WHY DOES THE

FUTURE NOT NEED US?

City of future: Humans not included.

Illustrated by: Emmanuel Garcia Morales

CHAPTER OUTLINE
Human and Society
Relation of Technology with Humanity
How Technology Is Transforming the Human Experience Posthumanity
Theory

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. rationalize the human experience in order to strengthen and enlighten the human
functioning in society; and
2. identify and examine what the future of humanity and the future of technology.
 Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master."

Christian Lou's Lange

Experience of human in technology? Where are we now? Wearable technology. Sensors

all over the place. We have now the power to monitor, in real time, just about everything, giving it to
these new trends. We can improve every aspect of our life—from our health, our time, and
various aspects of our family lives.

Human interests on technology allows them to expand the range of human experiences.
These are qualified experiences and what's more, they can share these experiences with other
human beings, injecting the technology into their lives, thus, the future of technology is based on
how the human will use it.

Technology, is a double edged sword, like most human things, involving gain and loss,
also merit and demerit. It links us to those far away, but confuses us from those that are close,
and hospitals save lives, but takes them on battlegrounds. Most of all, technology is a choice.
We use it for our own reasons. As stated above, those people want to monitor their every
heartbeat and others do not.

But most significantly, what makes us incomparably better off is technology but in the
end, the true value of technology is not about replacing human experience, but mitigate its
deficiencies.

HUMAN AND SOCIETY

Most of the time in a simple hunter-gatherer society's human species lives. Agrarian
societies advanced less than 5.000 years ago and it is only in the last 200 years that a 'modern'
industrial society has come into being. Today this industrial society is quickly converting into a
global information society.

Is this societal progress a change for the better? There always been controversy over
this question, and presently the disagreement seems more intense than ever, possibly for the
reason that we are more conscious today that society is making. Because social change is
taking place at an ever increasing rate. One of the issues in this current debate is the quality-
of-life in modern society. Progress optimists have confidence in that we live better now than
earlier generations, while pessimists question that life is getting worse.

Technology and Humanity: A Positive Side

As the old saying goes, "NECESSITIES IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION" i.e. necessities
have a tendency to issue inventions as each invention is invaded with the need of betterment
and transmogrification.
 In a day there are newer and newer advances are happening. Technological change has
a large responsibility for many of the secular trends in such basic parameters of the human
condition as the size of the world population, life expectancy, education levels, material
standards of living, and the nature of work, communication, health care, war, and the effects of
human activities on the natural environment. Technology influences other aspects of society and
our individual lives in many direct and indirect ways, including governance, entertainment,
human relationships, and our views on morality, mind, matter, and human nature.

Human history with a kind of directionality was provided by technological development.

As technology advances, it backs the characteristics of every situation over and over
again. The age of automation is going to be the age of "Do it yourself".

The Positive View

 Material Standard of Living. Several achievements of modern society draws through the
idea that life is getting better. One is the unparalleled rise in the material standard of
living; the average citizen lives more easily now than kings did centuries ago.

 Untimely Death is reduced. Another development that strikes the eye is the
unintended of an untimely death is greatly reduced; fewer people die in accidents,
epidemics, and murder. A number of social evils have been decreased, such as poverty,
inequality, ignorance, and oppression. A recent statement of this view can be found in 'It's
getting better all the time' by Moore and Simon (2000).

 Improvement in Evolutionary View. This view of development is typically part of an

evolutionary view, in which society is seen as a human tool that is gradually perfected. This
idea established during the period of enlightenment in the 18th century and lives today.
The idea that we can progress society by `social engineering' is part of this belief and
forms the ideological foundation of many major contemporary institutions, such as the
welfare state and development aid organizations. This journal of 'Social Indicators
Research' roots in that movement.

 Reduced Suffering. This is a traditional religious view of earthly life as a phase of

penance awaiting paradise in the afterlife breaks the knowledge that life is getting better.
It deem the possibility to reduce suffering by creating a better world and societal
development seen to head in that way, be it with some ups and downs.

These advancements are also together with the reduction in time, effort, and cost for
production of any material extending from the microcips to the state of the art automobiles or
from the classy devices to the mega structures coupled with ease in design and development.

These development also invigorate economic development as effective use of

technology. Reduces the material production cost and the above changes that produce savings
in the economy and lead to national development.
The Negative View

Problems and potentials often go hand in hand; problems can be twisted into opportunities.
Elements of the universe exhibits two faces, constructive side, and destructive side.

Society had become more and more reliant on technology. So that we sometimes lack
the willingness to think before we act. We become intolerant if it takes more than a seconds to
download a copy of the morning newspaper. We expect instant response to our email, and we
expect someone to answer their cell phone whenever and wherever we call.

Technology is making us so broken that cannot even find time to spend with close
friends. It would be shocking to know that people are in contact through chat and online
messaging though they are in the same city because they think it is more faster and effective but
they are forget that meeting personally cannot be replace by online chatting.

Science and technology gifts have been knowingly abused by the powerful humanity,
and time. There are natural side-effects of these gifts, but their deliberately misuse, abuse, and
outweigh and evils of the side-effects, which could have been improved or at least minimized to
a large extent otherwise. Human greed, selfish interest, lack of planning and myopic vision has all
led to the abuse of science and technology.

 Contemporary Social Problems. Life is getting worse is typically fuelled by concern

about contemporary social problems. One of the kind problems is deviant behavior, such
as criminality, drug use, and school refusal. Another group of problems seen to lessen
the quality of life such as social conflicts, labor disputes, ethnic troubles, and political
terrorism. The decline of the influence of the church, family and local community are also
seen to deprive the quality of life of modern people. A recent statement of this view is
found in Easterbrook (2003) 'The progress paradox.

 Society Drifting away from Human Nature. This view of deterioration is often part of
the idea of society drifting away from human nature, because society has changed a lot,
while human nature has not. Not a piece of equipment, but rather an uncontrollable
force that presses humans into a way of life that does not really fit them in society
view. The idea that life is getting poorer fits a long tradition of social criticism and
apocalyptic prophecies. In this view, paradise is lost and doubtful to be restored.

According to Bill Joy's: "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" from Wired Magazine Issue
8.04; Apr 2000: He said that:

The machines that do our work for us and will achieve immortality by downloading
ourselves into them is all about robotics. But Joy does not believe we will be human after the
downloads or the robots would be our kids. Genetic engineering will create new crops, plants,
and eventually new species including many variations of human species. Joy has many fears
about genetics but especially how easy it would be to mess up and create some new epidemic.
And nanotechnology has its "gray goo" problem—self-replicating nanobots out of control.

So it is the power of damaging self-replication in GNR that should give us pause. He

thinks we are on the edge of killing ourselves and this might be common to species that reach
the level of power and intelligence we have. He thinks it arrogant to design a robot as a
replacement species when we mess up with things.
 The length of progress of nuclear weapons. The weapons were built and then a kind of
momentum happened leading, over ensuing decades, to a continual build up that put us at the
brink of nuclear disaster. Believes there is less than 50% chance of making it thru the next
century [I'm reading between the lines.]. And solutions like moving into space, nuclear defense
shields, and nanotechnology shields won't work, since every new defensive system simply brings
on another round of offensive capability. The side effects of defense shields may be as unsafe as
what they were designed to protect. Thus the only truthful substitute I see is relinquishment.

There are few tell us not to open this Pandora's box, not to let our tech take control of
us. Especially since we have no plan and no control. We still have a chance to stop chasing the
course, but soon it will be late. We do have a guide for stopping all this stuff to the arms race. We
did begin to sign treatises and ban and reduce weapons because we comprehended that we
were all at risk. Confirmation of bans against GNR will be difficult it is possible. GNR may
bring happiness and immortality, but should we risk the survival or the species for such goals?
Like eternity, liberty, and equality are worthwhile goals but another utopian vision is based on
fraternity (altruism.) For an ethical basis for the future J looks to the Dalai Lama who advocates
love, compassion, and universal responsibility. It is not material development or the pursuit of
knowledge that will ultimately make us happy.

Joy continues to speak passionately for his position and thinks he may be morally obliged to
stop this [software dev] work. All of this leaves him not angry but at least a bit unhappy.
Henceforth, for me, progress will be somewhat bittersweet.

Relevance of the Issue

This discussion is not just some academic matter to be reasoned over in ivory towers; it
has profound policy implications. If modernization makes society less livable, we should try to
stop the process, or at least to slow it down. Conservatives have a strong point in this case and
can convincingly argue for restorative policies. However, if modernization tends to improve the
quality-of-life, we better go along, which would rather fit the liberal political agenda. In the latter
case there is also ground to further modernization, which would support various reformist
tendencies in advanced nations and justifies missionary activities such as 'development aid' for
`under-developed' nations.
Societal Collapse

There are several attempts to explain the society collapse. This includes the following
words: Gibbons' classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire also Joseph Tainter's Collapse of
Complex Societies, and Jared Diamond's more recent Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or
Succeed.

Tainter (1990), notes that societies need to protect certain resources such as food,
energy, and natural resources in order to sustain their populations. In their attempts to solve
this supply problem, societies may grow in complexity in the form of bureaucracy,
infrastructure, social class distinction, military operations, and colonies. Sometimes, the
marginal returns on these investments in social complexity become unfavorable, and societies
that do not manage to scale back when their organizational overheads become too large finally
face breakdown.

Diamond says that many past cases of societal collapse have elaborate
environmental factors such as deforestation and habitat destruction, soil problems, water
management problems, overhunting and overfishing, the effects of introduced species, human
population growth, and increased per-capita impact of people.

Four new factors that may contribute to the collapse of present and future societies
was also suggested by him such as human-caused climate change, but also build-up of toxic
chemicals in the environment, energy shortages, and the full utilization of the Earth's
photosynthetic capacity. Diamond draws attention to the danger of creeping normalcy, stating to
the phenomenon of a slow trend being concealed within noisy fluctuations, so that a detrimental
outcome that occurs in small, almost unnoticeable steps may be accepted or come about
without resistance even if the same outcome, had it come about in one sudden leap, would
have evoked a vigorous response.

Different classes of scenarios involving societal collapse:

a. Local Societal Collapse:

Individual societies can collapse, but this is doubtful to have a determining
effect on the future of humanity if other advanced societies survive and take up where the
failed societies left off. All historical cases of collapse have been of this kind.
b. Global Societal Collapse:
We suppose new kinds of threat (e.g. nuclear holocaust or catastrophic changes in
the global environment) or the trend towards globalization increased interdependence of
different parts of the world and create a vulnerability to human civilization as a whole.

Assume that a global societal collapse were to occur. What happens next? If the collapse is a
nature that a new advanced global civilization can never be rebuilt, the outcome would succeed
as an existential disaster. Though, it is hard to think of a reasonable collapse which the human
species survives but makes it permanently impossible to rebuild civilization.

Supposing, that a new technologically advanced civilization is eventually rebuilt, what is

the fate of this increasing civilization? Again, there are two possibilities. The new civilization
might neglect collapse; and in the succeeding two sections we will examine what could
happen to a sustainable global civilization. Otherwise, the new civilization collapses again,
and the cycle repeats. If a sustainable civilization arises, we reach the kind of situation that the
following sections will discuss. Instead one of the collapses leads to extinction, then we have
the kind of scenario that was discussed in the previous section. The remaining case that we
face a cycle of indefinitely repeating collapse and regeneration.

Different Conclusions for Different Situations

There are many conceivable explanations why an advanced society might collapse, only a
subgroup of these explanations could probably account for an unending pattern of collapse
and regeneration. Cycle could not depend on some dependent factor that would apply to some
advanced civilizations and not others, or to a factor that an advanced civilization would have a
realistic chance of counteracting; for such a factor were responsible, one would expect that the
collapse-regeneration pattern would at some point be broken when the right circumstances
finally enabled an advanced civilization to overcome the obstacles to sustainability.

The postulated cause for collapse could not be so powerful as to the cause of extinction
of the human species.

Humanity has progressed from the essence that separates humans from beasts: the
mind has the ability to reason. Reason is the ability to analyze, create, deduce, and formulate.
It is reason that allows human beings to strive and to invent; it is through invention that
mankind developed society and created a better world.

Technology now, we can say that it is the sum total of instrumentally useful culturally-
transmissible information.

Technology, a term with Greek origins, is defined as "the practical application of knowledge
especially in a specific part". Technology sued to collectively describe or portray the
advancements, abilities, creations, undertakings, views, and knowledge of a singular group of
persons: we as humankind.

RELATION OF TECHNOLOGY WITH HUMANITY

 When we talk about the relationships between technology and humanity, it is
obvious that we have to deal with the interrelations between a very complex phenomena:
technology, science, society, and systems of rights of a universal nature. A large number of
powerful energy sources-coal, petroleum, electricity etc. have enabled humanity to conquer the
barriers of nature as part of discovery and development. All this has facilitates the growth of fast
modes of transports, which in turn has transformed the world into a global village

The Future of Humanity

What was dissimilar in the 20`h century? Surely, the technologies underlying the Weapons
of Mass Destruction (WMD) - Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) - were powerful
weapons had an enormous risk. But building nuclear weapons required, at least for a time,
access to both rare - indeed, effectively unavailable -raw materials and highly protected
information; biological and chemical weapons programs also inclined to require large-scale
activities.

Technologies in the 21" century such as Genetics, Nanotechnology, and Robotics (GNR) -
are so powerful that they can spawn whole new classes of accidents and abuses. Most
dangerous for the first time are these accidents and abuses. These are widely seen within the
reach of individuals or small groups. They will not require large facilities or rare raw materials.
Knowledge alone will allow the use of them.

Therefore, we have the possibility not only to those weapons of mass destruction but
also to those knowledge and enabled mass destruction (KMD), this destructiveness hugely
amplified by the power of self-replication.

Plateau mentions that two possible paths depicts for the future of humanity, one
representing an increase followed by a permanent plateau, the other representing stasis at (or
close to) the current status quo.

STATIC VIEW

Implausible is the static view. It would imply that we have just arrived at the final human
condition even at a time when change is exceptionally fast.

The static view would also imply a radical break with numerous trends.
a. If the economy of the world continues to raise at the same pace as in the last half
century, at that time of 2050 the world will be seven times richer than it is today.
b. Population of the world is predicted to increase over 9 billion in 2050, so usual wealth
would also increase vividly.
c. Additionally by 2100 the world would be almost 50 times richer than today. A single
modest-sized country might then have as much wealth as the entire world has at the
present.

Over the course of human history, doubling time of the world economy has been
extremely reduced on several occasions, such as agricultural transition and the
Industrial Revolution. Such transition should occur in this century, the world economy
might be numerous orders of magnitudes larger by the end of the century.

Another purpose for conveying a low probability to the static view is that we can
foresee various specific technological advances that will give humans important new
capacities.
d. Virtual reality surroundings will constitute an increasing fraction of our experience. The
capability of recording, surveillance, biometrics, and data mining technologies will grow,
making it gradually feasible to keep track of where people go, whom they meet, what
they do, and what goes on inside their bodies.
e. Among the most significant potential growth are ones that would enable us to alter
our biology directly through technological means. Interventions could affect us more
deeply than modification of beliefs, habits, culture, and education. If we learn to
control the biochemical processes of human senescence, healthy lifespan could be
radically prolonged. A person with the age-specific mortality of a 20-year-old would
have a life expectancy about a thousand years. The ancient but hither to mostly
useless quest for happiness could meet with success if scientists could develop safe
and effective methods of controlling the brain circuitry responsible for subjective well-
being.
f. Drugs and other neuro technologies could make it progressively feasible for users to
shape themselves into the kind of people they want to be by correcting their
personality, emotional character, mental energy, romantic attachments, and moral
character. Cognitive enhancements might deepen our intellectual lives.
g. Wide-range consequences for manufacturing, medicine, and computing came
from nanotechnology.
h. Machine intelligence, is additional potential revolutionary technology.
i. Prediction markets might improve the capability of human groups to forecast future
developments, and other technological or institutional developments might lead to new
ways for humans to organize more effective institutional innovations.

The influences of these and other technological growths on the character of

human lives are hard to predict, but that they will have such impacts seems a safe bet.
Those who believe that developments such as those listed will not occur should
consider whether their skepticism is really about ultimate feasibility or merely about
timescales. Some of these technologies will be difficult to develop.

Does that give us reason to think that they will never be developed? Not even
in 50 years? 200 years? 10,000 years? In the past, growths such as language,
agriculture, and Industrial Revolution may be said to have knowingly changed the
human condition. There are at least a thousand times more of us now; and with present
world average life expectancy at 67 years, we live possibly three times longer than our
Pleistocene ancestors.

The human beings mental life has been transformed by developments such as
language literacy, urbanization, and division of labor, industrialization, science,
communications, transport, and media technology.
Prediction of Artificial Intelligence

Good (1965). The idea of a technological singularity tied specifically to artificial intelligence
and stated:

"Let an ultra-intelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the
intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these
intellectual activities, an ultra-intelligent machine could design even better machines; there
would then unquestionably be an 'intelligence explosion,' and the intelligence of man would be
left far behind. Thus the first ultra-intelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever
make... It is more probable than not that, within the twentieth century, an ultra-intelligent
machine will be built."

Vernor Vinge elaborated the idea in the coming technological singularity, adjusting the
timing of Good's prediction:

"Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman
intelligence. Shortly thereafter, the human era will be ended"

Technology and Its Usability

Technology future will be determined by its usability, its relevance to the needs of the
future and combined with the simplicity. Technology has evolved since 1990, what used to work
before can seem out aged by now. Year by year new technologies appear and it is up to the
users to hold and learn how to use these technologies in their everyday lives.

Technology has transformed the way we communicate, the way we travel, the way we
socialize, it makes the way easy to learn, it has changed our homes and lifestyles and it has
formed many opportunities. Future technology will bring more opportunities to those who are willing
to learn, how to use it, and exploit it to the maximum.

Technology is good and it can change our society, but the way we use it will measure if
it is beneficial or not. Future technologies have to be planned to serve people and society, and
they have to be user friendly. The society has to use future technologies with good intentions.

The design and use of future technology. Human have a unique capabilities of imagining
the impossible and creating new ideas and this will determine the type of technology to be used
tomorrow will determine through imagination and creative thinking.
1. Computer technology future
2. Next generation wearable computer is HOLO
3. Watch technology upcoming
4. The forthcoming of home technology
5. The coming of classroom technology

HOW TECHNOLOGY IS TRANSFORMING THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE

 The sci-fi genre has imagined all sorts of groundbreaking inventions, but reality holds as
many captivating examples of advance technology that is changing people's/ human everyday
lives which could impact them in the future. Technology is really transforming the human
experience, helping people to achieve things that would have only been previously dreamt in
fiction, though some of the new inventions should potentially stay there.
a. Hearing colors/Hearing at Arm's Length
b. Eye-Camera/Smart Contact Lens/ Eyeball Jewelry Implant
c. Human compass
d. Password Pill
e. Electronic Throat Tattoo
f. Interaction with Devices
g. Robot Arm/Controlling Wheelchair
h. Bionic Limp
i. Artificial Vision System
j. Terminator Arm/Titan Arm
k. USB finger/Mind Uploading

The New Pandora's Box-also known as "TECHNOLOGY"

The new Pandora's boxes of genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics are almost open, yet
we seem hardly to have noticed. Ideas can't be put back in a box; unlike uranium or plutonium,
they don't need to be mined and refined, and they can be freely copied. Once they are out, they
are out. Churchill remarked, in a famous left-handed compliment, that the American people and
their leaders "invariably do the right thing, after they have examined every other alternative."
In this case, we must act more presciently to do the right thing at last may lose the
chance to do it at all. As Thoreau said, "We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us"; and
this is what we must fight, in our time.

The question is, indeed, which is to be master? Will we survive our technologies?

According to Nick Bostrom (2004), there are four future scenarios for the Humanity
and Technology:
1. The extinction scenario perhaps the least affected by spreading the timeframe
of consideration. If humanity goes extinct, it stays extinct. The cumulative probability
of extinction increases monotonically over time. One argue, that the current century
or the next times, will be a critical phase for humanity, if we make it through this
period then the life expectancy of human civilization could become extremely high.
Several possible lines of argument would support this view. For example, one might
believe that super intelligence will be developed within a few centuries, and that,
while the creation of super intelligence will pose grave risks, once that creation and
its immediate aftermath have been survived, the new civilization would have
vastly improved survival prospects since it would be guided by super intelligent
foresight and planning. Furthermore, one might believe that self-sustaining space
colonies may have been established within such a timeframe, and that once a
human or post human civilization becomes dispersed over multiple planets and
solar systems, the risk of extinction declines. One might also believe that many of
the possible revolutionary technologies (not only super intelligence) that can be
developed within the next several hundred years; and these technological
 revolutions are destined to cause existential disaster, they would already have done
so by then.

2. The recurrent collapse scenario becomes progressively unlikely the longer the
timescale, for reasons that are apparent from figure. The scenario assumes that
technological civilization will hesitate continuously within a relatively narrow band of
progress. If there is any chance that a cycle will either break through to the post
human level or plummet into extinction, then there is for each period a chance that
the oscillation will end. Unless the chance of such a breakout meets to zero at an
appropriately rapid rate, then with probability one the pattern will finally be broken. At
that point the pattern might degenerate into one of the other ones we have
considered.

3. The plateau scenarios are the recurrent collapse scenario in the level of civilization
is theorized to remain confined within a 1narrow range; and the longer the
timeframe considered, the smaller the probability that the level of
technological growth will remain within this range. But compared to the recurrent
collapse pattern, the plateau pattern might be thought to have a bit more staying
power. The reason is that the plateau pattern is reliable with a situation of complete
motionlessness such as result from the rise of a very stable political system, propped
up by greatly increased powers of surveillance and population control, and which for
one reason or another chooses to preserve its status quo. Such stability is
inconsistent with the recurrent collapse scenario.

4. The cumulative probability of post humanity, like extinction, increases

monotonically over time. Contrast to extinction scenarios there is a possibility that a
civilization that has achieved a post human condition will later return to a human
condition. The reasons paralleling those suggested earlier for the idea that the
annual risk of extinction will decline significantly after certain critical technologies
have been developed and after self-sustaining space colonies have been created,
one might maintain that the annual likelihood that a post human condition would
revert to a human condition will similarly decline over time.

POSTHUMANITY THEORY

A clarification of what has been referred to as "post human condition" is overdue. It is

used to mention to a condition which has at least one of the following features:
1. Population bigger than 1 trillion persons.
2. Larger than 500 years life expectancy.
3. Large fraction of the population has cognitive capacities more than two standard
deviations over the present human maximum.
4. Near-complete control over the sensory input, for the majority of people for most of the
time.
5. Human psychological suffer become rare occurrence.
6. Any change of magnitude or profundity comparable to that of one of the above.
 Post humanity - is a theory/concept that is of an advance level of technological or economic
development that would involve a radical change in the human condition, whether the change
was brought by biological enhancement or other causes.
The Longer Term

The four families of scenarios we have considered such as extinction, recurrent collapse,
plateau, and post humanity, it could be controlled by varying the period over hypothesized
occur. A few hundred years or a few thousand years might already be plenty time for the
scenarios to have an opportunity to play themselves out. Yet such an interval is a blip compared
to the lifetime of the universe. Let us therefore zoom out and consider the longer term prospects
for humanity.

They notice first is that the longer the time scale it is less likely technological civilization
will remain within the zone we termed "the human condition" throughout.

The scenarios presented reveals how "human condition" is among all the possible levels
of organismic and technological development. The "human condition" will reveal a much more
of the larger picture.

Message to Humanity

It is needless to say that like any other aspect of development, the technological
development is similar to a double edge sword which on one side can kill someone and on the
other side can lead to one's own protection. However, the decision to use it proficiently in
proper perspective is one's own decision and choice.

If technological advancements are put in the best uses, it further inspires the
development in related and non-related areas but at the same time its negative use can create
havoc in the humanity or the world. Technology has and will, change the moral fabric of
humanity; it is up to the present generation to heed this warning and not allow such societal
travesties of immense proportions ever to occur again. Technological advancements will continue
to advance rapidly as we move into the next millennium. What important is to ensure that these
advances benefit humanity as a whole.
 ACTIVITY 10: THINK-PAIR-SHARE

Name: Date: Class Period:

Title:

Write your topic title above, then list the required information in the following areas as
indicated with your colleague.

My Own My Partner's Synthesized

Questions
Views Views Views

1. What are the reasons

and meaning why the
future doesn't need
us?

2. Identify and
enumerate
recommendations
how human beings
can prevent this from
Happening.

3. If human extinction is
a likely, or even
possible, outcome of
our technological
development,
shouldn't we proceed
with great caution?
 CHAPTER ACTIVITY

Name: Date:
Course/Year/Section:

Present a digital collage showing your group's perception on the outcome of

technological advancement on human extinction, and how human beings can protect
themselves from science and technology. Provide brief explanation for the poster presentation.
WHEN TECHNOLOGY
AND HUMANITY CROSS
Technology vs Man: A conflict between man and machine
Captured by: Emmanuel Garcia

CHAPTER OUTLINE
Advantages, Disadvantages, and Limitations of Technology
Humanity
Policies and Technological Advancement
Ethical Dilemmas

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this chapter, the student should be able to:
1. rationalize the advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of applying
technology to humanity;
2. identify and examine international/local government policies and human
rights that protect the well-being of the person in the face of new
technologies; and
3. discuss some examples of ethical dilemmas and conflicts wherein
technology affects humanity in terms of moral issues and social conflicts.
 “It has become appallingly obvious that or technology has exceeded our humanity"

Albert Einstein

What is technology? What is humanity? Our world is truly entering a period of

transformative modification that most people will be surprised by the measure and
unavoidable step of developments that we merely had not expected. There are so
many inquiries regarding the positive and negative effects, limitations of
developments and the ethical dilemmas that we will face in the future.

In order to find the answer to these questions, we have to be able to

understand and rationalize what is humanity, the human nature, and its condition,
the ethics that will and should govern each application of technology to humanity.
It also requires an understanding that these technological advances offer
tremendous potential, and with these opportunities come tremendous new
responsibilities.

Technology, a word with Greek roots, is defined as, "the practical

application of knowledge especially in a particular area" by Merriam-Webster.
Technology is a word used to define or portray the progressions, abilities, creations,
happenings, interpretations, and knowledge of a singular group of persons and as
humans we execute certain functions for man and society.

Technology is the external part of science and to understand technology,

academic or internal science shall be treated like a black box. The inner workings
are no importance at the moment for as long as they are responding to the needs of
technology.

What is the primary purpose of technology to humanity?

This chapter will enumerate multiple advancement in technology and an

assessment of its potential impacts and its implications to humanity this will serve
as an Assessment guide in our decision-making that will change, shape, and
transform the future's human nature in adapting ever changing evolution of
technological advances.
Advantages, Disadvantages, and Limitation of Technology

Importance of Technology to Humanity

To learn the importance of technology in our everyday lives, it shows that

technology has profound impact on every aspect of lives. The way we live,
communicate, and interact changes through technology in the different fields of
education, medicine, transportation, economy, communication, and politics. This
chapter will provide you a clear picture of this impact and highlight the negative
and positive aspects as well as its limitations.

Advantages of Technology
1. Life has become easy through science and technology.
2. Travelling has become faster than before.
3. Communication becomes easier, faster and cheaper.
4. Innovations in technology increased the standard of living.
5. Using various technology, man become advanced.
6. The impossible have become possible due to the progress in science and
technology.
7. Science and technology made a lot of things easy to do and comfortable
for man.

Disadvantages of Technology
1. Human had misused the technology and used in damaging purpose.
2. By the use of technology, man is doing illegal things.
3. New technology like mobile are generating bad consequences on
children.
4. By means of modern technology, terrorists use it for destructive
purpose.
5. Many illness are created due to the development of atomic energy and
atom bomb.
6. Modern technology like nuclear energy have not only affected man but
it also affected plants and other creatures.
7. Natural beauty is decreasing due to the development of modern
technology.

Limitations of Technology to Humanity

 According to Booch (2003), Technology has many advantages to
humanity. One cannot live without these advancements but there are certain
limitations as to what humanity can apply it to almost everything they do.
Technology is the application of the laws of the theory in science, to discuss its
limitations, one need to answer these questions: Is there a specific limitation in
these Technological Advancement? Or can Humanity limit the use of these
technology? These are the factors that define the limits of technology:

1. The laws of physics

2. The laws of software
3. The challenge of algorithms
4. The difficulty of distribution
5. The problems of design
6. The problems of functionality
7. The importance of organization
8. The impact of economics
9. The influence of politics

The Laws of Physics

Software, Quantum effects, and Thermodynamic plays an important role
when it comes to the law of physics and technology. Software is a flexible medium.
Specifically, the speed of light is a given, and that fact has practical implications
for throughout systems. Quantum effects have theoretical and practical limits to
information capacity: you cannot store more memory than there are numbers of
elementary particles in the universe. Thermodynamic effects happen when the
containers that will dissipate heat, that limits the use of technology.

The Laws of Software and Algorithms

Fundamental laws of software: An example of software limitations is when
there is a given computation, there are times we can't do it, and there are times we
can't afford to do it, and sometimes we just don't know how to do it (these
categories and their examples come from David Harel's delightful book, Computers,
Ltd.).Limitations for algorithms is that there are also certain classes of problems that
are on a reasonable algorithm: data compression and photorealistic which
renders two such problems like theoretical limits of compressing an image, a
waveform, video, or some raw stream of bits, some degree of information loss,
hairy mathematics, some trial and error, lack of perfect knowledge adds
complexity and compromise to our systems.
The Difficulty of Distribution

Leslie Lamport an American computer scientist who observed, "A

distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn't even know
existed can render your computer unusable." Building distributed systems is only
moderately harder than building a non-distributed one, but it is decidedly not,
because the reality of the real world intrudes. Peter Deutsch is an American
politician who noted that there are eight fallacies of distributed computing: we'd
like to believe that these are all true, but they are definitely not.

The Problems of Design

The design of any relevant Web-centric system consists of tens of

thousands of lines of custom code on top of hundreds of thousands of lines of
middleware code on top of several million lines of operating system code. William
Occam, a 14th-century logician and Franciscan friar stated, "Entities should not be
multiplied unnecessarily." Isaac Newton an English phydsist & mathematician
projected Occam's work into physics by noting, "We are to admit no more causes
of natural things than such are both true and sufficient to explain their
appearances." Put in contemporary terms, physicists often observe, "When you
have two competing theories which make exactly the same predictions, the one
that is simpler is the better." Finally, Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical
physicist declared that "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not
simpler."

The Problems of Functionality

Brooks writes: To consider the requirements, functionality, and non-

functionality of a machine like multi-engine aircraft, a cellular phone, or an
autonomous robot, has these limitations such as usability, survivability, and
adaptability has these unrestrained, potentially contradictory, external
requirements are too complexity to design.

The Importance of Organization

According to Booch (2003), No one person can ever understand such a
system completely: It demands that we use a team of developers, and ideally, as
small a team as possible but software systems that drive an entire enterprise,
one typically must manage teams of teams, each of which may be geographically
distributed from one another. More developers mean more complex
communication and hence more difficult coordination, particularly if the team is
geographically dispersed. With a team of developers, the key management
challenge is always to maintain a unity and integrity of design.

The Impact of Economics

Technological Advancement costs money. According to Barry Boehm

(1981), in his classic work on: Software Engineering Economics, based upon 20
years of empirical evidence, concludes that the performance of a project can be
predicted according to the following equation:

Performance = (Complexity**Process) Team * Tools

Where:
Performance means effort or time
Complexity means volume of human-generated code
Process means maturity of process and notation
Team means skill set, experience, and motivation
Tools means software tools automation

From this equation, we can observe that the complexity of a system can
either be amplified by a bad process or dampened by a good process and that
the nature of a team and its tools are equal contributors to the performance of a
project.

The Influence of Politics

Investment in software development is the key to success, the political

organization can influence its progress and its limitations. Great things could
have provided if the influence in politics are on a positive side.

HUMANITY

Humanity is the human race, which includes everybody on earth. It is also

a term for the qualities that make us human, such as the capacity to love, to
sympathize, to be creative, and not to be a robot or alien.

Humanity is from the Latin word "humanitas" which means "human

nature, kindness." Humanity comprises all the humans, also refer to the kind of
emotions humans frequently feel for each other. But when people talk about
humanity, it is talking about people as a whole. When people do wrong things,
it challenges your faith in humanity. When people request for money to help
feed hungry children, they are appealing to the sense of humanity.

The human race or the humaneness, the quality of life or state of, being,
its attributes and qualities of being a human being. Humankind is highly
dependent on technology. With the development and constant technological
changes, humans change their way of life to improve standards in life.

In this chapter, we can see how humanity changed due to

technological advancement, in terms of medical and health care,
communication, agriculture, and education. Today, humanity is advanced.
Humans have come a long way from the cave but how far can they still go? Is
there a limit to technological progress? What does this mean for humanity's
distant future? The answer to that is: As part of these technological
advancement, it hinges on the longevity of human species. To advance far
ahead in science and technology and the wisdom to use these, human beings
need time.

The history of life on earth is a history of extinction. Despite that there is

advancement, human beings are STILL quite vulnerable to both nature and to
themselves as human beings. To measure how advance the human beings, it
is relatively linked to the ability of the human being to avoid extinction.
According to Sagan, (2004) today is a period where he called it "technological
adolescence". Human beings are still delivering technological advancement and
it all depends on how wisely they will use these "technological advancement", to
reach into a mature human being with a reasonable chance of reaching and
enjoy the quality of life until old age. Sagan also stated that he is worried that
human being will likely to mature fast enough to escape the destruction by the
own hands of human beings.

The capabilities of human beings in terms of technology will depend on

how they can improve the quality of life. Nobody can say for sure how will it
affect the humanity but with its benefits — it does look hopeful, and when the
human beings got to that state of advancement, there are still quite a lot left to
invent.
 Life of humanity has become easy through technology and still
progressing through continuous invention, thus improving the quality of life, and
surprising themselves in ways that they can never imagine before.

The two roads to take in humanity are ascension of all mankind and the other
is a complete and total destruction.

POLICIES AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT Unites States of America

According to the US, Industrial Competitiveness, and Technological

Advancement article in 2012: U.S industry technological advancement
frequently has been reinforced by congressional initiatives over the past 30 and
more. Direct measures that concern budget outlays and the provision of services
by government and indirect measures that include financial incentives and legal
changes.

However many of these efforts have been revisited over the past several
congresses. Congressional legislation seems to have preferred indirect
strategies such as tax policies, intellectual property right protection, and
antitrust laws to promote technological advancement and government support for
basic research over direct federal funding for private sector technology
commercialization initiatives. From: Industrial Competitiveness and
Technological Advancement Debate over Government Policy, page 2, by Wendy
H. Schacht, December 3, 2012.

Increase in economic growth in the contribution to the creation of new

goods, new services, new jobs, and new capital is because of the advances in
technology. Technology application can improve productivity and quality of
products. The development and use of technology also plays a vital role in
determining patterns of international trade by affecting the comparative
advantages of industrial sectors. Since technological progress is not necessarily
determined by economic conditions but can be influenced by advances in
science. The organization and management of firms, and government activity can
have effects on trade independent of changes in macroeconomic factors. New
technologies also help reward for possible disadvantages in the cost of capital
and labor handled by firms.
Canada, USA, North, and South America to Europe and Asia-Pacific

The origins of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

-OECD' is date back to 1960, when 18 European countries, United States, and
Canada merged to create an organization dedicated to economic development.

Today there are 35 countries that are members around the world, from
North and South America to Europe and Asia-Pacific. They include many of the
world's most advanced countries as well the emerging economies like Mexico,
Chile, and Turkey.
Scientific developments and technological changes are important drivers of
current economic performance. The ability to create, distribute, and exploit
knowledge has become a big source of competitive advantage, wealth creation
and improvements in the quality of life. Some features of this transformation
are the growing impact of information and communications technologies (ICT)
on the economy and on society; the rapid application of new scientific
advances in new products and processes; a high rate of innovation across
OECD countries; a change to more knowledge-intensive industries and
services; and rising skill requirements.

Philippines

According to the Research and Development and Technology in the

Philippines, Industrial strategy: The technology market is facing crisis since the
economic environment of the developing countries are opposing technology
based institutions. Thus, the Philippines is taking actions in reforming the
technology market by focusing on 23 industries as priority areas.

The Philippines can follow the technological innovation strategies

imposed by Japan and South Korea. With synchronize and consistent overall
industrial strategy, the Philippines can move up to economic reforms.
Government should also focus on expansion of manpower, infrastructure,
incentives, and research institutions to assist the growth of this system.

ETHICAL DILEMMAS

The control over nature and the control of other people by the use of
technology is completely another story. Science and technology as well as
research and development enjoy and must continue to enjoy autonomy from the
state and society. They may draw inspiration from them, but they are not
necessarily determined and directed by them. However, the application, use and
distribution of technology require ethical standards and even legal provisions set
by the local and international government.
Technology permeates every aspect of human life, and activity.
Inevitably, ethics will also evolve into a burning, un-ignorable issue for every
individual and organization. At present, we do not have common global ethics to
technological advancement to discuss different issues, let alone agreement or
accepted legal rights and responsibilities.

The most important question of the century is: What will our ethics be?
Some of the vexing worries about the coming age of mechanically — enhanced
thought is: Are there "win-win" ways to gain the advantages without sacrificing
our humanity? Can we bio-minds teach newer kind of ethics? Is it time to regulate
mass technology application? Do we need to mainstream in our media, our
schools, our local, and international government, and — most immediately the
boardrooms of our local government to simply face the numerous ethical,
economic, social, and biological issues in application of technology?

The ethical dilemmas and policy issues for 2015 (presented in no

particular order) are:
1. Real-time satellite surveillance video
2. Astronaut bioethics (of colonizing Mars)
3. Wearable technology
4. State-sponsored hacktivism and "soft war"
5. Enhanced pathogens
6. Non-lethal weapons
7. Robot swarms
8. Artificial life forms
9. Resilient social-ecological systems
10. Brain-to-brain interfaces

Real-Time Satellite Surveillance Video

What if Google Earth offered you real-time images instead of a snapshot

1-3 years old? Companies such as Planet Labs, Skybox Imaging (recently
purchased by Google), have launched lots of satellites in the last year with the
purpose of recording the status of the entire earth in real time. The satellites
themselves are getting cheaper, smaller, and more sophisticated (with
resolutions up to 1 foot) than before. Commercial satellite companies make this
data available to the corporations (or, potentially, private citizens with enough
cash), letting customers to see useful images of areas handling with natural
disasters and humanitarian emergencies, but also the data on the comings and
goings of private citizens.
 How do we choose what should be observed and how frequent? Should we
use this information to solve criminalities? What is the possible for misuse by
corporations, governments, police departments, private citizens, or terrorists
and other "bad actors"?

Astronaut Bioethics (Of Colonizing Mars)

The colonization of Mars and plans for long-term space missions are
already ongoing. On December 5, NASA launched the Orion spacecraft and
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden declared it "Day One of the Mars era." The
company Mars One (along with Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology)
is preparing to launch a robotic mission to Mars in 2018, with succeeding humans
in 2025. The 418 men and 287 women from around the world are presently
competing for the four spots on the first one-way human settlement mission. But as
we watch with interest as this clarifies, we might ask ourselves the following:

Is it moral to expose people to unknown levels of human separation and

physical danger (including exposure to radiation) for such a purpose? Will these
pioneers lack privacy for the rest of their lives so that we might watch what
happens? Is it moral to consider a birth of child in space or on Mars? And, if so,
who protects the rights of a child not born on Earth and who did not consent to
the risks? If we say no to children in space, does that mean we sterilize all
astronauts who volunteer for the mission? Given the potential dangers of setting
up a new colony strictly lacking in resources, how would sick colonists be cared
for? And beyond bioethics, we might ask how an off-Earth colony would be
administered.

Wearable Technology

We are presently involved to (literally and figuratively) multiple technologies

that monitor our behaviors. The development of dozens of bracelets and clip-on
devices that monitor steps taken, activity levels, heart rate, etc., not to mention the
advent of organic electronics that can be layered, printed, painted, or grown on
human skin has led by the fitness tracking craze. Google is partnering with Novartis
to create a contact lens that monitors blood sugar levels in diabetics and leads the
information to healthcare providers. Wearables have the potential to teach us,
protect our health, as well as violate our privacy in any amount of ways.
State-Sponsored Hacktivism and 'Soft War'

"Soft war" is a concept used to explain rights and duties of insurgents (and
even terrorists) during armed struggle. Soft war incorporates tactics other than
armed force to achieve political ends. Cyber war and hacktivism could be tools of
soft war, through certain ways by states in inter-state conflict, as opposed to
isolated individuals or groups (like "Anonymous"). We already live in a state of low-
intensity cyber conflict.

How do we fight back if these activities become more aggressive,

damaging infrastructure? Does a nation have a right to defend itself against, or
retaliate for, a cyber-attack, and if so, under what situations? What if the
aggressors are non-state actors? If a group of Chinese hackers launched an
attack on the US, does that give the US government the right to react against the
Chinese government? In a soft war, what are the circumstances of self-defense?
May that self-defense be preventative? Who can be attacked in a cyber-war?
We've already perceived operations that hack into corporations and steal
private citizens' data. What's to stop attackers from hacking into our personal
wearable devices? Are private citizens attacked by cyber warriors just another
form of collateral damage?

Enhanced Pathogens

White House suspended research on October 17, 2014 that would enhance
the pathogenicity of viruses such as influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome
(SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) (often referred to as gain-
of-function (GOF research). Gain-of-function research, in itself, is not detrimental;
in fact, it is used to provide vital understandings into viruses and how to treat
them. But when it is used to increase mammalian transmissibility and virulence,
the altered viruses pose serious security and biosafety risks.

Non-Lethal Weapons

Primarily it may seem ridiculous that kinds of weapons that have been
around since WWI and not designed to kill could be an evolving ethical or policy
dilemma. Considering the recent development and production of non-lethal
weapons such as laser missiles, blinding weapons, pain rays, sonic weapons,
electric weapons, heat rays, disabling malodor ants, as well as the use of gases
and sprays in both the military and domestic police forces (which are often the
beneficiaries of older military • equipment). These weapons may not kill (then
again, there have been fatalities from • non-lethal weapons), but they can cause
serious pain, physical injuries, and longterm health costs (the latter has not
been fully investigated).
Robot Swarms

Harvard University researchers newly created a group of 1000 robots,

capable of communicating with each other to perform simple tasks such as
ordering themselves into shapes and patterns. No human intervention is
required in these "kilobots" beyond the original set of instructions and work
together to complete tasks. These tiny bots are based on the group behavior of
insects also can be used to perform environmental cleanups or answer to
disasters where humans fear to tread. The concept of driverless cars also relies
on this system, where the cars themselves would communicate with each other to
obey traffic laws and transport people safely to their destinations.

Should we be worried about the ethical and policy consequences of letting

robots work collected without human interference? if a robot malfunctions and
causes harm what will happen? Who would be blamed for such an accident?
What if tiny swarms of robots could be set up to spy or sabotage?

Artificial Life Forms

Research on artificial life forms is an range of synthetic biology focused

on custom-building life forms to address specific purposes. Announced by
Ciaig Venter and colleagues the first synthetic life form in 2010, made from an
present organism by introducing synthetic DNA. Synthetic life allows scientists to
study the origins of life by building it rather than breaking it down, but this
technique blurs the line between life, and machines, and scientists foresee the
ability to program organisms. The ethical and policy issues surrounding
innovations in synthetic biology renew concerns raised previously with other
biological breakthroughs and includes safety issues and risk factors connected
with releasing artificial life forms into the environment.

Making artificial life forms has been deemed "playing God" because it
allows individuals to create life that does not exist naturally. Gene patents have
been a concern for several years now and synthetic organisms suggest a new
dimension of this policy issue. While customized organisms may one day cure
cancer, they may also be used as biological weapons.
Resilient Social-Ecological Systems

Resilient social and ecological systems is what we need to build.

Tolerantly being pushed to an extreme while maintaining their functionality
either by returning to the earlier state or by operating in a new state. Resilient
systems endure external pressures such caused by climate change, natural
disasters, and economic globalization. A resilient electrical system is able to
stand extreme weather events or regain functionality quickly afterwards is an
example. A resilient ecosystem can maintain a complex web of life when one or
more organism is over exploited. The system is stressed by climate change.

To what way is it the responsibility of the federal government to assure

that civil infrastructure is resilient to environmental changes? When individuals
act in their self-interest, there is the unique possibility that their individual actions
fail to maintain infrastructure and processes that are essential for all of society.
This can lead to what Garret Hardin in 1968 called the "tragedy of the
commons," in which many individuals making rational decisions based on their
own interest undermine the collective's best and long-term interests. To what
extent is it the responsibility of the federal government to enact regulations that
can prevent a "tragedy of the commons"?

Brain-to-Brain Interfaces

It's no Vulcan mind meld, but brain-to-brain interfaces (BBI) have

been achieved, allowing for direct communication from one brain to another
without speech. The interactions can be between humans or between
humans and animals. In 2014, University of Washington researchers
performed a BBI experiment that allowed a person command over another
person about half a mile away, the goal being the simple task of moving their
hand (communication so far has been one-way in that one person sends the
commands and the other receives them). Using an electroencephalography
(EEG) machine that detects brain activity in the sender and a transcranial
magnetic stimulation coil that controls movement in the receiver we've
achieved a BBI twice - this year scientists also transmitted words from brain to
brain across 5,000 miles.

The ethical issues are countless. What kind of neuro security can we put
in place to protect individuals from having accidental information shared or
removed from their brains (especially by hackers)? If two individuals share an
idea, who is entitled to claim ownership? Who is responsible for the actions
devoted by the recipient of a thought if a separate thinker is dictating the
actions?
 Congrotulotions! You are now ready to study the next lesson in Module
ll.

THE GOOD LIFE

The capacity to enjoy the freedom to do things that you fancy as long as you do
not trample the rights of others-that's good life.
Photo taken by Ernesto D. Ylasco

CHAPTER OUTLINE

The Concept of Being Good

The Good Life

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. describe what good life is; and

 2. examine shared concerns that make up the good life considering ethical
standards in order to determine appropriate decisions to contemporary
issues.
“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination”

Carl Rogers. American Psychologist 1902-1987

"What do you want out of life?" is an interesting question posed by Mark

Manson that everyone could probably answer in the simplest common way: "I
want to be happy and have a great family and a job I like". As discussed in previous
chapter, Aristotle's view that the ultimate goal of man is to flourish, that is, to find
happiness. Martin (2012) defined happiness as loving one's life and valuing it in
ways manifested by sufficient enjoyment and a robust sense of meaning. Achieving
happiness and man's own desire and needs commonly gives essence for living a
good life. In particular, moral decency and goodness, authenticity, mental health,
self-fulfillments, and meaningfulness describes it.

On the other hand, the concept of how good life would be, depends in the
personal decision of man. It is evident in our modern society that man's personal
decision and ideas- idea of progress, happiness, beliefs, expectations,
attitudes and feelings- are directly affected by convenience and benefits brought
about by science and technology.(Dotson, 2012) Every human being aspires to live
a good life. Conversely, man's idea of "good life" differs in many dimensions.

THE CONCEPT OF BEING GOOD

The term "good" is commonly used interchangeably with the term "right".
Traer (2007) explained that the adjectives good and right are related in meaning,
but are not synonyms. It makes no sense to speak of a "right person" when we
mean a "good person; or the right action as a meaning for good action. How can
we differentiate the two term then?

Taking the right action means correctly

applying a norm, premise, presupposition, rule,
standard, or law. This explains that the term
"right" reasons are being used to justify the
principle and its application.

Being good involves having the

character and personal qualities that were justified by reason as having moral
worth. (Traer, 2007) Morals refer to an individuals own principles regarding right
and wrong.

In Aristotelean view, "the understandability of the good is based on the

idea of what is good for the specific entity under consideration". As Younkins
(n.d.) expounded, that this view of Aristotle states that the good is what is good.

... For Aristotle, the good is

what is good for purposeful, goal-
directed entities. He defines the
good proper to human being as the
activities in which the life functions
specific to human beings are most
fully realized. (Paragraph 33)

It acknowledges the fact that

human being is endowed with his own rational mind and free will. Timbreza
(2008), as elucidated by Gripaldo (2013), explained that in natural ethician's view,
"good is that which is suitable to and proper for human nature. Whenever it is not
proper for human nature, it is bad and must be avoided." Acting rightly means
doing the right thing based on the voice of conscience, otherwise, feeling of
guilt, self-reproach, and remorse will be felt. It follows that a person, as a human
being, has his own consciousness of function, survival, and means of having the
life he envisioned.

Thus, considering the aspect of human nature, the term "good' denotes a
more objective meaning of "a state or way of being".

THE GOOD LIFE

The meaning of this term up to present times remains vague. Wise men of
the past' argued with the nature and prerequisites of the good life. Similarly,
questions such as, "Is a meaningful life also a happy one?" and "Is living with
happiness means living a good life?" are still part of the debates even of the
philosophers.

Socrates declared that, "the unexamined life is not worth living for", the idea
of worthwhile living should be filtered with experience and vice versa. Aristotle,
being the student of Socrates, viewed the good life as a life of relationships. It is
the nature of man to seek good life with and for others rather than experiencing it
by himself. Aristotle further elucidated the idea of relating the essence of
happiness to achieving well-being and experiencing good life. In relation to
psychological foundations, Steve Mueller (2016), the founder of Planet of
Success defined the term as:
...a (desirable) state that is primarily characterized by a high
standard of living or the adherence to ethical and moral laws...As
such, the term can both be understood as the quest for wealth,
material possessions or luxuries and the quest to create a
worthwhile, honest and meaningful existence. (Paragraph 5)

Martin Heidegger, an existentialist philosopher, also has a different view

on the aspect of life. He dealt more on how we live an "authentic life" rather
dealing with the "good life". For Heidegger, living an authentic life means living with
deep acceptance on the facticity of "death" and resulting to a "life lived according
to what it has clearly decided as its meaning and purpose". (Corpuz, B.; Corpuz,R.;
CorpuzPaclibar M.L.; Paclibar, S. (2016).

These declarations and definition of good life somehow establishes the

idea of asking, "How to attain meaningful existence?" which will cyclically route
to asking for the meaning of good life. Despite the fact that philosophers dealt
with these questions for many years, modern world tend to answer the problem of
what constitutes the good life through modern science. Various scientific
disciplines have devised empirical methods for assessing subjective states of
happiness and wellbeing and providing innovative and advanced technology
which promotes happy and meaningful life for modern society.

No one can deny the fact

that science and technology has a
profound impact on how modern
man thinks and appreciates
matter. It can be concretely seen
in the present conditions of man
in the society. The desire to feel
satisfaction of research and
development through genetic
engineering, cloning, and the
likes opened endless doors for
skeptics.

The unending desire for perfection of altering human condition and

productivity, which is somehow questionable, continues to flourish. In addition,
the introduction of cybernetics and nanotechnology which are considered to be
the pillars for the success of harmonizing the function of machines and living
organisms exposed the idea of achieving precise and accurate function through
it. Lastly, the promotion of wireless technology revolutionized the way how
humans communicate and interact. These are just some of the conditions which
suggested material things and continuous path towards achieving indefinite level
of happiness and good living.

On the other hand, man's varied ethical foundations may also differentiate
the idea of good life. Some may define it through attaining pleasure (hedonism);
others may relate it to peace of mind through minimizing desires and passions
(stoicism) and some views are based on professing moderate pleasure, which
for them, "anything that is taken in excess is bad" (epicureanism). (Timbreza,
2013)

Thus, it's up to the various intellectual traditions, perspective or ethical

preferences on what the so called good life is. And the question, "What good life
is? remains a question for everyone."

HUMAN FLOURISHING

The hallmarks of human flourishing are convergence and dynamism. Photo taken and edited by
Julai L. Santos

CHAPTER OUTLINE
Human Being

Understanding Human Flourishing

 Science and Technology and Human Flourishing

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. understand the concept of human flourishing;
2. analyze human flourishing in relation to the progress of science and
technology; and
3. conceptualize own views on human flourishing.
 “Happiness lies in the Joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt
President, USA
1882-1945

Science and technology has changed human landscape. As discussed

in the previous unit, man tends to show unlimited contentment— eager to seek
better replacement for anything that -performs the functions of man. The
introduction of bioengineering, robotics, and related streams slowly limits the
function and purpose of man's existence in the society. Robots, machines and
other technologies are intended to enhance human condition, or in the future,
replace the human functions in the society. Will the contemporary situations
(positive or negative) threaten human nature? Are all the benefits from the fruits
of progress in this discipline fulfill the main aim of every human being in the
society?

HUMAN BEING

There are many ways of describing a human being. But most of it do not
precisely define or describe a human, or "what does it mean to be a human".
Answers to this question may have its scientific basis and or philosophical
context. Biologists describe human as having the attributes of living organisms
—including plants and animals. This designates that human being is a complex
matter capable of performing life-sustaining processes. Human, being the
highest form of these living organisms, is said to have characteristics which
cannot be substantiated through mere science.

Smith (2012) shared that, we can't turn to science for an answer because
in the first place, science identified human with varied opinion and limited
evidence. He further stressed that "Biologists aren't equipped to tell us
whether an organism, is a human organism because "human" is a folk-
category rather a scientific one" (para.2.).

Blakemore and Greenfield (1987; as cited in Bernaldez, 2001),

recognized that the possession of intellect distinguishes a human being from
another creature. This intellect supports self-consciousness and awareness
sufficient for the achievement of human's function, discovery of truth, and
development of mankind. It may sound universally acceptable but to
Heidegger, the question "What is human being?", is just the tip of the original
and more valid question "What is the meaning of being? He thought that such
move was to divert the "inquirer" from the "object of inquiry".
...according to Heidegger, it was originally the fundamental question of
philosophy, which was pursued by the ancient Greek philosophers but later on
neglected, if not forgotten, in Western philosophy. Heidegger is not convinced
with the reasons used to justify such neglect- the self-evidence, universality, and
indefinability of the concept of being. (Mabaquiao, n.d.) p.111.

Furthermore, he argued that asking for the meaning of the term "being"
doesn't suggest that the "inquirer" has no idea about it because in the first place,
the meaning of "being" is associated with the concept of existence, which means
that the "inquirer" already has the idea on the term "however vague or
incomplete". The "inquirer" obviously refers to "man" as "being", focuses to the
"what" of human existence. This somehow justifies human Uing's adaptability to
environmental changes and ability to manipulate environment in the interest of
survival.

Conversely, Heidegger used the term "dasein" which literally means

"being there" focuses on the "modes of existence" or the "who" of "Dasein".
The "modes of existence" is fundamentally established by two things: (1) Dasein
exist in a world and (2) Dasein has a self that it defines as it exist in such world.
(Mabaquiao, n.d p. 111). Hence, this supports human being's capacity to decide
on what is good or bad for them.

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN FLOURISHING

It has been discussed that human being is endowed with innate

abilities and characteristics that let him sustain his function and to survive in
the given environment. In the very center of being is unexplainable thirst which
long for happiness, serenity and fulfillment. The unquenching thirst towards
indefinite bounds of life can only be sufficed once fulfilled. Why does human
being feel this way? What is man's ultimate desire for living?

It would be beneficial if different views will be taken into accounts to

understand it well. The following are the selected philosophers' point of views:
On Aristotle's Viewpoint

Aristotle's teachings suggest that each man's life has a purpose and that
the function of one's life is to attain that purpose. For Aristotle, happiness
(earthly) is the highest desire and ambition of all human beings. And to achieve
it, one must cultivate the highest virtues within oneself. Aristotle believed that
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. Furthermore, these actions are geared towards one's proper and
desired end—flourishing, happiness, or eudemonia.

What is Eudaimonia?

Etymologically speaking, eudaimonia is consists of Greek words "eu"

which means "good" and "daemon "which means "spirit". This literally defines
it as "the state of having good indwelling spirit; a good genius". (Encyclopedia
Britannica, n.d.)

Eudaimonia (also known as Eudaemonism) is a Greek word, which refers

to a state of having a good indwelling spirit or being in a contented state of being
healthy, happy and prosperous. In moral philosophy, eudaimonia is used to
refer to the right actions as those that result in the well-being of an individual. In
this case, well-being becomes an essential value. In general sense, eudaimonia
can be perceived as any theory that places the personal happiness of an
individual and his or her complete life at the core of ethical concern (Pennock,
2014, para.1-2)

On Epicurus's Viewpoint

Epicurus (born 341 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher who contradicted the
metaphysical philosophers. He believed that balance and temperance were
created space for happiness. His view is not more of how happiness can be
defined but more on theory about the real source to experience it. Furthermore,
it agrees with the ethical doctrine which claims pleasure is the norm of morality-
hedonism but reiterates the intelligent choice and practical wisdom to measure
pleasure against pain to attain well-being.
On Nietzsche's Viewpoint.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher and cultural

critic who published intensively in the 1870s and 1880s. He is known for his
criticisms on psychological analyses that resulted to opposing ideas on the
people's received ideas. As expected, Nietzsche viewed happiness in a different
way. For many philosophers, happiness could be a "constant state of well-being",
but kw him, happiness is an "ideal state of laziness". Consequently, laziness for
him is described as to not have any worries or distress in life.

Philosophers' views are the evidence of objective sense of how it means to

flourish. It accepts that man's ultimate desire of living is to flourish and to
experience a life of well-being (life that goes well for him). Flourishing can either
be based on the state of mind (e.g., mental habit) or a kind of value (e.g.,
insights, outlook). One's mental habit and value towards life may deny access to
experience fulfillment of life. On the other hand, it may lead to understanding
one's function though self-actualization. Thus, it justifies why it is difficult for a
person to give exact answer if asked, "What is happiness?" which is almost the
same condition in answering the question, "What is your life's purpose".

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN FLOURISHING

We live in the world

where science and
technology are the forefront
of ever changing society.
Advances and continuous
technological growth are the
results of intensified
application of scientific
knowledge to deliver progress in
the society. The rise of
information technologies has
made global communications
possible. The introduction of
gene therapy, stem cells and
cloning has improved the
medical and health sectors.
Nanotechnology and robotics
made industries flourished. Economic growth and global standing were achieved
through innovations. Scientific applications continuously provide convenience to
human lives. All these and more completes the story of changes, innovations, and
progress which impacts the ethical and moral preference of human in the
modern society. Yet, these progress become problematic because of the ethical or
even legal concerns. Examples are debates on whether human embryo (right to
live) is being sacrifice or not in the process of cloning; will the creation of artificial
intelligence (AI)-smarter-than-human intelligence conserves the functionality of
human nature does not; does mining support the nation's economic development
and labor employment or degradation of environment and human rights
infringement ?

Indeed, progress is inevitable so as the desire of human to flourish. As scientific

and technological developments increasingly plays significantly to human lives,
eudemonistic orientation of happiness or end. What kind of virtues were offered
by these scientific progress? For the common good or self-directed? Do they
promote well-being? Should the ethical and moral aspects of human being be
changed to be at par with progress and attain human flourishing?

Forget ‘developing’ poor countries, it’s time to ‘de-develop’ rich countries

Jason Hickel

Heads of state are gathering in New York to sign the UN’s new
sustainable development goals (SDGs). The main objective is to eradicate poverty by
2030. Beyonce, One Direction and Malala are on board. It’s set to be a monumental
international celebration.
Given all the fanfare, one might think the SDGs are about to offer a fresh plan for
how to save the world, but beneath all the hype. It’s business as usual. The main
strategy for eradicating poverty is the same: growth.
Growth has been the main object of development for the past 70 years, despite
the fact that it is not working. Since 1980, the global economy has grown by 380%, but
the number of people living in poverty on less than $5 (£ 3.20), a day has increased by
more than 1.1 billion. That’s 17 times the population of Britain. So much for the trickle-
down effect.
Orthodox economists insist that all we need is yet more growth. More
progressive types tell us that we need to shift more of the yields of growth from the
richer segments of the population to the poorer ones, evening things out a bit. Neither
approach is adequate. Why? Because even at current levels of average global
consumption, we’re overshooting our planet’s bio-capacity by more than 50% each
year.
In other words, growth isn’t an option any more – we’ve already grown too much.
Scientists are now telling us that we’re blowing past planetary boundaries at breakneck
speed. And the hard truth is that this global crisis is due almost entirely to
overconsumption in rich countries.
Right now, our planet oy has enough resources for each of us to consume 1.8
“global hectares” annually – standardized unit that measures resource use and waste.
This figure is roughly what the average person in Ghana or Guatemala consumes. By
contrast, people in the US and Canada consume about 8 hectares per person, while
Europeans consume 4.7 hectares – many times their fair share.
What does this mean for our theory of development? Economist Peter Edward
argues that instead of pushing poorer countries to “catch up” with rich ones, we should
be thinking of ways to get rich countries to “catch down” to more appropriate levels of
development. We should look at societies where people live long and happy lives at
relatively low levels of income and consumption not as basket cases that need to be
developed towards western models, but as exemplars of efficient living.
How much do we really need to live long and happy lives? In the US, life
expectancy is 79 years and GDP per capita is $53,000. But many countries have
achieved similar life expectancy with a mere fraction of this income. Cuba has a
comparable expectancy to the US and one of the highest literacy rates in the world with
GDP per capita and only $ 6,000 and consumption of only 1.9 hectares – right at the
threshold of ecological sustainability. Similar claims can be made of Peru, Ecuador,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Tunisia.
Yes, some of the excess income and consumption we see in the rich world yields
improvements in quality of life that are not captured by life expectancy, or even literacy
rates. But even if we look at measures of overall happiness and wellbeing in addition to
life expectancy, a number of low – and middle – income countries rank highly. Costa
Rica manage to sustain one of the highest happiness indicators and life expectancies in
the world with a per capita income one-fourth that of the US.
In light of this, perhaps we should regard such countries not as underdeveloped,
but rather as appropriately developed. And maybe we need to start calling on rich
countries to justify, excesses.
The idea of “de-developing” rich countries might prove to be a strong rallying cry
in the global south, but it will be tricky to sell to Westerners. Tricky, but not impossible.
According to recent consumer research, 70% of people in the middle- and high –income
countries believe overconsumption is putting our planet and society at risk. A similar
majority also believe we should strive to buy and F less, and that doing so would not
compromise our happiness. People sense there is something wrong with the dominant
model of economic progress and they are hungry for an alternative narrative.
The problem is that the pundits promoting this kind of transition are using the
wrong language. They use terms such as de-growth, zero growth or – worst of all – de-
development, which are technically accurate but off-putting for anyone who’s not
already on board. Such terms are repulsive because they run against the deepest
frames we use to think about human progress, and, indeed, the purpose of life itself. It’s
like asking people to stop moving positively thorough life, to stop learning, improving,
growing.
Negative formulations won’t get us anywhere. The idea of “steady –state”
economics is a step in the right direction and is growing in popularity, but it still doesn’t
get the framing right. We need to reorient ourselves toward a positive future, a truer
form of progress. One that is geared toward quality instead of quantity. One that is more
sophisticated than just accumulating ever increasing amounts of stuff, which doesn’t
make anyone happier anyway. What is certain is that GDP as a measure is not going to
get us there and we need to get rid of it.
 Perhaps we might take a cue from Latin Americans, who are organizing
alternative visions around the indigenous concept of buen vivir, or good living. The West
has its own tradition of reflection on the good life and it’s time we revive it. Robert and
Edward Skidelsky take us down this road in his book “How much is Enough?” where
they lay out the possibility of interventions such as banning and advertising, a shorter
working week and a basic income, all of which would improve our lives while reducing
consumption.
Either we slow down voluntarily or climate change will do it for us. We can’t go on
ignoring the laws of nature. But rethinking our theory of progress is not only an
ecological imperative, it is also a development one. If we do not act soon, all our hard-
won gains against poverty will evaporate, as food systems collapse and mass famine
re-emerges to an extent not seen since the 19 th century.
This is not about giving anything up. And it’s certainly not about living a life of
voluntary misery or imposing harsh limits on human potential. On the contrary, it’s about
reaching a higher level of understanding and consciousness about what we’re doing
here and why.

Name: Date
Course,Yr.& Sec. Score:

READING EXERCISE:
After reading the article, answer the following questions.
1. What is the main objective of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United
Nations?

2. What is the standardized unit that measures resource use and waste?

3. What is the standard response to eradicating poverty?

4. What is the threshold of the Earth for adequately sustaining life?

5. According to the majority of people in middle-and high income countries, what

puts the planet and society at risk?

6. How many hectares should each of us consume annually based on the

resources available in the planet?

7. What are two indicators of the quality of life given in the article?
 8. What crisis in the planet would force us to slow down if we do not so voluntarily?

9. According to Hickel, what must be done of urging poor countries to “catch up”
with rich ones?

10. How would the different areas of the world react to the idea of “de-development?”
Name: Date
Course,Yr.& Sec. Score:

ASSIGNMENT

Watch the video clip entitled The Magician’s Twin: CS Lewis and the Case
against Scientism. Reflect on the notions of development that may evolve into
scientism. Answer the guide questions below.
1. What is Scientism?

2. How is Science comparable to magic?

3. Why science more dangerous than magic?

4. What is the presented essence of modernity and its consequence?

5. What do we need for the science to be good?

CLIMATE CHANGE,
ENERGY CRISIS, AND
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
A landscape photograph of a breath-taking view in Boracay.
Photo taken by: Touie A. De Roses

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Climate Change as a Result of Global Warming

Energy Crisis
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion: Alternative Energy Source Environmental
Awareness

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. recognize the causes and effects of climate change;
2. describe the present energy crisis and alternative energy resources; and
3. demonstrate awareness in the current environmental issues
 You are the last, best hope of Earth. We ask to protect it or we and all the living
things we cherish, are history.
- Leonardo De Caprio,
Climate Summit of United Nations 2016

CLIMATE CHANGE AS A RESULT OF GLOBAL WARMING

Have you noticed that for the past few years that the weather is getting more
extreme? Animals we have seen when we were young have gone extinct? Or have you
noticed how our climate has been shifting from its normal patterns?

These observations are not only experienced by you but also by the rest of the
people of the world. The culprit behind these events is Global Warming.

Over the past century, continuous dependence of people on fossil fuels as

source of energy has resulted to the increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. This has led to the unusually rapid increase in the Earth's average
temperature, which was defined as Global Warming by the NASA Earth Observatory.

Obviously, humanity has greatly forced the changes of the Earth's natural
climate.

As reported by the UCSUSA Organization, an increase of 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit

of the average temperature of the earth over the past 130 years. Majority of that
increase occurred over only these past 35 years. It was recorded that the hottest year
was last 2016. Since 1098, the 12 warmest years have already occurred in our planet.
Earth's Natural Greenhouse Effect

Familiarization of the earth's greenhouse effect will give us a better

understanding about global warming and climate change.

The sun is the principal source of the heat and energy of the earth. Once the
sunlight tries to reach the earth, 30% of it is reflected into the space. These reflections
may be due to the clouds or ice in the atmosphere. The land, ocean, and the rest of the
atmosphere absorbs the remaining 70%. Our planet is heated due to this absorbed
heat.

Once the earth's surface warms up, thermal infrared radiation or heat energy
will be released in the atmosphere. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane
present in the atmosphere will most likely absorb the released heat energy of the
earth. The said gases tend to trap the heat on the earth's surface instead of sending it
off to the outer space. Unfortunately, this enhances the heating that we get from
direct sunlight. This results to the natural greenhouse effect on earth.

We might think that we do not benefit from the greenhouse effect. Life on
earth benefits greatly from the natural greenhouse effect. The absence of the
greenhouse effect may lead to a very cold earth. The present 15°C (59°F) of the
earth's average surface will decline to -18°C (0°F).
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

Currently, the primary concern of the scientists is the increasing concentration of

greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere. Mostly this is due to human activities that
require burning of fossil fuels and the vast clearing of land. Research showed that since
the Industrial Revolution, nearly 38 percent of the carbon dioxide have increased as of
2009 and 148 percent of the methane levels.
In comparison, today's atmosphere has greater concentration of greenhouse gas
molecules than before. This means that more of the infrared energy released by the
earth's surface is trapped in our atmosphere. Add it up to the absorbed Sun's energy, the
earth's surface temperature rises.
According to NASA, EPA, and other scientific and governmental bodies, if we do not
do something about the global warming, climate change will happen, sea levels will rise,
ocean acidification will worsen, unpredictable weather patterns sill most likely happen
sooner than we have imagined.

Greenhouse Gases

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the greenhouse gases

include the following:
1. Carbon Dioxide (CO 2) - primarily emitted by burning fossil fuels (coal, natural
gas, and oil), solid waste, trees and wood products. Removal of CO, from the
atmosphere is primarily the thru absorption of plants.
 2. Methane (CH4) - emissions are from livestock, agricultural practices, and the
decay of organic waste. Production and transport of fossil fuels also release
methane.
3. Nitrous Oxide (1,120) - agricultural and industrial activities and combustion of
fossil fuels and solid waste are the primary source of nitrous oxide.
4. Fluorinated Gases - also known as High Global Warming Potential (GWP)
gases; synthetic powerful greenhouse gases from the emissions of industrial
processes. It includes Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons, Sulfur
hexafluoride and nitrogen Trifluoride.

Sources of Greenhouse Gases

From an annual report given by the EPA, Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas

Emissions and Sinks, these are the primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions in
USA.
1. Electricity production. The largest amount of greenhouse gas emissions is
from electricity production.
2. Transportation. Majority of the fuel used by the vehicles are petroleum based
(gasoline and diesel).
3. Industry. Production of goods from raw materials in the factories requires
the use of fossil fuels that leads to emissions of greenhouse gases.
4. Commercial and Residential. Handling wastes and burning fossil fuels are
common sources of greenhouse gases in homes and commercials places like
market and cities.
5. Agriculture. Livestock such as cows and goats, agricultural soils and
production of rice release greenhouse gases.
6. Land use and Forestry. Trees have been the primary absorber of the CO, in
the atmosphere. Clearing of lands make it difficult to control the increasing
concentration of the top greenhouse gas, CO

Global Warming is Changing the Earth

Impacts of the enhanced global warming have been identified by various

scientists.
 More frequent hot days and fewer cool days
 More intense heat waves
 Worsening storms, floods and droughts
 Intensified Hurricanes
  Warmer ocean surface temperatures
 Rising sea levels
 More frequent coastal flooding
 Island nations may disappear
 Accelerated melting of ice sheets and glaciers
 Changes in the growing season of plants
 Disruption of normal ecosystem
 Loss of animal habitat
 Possible extinction of animals

Projected Health Impacts of Climate Change

Humans are not excused with the harmful effects of Climate Change. Here's a list
of the possible impacts of climate change to humankind.
 Increase malnutrition and consequent disorders.
 Increase in the number of people dying and suffering from disease and injury
due to heat waves, floods, storms, fires, and droughts.
 Continue to change the range of some infectious disease vectors.
 Have mixed effects on malaria.
 Increase the burden of diarrheal diseases.
 Increase cardio-respiratory morbidity and mortality associated with ground-level
ozone.

Managing the Effects of Global Warming

In the present condition of the world right now we must find ways to manage the
effects of Global warming. Practical solutions should be started in order to decrease the
carbon emissions, slow down the pace of global warming and provide a sustainable future to
the next generations.

The primary action that humankind must do to effectively address global

warming is to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases into the earth's atmosphere.
One way to help as individuals is by reducing our personal carbon emissions every
day. The leaders of the world must put into actions that can support and implement
laws and regulations that can provide efficient climate solutions.
Carbon Footprint Computation

One way to determine a person's environmental impact is through Carbon

Footprint computation. It is usually expressed in equivalent tons of Carbon Dioxide
(CO2). It calculates the sum of all the produced carbon induced by a person's energy
use. Awareness of personal carbon footprints can help reduce energy consumption
leading to minimized carbon emissions production.

Since 1970, an estimate increase of 36 percent of the atmospheric

concentrations of carbon dioxide has been reported by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Based from scientific studies, the increase of CO 2concentration in
the atmosphere originates mostly from human activities.

Carbon footprint calculators have been developed by the EPA and non-profit
environmental agencies in order to calculate individual carbon contributions. Online
calculators are also available. In using the calculator, personal information about
vehicle or public transportation usage, energy used at home, water consumption,
food consumption, goods production and waste management are necessary to get
the computation.

Minimizing personal energy consumption is the primary way to reduce carbon

footprint. Use of public transportation or low-emission vehicles, energy-efficient
products at home, reusing and recycling are just some of the ways to decrease carbon
footprints.

Ways to Reduce Global Warming and Climate Change

To reduce Global Warming and the alarming climate change, the people can do
their own part by doing the following:
 Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
 Use Less het and air conditioning.
 Drive less and drive smart.
 Buy energy effi cient products.
 Grow your own foods in your backyard.
 Plant trees in your back yard.
 Replace incandescent lights to fluorescents light bulbs.
  Use hybrid or electric cars.
 Encourage others to conserve.
 Support the government projects geared toward environmental preservations.

ENERGY CRISIS

A sustainable and reliable source of energy of a country shows its prosperity and
development. As stated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the primary
energy sources include petroleum, natural gas, coal, renewable energy, and nuclear
electric power. Energy sources such as crude oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear
energy are classified as non-renewable because they do not form or replenish in a
short period of time. These non-renewable energy sources are extracted from the
ground in the form of liquids, gases, and solids. Liquid petroleum products such as
gasoline and diesel fuel are made out of the crude oil. Butane, ethane, and propane
are taken from both natural gas and crude oil..

Solar, Geothermal, Hydropower, Wind, Biomass, and Bio-fuels are renewable

energy sources that replenish naturally in a short period of time. Biomass includes
wood and wood waste, landfill gas, Biogas, Ethanol, and biodiesel.

Energy crisis may lead to questions such as, "Will we run out of energy? "Or
"How do we secure our access to energy?" At present, developing countries have high
demands of energy resources in order to secure its future economic development.
Unfortunately, environmental risks are associated in accessing energy demands.

Causes of the Energy Crisis

The causes behind the energy crisis can never be blamed to a single factor. This
global problem can be attributed to the following according to the publications of the
World Energy Organization.
1. Overconsumption. This is a result of too much use of fossil fuels such as oil,
gas, and coal.
2. Overpopulation. The human population steady increase leads to more
demands to energy resources.
3. Poor infrastructure. The continued use of outdated equipment's in
maintaining old infrastructures limits energy production.
4. Unexplored renewable energy options. Ignorance of other renewable energy
sources options will lead the people to greatly depend in non-renewable
energy resources.
 5. Delay in commissioning of power plants. The big difference between the
energy demands and supply of some countries may be due to its reliance to the
old power plants established years ago.
6. Wastage of energy. The energy wasting habits at home such as leaving the
lights on or leaving electronic gadgets plugged adds more problem with the
energy shortage nowadays.
7. Poor distribution system. If the energy from plants has poor distribution
system, tripping and breakdowns will be more frequent.
8. Major accidents and natural calamities. Energy supply shortages may be
caused by natural calamities, like volcanic eruptions, floods and
earthquakes, and major accidents. This may result to greater increase in
energy price in the global market.
9. Wars and attacks. Unsettled wars involving Middle East countries may
create major problems for energy consumers due to global shortage.
10. Miscellaneous factors. These factors include Political Events, Strikes, Tax
hikes, Severe Weather Changes. If the problems will arise from oil producing
companies, it will directly cause energy crisis.

OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES

One of the latest technologies nowadays that can secure the earth's energy
requirement and at the same time address the issues of climate change is the Ocean
Thermal Energy Conversion.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Basics

As defined by the Office of Energy and Renewable Energy, OTEC, short for
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is a process that can generate electricity by using
the heat energy stored in the Earth's oceans. This is an energy technology invented
by Georges Claude in the 1920s. The first OTEC plant was built in Cuba. It can
produce electrical energy from the temperature difference between the deep cold
ocean water and the warm tropical surface waters. It works best if the temperature
difference about 36 degrees Fahrenheit or 20 degrees Celsius.

This alternative energy resource can provide continuous power source that
can be sustained all year round. It is said to be a clean energy source and
environmentally sustainable.
 Since OTEC can produce billions of watts of electrical energy, this might be one
way to address the current energy issues the world is facing such as energy security,
price volatility, unsustainable supply, and climate change.

Types of OTEC Systems

Closed-cycle or Anderson OTEC cycle. In the closed cycle, a fluid with low boiling point
like the ammonia is used to power up a turbine in order to generate electricity. The heat
exchanger pumps the warm surface seawater, where the ammonia is vaporized. It then
turns the turbo-generator. The second heat generator now pumps the cold deep
seawater then condenses the vapor back into a liquid.

Open-cycle or Claude OTEC cycle. In the open cycle, the warm seawater is placed in
a low-pressure container to boil. The steam produced powers the turbine attached to an
electrical generator. The steam produced is salt free, almost pure and fresh water. Once
exposed to cold temperatures from deep ocean water, the steam will be condensed
back into liquid.

Hybrid system. This OTEC system combines the features of both Closed and Open
cycle.

The OTEC power plants are of two different kinds. There are floating power plants
or sea-based and another is the land-based. Both land and sea-based power plants work
almost the same.

Status of OTEC Power Plants as of May 2017

Advantages and Disadvantages of OTEC Technology

The use of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion as source of electrical energy has
its pros and cons. Advantages include the following:
1. It produces clean, green renewable energy.
2. It produces no chemical pollution.
3. It does not involve burning fossil fuels which leads to lessened greenhouse gas
production
4. It can provide potable water from ocean water.
5. It can also produce fuels such as hydrogen that can be used to power fuel
cells in electric cars.
6. This technology can be used for aquaculture, refrigeration, and air
conditioning.

The disadvantages of depending energy resources from OTEC Systems include the
following:
1. OTEC plants are only suitable in tropical areas.
2. Electricity produced by OTEC power plants is costly.
3. Construction of OTEC power plants requires great amount of investment.
4. Construction of power plants may damage coral reefs and other marine
ecosystems.
5. OTEC system may result to political concerns.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

In order to find the best solution to address the current environmental crisis,
environmental awareness is a number on requirement. Here is a list of the current
issues the environment is facing today:
1. Air pollution. Toxins from the factories and vehicle are the primary reason
behind the air pollution. Urban sprawl, acid deposition, and oil leaks
contaminate the groundwater. The burning of fossil fuels from the power
Plants and manufacturing plants discharge different gases that pollute
the air.
2. Water pollution. In the increasing human population results to more
demand for clean water. Pollution of water are mostly caused by
discharges from agricultural and industrial activities.
3. Soil and land pollution. Mining for minerals, deforestation,
construction, and industrial activities degrade the earth's surface. Land
pollution have a big impact in the terrestrial ecosystems.
4. Climate change. The melting of the polar ice, new health issues, changes
in seasons are some of the many destructive impacts of the Climate
Change resulting from the increasing temperature of the earth's surface.
5. Global warming. Greenhouse gases are by-products of fossil fuel
utilization. In turn, it leads to environmental changes that affect
humans, animals, and plants.
6. Deforestation. The forests play a great responsibility in managing the earth's
temperature and precipitation. The increased number of human population
results to more demands for homes, food and materials. The forests are
continuously losing in order to provide these demands.
7. Increased carbon footprint. Human activities directly and indirectly produce
greenhouse gases. As humans depend in fossil fuels, carbon footprint is
increased and this cause destruction to the earth.
8. Genetic modification. The demands for food due to the increasing
population have been addressed by genetic engineering. The humans found
a way to modify the genes of the plants through this technology. However,
these genetically modified food causes threat to the animal consumers those
results to poisons and sicknesses.
9. Effect on marine life. One of the problems in the world is facing the increasing
amount of carbon in the water. This has a direct effect on shellfishes and
microscopic fishes.
10. Public health issues. The present environmental problems are a great threat
to the wellness of the humankind, including the animals. If left unresolved,
this may affect the life span of both humans and animals.
11. Overpopulation. At present, the sustainability of the earth's resources is at
threat due to the increasing growth of population. This is one of the most
salient environmental problem that needs to be addressed immediately.
12. Loss of biodiversity. Human activities have affected the earth's biodiversity.
Destruction of habitat leads to loss of biodiversity.
13. Littering and landfills. The problem in proper waste disposal has been one
of the issues related with the growth of population and industries.
Municipal and household garbage once incinerated or buried in landfills
result to environmental damage in the long run. Certain waste products of
manufacturing industries generate refuse that cannot be reuse and must be
properly dispose of.
14. Ozone layer depletion. The ozone layer provides a great protection against
the radiation of the sun. The presence of Chlorofluorocarbon's (CFC's) in the
atmosphere breaks the bond of the ozone in the stratosphere. The greatest
ozone depletion was detected over the Antarctic.
15. Mining. The earth's minerals once extracted through mining may release
harmful chemicals to the atmosphere. These emissions may pollute the air,
water and the soil.
16. Natural resource depletion. Overconsumption of the non-renewable
resources of the earth may lead to global warming that result to more
alarming environmental issues.
17. Natural disasters. Millions of people are severely affected by the current
natural calamities happening in the planet. This includes hurricanes, floods,
earthquakes and forest fires. What makes it worst is its unpredictability
and the irreparable outcomes.
18. Nuclear issues. One great source of energy comes from nuclear resources.
However, its by-product, the radioactive waste is extremely harmful and
toxic. Improper disposal of radioactive wastes will affect humans, plants,
and animals including in the environment.
19. Habitat loss. Habitat destruction, fragmentation, and degradation are the
different kinds of habitat loss. This environmental concern may pose a
great threat to the wildlife and terrestrial ecosystems.
20. Acid rain. The acidic rain water caused by the contamination of
precipitation with nitrogen and sulfuric acids has great ecological effects.
The acid deposition may affect the aquatic ecosystems, forest, man-made
structures, and even cause health issues.
21. Agricultural pollution. The use of chemical products like pesticides and
fertilizers has been a common agricultural practice nowadays in dealing
with pest. As the chemicals seep into the ground, it contaminates the
groundwater and thereby will soon affect the plants and crops.
22. Light and noise pollution. One of the common concerns arising from the
urban areas is the high density of lights from buildings, cars, and street
lights. This pollution greatly affects the bird populations especially in their
communication, mating, and social behavior.
23. Urban sprawl. Urban sprawl or the widespread population growth in
undeveloped areas brings about results to various effects. This includes
increase in public costs, traffi c flow congestions, health issues, and
environmental concerns.
24. Medical waste. The refuse generated from healthcare facilities like
hospitals, laboratory clinics, dental clinics, and nursing homes are
considered biologically hazardous waste. Improper disposal of these
biomedical wastes can lead to environmental contamination.