General Education Subject: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
Lesson 5 - TECHNOLOGY AND THE
FUTURE OF HUMANITY
OBJECTIVES
• Explain the implications of humanity’s growing
dependence on technology;
• Evaluate contemporary human experience in
the midst of modern technology
WHEN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY CROSS
• Science and technology can lead humanity to
either prosperity or degradation.
• It improves efficiency and productivity,
promotes competition and innovation, and
provides opportunities for employment
generation to millions of people worldwide
• Many technologies can harm the environment:
Pollution - Air, water, heat and noise pollution
can all be caused by producing and using
technology. Consuming resources - Non-
renewable resources, including precious metals
like gold, are used to make technology.
TECHNOLOGICAL OPTIMISM
• Techno-optimism is the belief that technology
will produce more good than bad
• The view that technological improvements will
sustain life as human population continues to
increase.
• Because of some helpful inventions, a
widespread misconception of technological
optimism arises.
• One example would be medicine. Generally,
people usually care about not dying.
• While it is not wrong to be hopeful in terms of
technological advancements, it is important to
be aware of the negative effects that some
innovations come with.
• It is expected that through technological
breakthroughs, pressing social issues would be
addressed, thus improving the future conditions
of society.
• What are some positive and negative effects of
technology?
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY
• Modern Technology Improved Connectivity and
Communication
• Modern Technology Made Our Society More
Efficient
• Modern Technology Has Improved Learning
Process and Education
• Modern Technology Improved Healthcare
• Technology Helps in Transportation
• Modern Technology Changing Agriculture
• Modern Technology Revolutionizing the Energy
Sector
• Modern Technology Improves Our Security
• Online Banking and Transactions
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY
• Addiction to Using Technology
• People’s Dependency on Technology
• Modern Technology Causes Distraction
• Technology Causes Health Problems in People
• Family and Relationship Problems Caused by
Technology
• Negative Effects of Technology on the
Environment
• Modern Technology’s Influence on Climate
Change
• Modern Technology Negatively Effects on
Education and Learning
• Modern Technology is Architecting Warfare
• Modern Technology Wasting Time of the People
“The year 2000” PUBLISHED IN 1967 BY HERMAN
KAHN AND ANTHONY WINER
• Listed 100 technological innovations that are
likely to occur in the last quarter of the 20th
century. This include
- new medical technologies that may detect hereditary
and congenital disease
- the use of cyborg techniques that may substitute
human organs or limbs,
- new biological or chemical methods to improve
memory and learning
- multimedia systems
- advanced military
- commercial airborne vehicles
- internet
Genetics and its threat to ethics
• The scientists who launched the HUMAN
GENOME PROJECT believed in the power of
genetic information to transform health care
• The Human Genome Project (HGP) is one of the
greatest scientific feats in history.
• The project was a voyage of biological discovery
led by an international group of researchers
looking to comprehensively study all of the DNA
(known as a genome) of a select set of
organisms.
• Launched in October 1990 and completed in
April 2003, the Human Genome Project’s
signature accomplishment – generating the first
sequence of the human genome – provided
fundamental information about the human
blueprint, which has since accelerated the study
General Education Subject: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
of human biology and improved the practice of
medicine.
Pharmacogenetics
• Pharmacogenetics (sometimes called
pharmacogenomics) is a field of research that
studies how a person's genes affect how he or
she responds to medications. Its long-term goal
is to help doctors select the drugs and doses
best suited for each person.
• Has also become controversial in terms of its
ethical use.
• It raises several questions regarding its necessity
methodologies and accessibility
• In the future, doctors will be capable of
providing patients with genetic report cards that
will spell out each patient’s risks of developing a
variety of diseases
• The social and ethical implications come into
question, including how will it affect lives,
families and the entire society
Advanced DNA Testing
• Also poses both advantages disadvantages, as
the practice may be misused or abused by
authorities
• A recent technology that is used in police
investigations surfaced, which potentially
quickens the acquisition of results of evidence
for the efficient conviction of criminals.
• However some police personnel may misuse the
technology and use it without the knowledge of
the suspect, or even manipulate data to
incriminate some one else.
• Presently, the public is concerned about
whether the technology is ready to be handled
by authorities or not.
• Since technology is highly advanced, great
responsibility lies within those who maneuver it
The growth of science and technology challenges
society’s ability to understand and control its effects on
everyday life. Its implementation is carried out so
rapidly that adverse effects are unavoidable. People
continue to use diesel-powered automobiles and coal-
powered energy plants that release toxic fumes and
greenhouse gases that are detrimental to human and
environmental health.
Water reservoirs (dams)
• Dams are constructed for irrigation, flood
control and power production.
• However they also disrupt the natural
ecosystem and displace local communities
1. Chico River Dam Project in Cordillera
• First drawn up in 1965 and was deemed
achievable to construct in 1973 only to be
suspended in 1980’s.
• The local tribes opposed the construction of the
dam because it would displace local
communities.
• At the forefront of the opposition against the
dam was tribal leader Macli-ing Dulag who was
murdered by unidentified assailants to silence
him, which cause a large public outcry on both
national and international scales that
terminated the project.
2. Kaliwa Low Dam
• Project in Rizal proposed in 2012 not only
threatened the displacement of local tribes and
the grabbing of ancestral lands, it also posed
severe environmental destruction.
• Initially approved under the administration of
former President Benigno S. Aquino III, the
project was cancelled only to be revamped by
bigger Chinese-funded project under the
administration of former President Rodrigo
Duterte
Agent orange
• An invention that illustrates how technology can
be purposively used to inflict damage on others.
• It is a herbicide and defoliant chemical.
General Education Subject: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
• It was used during the Vietnam war by the US
military in order to destroy plant-based food
production.
• Laboratory tests had shown that Agent Orange
also damaged the genes of humans exposed to
it. Resulting to genetic deformities developed by
offsprings of the exposed victims.
• The chemical also made the regeneration of
forests difficult and almost impossible.
Computer and electronic surveillance systems
• Provide personal, institutional and homeland
security but can also pose threats to human
privacy.
• Personal correspondence that allows the
exchange of information ca be put under
surveillance by high tech systems.
• As businesses and organizations around the
world depend on computers and the internet to
exchange data, they become more vulnerable to
cyberattacks.
CCTV
• It is also known as video surveillance. Closed
circuit means that the cameras transmit footage
to a closed audience, as opposed to regular
television, which broadcasts to the public.
Computer virus
• The infamous ILOVEYOU virus infected millions
of computers worldwide – including systems of
the Pentagon and the British Parliament.
• This virus, reportedly created by Filipino IT
students, destroyed files, stole user passwords
and compromised confidential data from
government agencies and private companies.
Hackers
• In another instance, hackers illegally accessed
the network portal of the Central Bank in
Bangladesh in February 2016, eighty-one million
dollars ($81M) was stolen, sent to the
Philippines and funneled into a leading
commercial bank’s foreign currency accounts
and three major casinos
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 Humanity’s ability to
survive as species will be determined by how rapidly
they can adapt to these technological changes.
Consequently, these technological innovations will affect
the future generations and their outlook towards the
fast-paced development of machines
ALDOUS HUXLEY
• 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”
• Our most powerful 21st century technologies –
robotics, genetic engineering, and
nanotechnology – are threatening to make
humans an endangered species
• It is expected that in near future, computers
will have the capacity to lead a so-called robot
rebellion. Genetic engineering is capable of
creating new crops and potentially new species.
• Nanotechnology may be used in developing
more efficient medicine and water treatment;
however, they may also be hazardous to one’s
health.
• Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter
on a near-atomic scale to produce new
structures, materials and devices
HUMANS USE TECHNOLOGY TO TRAVEL, TO
COMMUNICATE, TO LEARN, TO DO BUSINESS AND TO
LIVE IN COMFORT.
• Technology has made our lives easy.
• It is unimaginable to explore how each new
advanced technology has impacted our lives
and how it will impact the future.
• While technology has made it easier to connect
with others, access information, and improve
medical care, it has also led to job loss,
cyberbullying, and technology addiction
• Technology plays an important role in society
today. It has positive and negative effects on the
world and it impacts daily lives.
Book Reference:
Casas, John Miller et.al (2020). Science, Technology and
Society. C&E Publishing, Inc.