General Concepts and Historical Developments This module introduces students to the study of Science, Technology. and Society (STS) beginning with general concepts and its historical development: It’ alson weavers the Scanned with CamScannerrelations, and science policy. Science comes from the Latin word scientia, meaning ‘knowledge. It refers to.asystematic: and. methodical activity: of building and organizing knowledge: about how. the universe’ behaves’ through observation, experimentation or both. According to the famous American science historian, John Heilbron (2003, p- vii), “Modern science is a discovery as well.as an invention. » Heilbron considered science as a discovery of regularity in nature, enough for natural phenomena to be described by principles and laws. He also explained that science required invention to devise techniques, abstractions, apparatuses, and organizations to describe these natural regularities and their law-like descriptions. + dae Technology, for its part, is the application of scientific knowledge, laws, and principles to produce services, materials, tools, and machines aimed at solving real-world problems. It comes from the. Greek ro word techne, meaning ‘art, skill, or cunning of hand.’ During a, public Q&A in December 2014, one member of the audience asked Mark Zuckerberg what his definition of a technological tool i is, and the CEO of Facebook responded: ' “What defines a technological oleae ‘historical! definition—is' something that ‘takes a human’s sensé 01 ability and:augments it and makes it more: powerful. So; ‘ :for:example, I wear contact lenses: or glasses; that jis: technology that ‘enharices'my' human : a of: vision » and makes it better.” »\:/ % Wolpert (2005) made an interesti parison betweeri acierice - and technology that is helpful in the study of their interaction with society. In his landmark paper, The Medawar Lecture 1998: Is Science Dangerous? Wolpert explained that reliable scientific knowledge has no Scanned with CamScanneral value. Itis meant simply to explain how ature ang the .d that the obligation of Scientists, besides Studying the serie is to explain the possible uses and @PPlication, nature of aa knowledge. Along this line, Wolpert Made it clear that ofsuch ene) same as technology. Scientists are not Fesponsible fo, * science is not of knowledge in technology. He further explained that the application of science is that it is not possible to predict Scientific the very nature how these discoveries may be applied. While Scientists discoveries Si for the reliable conduct of scientific inau; are responsi retation and dissemination, technological applicati pee gana by other sectors such as politics and Bovernance, religion, and business. With this distinction, one ea surmise the need religion, we of the various ways in which science and technology act a sete in society. This is a particularly timely.and relevant Gaels because of the advancements in science and, technology today, Nowadays, advancements in science and technology have become pervasive. They aré manifested in the activities that humans pursue and the tools they use every day. The beauty of this is that an advancement builds upon itself’ As such, humans today live more productive and more exciting lives than their Predecessors. With the it) things go it could be expected that this generations children, and the children of their children have the chance to lead even better lives moral or ethics universe work © the very same drugs that resistant strain of ‘gonorrhea as an drastically changed the way humans f © information; however, this tends Privacy at risk, Indeed, science and technology have minantly double-edged function. This is succinctly Fas tine of popul ad's (2006) book: em aN antibiotic. example. The Tise of social media » interac ‘ put people's y and shar ar American scientist, Carl Sagan, aR Ve Scanned with CamScannerFetoducton to Science, Technology, and Society [5 “We live in a society absolutely. dependent on science and technology and yet have cleverly arranged things s0 that almost no one understands science and technology. That's a clear prescription for disaster.” As problems in science and technology continue to rise and become more observable, the need to pay attention to their interactions with various aspects of human life, e.g., social, political, and economic, becomes ever more necessary. How the different aspects of society shape and influence the progression and further development of science and technology is the area of concern of a relatively new academic discipline called Science, Technology, and Society. Science, Technology, and Society (STS) is a relatively young field that combines previously independent and older disciplines, suchas the history of science, philosophy of science, and sociology of science. As an academic field, STS, according to Harvard University’s Kennedy School (2018), traces its roots from the:interwar period and the start of the Cold War. It was during this period when historians and, scientists found. interest inthe interconnections -of scientific knowledge, technological systems, ‘and society. The rise of STS as an academic field resulted from the.recognition that many schools today do not really prepare students to respond critically, reflectively, and proactively to the challenges posed by science and technology in the contemporary world, che In general, STS applies methods drawn from history, philosophy, and sociology: to study the nature of science ‘and technology:and ultimately judge their value and place:in society. Asan interdisciplinary field, the emergence of STS was a result of questions about science and technology's dynamic interaction with various aspects of society and was thus viewed as a socially embedded enterprise: Thus, as the Kennedy School effectively encapsulates, STS seeks to bridge the gap between two traditionally exclusive cultures—humanities (interpretive) and natural sciences (rational)—so that humans will be able to better confront the moral, ethical, and existential dilemmas brought by: ‘the velopments in'science and technology.” 3004 Reilly Centér for Science, Technology, and Vah of Notre Dame is responsible for listing the ten emerging Scanned with CamScanner| er Corot HS Zz 6) licy issues in science and t ethical dilemmas ee aa eee ao Below is the list fo ‘ re Helix ~ a digital app store designed to read genomes Z BlessU-2 and Pepper - first robot priest and monk ‘ ion-Sensing Facial Recognition =, @ Software bei, % Srioged to assess your reactions to’ anything 6. being ‘ ch ag shopping and playing games Ransomware ~ a way of holding data hostage through hac: Ghd reqbiting a raneom t Be paid igh hacking . Textalyzer ~ a device that analyzes wheth: his or her phone during an accident 6. Social Credit System — a system of Scoring citizens through their actions by placing them under constant surveillance (which China plays to adopt) 7. Google Clips — a hands-free camera that every moment effortlessly 8. Sentencing Software ~ a mysterious al; courts in'sentencing decisions 9. Friendbot ~ an app that stores the deceased's digital footprint 80 one can still “chat? with them»... 10. Citizen App ~ an app that notifies useis’ major events in a specific area Even though séveral items in the list ‘sound unfamiliar to many, it can be a useful springboard in the study of science and technology. ‘The list points to the evergrowing challenges, questions, and issues tat need to be address ed and resolved when scienice and technology and humanity intertwine. However, methods of critiquing these emerging ethical dilemmas may come. from similar methods used in previous critiques of science and technology issues. For example, one can use methods used in critiquing the tise of clinical trials of gene. therapy inthe 1990s. Today’s approach jin critiquing emerging science and \echnology issues, such as the ones listed above, may be influenced by how Scientists and non-scientists evaluated the positive and negative implications of clinical trials of gene therapy in the, 1990s. foo Purpose, one can continue to specifically draw from the tenets history, philosophy, and sociology in making informed and critical Judgments of the ethical i and moral values of these innovations it Science and technology, ms era driver Was using letsithe user capture gorithm designed to aid of ongoing crimes ot Scanned with CamScanner