GEN 003

Science Technology and Society

Lesson 7: Science in Daily Life

- Cooking, boiling of water, burning of candle, curdling of milk, electricity, motorized vehicles, cell
phones etc. make us realize the presence of science in everyday life.
- From the above examples we can sense the broadness and importance of science in our daily lives.

Science is developed from the need of understanding the natural phenomena. It is a set of complex
theories and ideas based on observing, testing, analyzing and then presenting phenomena.

Scientific Method
- general process that has been formulated
- scientific knowledge accumulated over the years has helped man to apply rationale and logic to
everyday life as well. It has proved several superstitions and blind beliefs as wrong.
- logical process adopted by scientists to develop knowledge of nature and present it as acceptable
fact.
- based on gathering empirical data through observation and experimentation and the formulation an
d testing of hypotheses.

The most important part of application of science is technology.

Without modern science, there would be:

no way to use electricity
no plastic
no modern agriculture
no modern medicine.
- Ben Franklin's studies of static and lightning in the 1700s
- Alessandro Volta's first battery
- key discovery of the relationship between electricity and magnetism,
science has steadily built up our understanding of electricity, which
today carries our voices over telephone lines, brings entertainment
to our televisions, and keeps the lights on.
- first completely synthetic plastic was made by a chemist in the
early 1900s.
- chemistry has developed a wide variety of plastics suited for all sorts
of jobs, from blocking bullets to making slicker dental floss.
Science has transformed the way we eat today.
- 1940s, biologists began developing high-yield varieties of corn,
wheat, and rice, which, when paired with new fertilizers and
pesticides developed by chemists.
- 1700s, Edward Jenner first convincingly showed that vaccination
worked.
- In the 1800s, scientists and doctors established the theory that
many diseases are caused by germs.
- 1920s, a biologist discovered the first antibiotic.

STEPS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Observe Question Research Hypothesis
(make observation) (ask question or identify (search for existing (formulate hyphotheses)
a problem) answer of solution
Experiment Test Hypothesis Draw Conclusion Report
(design and perform (Accept or reject the (make conclusion (share your result
an experiment hypothesis) based on hypothesis)

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Lesson 8: Science, Technology and the Human Condition

The Human Condition Before The Human Condition in the

Common Era
- early ancestors
- Homo erectus have been using fire to
cook, through chipping one flint over
the other to produce a spark, all the
while without realizing the laws of
friction and heat.
- Tools from stones and flints marked
the era of Stone Age, during the advent
of our very own Homo sapiens, and
humans began to sharpen stones as
one would a knife; an example of this
is the simple machine called wedge.
Common Era
- humans of today
- Advancements in medicine, technology, health
and education ushered in humanity’s best yet, and
show no sign of stopping.
COMPARISON of then and now:
1. Mortality Rate - due to technology, lesser women
and children die during birth, assuring robust
population and strong workforce.
2. Average Lifespan - science is able to prolong
lives by enhancing living status and discovering
different remedies to most diseases. Distribution of
medicines is also made easier and faster.
3. Literacy Rate - access to education provided to
more individuals generally creates a more
informed public that could determine a more just
society.
4. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - higher country
income is brought upon by high productivity, often
an indicator of presence of technology.

The essence of technology

- Humanity has indeed come a long way from our primitive ways, and as a general rule, it is said that
we are more “developed” than we were before.
- Modern humans are reliant on technology in their search for the GOOD LIFE. Science and
technology have been, for the most part, at the forefront of man’s attempts at finding this happiness.
Lesson 9: Science, Technology and Nicomachean Ethics

Nicomachean Ethics
- written by Aristotle named for Nicomachus (practice of boys being named after their grandfathers,
name of both Aristotle's father and his son)
- is a philosophical inquiry into the nature of the Good life for a human being. Every human activity
aims at some end that we consider Good.
- supreme Good is HAPPINESS

What are virtues?

- Aristotle sees virtues as character traits and tendencies to act in a particular way.
- We gain them through practice and by copying 'moral exemplars' until we manage to internalize the
virtue.
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Eleven (11) virtues

• Courage – the midpoint between cowardice and recklessness. The courageous person is aware of
the danger but goes in any way.
• Temperance – the virtue between overindulgence and insensitivity. Aristotle would view the person
who never drinks just as harshly as the one who drinks too much.
• Generosity – the virtue of charity, this is the golden mean between miserliness and giving more than
you can afford.
• Magnificence – the virtue of living extravagantly. It rests between stinginess and vulgarity. Aristotle
sees no reason to be ascetic but also warns against being flashy.
• Magnanimity – the virtue relating to pride, it is the midpoint between not giving yourself enough credit
and having delusions of grandeur. It is a given that you also have to act on this sense of self-worth
and strive for greatness.
• Right ambition – a disposition to aim at the intermediate between empty vanity and undue humility.
• Patience – this is the virtue that controls your temper. The patient person must neither get too angry
nor fail to get angry when they should.
• Truthfulness – the virtue of honesty. Aristotle places it between the vices of habitual lying and being
tactless or boastful.
• Wittiness – at the midpoint between buffoonery and boorishness, this is the virtue of a good sense
of humor.
• Friendliness – while being friendly might not seem like a moral virtue, Aristotle claims friendship is a
vital part of a life well lived. This virtue lies between not being friendly at all and being too friendly
towards too many people.
• Justice – the virtue of dealing fairly with others. It lies between selfishness and selflessness. This
virtue can also be applied in different situations and has a whole chapter dedicated to the various
forms it can take.

Man's highest action and most complete happiness is a life of contemplation of the highest goods.
Man's intellectual capacity is his highest capacity, and therefore his highest happiness resides in the use
of that capacity.

The life of contemplation is so sublime that it is practically divine, and man can achieve it only insofar as
there is something divine in him.

Contemplation is the action which best fulfills all the qualifications that the ultimate good should have,
because it is the most continuous, complete and self-sufficient of all actions.

Lesson 11: When Technology and Humanity Cross

Technology
- not only bring convenience but also pleasure and happiness to people. This is because of the
different leisure activities that technology can offer to people.

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 - keeps on progressing due to not only the changing times and environment but also to the EVER-
PROGRESSING MIND OF MANKIND.

A typical household owns at least four of the following devices:

- a mobile phone (89%)
- smartphone (53%)
- tablet (14%)
- desktop (39%)
- laptop or netbooks (37%)
- smart TV (4%).

Some facts about Filipinos and their use of gadgets and the internet:
⮚ Mobile phone subscription is at 119 million.
⮚ Filipinos spend approximately 3.2 hours on mobile and 5.2 hours on desktop daily.
⮚ Currently, the Philippines has one of the highest digital populations in the world.
⮚ There are now 47 million active Facebook accounts in the Philippines.
⮚ The Philippines is the fastest-growing application market in Southeast Asia.

Ethical/Moral Dilemmas Faced by These Technological Advancements:

✔Children become lazy and unhealthy.
✔Alienation, because people no longer take time to get out of their houses and mingle with other people.
✔People have the tendency to be unaware of the time because they are so engrossed with the use of
technological device.

Children who are not capable yet of rationally deciding for themselves what is right or wrong, are freely
exposed to different things on television, mobile phones, laptops, or computers. Because of the
availability and easy access to the internet, they can just easily search the web and go to different websites
without restrictions.

Lesson12: History of Information Age

Information Age
- period starting in the last quarter of the 20th century
- information became effortlessly accessible through publications and through the management of
information by computers and computer networks.
- also called the Digital Age and the New Media Age because it was associated with the development
of computers.

James R. Messenger
- who proposed the Theory of Information Age in 1982.
- The Information Age is a true new age based upon the interconnection of computers via
telecommunications, with these information systems operating on both a real-time and as-needed
basis. Furthermore, the primary factors driving this new age forward are convenience and user-
friendliness which, in turn, will create user dependence.

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 Lesson 13: Issues in STS: Information Age-Automation

Highly modernized, automated, data-driven and technologically advanced – these best describe
our society nowadays, as evidenced by how information can be transferred or shared QUICKLY.

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• higher production rates and • worker displacement – worker whose
increased productivity - two of the job has been taken over by a machine
biggest reasons in justifying the use undergoes a period of emotional stress.
of automation. • high capital expenditure - an
• more efficient use of materials automated system can cost millions of
• better product quality dollars to design, fabricate, and install
• improved safetys • higher level of maintenance needed
• horter workweeks for labor • generally lower degree of flexibility -
• reduced factory lead times. even flexible automation is less flexible
than humans, the most versatile
machines of all

Automation – the technique, method or system of operating or controlling a process by highly

automatic means, as by electronic devices.

- 5 percent of current occupations stand to be completely automated if today’s cutting-edge technology

is widely adopted
- in 60 percent of jobs, one-third of activities will be automated.
- “Technology destroys jobs, but not work.”

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 - Robots Replacing 20 million Manufacturing Jobs. This robotic revolution is propelled by
technological advances in automation, engineering, energy storage, AI and machine learning.
As a result of robotization, tens of millions of jobs will be lost, especially in poorer local
economies that rely on lower-skilled workers.
- The rising number of automated equipment has a significant impact on climate change. While
it may lead to loss of jobs done by manual workers, the overall effect on the environment is good. .
Automated machines can help to reduce carbon emissions by half and thus allowing air to clear up.
- Automation effectively opens the door for more new endeavors that will elevate our species to
greater heights. Just as past generations turned away the mines for better careers, modern workers
whose jobs are altered by automation will see their roles in society evolve rather than disappear.

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