STS - History of the relationship of Science, Technology, & Society

Interbreeding Theory

• Homo sapiens interbred with other homo species

Replacement Theory

• Homo sapiens replaced the homo species of other regions

Cognitive Revolution

• Developed new ways of thinking and communicating.

Agricultural Revolution

• Developed an efficient way for food production

Scientific Revolution

• Developed abstract reasoning, qualitative thought, etc.

Technological Determinism

• Advances in technology are the drivers of change in social values and norms in society.

Base

• Machinery that provides the equipment to develop, shape, and maintain the society

Superstructure

• Develop, shape, and maintain the base, further improving the means of production.

Flexible Language

• Transmit larger quantities of information about the world surrounding humans

• Planning out complex actions

Gossip

• Transmit larger quantities of information about humans’ social relationships

• Built trust among groups of people

• Built larger and more cohesive groups

Fictions

• Transmit information about things that do not really exist, such as human rights, nations, and liabilities.

• Cooperation between larger numbers of strangers to those with shared assumptions and goals

• Rapid innovation of social behavior.

Gorging Gene Theory

• Bodies evolved to store fat efficiently during times of food scarcity

• When food was scarce and unpredictable, individuals who could efficiently store energy as fat had a better chance of surviving famine

Percussion Method

• Two stones, such as flint and ironstone, are struck together to produce high-temperature sparks

Friction Method

• Two materials are rubbed together to produce heat and start a fire.

Flint

• the first mineral that was mined, which was ideal for the creation of tools and weapons

Gold Panning

• Sediments from the lowlands of mines are placed in the basin. Heavier minerals sink while gold floats.

Venus of Hohle Fels

• Depiction of the female human body

• Symbolizes the prosperous birth of a woman

Löwenmensch (Lion Man)

• Earliest representation of a god, and a representation of shamanic beliefs

Petroglyphs

• Mosaic in cave walls

• Depiction of their daily lives

Fertile Crescent

• Where most of the Homo sapiens settled

• Region in the Middle East from the Persian Gulf, through modern-day southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and northern Egypt.

• Regarded as the birthplace of agriculture, urbanization, writing, trade, science, history, and organized religion

Social Stratification

• emergence of classes whose main task is the administration of people.

slavery system

• seen in large empires (e.g., Rome) may have been a means to maintain control of food production and building creation.

creation of laws

• resulting in the creation of soldiers, warriors, administrators, scribes, and politicians can also be ways of maintaining means of production that are seen to stabilize the existing social order.

Bronze Age

• Witnessed the rise of states or kingdoms

• States interacted with each other through trade, warfare, migration, and the spread of ideas.

Sumer

• Modern-day southern Iraq

• ___ians (Sag-giga)

• Pioneered the use of levees and canals for irrigation

• Ziggurats, rectangular stepped towers

• Epic of Gilgamesh

Babylonia

• Modern-day Iraq

• Amorites

• Code of Hammurabi

• Tower of Babel

• Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Assyria

• Modern-day Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, and Syria

• ___ns

• Fighting prowess

• Chariots

Crete

• Minoans

• Exported timber, olive oil, wine, dye

• Imported metals, ivory, and precious stones

Urban Centers

• Temple economy/Kingdoms (priests, scholars, monarchs)

• Surplus of goods is concentrated around the city

Abstraction of Thought

• Formalized way of thinking and doing science, shaped our current science and technology.

Occupational Stratification

• Grouping with respect to occupation

• The role of the elites and the wealthy class is often played by philosophers

Roman Empire

• largest and most powerful political, military, and cultural powers in history

• Founded in ancient Italy

• Divided into 3 period

Renaissance

• Happened during the middle of the fall of Rome

• Period of European cultural, artistic, political, and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages

• Started in Florence, Italy

• Sea navigation flourished; voyagers launched expeditions to travel the entire globe

Catholic Church

• The most powerful institution of the medieval period

• United the people on the European continent

• The church gained more power

• Technological and scientific advances are spearheaded through the Catholic church by the clergy in the monasteries

Royal Academy of London and French Royal Academy of Sciences

• Established in the 1660s

• Reestablished the formalization of learning

Industrial Revolution

• Period of rapid production of goods largely driven by advances in science and technology, finance, and politics

• Transition from creating goods by hand to using machine

Creative Destruction

• To have innovation and create new things, old structures need to be destroyed.

Case of Luddites

• Uprisings against a new economic structure imposed by the Industrial Revolution gave rise to the insult "_____“

  • New textile machines would replace the workers.

• The ___ were textile workers who began burning textile factories