Science, Technology, and Society

• The impact of technology on privacy raises concerns about surveillance and data security.
• Learning Objectives


  • To define S&T
  • To compare S&T
  • To identify/enumerate the different roles of S&T
  • To trace the history of S&T in the world (interaction of S&T and society)
• Science & Technology (S&T)

  • The Challenge of Science (16th to 17th Century)
  • The Nature of Science
• The Challenge of Science (16th to 17th Century)

  • Position of the Earth in the universe: Galileo Galilei, Nicolas Copernicus, Claudius Ptolemy
  • Origin of man: Charles Darwin
• What is science?


  • Learning new facts (discoveries)
  • Solving problems (scientific method)
  • The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment – Oxford dictionary
• What is technology?


  • Creating/inventing things
  • Things that fulfill our needs and desires or perform certain functions
  • Application of understanding of natural laws to the solution of practical problems
  • Means to fulfill a human purpose
  • Assemblages of practices and components
  • Collection of devices and engineering practices available to a culture (W. Brian Arthur, 2009)
• The Nature of Science

  • THE SCIENTIFIC WORLDVIEW
  • THE SCIENTIFIC ENTERPRISE
• THE SCIENTIFIC WORLDVIEW


  • The World is Understandable
  • Scientific Ideas are Subject to Change
  • Scientific Knowledge is Durable
  • Science Cannot Provide Complete Answers to All Questions
• THE SCIENTIFIC ENTERPRISE


  • Science is a complex Social Activity
  • Science is Organized into Content Disciplines and is Conducted in Various Institutions
  • There are Generally Accepted Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Science
  • Scientists Participate in Public Affairs Both as Specialists and as Citizens
• How are science and technology related?

  • Science contributes to technology in at least 6 ways: New knowledge which serves as a direct source of ideas for new technological possibilities
  • Source of tools and techniques for more efficient engineering design and a knowledge base for evaluation of feasibility of designs
  • Research instrumentation, lab techniques, and
• Brooks, H.: 'The Relationship between science and technology. Elsevier Science. 1994. 477-486.'
• Science contributes to technology

  Research instrumentation, lab techniques, and analytical methods used in research that eventually find their way into design and industrial practices
• Science contributes to technology

  Practice of research as a source for development and assimilation of new human skills and capabilities eventually useful for technology
• Science contributes to technology

  Creation of a knowledge base that becomes increasingly important in the assessment of technology in terms of its wider social and environmental impacts
• Science contributes to technology

  Knowledge base that enables more efficient strategies of applied research, development, and refinement of new technologies
• Technology contributes to science

  Providing a fertile source of novel scientific questions and thereby also helping to justify the allocation of resources needed to address these questions in an efficient and timely manner, extending the agenda of science
• Technology contributes to science

  Source of otherwise unavailable instrumentation and techniques needed to address novel and more difficult scientific questions more efficiently
• Reflection: What is the role of S&T in your life?
• Characteristics of Science


  • Focuses on the Natural World
  • Goes through Experiments
  • Relies on Evidence
  • Passes through the Scientific Community
• A brief history of discoveries


  • S&T in the ancient times (through 599 BCE)
  • Divided into 3 periods: Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, & Neolithic), Bronze Age, Iron Age
• Stone tools have been the first recognized technology (or craft?) - Wooden tools could have preceded stones by millions of years. Made by one of our direct ancestors (H. habilis or H. rudolfensis) 2,5000,000 years ago. Early tools were some broken pebbles, then improved by flaking pieces off a core, creating distinctive shapes with a single cutting edge
• S&T in the ancient times characterized by

  • Hunting & gathering (or foraging?)
  • Use of fire (man’s earliest conquest)
  • Agricultural revolution (farming)
  • Use of metal, instead of stone tools, towards the end
  • Pottery and other ceramics, along with glass were dominant (Ceramics age)
• Lin Company. New York, USA

  2004
• S&T in the ancient times characterized by

  • Hunting & gathering (or foraging)
  • Use of fire
  • Agricultural revolution
  • Use of metal tools
  • Pottery, ceramics, and glass dominance
• R.J. Forbes: '“With the beginnings of metallurgy, the Stone Age of man comes to an end; with the beginnings of writing, prehistory comes to an end; with the beginnings of agriculture, man's parasitism on nature gives way to co-operation with nature”'
• Characteristics of Greek civilization

  • Developed institutions such as the Academy, Lyceum, and Museum
  • Believed that humans could understand the universe using reason alone rather than through mythology or religion
• Greek civilization


  Characterized by war between religion and science (Dark ages)
• S&T in “Antiquity” (600 through 529 BCE)


  • Decline of science in Europe
  • Chinese philosophy developed theories on matter and living beings
• S&T in the middle ages (530 through 1452)

  • Revival of Western science
  • Technological revolution with vast improvements in communication and transportation
  • Depletion of the population of Europe (Black Death) motivated smaller communities to find new ways to function
• Renaissance and the Scientific revolution (1453 through 1659)


  • Technology fully accepted
  • Introduction of mathematics into universities
  • Time of colonization, adventure, and exploration
  • Publication of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory and Vesalius’s anatomy
• Explorers discovered a wealth of previously unknown plants and animals
• Mathematics introduced various symbols and conventions, becoming an almost universal language
• Mathematics introduced various symbols and conventions (became an almost universal language)
• Galileo introduced experimentation into science
• Factories operated, patent laws and the stock market began, and printed books became the means to spread technological developments
• Design of machines developed into an art (gadgets)
• Newton’s Principia became the basis of the scientific method used in the study of natural phenomena
• Scientific Method


  1. Theories were formulated from observations, these theories were used to predict other phenomena

  2. Natural phenomena were explained by mathematical laws, an approach to science not necessarily antagonistic to religion
• Scientific Method


  1. Separation of physics and metaphysics (philosophy) took place (Newton vs. Descartes on gravity)

  2. Observation and experimentation became the pillars of scientific activity

  3. Scientists recorded phenomena in terms of numbers

  4. Classification of plants, animals, minerals, fossils became a trend
• Scientific Method


  1. Science became a shared activity

  2. Societies and journals became the means of communication (printing press)