Name: John Fredrick E.

Avellana
BSA 2A

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Concept #1:
Many economists have recently questioned whether technological advancement can
continue to drive the economy forward despite slowing population growth and increased
dependency ratios (Gordon 2016). The low-hanging fruit has already largely been picked,
according to the experts, hence making further progress will become harder (Bloom and
others 2017). Much of the 17th-century scientific revolution was made possible by better
instruments and tools, as exemplified by Galileo's telescope and Hooke's microscope. The
technology consists in part in helping us overcome the limitations that evolution has placed
on us and learn about natural phenomena we were not meant to see or hear—what Derek
Price (1984) has called "artificial revelation." The technologies at researchers' disposal also
had a role in the advancement of science in the contemporary era. The germ theory was
discovered, perhaps one of the greatest medical discoveries of all time, thanks to enhanced
microscopy and lab procedures. The number of instances that show the impact of better tools
and scientific methods expanded in the 20th century. X-ray crystallography is one of the
greatest heroes in modern science. The method has proved crucial in figuring out the
composition and use of numerous biological substances, including proteins, medicines, and
vitamins. The discovery of the DNA molecule's structure was undoubtedly its most well-
known use, although 29 other Nobel Prize-winning studies also relied on it.

Concept #2:
The 21st century will be the century of biology, according to Freeman Dyson, who also
noted that if the 20th century was the century of physics. Recent advances in genetics and
molecular biology suggest fundamental changes in humans' capacity to control other living
things. Among them, the one that stands out is the decrease in the price of genome
sequencing, which has decreased from $95 million per genome in 2001 to roughly $1,250 in
2015. This pace of decrease makes Moore's Law appear sluggish by contrast. Thanks to
recent advancements in CRISPR Cas9 methods, the method to modify a base pair in a
genomic sequence is particularly promising. The other is synthetic biology, which enables the
production of organic products without the use of living creatures as intermediaries. Even
while the concept of producing proteins without using cells has been around for
approximately ten years, it has only recently come to light in all of its glory.
Concept #3:
Modern society and science have a complicated relationship. Alvin Weinberg specifically
created the term "trans-science" for inquiries that science is capable of answering but does
not. The problem of climate change is one such. How to democratically advance
conversations and decide on the future course of society is a significant challenge in sectors
where political decisions are influenced by economics, science, and other elements in addition
to science. These issues have been explored in the humanities and sociology in relation to
the theory of the science and technology society, and the political philosopher Hannah Arendt
and philosopher Jürgen Habermas have added to the conversation. It is necessary for
scientists to provide explicit explanations for improved social decisions in order to facilitate
access to this dialogue. There was a time when scientists pushed for more answers. The
unilateral dissemination of knowledge from scientists to society was stressed around the
world, including the United Kingdom, until the 1980s in response to the growing interest in
ecology and the backlash against science and technology in the 1970s. But beginning with
the controversy surrounding BSE in the UK in the middle of the 1990s, people began to see
that a complex society with all of its associated problems could not be trusted with the one-
sided knowledge provided by scientists. A new activity and academic discipline known as
"scientific communication" evolved as a result of the new perspective that "interactive
communication" between science and society is crucial for fostering trust between science
and society. How these concepts are applied to policies and how they affect society as a
whole are currently receiving a lot of attention.

Inventions and Discovery #1:

In the 1980s, laser technology was already being used for cooling micro samples to
extremely low temperatures, leading to significant advances in physics. Laser technology is
an equally revolutionary scientific tool; when the first lasers were developed, it was said that
its inventors thought it was a technique "in search of an application." The use of lasers in
science nowadays has a stunning scope. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, an
incredibly useful instrument utilized in a variety of sectors that call for a fast chemical
investigation at the atomic level without sample preparation, is one of its most significant
uses. Lidar (light radar), a laser-based surveying technique, has recently assisted in radically
raising our estimates of the size and sophistication of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in
Guatemala. It produces incredibly precise three-dimensional images that are used in geology,
seismology, remote sensing, and atmospheric physics. However, lasers can also be used
mechanically to ablate (remove) materials so that they can be examined. There are no
constraints for sample size or sample preparation when using laser ablation; any kind of solid
sample can be ablated for analysis. Additionally, one of the most coveted discoveries in
contemporary physics—the gravitational waves Einstein predicted—has been found using
laser interferometers.
Inventions and Discovery #2:
Fast computing (which includes almost unlimited data storage and search algorithms)
and laser technology are two potent scientific tools that have only recently been accessible
and that completely break with the past. Of course, both have countless direct uses in the
manufacture of items for both consumption and investment. Large-scale database analysis
and conventional statistical analysis are only a small part of how computers have changed
science; a new era of data science has begun in which models are supplanted by potent
mega-data-crunching machines. Machine-learning algorithms are used by powerful computers
to find patterns that human minds could never have imagined. Instead of using models,
powerful computers find regularities and connections even when they are "so twisty that the
human brain can neither recall nor predict them" (Weinberger 2017, 12).

Computers can do more than just crunch numbers; they can also simulate, and by
doing so, they can approximatively solve bafflingly difficult equations, enabling researchers to
study previously poorly understood physiological and physical processes, design new
materials, and simulate mathematical models of natural processes that have thus far resisted
attempts at closed-form solutions. These simulations have given rise to brand-new
"computational" disciplines of study where simulation and big data processing are very
complimentary in difficult regions. Some scientists have long wished for such a tool, but it has
only been possible in the last ten years at a scale that will unavoidably alter our technological
capabilities, which will affect productivity and, therefore, economic welfare. Computational
power in several of these fields may increase significantly with the introduction of quantum
computing. Likewise, even if there is still a lot of worry that artificial intelligence will displace
educated knowledge workers as well as routine occupations, it may end up being the world's
finest research assistant even if it never becomes the best researcher (Economist 2016, 14).

Inventions and Discovery #3:

For a very long time, people have been obsessed with losing themselves in an
imaginative world. Finally, with the aid of virtual reality goggles, computer processors are
capable of creating this environment for people. Virtual reality headsets are being produced
by all the major electronics companies, and they are gradually becoming more accessible to
consumers. Even more frequently, augmented reality is employed. Pokemon Go and
Snapchat, which add virtual overlays to real-world things, come to mind as just two examples
and have become hugely popular over the past 10 years. In the fields of education,
healthcare, travel, and entertainment, both systems are in use. Anyone can clearly see in
virtual reality how a software solution creates an artificial environment that is dominated by
sight and sound. The user's experience of virtual reality is presented to them in a way that
makes them see it as real. A nice illustration of virtual reality is the computer-based
exploration of 3D pictures using voice and movement alterations. In the fields of education
and training, it is also utilized to replicate a real-world setting. VR also has a significant
impact on game scenarios. The value of augmented reality, on the other hand, has been
demonstrated in virtually every industry sector as well as in our daily lives. AR transfers
components from the virtual world to the physical one. The fact is that mixed reality has a lot
to offer, including efficient processing power capabilities and image/visual recognition skills.
Aside from mobile devices, gaming smartphones with cameras, and mixed reality, these
technologies dominated every industry sector. Additionally, it has altered and is now
advancing human and computer communication to a new and higher level.