Science, Technology and Society – explores the power social, ethical and political

relationships that drive research and innovation.

Science

• Is a systematized body of knowledge

• Is an organized and dynamic inquiry ( following scientific method)
• Is knowledge gained through observation and experimentation
• Is a human activity : scientist
• Is a social enterprise: people, knowledge, skills, facilities apparatuses and
technologies
• Leads to formation of concepts, methods, principles, theories, law and procedures
which seek to describe and explain nature and its phenomena.

Technology

• As material products: results of scientific inquiry: hardware produced by a scientist.

• As the application of knowledge in solving scientific and practical problems that will
help humans to survive and improve his life.
• As human cultural activities or endeavors
• As a social enterprise. Is a complex system of knowledge, skills, people, Methods,
tools, materials and resources applied and allocated to the development operation
and production of a new or improved product, process or services
• As modern technology based on the advances of science since the end of WWII to
the present

Some of the notable human successes in the field of science and technology

Humans are igneous species. Humans (Homo sapiens) have dreamed up and
created some amazing and far-out things.

The Wheel – The concept of inventing the wheel came during 3500 BC. Humans were
severely limited in how much stuff they could transport over land and how far. The idea
came to connect a non-moving platform to a rolling cylinder. People then invented the
wheel and axle which is the concept of making wheel. The holes at the center of the wheels
and the ends of fixed axles had to be nearly perfectly round and smooth for wheels to work.
Wheeled carts facilitated agriculture and commerce by enabling transportation of goods to
and from markets, as well as easing the burden of people traveling great distances.

The Compass- before mariners navigate with the star but that method didn’t work
during the day or non cloudy nights. The Chinese invented the first compass sometime
between 9th and 11th century: it was made of lodestone a naturally magnetized iron ore
and the attractive properties of which they had been studying for centuries. Soon after the
technology passed on to the Europeans Arabs through nautical contact the compass
enabled mariners to navigate safely far from land increasing see trade and contributing to
the Age of Discovery

Chinese Compass from the Hand Dynasty: it is south indicating lade or Sinan made of
polished lodestones

Printing Press – it was Johannes Gutenberg, a German who invented the press
around 1440. Though others before him including inventors in China and have a developed
the movable type made from metal .Gutenberg was have created a mechanized process
that transferred the ink which he made from linseed oil and soot from the movable type to
paper. Printing press exponentially increased the speed with which book copies could be
made and thus lead to the rapid and widespread dissemination of knowledge for the first
time in history.

Internal combustion engine – in these engines the combustion of fuel releases

higher temperature gas which as it expands applies force to a piston thus combustion
engines convert chemical energy into mechanical work. Decades of engineering by many
scientists went in to designing the internal combustion engine which took its essentially
modern form in the latter half of the 19th century. The engine steered in the industrial Age
which enabled the invention of a huge variety of machines including modern cars

Penicillin – in 1928 the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria field
petri dish in his laboratory the sample had become contaminated with mold and
everywhere the mold was the bacteria was dead. The antibiotic mold turned out to fungus
penicillium and over the next two decades chemist purified it and developed the drug
penicillin which fights a huge number of bacterial infections in humans without harming
the humans themselves. Penicillin was being mass and advertised by 1994.
Internet – is the global system of interconnected computer networks used by billions of
people worldwide. It is impossible to credit the invention of the internet to a single person
as countless people helped develop it. In the 1960’s a team of computer scientists working
for the U.S defense department's APRA ( advanced Research Projects Agency) build a
communication network to connect the computers in the agency called ARPANET. It used
a method of data transmission called “Packet switching” ARPANET was the predecessor
of the internet that eventually emerged to become the “Information superhighway”

Eco- Friendly Technologies/ Advantages : These are sustainable

technologies. Utilizes resources from the environment without causing negative effects to
it.

Solar Energy – use of solar panels top provide electricity

Geothermal Energy -

Wind power - wind mils as source of energy

Disadvantages and Ethical dilemmas of Science and Technology

Threats to human survival – In the invention of nuclear weaponers in 1945, like
the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima that caused deaths of many people. This
was product of chemical and biological warfare( bio-warfare) : toxic wastes produced by
manufacturing companies that threat human survival and stability of the environment

Ethical Dilemmas – exploitation of advanced scientific knowledge and technology

devices and systems gave rise to situations which advances seem t o have turned against
their beneficiaries, creating ethical dilemmas, the negative effects of technology are
numerous in our march to progress we have degraded the natural world. Forest are
chopped down, topsoil is washed away, rivers are polluted and our waste is dumped in the
oceans.

Disparities in Human well being – there are advanced countries enjoying science
and technology based successes and hold high esteem in contemporary society
( economic strength ) versus millions of people in les developed countries who have not
partaken in these benefits
Social and Cultural Conflicts – military power is vital for national security of many
governments superior and highly technical weapons dictated the outcome of some recent
wars.

Innovating technologies can have negative consequences for certain sctors or

constituencies

• Include pollution associated with production processes

• Increased unemployment from labor-saving new technologies
• Conversion of agricultural and land into urban areas
• Effect on humans psychologically and emotionally - the usage and addiction of new
gadgets effect of overused technologies in medical industry that can cause fatal
births and diseases
• Global warming

Science, Technology and Society (STS) also referred to as science and technology and the
study of how social, political and cultural values affect scientific research and
technological innovation and how these in turn affect society.

• Refers to the interaction between science and technology and social cultural,
political and economic contexts which shape and are shaped by them: specific
examples throughout human history of scientific and technological developments

Technology – as a social enterprise. Technology is a complex system of knowledge , skills,

people, methods, tools materials and resources applied and allocated of the development
operation and production of a new or improved product , process or services

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN PHILIPPINES

PHIVOLCS – Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology

DOST - Department of Science and Tecnology

PAGASA – Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration
TECHNOLOGY - Comes from Greek root word : techne” meaning “art, skills or
cunning of hand”

- It is the application of scientific knowledge, laws and principles to produce

services, materials, tools and machines aimed at solving real-world problems
- It refers to methods, system and devices which are the result of scientific
knowledge being used for practical purposes.
- The human attempt to change the world by creating products that make our life
easier

SOCIETY – Came from the Latin word “ Societas” which means “ a friendly association
with others”

- A large group of people who live together in an organized way, making decisions
about how to do things and sharing the work that needs to be done.
- A grouping of individuals, which is characterized by common interest and may
have distinctive culture and institutions

HOW do we define?

Science – process of acquiring scientific knowledge

Technology- Application of scientific knowledge for people

Society – Group of people who uses technology and who are studying in science

How do they interreact?

Society demands more and seek to improve from Science , benefits and makes life from
Technology

Science inform and demands more from technology

Science drives technology by making new technology possible through scientific

breakthroughs

Engineers focus on using science to develop products

What is STS?
Science and technology studies or science, technology and society studies is the
study of how society, politics and culture affect scientific research and technological
innovation and how these in turn affect society politics and culture

Study of STS is important

1. To understand how science, technology and social cultural and material elements
influence the formation of new practices, new ways of understanding and new
institutions important in understanding contemporary postmodern society.
2. New technology and knowledge is fundamental to gauge and imagine the direction
and what is the possible future
3. The interaction between science and technology with society is a very important
field of inquiry which not only leads us to understand not only their relevance but
also their limitation and the problem they create

Science - Systematized body of knowledge based on facts and principles.

Technology – refers to methods, systems and devices which are the result of scientific
knowledge being used for practical purposes

Society- Group of people who uses technology and are studying science.

Culture – shared beliefs , values and practices that participants in a society must learn.

Innovation - Continual quest for understanding the natural world, leading to new
discoveries, technologies and advancements that improve our knowledge and quality of
life

Science – came from the Latin word “ Scientia” - which means knowledge

- As an idea
- - as an intellectual activity
- -as a body of knowledge
- As a personal and social activity
- A system of acquiring knowledge based on the Scientific Method
- As a process used to solve problems or develop and understanding of nature that
involves testing possible answers.
- As a discovery of regularity in nature, enough for natural phenomena to be
described by principles and laws
- An organized systematic and methodical activity of building and organizing
knowledge about how the universe behaves through observation experimentation or
both
- Tries to discover facts and relationships and then tries to create theories that
makes sense of theses facts and relationships