SCIENCE,

TECHNOLOGY
AND
SOCIETY

(A Learning Resource Pack for Flexible

Learning S.Y. 2021 – 2022)

FRANCES KAREN F. MORENO

INSTRUCTOR I
TARLAC AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY
EMAIL: kf_moreno2021@tau.edu.ph

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 COURSE OUTLINE 02

Topic

Unit I: General Concepts and Historical Developments

Lesson 1: Introduction to Science, Technology and Society

Lesson 2: Historical Antecedents of Science and Technology

Lesson 3: Intellectual Revolutions and Society

Lesson 4: Science, Technology and Nation Building

Unit II. Science, Technology Society and the Human Condition

Lesson 5: Technology as a Way of Revealing

Lesson 6: Human Flourishing in Progress and De-Development

Lesson 7: The Good Life

Lesson 8: When Technology and Humanity Cross

Midterm Examination

Lesson 9: Why the Future Does Not Need Us?

Unit III. Specific Issues in Science, Technology and Society

Lesson 10: Information Age

Lesson 11: Biodiversity and a Healthy Society

Lesson 12: Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and Gene Therapy

Lesson 13: Nanotechnology

Lesson 14: Climate Change and the Energy Crises

Lesson 15: Environmental Awareness

Yet to be announced (flexible schedule)

Finals

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 .

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 UNIT I: GENERAL CONCEPTS AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
Lesson 1: Introduction to Science, Technology and Society

General Objectives:
General Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
0202

1. Familiarize
a) Familiarize themselves with thethemselves with the
general concepts of general
science,concepts of and
technology science,
society;
technology and society; 2. Explain the significance of studying
b) Explain the significance of studying Science, Technology and Society as a subject mater;
Science, Technology
c) Demonstrate preparedness in studyingand Society
Science, as a subject
Technology and Society (STS). .

matter;
Science comes from the Latin word scientia meaning “knowledge”. Science is a body of
3. Demonstrate preparedness
knowledge that aims in studying
to explore and explainScience, Technology
the processes and Societythat
and phenomenon (STS).
occurs in the
natural world through application of scientific methods or processes. Technology, on the other
hand, is the application of the knowledge, laws or principles that is discovered by science.
Technology is converting knowledge to materials, processes, tools or machines that ultimately
aims to solve real- life problems and making the lives of people better. The term technology
came from the work techne meaning “art, skill or cunning of hand”.

Wolpert (2000) emphasized that science and technology are different fields. They are
different in the sense that pure scientific knowledge has no moral or ethical value and science is
merely used for answering and explaining how the nature and the universe works. Although
scientists have the obligation to conduct experiments and discuss their observations with all
honesty and reliability, the application of the outcomes of science are influenced by various
sectors such as politics and government, religion and business. With the clear distinction of
these two area, there is a need to study how technology is being
used in the society.

Technological advancements brought about by science is widely seen and felt in the
society today. Introduction of technological innovations makes the lives of people more
productive and easier compared to their ancestors and it could also be expected that children in
the future will have a better chance of living a better life than this generation already does.
However, the dynamism and intensity of technological
and scientific progress also posed challenges and possible drawbacks to the lives of people in the
society. For example, the introduction of machinery or artificial intelligence and robotics in the
workplace may replace humans in the future. The discovery of antibiotics also led to the
appearance of multi- drug resistant bacteria and viruses as well as incurable diseases. The
invention of wifi and social media eased the communication process however, also brought
issues on privacy as well as political issues in communication rights and freedom of expression
and even mental health. Indeed, science and technology has both its positive and negative
impacts on the lives of the people.

As problems in science and technology continue to rise and become more observable in
the society, additional attention to their interactions with various aspects of human lives (e.g.
social, political and economic) becomes very necessary. How these different aspects of society
influenced the progression and further development of science and technology and vice versa
are the main area of concern in studying Science, Technology and Society (STS).

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 STS is relatively a very young field of study that begins in the interwar period up to the
beginning of the Cold War. It is a combination of previously independent and older disciplines
such as history, philosophy and sociology. The rise of STS in the academic field resulted in the
recognition that schools need to prepare their students to respond critically, reflectively and
proactively to the issues, changes and challenges brought about by science and technology in the
contemporary world.

In general, STS applies methods drawn from history, philosophy and sociology to study
the nature of science and technology to validate or judge if their impact or development is really
for the betterment of the society or if these technological advancement pose more threat and
harm. STS bridged the gap between humanities (interpretative) and natural science (rational)
so that humans are able to better confront the moral, ethical and existential dilemmas brought
by the continuous developments in science and technology.

Jessica Baron, in collaboration with John J. Rilley Center for Science, Technology and
Values at the University of Nortre Dame, has released the official list for top ten emerging
ethical dilemmas and policy issues in science and technology for the year 2020. Below is the list
as published by Michelle Taylor in December 2019 in no particular order:

1. The Pseudoscience of Skin Care

With the skin care market estimated to be equivalent to $12.8 billion dollar in 2020, skin
technology including the use of LED masks, electronic face scrubbers and skin care cameras
among the others, are on the rise. In connection to this trend, more beauty companies are
labeling themselves as “clinically proven” even in fact, they are not.

2. AI (Artificial intelligence) and Gamification in Hiring

Some companies are hiring based on the social media history of the candidate as well as
using games that are able to determine the neurological and emotional status of the job seeker.
This would mean that machines have the final say if someone is really suited for the job. These
may also mean that interviews as well as job qualifications may become secondary in terms of
job hiring.

3. Predatory Journals
Predatory journals are those articles that are published on publications that do not meet
the criteria of being ethical, peer reviewed or simply has very low standard. People who are not
aware of these articles or journals have the tendency to believe such publications and may lead
to the dissemination of wrong information and scientific ideas.

4. The HARPA SAFEHOME Proposal

President Donald Trump is considering a controversial plan to monitor the mentally ill
as a way to stop mass shootings in the U.S through the HARPA SAFEHOME application.
HARPA, run by a third-party pancreatic cancer foundation with no governmental ties, would
make use of the data available on phones and smartwatches to detect when mentally ill people
are about to turn violent. This is controversial because its may cross the boundaries of data
privacy and there are still no applications available today that can reliably assess the state of
mental well- being of a person.

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5. Class Dojo and Classroom Surveillance
Class Dojo is an online application tool that records students’ behavior inside the
classrooms, scores their behavior and shares these information to fellow students and parents.
The company that made Dojo said that the application fosters the development of positive
attitude in students, however, questions of system hacking, criteria for grading and student
anxiety are issues to be considered.

6. Grinch Bots
“Grinch Bots” are online entities or people that buy up popular goods or in- demand
products as soon as they hit the market. Once the goods are sold-out, they will resell these
products on the secondary market or black markets at an inflated price.

7. Project Nightingale
Project Nightingale is a collaboration between Ascension, the second-largest health care
system in the U.S., with Google to host health records on the Google Cloud. This pose large data
privacy concerns especially that people don’t know what was going on with their data as soon as
it enters Google cloud.

8. Student Tracking Software

Universities are now using softwares to determine the internet activities of students and
potential students. In addition, these softwares can also detect school sites which was opened by
student applicants and compute their time spent on this sites to calculate their “affinity score” or
possible “loyalty score”. This opens up issues with equality since some students may not have
internet access and can’t be evaluated using these softwares.

9. The Corruption of Tech Ethics

When CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing went mainstream in 2012, researchers immediately
called a moratorium due to the high-power potential of the system. There were then nationwide
and international meetings and multiple groups got involved and it went exactly as it was
supposed to. Now, however, the reliability of the ethical researchers is being questioned as
lawyers, business people, journalists and others sectors got involved in serious controversies of
ethical misjudgment or manipulation.

10. Deep Fakes

Manipulating video or audio to make it appear as something is not new. However, the
recent application of deep learning to create hard-to-identify fakes is more sophisticated and
more concerning. States are attempting to build legislation against deep fakes and companies
like Facebook and Microsoft want to help develop tools to spot them. But these days, just about
anyone can download deep fake software to create fake videos or audio recordings that look and
sound like the real thing—and nothing gets deleted from the Internet.
These issues above as well as many other, tackle the importance of studying STS. It is for this
subject that we will be trained to be critical in judging the impacts of science and technology in
our lives and how issues can emerge when science, technology and society intertwine.

- End -

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REFERENCES:

Baron, J. 2019. Top 10 Ethical Dilemmas in Science for 2020. https://

www.laboratoryequipment.com/558920-Top-10-Ethical-Dilemmas-in-Science-for-2020/.
Accessed June 1, 2020.
0

Casas, J.M.A, P. M. Jusayan, A. V. Menor and S. P. Obanan. 2020. Science, Technology and
Society. C&E Publishing, Inc., 839 EDSA, south Triangle, Quezon City
2.

Quinto, E.J.M. and A. D. Nieva. 2019. Science, Technology and Society: Outcome- Based
Module. C&E Publishing, Inc., 839 EDSA, south Triangle, Quezon City

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