CSTS Science, Technology and Society

Chapter 9

Science, Technology and Society and the Human Condition

A. Desired Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

 Know the different technological advancement in society;

 Discuss the development of science and technology in the Philippines;
 Discuss the effects of the interplay between technology and humanity through the
dilemma(s) they face.

B. Introduction

When Technology and the Humanity Cross

People now a day is considered technology as one of their necessity. The word
"technology" originated from the Greek words techne and logos which mean art and word,
respectively. Taking the two words together, technology means a discourse on arts (Buchanan,
2010). During the seventeenth century, the word technology first appeared and was used only to
discuss about arts, applied arts to be exact. As times goes by, technology now is widely used where
art is no longer the topic, like concepts of machine and tools.

The influence of technology these days is undeniable. Everyone in the society uses
different technologies that enable them to work more effectively and efficiently. Some may claim
that their lives aren’t greatly affected by these technologies, but they can’t deny the fact that
technology is already an inevitable part of the society.

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Different inventions were developed with the use of technology. Human lives became more
easier because of these technologies. From simple task in their house, to more complex work in
the laboratories. Technology these days enjoys such fame and glory because of the many different
benefits it brings to mankind. Not only convenience technology brings, but also entertainment.
From movies, different genre of music, to the games we play in our devices, these are possible
because of technology. Communication also made easier, with just one click, you can
communicate with your love ones from different parts of the world.

Today, it’s quite hard to pinpoint activities that doesn’t require the use of technology,
because almost all activities that humans perform already require the assistance of some kind of
technological advancement. But this is not all, for there are people who would even argue that
technology has become a necessity and no longer a want. Today, people work very hard in order
to save money to buy these "necessities" while in the past, people only used their money for the
things that would help them survive like food, housing, and clothing. In effect, anything outside
these categories was considered a luxury. However, that is no longer the case at present.

Summing all up, the progress of technology is moving forward due to not only the changing
times and environment but also to the ever-progressing mind of mankind. These technologies
won’t be possible without human intellect that keeps progressing. However, it is also important to
note that anything too much is bad, with regards to technology, it has been very helpful, but many
people still criticize it. Various ethical dilemmas have been identified throughout time involving
the use of different technological devices and its effects to society. Like any other things, when
these technologies are misused, problem will arise and produces bad results. People who are aware
of the possible dangers of the use or misuse of technology are not keeping still. They lay these
dilemmas for the public to see and realize what they are in for.

This lesson will introduce several technological devices, their roles they play in society and their
effects, particularly to the lives of the people will be identified, and the problems they face will
also be examined thoroughly.

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C. Input

Television Sets, Mobile Phones, Computers, and Humanity

Most of the technology devices can be located inside of our homes, most households have
television sets, mobile phones, to computers. These said technologies are the common denominator
of almost everyone in all age groups. People all over the world use these technologies every day
to accomplish different tasks, or simple for entertainment.

Kantar Media, one of the most trusted television audience measurement providers, in the
Philippines, according to them, 92 percent of urban homes and 70 percent of rural homes own at
least one television set. It is for this reason why television remains to be the ultimate medium for
advertisement placements (The Manila, Times, 2014). This survey shows that almost every
Filipinos uses this common type of device. In fact, Filipinos are believed to have this big
fascination over television. In general, they watch television during their free time. In addition to
this, Kantar Media also reported that in the Philippines, the current count of households with
television set already reached 15.135 million (Noda, 2012). This number signifies something, that
is, television plays a great role in the lives of the people or in this case, the Filipinos. Television
was a product of different experiments by different people. A German student, Paul Gottlieb
Nipkow, during the late 1800s, has successfully sent images through wires with the aid of a rotating
metal disk, the invention was called the "electric telescope" that had 18 lines of resolution. But
during 1907, Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton an English scientist, together with Boris Rosing
who was a Russian scientist, created a new system of television by using the cathode ray tube in
addition to the mechanical scanner system. This success story gave rise to two types of television
systems, namely, mechanical, and electronic television (Jezek, n.d.). These experiments gave
inspirations to other scientist to improve their previous inventions that led to our modern television.
Many trials and experiment with different inventions have been performed until we have our
modern television in our homes.

We cannot deny that Filipinos love to use their mobile phones anywhere, anytime. From
communication up to entertainment, phone is the favorite device. More than half of the Filipino
population own at least one mobile phone regardless of type. In 2010, global research agency

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Synovate conducted a survey and declared 67 percent product ownership in the country. In fact, it
was also claimed that mobile phones are considered a must-have among young Filipinos (ABS-
CBN News, 2010). To prove that Filipinos really love to use their mobile phones, the Ipsos Media
Atlas Philippines Nationwide Urban 2011—2012 survey results showed that one in every three
Filipinos cannot live without a mobile phone. In other words, 30 percent of the Philippine urban
population nationwide said that mobile phones are necessities in life (Roa, 2012). Philippine streets
are full of people using their mobile phones. Not only this, there are some Filipinos who even own
more than one mobile phone.

The world's first mobile phone call was made by Martin Cooper, a senior engineer at
Motorola on April 3, 1973. He intentionally called their rival telecommunications company and
properly informed them that he was making the call from a mobile phone. The mobile phone used
by Cooper weighed 1.1 kilograms and measured 228.6 x 127 x 44.4 mm. This kind of device was
capable of a 30-minute talk time but it took 10 hours to charge. In 1983, Motorola made their first
commercial mobile phone available to the public. It was known as the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X
(Goodwin, 2016).

Another devices are the computers and laptops. They have also become part of many of
the Filipino households. Some households own more than one computer, however, the number
televisions and cellphones sold per year is much greater than computers. This is because of the
relatively higher cost of computers and laptops. While it is true that almost all Filipino families
own at least one television set and a mobile phone, it is not possible for all Filipino families to own
at least one computer or laptop. In fact, most of the profits gained by computer and laptop
manufacturers come from offices, businesses, or schools where such devices have become part of
their necessities.

The total value output in 2010 was 3.6 trillion of all manufacturing establishments. Semi-
conductor devices and other electronic components took the greater part of the total value output.
To be more explicit, 5.4 percent of the total value output originated from computers and peripheral
hardware and accessories (PSA, 2013). In accordance with the developing number of computer
deals, there has likewise been a developing number of Internet users in the Philippines. In spite of
the fact that there have been issues with respect to the Internet providers, this never upset Filipinos
from persistently utilizing the Internet.

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Just like any devices like television sets and mobile phones, computers also have a long
background history of trial and error. Charles Babbage, a nineteenth-century English Mathematics
professor, designed the Analytical Engine, used as the basic framework of the computers even
until today. In general, computers can be classified into three generations. Each generation of the
computer was used for a certain period of time and each gave people a new and improved version
of the previous one (Steitz, n.d.).

Different types of computer emerge, including laptops, a portable computer that you can
bring anywhere. Laptops have been available to the public for even less than personal computers.
The early designs of computer was so big that it could occupy whole floors of buildings. People
then started dreaming the possibility that they could bring their devices anywhere. It was believed
that the transition from a personal computer to a laptop was only a matter of design, an
improvement and a little deviation from the standard design of a personal computer. The first true
portable computer was released in April 1981. It was called the Osborne 1 (Orfano, 2011). From
that moment on, the evolution of laptops continued until the present time where various designs
and models are already available.

A typical household owns at least four of the following devices: a mobile phone (89%),
smartphone (53%), tablet (14%), desktop (39%), laptop or netbooks (37%), and smart TV (4%)
(Philstar, 2013). These results prove the deep-seated fascination of Filipinos to different
technological devices.

Here are some facts about Filipinos and their use of gadgets and the Internet (Rappler, n.d.):

 Mobile phone subscription is at 119 million.

 Filipinos spend approximately 3.2 hours on mobile and 5.2 hours on desktop daily.
 Currently, the Philippines has one of the highest digital populations in the world.
 There are now 47 million active Facebook accounts in the Philippines.
 The Philippines is the fastest-growing application market in Southeast Asia.

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Roles Played by These Technological Advancements

Different devices play different roles in our daily lives, like television sets, mobile phones,
and computers or laptops. These roles have become so essential that people, more specifically
Filipinos; developed a strong inclination toward technology and its products.

As an example, television’s primary used as platform for entertainment, information

dissemination and advertisement. As a matter of fact, television is still the most used medium by
most advertising company all over the world. Various advertising companies trust that television
is still one of the most used technological devices up until today. But these are just some of the
roles played by television. Aside from the ones mentioned above, it also serves as platform for
entertainment and good stress reliever to most families, specifically to Filipino families. Television
also is a good platform for different propagandas and advocacies. Lastly, it can also be a good way
to bond with one's family members.

On the other hand, mobile phones, just like television, also have their own roles in the lives
of the people. The primary role of this device is for communication. Mobile phones offer services
like texting and calling, and nowadays, it can be used for surfing, taking pictures/videos, gaming,
and other technological advancement in the mobile phones. This is the reason why more and more
people all over the world prefer to buy smartphones over the old models where such features are
not available. Other applications include music player, calendar, radio, television, and photo editor,
among others. These are just some of the additional features of mobiles phones in the present.
These make this particular technological device very appealing to the masses. It is like an all-in-
one device. In addition, it is very portable and convenient because it can fit into any space, may it
be inside the pocket or bag.

Personal computers and laptops also have the following useful set of functions and roles.
We can’t deny that some features of PC are available in mobile phones, but PC still offer their own
unique features that make them attractive. For example, personal computers and laptops can be
used to surf the Internet and communicate. Just like the mobile phones, these devices also have
features like calendar, calculator, music player, movie player, camera, and many more but a lot of
people still prefer to do their job using either a personal computer or a laptop than a mobile phone.
One major reason is that a personal computer or a laptop has wide keyboard than using a mobile
phone, especially when the mobile phone has a small screen. Another reason is that the availability

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of a mouse or a touchpad made these two technological devices easier to maneuver than mobile
phones. Lastly, for the youth and those who love to play different computer games, personal
computers or laptops are really the better choice because these allow them to play with games that
aren’t available on phones and the comfort and convenience that computers give. However, it
cannot be denied that some would even prefer laptops over personal computers for the simple
reason that personal computers are not portable and there are times when they need to bring such
devices to different places.

Ethical Dilemma Faced by These Technological Advancements

The fact that technological devices are useful, and we benefit from them, there are some
people that have these dilemmas that these are just "necessities”. Parents have the thinking that
devices are one of the reasons why their children are lazy and unhealthy. This is because people
who are fixated on these technological advancements start and end their day by using such devices.
They usually sit on their devices rather than doing productive task on their homes, thus making
them unhealthy because they do not just skip meals sometimes but also lack exercise or any bodily
movements. Here, it can be inferred that these types of people are already overly dependent on
these technological devices. Many people tend to sit on their couches and watch television for
hours, others may not be aware of the time because they kept on playing games on their PCs, these
people have the tendency to be unaware of the time because they are so engrossed with the use of
technological device. In fact, if they get disturbed, there is a great chance that they will get mad or
annoyed. Moreover, these are the same people who are more likely to experience alienation
because they no longer take time to get out of their houses and mingle with other people.

Moral dilemma is another dilemma faced by these technological devices. Some children
who are not capable of deciding what is right or wrong have open access on these devices. Some
contents are disturbing and will have negative effect on the thinking of the youngsters. The
availability and easy access to the Internet can make them easily search the web and go to different
websites without restrictions. This allows them to see, read, or hear things which are not suitable
for their very young age. This makes them very vulnerable to character change and can greatly
affect the way they view the world and the things around them.

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On the first dilemma, it is really concerning to know that there are people who develop
different kinds of sickness because of too much use of technological devices. Not only this, it also
causes them to become reclusive, alienating themselves from other people. It is true that
technology brings people closer, but it is a mere fact that technology brings us closer digitally, and
not physically. In fact, there are people who are friends, for example, only on social media but not
in real life. This just shows that there are things that technology claims to do but, does not. It is for
these reasons why there are people who call for the establishment of ethics of technology. This
subcategory of ethics will in one way or another guide people on how technology ought to be used
to prevent abuse and other unfortunate results.

These reasons make such devices somewhat unethical because they bring undesirable
consequences to people. But technology is not the one in fault, in fact it is the agents using them
or the ones making them. The classic deontological and teleological approaches to ethics are
already too old to be applied in such cases. This is because technology has become very
complicated and dynamic over time. Considering this, this is true that there are problems that can
no longer be addressed by using these theories only. Therefore, the ethics of responsibility is an
appropriate theory that can be used in these dilemmas.

We cannot blame everything to technology advances, each person must be accountable.

They must indicate the priorities, values, norms, and principles that constitute the grounds for one's
actions and define one's contribution to the scientific –technological. The ethics of responsibility
focuses on the positive rather than the negative. Instead of asking "What should not to be
allowed?”, ask "What should be allowed?" To put it in another way, people who are part of the
scientific should let the public know the good in their respective technological contribution/s. In
this way, the people will an idea how the devices should be used to maximize their productivity,
not lessen them.

But it is also important for the people to know the dangers of technology. In this the people
will be sufficiently aware of what to do and what not to do. In addition to this, the agents using the
devices should also be accountable to and accountable for their use of their gadgets.

Going back to the first dilemma, it can be concluded that the users are the ones to be blamed
for the undesirable consequences, namely, laziness and unhealthiness. But people in the scientific-
technological world must make sure that they have properly informed the public of the positive

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tenor of their action in technology and the possible dangers of the misuse of their technological
contribution. Thus, the undesirable consequences are brought about by the misuse of the agent.
Now, talking about alienation, it can be concluded that the people in the scientific-technological
world are blameworthy because they tell the people something that seems positive but when
examined closely, brings more bad than good.

On the second dilemma, the adults must be responsible enough to look for their children,
because people in the scientific world nor the children are blameworthy because first and the
children are not yet capable of rationally deciding for themselves what is good and what is bad.
Second, even if creators of these technologies went out of their way to inform children of the pros
and cons of these technological contributions, it would still be useless because the children have
no capacity to understand them yet. So in this dilemma, the ones to be blamed are the adults who
allowed the children to have access to such devices in the first place without any supervision. It is
the recklessness and overconfidence of the adults that cause the character change in children.

Robotics and Humanity

One of the greatest technological advancement are robots. Robots are now widely used
some examples are the so-called service robots. These robots do specific tasks but focus mainly in
assisting their users in their everyday tasks. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) and
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) made it their task to formulate a
working definition for service robots. A preliminary extract of the relevant definition is (IFR,
2012):

A robot is an actuated mechanism programmable in two or more axes with a degree of

autonomy, moving within its environment, to perform intended tasks. Autonomy in this context
means the ability to perform intended tasks based on current state and sensing without human
intervention.

The following are some of the robots that are developed as of today’s technology.

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 Service robot is a robot that performs useful tasks for humans or equipment excluding
industrial automation application. Note: A robot may be classified according to its intended
application as an industrial robot or a service robot.
 Personal service robot or a service robot for personal use is a service robot used for a non-
commercial task, usually by laypersons. Examples are domestic servant robot, automated
wheelchair, personal mobility assist robot, and pet exercising robot.
 Professional service robot or a service robot for Professional use is a service robot used
for a commercial task, usually operated by a properly trained operator. Examples are
cleaning robot for public places, delivery robot in offices or hospitals, fire-fighting robot,
rehabilitation robot, and surgery robot in hospitals. In this context, an operator is a person
designated to start, monitor, and stop the intended operation of a robot or a robot system.

One of the first countries to develop service robots is Germany. As part of the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research's "Service Robotics Innovation Lead Initiative," it sponsored
a collaborative project called DESIRE (Deutsche Servicerobotik Initiative—Germany Service
Robotics Initiative) which was launched on October l, 2005. DESIRE has the following individual
objectives (DESIRE, 2009):

 To achieve a technological edge toward attaining key functions and components

that is suited for everyday use
 To create a reference architecture for mobile manipulation
 To promote the convergence of technologies through integration into a common
technology platform
 To conduct pre-competition research and development activities for new products
and technology transfer in start-up enterprises in the field of service robotics

Some of the expected work to be performed by DESIRE are the following:

(1) "Clear up the kitchen table" all objects on top of the kitchen table will be moved to
where they belong;
(2) "Fill the dishwasher" — the dirty dishes will be sorted correctly into the dishwasher;
and

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(3) "Clear up this room" — all objects that are not in their proper places will be moved to
where they belong (Mock, n.d.).

Around 3000 B.C. the concept of robots is being developed by the Egyptians. Their water
clocks used human figurines to strike the hour bells, like the concept of robotics, this mechanism
was built to carry out a specific physical task regularly. From that time on, different machines were
already built that displayed the same mechanism and characteristics as the robots in the present.
Like the wooden pigeon that could fly a talking doll, steam-powered robots, and hydraulically-
operated statues that could speak and gesture. Considering the facts, during the early 1950s, the
famous earliest robots were created by George Devol, called "Unimate", the first robot that he
created and from the word Universal Automation. sUnfortunately, his attempt to sell his product
to the industry did not succeed. After Unimate, several robots were also invented which were better
versions of the previous ones (Stanford, n.d.). Ever since, people never stopped their quest in the
field of robotics.

Roles Played by Robotics

Robots play different in the whole society. Their primary role is to lessen the workload of
mankind. They were invented to make life more efficient and less stressful. They can perform
complicated activities that humans are incapable of doing. They also perform the simplest tasks at
home so that their owners can do the complex ones without stressing themselves over the simple
tasks. There are also robots which are made for pleasure, these types of robots perform activities
to entertain people. They can usually be found in amusement parks or exhibits. In addition, there
are also some robots which were made to serve as toys. They also perform different activities but
they are usually child friendly. Other examples of robots are those which can be seen in movies.
One of the reasons why robots are very famous is because of movies. A number of local and
national movies were inspired by robots. This goes to show that people have developed a distinct
fascination over robots.

Just like people living in the society, robots also have their own set of rules and
characteristics that define what a good robot is. These laws were formulated by Isaac Asimov back

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in the 1940s, when he was thinking of the ethical consequences of robots. These are the following
(Stanford,n.d.):

Law One: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human
being to come to harm.

Law Two: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such
orders would conflict with the First Law.

Law Three: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not
conflict with the First or Second Law.

Ethical Dilemma/s Faced by Robotics

Robotics is facing problems and dilemmas just like any other technological advancements.
Although the main idea is to help people and make their lives a lot easier than before, it is still not
immune to different ethical dilemmas and possible undesirable outcomes. One of the famous
dilemmas faced by robots is the safety of people. Who should be held accountable if someone's
safety is compromised by a robot? Who should be blamed, the robot, the agent using the robot, or
the maker/inventor of the robot? It is important to know who should be blamed and who should be
held responsible if such thing happens.

Another ethical dilemma faced by robots is the emotional component. Just like in movies
and taking the fact that technology progresses so fast nowadays, it is possible for robots to develop
emotions (Evans, 2007).

The question lays here, "What if robots become sentient? Should they be granted robot
rights? Should they have their own set of rights to be upheld, respected, and protected by humans?"
It is interesting to know how people would react if the time comes when robots can already feel
pain and pleasure. Would they act differently or not at all?

In the field of robotics, there are the so-called partial autonomy and full autonomy. Partial
autonomy includes active human-robot interaction while full autonomy excludes active human-
robot interaction. In other words, a robot with full autonomy can perform actions or activities even
without a user telling it what should be done or what should be performed next (IFR, 2012).

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Using Asimov’s laws for robots, it can be concluded that robots are ethical but only if they
strictly follow the laws specified. They art ethical mostly because the laws formulated by Asimov
ensure the safety of not only the users of the technology but also the people around him.
Considering that these services of the robots are already available to the market and public; thus,
they can already be found inside the homes. Having said that, the safety of not only the owner of
the technology but also all the people inside the house should be the priority more than anything
else. The fact that service robots only follow what their masters tell them to do with great
consideration to the laws formulated by Asimov. However, if the agent using the technology
misuses the robot to achieve personal agendas, then without a doubt, the agent should be held
accountable for any consequences it may bring. It is important to note that this is under the
assumption that the robot strictly followed the laws specified without any form of deviation.

The maker or the inventor of the machine should be blameworthy if the problems arise
when the robot deviates from the laws specified. It just means that the robot was not programmed
very well because it violated the laws. Other problems may arise when the machine develops the
ability to think for itself because of the advancement in technology. In this case, the one that should
be blame can both be the maker or inventor and the robot itself. The fact that the maker gave the
robot the capacity to think for itself so he should be very much aware of its possible consequences.
To put it in another way, the maker programmed the robot in such a way that it can already think
for itself even without an active participation from a human being. In addition, since the robot
thinks for itself, whatever decision it makes and whatever consequence it may bring, the robot
itself should be held responsible.

For the second dilemma, it is just right for the robots to be given their own set of rights
should they develop the ability to feel different kinds of emotion just like in animals. Before,
animals did not have their own set of rights because people believed that they were not capable of
having emotions. However, after years of testing and experimenting, it was concluded that animals
are indeed capable of emotions. It is for this reason that people decided

To give them rights that arc due to them. The same should be done to robots without any
reservations. Should that time come, they ought to be treated differently and they ought to have
new laws to follow to accommodate the new characteristic they have developed.

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D. Reference(s)

• Janice Patria Javier, et al (2018), Science, Technology and Society Rex Book Store.

Prepared by:

ENGR. MAY B. CHAN

Asst. Prof. 1

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