Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Lecture Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, historical antecedents, Filipino inventions, intellectual revolutions, nation-building initiatives, Heideggerian concepts, and Aristotelian ethics from the Science, Technology, and Society lecture notes.

Science

Derived from the Latin word scientia (meaning 'knowledge'), it is the systematic study of nature and the universe through observation and experimentation.

Modern Science (John Heilbron)

According to John Heilbron, modern science is both discovery and invention, discovering patterns and laws in nature while inventing tools, methods, and equipment to study them.

Technology

Derived from the Greek word techne (meaning 'art, skill, or cunning of hand'), it is the application of scientific knowledge to create tools, machines, materials, and services.

Science and Technology Distinction (Lewis Wolpert)

Lewis Wolpert notes that Science seeks to understand how nature and the universe works, whereas Technology uses scientific knowledge to improve human abilities and solve practical problems.

Science, Technology and Society (STS)

The study of the relationship between Science, Technology, and Society and how they influence one another.

Helix

A digital app store designed to read genomes.

Bless U-2 and Pepper

The first robot and monk.

Emotion Sensing Facial Recognition

A software developed to assess your reactions to anything.

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 Discredit System

A system scoring citizens through their actions by placing them under constant surveillance.

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.

Friend-bot

An app that stores the deceased's digital footprint so one can still 'chat' with them.

Citizen App

An app that sends users location-based safety alerts in real time.

Antecedent

A precursor to the unfolding or existence of something.

Sumerian Wheel

Invented by Sumerians around 3500 BCE, first used for pottery and later for transportation.

Potter's Wheel

A spinning tool used to shape clay into pottery, making the process faster, easier, and more precise.

Heavy Plough

A Middle Ages invention that allowed farmers to cultivate heavy clay soil, making farming more productive.

Gun Powder

Accidentally invented by Chinese alchemists around 850 AD while searching for the elixir of life.

Paper Money

Originated in China through block printing and later spread to Europe, where bank notes became common in the 17th century.

Mechanical Clock

An invention during the Middle Ages that improved accurate timekeeping and changed how people worked and managed their daily lives.

Spinning Wheel

An invention during the Middle Ages that improved textile production by making it faster and easier to turn fibers into yarn for weaving.

Compound Microscope

Invented by Zacharias Janssen and his father Hans Janssen by placing several lenses inside a tube.

Practical Telescope

Invented by Galileo Galilei, capable of magnifying objects up to 20x.

Jacquard Loom

Invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard, making textile production easier and faster during the Industrial Revolution.

Engine-Powered Airplane

Designed and successfully flown by Orville and Wilbur Wright (the Wright brothers).

Modern Television

Invented and demonstrated by John Logie Baird from 1924 to 1928, displaying outlined objects (1924), recognizable human faces (1926), and colored images (1928).

Electronic Jeepney (E-Jeepney)

A vehicle inspired by military jeeps left by Americans after World War II, first introduced in Metro Manila and Bacolod City.

Erythromycin

An antibiotic invented by Abelardo Aguilar made from the bacterium Streptomyces Erythreus.

Medical Incubator

Invented by Fe Del Mundo, serving as an incubator and jaundice-relieving device.

Banana Ketchup

Invented by Maria Orosa as an alternative to tomato ketchup during World War II.

Mole Remover

Invented by Rolando Abelardo using cashew nut extracts to remove moles and warts without surgery.

Copernican Revolution

A 16th-century paradigm shift named after Polish mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

Heliocentric Model

Formulated by Nicolaus Copernicus, stating that the Sun is the center of the solar system.

Commentariolus

A short, hand-circulated manuscript by Nicolaus Copernicus that served as the very first outline of his heliocentric theory.

De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium

The 1543 publication of Nicolaus Copernicus's treatise on his heliocentric model.

Geocentric Model

The theory stating that the Earth was the center of the solar system.

Darwinian Revolution

Stirred by Charles Darwin, showing that life evolves through natural selection where the fittest survive.

Freudian Revolution

Initiated by Sigmund Freud, who developed psychoanalysis and the theory of 5 Psychosexual Developments.

Psychoanalysis

A scientific method of understanding inner and unconscious conflict.

Id, Ego, and Superego

Freudian components of personality: Id seeks immediate pleasure and gratification, Ego manages decision making and reality, and Superego represents morality.

Bureau of Science

Established in 1905 during the American Period, it became the main research center in the Philippines.

NAST

National Academy of Science and Technology, established in 1976 under President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Filipinnovation

An initiative promoted during Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's presidency to encourage innovation in the Philippines.

2014 Philippine National Scientists

Gavino Trono (Marine Biology), Angel Alcala (Biological Science), Ramon Barba (Horticulture), and Edgardo Gomez (Marine Biology).

Diwata 1 and Diwata 2

Micro-satellites launched in 2016 and 2018 respectively under President Rodrigo Duterte's administration.

Martin Heidegger

German philosopher (1889–1976) focused on ontology who stated, 'The essence of technology is by no means anything technological.'

Instrumental Definition of Technology

Defines technology as a means to an end and a tool used to achieve a purpose.

Anthropological Definition of Technology

Defines technology as a human activity involving creation, production, and usage.

Poiesis

A Greek term meaning 'bringing forth' something that was concealed.

Aletheia

A Greek term meaning truth, unconcealedness, or disclosure.

Techne

Knowledge or skill of making and performing, encompassing craft, art, poetry, and acts of the mind.

Challenging Forth

The mechanism of modern technology that extracts, transforms, stores, and distributes natural resources.

Enframing

Ordering or framing nature so humans can control and manipulate it.

Calculative Thinking

A mode of thinking that measures, organizes, and controls nature.

Meditative Thinking

A mode of thinking that allows nature to reveal itself without force.

Standing Reserve

The status of nature and humans when they are treated merely as resources available for use.

Destining

The process by which humans become instruments of technology through enframing.

Art as the Saving Power

Heidegger's view that art, as a form of techne and way of revealing, encourages meditative thinking and protects against the dangers of technology.

Questioning as the Piety of Thought

The practice of pausing to think and question technology to comprehend its effects and recognize its dangers.

Instrumental Good

A good that serves as a means to achieve another goal.

Intrinsic Good

A good that is desirable in and of itself.

Eudaimonia

An Aristotelian concept meaning happiness, human flourishing, or 'living well and doing well', requiring virtue and excellence.

Rational Soul

The unique feature of humans that enables them to live through reason and achieve true eudaimonia.

Arete

A Greek term meaning virtue or excellence.

Intellectual Virtue

Virtue developed through education, time, and experience.

Moral Virtue

Virtue developed through habit and practice.

Golden Mean

The Aristotelian principle that virtue lies between excess and deficiency (e.g., courage between cowardice and recklessness).

Hedonism

A school of thought stating that the good life consists of pleasure.

Stoicism

A school of thought focused on accepting things that are outside of our control.

Humanism

A school of thought asserting that humans shape their own destiny.

11 Aristotelian Virtues

Courage, Temperance, Liberality, Magnificence, Magnanimity, Pride, Patience, Truthfulness, Wittiness, Friendliness, and Modesty.