Lesson 1

• Science


  A systematic and methodical activity of building and organizing knowledge about how the universe behaves through observation, experimentation or both
• John Heilbron (2003): '"Modern science is a discovery as well as an invention."'
• Science (according to Heilbron)


  • Discovery of regularity in nature, enough for natural phenomena to be described by principles and laws
  • Requires inventions to devise techniques, abstractions, apparatuses, and organizations to describe these natural regularities and their law-like descriptions
• Technology


  The application of scientific knowledge, laws, and principles to produce services, materials, tools, and machines aimed at solving real-world problems
• Mark Zuckerberg: 'A technological tool is something that takes a human's sense or ability and augments it and makes it more powerful'
• Comparison between science and technology (by Wolpert)

  • Reliable scientific knowledge has no moral or ethical value, it is meant to simply explain how nature and the universe work
  • Scientists are not responsible for the application of knowledge in technology
  • It is not possible to predict scientific discoveries and how these discoveries may be applied
  • Technological applications of science are influenced by other sectors such as politics, governance, religion, and business
• Advancements in science and technology have become pervasive and manifested in the activities that humans pursue and the tools they use every day
• Advancements in science and technology pose challenges and drawbacks to the way humans live
• Carl Sagan: 'We live in a society absolutely dependent on science and technology and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. That's a clear prescription for disaster.'
• Science, Technology, and Society (STS)


  A relatively young field that combines previously independent and older disciplines, such as the history of science, philosophy of science, and sociology of science
• STS


  • Traces its roots from the interwar period and the start of the Cold War
  • 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
  • Applies methods drawn from history, philosophy, and sociology to study the nature of science and technology and ultimately judge their value and place in society
  • An interdisciplinary field that emerged from questions about science and technology's dynamic interaction with various aspects of society and was thus viewed as a socially embedded enterprise
  • Seeks to bridge the gap between two traditionally exclusive cultures—humanities (interpretive) and natural sciences (rational)—so that humans will be able to better confront the moral, ethical, and existential dilemmas brought by the continued developments in science and technology
• Ten emerging ethical dilemmas and policy issues in science and technology (2018)

  • Helix - a digital app store designed to read genomes
  • Bless U-2 and Pepper - first robot priest and monk
  • Emotion-Sensing Facial Recognition - a software being developed to assess your reactions to anything such as shopping and playing games
  • Ransomware - a way of holding data hostage through hacking and requiring a ransom to be paid
  • Textalyzer - a device that analyzes whether a driver was using his or her phone during an accident
  • Social Credit System - a system of scoring citizens through their actions by placing them under constant surveillance (which China plays to adopt)
  • Google Clips - a hands-free camera that lets the user capture every moment effortlessly
  • Sentencing Software - a mysterious algorithm designed to aid courts in sentencing decisions
  • Friendbot - an app that stores the deceased's digital footprint so one can still "chat" with them
  • Citizen App - an app that notifies users of ongoing crimes or major events in a specific area
• Methods of critiquing emerging ethical dilemmas in science and technology may come from similar methods used in previous critiques of science and technology issues, such as the rise of clinical trials of gene therapy in the 1990s
• Today's approach in critiquing emerging science and technology issues may be influenced by how scientists and non-scientists evaluated the positive and negative implications of clinical trials of gene therapy in the 1990s
• One can continue to specifically draw from the tenets of history, philosophy, and sociology in making informed and critical judgments of the ethical and moral values of these innovations in science and technology
• Helix - a digital app store designed to read genomes.
• Bless U-2 and Pepper - first robot priest and monk.
• Emotion-Sensing Facial Recognition - a software being developed to assess your reactions to anything such as shopping and playing games.
• Ransomware - a way of holding data hostage through hacking and requiring a ransom to be paid.
• Textalyzer - a device that analyzes whether a driver was using his or her phone during an accident.
• Cybercrime is an act that uses computers or networks to commit crimes.
• Brain Computer Interface (BCI) - a system that allows people with paralysis or other disabilities to control computers using their thoughts alone.
• The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to devices connected to the internet that collect and share information about their environment without human intervention.
• Robotics - the branch of engineering and applied science dealing with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots and computer systems for their control, manipulation, and motion.
• Hacking is the unauthorized access into computer systems, devices, or networks with malicious intent.
• Phishing is when someone tries to trick people into giving them personal information by pretending to be from a legitimate company.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) - refers to the ability of machines to perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence.
• Malware is any type of software used to harm a computer system.
• Social Credit System - a system of scoring citizens through their actions by placing them under constant surveillance (which China plays to adopt).
• Google Clips - a hands-free camera that lets the user capture every moment effortlessly.
• Sentencing Software - a mysterious algorithm designed to aid courts in sentencing decisions.
• Friendbot - an app that stores the deceased's digital footprint so one can still "chat" with them.
• • Citizen App - an app that notifies users of ongoing crimes or major events in a specific area
• Robotics - the branch of engineering, biology, technology, science, and cognitive psychology dealing with design, manufacture, and application of robots.