Metacognitive Reading Report

Trainee: Llewellyn Ann N. Aspa Date: August 21, 2020

Science, Technology and Society/
Agham, Teknolohiya at Lipunan

Is Science Dangerous?
Topic/Lesson

1. Difficult Concepts (What concepts did you find difficult to understand?)

i. Genetics as genetic pornography
ii. Distrust in Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
iii. Anti-reductionist view in science

2. Insights (What new insights or learnings did you gain in discussion/ activity?)

i. Before reading the article/understanding the lesson, I thought technology has always been
possible and was further developed because of science. I have always known that different
technologies were made because of different concepts in science. However, reading the
article/understanding the lesson, I now think/realize that this has not always been the case.
According to Basilla (1988), science has only started to make contribution to technology
around the nineteenth century. I just learned, upon reading the article, that people before the
19th century were just observing trial and error runs until they perfected technology. From this
new information, I realize that technology is possible without the knowledge of science,
however, a person will be just wasting time and resources with trial and error runs. Now,
people save time and resources because the generation today has been introduced and is still
learning the concepts of science. By knowing the concepts of science, there are further
improvements that can be done in an existing technology.

ii. Before reading the article/understanding the lesson, I thought science was not despised by a
lot of people before. I never thought that science had a lot of controversy not just about the
new discoveries but its moral and ethical discussions. However, reading the
article/understanding the lesson, I now think/realize science is not really to be despised but
instead those people who have bad intentions to use science. Several inventions and
technologies rose because of science and some are used to make our lives better while some
may just cause destruction. It is true that scientists are not the ones to decide if the invention
must be implemented. It says that it should be of the politics and the citizens. However, I also
realize that there are still people who refuse to believe and understand science. For example,
the genetic modified food and even vaccines. They do not understand that these are necessary
to keep a good health. Politicians can also be sometimes incompetent in making the decision
about science and technology for they may use it for war and for their own benefit. Lastly, I
also realize that other people are really hypocrite which can be seen from the example of
being supportive in IVF while being opposed to obtaining stem cells from newborns.

iii. Before reading the article/understanding the lesson, I thought racism has always been one of
the big problems in Western countries. Movies and documentaries have shown how bad
racism is before and somehow, it is still today. However, reading the article/understanding
the lesson, I now think/realize that Western countries before treat racism worse. Upon reading
the article, it is my first time to learn about eugenics and further reading about it makes me
realize that science is not really bad. It just became bad because of how it was used by selfish
and ‘entitled-superior-races’. Eugenics sterilization in Germany was implemented as they
 believe that the increase of inferior races can be prevented. Other Western countries also
think that undesirable characteristics from a race can be removed. This shows that there really
are people who do not use science morally because the same concept of eugenics can also be
used today to cure genetic disabilities. Science must be for everyone, however, it is not.
Understanding the concepts of science is not enough but should be the concept of using
science morally and ethically as well. Again, this shows that it is complicated to give the
verdict to someone when it comes to implementing a technology. Scientists can manipulate
and change the scientific meanings when giving it to people; politicians can be greedy and
may be hungry for war and power; and society can be very ignorant. That is why, science
must be understood by politicians and society, and social concerns should be understood by
scientists.

3. Questions (What questions would you want answers for? Or vague areas you want more
explanations about?
i. Is the cloning of the sheep, Dolly, really considered as rape per those who are opposed to
cloning? Do you think that this is an ethical issue even if it resulted in a big breakthrough
in science?
ii. Moral and ethics is also a broad concept for sometimes it is hard to distinguish good and
bad for several valid reasons. With this, who are really equip and competent to give a
verdict on science and technology?
iii. What does the author mean by genetic pornography? Is it really true that those pictures
can titillate other people? And, clearly this is not the fault of science but instead the
media who did it without taking morals and ethics into account.