Specific Issues in Science, Technology, and Society This module tackles specific issues in science and technology in the context of the information age, biodiversity and health, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and ge ne therapy, hanotechnology, and climate change and environmental awareness. By critiquing specific issues in science and technology in the context of how these affect human lives, the module aims to empower students toward a renewed understanding’ and appreciation|ofyscience and technology in the present context of society.nt of the information 2 er ‘This section tract ety. It ackles me various ways e ‘and discusses its ee aie Bai ia = have imience society and tims, soci information age ant lives. outcomes - ei the students should be able to: ‘At the end st trace the development fe introduction of Gutenberg’s ts of the information age to society; and the information age and social f the information age from the press up to the era of social media; “jae the impac! ways in which jan lives. Who invented the printing press? When was the printing press invented? What device first compiled actuarial tables, ine can solve any problem and task from a written a program?- 7. Whois the ish Information Age | 433 new silicon alec chic 5 8. Who bui ; n reated thie - wilt a si 8080 micron, Pe & cE ‘om a keybo: TOPTOCESsors iar with around 9. Wh ard and televisigny "* NOoked up to a ‘ at did St ‘ 7 ; ev described in no, oe call the co, . 8? mputer Who is t © Creator of Micr ft 2s ho is th Micro: soft? German goldsmith, Johannes tenberg> invented the printi e eT 1440, This ievennice was 2 result of finding a way to improve the manual, tedious, and gow printing methods. A printing ss is a device that applies ure to an inked surface lying ona print medium, such as cloth or er, tO transfer ink. Gutenberg’s hand mould printing press led to the creation of ‘metal movable type. Later, the two inventions were combined to make printi faster and they drastically reduced the costs of CEL eae” Figure 24. The Gutenberg Press. The beginnings of mass communication can be traced back to the invention of the printing press. The development of a fast and easy way of disseminating information in print permanently reformed the structure of society. Political and religious authorities who took pride inbeing learned were threatened by the sudden rise of literacy among people. With the rise of the printing press, the printing revolution occurred which illustrated the tremendous social change brought by wide circulation of information. The printing press made the mass duction of books possible which made books accessible not only he upper class. became involved in As years pro} essed, calculations ; ica oe the rapid developments in the trade a iled actuarial tables and did engineering then, people who comp:re ~| 134 | Speotic i s “col uters-” calculations served #5 puter D World Wat the Allies g We a , (U Canae pritaim, France a, Australi etc.)» © untries : A hideapowee us that opposed" Ray. J aly, Hungary» (Germany, Opa peti, 2 ri) css challenged with #8 jous shortage of human computers for military calculations. When soldiers left for war, the shortage 80% worse, so the United States addressed the the problem by creating vard Mark 1, a general purpose Figure 25. "Enigm. . mae . Machine 4" Cypher vatromechanical computer thal 50 feet long and © calculations in seconds that usually took people hi © hours. At ne time, Britai ae tain needed mathematicians to crack th ode. The Enij ipherin, : ae” nigma was an enciphering 11 ay ee d forces used to securely send mess: ear ssages. apable Turing, an English mathematici ie. tician, i ecret Government Ci Wd Cipher Sh ai a es once OS and Cipher School at Bi ee pees code-breaking meth oe ,000 people working 2 ie cea To aaa counteract this, the Naz oo. ee more com Bic o eee lely 101m ae message. Ta gt eCly ee side of th ance orang or - Be. e Allies, invented B me Be pe cnc aoe a e British to deci ‘a ee pe of the fon of eine ee This contribution i ong with other ae P oy shortened the war by years ‘unro, 2012his paper On Comp, in Computaby tortion cidungsreblem, first Pune. Age | 136 oa etn a called the Trin 7, Tos plication to the a jem fron ple instructions en, "8 Maching tf "NG Presented a prnoastratee me simulation of the nek takes Can 5 a i i Apert; le Universa Machine, This bec. ring mac PEF tay sin ce and the invention of came the : ie! @machine ja, datior 5 wo solve any problem, by performin, © later ¢, Fi 2 of computer cat gaan, 2012). B ANY task from , eo mPuter, that oa n the 1970s, ter age wa: TS, tw hed in bee an Ap ive any Per tape. He also © tO construct a ey witnessed ie r an helen Sed the dawn of 4 ‘The people of this generation S en with setae ssonal computers (PCs). Back th € the first to be int early panels hobbyist group, ae ames ane aes he computer ardware and talked about Reel to trade parts ore accessible to everyone. Many membe, to make computers peing high-profile enterpreneurs, 8 of the club ended up including the founders of Apple Inc. In 1976 Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Inc., developed the computer that made him famous: the Apple J. Wozniak designed the operating system, hardware, and circuit board of the computer all by himself. Steve Jobs, Wozniak’s friend, suggested to sell the Apple I asa fully assembled printed circuit board. This jumpstarted their career _ Figure 27. Apple', also called asfounders of Apple Inc. Apple-1 or Apple Computer 1 From 1973 onward, social media platforms were introduced from yariations of multi-user chat rooms; instant-messaging applications (eg, AOL, Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger, Windows messenger); hulletincboard forum systems, game-based social networking sites (eg. Facebook, Friendster, Myspace) and business-oriented se networking websites (e.g., Xing); messaging, video and oe ae ves (a, Viber, Skype): Dlg Por ses hosting websites (e.g., Flicker); discovery and Se eel eg, Tagged, Tinder); video shai i! ring services (e+ " venoms « andFeed); live time social media feed agregar (e-8» peas(e.g, Justin.tv, qTwitch.tv); photo-video sharing websites (ey p, , Snapchat, Keek, Vines and question-and-answer inte, (e.g. Quora). To date, these social media platforms enable ®Platonn, exchange at its most efficient level. Orman The information age which progressed from the invent; printing press to the development of numerous social Rian of hy has immensely influenced the lives of the people. The im, Platforny, vations can be advantageous or disadvantageous d Pact of thes Pending m use of these technologies-