ENGR206

Science, Technology, and Society

Dr. Ögr. Üyesi Ahmet Çelik
 Syllabus
Assessment If a n y, Percentage
Criteria mark as (%)
(X)
Midterm Exams X 40
Quizzes
Homework
Projects
Te r m P a p e r
Laboratory work
Other
Final E x a m X 60
 Science
• Science- the word came
from the Latin "scientia,"
meaning "knowledge.
• Systematic and methodical
activity of building and
organizing knowledge
about how the universe
behaves through
observation,
experimentation, or both.
 Science
• Modern science is a
discovery of regularity in
nature, enough for
natural phenomena to
be described by
principles and laws.
 Science
• Science has been a human activity well
before the development of the first
civilizations.
• The oldest civilizations are believed to have
emerged sometime before 3000 BC, but
excavations from Catal Hüyük in Anatolia
have shown that the people in today's
Turkiye had developed advanced skills in
measurement and accurate mapping as
early as 6200 BC.
 Technology
• From the Greek word
techne, meaning 'art, skill,
or cunning of hand.'
• It can be defined as the
application of knowledge
about nature to the
practical aims of human
endeavor.
 Technology
• It follows that
technological
development occurred
at least as early as the
first scientific study:
• Stone-age humans
realized that Flintstone
produces better cutting
tools than sandstone.
 Society

• Society is the organizational

form in which individuals
of a species live together.
 Society and Ethics
• An important aspect of the development of
societies is that interaction between many
individuals is impossible without rules of
socially acceptable behavior.
 Society and Ethics
• The comparative study of humans and animal
societies shows that moral codes are a natural
ingredient and regulator of life in all societies.
• Any group of humans or animals falls apart if
its members make frequent recourse to totally
unrestrained attacks.
 What is civilization?
• Civilization requires that
the society has
developed a central
institution responsible
for the organization of
daily life support
• This requires an
advanced
administration, which is
not found before the
development of cities.
 Civilizatio
n
• The existence of prehistoric art demonstrates
that human societies developed a culture
before they developed civilization.
• If culture is behaviour, civilization is structure.
• One approach to defining civilization lists a
few conditions that have to be met before
society is considered a civilization.
 Civilizatio
n
• Civilization is characterized by
• 1. the existence of cities;
• 2. advanced division of labour based on
specialized occupational groups;
• 3. social classes, including a ruling class that is
exempt from work for basic subsistence;
• 4. an administration that can collect "social
surplus" (taxes or tribute);
 Civilizatio
n
• 5. public buildings not designed as dwellings
but for communal purposes; and
• 6. record-keeping in written form.
• Civilizations are large structures that can
contain many cultures.
 Civilizatio
n
• The boundaries between different civilizations
are sometimes not well defined, particularly
when one civilization evolved from another.
• There are a few thousand languages and
hundreds of cultures but only about a dozen
civilizations.
 Science and Technology
• Wolpert (2005) made an interesting comparison
between science and technology that is helpful
in the study of their interaction with society,
• It is meant simply to explain how nature and
the universe work and that the obligation of the
scientists, besides studying the nature of the
universe, is to explain the possible uses and
applications of such scientific knowledge.
 Science and Technology
• The very nature of science is that it is not
possible to predict scientific discoveries and
how these discoveries may be applied.
• While scientists are not responsible for
the reliable conduct of the scientific inquiry
and its honest interpretation and
dissemination, technological applications of
science are influenced by other sectors
such as politics and governance, religion,
and business.
 Science and Technology
• Nowadays, advancements in science and
technology have become pervasive.
• They are manifested in the activities that
humans pursue and the tools they use every
day.
• Humans today live more productive and more
exciting lives than their predecessors.
 Science and Technology
• However, the dynamism and immensity of
scientific and technological progress also pose
challenges and drawbacks to the way humans
live.
• The introduction of machines tremendously
cut the need for the human workforce and
gave rise to the question of whether machines
will eventually replace humans.
 Science and Technology
• The invention of drugs that cured the
previously incurable diseases introduced new
strains of bacteria and viruses that are
resistant to the very same drugs that once
fought them-take an antibiotic-resistant strain
of gonorrhea as an example.
 Science and Technology
• The rise of social media drastically changed
the way humans communicate, interact, and
share information; however, this tends to put
people's privacy at risk.
• Indeed, science and technology have served a
predominantly double-edged function.
 Science and Technology
• 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 even more
necessary.
 Science, Technology, and Society
• How the different aspects of society shape
and influence the progression and further
developments of science and technology in
the area of concern of a relatively new
academic discipline called Science,
Technology, and Society.
 Science, Technology, and Society
• The study of how social, political and cultural
values affect scientific research and
technological innovation, and how these in
turn affect society, politics and culture.
 Science, Technology, and Society
• Science and Technology affects the man and his
way of living.
• 1. Electricity gives lights to buildings and homes.
• 2. Transportation comes in trains, planes, cars.
• 3. Communications by the invention of telegraph,
telephone, cellphone.
• 4. Farm machineries made use of farmers for
easier and faster for propagating and harvesting
of rice and corns.
• 5. Medicines treat different diseases.
The Effects of Science and Technology
to the Society
• Face to Face with Science
• To have a face to face with science, it would
be best to explore its wide coverage by
identifying its common characteristics.
• The characteristics are focuses on the natural
world, goes through experiments, relies on
evidence and passes through the scientific
community.
The Effects of Science and Technology
to the Society
• Focuses on the Natural World
• The natural world which is the physical world. Its
elements are animals, plants, rocks, man and
other kinds of matter.
• Science explain and provide more understanding
of the natural world.
• The aim is to know and see how it works.
• Findings can change after time when new
evidences may arise but data are reliable when it
is supported and accepted.
The Effects of Science and Technology
to the Society
• Goes Through Experiments
• Science subjects are done through
experimentation.
• It has to be tested and observed several times to
arrive a consistent results to be taken as true.
• Relies on Evidences
• As it is done by experiments and observations, it
is correct to see for evidences that support the
validity and reliability of something.
The Effects of Science and Technology
to the Society
• Passes Through the Scientific Community
• The evidences must go through with different
people whose idea would qualify to the study.
• Scientific experiments and processes may vary as
changes with time, place communication and
technology advances and further discoveries and
understandings are attained.
• Face to Face with Technology
• Most people relate technology as machines or
tools that would make work easier and faster.
 Science and Technology Fused
Together
• Science and technology is linked together.
• Machines, computers and tools are
technologies brought by science.
• Microscopic to macroscopic things that
we use daily are all technologies.
 Science and Technology Fused
Together
• Technologies that are now available lead to
new understanding of the world around us
that would lead further innovations and
inventions.
 Science and Technology Taking The
Society
• Science and technology play a great progress
in the society.
• Through the society, it allows the discoveries
and inventions to take place.
• Society decides how science and
technology to be utilized and continue to
progress.
 Science and Technology Taking The
Society
• The area of industry, health care, national
security and environmental protection much
relies on science and technology.
• With the increasing development with the
use of technology, there is a risks and
danger to the society.
• Everyone must be a guardian of the society in
order to shape and balance the benefits and
dangers of science and technology.
 Science, Technology, and Society
• Science and Technology and Society(STS) is a
relatively young field that previously
independent and older disciplines, such as the
history of science, philosophy of science, and
sociology of science.
 Science, Technology, and Society
• 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 the period when historians and
scientists found interest in the
interconnections of scientific knowledge,
technological systems, and society.
 Science, Technology, 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.
 Summary
• Science is a system of knowledge based on repeatable
observation and experiment.
• Technology is the application of knowledge about
nature to the practical aims of human endeavor.
• Technology and science began as parallel
developments but became eventually inseparable.
• Society is the organizational form in which individuals
of a species live together.
• Human society is the only evolving society; its
structure changes in response to environmental and
economic conditions from the hunter-gatherer society
through the agricultural society to urban society.
 Summary
• The development of cities was accompanied by a
division of labour and by the development of
classes.
• The structure of the basic social unit (family) of
the human society evolves in response to
changes in society, and its role differs between its
classes.
• Civilization requires a central institution
responsible for the organization of daily life and
an advanced administration.
• Civilization is structure; culture is behaviour.
 Summary
• The concepts of science, technology, and
society.
• STS applies methods from history, philosophy,
and sociology to study the nature of science
and technology and ultimately judge their
value and place in society.
 Summary
• As an interdisciplinary field, the emergence of
STS was a result of the question about science
and technology's dynamic interaction with
various aspects of society and was thus
viewed as a socially embedded enterprise,
 Summary
• STS seeks to bridge the gap between
traditionally exclusive cultures-humanities and
natural science-so that humans will be able to
better confront the moral, ethical, and
existential dilemmas brought about by the
continued developments in science and
technology.
 Questions
1. Which of the following is the BEST definition of
Science?
• A. The process of gathering knowledge about the
natural world.
• B. The process of reading the knowledge of the known
world.
• C. The process of memorizing answers about the
natural world.
• D. The process of gathering knowledge about the
ancient world.
• Answer A
 Questions
2. What is technology?
• A. Using our scientific knowledge to produced
really advanced devices that do certain jobs.
• B. None of the other answers are correct.
• C. Anything electronic or highly advanced.
• D. Using our scientific knowledge for practical
purpose.
• Answer: D
 Questions
3. The word ‘’Technology’’comes from the
• A. Sanskrit
• B. English
• C. Greek
• D. Latin
• Answer: C
 Questions
4. The word ‘’Science’’comes from the
• A. Latin
• B. Greek
• C. English
• D. Sanskrit
• Answer: A
 Questions
• 5. Which of the following is the definition of
Society?
• a. The process of reading the knowledge of the
known world.
• b. Using our scientific knowledge for practical
purpose.
• c. The process of memorizing answers about the
natural world.
• d. The organizational form in which individuals of
a species live together
• Answer: D
 Questions
6. STS stands for?
• A. Science and Technology Studies
• B. Science Talent Search
• C. Space Transportation System
• D. Science, Technology and Society
• Answer: D
 Questions
7. Science is BEST described as a .
• A. set of facts
• B. way of knowing
• C. collection of beliefs
• D. list of rules
• Answer: B