WHEN TECHNOLOGY

AND HUMANITY CROSS

STS: MODULE 8
TOPIC: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND HUMAN DIGNITY
https://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr
_booklet_en_web.pdf
HUMAN RIGHTS
- are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human
behaviour and are regularly protected in municipal and international law.
- Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex,
nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights
include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom
of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many
more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.
(https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/human-rights/)
https://www.un.org/en/udhrbook/pdf/udhr
_booklet_en_web.pdf
S. Romi Mukherjee
-a senior lecturer in Political Theory and the History of
Religions at the Paris Institute of Political Studies
-explained this approach in his article “Linking science and
human rights: Facts and figures”.

https://justconservation.org/linking-science-and-human-rights-facts-and-
figures#:~:text=Romi%20Mukherjee%20outlines%20human%20rights,mean%20for%20policy%20and%20practice.&text=
A%20human%20rights%20perspective%20also,Rights%2C%20see%20box%201).
Mukherjee (2012) described a human rights-
based approach to science, technology, and
development as follows:

Seeks to place a concern for human rights at

the heart of how the international community
engages with urgent global challenges.
Mukherjee (2012) described a human rights-
based approach to science, technology, and
development as follows:

It puts the international human rights entitlements and

claims of the people (the ‘right-holders’) and the
corresponding obligations of the state (the ‘duty-
bearer’) in the center of the national development
debate, and

It clarifies the purpose of capacity development.

Documents that include or center around human rights-
based approach to science, development, and
technology, and their key principles:
1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 27)
2. UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers
— 1974 (article 4):
3. UNESCO Declaration on the Use of Scientific Knowledge —
1999 (article 33)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(article 27):
affirms everyone's right to participate in and
benefit from scientific advances, and be protected
from scientific misuses.
The right to the benefits of science comes under the
domain of 'culture', so is usually examined from a
cultural rights perspective.
UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of
Scientific Researchers — 1974 (article 4):
affirms that all advances in scientific and technological
knowledge should be solely geared towards securing well-
being for global citizens, and calls upon member states to
develop the necessary protocol and policies to monitor and
secure this objective.
Countries are asked to show that science and technology is
integrated into policies that aim to ensure a more humane
and just society.
UNESCO Declaration on the Use of
Scientific Knowledge — 1999 (article 33):
"Today, more than ever, science and its applications are
indispensable for development. All levels of government and the
private sector should provide enhanced support for building up an
adequate and evenly distributed scientific and technological capacity
through appropriate education and research programmes as an
indispensable foundation for economic, social, cultural and
environmentally sound development. This is particularly urgent for
developing countries.“
Other Instruments important for human rights-
based approaches to science, technology, and
development:
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)
Declaration on Social Progress and Development (1969)
Declaration on the Use of Scientific and Technological Progress in the Interests of Peace and for
the Benefit of Mankind (1975)
Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (2005)
The Declaration of Dakar (2007)
The Cairo Declaration (2006)
WHY THE FUTURE DOES
NOT NEED US
STS: MODULE 9
Artificial Intelligence
-the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are
programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.
The term may also be applied to any machine that exhibits
traits associated with a human mind such as learning and
problem-solving.
- Weak and Strong AI

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/artificial-intelligence-
ai.asp#:~:text=Artificial%20intelligence%20(AI)%20refers%20to,as%20learning%20and%20problem-solving.
Artificial intelligence can be divided into two
different categories: weak and strong.
Weak artificial intelligence embodies a system designed to carry
out one particular job.

Strong artificial intelligence systems are systems that carry on the

tasks considered to be human-like. These tend to be more complex
and complicated systems.
 According to Dylan Evans in his article “The ethical
dilemma of robots”, some countries are drawing
ethical codes and legislation regarding human abuse
to robots and vice versa.
Some of the ethical questions that are
relevant to this issue include:
1. What does it mean for humans to be replaced by machines?
2. Is the value of a human inversely proportional to that of a
machine exhibiting artificial intelligence?
3. How do we guard against mistakes committed by machines?
4. If a robot injures someone, is the designer to blame, or the user,
or the robot itself?
Some of the ethical questions that are
relevant to this issue include:
5. If robots can feel pain, should they be granted certain rights?
6. If robots develop emotions, as some experts think they will,
should they be allowed to marry humans?
7. Should robots be allowed to own property?
8. If we see machines as increasingly human-like, will we come to see
ourselves as more machine-like?
Human, Television Sets, Mobile Phones,
and Computers
These devices are used as platforms for advertisements,
propaganda, and advocacies for communication, for
information dissemination, as recreational activity and
stress reliever, and as way to bond with family members.
William Nelson Joy
Bill Joy
- an American computer
engineer
-He co-founded Sun
Microsystems in 1982
https://tinyurl.com/ybqtssjz
Why the future doesn’t need us. Our most powerful 21st-century technologies – robotics,
genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans an endangered species.