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STS Midterm Notes Compiled
STS Midterm Notes Compiled
STS Midterm Notes Compiled
• Pure Science
Science o Whenever one is just curious about something
o These kinds of experiments are conducted in
• Science comes from the Latin word “scientia” meaning which to simply find the answer to something, not
knowledge to really change anything in society around them.
• Refers to a system of acquiring knowledge
• Refers to the organized body of knowledge people have • Applied Science
gained using that system o Different in a sense that it is, in fact, applied to
• Is a systemic way of learning about our natural world humanity and the outside world
• An organized, hierarchical activity that investigates nature o These kinds of science experiments have more
and human nature by experiment and observation meaning and cause to the human race as opposed
• Goals: to pure science
o Explanation o Frequently used in the medical field for things like
o Understanding vaccines, antibiotics, and other new medicines to
o Prediction help humans become more immune to harmful
o Control bacteria and viruses that we are exposed to
• It tests its theories by logical, mathematical, and everyday
technological means
• Shaped by social forces and historical change • Branches of Science
• Also shapes culture o Physical science
• Content: o Life sciences
o Body of organized knowledge about nature o Earth sciences
• Method:
o Of obtaining that knowledge, experiment, Technology
observation, hypothesis, theory, law • Practical implementation of learning knowledge by
• Attitude: individuals and organizations to aid human endeavor
o Organized and systematic skepticism • The knowledge, products, processes, tools, and systems
• Language: used in the creation of goods or in the provision of services
o Mathematics and technical vocabulary • A discourse or treatise on an art or arts
• Tools: • Scientific study of the practical or industrial arts
o Uses instruments and technologies
• Comes from:
• Community: o Techne = art, craft, skill
o Discipline o Logos = word
o Education
• System based on the application of knowledge, manifested
o Credentials
in physical objects and organizational forms, for the
o Careers
attainment of specific goals (Volti)
o Patrons
• Cumulative sum of means used to satisfy human needs and
o Societies
desires and to solve specific problems (Markert)
• Sum total of systems of machines and techniques that 6. Social Credit System
underlie a civilization (Nye) • System of scoring citizens through their actions by
• Not merely a system of machines with certain functions, but placing them under constant surveillance (which
an expression of a social world (Ortega y Gasset) China plans to adopt)
• The seeping false-hearted death (DeLillo) 7. Google Clips
• Hands free camera that lets the user capture every
• Other definitions of technology: moment effortlessly
8. Sentencing Software
1. Artifacts or Hardware • Mysterious algorithm designed to aid courts in
• Products fabricated by humans to meet specific sentencing decision
needs 9. Friendbot
2. Knowledge and Methods • App that stores the deceased’s digital footprint so
• System of tacit and explicit knowledge, one can still “chat” with them
techniques, and materials utilized in using, 10. Citizen App
making, or repairing a certain kind of artifact • App that notifies users of ongoing crimes or major
3. A human cultural activity or profession events in a specific area
• E.g. military or civil engineers, crafters, machinists
4. A total science enterprise
• E.g. American technological know-how, R&D,
invention, patronage, mass production, and mass
consumption
Society
1. Helix
• A digital app store designed to read genomes
2. BlessU-2 and Pepper
• First robot priest and monk
3. Emotion-Sensing Facial Recognition
• Software being developed to assess your
reactions to anything such as shopping, and
playing games
4. Ransomware
• A way of holding data hostage through hacking
and requiring ransom to be paid
5. Textalyxer
• Device that analyzes whether a driver was using
his/her phone during an accident
Lesson No. 01
Science, Technology and Society:
Historical Antecedents in the World
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE WORLD
ANCIENT SCIENCE [60,000BC to 650 AD]
Knowledge was built by means of pure thought.
It used experimentaLon to help theoreLcal understanding.
It was possible to find regulariLes and paNerns hidden in nature and
those regulariLes were the key to unlocking the secrets of the
universe.
It became evident that even nature had to obey certain rules and by
knowing those rules one could predict the behavior of nature.
SOURCE: www.ancient.eu.
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE WORLD
MIDDLE AGES [3rd to 12th Centuries]
There was a stability in the intellectual world for long centuries.
All the scienLfic and philosophical expression was monitored
extensively by the church.
The church ruled conclusively on a number of truths about the
natural world which claimed to be undeniable.
Truth was based on biblical studies and the widely accepted
Aristotelian system.
It was believed that the human body contained four different kinds
of liquid and that illness was cause by their imbalance.
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE WORLD
LATE MIDDLE AGES: RENAISSANCE PERIOD [1350s – 1650s]
The Renaissance period bridged between middle to modern ages.
There was a birth of geographical exploraLons. Botanists flourished
and begun to create quesLons regarding the accepted Aristotelian
norms.
The birth of Protestant ReformaLon. The church started quesLoning
which resulted to freedom of reconstrucLon of intellectual progress.
The birth of ScienGfic RevoluGon (1450 – 1630)
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE WORLD
LATE MIDDLE AGES: RENAISSANCE PERIOD [1350s – 1650s]
ScienGfic RevoluGon is a series of events that marked the emergence
of a modern science when developments in mathemaLcs, physics,
astronomy, biology and chemistry transformed the views of society
about nature.
It is during this era that the flawed set of “scienLfic” beliefs
established by the ancients and maintained by the church were tore
down.
It began near he middle ages when farmers began to noLce, study
and record the environmental condiLons that yielded the best
harvests.
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE WORLD
LATE MIDDLE AGES: RENAISSANCE PERIOD [1350s – 1650s]
ScienLsts sought to discover and convey the true laws governing the
phenomena they observe in nature in order for the flawed
knowledge to be replaced.
During this period, the church is not against the change in the
scienLfic approach because of the belief that studying the world was
a form of piety and consLtuted admiraLon od God’s work.
This gave birth to the Enlightenment Period.
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE WORLD
MODERN AGES: 1650s - present
The birth to the Enlightenment Period.
It is during this era that he ScienLfic Method was established.
The concepts of inducLve and deducLve reasoning were also
introduced.
It was proven that scienLfic thought and methods could be applied to
non-scienLfic topics.
ScienLsts came to their own conclusions rather than deferring to
insLlled authority.
The influence of church to science started to decline.
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE WORLD
MODERN AGES: 1650s - present
There was an advancement of prevenLon and treatment of illnesses.
Astronomers unlocked the doors of the universe.
ExploraLon and imperialism began due to the advancement of
transport technologies.
Marked the emergence of the modern science.
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE WORLD
MODERN AGES: 1650s - present
There was an advancement of prevenLon and treatment of illnesses.
Astronomers unlocked the doors of the universe.
ExploraLon and imperialism began due to the advancement of
transport technologies.
Marked the emergence of the modern science.
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
FILM SHOWING:
World’s Greatest InvenLons of All Time
A Documentary by History Channel
Source: h*ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2DW9uY7k4A
INSIGHT
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
PARADIGM SHIFT
SOURCE: hNps://explorable.com/what-is-a-paradigm
FILM SHOWING:
Aristotle versus Galileo
Newton Versus Einstein
h*ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HR5UmG0q0s
h*ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yyb_RNJWUM&t=322s
“Science Technology and Society Studies or STS is
an interdisciplinary field of academic teaching and
research with elements of a social movement,
having as its primary focus the explicaLon of science
and technology as complex social constructs with
aNendant societal influences entailing myriad
epistemological, poliLcal and ethical quesLons.” ~
Stephen H. Cutcliffe, Encyclopedia.com
STS as an explicit academic field of teaching and research
emerged in the United States in the mid-1960s, as scholars
and
academics alike raised doubts about the theretofore
largely unquesLoned beneficence of science and technology.
SOURCE: www.encyclopedia.com
DDT –
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. Silent Spring began with a “fable for
tomorrow” – a true story using a composite of
It is a cyrstalline compound that was examples drawn from many real communiLes
originally developed as an insecLcide where the use of DDT had caused damage to
and pesLcide. wildlife, birds, bees, agricultural animals,
domesGc pets, and even humans.
It was promoted by the United States
ULlizing
her many sources in federal science
Government and the industry for
and in private research, Carson spent over six
agricultural and household use.
years documenLng her analysis that humans
were misusing powerful, persistent, chemical
There was no prior invesLgaLon of
pesLcides before knowing the full extent of
their environmental and health effect.
their potenLal harm to the whole biota.
SOURCE: www.wikipedia.com SOURCE: www.rachelcarson.org
FEW DRIVERS could imagine owning a car
these days that did not come with
airbags, anLlock brakes and seatbelts.
But 50 years ago motorists went without
such basic safety features.
That was before a young lawyer named
Ralph Nader came along with a book,
“Unsafe at Any Speed,” that would
change the auto industry. It accused
automakers of failing to make cars as safe
as possible. Less than a year aher the
book was published, a balky Congress
created the federal safety agency that
became the NaLonal Highway Traffic
Safety AdministraLon — an agency
“For over half a century the automobile whose stated mission is to save lives,
has brought death, injury and the most prevent injuries and reduce crashes.
inesLmable sorrow and deprivaLon to
millions of people.” ~ Ralph Nader
"Gaming disorder"
recognized as a mental
health condiGon by
World Health
OrganizaGon
SOURCE: SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The ScienLfic RevoluLon (1550-1700).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 24 Jun. 2018.
Lesson No. 02
Science, Technology and Society:
Historical Antecedents
in the Philippines
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
A BRIEF HISTORY ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN PHILIPPINES
50,00 years ago, modern men from the Asian mainland settled in
the Philippines particularly in Batangas and Palawan.
40,000 years ago, early Filipinos made use of stones as their tools
and weapon.
Higher education system was also established but only the elite
members of the society took part of which leads them either to
priesthood or clerical work for the colonial government. Courses
such as chemistry, physics, natural history and mathematics as
part of the Bachelor degree curriculum.
With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the consequent
ease in travel and communications that it brought about, the
liberal ideas and scientific knowledge of the West also reached
the Philippines.
1941: The Pacific War broke off and the Philippines was occupied
by the Japanese.
SOURCE: www.dost.com
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF SCIENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF R&D IN THE PHILIPPINES
SOURCE: www.dost.com