Republic of the Philippines

BOHOL ISLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

Main Campus
Tagbilaran City

Vision: A premier Science and Technology university for the formation of world class
and virtuous human resource for sustainable development in Bohol and the Country.
Mission: BISU is committed to provide quality higher education in the arts and
sciences, as well as in the professional and technological fields; undertake research
and development and extension services for the sustainable development of Bohol and
the country.

Name: Gilbeys D. Tangcawan, LPT, MATVE

Program: Doctor of Philosophy in Technology Management

COURSE INTEGRATION IN PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY

1st Semester, AY 2021-2022
Test I

1. Express comprehensively your own understanding of the Philosophy of

Technology.
 It is undoubtedly true that technology has greatly influenced the
way of life of the people in the past, present and can certainly
predict the future of humankind. Technology has elevated the
human potential and thus, awakened our consciousness from the
questionable world that we live in. It has influenced our thoughts,
our culture and our society in general. However, with the emergence
of Philosophy of Technology as a new field of study, it helps us
understand technology itself and the practice of designing and
creating artifacts or inventions. This philosophy of technology
seeks continuity with the philosophy of science rather than with
the humanities and social science. This field of study aims to
describe how technology, science and engineering can be
interconnected to each other. The concern of how closely related
these disciplines are has been disputed by a lot of philosophers from
different time and period, but each claim is valid as all of these are
abstract ideas. The Philosophy of Technology as a study, provides us
a clearer view on how useful and effective our inventions are
through scientific method or investigative process. It also allows us
to scrutinize the current artefacts that we have, if it’s beneficial to
our society or pose as a threat to our lives. This discipline provides
us a detailed information that regards with the ethical guidelines on
how technology can be an asset in our society and will not serve as
the tool which can destruct or end the world.
2. Given discussion on the ethical implications of technology, how do you
suppose should Artificial Intelligence shape the future of humanity?

 I always believe that our choices in life in the present, dictates the
kind of life that we will have in the future. Same goes with Artificial
Intelligence that has been developed by a lot of researchers and
scientists. I disagree with the theory of neutrality thesis which puts
technology as a neutral instrument and the undesirable effects or
negative consequences of this, greatly depends upon the user of
this instrument or tool. There could still be technical errors even if
properly designed, executed and well conceptualized. What I
suggest is for scientists to do ethical reflection if artificial
intelligence is beneficial or can be destructive to our society. They
should ensure that this tool poses zero risk and that no human life
can be put in danger.

3. How could technology contribute to the implementation of sustainable

development?

 There are recent inventions which can contribute to the

implementation of sustainable development. These inventions
ensures that it is fitted to the context of what we need in this world
—both the biophysical context which takes account of health,
climate, biodiversity and ecology, and the psycho-social context
which includes social institutions, politics, culture, economics,
ethics and the personal/spiritual needs of individuals. However,
even if people put their faith in the ability of human ingenuity in
the form of technology to be able to preserve their lifestyles and
ensure an ever increasing level of consumption for everyone, we
cannot ignore the necessity to redesign our technological systems
rather than continue to apply technological fixes that are usually
unsatisfactory in the long term.

4. Being a PhD TM graduate in the future, what major proposal can you
craft to mitigate impact or effects of calamities given that the major
aspects of life today is dependent upon technology?

 According to studies, the Philippines is one of the world’s

worst offenders on marine plastic pollution, with O.28 – O.75 million
tons per year of plastic entering to oceans from coastal areas. The
country uses almost 6O billion plastic bottles for packaging a year
(GAIA, March 2O2O). The plastic market in the Philippines is above
1283.71 million US$ (2O16), with a compound growth rate of 6.11%
(forecast for period 2O18-2O23). Plastic pollution, most specifically in
squatter areas, are not collected at all, leading to illegal dumping
which contributes to frequent flooding in Metro regions.
The idea that I have which can mitigate the effects of flooding,
as a Ph.D TM graduate in the future which has a broader
understanding in Garments Technology, is to collect all of these plastic
bottles and recycle them into Clothing products, rather than illegally
dump this anywhere which could contribute to the blockage of
pipelines or sewages and can cause severe flooding. Private companies
or government should turn the collection of these plastic bottles into a
business. We buy their collected plastics and compensate them.
When you think of fabric which are made of recycled plastic
bottles, it’s a pretty wild concept to analyze. People would think that
it’s hot, crunchy and anything unbreathable. Just like in making
fabrics from natural fibers such as cotton, silk, wool, etc., turning
plastic into fabrics will follow a unique carding, spinning, and grading
process. This starts from shredding the plastics into smallest pieces
and melt them under a high temperature which will liquidize the
material. The plastic is heated and forced through tiny holes which
resembles something like a showerhead to create fibers. The fibers are
fine, long continuous strands. Next, they are torn apart into short
pieces, so the fiber isn't continuous strands. It's then bailed and is
finally ready to be turned into yarn. Fiber which can be generated from
plastic will be classified as synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon,
acrylic and spandex which are made from non-natural materials. This
process will follow the same process just like how synthetic fibers are
made.
There have been several researches on how to create fabrics
from plastic bottles outside the country which uses different
technological machines in which the Philippines can’t cope up with.
The proposal that I have will make this process contextualized and will
utilize the resources that we have.
With this proposal, we aren’t only aiming for sustainable
environment and mitigate the effects of calamities such as severe
flooding, but we are also generating economic livelihood in which the
public could also benefit from.