WHEN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY CROSS CHAPTER 2: LESSON 4

TECHNOLOGY
• “Technology” came from the Greek words
• techne – art
• logos – word
• a discourse on art (Buchanan, 2010)

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN SOCIETY

• In one way or another, each person in the society is directly or indirectly affected
by technology whether he wills it or not.
• Most people survive their everyday lives with great reliance to the different
technological advancements already available to the masses.
• Technology is already an inevitable part of the society.

NECESSITY OR WANT ?
• Convenience
• Pleasure
• Happiness
• Communication
• Anything too much is bad.
• Various ethical dilemmas involving the use of technological devices.
• Misuse or invention to produce bad results.
TELEVISION SETS, MOBILE PHONES, COMPUTERS, AND HUMANITY

TELEVISION
• According to Kantar Media, in the Ph, 92% of urban homes and 70% of rural
homes own at least one television set.
• Households with TV set reached 15.135M
• What would these imply?
• Ultimate medium for advertisement placements.
• Almost all use this particular type of device.
• Television plays a great role in the lives of the people.
PAUL GOTTLIEB NIPKOW
• Late 1800s
• Successful in his attempt to send mages through wires with the aid of a rotating
metal disk (Nipkow disk)
• “electric telescope” – 18 lines of resolution

ALAN ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL-SWINTON & BORIS ROSING

• New system of television by using the cathode ray tube in addition to the
mechanical scanner system.
MOBILE PHONES
• Filipinos love to use their mobile phones anywhere, anytime.
• More than half of the Filipino population own at least one mobile phone
regardless of type.
• 2010- Synovate declared 67% product ownership in the country.
• Mobile phones are considered a must have among young Filipinos (ABS-CBN
News, 2010)
• 1 out of 3 Filipinos cannot live without a mobile phone- Ipsos Media Atlas
Philippines Nationwide Urban 2011- 2012 survey.

MARTIN COOPER
• Senior engineer at Motorola
• Weighed 1.1 kg
• Measured 228.6 X 127 X 44.4 mm
• 30-minute talk time
• 10 hours to charge
• Motorola DynaTAC 8000x in 1983

COMPUTERS & LAPTOPS

• Not possible for all Filipino families to own at least one computer or laptop.
• Most profits gained by computer and laptop manufacturers come from offices,
businesses, or schools.
• Growing number of Internet users in the Ph, problems regarding the Internet
providers.
CHARLES BABBAGE
• 19th century English Mathematics professor.
• designed the Analytical Engine.
• Released in June 1981 by the Osbourne
Computer Corporation, the Osborne 1 is considered
to be the 1st true portable, full-featured computer.

FACTS ABOUT FILIPINOS AND THEIR USE OF GADGETS AND THE INTERNET
• Mobile phone subscription is at 119M.
• 3.2 hours on mobile and 5.2 hours on desktop daily.
• Ph has one of the highest digital populations in the world.
• 47M active FB accounts
• Fastest-growing application in market in SEA.

ROLES PLAYED BY THESE TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS

• Television sets
• Mobile phones
• Computers and Laptops

ETHICAL DILEMMAS
1.Most parents would argue that these devices make their children lazy and
unhealthy
2. People are freely exposed to different things on televisions, mobile phones,
computers and laptops.
ETHICS OF RESPONSIBILITY
• “Responsibility” – in the sense of being accountable for and accountable to is
very appropriate to the ethics of technology.
• What ought to be allowed?

ROBOTICS & HUMANITY

ROBOT
• An actuated mechanism programmable in two or more axes with a degree of
autonomy, moving within its environment, to perform intended tasks.
• Autonomy – ability to perform intended tasks based on current state and
sensing without human intervention.

SERVICE ROBOT
• A robot that performs useful tasks for humans or equipment excluding industrial
application
• A robot may be classified according to its intended application as an industrial
robot or service robot.

PERSONAL SERVICE ROBOT

• “service robot for personal use”
• Used for noncommercial task, usually by laypersons.
• Examples: domestic servant robot, automated wheelchair, personality mobility
assist robot, pet exercising robot.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE ROBOT
• Service robot for professional use.
• Used for commercial task, usually operated by a properly trained operator.
• Examples: cleaning robot for public places, delivery robot, firefighting robot,
rehabilitation robot, surgery robot.

GEORGE DEVOL
• American inventor known for developing Unimate, the first material handling
robot employed in industrial production work.

ROLES PLAYED BY ROBOTICS

• Ease the workload of mankind.
• Make life more efficient and less stressful.
• Perform complicated activities.
• Pleasure, entertainment in parks or exhibits.
• Toys, child-friendly
• Used in movies

ISAAC ASIMOV
• American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University.
• Formulated the laws of robot.

THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human
being to come to harm.
 2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except there such
orders would conflict with the 1st law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not
conflict the 1st and 2nd law.

ETHICAL DILEMMAS FACED BY ROBOTICS

1. Safety
• Who should be held accountable if someone’s safety is compromised by a
robot?
• Who should be blamed, the robot, the agent using the robot, or the
maker/inventor of the robot?
2. Emotional Component
• It is not completely impossible for the robots to develop emotions.
• What if robots become sentient?
• Should they be granted robot rights?

WHY THE FUTURE DOES NOT NEED US?

The dangers posed by Science and Technology and the insights from William
Nelson Joy’s (2000) article, why the future doesn’t need us? In evaluating
contemporary human experience in the midst of rapid developments in science
and technology.

HUMANS AND ROBOTS

• The development of artificial intelligence may make robots act or decide like
humans.
• This possibility needs reflection regarding ethical considerations concerning
robots. Automation, increasing sophistication of computers, and robots may be
threatening the usefulness of humans and threatening human employment
A robot is an actuated mechanism programmable in two or more axes with a
degree of autonomy, moving within its environment, to perform intended tasks
Autonomy means the ability to perform intended tasks based on current state and
sensing without human intervention

“THE ETHICAL DILEMMA OF ROBOTS” BY DYLAN EVANS

• Some countries are drawing ethical codes and legislation regarding human
abuse to robots and vice versa.
• The development of emotional robotics which allows robots to recognize human
expressions of emotion and to engage in behavior that humans readily perceive as
emotional also contributes to the ethical dilemma regarding robots and humans.
Some of the ethical questions that are relevant to this issue include:
1. What does it mean for humans to be replaced by machines?
2. Is the value of a human inversely proportional to that of a machine exhibiting
artificial intelligence?
3. How do we guard against mistakes committed by machines?
4. If a robot injures someone, is the designer to blame, or the user, or the robot
itself?
5. If robots can feel pain, should they be granted certain rights?
6. If robots develop emotions, as some experts think they will, should they be
allowed to marry humans?
7. Should robots be allowed to own property?
8. If we see machines as increasingly human-like, will we come to see ourselves as
more machine- like?
HUMANS, TELEVISION SETS, MOBILE PHONES, AND COMPUTERS
Humans, Television Sets, Mobile Phones, and Computers
•Almost every household contain television sets, mobile phones, and computers.
•There are hundreds of millions of mobile phone subscription, millions of active
Facebook accounts, and several hours of mobile phone and computer interface.
•The Philippines has currently one of the highest digital populations in the world
and is the fastest-growing application market in Southeast Asia.
•These devices are used as platforms for advertisements, propaganda, and
advocacies for communication, for information dissemination, as recreational
activity and stress reliever, and as way to bond with family members.

Though there are uses, some argue that there are ethical dilemmas that these
advancements bring forth. These include:
ϖ Parents argue that they make children lazy and unhealthy.
ϖ People become alienated from other people because they are fixated with
these devices. Instead of connecting people, they tend to separate them.
ϖ People who are unable to distinguish from what is right and wrong are exposed
to things which are not suitable for them.
ϖ Also, according to the article “Is Google making us stupid?” by Nicolas Carr, we
become dependent on the Internet that our intelligence is affected.
ϖ We begin to lose our way of concentration and contemplation and we began to
lose interest in reading longish articles or books. Instead, we rely on the speed
and ease of the Internet.

WHY THE FUTURE DOESN’T NEED US?

WILLIAM NELSON JOY, APRIL 2000

ϖ William Nelson Joy, an American computer scientist and chief scientist of Sun
Microsystems, wrote an article for Wired magazine entitled Why the future
doesn’t need us?
ϖ Joy warned against the rapid rise of new technologies.
ϖ He explained that 21st century technologies - genetics, nanotechnology, and
robotics (GNR) - are becoming very powerful that they can potentially bring about
new classes of accidents, threats, and abuses.
ϖ He further warned that these dangers are even more pressing because they do
not require large facilities or even rare materials
ϖ Knowledge alone will make them potentially harmful to humans
William Nelson Joy argued that robotic, genetic engineering, and
nanotechnology pose much greater threats than technological developments
that have come before ϖHe cited the ability of nanobots to self-replicate, which
could quickly get out of control ϖHe also voiced out about the rapid increase of
computer power. He was also concerned that computers will eventually become
more intelligent than humans, thus societies into dystopian visions, such as
robot rebellions
•Joy’s article tackles the unpleasant and uncomfortable possibilities that a
senseless approach to scientific and technological advancements may bring.
•It is very unavoidable to think of a future that will no longer need the human
race.
•It makes thinking of the roles and obligations of every stakeholder a necessary
component of scientific and technological advancement.
•In this case, it is very necessary that the scientific community, governments, and
businesses engage in a discussion to determine the safeguards of humans against
the potential dangers of science and technology.