HUMAN FLOURISHING IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Technology


  A branch of knowledge that deals with the collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation
• Martin Heidegger


  • Widely acknowledged to be one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century
  • German philosopher who was part of the Continental tradition to philosophy
• Instrumental Definition of Technology

  Technology is a means to an end
• Anthropological Definition of Technology

  Technology is a human activity, the production or invention of technological equipment, tools and machines, the products and inventions, and the purpose and functions they serve
• Essentialism or Substantive Theory


  • Attributes autonomous cultural force to technology that overrides all traditional and competing values
• Constructivism or Instrumental Theory


  • Treats technology as subservient to values established in other social spheres like politics and culture
• Aletheia


  Unhiddenness or disclosure, or truth
• Poiesis


  Bringing forth, making or producing something for a purpose
• Techne


  Skill, art, or craft
• In Heidegger's work, technology is a poiesis that discloses or reveals the truth
• In art, techne refers to tangible and intangible aspects of life, and the Greeks understood it as encompassing not only craft, but other acts of the mind, and poetry
• The idea that one could understand the universe in a detached way, by discovering the principles that organize the richness and the diversity of phenomena, created a breakthrough in the development of humanity similar to the control of fire or the creation of language itself
• The essence of technology is not found in the instrumentality and function of machines constructed, but in the significance such technology unfolds
• The dangers of technology lie in how humans let themselves be consumed by it, and humans must recognize how they become instruments of technology
• Recognizing the dangers of technology requires critical and reflective thinking on its use, such as the benefits and drawbacks of social media use