GEd 109: Science, Technology and Society

Ms. ANDREA B. MATULAC

Chapter 2
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY AND THE
HUMAN CONDITION
 GEd 109: Science, Technology and Society
Ms. Andrea B. Matulac

A. The Human Person Flourishing in Terms of

Science and Technology

At the end of this lecture, students will have:

1. Better perspective on the purpose of man’s existence and his purpose in a world driven by
technology;
2. More holistic view of the idea that technology is a way of revealing man’s innate purpose and
natural tendencies; and
3. Greater understanding of the fulfillment of men’s destiny as the ultimate end and maker of all
material things to satisfy his cravings and appetite.
 GEd 109: Science, Technology and Society
Ms. Andrea B. Matulac

Start-up Activity

For the Start-Up Activity, fill your mind with thoughts of your understanding of a human person,
man’s role in the universe, his gifts of technology and the means of fulfilling his ultimate destiny.
What do you imagine? Where did you base your perception of a human person? Is it from some
philosophical studies about human or is it from the biblical point of view? Think about yourself.
With your age right now, what is your purpose? Or are you still in the process of finding your
purpose? Have you ever imagined that you could invent or discover something technologically in
the near future? What would it be? How do you think it would affect you and the people around
you?
 A. The Human Person Flourishing in Terms of Science and Technology

Technology changes us and the world around us in countless ways. Science and Technology are at
the forefront of our society today. Much that we do deals with research and progress, and
development in the ever-growing technological sectors. But technology has always been a
double-edge sword, empowering both our creative and our destructive natures. Technological
advancement is not without complication, and even ardent proponents of technology recognize
that our present age of innovation is fraught with concern for unintended consequences.

For instance, technology that eases our labor can detach us from meaningful sense of work. What
can cure disease can encourage us to view the human body as something to be engineered,
modified, and immortalized. Techniques that produce more food from less land can have numerous,
long-term effects in natural environment. Likewise, even as technology makes possible instant
communication with others around the worlds, it often creates distance between ourselves and
people near to us; while it enables unprecedented mobility, it can undermine the stability necessary
for families and communities to thrive.
 A. The Human Person Flourishing in Terms of Science and Technology

Human flourishing is defined as an effort to achieve self-actualization and fulfillment within the
context of a larger community of individuals, each with the right to pursue his or her own such
efforts. It encompasses the uniqueness, dignity, diversity, freedom, happiness and holistic well-
being of the individual within the larger family, community and population. Achieving human
flourishing is a lifelong journey of hopes, achievements, regrets, losses, illnesses, sufferings and
copings.

Karl Marx, a revolutionary socialist, posits that in our daily lives we take decisions that have
unintended consequences, which then combine to create large-scale social forces that may have an
utterly unpredicted effect. He states that humans are naturally social beings, and therefore, society
is the essential “unity of man in nature.” The decisions we make as a society should take into
account the nature of our social relations and the potential consequences. Marx argues that to
achieve true human flourishing, we as individuals must first overcome the different mechanisms of
alienation to express our full humanity in relation both to nature and one another. The idea of
genetically intervening in the production of human individuals not only objectifies the human
person but also distorts the individual as a mirror of himself. (Thomas, 2011)
 A. The Human Person Flourishing in Terms of Science and Technology

Technology as a Way of Revealing

Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher, wrote an essay, “The Question Concerning Technology,”
which addresses modern technology and its essence as an instrumental way of revealing the world.
Heidegger’s understanding of technology was based on its essence.
• First, the essence of technology is not something we make; it is a mode of being or of revealing.
This means that technological things have their own novel kind of presence, endurance and
connections among parts and wholes.
• Second, technology even holds sway over beings that we do not normally think of as
technological, such as gods and history.
• Third, the essence of technology as Heidegger discusses it is primarily a matter of modern and
industrial technology.
• And fourth, for Heidegger, technology is not simply the practical application of natural science.
Instead, modern natural science can understand nature in the characteristically scientific
manner only because nature has already, in advance, come to light, as a set of calculable,
orderable forces – that is to say, technologically.
 A. The Human Person Flourishing in Terms of Science and Technology

According to him, there are two characteristics of modern technology as a revealing process.

• First, the mode of revealing modern technology is challenging. Things are revealed or
brought forth by challenging or demanding them. “Challenging” as a mode of revealing
could be sharply contrasted to “Physis”, which is the arising of something from itself. A
flower blossoming or fading in the changes of the seasons is an example of this form of
revealing. The revelation has its own autonomy., and at best, man can only witness. This is a
natural way of revealing.

• The second characteristic of modern technology as a revealing process is that of challenging,

which brings forth the energy of nature as “expediting.” In the modern use of the word,
expediting means to hasten the movement of something. However, in its original sense,
expediting is also a process of revealing inasmuch as it “unlocks” and “exposes” something.
For Heidegger, en-framing is the essence of modern technology. En-framing simply means putting
into the frame of modern technology everything in nature. This “frame” of modern technology is
the network of interlocking things standing in reserve. It is the world centered on man’s caprices
and demands, world of manipulation and demystification. Here nothing is mysterious anymore.
This is what Heidegger was afraid of, that the process of truth will revert to the realm of erring. It
must be remembered that for the truth to be, it must retain its mystery. To disregard this
essentially limited process of revelation is also to disregard the entirety of its essence. As they say,
we are only “guardians” of creation. To disregard this nature of reality is also putting ourselves
into the brink of danger. (Blitz, 2014). Because of man’s arrogance, nature is on the verge of
destruction. He thinks he knows how nature works and tends to hasten or “expedite” its
processes. He demands too much from it and turn disrupts its natural flow. Nature is beyond our
control. Its truth is beyond our grips. For all we know, it is the one that controls us. If we ever try
to dominate it, nature will surely revolt against us in a very humbling manner.
 GEd 109: Science, Technology and Society
Ms. Andrea B. Matulac

B. The Good Life

At the end of this lecture, students will have:

1. Know the concept of good life and how it can be attained;

2. Engage with the idea of the purpose of man’s existence; and
3. Entertain their notion of what is a public good.
 GEd 109: Science, Technology and Society
Ms. Andrea B. Matulac

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”

-ROBERT BYRNE
 B. The Good Life

How do human What do they need to

beings thrive? enable them to realize
their potential?

How do they ensure

that all people have the
How do they judge
opportunity to reach
what they really need their full potential as
as opposed to what human beings, no
they really want? matter what their
circumstances?
 B. The Good Life

Have some reflections on these matters.

• Some people look at some other people’s lives and compare them with their own,
finding holes they cannot hope to fill because every life is different.

• Some say to have a good life you must be deliberate in how you live your life.

• Others say it is finding what you what you were meant to do on this earth and doing it.

• Some authors say it is love, gratitude and peacefulness.

 B. The Good Life

What is a GOOD LIFE?

Living the good life can mean something different for everyone; however, there are still a
general understanding of what this idea entails to human beings living in the modern
world. The good life, in its simplest form, is a series of never-ending satisfaction that only
grows more powerful as time goes on.

The good life consists of wanting to get out of bed every morning, excited to take on whatever each
day has in store for you. It has nothing to do with the material possessions or artificially induced
sensations. The good life is based on the compassionate deeds you perform, the personal goals you
strive to achieve, and the legacy you decide to leave behind as a mark you have made on the world
around you.
 B. The Good Life

Everyone has a different definition on the word “good”, especially on the context of life,
depending on many factors, such as where and how people live. One way of examining a
different view is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Applying his idea, it can be assumed that as
people move through and up the pyramid of needs to reach self-actualization, the idea of
the “good life” changes.

One of the concepts studied in positive psychology, which may explain different views, is
the one of values. It can be argued that values are one of the drivers to reach the good
life. Values, such as power, security, tradition or benevolence, are a collection of
principles that guide the selection or evaluation of actions, events and people and what
deem to be correct and desirable in life (Schwartz, 1992). Values may, to a certain extent,
codetermine what people consider the good life.
 B. The Good Life

The answers to this question are condensed in a little book, The Ten Golden Rules by
Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas.

1. Examine life, engage life with vengeance; always search for new pleasures
and new destinies to reach with your mind.
2. Worry only about the things that are in your control, the things that can be
influenced and changed by your actions, not about the things that are beyond
your capacity to direct or alter.
3. Treasure Friendship, the reciprocal attachment that fills the need for
affiliation. Friendship cannot be acquired in the marketplace, but must be
nurtured and treasured in relations imbued with trust and amity.
4. Experience true pleasure. Avoid shallow and transient pleasures. Keep your
life simple. Seek calming pleasures that contribute to peace of mind. True
pleasure is disciplined and restrained.
 B. The Good Life

5. Master yourself. Resist any external force that might delimit thought and
action; stop deceiving yourself, believing only what is personally useful
and convenient; complete liberty necessitates a struggle within, a battle to
subdue negative psychological and spiritual forces that preclude a healthy
existence; self-mastery requires ruthless candor.

6. Avoid excess Live life in harmony and balance. Avoid excesses. Even good
things, pursued or attained without moderation, can become a source of
misery and suffering.

7. Be a responsible human being. Approach yourself with honesty and

thoroughness; maintain a kind of spiritual hygiene; stop the blame-shifting
for your errors and shortcomings.
 B. The Good Life
8. Don’t be a prosperous fool. Prosperity by itself, is not a cure-all against an
ill-led life, and may be a source of dangerous foolishness. Money is a
necessary but not a sufficient condition for the good life, for happiness and
wisdom.

9. Don’t do evil to others. Evildoing is a dangerous habit, a kind of reflex too

quickly resorted to and too easily justified has a lasting and damaging effect
upon the quest for the good life. Harming others claims two victims – the
receiver of the harm and the victimizer, the one who does harm.

10. Kindness toward others tends to be rewarded. Kindness to others is a good

habit that supports and reinforces the quest for the good life. Helping others
bestows a sense of satisfaction that has two beneficiaries – the beneficiary,
the receiver of the help, and the benefactor, the one who provides the help.
 B. The Good Life

Why are we here? How will

I serve
my
existence
What is life all ?
about?
HUMAN
EXISTENCE

Who brought
How should I
exist? us here?
 B. The Good Life

Philosophers of all ages have tried to find the secret of existence, the meaning of it all. If they
could find the real meaning of life, all this human effort, all this wonderful potentiality of
human beings could then be moved in the correct direction, and we would march forward
with great success. So, therefore, we tried these different ideas. But the question of the
meaning of the whole world, of life, and of human beings, and so on, has been answered
many times by many people. Unfortunately, all the answers are different

According to Plato, the meaning of life is attaining the highest form of knowledge,
which is the Idea (Form) of the Good, from which all good and just things derive
utility and value.

Aristotle teaches that each man’s life has a purpose and that the function of one’s
life is to attain that purpose. He explains that the purpose of life is earthly happiness
or flourishing that can be achieved via reason and the acquisition of virtue. Also,
human beings have a natural desire and capacity to know and understand the truth,
to pursue moral excellence, and to instantiate their ideals in the world through
action.
 B. The Good Life

What is Public Good?

A public good is a product that one individual can consume without reducing its availability
to another individual, and from which no one is excluded. Almost all public goods are
considered to be nonrivalrous and nonexcludable goods. Nonrivalry denotes any product
or service that does not reduce in availability as people consume it. Nonexcludability refers
to any product or service that is impossible to provide without it being available for many
people to enjoy. Therefore, a public good must be available for everyone and not limited in
quantity.

A dam is an example of a public good. It is nonrivalrous and nonexcludable in that all

people within a society benefit from its use without reducing the availability of its intended
function.
 GEd 109: Science, Technology and Society
Ms. Andrea B. Matulac

C. When Technology and Humanity Cross

At the end of this lecture, students will have:

1. Possess the necessary knowledge and data to analyze the emerging moral dilemma brought
about by robot development.;
2. Have the requisite skills to discuss the moral issues and standards required in this topic ; and
3. Gain information on the real issues between technology and humanity governing robotics.
 GEd 109: Science, Technology and Society
Ms. Andrea B. Matulac

The real danger is not that computers will begin to think

like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.

-Sydney Harris
 C. When Technology and Humanity Cross

The world is in the period of transformative changes and innovations where many
of us will be surprised with the scale and pace of developments. These
exponential technological advances offer tremendous potential, and with these
opportunities come tremendous new responsibilities.

On the other hand, unimaginable technological breakthroughs may dramatically

improve our lives and hugely further human flourishing; on the other, some of
these exponential technological changes are likely to threaten the very fabric of
society and ultimately challenge our very humanness.

The new reality, is that, because of the increased exponential and combinatorial
technological changes, the future is actually very unlikely to be an extension of
the present. Rather, it is certain to be utterly different – because the assumption
framework and the underlying logic have changed.
 C. When Technology and Humanity Cross

The Ethical Dilemmas of Robotic

The technological advancements in recent years have become cornerstones of

modern society and realized many of mankind’s wildest dreams. One dream that is
still yet to be perfectly fulfilled by advancements in technology is the
advancements in technology is the development of human-like and self-aware
robots, often referred to as androids. If and when truly “living” robots were to
come about, one could foresee a slew of ethical dilemmas developing.
 M
A
N
The use of the word
B E H A IV O U
“robot” in Capek’s play R P
comes from the Slavic U
L
languages’ word for
“work” which is robota.
M A

ROBOT
S B I
O

E I N

N L
S I
INTELLIG T
EN Y
 C. When Technology and Humanity Cross

While it is true that androids are not the only robots, which have a great impact
on our lives, their development introduces a set of unique ethical issues that
industrial robots do not evoke. Working under the assumption that it is only a
matter of time until androids are an everyday reality, we should begin thinking
about what these ethical issues are and how they may be dealt with in the
coming years. The overarching question that results is what exactly these robots
are. Are they simply piles of electronics running advanced algorithms, or are
they a new form of life?
 C. When Technology and Humanity Cross

If we accept the idea that androids should be considered a new form of life though made
up of machinery rather than biological components, to what form of life are we to equate
them?

Human life

Three primary forms of life Animal life

Plant life

Society will never accept the idea that androids are an equal or a greater form of life than
humans. Human nature is prideful and human society is as a whole could not handle not
being on top. No matter what happens, upcoming technological advancements will lead us
to consider closely just what constitutes life.
 C. When Technology and Humanity Cross

Human, Morals and Machines

Human-machine partnerships will enable people to find and act on information without
interference of emotions or external bias while also exercising human judgement where
appropriate. They will learn to team up with technologies integrated into machine-learning
tolls to help activate and deactivate the resources they need to manage their daily lives.
Over the next decade, emerging technologies will underpin the new formation of human-
machine partnerships that make the most of their respective complementary strengths.
These will enhance daily activities around the coordination of resources and learning,
which will reset expectations for work and require corporate structures to adapt to the
expanding capabilities of humans and machines.