Module 2- SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

LEARNING functioning. Human

OBJECTIVES flourishing on the other side
focus on the effort to achieve
At the end of this lesson, you should self-
be able to:
1. Discuss human flourishing in
Science and Technology.
2. Explain De-development as a
progress and development actualization and fulfilment
framework. within the context of a larger
3. Differentiate between traditional community of individuals,
framework of progress and each with a right to pursue his
development and Hickel’s concept of or her own such efforts.
de-development.
TOPIC
Human flourishing

OUTLINE involves the rational use of

Lesson: 2 Human Flourishing in
Progress and De-development
OVERVIEW
This lesson tackles human
flourishing in science and technology
and the rise of global consumption
based on Jason Hickel’s de-
development framework.
Flourishing is a state
where people experience
positive emotions, positive
psychological functioning and
positive social functioning,
most of the time living within
an optimal range of human
one’s individual hum
potentialities, including
talents, abilities and virtues in
the pursuit of his freely and
rationally chosen values and
goals. Humans are considered
as both the bearer and
beneficiary of science and
technology. When we say
bearer – a person or thing that
carries or hold something.
Human flourishes and finds
meaning in the world that
he/she builds. He may
unconsciously acquire,
consume or destroy what the
world has to offer.
Module 2- SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

Please examine the picture Should middle and

and answer few questions high-income countries regulate their

below. growth and consumption? Why
__________________________________
____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

Recent researches found that

around 60’s and 70’s
overconsumption was already
witnessed in those middle and high
income generating countries. These
efforts have placed the planet into
risk.
scmp.com

Throughout the 1950’s and

1. Tell something you early 1960’s there was an increased
observe in the in factory production and economic
picture?____________ prosperity in the United States
___________________ contributed to a major rise in the
___________________ consumer culture dominated also by
___________________ recognizable product brands and
icons in advertising via mass media.
___________________
You are tasked to watch this video
2. How do you think
clip of Coca Cola art
overconsumption
https://tinyurl.com/y3k3fadg
puts the planet and
society at
risk?_______________ According to
___________________ BBC Health News,
___________________ 2019 Meat
___________________ production today is
3. What are the nearly five times
manifestations of higher than the early 1960’s-
society’s tendency to from 70 million tonnes to
overproduce and more than 330 million tonnes
overconsume?______ in 2017. One of the biggest
___________________ reason for this there are
__________________
Module 2- SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION
many more people to feed.
The world population over
the period of years double
and even tripled. Another key
factor in this consumption
issue is the rise of incomes;
people have become richer
showing tripling global
average in their income in
half of the century. When we
compare consumption across
different countries we see
that, typically, the richer we
are the more meat we eat.
Therefore, there is a gap
between the rich and the poor
countries according to
Organization for Economic
Cooperation and
Development (OECD).
Should we help the world’s
poor? The United Nation cited its
goals of reducing the poverty and
inequality by 2015 may not be met.
The aid is making the majority of the
poor in developing countries poorer it
is the fault of the rich countries that
the poor countries become poorer.
In the context of
unprecedented scientific and
technological advancement and
economic development human are
seen flourishing in those developed
countries however such flourishing
led to overconsumption of resources
in the planet. The use of advance
scientific and technological
knowledge supports the growing
consumerism culture of the people to
crave and to use more of these
resources for their enjoyment and
satisfaction.
The succeeding paragraph is the
article of Jason Hickel, an
anthropologist at the London School
of Economics. He criticizes the
failure of growth and development
efforts to eradicate poverty seven
decades ago.
Last year, heads of state
gathered in New York to sign the UN’s
new sustainable development goals
(SDGs). The main objective of the
SDGs is to eradicate poverty by 2030.
Beyoncé, One Direction, Malala and
many other
celebrities were
contracted for the
publicity campaign,
which was billed as
the largest in the
world. When the SDGs were launched,
it was staged as a monumental
international celebration. Given all
the fanfare, one might think the SDGs
must offer a fresh plan for how to save
the world, but beneath all the hype,
it’s business as usual.
The main strategy for eradicating
poverty is the same as it has
Module 2- SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION
always been: GDP 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.
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
consumes about 8 hectares per person,
while Europeans consume 4.7 hectares
– many times their fair share. What
does this mean for our theory of
development? Economist Peter
Edward argues that instead of
pushing poorer countries to “catch up”
with rich ones, we should be thinking
of ways to get rich countries to “catch
down” to more appropriate levels of
development. We should look at
societies where people live long and
happy lives at relatively low levels of
income and consumption not as basket
cases that need to be developed
towards Western models, but as
exemplars of efficient living.
How much do we really need in order
to live long and happy lives? In the
US, life expectancy is 79 years and
GDP per capita is $53,000. But many
countries have achieved similar life
expectancy with a mere fraction of this
income. Cuba has a comparable 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
Module 2- SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

see in the rich world yields accurate but off-putting for anyone
improvements in quality of life that who’s not already on board. Such
are not captured by life expectancy, or terms are repulsive because they run
even literacy rates. But even if we look against the deepest frames we use to
at measures of overall happiness and think about human progress, and,
well-being in addition to life indeed, the purpose of life itself. It’s
expectancy, a number of low- and like asking people to stop moving
middle-income countries rank highly. positively thorough life, to stop
Costa Rica manages to sustain one of learning, improving, growing.
the highest happiness indicators and Negative formulations won’t get us
life expectancies in the world with a anywhere.
per capita income one-fourth that of The idea of “steady-state”
the US. In light of this, perhaps we
economics is a step in the right
should regard such countries not as
direction and is growing in popularity,
underdeveloped, but rather as
but it still doesn’t get the framing
appropriately developed. And maybe
right. We need to reorient ourselves
we need to start calling on rich
toward a positive future, a truer form
countries to justify their excesses. The
of progress. One that is geared toward
idea of “de-developing” rich countries
quality instead of quantity. One that
might prove to be a strong rallying cry
is more sophisticated than just
in the Global South, but it will be
accumulating ever-increasing amounts
tricky to sell to Westerners. Tricky,
of stuff, which doesn’t make anyone
but not impossible. According to recent
happier anyway. What is certain is
consumer research, 70% of people in
that GDP as a measure is not going to
middle- and high-income countries
get us there and we need to get rid of
believe overconsumption is putting our
it. Perhaps we might take a cue from
planet and society at risk. A similar
Latin Americans, who are organising
majority also believe we should strive
alternative visions around the
to buy and own less, and that doing so
indigenous concept of buen vivir, or
would not compromise our happiness.
good living. The West has its own
People sense there is something wrong
tradition of reflection on the good life,
with the dominant model of economic
and it’s time we revived it. Robert and
progress and they are hungry for an
Edward Skidelsky take us down this
alternative narrative. The problem is
road in their book How Much is
that the pundits promoting this kind
enough?, where they lay out the
of transition are using the wrong
possibility of interventions such as
language. They use terms such as de-
banning advertising, a shorter
growth, zero growth or – worst of all –
working week, and a basic income, all
de-development, which are technically
Module 2- SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION
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 – at least not anything that’s
actually important. 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.
Source: Pls click http://voices.uni-
koeln.de/2016-1/forgetdeveloppoorcountries
EARNING
ACTIVITY 1
Reading Comprehension
Task
Direction: After reading Jason
Hickel’s article on the concept of De-
development, answer the following
questions in two to three sentences.
1. What do you mean by De-
development?
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
2. According to Jason Hickel what is
de-development of rich countries
is all about?
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
3. What are the two indicators of the
quality of life given in the article
of Jason Hickel?
_______________________________
______________________________
_______________________________
______________________________
4. What do you mean by
overconsumption is putting our
planet and society at risk?
_______________________________
______________________________
_______________________________
______________________________
Module 2- SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

5. According to Jason Hickel our My Personal Consumption Audit

addiction to economic growth is Product/Food Ave./Daily/weekly/ How Impact of
monthly much this de-
killing us what does this mean? Amount consumed can I developing
reduce on my
/do everyday
_______________________________ away life.
______________________________ with
Example: 1 grams daily 3x a By
_______________________________ High week minimizing
______________________________ Carbohydrate eating
food - chocolates,
Chocolate I can still
eat other
LEARNING foods that
ACTIVITY 2 are
nutritious
such as
My Personal Consumption Audit vegetable
and fruits.
Direction: People believe that the 1.
more they are able to purchase and
2.
spend on many things, the more
developed and progressive their lives
3.
are. In Jason Hickel’s article he
emphasized that huge consumption 4.
does not equate to long and happy
lives. Below you are tasked to 5.
accomplish this personal
consumption audit and see if you can
possibly reduce or minimize without
sacrificing, or even improving the
quality of your daily life.
Module 2- SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

LEARNING Growth is the standard response to

ACTIVITY 3
Times for DE growth: To save the
planet, we must shrink our
economy.
Protecting our planet starts with you.
Suggest simple ways you can do to help
protect the planet.
poverty. According to Jason Hickel
"Forget 'developing' poor countries, it's
time to 'de-develop' rich countries."
This means that instead of pushing
poor countries to catch up with rich
countries, there is a need to make the
rich countries catch down.

1._________________________________
2.________________________________
3.________________________________
4.________________________________
5.________________________________
6.________________________________
REFERENCES
Quinto et al., (2019). Science, Technology and
Society. C & E Publishing, Inc.
Patria et al., (2018). Science, Technology and
Society. Rexbookstore Inc.

Websites

https://www.khanacademy.org/humaniti
SUMMARY
es/art-1010/post-war-american-
art/popart/v/warhol-coca-cola
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hck
Technology has made possible WP75yk9g(Jason Hickel de-
what previously was impossible. development)
Every discovery, innovation, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MX
success contributes to our pool of P2E09dJQ ( Degrowth Explained)
human knowledge. Technology is a
human activity we excel as a result
of science.
There are major indicators of
development. One of these is the
Poverty Level per capita –GDP. The
main objective of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) is to
eradicate poverty by 2030.