UP TALKS | Interaction of Science, Technology and Society Through Time

Summary

This presentation explores the intricate relationship between science, technology, and society over time. It delves into the early days of science with Aristotelian philosophy, the Industrial Revolution's impact on England, and the modern challenges of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The speaker highlights how societal values, morals, and priorities shape the development and application of scientific knowledge and technology, emphasizing the importance of understanding the science behind technological advancements.

Takeaways

• 🧠 The script discusses the complex interaction of science, technology, and society through time, emphasizing the interdependence and influence among these three elements.
• 🔍 Science is described as a structured approach to understanding nature and physical phenomena, while technology is the practical application of knowledge to modify nature for societal benefit.
• 🌐 The interaction of science, technology, and society (STS) varies significantly based on factors such as geography, ethnology, and the values and priorities of society.
• 🕰 The presentation highlights three case studies to illustrate different time domains: the early days of science, the Industrial Revolution, and modern times with the example of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
• 🏛 The 'birth pains' case study refers to the early days of science, characterized by Aristotelian philosophy and the influence of the church, which led to a long period of stagnated scientific growth.
• 🏭 The Industrial Revolution case study showcases the role of science and technology in powering economic and cultural shifts, particularly in England, and the resulting societal impacts, including the rise of romanticism and environmental concerns.
• 🌱 The modern case study on GMOs explores the societal concerns of food security and health risks, as well as the implications of proprietary ownership of genetically modified plants.
• 🌎 The outcomes of STS interactions are shown to be influenced by the global state of affairs, societal values, and the priorities set by different societies, which act as 'boundary conditions' for scientific development.
• 🚗 An analogy is used to compare the interaction of science, technology, and society to a man driving a car, where science is the brain, society is the body, and technology is the car.
• 📉 The script points out the historical conflict between science and religion, with Thomas Aquinas' synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy and church teachings setting a precedent for this tension.
• 📈 The Industrial Revolution in England was enabled by an abundance of resources, capital, and a necessity for more efficient production methods, leading to significant economic and cultural changes.
• 🌾 The debate over GMOs reflects the ongoing tension between the potential benefits of scientific advancements for food security and the health and ethical concerns raised by society.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video script?

The video script focuses on the complex interaction between science, technology, and society throughout history, and how these interactions have evolved and influenced each other.

How does the script define 'science' in the context of the presentation?

In the script, 'science' is defined as a structured approach to seeking knowledge and explanations of nature and physical phenomena, with the objective of understanding.

What is the script's definition of 'technology'?

'Technology' is described as the ability to control, alter, modify, or tamper with nature to suit practical applications that are beneficial to society.

How is 'society' characterized in the script?

Society is characterized as a human construct composed of people with certain values, morals, prejudices, problems, and priorities, which influences and is influenced by science and technology.

What is the term 'birth pains' referring to in the script?

The term 'birth pains' refers to the early days of science, specifically the Aristotelian philosophy, which was simple and stood for many centuries due to its alignment with the teachings of the church.

What was the impact of Thomas Aquinas on the interaction between science and religion?

Thomas Aquinas synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with the teachings of the church, laying the foundation for the thinking that questioned science was also questioning religious teachings, leading to a long period of stagnated scientific growth.

What were the key factors that led to the Industrial Revolution happening in England?

The key factors included an abundance of coal for power generation, capital from nobility and colonies, and the necessity for more efficient production methods due to the manual labor not being able to cope with demands.

What are the societal concerns regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) mentioned in the script?

The societal concerns regarding GMOs include food security, health risks, and proprietary ownership issues where farmers are not allowed to replant their own seeds after a harvest.

How does the script describe the outcomes of the Industrial Revolution on England?

The outcomes of the Industrial Revolution on England include establishing it as a major power militarily and economically, affecting its art and culture, and introducing global concerns such as pollution due to the burning of fossil fuels.

What is the analogy used in the script to describe the interaction of science, technology, and society?

The analogy used is that of a man driving an automobile, where the brain represents science, the body of the driver represents society, and the automobile represents technology.

What does the script suggest as the role of society in shaping the outcomes of science and technology?

The script suggests that society acts as the 'boundary condition' for science, determining which scientific knowledge and technologies are utilized and how they are applied based on societal values, priorities, and fears.

Outlines

00:00

🔬 The Complexity of Science, Technology, and Society Interaction

This paragraph introduces the intricate relationship between science, technology, and society throughout history. Science is defined as a structured approach to understanding nature, while technology is the practical application of knowledge to manipulate nature for societal benefit. Society's role is highlighted as both the creator and end-user of science and technology, as well as the entity that imposes constraints on their interaction. The paragraph sets the stage for a deeper exploration of this triad, noting that the interaction varies with factors such as geography, ethnology, and the state of global affairs.

05:04

🏛 The Birth Pains of Science and the Church's Influence

This section delves into the early days of science, specifically the Aristotelian philosophy, which was simple and long-standing due to its alignment with the teachings of the church, as synthesized by Thomas Aquinas. The conflict between science and religion is discussed, with the church's power during this era stunting the growth of scientific inquiry. The outcome of this interaction was a prolonged period of scientific stagnation, setting the stage for future conflicts between scientific discovery and societal beliefs.

10:08

⚙️ The Industrial Revolution: A Catalyst for Technological and Societal Change

The second case study focuses on the Industrial Revolution in England, a period marked by advancements in power generation, material science, and mechanics. The revolution was facilitated by an abundance of coal, capital, and a need for more efficient production methods. The outcomes included England's rise as a superpower and the introduction of new economic, cultural, and environmental challenges, such as the beginning of pollution issues due to the burning of fossil fuels.

15:09

🌱 Modern Genetics and the Societal Debate on GMOs

The third case study examines the modern science of genetics, particularly genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and the societal concerns surrounding them. The potential benefits of GMOs for food security are weighed against health risks and proprietary ownership issues. The varying societal responses to GMOs, from acceptance with regulations in the U.S. to outright bans in Russia, illustrate how societal values and priorities shape the integration of scientific advancements.

20:14

🚗 The Dynamic Interplay of Science, Technology, and Society

The final paragraph synthesizes the discussion by likening the interaction of science, technology, and society to a man driving a car. Science is the brain, society the body, and technology the vehicle. The analogy emphasizes that the direction and impact of scientific and technological progress are heavily influenced by societal factors, including values, morals, and priorities. The boundary conditions set by society determine the practical applications and outcomes of scientific knowledge.

Keywords

💡Science

Science refers to a systematic approach to understanding the natural world through observation, experimentation, and the development of theories. In the video, science is portrayed as a structured way of seeking knowledge and explanations of nature and physical phenomena. It is depicted as the 'brain' of the interaction between science, technology, and society, emphasizing its role in driving progress and shaping societal values and priorities.

💡Technology

Technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge to create tools, machines, systems, or methods to serve practical purposes. In the context of the video, technology is the 'automobile' that the 'driver' (society) operates, symbolizing how society utilizes and controls scientific advancements to meet its needs and solve its problems, such as power generation during the Industrial Revolution.

💡Society

Society encompasses the collective group of individuals sharing a culture, values, and norms. The video describes society as having a dual role: as the creator and end-user of science and technology, and as the entity that imposes constraints on their development. Society's values, morals, and priorities are highlighted as critical in shaping the interaction and outcomes of scientific and technological advancements.

💡Interaction

The term 'interaction' in the video refers to the dynamic relationship between science, technology, and society. It is depicted as a complex interplay influenced by various factors such as geography, ethnology, and the state of global affairs. The video uses case studies to illustrate how this interaction has evolved over time and has led to different outcomes in various societal contexts.

💡STS (Science, Technology, and Society)

STS is an acronym for Science, Technology, and Society, which is a field of study that examines the complex relationships among these three domains. The video uses STS as a framework to explore historical and contemporary issues, such as the conflict between science and religion during the Aristotelian era, and the societal impacts of the Industrial Revolution and GMOs.

💡Aristotelian Philosophy

Aristotelian Philosophy represents the early days of scientific thought, characterized by a simple understanding of the world based on four elements: Earth, water, air, and fire. In the video, it is used to illustrate the 'birth pains' of science, highlighting the long-standing influence of this philosophy and its conflict with the Church, which stunted scientific growth for centuries.

💡Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution, particularly the first one in England, is a pivotal historical period that the video uses to discuss the transformative impact of technological advancements on society. It brought about significant changes in power generation, material use, and manufacturing processes, leading to England's rise as a global superpower and introducing new societal challenges such as pollution.

💡Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

GMOs are organisms whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The video discusses GMOs as a modern case study, examining their potential to address food security and the health risks associated with their consumption. It also touches on the societal concerns regarding proprietary ownership and the implications for farmers.

💡Case Studies

Case studies are in-depth examinations of specific instances or events used to illustrate broader concepts or principles. The video employs three case studies—the Aristotelian era, the Industrial Revolution, and GMOs—to demonstrate how the interaction of science, technology, and society varies across different historical periods and societal contexts.

💡Differential Equation

In the video, a differential equation is used as a metaphor to describe the relationship between science and society. It suggests that science offers a multitude of possibilities (infinite solutions), but it is society that provides the 'boundary conditions' needed to determine the specific outcomes that are beneficial or detrimental.

Highlights

The complex interaction of science, technology, and society is influenced by various factors including geography, ethnology, and societal values.

Science is defined as a structured approach to understanding nature and physical phenomena.

Technology is the ability to manipulate nature for practical applications beneficial to society.

Society's role as the creator, end-user, and constraint in the interaction with science and technology.

The early days of science, characterized by Aristotelian philosophy, had a simplistic approach with four elements.

The conflict between science and religion was evident during the time of Thomas Aquinas.

The Industrial Revolution in England was marked by advancements in power generation, materials, and manufacturing.

The enabling environment in England, including abundant coal and capital, facilitated the Industrial Revolution.

The outcomes of the Industrial Revolution include England's rise as a superpower and the beginning of environmental concerns like pollution.

Genetics and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are central to modern discussions on food security and health risks.

GMOs address food security by increasing yield and resistance to pests, as well as adapting to challenging environments.

Health risks and proprietary ownership concerns are significant societal issues related to GMOs.

Different societies have varied responses to GMOs, influenced by their values, morals, and laws.

The analogy of a man driving a car illustrates the dynamic relationship between science, society, and technology.

Science is a differential equation with society providing the boundary conditions for its application.

The importance of understanding the science behind technology to move from being consumers to producers.

The impact of social media on the dissemination and understanding of scientific results.

Transcripts

[Music]

hello everyone today I'll be talking

about the interaction of science

technology and society through time the

introduction of the three science

technology and society is actually very

complex because it depends on a lot of

factors of course there are elements of

science technology and also more

complicated and extreme elements as far

as society is concerned in this context

we will be using science as for instance

a way of knowing in addition to

traditional ways of seeking knowledge

science as a structured approach in our

search for answers and explanations of

nature physical phenomena with of course

the utmost objective of arriving at an

understanding on the other hand for

technology we'll be referring to our

ability to control alter modify or

tamper with nature in order to suit a

certain practical applications that is

hopefully beneficial to society and for

society of course we are referring to

the human society calm composed of

people with certain values morals

prejudices problems and priorities and

at the end of the presentation you shall

see that the society in addition to

being the creator of Science and

Technology the society is also the

end-user and the society also poses the

greatest constraint as far as Science

and Technology interaction with society

is concerned science interruption varies

with several factors it varies with

geography and ethnology characteristic

of the society for instance the

interaction

the three the interaction of STS would

be different in a society that is for

instance highly religious it would be

different also for societies that are

highly industrialized it would be

different for societies for instance in

an English society the interaction of

science technology and society is also

glaringly different it also varies with

time because throughout our history

things change

factors change forces change so I will

be giving three case studies in this

presentation to sample different time

domains starting from the early days of

science and then followed by the early

days of technology and on to the modern

times and also the interaction of the

three varies with the state of global

affairs because the state of global

affairs sometimes dictates the

priorities of society and the priorities

of society have a very huge impact as

far as the appropriation of Science and

Technology is concerned so for the first

case let's talk about what I call the

birth pains the birth pains refer to the

early days of science which we refer to

as Aristotelian philosophy admittedly

there was no technology during this time

yet and characteristic of Aristotelian

philosophy if you notice from your

readings is that it's a very simple

science one virtue of the scientific

theory is simplicity as you know and

Aristotelian science is so simple in

fact Aristotelian chemistry enumerates

only four elements that of Earth water

air and fire and that's so simple maybe

that's the reason why or part of the

reasons why it stood for many centuries

and of course when

I'm talking about society during these

times and the major forces of society in

this era is of course the church and of

course another personality named Thomas

Aquinas so we'll talk about that

outcomes of the interaction of the three

as you know and up to this time there is

a constant conflict between science and

religion or science and the church well

historically this conflict goes as early

as when Thomas Aquinas made the

synthesis regarding Aristotelian

philosophy and the teachings of the

church as being in consonance with the

street with each other

so Aquinas actually laid the foundation

of the of the thinking that when you

attack Aristotelian philosophy you also

attacked the teachings of the church

so for a very long time nobody dared

question Aristotelian philosophy of

course there was no technology yet that

can be used to verify or falsify his

theories during these times and so what

are the outcomes of this interaction of

science and society during this time the

glaring outcome would be actually the

stagnated growth of science it took

almost two thousand years before science

can develop at least in initial baby

steps up to the state that it is now

today so this interaction during this

time soberest italian philosophy and the

great power that is the church would of

course echo up to the modern times and

it also laid the foundation of a lot of

conflicts throughout the history of

science and society as a second case

let's take the case of the Industrial

Revolution or

we refer to it as the first Industrial

Revolution according to science

historians the one that happened in

England or in Great Britain so the

science that is at play here includes

power generation the knowledge of

generating new sources of power as a

revolution or as a change or as a

departure from the use of beasts of

burden like the horses as the main or

the primary source of power

it is also during that this time that we

are learning we were learning how to use

new materials how to how to understand

the properties of these new materials

like steel also the English science as

you know during these times we already

have a knowledge of mechanics brought to

us by Isaac Newton and the science of

economics mainly by Adam Smith's in his

Adam Smith in his book Wealth of Nations

the technology involved during the first

Industrial Revolution are machines

machines that we used in mining in

manufacturing manufacturing refers to a

replacement of the putting out method

the manual labor based manufacturing to

a machine based manufacturing we also

use machines for construction

transportation particularly in the

development of the railway systems and

modern communication and of course the

society that we are referring to in this

particular era would be the English

society its economy its status as a

superpower in the world and it's art and

culture so what are the outcomes of this

of this interaction but before we talk

about the outcomes of interaction maybe

it would be beneficial also for us to

understand why the first Industrial

Revolution happened in England the short

story is it happened in England and not

everywhere else because of enabling

environment it is a collaboration of

fortunate circumstances as far as power

generation is concerned England is

blessed with abundance of coal because

coal would soon replace the the animals

or the horse as the main source of power

coal would usher in the technology of

the steam engines so resources and also

capital the English capital is enormous

as you know you have lots of nobility's

in there also English the the English

colonies all over the world from Africa

to Asia to South America and so in

addition that there are all natural

resources they can all see also simply

source resources from their colonies

thomas forest canada and australia and

finally of course all these science and

technology are born out of necessity the

english society had realized that the

manual form of production cannot cope up

with the demands so it started with the

clothing industry actually we have lots

of cotton coming from india but they

cannot cope up as far as converting this

cotton into usable pieces of clothing so

the outcome of this case study is the

person's Estoril revolution will also

echo until our times today

it put England as the major power

militarily economically and so on during

this time this interruption also

affected not only England's economy but

its art and culture this is the rise of

romantic

and of course this is also the starting

point for a problem that would occupy us

until today it's a global concern this

is the problem of pollution when we

started burning fossil fuels

during the first Industrial Revolution

the carbon dioxide level in our

atmosphere also began to shoot up and as

a third case study I will take you to

the modern times the science that is

involved here is the science of genetics

our understanding of the genes the the

code that dictates everything from from

scenes up to the adult stages of plants

and animals the technology I will be

referring to specifically for

genetically modified organisms as food

source and of course what are the

societal concerns as far as GMOs are

involved well the two major concerns

would be food security and health

concerns or health risks as far as food

security is concerned some experts claim

that GMOs is one of the possible answers

towards addressing the stability or the

security as far as food supply is

concerned why because GMOs GMOs are

genetically modified plants as food

source I'm not talking about the animals

yet which are pest resistant okay in

other words we can minimize wastage

during the growth process and this

results into an increased yield during

harvest time

so aside from being resistant to pests

we can also genetically modify plants

like what they did

China to be able to grow certain species

of rice in salt water or in brackish

water and that's a very important step

because particularly in our country we

have limited times as far as rice

production is concerned or rice culture

is concerned because we are heavily

dependent on rains but we do have a lot

of salt water we are surrounded by salt

water so if we can adopt this technology

or if we can replicate this technology

this rice the breed of rice that

survives in salt water then it would

mean a lot as far as food security in

our country is concerned the second

societal concern with GMOs would be

health risks some people are claiming

that GMOs are hazardous to your health

that why would I eat a gym or corn for

instance when even the insects would

refuse to eat it something like that

of course this emanates this concerns

emanate from the lack of science or the

lack of understanding of science or the

lack of studies that would point towards

whether or not gym or food really pose

health risks to people so and the other

concern as far as society is concerned

also in these GMOs would be the

proprietary ownership of the genetically

modified plant because farmers are not

allowed to to plant their own seeds

after a particular harvest they are

required to buy a new batch from the

owners of the technology so there is

also this concern and particularly this

concern is among

our farmers so what are the outcomes the

outcomes depends on the Society for

science-based society of course for

example the American Society allowed the

consumption of GMOs with certain

requirements according to rigor to their

law such as the full disclosure that a

certain food product contains GMOs

Russia doesn't allow GMOs to be part of

the food supply for its population in

the Philippines of course well we all

know what happened to the beet it along

it has been discontinued so as you can

see the response of society to science

and to the emerging technology worries

not only according to the natural

characteristic of that society its

values its morals but also it varies

with time today is the time where in

scientific results can easily be

accessed by people through social media

of course mostly in lemon ice form so

that is both a good news and a bad news

because more and more people would be

educated as far as scientific results

are concerned because the case is we

usefully are aware only of the

technology but we don't care about the

science behind the technology in other

words we are consumers we are not

producers we are not producers of

technologies we simply appropriate this

technology for our benefits so as a

summary I would like to compare the

interaction of science technology and

society to this image here the image of

a man driving an automobile depending on

the society that you are in

I would like science to be the brain of

this driver

so the brain is science the body of the

driver is society and the automobile is

the technology and this analogy I

believe is particularly true for the

industrialized society the science-based

society because in other regions of the

world in other society the brain is the

society it's the society that dictates

which science and which technology to

operate it's the society that dictates

how we utilize a scientific knowledge

for good or for bad

and these decisions of course are based

on the priorities of the society as I

said at the start of this lecture the

natural characteristic of the society

its geography its priorities its

problems its fears and everything about

it will ultimately become the whole

strength to science and technology I

don't remember the author who said this

but he said that science is a

differential equation and religion or

society in general is the boundary

condition in other words science can

give us a lot of things an infinite

number of things good or bad that's what

a differential equation is it has

infinite number of solutions but to

arrive at a particular solution you need

boundary conditions and these boundary

conditions are supplied by society so in

other words science has to satisfy the

needs the priorities the fears and

everything of the society in order to

yield certain results that are useful

also for the society thank you

[Music]

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