GEC 6 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY: COURSE MODULE

Lesson 1: GENERAL CONCEPT OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY AND IT’S

CONNECTION
SCIENCE
Science may be defined as the system of knowledge of the natural world gained through
the scientific method. It was originally called “philosophy of the natural world” since it
stemmed from the ancient Greeks desire to know about nature. Thus, the first scientists
were called “philosophers of nature.” They sought to discover the truth behind material
things and natural things. It was the task of the philosophers of nature to observe the world
and beyond, and to discover what
TECHNOLOGY
▪ The term technology comes from Greek words tekhnē meaning “art or craft” and -logia,
meaning a “subject or interest.” Taken together, the term has come to mean “practical
applications of what we know about nature using scientific principles for the betterment of
the human situation.
SOCIETY
▪ A society, or a human society, is a group of people involved with each other through
persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or social
territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural
expectations.

CONNECTION BETWEEN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
▪ Science informs technological advancements. We rely on theories on physics, material
science, electricity, chemistry, and others, to develop new technologies. Indeed, we are
still working to create a lot of potentially useful materials that are predicted to exist, based
on our current scientific theories, and the more scientific theory develops, the more it can
inform our technological advancements. Our ability to create such powerful computers is
informed by our science. But technology also changes how we do science. Think about
the invention of the telescope. It vastly changed our ability to conduct astronomical
research.
TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
▪ In some ways, the influence that technology has had on society is obvious. It’s also very
profound. Social media, the internet as a whole, and blockchain technology all have had
significant influences on society. It would not exist without technology.
▪ Of course, earlier technological revolutions such as the industrial revolution and the
agricultural revolution cannot be ignored either. The ability to create materials that we use
in our everyday life, the ability to feed a massive amount of people, and so on, are all
thanks to the development of technological innovations.
▪ Of course, while technology has been a great boon for prosperity, it has also had some
negative impacts. It has produced quite a bit of pollution, though hopefully technology and
science will cure that issue. Probably the worst use of technology — and the science which
informs its development — has been weapons of mass destruction.
▪ In the opposite direction, society drives technology and sometimes prohibits its
development. I recently finished a piece on the ethics of fiction writing, in which I touched
on the importance that fiction has had on inspiring new technology and warning of threats
that we could face in the future. Society also drives technological evolution through need.
 Very often a technology emerges because someone recognizes a need for that
technology.
SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
▪ Just as technology often develops because there is a need for it, science helps solve the
needs of society. While a major goal of science is to simply better our understanding, many
people leverage science to help solve real world problems in society.
▪ Because science alters our understanding of the world, it has had a significant impact
on our belief systems, our norms, and our values, as well as our daily behaviors.

Things to Remember:
▪ The science understanding of how the world functions alters how we behave. Technology
alters how we can behave. Society drives technological innovations and scientific inquiry.
Science gives us insight into what kind of technologies we could potentially create and
how to create them, while technology allows us to conduct further scientific research.
▪ The three domains are so intimately connected that it is sometimes difficult to pull them
apart. But understanding how the three relate to each other is important, because each
one drives the future of the other.

Activity 1:
Instruction: Analyze the given illustration below and answer the questions that follows.

Activity 2:
Instruction: Make a concept map on what you have learned about the connectedness of science,
technology, and society. Use your own words and ideas in hypothesizing a concept map. Do not
copy paste your answer from the internet or any allied resources.