SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND

SOCIETY
COURSE CODE: STS
COURSE DESCRIPTION: THIS COURSE COVERS
THE ESSENTIAL INTERACTION OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
SOCIETY. IT DESCRIBES HOW SOCIETY BENEFITS
FROM THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY. IT IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY
COURSE THAT INCLUDES POLITICAL SCIENCE,
ANTHROPOLOGY AND ECONOMICS.
 WEEK 2
TOPIC:
CHARACTERISTICS OF  
Science, Technology
ST112: Science, Technology and Society
http://www.colby.edu/sts
http://www.colby.edu/sts/st112_2010

What is STS?
Defining Science and Technology
 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (STS)
The intellectual roots of STS lie in the history, philosophy, and
social study of science and technology, an arena where often-
controversial issues and choices interface with values and influence
public policy. STS prepares students to understand both the technical
and social dimensions of science and technology, helps them
become more thoughtful and better-informed citizens of our high-
tech society, and develops their critical interdisciplinary thinking,
research, and communication skills. Students flourish intellectually
in an environment where critical questioning is encouraged and
opportunities for research are abundant.  The STS program
maintains a full slate of guest speakers, often co-sponsored by other
departments, for the benefit of students and the larger community. 
 ON A PERSONAL LEVEL, STS IS…
Interdisciplinary education for life.
Relevant to every field of study.
A great major or double major or “the minor for all majors”.
A way to improve your writing and communications skills,
problem-solving abilities, and ability to adapt to changes in
science and technology.
Attractive to potential employers.
Needed at all levels, in education, government, the private
sector, and internationally.
STS IS…
Interdisciplinary study of the interaction of science and
technology with society and culture.
The realization that discoveries and inventions are shaped
by historical forces and in turn influence values,
aspirations, events, and institutions, thus shaping the
course of history.
S and T in social and cultural context.
Both academic and activist.
ACADEMIC STS
Scholarly Study of Science and Technology.
History, Philosophy, Sociology of S & T.
Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary.
Perennial and structural problems of history, philosophy,
and human nature.
Science dynamics
Technological dynamics
Informs activist STS issues.
ACTIVIST STS
Gets involved in current issues.
Covers a broad social spectrum (not just academic).
Builds coalitions:
1. Awareness of a problem
2. Need to take responsibility
3. Draw on external expertise
4. Make decisions and take actions
(demonstrate, litigate, educate, legislate, etc.).
Strengths —relevance, empowerment, democratic.
Weaknesses — ad hoc, emotional, NIMBY.
Examples: nuclear power, toxic wastes, health care, climate change action.
THE TWO CULTURES
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?

TWO POSSIBILITIES

Homo sapiens sapiens

Primates who think (a lot)
Contemplative
Homo farber
Primates who make things
Manipulative
SCIENCE IS. . .
Natural knowledge
Natural philosophy
Natural history
Systematic inquiry into nature
A human cultural activity
A total societal enterprise
With vast social consequences
Organized, well-founded knowledge of nature and human nature
“A sophisticated intellectual version of Esperanto or the universal language that the
heroes of the scientific revolution imagined as an instrument of global
communication”
“The cutting edge of ignorance”
HOW DO WE DEFINE SCIENCE?
CONTENT Body of organized knowledge about nature From Latin scientia - knowledge

METHOD Of obtaining that knowledge, experiment, observation, hypothesis, theory, law

ATTITUDE Organized and systematic skepticism

GOALS Explanation, understanding, prediction, control

LANGUAGE Mathematics and technical vocabulary

TOOLS Uses Instruments and technologies

COMMUNITY Discipline, education, credentials, careers, patrons, societies, “turf”

PROCESS Organized, but very diverse activity shaped by social forces and historical
change
IN GENERAL:
Science is an organized, hierarchical activity that
investigates nature and human nature by experiment and
observation.
Its goals are explanation, understanding, prediction, and
control.
It tests its theories by logical, mathematical, and
technological means.
Science is shaped by social forces and historical change.
While seeking objectivity, science also shapes culture.
STEREOTYPES

Newton,

John Hershel,

Darwin
STEREOTYPES
TECHNOLOGY

a. Artifacts or Hardware. Products fabricated by humans to

meet specific needs. Tools, machines, implements.
b. Knowledge and Methods. A system of tacit and explicit
knowledge, techniques, and materials utilized in using,
making, or repairing a certain kind of artifact.
c. A human cultural activity or profession. e.g. military or
civil engineers, crafters, machinists.
d. A total societal enterprise. e.g. “American technological
know-how.” R&D, invention, patronage, mass
production and mass consumption.
 WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?
A discourse or treatise on an art or arts;
The scientific study of the practical or industrial arts.
Techne (art, craft, skill), Logos (word).
Some other attempts at definitions:
• A system based on the application of knowledge, manifested in
physical objects and organizational forms, for the attainment of
specific goals —Volti
• Cumulative sum of means used to satisfy human needs and desires and
to solve specific problems —Markert
• The sum total of systems of machines and techniques that underlie a
civilization —Nye
• Not merely a system of machines with certain functions, but an
expression of a social world —Nye
• The production of superfluities – today as in the Paleolithic age —
Ortega y Gasset
• “The seeping false-hearted death” —DeLillo
TECHNOLOGIES OF THE PAST

TECHNOSPHERES
DISCUSSION
CAN WE DEFINE
“TECHNOLOGY?”
DOES TECHNOLOGY CONTROL
US?
IS TECHNOLOGY PREDICTABLE?

HAND IN THINK PIECE #1