dataset

1. cognitive science and psychology (testing / consisting of instances with known categories

predicting responses of human subjects)

- typical goal of a classifier: predict the category of a
2. c o g n i t i v e n e u r o s c i e n c e ( o b s e r v i n g new instance that is rationally consistent with the
neurological data)
dataset

- classifications/categories already known (supervised

Systems Thinking Rationally
learning)

- “rational” -> ideal intelligence (contrast with human - how about finding out what the categories are?
intelligence)
(clustering — could be unsupervised learning)

6
Value of Data as Input
us from repetitive and monotonous tasks within a
- the classifier, the clusterer, the predictor, etc. is a job

program that implements a machine learning - instead of being replaced, the human aspect of the
algorithm
job will be given more time to address the
- the machine learning algorithm needs data as input interactions involved in human relationships in the
- the more data that is fed into the algorithm, the more context of the job, as well as perform human duties
reliable the results are
of critical thinking, leading to creative problem
solving

Agent-based AI
- agent: anything that perceives and acts on its The Responsibility

environment
- the balance between artificial intelligence and
- AI: study of rational agents
human intelligence in the workplace, or in popular
- a rational agent carries out an action with the best parlance, the balance between “robots and
outcome after considering past and current humans,” is achieved with conscious effort

percepts
- despite what research has been telling us, it is true
that machines are indeed replacing the entire jobs,
AI Agent
rather than automating specific tasks within a job. It
[insert diagram]
is both the responsibility of the work-providing forces
of society and AI architects to progress this AI trend
Types of Agents [insert diagrams]
by achieving the synergy that humans and machines
1. reflex agent: involuntarily; once you have an input, can produce together, rather than have total
you will expect a particular output; sensors will replacements in the context of employment

perceive the environment and will act based on

these sensors
“AI Without Robots”

2. reflex agent with state: determines if there is a 1. AI for mining communities

certain state which helps the machine come up - a physical platform for sensing contaminants (in
with an output; there is a conditioned response
air, water, and soil) in gold mining communities

3. goal-based agent: there are goals; certain - AI is used to predict contamination levels
responses are expected
given current data

4. utility-based agent: emphasis on utility

- AI is also used to approximate contamination
5. learning agent: learns from experience
even if data inputs are incomplete

What of Artificial Intelligence and our Lives? 2. AI for smart farming

- The Internet of Things

- fighting fungal disease of bananas

- Network of Digital Assistants

- enemies of the banana: fungus that attacks
- Self-Automated Cars
cavendish

- Automation of Tasks in Existing Jobs

**Are we going to be replaced??

Using Image Analysis with Machine Learning

- the image analysis methods detect the fungi

Facts
specimens (like a modern camera detecting faces/
- as of 2017, Foxconn, a key manufacturing partner for smiles)

Amazon, Google, and Apple, has replaced 60,000

workers with robots
From Soil to Mobile Microscope to Phone App
- it is also no secret that the U.S. Department of Equipped with AI
Defense is currently using approximately 7,000
RQ-11 drones in deployment in various Middle East Conclusion

conflict situations
- taking the form of machine learning and/or agent-
based automatons, AI is now considered to be
Counter-Argument
ubiquitous

- artificial intelligence, may it be in the form of software - with AI incrementally penetrating the human lifestyle,
tools or robotics, can and will most probably relieve it is not without its benefits and consequences. The
goal for automation does contribute to the threat
7
 against the human workforce in varying degrees.
However, we must not forget that the control and
regulation of current and emerging AI-based
technologies are responsibilities set upon us

- artificial intelligence can be dangerous, but only as

much as we allow it to be