[STS] Chapter 1

• SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY and SOCIETY

  • examine the ways that science and technology shape, and are shaped by, our society
  • explores the conditions under which production, distribution and utilization of scientific knowledge and technological systems occur; and the effects of these processes upon the entire society
• SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY and SOCIETY is an interdisciplinary course designed to examine the ways that science and technology shape, and are shaped by, our society. It explores he conditions under which production, distribution and utilization of scientific knowledge and technological systems occur; and the effects of these processes upon the entire society.
• STS is a relatively recent discipline,  originating in the 60s and 70s, following  Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific  Revolutions (1962).
• STS was the result of a “sociological turn” in  science studies.
• STS makes the assumption that science  and technology are essentially intertwined  and that they are each profoundly social  and profoundly political.
• Science:  evolving body of knowledge about or study of the natural  world based on facts learned through experiments  and observation.
• Technology:  science or knowledge put into practical  use to solve problems or invent useful tools.
• Society: sum total of our interactions as humans, including the interactions that we engage in to understand the nature of things and to create things
• Science is the pursuit of knowledge about  the natural world through systematic  observation and experiments. Through  science, we develop new technologies.
• Technology is the application of  scientifically gained knowledge for practical  purpose.
• Scientists use technology in all their  experiments.
• THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

  Observation -> Question -> Hypothesis -> Experiment -> Conclusion -> Result
• Society: a group of individuals  involved in persistent  social interaction, or a  large social group  sharing the same  geographical or social  territory, typically  subject to the same  political authority and  dominant cultural  expectations.
• Science, technology and society is important to the public because it helps address issues and problems that are of concern to the general population.
• In the past, science is learned as an independent study from other fields. It focuses on the scientific methods, natural processes and understanding nature. But in the current global scenario, science is studied holistically, often in an interdisciplinary method, emphasizing systems rather than processes, synthesis more than analysis and predicting nature’s behavior in order to have useful application in solving contemporary problems.
• S and T alter the way people live, connect, communicate, and transact, with profound effects on economic development
• Key drivers to development, because technological and scientific revolutions underpin economic advances, improvements in health systems, education, and infrastructure
• Technological revolutions of the 21st century are emerging from entirely new sectors, based on micro-processors, telecommunications, bio-technology, and nano-technology
• S and T have the power to better the lives of poor people in developing countries
• They are differentiators between countries that are able to tackle poverty effectively by growing and developing their economies, and those that are not
• S and T are an engine of growth and interventions for cognitive enhancement, proton cancer therapy, and genetic engineering
• S and T are interventions for cognitive enhancement, proton cancer therapy and genetic engineering
• Science and technology have had a major impact  on society, and their impact is growing.
• By making life easier, science has given man the  chance to pursue societal concerns such as  ethics, aesthetics, education, and justice; to  create cultures; and to improve human  conditions.
• vScience influences society through its  knowledge and world view.
• The current state of science and technology in the country can be traced back to its historical development and the latent events that helped shape it since the pre-­colonial period to contemporary time. What we have or lack today in terms of science and technology is very much an effect of the government policies that had been enacted by past public officials in trying to develop a technological society that is responsive to the needs of time.
• Paradigm Shift

  • a typical example or pattern of something.
  • a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns,  including theories, research methods, postulates,  and standards for what constitutes legitimate  contributions to a field.
• A scientific paradigm is a framework containing all the commonly accepted views about a subject, conventions about what direction research should take and how it should be performed.
• According to a philosopher (Thomas Kuhn), a paradigm includes “the practices that define a scientific discipline at a certain point in time."
• Science proceeds by accumulating support for hypotheses which in time become models and theories. But those models and theories themselves exist within a larger theoretical framework.
• The vocabulary and concepts in Newton’s three laws or the central dogma in biology are examples of scientific “open resources" that scientists have adopted and which now form part of the scientific paradigm.
• Paradigms are historically and culturally bound. For example, a modern Chinese medical researcher with a background in eastern medicine, will operate within a different paradigm than a western doctor from the 1800s.
• The shift from one paradigm to another occurs when enough anomalies to the current paradigm build up, causing scientists to question the foundational principles upon which their worldview rests.
• Paradigm shift is another  expression for more  significant changes  within belief systems.
• Paradigm shift: Within philosophy of  science this concept is  sometimes considered  important and is  sometimes given great  attention within  education.
• Thomas Samuel Kuhn (/kuːn/; July 18, 1922 –June 17, 1996) was an  American physicist,  historian and philosopher of science whose  controversial 1962 book  The Structure of Scientific  Revolutions was influential in both  academic and popular  circles.
• THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS

  • a book about the  history of science by  the philosopher  Thomas S. Kuhn.
  • its publication was alandmark event in thehistory, philosophy, and sociology ofscientificknowledge.of scientific knowledgeable landmark the history
• The Kuhn Cycle

  • a simple cycle of  progress described by  Kuhn in his book
  • Kuhn  challenged the world's  current conception of  science, which was that  it was a steady  progression of the  accumulation of new  ideas.
• The Kuhn Cycle:

  Pre-Science -> Normal Science -> Model Drift -> Model Crisis -> Model Revolution -> Paradigm Change
• Kuhn argues that paradigms change in scientific  revolutions. Scientists go through a crisis and transition to  a new paradigm, a new way of seeing the world. It is not  possible to compare paradigms and it is not possible to say  whether one is more right than the other.