LESSON 4.

WHEN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY CROSS

ACTIVITY 1 Reading Comprehension Task

Instructions: Answer the following questions in your own words based on your
understanding of Mukherjee’s human rights-based approach to science, technology,
and development. Limit your responses to three or four sentences only.

1. What is a human rights-based approach to science, technology, and development?

 A human rights-based approach to science, technology, and development sets

the parameters for the appraisal of how sts promote human well-being. It seeks
to place a concern for human rights at the heart of how the people engages with
urgent global challenges. In a general sense, a human rights-based approach
recognizes that science is a socially organized, human activity which is value-
laden and shaped by organizational structures and procedures. It asks how
governments can create and implement policies to ensure safety, health and
livelihoods; to include people's needs and priorities in development and
environmental strategies; and to ensure they participate in decision-making that
affects their lives and resources.

2. How do the documents and their key principles presented in Table 1 position human
rights in the intersection of technology and humanity?

 It encompasses the human culture, the necessary policies, and protocols for a
more humane and just society. It also affirms everyone's right to participate in
and benefit from scientific advance and be protected from scientific misuses. The
right to the benefits of science comes under the domain of 'culture', so is usually
examined from a cultural rights perspective. The documents and their key
principles also includes the environmental and economic issues such pollution-
free production, efficient resource use, biodiversity protection, and brain drains.

3. Why should human rights be at the core of scientific and technological advancement?

 Mukherjee stated that good science and respect for human rights rely heavily on
each other. Every scientific and technological advancements are made for the
betterment of the humanity. On the other hand, science and technology can
cause serious harm to the social and ecological systems on which life depends.
Human rights approaches can shed light on the ethical implications of new
technologies and examine how policy can keep up with rapidly developing
science.
4. What is the danger of using human rights as merely decorative moral dimension of
scientific and technological policies?

 Human rights should be integral to the journey toward the ultimate good. They
should guide humans not only to flourish as individuals, but also to guide each
other in flourishing collectively as society. Using human rights as decorative
moral dimension of scientific and technological policies could lead to unjust and
inhumane society. Uneven distribution of goods would only grow, resulting to
environmental degradation.

5. Do you agree with Mukherjee’s assertion that a human rights-based approach to

science, technology, and development can form the very heart of sustainable futures?
Explain.

 Yes. Human rights-based approach to science, technology, and development

can lead us to a more compassionate society. It will help us sustain and protect
the poor and vulnerable from the excesses of market-driven science and
technology. This approach can also guide us to a more effective and sustainable
way of bridging the gap between poor and rich countries on both tangible and
intangible aspects. Eventually, all these will lead us to flourish together through
science and technology.

ACTIVITY 2. Reading Enrichment Task

Instructions: Choose and read one of the two reading materials and answer the
enrichment questions that follow:

1. Evans, D. (2007, March 9). The ethical dilemmas of robotics. BBC News. Retrieved
from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6432307.stm
a. What are the ethical dilemmas posed by robotics?
 A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being
to come to harm.
 A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such
orders would conflict with the First Law; and
 A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not
conflict.
 Robots pose a threat to humans’ safety. Robots were once confined to specialist
applications in industry and the military, where users received extensive training
on their use, but they are increasingly being used by ordinary people. As these
robots become more intelligent, it will become harder to decide who is
 responsible if they injure someone. One area of robotics that raises some difficult
ethical questions, and which is already developing rapidly, is the field of
emotional robotics.

b. Which among the instruments for a human rights-based approach to science,

technology, and development discussed in this section may be useful in contending with
the ethical dilemmas of robotics?

-Since the instruments may seem theoretical in nature to address such issues, the
potential to solving this certain dilemma is worth to consider. The three laws mentioned
might seemlike a good way to keep robots from harming people. But to a roboticist they
pose more problems than they solve. For science and technology, the approach
requires scientists to go beyond knowing how their work relates to human rights, and
demands that they strive to secure and affirm human rights through the knowledge they
produce. For instance, a rights-based approach to robotics creating an ethical
framework that guides research as it evolves would not only push the frontiers of
technology and seek humanity’s benefits, but actively guard against the potential to
create new weapons. There is a question, here, of whether this is the responsibility of
certain group only or the scientific community in general. So the human rights-based
approach that is worth to consider to address in the name of science and technology as
well as its development and that majority in the article.

c. How can the instrument inform lawyers and ethicists and engineers and scientists in
answering the moral and legal questions raised by the developments in robotics?

-The instrument itself will be able to inform them what needs to be done and what
questions should be answered especially the moral and legal ones because each
decision they make will affect us. If they make a single wrong step, it could cause us a
massive destruction.

2. Carr, N. (2008, July.) Is Google making us stupid? What the internet is doing to our
brains. The Atlantic. Retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-
stupid/306868/
a. Do you agree that Google is making humans stupid? Why or why not?

 Yes. Although I was reading about how Carr got extremely distracted when
reading long pieces of writing, I could feel myself doing the same thing while
reading his article. People nowadays depend on getting results immediately
instead on working hard to get one. We put efficiency and immediacy above all
else in life. This assessment of the “efficiency” and “immediacy” of the internet
rings true in every way imaginable.
b. What moral and ethical duty must be imposed upon the ‘duty-bearer’, in this case
Google, in protecting the well-being and dignity of humans?

 The moral and ethical duty that must be imposed upon the ‘duty-bearer,’ in this
case Google, in protecting the well-being and dignity of humans is that every
user of this platform need to keep in mind the word ‘self-discipline’ and innate
‘responsibility’ since our own management dictates how we become and not
entirely by external factors.

 The moral and ethical duty of Google in protecting the well-being and dignity of
humans is to keep in confidence the personal information we shared.

c. What responsibilities do the ‘right-holders’, in this case Google users, carry in

ensuring a human rights-based approach to the use of the internet?

 The most important thing to remember if google users want to protect their
personal information is to not overshare information. They’ve got to be vigilant
because the technological improvements in recent years have made it easy to
obtain data without the consent of the owner.