Pampanga State Agricultural University

Magalang, Pampanga

MODULE

“SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY”

Compiled and prepared by:

MA. SOCORRO C. TUAZON

College of Arts And Sciences

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
CHAPTER 1
Historical Antecedents in the Course of Science and Technology…………………………………….5
CHAPTER 2
Intellectual Revolutions…………………………………………………………………………………………………..18
CHAPTER 3
Science, Technology, and Nation building……………………………………………………………………….28
CHAPTER 4
The Good Life………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….32
CHAPTER 5
When Technology and Humanity Cross……………………………………………………………………………42
CHAPTER 6
Impact of Coronavirus in the Philippines………………………………………………………………………….54
CHAPTER 7
Human Flourishing as Reflected in Progress and Development………………………………………..66

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………72

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 INTRODUCTION

SCIENCE came from the Latin word "scientia" means knowledge. Science is a body of
systemised knowledge about the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and
observation.

TECHNOLOGY is a science or knowledge put into practical use to solve problems or invent
useful tools.

SOCIETY is the sum total of our interactions as humans, including the interactions that we
engage in to figure things out and make things. It is also a group of individuals involved in
persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same geographical or territory,
typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

WHAT DOES SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (STS) MEANS?

It is the study of how society, politics, and culture affect scientific research and
technological innovation and how these, in turn affect society, politics and culture.

STS is a relatively recent discipline, originating in the 60s and 70s, following Kuhn's The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962).

STS was the result of "sociological turn" in science studies. It makes the assumption that
science and technology are essentially intertwined and that they are each profoundly social and
political.

THE INTERCONNECTION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Science is the pursuit of knowledge about the natural world through systematic
observation and experiments. Through science, we develop new technologies. While technology
is the application of scientifically gained knowledge for practical purpose. Then Scientists uses
technology in all their experiments.

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 Human have persistently observed and studied the natural physical world in order to find
meanings and seek answers to many questions.

THE ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE SOCIETY

1. To alter the way people live, connect, communicate and transact, with profound effects
on economic development.
2. One of the key drivers to development, because technological and scientific revolutions
underpin economic advances, improvements in health systems, education and
infrastructure.
3. The technological revolutions of 21st century are emerging from entirely new sectors,
based on micro-processors, tele-communication, bio-technology and nano-technology.
Products are transforming business practices across the economy, as well as the lives of
all who have access to their effects. The most remarkable breakthrough will come from
the interaction of insights and application arising when these technologies converge.
4. It have the power to better the lives of poor people in developing countries.
5. The engine of growth.
6. It intervenes in some aspect such as cognitive enhancement, proton cancer therapy and
genetic engineering.

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 CHAPTER 1

HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS IN THE COURSE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Science and technology indeed play major roles in the everyday life. They make difficult
and complicated task easier and allow people to do more with so little effort and time. The
developments in this field are not just products of people’s imagination or a one-time thought
process; they are also brought about by gradual improvements to earlier works from different
time periods (STS, McNamara et al., 2018).

The driving force behind this continuous progress is the desire to raise the quality of life
of the people (STS, McNamara et al., 2018).

ANCIENT TIMES

In ancient times, people doesn’t have much knowledge in transportation and navigation,
communication and record keeping, mass production, security and protection, as well as
health, aesthetics and architecture.

Transportation was a significant during that time because people travelled to search for
food and find better location for settlements. They also travelled to trade their goods in exchange
for something they lacked. Nowadays people have the means to travel or transport anywhere
they want whether by air, by land and by sea.

Communication was also essential in their endeavors to discover and occupy new places.
It is needed to communicate with the natives of the areas they visited. Record-keeping was also
important to keep track of the places they visited and document trades they made.

Weapons and armors were important as well in the discovery of new places or
establishment of new alliances. There was always risk if conflict when people met with different
culture. Conflicts were common especially if different groups struggled to control vital resources.

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As such, development of weapons and armors for security and protection was considered a major
achievement.

Conservation of life was a primary challenged they face due to different illnesses and
diseases, both natural and man-made. Given this predicament, science and technology played a
major role in the discovery of cures to, if not the prevention of illnesses.

As modern humans evolved from their ancestors, accumulation and transfer of

knowledge evolved correspondingly. Simple stone tolls became mor efficient, hence, the ability
to make weapons and other implements from bones, wood, and antlers. Born hunters were
transformed to farmers and fishermen. Naked humans began to realize the need for clothing.
Slowly but surely, different elements are coming together to the level of sophistication commonly
referred to as civilization.

One of the great development in ancient times is the construction of bigger and stronger
infrastructures which is now known as engineering. The development in this field allowed
humans to build structures that would address their specific needs and wants such as protection
from natural disaster.

Together with engineering, development of architecture in ancient times also progress.

Elaborate architectural designs were signs of technological advancement of a particular
civilization. In generations to come it would be considered a status symbol among nations of how
advanced their technology is. It may also establish the identity of a nation.

SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION

• Develop the first writing system known as cuneiform.

• Cuneiform a system that utilizes word pictures and triangular symbols which carved in
clay using wedge instruments and then left to dry.

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 • They rely on agriculture as the primary source of livelihood.
• Created irrigation system by constructing dikes and canals to control flooding.
• Built large structures from sun-dried bricks made of clay such as the Uruk City which is
considered the first true city in the world and The great Ziggurat of Ur also called
mountain of god.
• Invented the wheel, sailboat, and plow improving trade and farming.
• Forged bronze from copper and tin (around 3,000 BC) allowing for stronger tools and
weapons.

BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION

• Great builders, engineers and architects.

• Major contribution is the hanging garden of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the
ancient world.
• According to legends, the great Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II built gardens for his
wife, Queen Amytis. However no physical evidence have been found to prove the
existence of the Hanging Garden.
• The literature of Babylon was very rich. The Babylonians wrote around 2000 books. They
composed books on religion, science, mathematics and astrology.

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EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

Located in North Africa, Egyptian civilization is also famous for its legacy regarding
infrastructures established by pharaohs which are called pyramids. Aside from engineering
technology they also contributed other practical things.

• One of the earlier contribution of Egyptian civilization was

paper or papyrus and this became more convenient compared
to clay tablets.
• Papyrus a plant that grew abundantly along the Nile River in
Egypt.
• Together with paper they invented ink by combining soot with different chemicals to
produce ink of different colors.
• They develop also their own system of writing, using symbols
known as the hieroglyphics, although not the first one but much
easier for the world. Their records were well preserved since
they were carved at the walls of pyramids and other Egyptian
structures.
• The Egyptians also invented the use of cosmetics, their functions in ancient Egypt was for
both health and aesthetic reasons. They also believed that wearing make-up was
protected from evil and that beauty was a sign of holiness.
• They wore Kohl around their eyes to prevent and cure eye diseases. It is made by mixture
of soot/malachite with mineral galena.
• They also invented wig, in ancient times wigs were worn for health and wellness rather
than for aesthetic purposes. They were used to protect the shaved heads of the wealthy
Egyptians from harmful rays of sun.
• Another important invention of Egyptians is the water clock. A device that utilizes gravity
that affects the flow of water from one vessel to the other. Amount of water remaining
in the device determines how much time has elapsed since its full.

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GREEK CIVILIZATION

Greece is an archipelago in the South-eastern part of Europe. Known as the birthplace of

western philosophy.

• One of the most utilized gadgets today that was invented by ancient Greeks is the alarm
clock. They use water, sand or small stones that drop into the drum which sounded the
alarm.
• Watermills were also one of the important contributions of the Greek civilization. They
were used in agricultural processes like milling of grains which was necessary form of food
processing during that time. Due to this there were mass production of rice, cereals and
flours.

ROMAN CIVILIZATION

The Roman empire was perceived to be the strongest political and social entity in the
west. It was considered to be the cradle of politics and governance during that period.

• One of the major contributions of Romans is the newspaper.

The first newspaper known as gazettes, contained the
announcements of the Roman Empire to the people.
• These gazettes were engraved in metal or stone tablets and
then publicly displayed. When paper is invented it became much easier to publish matters
that needed attention.
• Because of invention of paper, civilization became fond of record-keeping especially
documenting the historical events and newly legislated laws. Romans wrote about history
and politics, literature also changed from clay tablets to
parchment paper.
• Julius Caesar started the tradition of stacking up papyrus to
form pages, and later on given a cover to protect the papyrus
creating the first book or codex.

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 • Roman architecture is one of the most visual contributions of the ancient Roman Empire
to the world. It was considered a continuation of Greek architecture. The government
were able to implement major projects such as large churches (cathedral and basilicas),
aqueducts, coliseums, amphitheatres, and even residential houses.
• Romans also established their own number system called Roman numerals, but these old
system could not keep up with high calculation requirements in trade. Now we use Hindu-
Arabic system.

CHINESE CIVILIZATION

Considered to be the oldest civilization in Asia, if not the world. Also known as THE
MIDDLE KINGDOM. China is located on the far east of Asia. Famous among ancient civilizations
because of its silk trade.

• One of the things that connected far east China to the world is silk. Naturally produced
from silk worms, and the Chinese developed the technology to harvest the silk and
process to produce cloth and paper.
• Tea is a beverage produced by pouring hot or boiling water over crushed or shredded
dried tea leaves. It is believed that the first tea was drunk by a Chinese emperor.
• Chinese invertor created a machine that was able to shred tea leaves into strips. A wheel-
based mechanism with sharped edges attached to a wooden ceramic pot.
• Great Wall of China considered the only man-made structure that could be seen from
outer space. It is said to be the largest and most extensive infrastructure that the nation
built. It was constructed to keep out foreign invaders
and control the borders of China. Made with brick,
stone, wood, earth and other materials that
showcased the extent of Chinese engineering. The
pride of the land and their crowning glory.
• Gunpowder is one of the most interesting inventions in China. They mixed charcoal,
sulfur, and potassium nitrate, but instead of creating and elixir of life they accidentally

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 invented a black powder that actually generate a large amount of gas and heat in an
instant, Widely used to propel bullets from guns and cannons. It is also used in fireworks.

MEDIEVAL/MIDDLE AGES

Wars were prevalent during this time. As such great technology was needed in the fields
of weaponry, navigation, mass food and farm production, but during the latter part of the period,
there was a significant rise in population.

• After Chinese developed woodblock printing, Johann Gutenberg was able to invent
printing press, more reliable way of printing using a cast type.
• The printing press utilized wooden machines that extracted juices from fruits, attached
to them a metal impression of letters, and press firmly the cast metal into a piece of
paper, which made them an exact impression on paper. Invented to address the need for
publishing books that would spread information.
• Microscope is another invention in the Middle Ages. To develop proper medicines for
illnesses, experts must understand the sickness through an investigation. Thus the
invention of microscope.
• Guided by the principles used for invention of eyeglasses in earlier years, Zacharias
Janssen was able to develop the first compound microscope. Device to observe organism
that were normally not visible by the naked eye (Davidson, 2015).
• Middle Age was also known as Age of Exploration, thus the invention of Telescope, which
is an optical instrument that helps in observing of remote objects, was a great help in
navigation during this time.
• Together with telescope the invention of compass, oars, and rudders made sea travelling
easier and safer (Helden, 1989).
• War weapons for open are battles were develop such as cross bows and long bows so
that they could attack enemies from long distances with the protection of walls and
fortress. Iron body armors which protect themselves from hand-to-hand combats.

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MODERN TIMES

The booming world during 19th century onwards demanded that more goods to be
produced at faster rate. People needed efficient transportation to trade more goods and cover
larger distances. Faster and easier means of communication and computation should be
developed to established connections between nations.

• People were able to develop better means of production to meet the needs of the
population, food preservation and food safety became an issue. Thus pasteurization was
invented to solve the problem. Louis Pasteur, a French biologist, microbiologist and
chemist invented pasteurization by heating dairy products to kill the harmful bacteria
that allow them to spoil faster.
• Better means of powering homes and transportation was also demanded thus invention
of Petroleum refinery. At first people used animal oils for generating light to illuminate
their homes. However production cant keep up with the demand, thus Samuel M. Kier
was able to invent kerosene by refining petroleum. And it was later referred to as
“Illuminating oil”.
• The more people got connected by trade means of
communication became important. Government needed some
kind of communication to administer their states well thus
development of Telephone, by Alexander Graham Bell. One of
the most important invention.
• Earlier version of calculator had already been developed, circumstances in modern times
required a faster way to compute more complicated equation. The creation of modern
calculators did not only paved way for easier arithmetic calculations but also resulted to
the development of complex machines such as computer.

PHILIPPINE INVENTIONS

Despite being considered a developing country, the Philippines also contributes to the
global advancement of science and technology.

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• It has become ordinary for Filipinos to convert transport vehicles into something much
more useful. An example is conversion of American military jeeps used in World War II
into Jeepneys or Ejeepney.
• Another is addition of sidecar on a motorcycle and transforming it into tricycle to
accommodate more passengers.
• Since during rainy season flooding is
a common occurrence in many areas
making it difficult for tricycle to
travel thus Dominic Chuang,
Lamberto Amada and Chief Designer
Atoy Llave, invented Salamander
amphibious tricycle that can cross
flooded street and rivers.
• Filipinos have resorted to candles or kerosene lamps during night time, but they carry
certain risks as they are fire hazards. Solar power is also welcome development but like
rechargeable batteries, solar panels are too expensive for ordinary people. A young
Filipina inventor named Aisa Mijeno was able to invent a lighting system that utilize
saltwater which is abundant in Philippines, and it was called SALT LAMP (Sustainable
Alternative Lighting Lamp).
• Medical incubator was also invented due to high mortality rate of newborn babies
especially in rural areas. Dr. Fe del Mundo, a Filipino pediatrician and the first Asian
woman admitted into Harvard Medical School, devised a medical incubator made o\from
indigenous and cheap materials which did not run on electricity.
• There is also invention of Mosquito Ovicidal/Larvicidal Trap System, to address the viral
illness Dengue which is endemic in the tropical or subtropical areas, including the
Philippines.

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QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Give three other major scientific and technological developments in the world (or in the
Philippines) that created a large impact on your daily life. Explain the pros and cons of
these technological development.

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ACTIVITY 1

Search for the following

In the three periods (ancient, middle, and modern) and Philippine inventions discuss and search
for other inventions in each period that left a big impact on the world. Explain on your own words
how each invention works and affects the world. Also identify their use and purposes. (Add
pictures if possible)

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ACTIVITY 2
Match from column A to Column B by putting the letter before the number.
Column A Column B
_____1. Cuneiform A. Greek Civilization
_____2. Papyrus B. Babylonian Civilization
_____3. Alarm Clock C. Ancient Times
_____4. Newspaper D. Sumerian Civilization
_____5. Tea production E. Egyptian Civilization
_____6. Microscope F. Roman Civilization`
_____7. Pasteurization G. Chinese Civilization
_____8. Telephone H. Middle Age
_____9. Wheel I. Modern Times
_____10. Hieroglyphics J. Philippine Inventions
_____11. Water Clock
_____12. Codex or Bound books
_____13. Gun powder
_____14. Medical incubator
_____15. Hanging garden

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 CHAPTER 2

INTELECTUAL REVOLUTIONS

Inventions in science and technology during each time period were due to human needs
and wants. Brilliant minds responded to the call of the times and created things that could make
life easier for the people. Advancements in science and technology changed people’s perception
and beliefs. Much of these events happened in a period now known as the Intellectual
Revolution.

The developments during the intellectual revolution showed how society was transformed by
science and technology.

The following are a few of the major intellectual revolutions that created a paradigm shift in the
society:

1. Copernican Revolution
2. Darwinian Revolution
3. Freudian Revolution

What is Paradigm Shift?

Paradigm - Models or patterns for thinking about a situation

Paradigm Shift - Fundamental change in an individual's or a society's view of how things work in
the world.

Example:

• the shift from earth to sun as the center of solar system

• 'humors‘(“nausog”) to microbes as causes of disease,
• heart to brain as the seat of thinking and feeling

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COPERNICAN REVOLUTION

In the early times, people questioned what created days and nights. They wanted to
understand what heavenly bodies like stars, moons and planets are. The invention of the
telescope allowed people to take a peek at the outer space, but more importantly, it also
intrigued them to know what was actually out there.

• A famous philosopher and astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy, stated that the planets, as well
as the sun and the moon, moved in a circular motion around the Earth. The sun and
moons revolution explained the existence of night and day. He believed that the Earth
was at the center – a concept known as geocentrism.
• It was widely accepted by the people and was one of the greatest discoveries at that time.
• Nicolas Copernicus, a Polish mathematician and astronomer challenged the Ptolemaic
model. He introduced a new concept known as heliocentrism, which suggested that the
center of the Solar System was not the Earth but actually the Sun. This idea was rejected
because they believe that Earth was created first before all things.
• After sometime the astronomers realized that Copernican model simplified the orbits of
the planets. It was then eventually accepted and the era was called the birth of modern
astronomy.

This era began what was known as the SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION which resulted in the
transformation of society’s thoughts and beliefs.

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 DARWANIAN REVOLUTION

The Darwinian revolution was considered to be one of the most controversial intellectual
revolutions of its time. In 1859, Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, biologist, and geologist,
published his book, On the Origins of the Species. In this book, Darwin introduced the theory of
evolution and natural selection.

• He stated that the population pass through a process of natural selection in which
only the fittest would survive.
• He stated that organism have the ability to adapt to their environment and gradually
change into something that would be more competitive to survive, a process known
as Evolution.
• However this theory became controversial as people perceived it to be contradictory
to the Church’s teaching that the source of life is a powerful Creator.

Darwin had the opportunity to study and catalog the local plants and animals. Over the
course of his travels, Darwin began to see intriguing patterns in the distribution and features of
organisms. We can see some of the most important patterns Darwin noticed in distribution of
organisms by looking at his observations of the Galápagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador.

Darwin found that nearby islands in the

Galápagos had similar but nonidentical species of
finches living on them. Moreover, he noted that each
finch species was well-suited for its environment and
role. For instance, species that ate large seeds tended
to have large, tough beaks, while those that ate
insects had thin, sharp beaks. Finally, he observed
that the finches (and other animals) found on the Galápagos Islands were similar to species on
the nearby mainland of Ecuador, but different from those found elsewhere in the world.

If this idea was correct, though, why was it correct? What mechanism could explain how
each finch population had acquired adaptations, or features that made it well-suited to its

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immediate environment? During his voyage, and in the years after, Darwin developed and refined
a set of ideas that could explain the patterns he had observed during his voyage. In his book, On
the Origin of Species, Darwin outlined his two key ideas: evolution and natural selection.

EVOLUTION

Darwin proposed that species can change over time, that new species come from pre-
existing species, and that all species share a common ancestor. In this model, each species has
its own unique set of heritable (genetic) differences from the common ancestor, which have
accumulated gradually over very long time periods. Repeated branching events, in which new
species split off from a common ancestor, produce a multi-level "tree" that links all living
organisms. Darwin referred to this process, in which groups of organisms change in their
heritable traits over generations, as “descent with modification." Today, we call it evolution.
Darwin's sketch illustrates his idea, showing how one
species can branch into two over time, and how this
process can repeat multiple times in the "family
tree" of a group of related species.

NATURAL SELECTION

Darwin also proposed a mechanism for evolution: natural selection. This mechanism was
elegant and logical, and it explained how populations could evolve (undergo descent with
modification) in such a way that they became better suited to their environments over time.

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Darwin's concept of natural selection was based on several key observations:

• Traits are often heritable. In living organisms, many characteristics are inherited, or
passed from parent to offspring. (Darwin knew this was the case, even though he did not
know that traits were inherited via genes.)

• More offspring are produced than can survive. Organisms are capable of producing more
offspring than their environments can support. Thus, there is competition for limited
resources in each generation.

• Offspring vary in their heritable traits. The offspring in any generation will be slightly
different from one another in their traits (color, size, shape, etc.), and many of these
features will be heritable.

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Based on these simple observations, Darwin concluded the following:

• In a population, some individuals will have inherited traits that help them survive and
reproduce (given the conditions of the environment, such as the predators and food
sources present). The individuals with the helpful traits will leave more offspring in the
next generation than their peers, since the traits make them more effective at surviving
and reproducing.
• Because the helpful traits are heritable, and because organisms with these traits leave
more offspring, the traits will tend to become more common (present in a larger fraction
of the population) in the next generation.
• Over generations, the population will become adapted to its environment (as individuals
with traits helpful in that environment have consistently greater reproductive success
than their peers).

FREUDIAN EVOLUTION

In the past, the field of psychology was classified under Philosophy. Psychology was
considered more of an art rather than a science.

In late 19th century, Sigmund Freud was able to change the people perception of
psychology with his revolutionary theory of psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis - the study that explains human behavior.

• Freud explained that there are many conscious and unconscious factors that can influence
behaviour and emotions
• He also argued that personality is a product of three conflicting elements: id, ego and
superego.
o Freud made the analogy of the id being a horse while the ego is the rider. The ego
is 'like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the
horse.' (Freud, 1923, p.15)

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 o ID, EGO and SUPEREGO
▪ The id is the impulsive (and unconscious) part of our psyche which
responds directly and immediately to the instincts.
✓ The personality of the newborn child is all id and only later does it
develop an ego and super-ego.
▪ The ego operates according to the reality principle, working out realistic
ways of satisfying the id’s demands, often compromising or postponing
satisfaction to avoid negative consequences of society.
✓ The ego considers social realities and norms, etiquette and rules in
deciding how to behave.
▪ The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are
learned from one's parents and others.
✓ the superego consists of two systems: The conscience and the ideal
self.
✓ The conscience can punish the ego through causing feelings of guilt.
▪ For example, if the ego gives in to the id's demands, the superego may
make the person feel bad through guilt.

Many believed that Freud’s theory have no scientific basis as no empirical or experimental
data can support it. Despite criticism, Freud continued to work on refining his theory, soon
enough people were able to understand the concepts of psychoanalysis, which eventually
resulted in classifying psychology as science.

These three revolutionizing theories are just some of the many scientific ideas that
transformed and molded societies and beliefs.

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QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Why do you think were most intellectual ideas controversial? Explain in your own words.
2. How do intellectual revolutions transform societies?

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ACTIVITY 1

Research on the positive and negative results brought about by innovations and technological
advances in the information age.

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ACTIVITY 2

Briefly explain the following.

1. Geocentrism vs Heliocentrism
2. Theory of Evolution and natural selection
3. Id, ego and superego

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 CHAPTER 3

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND NATION BUILDING

Many significant inventions and discoveries have been accomplished by or attributed to Filipinos.

PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

Scientific and technological development in the Philippines began in the pre-colonial period, even
before Spaniards came to the country.

✓ Early Filipino settlers already using certain plants and herbs as medicine.
✓ Systems of farming and animal-raising were also implemented.
✓ Filipinos also developed different mode of transportation whether terrestrial or maritime.
✓ Native of Cordilleras built rice terraces by hand, and it is still functional today.
o Through this they were able to cultivate crops on the mountainside in cold
temperatures.
o They incorporated irrigation system that uses water from forests and
mountaintops.

COLONIAL PERIOD

Colonization by the Spaniards provided the Philippines with modern means of construction.

• Walls, roads, bridges and other large infrastructures were built using the engineering skills
and tools brought by Spaniards.
• The Spanish government developed health and educational systems that were enjoyed
by the principalia class.
• The American occupation modernized almost all aspect of life in the Philippines.
o They established a government agency, the Bureau of Science, for the sole
purpose of nurturing development in the field of Science and Technology.

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POST-COLONIAL PERIOD

After achieving independence from the colonizers, the Philippines continued to pursue programs
in science and technology under different administration. One of the presidents who ushered in
advancement in science and technology was former president dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

✓ Under his term many agencies in science and technology were established and
strengthened. Including:
o Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration
(PAGASA)
o The National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST)
o Reconstituted National Science and Technology Authority
✓ Marcos saw that the key to nation-building is the continued development of science and
technology.

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QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1.Trace the development of science and technology from pre-colonial times to the present? What
have you observed?

2. What specific government administration do you like the most in terms of contributing to the
development of science and technology?

3. What policies do you want the government to implement in the future?

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 CHAPTER 4

THE GOOD LIFE

“Everyone is in pursuit of the good life.”

In life we do certain things because we want to achieve a life which will make us happy
and content. People’s definition of good life may vary and differ in the particulars. In general, we
recognize universal truths that cuts our differences.

NICOMACHEAN ETHICS AND MODERN CONCEPTS

Aristotle, an important ancient Greek philosopher whose work spans from natural philosophy
to logic and political theory, attempted to explain what the good is.

• In Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle Stated:

o “All Human activities aim at some good. Every art and human inquiry, and similarly
every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the
good has been rightly declared as that at which all things aim (Nicomachean Ethics
2:2)”.
o … both the many and the cultivated call it happiness, and supposed that living well
and doing well are the same as being happy (Nicomachean Ethics 1:4).

Ancient Greek called this concept of “living well and doing well” as EUDEMONIA. The word
came from the Greek word “eu” meaning good and “daimon” meaning spirit. Taken together, it
generally refers to the good life, which is marked by happiness and excellence. It is a flourishing
life filled with meaningful endeavours that empower the human person to be the best version of
himself/herself.

• If one is a student, then he/she acts to be the best version of a student by studying well
and fulfilling the demands of school. If one is an athlete, then he/she strive to be the best
version of an athlete by training hard as well as joining and winning in sports
competitions.

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 Furthermore, according to Aristotle, happiness is the ultimate end of human action. Itis that
which people pursue for its own sake. Financial stability for one’s family, the power achieved
from winning the elections, or the harmony and peace as a reward for taking care of the
environment - all these and more are pursued for the sake of happiness.

• “Now such as a thing as happiness above all else, is held to be; for this we choose always
for itself and never for the sake of something else, but honour, pleasure, reason, and every
virtue we choose indeed for themselves, but we choose them also for the sake of
happiness, judging that by means of them we shall be happy. Happiness, on the other
hand, no one choose for anything other than itself. (Nicomachean Ethics 2:7)”

Happiness defines a good life. This happiness, however, is not the kind that comes from
sensate pleasures. It is that which come from living a life of virtue, a life of excellence, manifested
from the personal to the global scale.

• “It is the activities that express virtue that control happiness, and be contrary activities
that control its contrary. ( Nicomachean Ethics 1:10)”

For example, making sure that one avoids sugary and processed foods to keep healthy is an
activity that expresses virtue. The resulting health add to one's well-being and happiness.
Another example is taking care of the environment through proper waste management which
result in a clean environment and adds to people’s well-being and happiness.

These virtuous actions required discipline and practice. On the other hand, activities contrary
to virtue are those which do not result in happiness. Virtue plays a significant role in the living
and attainment of the good life. It is the constant practice of the good no matter how difficult
the circumstances may be. Virtue is the excellence of character that empower one to do and be
good. Such virtue is cultivated with habit and discipline as it is not a one-time deed. But a constant
and consistent series of actions. Everyone has the capacity within himself/herself to be good, but
he/she also has to be disciplined to make a habit of exercising the good.

33
 • “Virtue, then, being of two kinds, intellectual and moral, intellectual virtue in the main
owes its birth and growth to teaching (for with reason it requires experience and time),
while moral virtue comes about as a result of habit (Nicomachean Ethics 2:1)”

The onward progress of science and technology is also the movement towards the good life.
Science and technology are one of the highest expressions of human faculties they allow us to
thrive and flourish in life if we so desire it, science and technology may also corrupt a person, but
grounding oneself in virtue will help him/her steer clear of danger.

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ACTIVITY

Answer the following items.

__________1. It is that which all things aim.

__________2. It is an ancient Greek word which means living and doing well.

__________3. It is said to be the ultimate end of human action. It is pursued for its own sake.

__________4. He is the ancient Greek Philosopher known for Nicomachean Ethics.

__________5. The good life means that I make sure I improve without necessarily taking the
others into consideration. True or False.

__________6. One does not need to eat healthfully to live the good life. True or False?

__________7. Excellence of character is innate. It does not have practiced. True or False?

__________8. It is constant practice of the good.

__________9. For items 9 and 10, give Aristotle two kinds of Virtue.

__________10.

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QUESTION FOR REFLECTION

1. In your own opinion, what is a good life?

36
2. Watch the movie

37
 SUMMARY OF THE GOOD LIFE

Happiness – end goal of life.

PLATO VS ARISTOTLE

PLATO
Thought that things in this world are not real Claims that this world is all there is to it and
and copies of the real.
The world is constantly undergoing change.
World of Forms and World of Matter
- describe a basic duality in all existence, senses can perceive.
between the essence or "whatness" of
a thing (form) and the stuff that the
thing is made of (matter)
World of Matter
- things are changing and permanent.
World of Forms
- the entities are only copies of the
ideal, and the models and the “form”
are the only real entity.
ARISTOTLE
that this world is the only reality we can all
access.
Change is a process that is inherent in things.
Potentialities (seed) -> actualities (plant).
There is no reality over and above what the
- Declares that human beings are
potentialities who aspire for their
actuality.
- Every human being moves according
to some end.
- Every action that emanates from a
human person is function of the
purpose that the person has.
Claims that happiness is the be all and the end
all of everything that we do. End goal is
happiness.
Happiness is the grand motivating force.
- Every human person aspire for an
end. Happiness or human flourishing,
a kind of contentment in knowing
that one is getting the best out life.
The good life. A kind of feeling that
one has maxed out his potentials in
the world, that he has attained the
crux of his humanity.

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Greatest Happiness Principle

- John Stuart Mill (18th century, British philosopher)

- An action is right as far as it maximizes the attainment of happiness for the greatest
number of people. When an action benefits the greatest number of people, said action is
deemed ethical.
- Individual happiness of each individual should be prioritized and collectively dictates the
kind of action that should be endorsed
- The ethical, meant to lead us to the good and happy life.

Through the ages, man has struggled with the external world in order to reach human flourishing,
thus history has given birth to different school of thought, all of which aim for the good and happy
life.

Different Schools of Thought.

1. Materialism
• Democritus and Leucippus(Greece) led a school whose primary belief is that the
world is made up of and is controlled by the tiny indivisible units called atomos or
seeds.
• According to them, the world and human itself is made up of matter. As such only
material entities matter. In terms of Human Flourishing, matter is what makes us
attain happiness. Most people who are clinging on to material wealth as the
primary source of the meaning of their existence.
2. Hedonism
• “the pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence”; “hedone” Greek word for
pleasure.
• See the end goal of life in acquiring pleasure.
• Life is about obtaining and indulging in pleasure because life is limited.
• Their mantra: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die".

39
 3. Stoicism
• 301 BC
• The idea that to generate happiness, one must learn to distance oneself and be
apathetic(indifferent). We should adopt the fact that some things are not within
out control. The sooner we realize this, the happier we can become.

*According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to happiness for humans is found in
accepting this moment as it presents itself, by not allowing ourselves to be controlled by our
desire for pleasure or our fear of pain, by using our minds to understand the world around us and
to do our part in nature's plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly. To
live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they taught everything
was rooted in nature.

4. Theism
• belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in one god as creator of
the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures.
• Catholic country, is witness to how people base their life goals on beliefs that
hinged on some form of supernatural reality called heaven. The world where we
are in is only just a temporary reality where we have manoeuvre around while
waiting for the ultimate return to the hands of God.
• Thus, the ultimate basis of happiness is the communion with God.
5. Humanism
• term was coined by theologian Friedrich Niethammer (a Bavarian commissioner)
at the beginning of the 19th century.
• the freedom of man to carve his own destiny and to legislate his own laws, free
from the shackles of a God that monitors and controls.
• Man is the captain of his own ship.
• Inspired by the enlightenment in 17th century, humanist see themselves not
merely as stewards of the creation but as individuals who are in control of
themselves and the world outside them.

40
 • humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of human freedom
and progress. It views humans as solely responsible for the promotion and
development of individuals and emphasizes a concern for man in relation to the
world.
• the world is a place and space for freely unearthing the world in seeking for ways
on how to improve the lives of its inhabitants.

As a result of the motivation of the humanist current, scientist eventually turned to technology
in order to ease the difficulty of life. Scientist of today are ready to confront more sophisticated
attempts at altering the world for the benefit of humanity. Some people now are willing to
tamper with time and space in the name of technology. For example:

✓ Social media
✓ Internet
✓ Smart phones

Technology - Allowed us to tinker with our sexuality.

✓ Example: sexual reassignment, breast implants, injection of hormones.

Whether or not we agree with these technological advancements, these are all undertaken in the
hopes of attaining the good life. The balance, however, between the good life, ethics, and
technology has to be attained.

41
 CHAPTER 5

WHEN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY CROSS

Learning Outcomes

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

✓ Evaluate contemporary human experience to strengthen the human person functioning

in society;
✓ Discuss the importance of human rights in the face of changing social conditions and
technological development; and
✓ Identify laws or policies in the country that protect the well-being of the person in
technological advancement and ethical dilemmas.

UNIVERSAL DECLERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

• HUMANS RIGHTS
o The rights given to all regardless of sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion
or any other status. This includes the right to live and be free from slavery,
torture and many more.
o It is not a privilege and cannot be granted or revoked
o It is inalienable and universal.
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed on December 10, 1948 by the
United Nations General Assembly which was written by International Committee led by
Eleanor Roosevelt .
• The UDHR was created after the World war II, also international communities formed
treaties and vowed to not engage in conflict.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights base this fundamental Human Rights on 30
articles . the first seven articles was said to be the “ milestone document in the history of
Human Rights”

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UDHR PREAMBLE

• Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all
members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the
world,
• Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to
rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the
rule of law,
• Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
• Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal
rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom,
• Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the
United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights
and fundamental freedoms,
• Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest
importance for the full realization of this pledge,
• Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF
HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to
the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration
constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these
rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure
their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of
Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
• Article 1.
o All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.

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• Article 2.
o Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political,
jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person
belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other
limitation of sovereignty.
• Article 3.
o Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
• Article 4.
o No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be
prohibited in all their forms.
• Article 5.
o No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment.
• Article 6.
o Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
• Article 7.
o All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal
protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any
discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such
discrimination.

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HUMAN VS. ROBOTS

• Technology as we all know has developed overtime into complex machinery that can
battle human prowess. Its very evident from the newly emerged AI (Artificial Intelligence
) and robots that seems to resemble us humans.
• Though here in the Philippines technology aren't highly advance but our neighboring
countries such as Korea, China and specially Japan has reach to the point were robots
began replacing human in their jobs.
• Artificial Intelligent has been gaining its place in the BPO( Business Process Outsourcing )
industry since it can perform a massive analysis in data. With that being said according
to Santos(2017), their will be an estimated of million Filipino BPO workers may affect and
lose their jobs with the adoption of AI.
• In the future, when machines and robots become more human-like, with all the attendant
feelings and thoughts, people may also have to consider the ethical treatment for AI.
• Humans have the tendency to be replaced by machines or robots and humans may also
have the tendency to become machine-like.
• Google is the most go-to search engine that gives various about someone or something.
• According to Nicolas (2008) on his article on “Is Google Making us Stupid” He stated:
o “as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it
is our own intelligence that flattens into Artificial Intelligence”

WHY THE FUTURE DOES NOT NEED US

Bill Joy wrote in 2000 a controversial essay, “Why the Future Does Not Need Us?”. He contented:

“The most powerful 21st-century technologies-genetics, nanotech, and robotics (GNR)-are

threatening to make humans an endangered species.”

Humans should have learned the lesson in the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, that killed over a hundred thousand of people.

45
SUMMARY

When Technology and Humanity Cross

Technology
the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life or, as it is
sometimes phrased, to the change and manipulation of the human environment.
-www.britannica.com

Humanity
the state of being a person rather than a god, an animal or a machine.
-www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

The Ethical Dilemmas Of Robotics

“If the idea of robot ethics sounds like something out of science fiction, think again.”
-Dylan Evans

European Robotics Network (Euron)

- a group of leading roboticists

Robots
- a machine that resembles a living creature in being capable of moving independently (as
by walking or rolling on wheels) and performing complex actions (such as grasping and
moving objects).
-www.merriam-webster.com

Isaac Asimov
Robots should be programmed to obey three rules:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to
come to harm

46
 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders
would conflict with the First Law
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict
with the First or Second Law

David Hanson
- an American scientist who once worked for Disney, has developed a novel form of
artificial skin that bunches and wrinkles just like human skin, and the robot heads he
covers in this can smile, frown, and grimace in very human-like ways.

Jaron Lanier
- an internet pioneer, has warned of the dangers such technology poses to our sense of
our own humanity.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

What the Internet is doing to our brains
NICHOLAS CARR JULY/AUGUST 2008 ISSUE

Wired’s Clive Thompson

“The perfect recall of silicon memory, can be an enormous boon to thinking.”
But that boon comes at a price. As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in
the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of
thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is
chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to
take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.

Bruce Friedman, who blogs regularly about the use of computers in medicine, also has
described how the Internet has altered his mental habits. “I now have almost totally lost the

47
ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print,” he wrote earlier this year.
A pathologist who has long been on the faculty of the University of Michigan Medical
School, Friedman elaborated on his comment in a telephone conversation with me. His
thinking, he said, has taken on a “staccato” quality, reflecting the way he quickly scans short
passages of text from many sources online. “I can’t read War and Peace anymore,” he
admitted. “I’ve lost the ability to do that. Even a blog post of more than three or four
paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.”

“We are not only what we read,” says Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at
Tufts University and the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the
Reading Brain. “We are how we read.”

48
QUESTION FOR REFLECTION
1. How does science and technology affect contemporary life and vice versa?
2. Do you believe that Google makes people stupid? Cite an example to support your
assertion.

49
 READING ARTICLE
“A Prologue to the Future”
Humanity will change more in the next 20 years than in the previous 300 years.

Human beings have a habit of extrapolating the future from the present, or even the past. The
assumption is that whatever worked well for us up to now should, in some slightly improved shape or
form, also serve us nicely in the future. Yet the new reality is that, because of the increased impact of
exponential and combinatorial technological changes, the future is actually very unlikely to be an
extension of the present. Rather, it is certain to be utterly different—because the assumption framework
and the underlying logic have changed. Therefore, in my work as a futurist I try to intuit, imagine, and
immerse myself in the near future (five to eight years out), present views from that world, and then work
my way back to the present from there rather than towards it. Starting with a report from that near future,
this book goes on to explore the challenges and lay out a manifesto, a passionate call to stop and think
before we all get swept up in the magic vortex of technology, and eventually become fundamentally less
rather than more human.

This is a good time to remember that the future does not just happen to us—it is created by us,
every day, and we will be held responsible for the decisions we make at this very moment A historic
inflection point I feel that we are living in one of the most exciting times in the history of mankind, and I
am generally very optimistic about the future. However, we definitely need to define and practice a more
holistic approach to technology governance in order to safeguard the very essence of what being human
means. We are at the inflection point of an exponential curve in many fields of science and technology
(S&T), a point where the doubling from each measurement period to the next is becoming vastly more
significant.

At the heart of the story of exponential change lies Moore’s Law—a concept which originated in
the 1970s, and which, simply put, suggests that the processing speed (i.e. the amount of computer
processing power on a chip) that we can buy for US$1,000 doubles roughly every 18–24 months.

This exponential pace of development is now evident in fields as diverse as deep learning,
genetics, material sciences, and manufacturing. The time required for each exponential performance step
is also declining in many fields, and this is driving the potential for fundamental change across every

50
activity on the planet. In practical terms, we are now past the stage in the life of the curve where it was
difficult to gauge that something is happening at all, i.e. we are no longer moving in small steps from 0.01
to 0.02 or 0.04 to 0.08. At the same time, fortunately, we are not yet at the point where those doublings
are so great that the results will overwhelm our understanding and inhibit our capacity to act. To put
things in perspective, in my view we are at a relative performance level of around four in most fields, and
the next exponential step will take us to eight, rather than a more linear rise to five! This is the very
moment when exponential increases are starting to really matter, and technology is now driving
exponential changes in every sector of our society, from energy, transportation, communications, and
media, to medicine, health, food, and energy. Witness the recent changes in the car industry—during the
past seven years we’ve gone from electric cars with a range of less than 50 miles to the latest Tesla and
BMWi8 promising over 300 miles on a single charge.

We’ve also gone from a handful of charging locations to the astounding fact that New York City
already has more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations than gas stations. Nearly every month there’s a
new breakthrough in battery efficiency, a limitation which has for the past decades been one of the
biggest barriers to mass adoption of EVs. Soon we’ll charge our EVs just once a week, then once a month,
and eventually maybe just once a year—and then it seems likely that very few people will still be
interested in huge luxury cars with good old gas engines! Witness the even more dramatic cost decline in
human genome sequencing, with the price falling from around US$10 million in 2008 to approximately
US$800 today. Imagine what might happen when exponentially more powerful supercomputers move
into the cloud and become available to every medical facility or lab: The cost of sequencing an individual’s
genome should quickly drop below US$50.

Next, imagine the genome profiles of some two billion people uploaded to a secure cloud
(hopefully in an anonymized way!) for use in research, development, and analysis—much of it performed
by artificial intelligence (AI) running on those very same supercomputers. The scientific possibilities that
will be unleashed will blow away anything we have dreamed of, while simultaneously bringing enormous
ethical challenges: dramatic longevity increases for those that have the budget, the ability to reprogram
the human genome, and—potentially—the end of aging, or even dying. Will the rich live forever while the
poor still can’t even afford malaria pills? Such exponential developments suggest that continuing to
imagine our future in a linear way will probably lead to catastrophically flawed assumptions about the
scale, speed, and potential impacts of change. That may be part of the reason why so many people cannot

51
seem to grasp the growing concerns about technology trumping humanity— it all seems so far away, and,
for now, rather harmless because we are only at four on this curve. Issues such as the increasing loss of
privacy, technological unemployment, or human deskilling are still not in-our-faces enough—but this is
bound to change very quickly. It is also important to realize that the biggest shifts will happen because of
combinatorial innovation, i.e. by the simultaneous exploitation of several Megashifts and elements of
disruption. For example, we’ll discuss how we are increasingly seeing companies combining big data and
the Internet of Things (IoT) along with AI, mobility, and the cloud to create extremely disruptive new
offerings. Suffice to say that nothing and no one will be untouched by the changes in store for us, whether
they are realized with good will, while ignoring or neglecting to consider the unintended consequences,
or with harmful intent. On the one hand, unimaginable technological breakthroughs may dramatically
improve our lives and hugely further human flourishing, on the other, some of these exponential
technological changes are likely to threaten the very fabric of society and ultimately challenge our very
humanness.
In 1993, computer scientist and famed science fiction author Vernor Vinge wrote: Within 30
years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human
era will be ended. Is such progress avoidable? If not to be avoided, can events be guided so that we may
survive?

52
ACTIVITY
Read and write a reflection.

53
 CHAPTER 6

CORONAVIRUS IMPACT TO THE PHILIPPINES

When did coronavirus reach the Philippines?

The first case of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, now COVID-19) in the Philippines was
confirmed on 30 January 2020, in a 38-year old woman who arrived from Wuhan. Two days later,
the Philippines recorded the first death outside China on 01 February 2020.

The Philippines government declared a health emergency on 09 March, following a spike

in new confirmed cases and local transmission. The move will release funds to local governments
and healthcare officials to handle any further surge in cases. The COVID-19 Code Alert system
was revised upwards to Red Sublevel 2 on 12 March.

Face masks shortage – importing from India and Thailand

The Philippines witnessed a surge in demand for face masks as fears over the coronavirus
infection increased, despite assurance from the government that there is no need to wear face
masks yet.

The government reiterated that healthcare workers and patients with symptoms of the
disease should be given priority for masks.

The Philippines International Trading Corporation (PITC), meanwhile, identified two face
mask suppliers from India and Thailand to meet the demand for face masks.

The suppliers are expected to take more than 30 days to supply the masks. The India-
based supplier is expected to supply one million units, while the exact number of face masks that
the Thailand-based supplier can supply is yet to be determined. The masks will be imported either
by the DoH or the PITC.

54
Snapshot: Philippines Economy and Trade

Metric Value

Population 106.65 million (2018)

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) $330.9bn (2018)

Trade in Services 19.7%

Trade Balance Deficit ($3.3bn)

Biggest Importer China (22.9% in November 2019)

Impact on the economy

• Philippines witnessed a slower economic growth in the first half of 2019, compared to
2018. The country saw a sustained economic growth of 6.3% between 2010 and 2018,
while the growth slowed down to 5.5% in H2 2019. The World Bank estimates Philippines
to witness full-year 2019 economic growth of 5.8%.
• The ongoing coronavirus impact is expected to result in a subdued growth for the
economy in 2020.
• China is Philippines’ top trading partner accounting for 18.8% of total trade, according to
the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). In November 2019, 22.9% of Philippines’ exports
were to China, the biggest importer for the country.
• Philippines imports account for approximately 20% of goods from China followed by
Korea and Japan at 10% each.
• The Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP) noted that the coronavirus outbreak could have
a major impact on Philippine economy over the next few months.

55
 • Ruben Carlo Asuncion, chief economist for Union Bank of the Philippines, noted that the
coronavirus outbreak could cost the Philippine economy $600m or 0.8% of economic
growth if it lasts for six months, as quoted by CNN Philippines.

Impact on tourism

• Tourism industry is a major contributor, accounting for 12.7% of the Philippine economy
in 2018, according to data from the Philippines Statistics Authority. More than seven
million foreign tourists visited the country during the first ten months of 2019.
• Chinese tourists account for majority of Philippines’ tourist population. During the first
ten months of 2019, a total of 1.49 million Chinese tourists visited the Philippines,
according to the Department of Tourism (DOT). Philippine tourism officials expected to
attract four million Chinese tourists by 2022, before the outbreak happened.
• The tourism industry, however, is expected to witness a major impact as the country
closed its borders with China and other countries due to the coronavirus infection,
Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez noted.
• Dominguez added that the exact economic impact of the outbreak is too early to be
estimated but remained optimistic that the country can sustain its economic growth.

Impact on businesses

• Airline operators have impacted by the coronavirus due to grounding of flights. They have
requested the government to provide assistance in the form of handouts, emergency
credit lines and the exemption from navigation and airport fees.
• Mining operations of two mining companies in the Surigao del Norte province, which is
home to majority of the country’s nickel mines, will be suspended from 01 April 1 to
prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

56
• The Philippines is an alternative source of nickel for China, which sources the ore from
Indonesia. Following the ban of export of unprocessed ore imposed by Indonesia, the
Philippines serves as the main supplier.
• The two mining companies, Nickel Asia Corp and Global Ferronickel Holdings, account for
majority of the country’s nickel ore output. The suspension is expected to impact the
scheduled ore shipments of the companies.

57
QUESTION FOR REFLECTION
1. In your opinion, what are the impact of covid19 in your own lives?

58
2. Watch the movie OUTBREAK and write a reflection paper.

59
 READING ARTICLE
Solidarity and sharing in an unequal society: Covid-19 in the Philippines

As I struggle to finish this piece on April 17, 2020 the Philippines has so far recorded 5,660
Covid-19 positive cases, 362 deaths, and 435 recoveries, topping the volume of positive cases
amongst other Southeast Asian Countries over Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. It has been a
month since March 15, the start of the lockdown in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon to contain
the spread of the virus. A month earlier, on February 13, at the University of the Philippines
Diliman where I teach, classes were suspended and employees were advised to stay home.

While professors and staff transcended the technical challenges of online meeting
platforms, attempts at online classes were saddled by lack of access to stable internet connection
by many. Our students protested the resumption of classes via online platforms, stating the
inequality of internet access for different students will only advance the education to some but
not to others, a persistent inequality among the profound socioeconomic inequalities in
Philippine society. Moreover, students argued they were not in the “right headspace” at a time
of anxiety and uncertainty. Little do they know that their professors also struggle to finish half-
done research writing or attend online faculty meetings. Urging the university to devote its
resources and energies to help end the pandemic instead of reaching for its academic targets as
if it’s business as usual, the students demanded to end the semester and mass promote students
with a grade of “pass” for all.

How has Covid19 affected the life of Filipinos? Slowly and significantly. The first case came
from one of the approximately 8.2 million tourists who come to enjoy the warmth of our tropical
islands, many of which depend much on the tourism industry. News and social media outlets
reported that tourists from China flew into the country in late January despite concerns about
the coronavirus outbreak. The number of positive cases were few and far between in February,
but rapidly rose by March. Filipino migrant workers from abroad and middleclass families coming
from vacation were quarantined. Meanwhile travel permits of government workers such as

60
myself were revoked as the University mourned the death of a professor, an expert on Chinese
studies who died from complications of the coronavirus, which she was believed to have
contracted iwhen she attended a conference in Paris.

The start of the enhanced community quarantine in the Luzon group of islands, home 57
million out of the 109 million nationwide population, signaled the beginning of the catastrophic
impact of the pandemic on Philippine economy. A large number of workers were placed in a no
work-no pay arrangement as businesses went on a forced hiatus. In the huge campus of the state
university where I work, the more than 400 construction workers under various contractors have
been stranded and continue to experience hunger, even to the point of scavenging for food in the
natural resources of the campus. Maintenance workers were left to fend for themselves as their
agencies contracted by the university wait for an assurance of collection before the release the
workers’ salaries. This This wait-and-see approach within the bureaucracy spelled days of hunger
for these precariats. Thankfully, donations quickly trickled into the fund set up by my home
college, but difficulties in finding ways to hand them cash donations started to appear. We
realized that most janitors and guards have already pawned their ATM cards. Who pawns ATM
cards with their personal identification numbers revealed? Apparently, many people, and the
practice is a common among the poor even before the pandemic.

Government response and people’s frustrations

As the numbers steadily climbed, Rodrigo Duterte, the popular strongman president of
the Philippines backpedaled on his earlier statement for Filipinos “not to be afraid of the virus,”
underestimating its virulence. His trademark of long, off-script speeches began with assurances
such as “I have money” to address the needs of the people in surviving the pandemic to “the
funds are not enough, I may need to sell government assets.” After having been granted
emergency powers by the Philippine Congress, apprehensions were raised on the possibility of
the president and his cronies abusing this authority by, for example, taking over corporations
construed to be antipathetic to the current administration. Consistent with his aggressive anti-

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crime stance, Duterte instructed the police and army personnel to “shoot them dead” persons
who would sow disorder during the enhanced community quarantine.

The voice of the hungry became louder than the voice of those afraid of the disease

The government soon rolled out for the poorest 18 million Filipino households the Social
Amelioration Program, a cash assistance program of approximately US$100 to $160, or one to
two weeks’ worth of minimum wage. As the national policy to combat the pandemic fell into
place, expectations ran high on the implementers of the program on the ground: local
government units (LGUs) of cities and municipalities. LGUs tapped into their reserve funds to
provide households with relief goods (mostly food consisting of rice and canned goods) and
mobilized disinfection efforts.
Immediate complaints by local government units arrived as demands from the actual
number of households needing aid exceeded the available funds. Barangay (village) heads
complained, “Our positions have made executioners out of us, as if we get to say who gets to
live and who dies in distributing the aid.” Procedural verifications and monitoring in anticipation
of auditing procedures caused delays in distribution, with critics arguing that the urgency of the
crisis should override the finetuning of administrative processes. The delays turned into the
quick realization that the national budget could not cover the people’s needs amidst public
demand to expand the coverage to the poor beyond the 4Ps program.
The voice of the hungry became louder than the voice of those afraid of the disease not
only in Metro Manila. “Mamamatay kami, hindi sa sa virus kundi sa gutom (We will die not from
the virus but of hunger),” my mother quoted the poor citizens’ pronouncements in Capiz, my
home province in the Visayas region, when I called in to check on them. The growing
dissatisfaction over economic relief efforts caused Duterte to backtrack on his claim of an
abundance of funds. In fact, he declared in another speech that he is willing to sell government
assets to fund measures against the pandemic, if needed. The public anxieties escalated with
the increasing number of positive cases. Frustrations heightened over the privileging of VIP
access to while hundreds of those actually dying of the virus only received their tests post-

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mortem. Criticisms recalled earlier questions of budget allocation such as the slashing of
calamity funds for the incoming year, the increased budget for Duterte’s confidential and
intelligence funds, and even the superfluous ceremonial installations in hosting the 2019
Southeast Asian Games. In late March, #OustDuterte trended on social media, to which Duterte
responded that only the military and the police can, in fact, take him out of power.

ACTIVITY
Read and reflect.

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 CHAPTER 7

HUMAN FLOURISHING AS REFLECTED IN PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT

How do we know that we are progressing? What are the indicators of development? More often
than not, development is equated with growth and greater consumption.

Jason Hickel
➢ an anthropologist at the London School of Economics, challenges us to rethink and
reflect on a different paradigm of “de-development.”
➢ Forget ‘developing’ poor countries, it’s time to ‘de-develop rich countries

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

Jason Hickel

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’s 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 some 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.
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Instead of pushing poor countries to 'catch up' with rich ones, we should be getting rich
countries to 'catch down'

Right now, our planet only has enough resources for each of us to consume 1.8 “global
hectares” annually – a standardised 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.

'Those sitting on wealth and power aren't going to stand aside and do the right thing'

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

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mere fraction of this income. Cuba has a comparable life expectancy to the US and one of the
highest literacy rates in the world with GDP per capita of 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 well-being in addition to life expectancy, a number of
low- and middle-income countries rank highly. Costa Rica manages 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 their
excesses.

70% of people in middle- and high-income countries believe overconsumption is putting our
planet and society at risk

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 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 own 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,

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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 organising 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 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 19th 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.

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 READING ARTICLE

Technology and humanity are converging, and we are at a pivot point

Three important words rose to the top and stood out—exponential, combinatorial, and recursive.

1. Exponential. Technology is progressing exponentially. Even though the basic laws of

physics may prevent microchips from becoming significantly smaller than they already are today,
technological progress in general is still following Moore’s Law.13 The performance curve
continues to rise exponentially, rather than in the gradual or linear way humans tend to
understand and expect. This represents a huge cognitive challenge for us: Technology grows
exponentially, while humans (hopefully, I would add) remain linear.

2. Combinatorial. Technological advances are being combined and integrated. Game-

changing advances such as machine intelligence and deep learning, the IoT, and human genome
editing are beginning to intersect and amplify each other. They are no longer applied just in
specific individual domains—instead they are causing ripples across a multitude of sectors. For
example, advanced human gene editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9 may eventually allow
us to beat cancer and dramatically increase longevity. These are developments that would upend
the entire logic of healthcare, social security, work, and even capitalism itself.

3. Recursive. Technologies such as AI, cognitive computing, and deep learning may
eventually lead to recursive (i.e. selfamplifying) improvements. For example, we are already
seeing the first examples of robots that can reprogram or upgrade themselves or control the
power grid that keeps them alive, potentially leading to what has been called an intelligence
explosion. Some, such as Oxford academic Nick Bostrom, believe this could lead to the
emergence of super-intelligence—AI systems which could one day learn faster and out-think
humans in almost every regard.15 If we can engineer AIs with an IQ of 500, what would keep us
from building others with an IQ of 50,000—and what could happen if we did?

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 Thankfully, recursive super-intelligence is not yet on the immediate horizon. However,
even without such challenges, we are already grappling with some rapidly escalating issues, such
as the constant tracking of our digital lives, surveillance-by-default, diminishing privacy, the loss
of anonymity, digital identity theft, data security, and much more. That is why I am convinced
the groundwork for the future of humanity—positive or dystopian—is being laid here, today. We
are at a crucial junction, and we must act with much greater foresight, with a decidedly more
holistic view, and with much stronger stewardship as we unleash technologies that could end up
having infinitely more power over us than we could ever imagine. We can no longer adopt a wait-
and-see attitude if we want to remain in control of our destiny and the developments that could
shape it. Rather, we must pay equally as much attention to what it will mean to be or remain
human in the future (i.e. what defines us as humans) as we spend on developing infinitely more
powerful technologies that will change humanity forever. We should take great care to not just
leave these decisions to “free markets,” to venture capitalists, corporate technologists, or the
world’s most powerful military organizations. The future of humanity should not be about some
generic, Industrial Age paradigm of profit and growth at all costs, or some outmoded
technological imperative 8 that may have served us well in the 1980s. Neither Silicon Valley nor
the world’s most technologized nations should end up becoming “mission control for humanity”
just because technology generates vast new revenue streams and large profits. Thankfully, I
believe we are still at a 90/10 point right now: 90% of the amazing possibilities presented by
technology could play out well for humanity, while 10% might already be troublesome or
negative. If we can maintain that balance, or bring it up to 98/2, that would be worth every effort.
At the same time, that troubling 10% (even if mostly unintended at this time) may quickly balloon
to 50% or more if we do not agree on exactly how we want these technologies to serve humanity.
This is clearly not a good time to just “push ahead and see what happens.”

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Read and write a reflection paper

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REFERENCES:

• Science, Technology and Society by Daniel Joseph McNamara, SJ

• https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/features/coronavirus-affected-countries-
philippines-measures-impact-tourism-economy/
• https://discoveringegypt.com/ancient-egyptian-inventions/
• https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/her/evolution-and-natural-selection/a/darwin-
evolution-natural-selection
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/
• https://interestingengineering.com/27-inventions-of-the-industrial-revolution-that-changed-
the-world
• https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html
• https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=darwin%27s+theory+of+natural+selection&source
• https://www.slideshare.net/vipulFACE/theory-of-evolution-of-natural-selection-by-darwin
• https://www.scribd.com/presentation/434881673/5-Human-Flourishing-as-Reflected-in-
Progress-and-Development-2
• https://www.scribd.com/document/425182699/Human-Flourishing-Written-Report

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