When Technology and

Humanity Cross
 Science and Technology can lead humanity
to either PROSPERITY or DEGRADATION.
 Environmental degradation and social
ethical dilemma
 Because of some helpful inventions, a
widespread misconception of technological
optimism arises.

view that technological improvements will

sustain life as human population continues
to increase
 But this view has its limits for it discredits
the unsustainable aspect of technology
 It is important to be aware of the negative
effects that some innovations come with.
 Pressing social issues should be
addressed, thus improving the future
conditions of society
https://assets.vccircle.com/uploads/2018/01/sophia_robot_r
eueters_rtx39evt.jpg

Sophia became the first robot to receive citizenship

of any country.
• In the book “The Year 2000”, published in 1967, Herman Kahn
& Anthony Wiener listed 100 technological innovations that are
likely to occur in the last quarter of the 20th century.
• A number of predicted innovations are now existent like
multimedia systems, advanced military & commercial airborne
vehicles, and the internet.
• New biological or chemical methods to improve memory and
learning
• Other predictions such as genetic testing to efficiently detect
hereditary & congenital diseases are already being developed.
• Advanced DNA testing poses both advantages & disadvantages,
as the practiced may be misused or abused by authorities.
 Pharmacogenetics
• T h e s tu d y o f h o w a p e r s o n ’s g e n e s a ffe c t th e
w a y h e o r s h e r e s p o n d s to d r u g s .
• P h a r m a c o g e n e tic s is b e in g u s e d to le a r n a h e a d
o f tim e w h a t th e b e s t d r u g o r th e b e s t d o s e o f a
d r u g w ill b e fo r a p e r s o n .
• A ls o c a lle d p h a r m a c o g e n o m ic s .

Controversial in terms of
its ethical use like its
necessity, methodologies,
& accessibility
Also its social implications
including how it will affect
lives, families, & the entire
society
 When Technology and Humanity
Cross
• Science and technology now provide us with numerous things
which we can do creating a vast arrays of human potentialities
and also dangers.
• The growth of science and technology now challenges
society's ability to understand or control its effects on
everyday life. If misuse or implemented so rapidly, harmful
side effects abound/ adverse effects are unavoidable.

Think of how technology affect

our everyday life. Can you think
of the downsides of modern
technology?
 Technology always has downside
when misuse

• The Case of Agent Orange – it is a herbicide &

defoliant chemical used during the Vietnam war by
the US military in order to destroy plant-based
ecosystems in Vietnam’s territory, disrupting their
agricultural food production. It damaged the
human genes exposed to it, resulting in genetic
deformities developed by offsprings of the
exposed victims & made the regeneration of
forests difficult & almost impossible.

http://www.vvaif.org/images/agent%20orange%20barrel.jpg
 Kaliwa Low Dam Project
&
Chico River Dam Project
• Dams are constructed for irrigation, flood control, and power
production; however, they also disrupt the natural ecosystem
and displace communities.
• There is conflict between progress and ethical and
environmental consequences.
W e s ta n d a g a in s t th e K a liw a D a m P r o je c t
b e c a u s e th is p r o je c t:
 w i l l a f f e c t t h e a n c e s t r a l d o m a i n s w h e r e 5 ,0 0 0
D u m a g a t -R e m o n t a d o s a r e s i t u a t e d ;
 is b e in g e x p e d ite d b y th e r a ilr o a d in g o f its
le g a l p r o c e s s , p a r tic u la r ly th e r ig h t o f th e
D u m a g a t -R e m o n t a d o s t o F r e e , P r i o r , a n d
In fo r m e d C o n s e n t p r o c e s s u n d e r IP R A ;
 w ill d e s tr o y th e b io d iv e r s ity a n d h a b ita t o f 1 2 6
s p e c ie s in 3 0 0 h e c ta r e s o f th e S ie r r a M a d r e
a n d e n d a n g e r 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 r e s i d e n t s d o w n s t r e a m
w ith th e r is k o f m a s s iv e flo o d in g ;
 w i l l e n t a i l a n u n n e c e s s a r y 1 0 .3 7 b i l l i o n -p e s o
lo a n fr o m C h in a , fu r th e r w o r s e n in g o u r d e b t-
r id d e n e c o n o m y ;
 w ill n e e d e v e r y F ilip in o , in c lu d in g th o s e
o u ts id e M e tr o M a n ila , to s h o u ld e r th e d e b t;
 f a c e s a s h o r t l i f e s p a n o f 5 -6 y e a r s d u e t o t h e
h ig h r a te o f s e d im e n ta tio n in th e a r e a ;
 a llo w s C h in a to s e ttle d is p u te s o n th e p r o je c t
TheuMetropolitan
s i n g t h eWaterworks
i r l a w sand a nSewerage
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t h e i r(MWSS)
t e r r i is
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r ygovernment

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m ainychargec a uofs the
e Kaliwa
o u r gDam o v project,
e r n mwhiche n ist part
t o sofuthe r rNew
e n Centennial
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P hSource
i l i p pprogram
i n e tthat
e r rpromises
i t o r y to
t odeliver
p a y600 o million
f f t h eliters
l o of
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water
to Metro Manila.
 The Chico River Pump Irrigation Project will increase national rice production by
around 36,000 metric tonnes of milled rice annually, and save about US$15 million
on rice imports.
 The project involves building multiple structures including a pump house, sub-
station, transmission line, canals and access roads.
 In 2019, the government anticipated it would benefit more than 4,000 farmers in
Kalinga province, and create some 15,000 jobs during its three-year construction.

 Opposing it is a loose alliance of

indigenous people’s groups,
environmentalists and some national
politicians.
 They have warned of the project’s impact
on forests and rivers in the mountainous
Cordillera region of Luzon – the largest of
the Philippine islands.
 They have also questioned the legality of
the funding agreement with China Exim
development bank.
• While science and technology provide society higher standards of living,
these are accompanied by adverse effects such as depletion of resources
and biological and environmental hazards.
• Our ability to survive as a species will be determined by how rapidly we can
adapt to these technological changes.
• These technological innovations will affect the future generations and their
outlook towards the fast-paced development of machines.
Many people are worried about the possible future of AI and robotics as
seen in so many sci-fi movies. Artificial intelligence creating
a utopian society, emphasizing the potential benefits, or dystopian society,
emphasizing the dangers.

Dystopian Society – is an imaginary place where people are unhappy and

usually afraid because they are not treated fairly.

The characteristics of Dystopian society are government control,

environmental destruction, technological control, survival, and loss of
individualism
• In the novel “Brave New World (1931)”, the author Aldous Huxley
created a dystopian world 600 years into the future in which humans are
engineered through artificial wombs and indoctrinated into
predetermined classes that dictate how they should act and be
perceived in society.
• Huxley re-examined this novel in its 1946 edition and stated that his
envisioned reality is coming faster than he had originally foreseen and
that “the horror might be upon us within a single century”.
Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us
The Fears of Bill Joy…
What is left for us humans?

• In the Industrial Revolution,

machines took over many of the
physical tasks we used to do.
But we humans were still left
with all the cognitive tasks.
• This time, as machines start to
take on many of the cognitive
tasks too, there’s the worrying
question: what is left for us
humans?
http://dystopiaofirobot.weebly.com/uploads/8/2/8/9
/8289751/302750916.jpg?287

• Read the article Will robots bring about the end of work?
https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-
science/2017/oct/01/will-robots-bring-about-the-end-of-work
 A.I. in Movies
A.I. Artificial
Intelligence (2001)
I, Robot (2004) Westworld (1973)
• Society should pay attention to the old adage “ History repeats itself.”
• Many have suffered from the ill effects of excessive and abusive
technology and scientific manipulation as more and more innovations are
being made today.
• Those who control high-technology devices and essential top secret
information hold the future of humanity.
• As technology is a mere tool for human intention and political agenda,
society should always be informed of the capabilities of machines and
the reason for their invention.
• Many good-intentioned discoveries turn sour when left unchecked by the
public.
• Should technology be allowed to do all the work and make decisions for
society or should humans maintain control over these new technologies?
• If it is human maintaining control, the question is how technology can be
effectively controlled and directed.
 Questioning technology and what we can do about it

• We have witnessed a rising tide of

concern among scientists and
engineers regarding the dangers of
their own achievements.
• The challenges of controlling and
directing new technologies are not
reserved for scientists and
engineers. We all have a stake in
making sure everyone will benefit
from these new technologies and no
one is harmed, controlled or Julius Robert Oppenheimer is among
displaced. those who are credited with being the
"father of the atomic bomb“. Later in life,
he vigorously lobbied for international
control of nuclear power or atomic energy
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/JROppenhei
mer-LosAlamos.jpg/220px-JROppenheimer-LosAlamos.jpg
• American political activist, author, lecturer, Ralph Nader
and attorney, noted for his involvement in
consumer protection, nuclear safety,
international trade, regulation of insecticides,
meat processing, pension reform, land use,
banking, environmentalism & government
reform causes.
• he published his first article on the
automobile industry, “American Cars:
Designed for Death." he argued that auto
fatalities did not result just from driver error
but from poor vehicle design as well.
• In 1965 he published Unsafe at Any Speed,
which criticized the American auto industry in
general for its unsafe products and
attacked General Motors’ (GM’s) Corvair
automobile in particular. The book became
a best seller and led directly to the passage of https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm
ons/thumb/b/b2/Naderspeak.JPG/220px-
the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Naderspeak.JPG
Safety Act, which gave the government the
power to enact safety standards for all
automobiles sold in the United States.
 Rachel Carson
• American marine biologist,
author,
and conservationist whose
book Silent Spring and other
writings are credited with
advancing the
global environmental
movement.
• She documented the adverse
environmental effects caused by
the indiscriminate use
of pesticides, which led to public
awareness and later, nationwide
ban of DDT and other pesticides.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co
mmons/thumb/f/f4/Rachel-
Carson.jpg/220px-Rachel-Carson.jpg
 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR)

• A historic document that affirms the rights of

every human person
• Was adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly on December 10, 1948
• In light of the atrocities of the Second World
War
• December 10 is known as Human Rights Day or
International Human Rights Day
• The Guinness Book of Records describe the
UDHR as the “Most Translated Document” in
the world
• It served as the foundation for a growing
number of national laws, international laws,
treaties as well as national, regional and sub-
national institutions protecting and promoting
human rights.
• It consists of 30 articles
 Article 1 Right to equality
Article 2 Freedom from discrimination
Article 3 Right to life, liberty, personal security
UDHR Article 4 Freedom from slavery
Article 5 Freedom from torture and degrading
treatment
Article 6 Right to recognition as a person
before the law
Article 7 Right to equality before the law
Article 8 Right to remedy by competent
tribunal
Article 9 Freedom from arbitrary arrest and
exile
Article 10 Right to fair public hearing
Article 11 Right to be considered innocent until
proven guilty
Article 12 Freedom from interference with privacy, family,
home, and correspondence
Article 13 Right to free movement in and out of the country
Article 14 Right to asylum in other countries from persecution
Article 15 Right to a nationality and the freedom to change it
Article 16 Right to marriage and family
Article 17 Right to own property
Article 18 Freedom of belief and religion
Article 19 Freedom of opinion and information
Article 20 Right of peaceful assembly and association
Article 21 Right to participate in government and in free
election
Article Article Article
• Article 22 right to social • Article 23 Right to • Article 24 Right to rest
security desirable work and to join and leisure
trade unions

Article Article Article

• Article 25 Right to • Article 26 Right to • Article 27 Right to
adequate living standard education participate in the cultural
life of community

Article Article Article

• Article 28 Right to a social • Article 29 Community • Article 30 Freedom from
order that articulates this duties essential to free state or personal
document and full development interference in the above
rights
 • PEACE
increase international
peace & stability & decrease
international violence

Advantages of UDHR • Education

- education results in increased
economic growth, higher wages,
better health, and increased political
participation and stability
- seeks to improve the quality of
life of all of the world’s people