Contemporary Science and Technology:

Important Characteristics

Six Distinctive Characteristics of Scientific and Technology

Polymorphism Products Settings Resources Practitioners Salient Characteristics Trends

Characteristics of Contemporary Science and Technology

Polymorphism: unfolds in many forms Design of a particular technic by an independent inventor Quantitative analysis by an investigator to determine the best or an acceptable way of setting the parameters

 Scientific research into the structure and properties of natural or synthetic materials New kinds of practice continue to be added to the arsenal of contemporary technology Ex: Nuclear Medicine, nanotechnology, genetic engineering

Products of Contemporary Science and Technology Technology:

Complexity System- Embeddedness Production specialization and Incomprehensibility Formalized Technical procedures Sociotechnical Systems Analysis: Quantitative
examination of a particular system of interest to determine how it behaves under certain condition.

Science: Abstract and abstruse Theory-dependence Growth of Scientific Knowledge: 100fold every century Proof: 1665- 1; 1765-100;186510,000;1965-1,000,000; 100,000,0002065

System- Embeddedness
Embedded in complex sociotechnical support system. Depend for their manufacturer, use and maintenance.

Production specialization and Incomprehensibility

Pertains in their specialized character. Contemporary technics are incomprehensible to majority of their users, most often they have limited idea on how they made, work or repaired.

Formalized Technical Procedures

Technical programs that are devised for various purposes. Includes: DESIGN, PRODUCTION, OPERATION, and MAINTENANCE

Abstract and abstruse Involves the phenomena remote from everyday experience and sometimes involves concepts that are counterintuitive or unintelligible. Growth of Scientific Knowledge
Derek John de Solla Price

he formulated his theory on the exponential growth of science, an idea that occurred to him when he noticed the growth in thePhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society between 1665 and 1850

 In the 20th century: tremendous expansion and consolidation of the housing of scientific and technological activities in an extensive network of firmly established, substantial-sized formal organizations. Ex. 1980:
6, 700 university-related and other not-for-profit centers devoted to research and development in Canada and US.

Settings

In 1980:10,200 organizations in the US were active in doing research and development for industry , THE GREAT MAJORITY OWNED AND OPERATED BY PRIVATE CORPORATIONS.

 Laboratory is the characteristic setting of contemporary SCIENCE, while CONTEMPORARY TECHNOLOGICAL ACTIVITY takes place primarily in design offices, on shop floors, and in production, operations, and maintenance facilities.

 Institutionalization of 20th century Science and Technology Institutionalization: a process by which a social phenomenon gradually assumes well-established forms of organization and practice, eventually becoming recognized as part of societal culture.

Resources
Input resources: Materials, natural phenomena, and money Materials: The available stock of such inputs is unprecedentedly large and diverse Many are designer materials derived using scientific knowledge from fields like organic chemistry.

The process by which such material inputs are produced are themselves often based on scientific knowledge and the use of sophisticated instruments, techniques, and equipment. Many technological input materials are obtained from global marketplace

 Natural Phenomena: the domain of natural phenomena accessible to scientific exploration is constantly expanding due to the invention and development of new technics.

Money: Expensive technology, numerous highly salaried

workers, and heavy institutional overhead costs are prime contributors to the high price of much contemporary research.

 Transformative Resources: used in converting inputs of scientific and technological activities into their respective products. o First-order Resources: technics and technical systems, mathematical techniques, labor power, materials alteration processes, and energy forms

o Second-order resources: METHODS AND KNOWLEDGE

METHODS: experimental methods based on direct observation and first-hand experience KNOWLEDGE: INTUITIVE INSIGHT AND IMAGINATION or nonverbal thought

 Knowledge in contemporary technology rests less and less on the direct observation of nature and more and more on the results of formal scientific and engineering research. Four-part taxonomy: observation, experiment, science, intuition Empirical method and intuitively based knowledge.

 Contemporary technological is not always generated with particular immediate practical need in mind but the motivation of pursuing it is often more generalized for future use or profitability.

Practitioners
Numbers and density: Increasing Collaboration and teams Management Skills Individual Practitioner: It is the synthesis of the
individual, social, and institutional components of contemporary scientific and technological activity that is responsible for much of its distinctive and potent

Increasing scale International character Rationalization Symbiotic Interdependence

Salient Characteristic Trends in Contemporary Science and Technology