SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
A. The Meaning of Science and Technology
Science, Technology and Society (STS), also referred to as science and technology and the study of
how the study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological
innovation, and how these, in turn, affect society. STS scholars are interested in a variety of STS scholars
are interested in a variety of problems including the relationships between problems including the
relationships between scientific and technological innovations and society, and the directions and risks
science and technology. The field of STS is related to history logy. The field of STS is related to history
and philosophy of science although with a much and philosophy of science although with a much broader
emphasis on social aspects of science der emphasis on social aspects of science and technology.
Science, Technology and Society refers to the interaction between science and tech refers to the
interaction between science and technology and social cultural, political and economic context which shape
and are shaped by them; specific examples throughout human history of scientific and technological
developments.
B. Meaning of Science
Science is a systematized body of knowledge.
Science is an organized and dynamic inquiry (following scientific method).
Science is knowledge gained through observation and experimentation.
Science is a is a human activity; scientist.
Science is a social enterprise: people, knowledge, skills, facilities, apparatuses and technologies.
Science leads to formation of concepts, methods, principle, theories, law and procedures s, which
seek to describe and explain nature and phenomena.
C. Meaning of Technology
Technology as material products; results of scientific inquiry; hardware produced by a scientist.
Technology as the application of knowledge in solving scientific and practical problems that will
help humans to survive and improve his life.
Technology as human cultural activities or endeavors.
Technology as a social enterprise - Technology is a complex system of knowledge, skills, people,
methods, tools, materials and resources applied and allocated to the development, operation and
production of a new or improved product, process or services.
Technology as modern technology based on the advances of science since the end of WWII to the
present.
D. Some of the notable human successes in the field of successes in the field of science and
technology
Humans are ingenious species. Humans (Homo sapiens) have dreamed up and created have dreamed
up and created some amazing and far - out things. From the moment someone bashed a rock on the ground
to make the first sharp-edged tool, to the debut of the wheel to the development of Mars rovers and the
internet, several key advancement stand outys as particularly revolutionary. Here are some of s particularly
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
revolutionary. Here are some of most important invention of all times, along with the science behind the
invention and how they he science behind the invention and how they came about.
The Wheel
The concept of inventing the wheel came during 3500 BC. Humans were severely limited in how
much stuff they could transport over land, and how far. The idea came to connect a non- moving platform
to a rolling cylinder. People then invented the wheel and axle which is the concept of making wheel. The
holes at the center of the wheels and the ends of the fixed axles had to be nearly perfectly round and
smooth for wheels to work. Wheeled carts facilitated agriculture and work. Wheeled carts facilitated
agriculture and commerce by enabling transportation of goods to and commerce by enabling transportation
of goods to and from markets, as well as easing the burden of people traveling great distances.
The Compass
Before, mariners navigate with the star, but that method didn't work during the day or on cloudy on
cloudy nights. The Chinese invented the first compass sometime between the 9th and 11th century; it was
made of lodestone, a naturally magnetized iron ore, and the attractive properties of which they of which
they had been studying for centuries. Soon after, the technology passed on to the Europeans and Arabs
through through nautical contact.
The compass enabled mariners to navigate safely far from land, increasing sea trade and
contributing to the Age of Discovery.
Printing Press
It was Johannes Gutenberg, a German who invented the press around 1440. Though others before
him-including inventors in China and a have developed the movable type made from metal, Gutenberg was
have created a mechanized process that transferred the ink (which he made from linseed oil and soot) from
the (which he made from linseed oil and soot) from the movable type to paper. Printing presses
exponentially increased the speed with which book copies could be made, and thus led to the rapid and
widespread dissemination of knowledge for the first time in history.
The Internal combustion engine
In these engines, the combustion of fuel releases high temperature gas, which, as it expands,
applies, force to a piston, thus, combustion engines convert chemical energy into mechanical work.
Decades of engineering by many scientists went into designing the internal combustion engine, whichtook
its (essentially) modern form in the latter half of the 19th century. The engine steered in the Industrial Age,
which enabled the invention of a huge vanety of machines, including modern cars
The Telephone
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be awarded a patent for the electric telephone in 1876.
Though several inventors did pioneering work on electronic voice, transmission, the invention quickly took
off, and revolutionized global business and communication.
Penicillin
In 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria field Petri Dish in his
laboratory, the sample had become contaminated with a mold, and everywhere the mold was, bacteria was
dead.. That antibiotic mold turned out to fungus Penicillium, and over the next two decades, chemist’s
purified it and developed the drug Penicillin, which fights a huge number of bacterial infections in humans
without harming the themselves. Penicillin was being mass and advertised by 1944.
The Internet
Is the global system of interconnected computer networks used by billions of people [Link] is
impossible to credit the impossible to credit the invention of the Internet to a single person, as countless
people develop it. In the 1960s, a team of computer scientists working for the ARPA (Advanced Research
Projects Agency) built a communications network to connect the computers in the agency, called
ARPANET. It used a method of data transmission called ansmission called "packet switching". ARPANET
was the predecessor of the Internet that eventually emerged to become the "information superhighway.
Eco-Friendly Technologies/Advantages
These are sustainable technologies. This technology utilizes resources from the environment
without causing negative effects to it. Some of these are:
Solar Energy - use of solar panels to provide electricity
Geothermal energy
Wind power - wind mills as source of energy
Disadvantages and Ethical dilemmas of Science and Technology
1. Threats to human survival
the invention of nuclear weapons in 1945, like the nuclear bombing of nuclear bombing of Nagasaki
and Hiroshima that caused deaths of many people. This was a product of chemical and biological warfare
(bio-warfare); toxic wastes produced by manufacturing companies that threaten human survival and
stability of the environment.
2. Ethical dilemmas
exploitation of advanced scientific knowledge and technology devices and systems gave rise to
situations in which advances seem to have turned against their beneficiaries, creating ethical dilemmas. The
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
negative effects of technology are numerous. In our march to progress we have degraded the natural world.
Forest are chopped down, topsoil is washed away, rivers are polluted and our waste is dumped in the
oceans.
3. Disparities in Human well-being
there are advanced countries enjoying Science and technology based successes and hold high esteem in
contemporary society (Economic strength), versus millions of people in less developed countries who have
not partaken in these benefits.
4. Social and Cultural conflicts
Military power is vital for national security of many governments; Superior and highly technical
weapons dictated the outcomes of some recent wars.
5. Innovating technologies can have negative consequences for certain sectors or constituencies:
include pollution associated with production processes,
increased unemployment from labor -saving new technologies
conversion of agricultural land into urban areas
effect on humans psychologically and emotionally -the usage and addiction of new gadgets
effect of overused technologies in medical industry that can cause fatal births and diseases.
Global warming
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