Science, Technology & Society – Comprehensive Bullet-Point Notes
Learning Outcomes
• By the end of the module, students should be able to:
• Discuss reciprocal interactions between science/technology (S&T) and society across history.
• Explain how scientific and technological developments shape—and are shaped by—environmental and societal contexts.
• Identify paradigm shifts (e.g., Agricultural, Copernican, Industrial, Digital Revolutions).
• Creatively present the importance and contributions of S&T to society.
Methodology, Resources & Assessment
• Method: interactive class discussions, oral recitation, group reports, essay writing, multimedia presentations.
• Resources: online videos, historical documents, primary scientific texts, archaeological evidence.
• Assessment tools:
• Oral recitation → gauges grasp of definitions & historical links.
• Essay (≤ 250 words) → critical reflection on S&T-society issues (Information Age & environment; social-media politics; vaccination ethics).
• Group presentations → era-specific tech analyses (Ancient, Classical, Middle Ages, Modern Age, Philippines).
Defining Science
• Three complementary meanings
• Body of knowledge → seeks to explain natural phenomena (pollination, eruptions, constellations).
• Intellectual activity → systematic, objective investigation (observation, experimentation).
• Personal & social activity → a human tool to understand self & world; inherently linked to societal life.
Defining Technology
• Three complementary meanings
• Artifacts → tangible products/inventions (microscope, solar panel, light bulb).
• Technique → procedures/methods (genetic engineering, rice planting, welding).
• Personal & social activity → tool to improve human life; embedded in social fabric.
Science–Technology–Society (STS) Interactions
• Dual interaction:
• Science enables technology development; technology advances scientific inquiry (e.g., telescope → astronomy; microscope → microbiology).
• Both are social activities; hence, bidirectional influence with society (needs drive invention; inventions reshape culture, ethics, environment).
Historical Timeline & Key Paradigm Shifts
• Ancient World (Pre-10 000 BCE → 1000 BCE)
• Stone tools (flint, chert, obsidian) → survival; spread via migration.
• Mastery of fire, edible plant/animal identification.
• Domestication of plants & animals (~10 000 years ago) → Agricultural Revolution in the Middle East.
• Innovations: sun-dried bricks, ceramics, mortars, copper metallurgy (copper used ≈ 6500 BCE).
• Late Agricultural era: bronze & iron tools, wheels, writing systems (cuneiform), large infrastructure (irrigation, roads, bridges).
• Classical Antiquity (ca. 600 BCE – 500 CE)
• Greek philosophy → birth of scientific method.
• Socrates’ elenchus → problem broken into answerable questions; proto-hypothesis testing.
• Plato → emphasis on logical “proof”; four-element theory; clarity of hypotheses.
• Aristotle → deductive reasoning; observation as basis for natural principles.
• Egyptian center: Alexandria; Edwin-Smith Papyrus → early surgical text; chemical applications in tanning, distillation, fermentation.
• China → compass, ocean-going ships, advanced ceramics & metallurgy; monumental Great Wall (220-206 BCE).
• “Four Great Inventions” of China (printing, paper, gunpowder, compass) → revolutionized communication, warfare, navigation; still foundational today (e.g., modern printers, GPS-aided compasses).
• Middle Ages (≈ 500 – 1450 CE)
• Early decline in European science (wars, plague, piracy, poverty; Church skepticism).
• Medicine persists/expands due to Black Death → need-driven research.
• Scientific centers shift eastward:
• India → mathematics (concept of zero), astronomy, medicine.
• Islamic world → astronomical tables, chemical substances (borax), medical instruments & humane treatments; limited by religious prohibition of autopsy.
• Charlemagne (8th cent.) revives European learning; establishes schools.
• Technological advances: wind & watermills, mechanical clocks, improved ploughs, stirrups, eyeglasses—all aimed at efficiency & addressing societal needs.
• Modern Age
• Age of Discovery (15th – 17th cent.)
• Sturdier ships + magnetic compass + improved cartography → global exploration.
• Post-Black-Death societal restructuring spurs innovation.
• Renaissance & Scientific Revolution
• Humanism prioritizes human agency over supernatural explanations.
• Royal Society (1660) institutionalizes scientific community; members: Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin.
• Instruments: telescope (astronomy, Copernican heliocentrism), microscope (microbiology).
• Key figures:
• Galileo Galilei → systematic experimentation; mathematical laws of nature.
• Nicolaus Copernicus → heliocentric model – major paradigm shift.
• Isaac Newton → Principia; universal gravitation & laws of motion; formal use of scientific method.
• Enlightenment (17th-18th cent.)
• Logic & reason emphasized; departure from Church dominance.
• Carolus Linnaeus → biological classification; taxonomy framework.
• Industrial Revolution (mid-18th – 19th cent.)
• Steam engine (James Watt 1765) → mechanized production, railways.
• Related inventions: telegraph, telephone, light bulb, internal-combustion engine, motor car.
• Social effects: urbanization, new labor classes, increased resource extraction; environmental degradation begins (deforestation, pollution).
• Controversies: Darwin & Wallace’s Evolution theory vs. Church.
• 19th – 20th cent.: rapid acceleration
• Science becomes collaborative; professional laboratories emerge (e.g., German weapons labs pre-WWI).
• Chemical breakthroughs: plastics (1940s–50s) → consumer goods boom; persistent pollution.
• Nuclear & explosive technologies → heightened wartime casualties (atomic bomb, TNT, dynamite).
• DNA double-helix (Watson & Crick 1953) → molecular biology, gene therapy, genetic engineering.
• Green Revolution (post-1940s): DDT pesticide, fertilizers, hybrid seeds; food production ↑, but biodiversity & health concerns → environmentalism movement.
• Digital Revolution / Information Age (late 20th cent.-present)
• Computers, Internet, software → e-commerce, cyber-warfare, distance learning, crowdsourcing.
• Social media → new political behaviors, advocacy & propaganda; ethics of data privacy.
Science & Technology in the Philippines
• Pre-colonial period
• Simpler tech vs. China/Japan; stone & metal tools, pottery, weaving.
• Shipbuilding (balangay) by 1000 CE for fishing & trade.
• Artillery knowledge, bows, spears noted by Spaniards in 16th cent.; established rice farming & livestock.
• Spanish era
• Establishment of schools/hospitals by religious orders; science as profession emerges but benefits the colonial power.
• Filipino scientists (studied in Europe): Anacleto del Rosario, Leon Ma. Guerrero, Trinidad Pardo de Tavera; growth hampered by Church & colonial policies.
• By end of Spanish rule: medicine & pharmacy comparatively advanced; cash-crop sectors modernized; weaving declined.
• American era (post-1898)
• Secular public-school system; founding of UP (1908) & PNU.
• Bureau of Science (1905) → primary research center (leprosy, cholera, dengue, malaria); Philippine Journal of Science (1906).
• National Research Council of the Philippines (1933) promotes R&D.
• WWII interrupts progress; Institute of Science replaces Bureau (1947); Science Foundation of the Philippines (1952).
• 1957 study cites decline causes: lack of support, brain drain, low morale, public unawareness.
• Continued growth with government backing, yet Philippines still trails Asian neighbors in productivity; mass proficiency in science/maths remains low.
Ethical, Philosophical & Environmental Implications
• Need-driven invention: societal challenges (food shortage, disease, efficiency) catalyze technological breakthroughs.
• Duality of progress: same technologies (steam engine, plastics, pesticides, nuclear) yield benefits & ecological/social risks.
• Scientific ideas can conflict with prevailing beliefs (heliocentrism, evolution, vaccination controversies).
• Environmental degradation prompts counter-movements: conservation, environmentalism, sustainable tech.
• Digital age introduces new ethical terrain: data privacy, cyberbullying, digital addiction.
Examples, Scenarios & Discussion Prompts
• Ancient irrigation systems → modern hydro-agriculture & dam projects.
• Four Great Inventions’ modern counterparts: printing → 3-D printers; gunpowder → rocket propellants; compass → GPS; papermaking → digital documents.
• Middle-Age windmills → modern wind turbines (renewable energy link).
• Steam engine → modern electric trains & industrial automation; question: What would society look like without fossil-fuel-driven engines?
• Plastic pollution scenario: single-use packaging—ethical responsibility of chemists vs. consumer behavior.
• Social-media politics: “Arab Spring” & Philippine elections as real-world cases of technology reshaping power dynamics.
Formulae / Quantitative References (illustrative)
• Agricultural efficiency gain during Green Revolution approximated at by 1990s for key cereals.
• Plastic degradation time ≈ years → highlights persistence.
Concluding Synthesis
• S&T and society are inseparable, co-evolving systems; each catalyzes change in the other.
• Historical trajectory shows alternating periods of flourish & decline dictated by social stability, ideology, resource demands.
• Present challenges—climate change, digital ethics, public health—underscore ongoing need for socially responsive and environmentally conscious science & technology.