What is Science?

Science and Technology

• Science shapes people into holistic individuals and productive citizens

Science

• From the Latin word "scientia," meaning "knowledge"
• It involves a system/method to answer questions about the universe's nature
• It's empirical; arguments are based on observations and experiences that are systematically collected and analyzed
• It is evidence-based, meaning descriptions of living and non-living things are grounded on systematically, critically analyzed data

Soft vs Hard Science

• Soft Science: Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy, and Communication
• Hard Science: Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Physiology

Science: Discovery and Invention

• Science is discovery and invention ("modern science")
• It discovers regularity in nature so natural phenomena are described by principles/laws
• It requires techniques/abstractions/apparatuses/organization to describe natural regularities and their law-like descriptions

Technology

• It goes hand-in-hand with science, as the application of scientific knowledge/laws/principles produces services/materials/tools/machines to solve real-world problems
• From the Greek "techne," meaning "art, skill, or cunning of hand"
• It is purposive, with practical reasons beyond just describing the universe
• Aims to make lives more convenient/efficient/comfortable
• Empowers humans

Mark Zuckerberg's Definition of Technology

• Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) states that it takes a human's sense/ability, augments it, and makes it more powerful

Technology and Science

• Because modern science drives current technological advancements, many think science came before technology, which is opposite
• Technology is much older than science
• Technology even happened before ancestors made formal the study of the universe
• Great leaps in technology during critical periods of science history took place without much contribution from science as a formal field of study
• Ancestors used trial and error to test tools/materials/products/infrastructure
• Precise engineering sciences today came from ancient engineering practices that tested a building's strength using the "five-minute theorem" (building stands still five minutes after scaffoldings removed, it will probably last forever)
• Five-minute theorem sounds unscientific/risky
• Ancient structures stand the test of time without "modern science"

The Birth of STS as a Field of Study

• Can be traced back to two important periods of 20th-century history:
  • End of World War I and beginning of World War II: A brief yet pivotal junction known as the "Interwar Period," seeing significant changes in economy/politics/society on a global scale
  • After World War II (1945-1991): Previously warring nations continued war through indirect conflict ("Cold War")
• Countries upgraded capacities for both direct (military/nuclear) and indirect (industrial/ communication/transportation) war/conflict
• Social scientists/historians/sociologists, scientists involved in discovery/production of science/tech became concerned about the impacts/drawbacks of wars/conflicts and the role of science/tech
• They became increasingly interested in intricate links between scientific knowledge, tech systems produced, and society (how it shapes and is shaped)
• Scientists who participated in developing atomic theory couldn't have easily predicted its impact on technology/society
• After seeing their theory used in atomic bombs and the resulting devastation, they decided to take a more active role in decision-making related to the conduct/applications of science/technology
• STS as an academic and social enterprise was arguably born at that critical period of the 20th century
• STS combines previously independent/older disciplines like history, philosophy, and sociology of science
• As an interdisciplinary field, its emergence was a result of questions about dynamic interaction with various aspects of society and was thus viewed as a socially embedded enterprise
• The tenets of STS are hoped to empower students/citizens to take a more active role in social change/nation-building through renewed understanding of the space that science/tech takes up in the various spheres of everyday living
• STS seeks to bridge humanities (interpretive) and natural sciences (rational) to confront the moral/ethical/existential dilemmas brought by the continued rise of science/tech
• STS applies methods drawn from history/philosophy/sociology to study the nature of science/tech and judge its value/scope/impacts
• No one field owns STS; it is neither exclusive for hard sciences nor social sciences majors; it is a hybrid field aiming to integrate cross-disciplinary frameworks/encourage civic engagement/promote critical thinking regarding timely and relevant science and technology issues
• It questions how scientific discovery/tech developments link with ventures like politics/governance, public policy, law/justice, ethics/morality, economy, sociology, anthropology, and culture
• Due to the awakening from the Interwar Period and Cold War, STS as an academic discipline commenced
• It concerns itself with how people/society are producers/users of science/tech
• Hopes to offer resources for evaluating the benefits/risks/perils/promises of modern science/tech (like the atomic bomb scientists did)

Is Science Dangerous?

• Classic debate in STS is encapsulated in the question, "Is Science Dangerous?"
• In studying STS, study happens during a time of overwhelming fear/distrust of science, whether scientists are driven by wisdom and social responsibility, in the pursuit of their research scientists "playing God" is a recurring theme
• Wolpert responds in Medawar Lecture 1998, asserting, "reliable scientific knowledge is value-free and has no moral or ethical value"
• Science simply describes how the universe works, producing ideas/explanations about how the world works
• Technology applies that knowledge to create something/use it for some practical purpose
• Modern technology is based on fundamental science
• Scientists face political/financial constraints to pursue research, needing funding from political/business interests and marketing/business skills
• Moral standards/ethical values cannot be imposed on a discipline whose only concern is to describe the inner workings of the world
• How we evolved from ancestors who shared characteristics with apes is neither good nor bad
• Danger lies when this knowledge is used/applied in technology, science/technology is often taken as one and the same, leading to conflation

Medawar Lecture 1998

• Relies on caveat of "reliable" as safeguard against taking viewpoint as absolute
• Science can't be free from moral/ethical value
• Science/scientific experiment is proven unreliable or breaches the principles of the scientific method, moral/ethical standards can be imposed
• Some experiments raise ethical issues on test subjects, like vaccine development experiments
• Research on genetic modification of crops/food products poses risk to people's safety and richness/balance in biodiversity
• Scientific ventures are problematic not in what they are concerned about but in how the experiments/research are funded
• Editorial policies in scientific journals include a statement of conflict of interest/declaration of funding for transparency, so readers can vet reliability
• In this context, "good" means reliable
• When science has established itself as reliable and presents a reliable description of how the world works, one can take Wolpert's words as true.

Socially Responsible Science

• Modern science/tech ushered in an era where problems faced previously are no longer a concern
• Humans enjoy the comfort/convenience/efficiency of 21st-century living
• Problems faced today are complicated by the same science/tech meant to address them (data breach/invasion of privacy, public health emergencies/pandemics, hate crimes/gun violence due to misuse/abuse of science and collapse of ethical/moral fibers)
• As scientific/tech advancements move us forward, they open up possibilities for more catastrophic outcomes

Carl Sagan's Quote

• "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."

Good vs Socialist Science

• Complex entanglements of science/tech/modern societies demand a science that does not only follow minimum requisites for it to be good, but speaks truth to power when governments/business interests use it as a tool for maintaining their power/influence
• Scientists must ensure methodological accuracy for reliable ideas about how the world works and, ultimately, be free from moral/ethical values
• Scientists must stand and speak against those who misuse scientific ideas for selfish gains/unfair advantage in politics/governance/business/economy
• Scientists must be fully transparent about their research, include discussing limitations of their experiments and tackle social/political/economic/cultural consequences of findings
• Scientists must use their voice/engage in discursive participation on how to use their findings for addressing societal problems
• Scientists must take an active role in discussing how to make science accessible to the ordinary person, talk about ideas using non-technical language, and communicate empathically
• Scientists must participate in discussions of how science can inform governance/active citizenship, volunteering their expertise in shaping science-driven policies
• Scientists have obligations to support democratic societies and ensure ordinary people's rights are taken care of by and through science, Wolpert says, comes from privilege to specialized knowledge so has to be used in pursuit of the greater good

Public Understanding of Science

• A goal of Science, Technology, and Society as an academic discipline is to promote public understanding of science
• Ordinary citizens have apprehension towards science brought about by a fear of not having sufficient technical and sophisticated understanding
• Historically, scientific findings were exclusive/accessible only to scientists and a small inner circle, missing out on the many benefits of public understanding of science
• It is crucial for the public to participate in science issues affecting their lives/self-interest
• The public will benefit good science education allowing them to succeed and become productive in science-driven markets/economies and issues of democratic participation
• Ordinary citizens understand science, innovations/products of scientific endeavors are more likely to be accepted/shaped by shared values/geared towards pursuing the greater good
• Public must demand competitive science education/transparency of scientific data, and governments must encourage public participation on matters involving science/public policy
• Countries successful in preventing/mitigating/responding to health, economic, and societal impacts of COVID-19 have a vibrant public understanding of science, local scientific community with a voice in policy, and government that listens to science/people (South Korea as example)

Republic of Korea Covid Response

• Kang Kyung-wha underscored the principles openness, transparency, and fully keeping the public informed
• Public was informed about the government's strategic plans every step of the way, given full transparency of COVID-19 situation/government's response/people-focused initiatives
• Keys to their successful response with explanations of each:
  • Testing is central for early detection, minimizes further spread of virus, and quickly treats those found with the virus
  • Government quickly approved the testing system/shared with pharmaceutical companies to produce the reagent and equipment
  • Monitored afterwards through a mobile phone application
  • Very demanding

Response to COVID-19

• Is telling of the role of public understanding in critical science issues that beset global societies today. One common denominator among countries that did well is that governments in these countries did not only listen to their people but also encouraged them to speak up.

Ethical Dilemmas

• Issues in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more options, resolving doesn't free from breach of ethical guidelines
• A person should select a response that doesn't align with ethical codes/societal norms/their morality because of ethical guidelines
• Require deciding on a plausible course of action whose potential benefits on human health, safety, outweigh risks
• The COVID-19 pandemic is an ethical dilemma because science-based approaches are surrounded with questions regarding their ethical compliance
• Actions: Appropriate action in the economy failing while cases rising; open? In what manner? Enforce movement restrictions? Immediately after, prolonged restrictions, and what types of support do we provide to the most economically vulnerable? is there a compromise? Safeguards?

Ethical dilemmas

• Robot abuse, Doomscrolling, and a "Digital Twin". The tech battle for the Arctic. Secret surveillance/Facebook; and selfie and dream-altering sleep medicin and civil-app evicting those a data voids of misinformation
• List points to the ever-growing challenges and complex entanglements of science and technology and living in the modern world, facing them head on tackling these now dispels our fears of things simply because we do not know and understand them
• Are for everyone thirsty for knowledge and concerned not others. Individuals can be encouraged to participate in science and technology if we spoke about it as able to live a healthy and meaningful

Section 2: Place of the History of Science in STS

• It is an interdisciplinary discipline, which brings together previously independent and older disciplines, among those is the history of science
• As a subdiscipline of STS, History of Science is, encompasses the study of the development of science across time.
• Seeks to explore how science evolved.
• Explains that historians of science aim to get a accurate depiction of science in the past
• By doing so, historians of science achieve the applications: gives way to study science
• Discussing with students benefits
• Encorages the history of science benefitds

What's in a Historical Antecedent

• defined as a precursor to the unfolding or existence of something.
• defined as it is like way for to define antecedent
• Focus on bitcoin(digital) and can be sent
• Blockchain is an example
• Tangible antecedents like money such as pennies and copper coins
• Such as the 2018 Lehman Brothers which led to its burtth
• Made to take monetary control
• Which meant that if society can be shaped by STS

Ancient Age

• Relied on proto science, was just unfolding
• Proper science,method place during middle ages
• Knowledge handed down by oral tradition
• Humans were focused on survival
• Mesopotamia;Ancient civilization; foundation of science:writing
• Advanced modes of transport

Outstanding age

Ancient Wheel

• Who and what is unknown
• called Potters wheel(heavy plate) that was horizonal
• Sumarins invented it after 350 B.C
• Wheel that that cart came from

Paper

• 300 b.c egypt
• Write on animal skin
• Easy to get
• Make doc and store

Shadoof

• Tool from egypt
• Nile farmers needed help for water
• used to lift
• Farming was made easy/efficient

Antikythera mechanism

• Analog computer
• Time piece that was used
• Make forward the button
• Used to predict time Aeolipile
• Ancient power
• First steam engine

Middle Ages

• steady increase in new inventions, introduction of innovations in traditional production.

• divide this period into three subperiods: the Early Middle Ages (476-1000 A.D.), the High Middle Ages (1000-1250 A.D.), and the Late Middle Ages (1250-1500 A.D.)

Early Middle Ages (476-1000)

true dark ages

• Bede's meticulous record of the Saxon Era and a book on using astronomical

• Observations

• Monks from the East cared for biblical study High Middle Ages (1000-1250)

• growth and identity by Christ

• The Translation(Greek to Arabic).

• and geometry and mathematical with Romans

Late Middle Ages (1250-1500)

• Wipped progress, wiped out the social, Famine
• 791 english francisca friar william was one
• His the idea for science modern
• Newoton Physics/ motion

Outstanding Middle Age Inventions

Heavy Plow

• Was most important since it could till Clay soil

GunPowder

• From Alchemists/black powder

Money Paper

• 7AD
• Chinese invention

Mechanical Clock

• Accurate clock for first time
• More sophisticated clocks

Spinning wheel

• Fiber into thread: weaving

Modern Age

• Population increas. Tec innov
• Western is based here

Early mod

• Great diver, printing,rate,reforms,
• Secular science:bacon

Late mode\period

• Changes in society, america: 1777, First, america revolution altered fact.
• City Centers; new cities for facs

Modern inventions

Combound micros

• Make it smaller and larger: science studies

Telescope

• Bigger in the 20s with dust

Jacq Loom

• French weaven: design

Engine

• Flight: orville and brother

Television

• John Logie
• Scotland

The Historical

• Scientific important,
• The study of all

History

• Revolution one one that

Scientific:

• Took the beliefs
• Greek view point to nature

Emphasis:

• New method to think scientific.
• New thought and reconsion

Great person

• Revoluition
• Scieitific: and society

Society one:

• Was for the system
• Copericcus revo

Darwind rev

• Species and origin
• 18 and mid
• Lywell one of the great geologist of charles
• Finch was the most to explore

Darwinism

• A great change when we explore
• Function when

Freudian Rev

• Inner conflict on someone's part
• The one person from
• the society

Revo-scientific

• Make safe and better one
• We need make to. Do correctly and think carefully

Sec 4 survey and on on phillipines

• Native natural
• The ancient and to the

The spainsh

• In the area on what and do

Science to the state

• It was only on the and its area

Sclentifs

• In the country

Electronic

• Help with clean from electric

Erythromycini

• Help with medicine

Incubateur

• Help newborns

MoleRemore

• Remove from to a lot

Kechup

• Help with people and tomato and sauce