MODULE IN GEd 109 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY Abegail L. Gonzales Erma D. Maalihan Sherryl M. Montalbo Table of Contents TOPIC PART I General Concepts and STS Historical Developments Chapter 1 – Historical Antecedents A. Historical Antecedents in Which Social Considerations Changed the Course of Science and Technology What is Science, Technology and Society Historical Antecedents in the World From Ancient Times to 600 BC The Advent of Science Islamic Golden Age Ancient China The Renaissance The Enlightenment Period Industrial Revolution 20th Century Science Fourth Industrial Revolution Activities B. Historical Development of Science and Technology in the Philippines Pre-­Spanish Era Spanish Colonial Era American Period Commonwealth Period S&T Since Independence S&T in the 60s to 90s Hopes in Philippines S&T Current Initiatives in Philippine S&T C. Paradigm Shifts What is a paradigm? What is a paradigm shift? Chapter 2 – Intellectual Revolutions that Defined Society A. What is an Intellectual Revolution? B. The Birth of Modern Science C. Copernican Revolution D. Darwinian Revolution E. Freudian Revolution F. Scientific Revolution in MesoAmerica PAGE No. 1 5 5 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 18 19 20 21 21 22 25 26 28 29 31 31 32 35 36 38 G. Asian Scientific Revolution H. Scientific Revolution in Middle East I. Scientific Revolution in Africa J. Information Revolution K. Activity: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Chapter 3 -­ Science and Technology, and Nation Building A. The Philippine Government S&T Agenda B. In Focus: Batangas State University KIST Park C. Major Development Programs in Science and Technology D. Personalities in Science and Technology in the Philippines E. Science Education in the Philippines Part II Science and Technology and the Human Condition Chapter 4 -­ The Human Person Flourishing in terms of Science and Technology A. Technology as a Way of Revealing B. Human Flourishing Chapter 5 – The Good Life A. What is a Good Life? B. What is Human Existence? C. What is a Public Good? Chapter 6 -­ When Technology and Humanity Cross A. The Ethical Dilemmas of Robotics B. Human, Morals and Machines C. Why the Future Does Not Need Us? D. Activity Part III Specific Issues in Science, Technology and Society Chapter 7 -­ The Information Age A. Pre-­Gutenberg Period B. Gutenberg Revolution C. Printed Materials as Agents of Change D. Post-­Gutenberg Period E. Activity 39 39 41 43 45 48 51 52 54 58 62 64 69 72 73 76 79 81 86 89 90 91 94 Chapter 8 – Biodiversity and Healthy Society A. Biodiversity and Healthy Society B. Threats to Biodiversity C. GMOs D. Risk Related to the Use of GMOs E. Activity Chapter 9 – The Nano World A. What is Nanotechnology B. Environmental Aspects of Nanotechnology C. Nanotechnology in the Philippines D. Nanotechnology and Education E. Activity Chapter 10 – Gene Therapy A. Approaches to Gene Therapy B. Stem Cell Therapy C. Activity Chapter 11 -­ Climate Change, Energy Crisis and Environmental Awareness A. What is Climate Change B. Causes of Climate Change C. Impacts of Climate Change D. Activity 96 97 99 104 106 108 111 112 113 115 117 118 119 121 121 122 125 Chapter 1 Historical Antecedents in Which Social Considerations Changed the Course of Science and Technology Introduction This section presents an overview of how science and technology evolved from ancient times to the present. It shows how man was able to develop crude technological tools and eventually improve them through time to make his way of living more convenient and the society more progressive. Intended Learning Outcomes: 1. Discuss the interactions between science and technology and society throughout history 2. Discuss how scientific and technological developments affect society and the environment 3. Identify the paradigm shifts in history A. General Concepts What is Science, Technology and Society? Science and Technology and Society is an interdisciplinary course designed to examine the ways that science and technology shape, and are shaped by, our society, politics, and culture. It explores the conditions under which production, distribution and utilization of scientific knowledge and technological systems occur;; and the effects of these processes upon the entire society. History and philosophy of science and technology, sociology and anthropology are greatly interconnected to the discussion of STS because these are the very factors that molded the development of science and technology as we know it today. Science is an evolving body of knowledge that is based on theoretical expositions and experimental and empirical activities that generates universal truths. Technology, on the other hand is the application of science and creation of systems, processes and objects designed to help humans in their daily activities. The development of science and technology has brought immense progress in society and men. Scientific knowledge and technology influences individuals and society. Better understanding of science and technology is essential to know the unique attributes of each enterprise, then addressing their implications for society. Society is the sum total of our interactions as humans, including the interactions that we engage in to understand the nature of things and to create things. It is also defined as a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations (Science Daily). Science, technology and society is important to the public because it helps address issues and problems that are of concern to the general population. Scientific and technological principles have been and continue to be applied to solve problems that people experience in their day-­to-­day aspects of living. But scientific findings must be applied at the right scales. The impact of technological breakthroughs on people, society and the environment must be critically assessed to preserve its value. Figure 1 The Interrelationship of science, technology and society Source: Ihueze et al., 2015. researchgate.net A lot of our problems in modern society involve not only technology but also human values, social organization, environmental concerns, economic resources, political decisions, and a myriad of other factors. These things sits at the interface between the three fields and can also be solved (if they can be solved at all) by the application of scientific knowledge, technical expertise, social understanding, and humane compassion. In the past, science is learned as an independent study from other fields. It focuses on the scientific methods, natural processes and understanding nature. But in the current global scenario, science is studied holistically, often in an interdisciplinary method, emphasizing systems rather than processes, synthesis more than analysis and predicting nature’s behavior in order to have useful application in solving contemporary problems. 2
The scientific data that have built up a considerable base of knowledge led to a vast portfolio of useful technologies, especially in the 21st century, to solve many of the problems now facing humankind (UNESCO, 1999). To solve our contemporary problems, science needs to become more multidisciplinary and its practitioners should continue to promote cooperation and integration between the social and natural sciences. A holistic approach also demands that science draw on the contributions of the humanities (such as history and philosophy), local knowledge systems, aboriginal wisdom, and the wide variety of cultural values. The influence of science and technology on people’s lives is expanding. While recent benefits to humanity are unparalleled in the history of the human species, in some instances the impact has been harmful or the long-­term effects give causes for serious concerns. A considerable measure of public mistrust of science and fear of technology exists today. In part, this stems from the belief by some individuals and communities that they will be the ones to suffer the indirect negative consequences of technical innovations introduced to benefit only a privileged minority. The power of science to bring about change places a duty on scientists to proceed with great caution both in what they do and what they say. Scientists should reflect on the social consequences of the technological applications or dissemination of partial information of their work and explain to the public and policy makers alike the degree of scientific uncertainty or incompleteness in their findings. At the same time, though, they should not hesitate to fully exploit the predictive power of science, duly qualified, to help people cope with environmental change, especially in cases of direct threats like natural disasters or water shortages. The Role of Science and Technology 1. alter the way people live, connect, communicate and transact, with profound effects on economic development;; 2. key drivers to development, because technological and scientific revolutions underpin economic advances, improvements in health systems, education and infrastructure;; 3. The technological revolutions of the 21st century are emerging from entirely new sectors, based on micro-­processors, tele-­communications, bio-­technology and nano-­technology. Products are transforming business practices across the economy, as well as the lives of all who have access to their effects. The most remarkable breakthroughs will come from the interaction of insights and applications arising when these technologies converge. 4. have the power to better the lives of poor people in developing countries 5. differentiators between countries that are able to tackle poverty effectively by growing and developing their economies, and those that are not. 6. engine of growth 7. interventions for cognitive enhancement, proton cancer therapy and genetic engineering 3
Reflective Question: With the whole world suffering from CoViD-­19 pandemic, discuss the interplay between science, technology and society in mitigating this problem. ______________________________________________________________________
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B. Historical Antecedents in the World Just like with any other discipline, the best way to truly understand where we are in science today is to look back at what happened in the past. The history of science can teach us many lessons about the way scientists think and understand the world around us. A historical perspective will make us appreciate more what science really is. From Ancient Times to 600 BC Science during ancient times involved practical arts like healing practices and metal tradition. Some of the earliest records from history indicate that 3,000 years before Christ, the ancient Egyptians already had reasonably sophisticated medical practices. Sometime around 2650 B.C., for example, a man named Imhotep was renowned for his knowledge of medicine. Most historians agree that the heart of Egyptian medicine was trial and error. Egyptian doctors would try one remedy, and if it worked, they would continue to use it. If a remedy they tried didn’t work, the patient might die, but at least the doctors learned that next time they should try a different remedy. Despite the fact that such practices sound primitive, the results were, sometimes, surprisingly effective. The Egyptian medicine was considered advanced as compared with other ancient nations because of one of the early inventions of Egyptian civilization – the papyrus. The papyrus is an ancient form of paper, made from the papyrus plant, a reed which grows in the marshy areas around the Nile river. As early as 3,000 years before Christ, Egyptians took thin slices of the stem of the papyrus plant, laid them crosswise on top of each other, moistened them, and then pressed and dried them. The result was a form of paper that was reasonably easy to write on and store. The invention of this ancient form of paper revolutionized the way information was transmitted from person to person and generation to generation. Before papyrus, Egyptians, Sumerians, and other races wrote on clay tablets or smooth rocks. This was a time-­consuming process, and the products were not easy to store or transport. When Egyptians began writing on papyrus, all of that changed. Papyrus was easy to roll into scrolls. Thus, Egyptian writings became easy to store and transport. As a result, the knowledge of one scholar could be easily transferred to other scholars. As this accumulated knowledge was passed down from generation to generation, Egyptian medicine became the most respected form of medicine in the known world. Papyrus was used as a writing material as early as 3,000 BC in ancient Egypt, and continued to be used to some extent until around 1100 AD. Although the Egyptians were renowned for their medicine and for papyrus, other cultures had impressive inventions of their own. Around the time that papyrus was first being used in Egypt, the Mesopotamians were making pottery using the first known potter’s wheel. Not long after, horse-­drawn chariots were being used. 5
As early as 1,000 years before Christ, the Chinese were using compasses to aid themselves in their travels. The ancient world, then, was filled with inventions that, although they sound commonplace today, revolutionized life during those times. These inventions are history’s first inklings of science. The Advent of Science (600 BC to 500 AD) The ancient Greeks were the early thinkers and as far as historians can tell, they were the first true scientists. They collected facts and observations and then used those observations to explain the natural world. Although many cultures like the ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and Chinese had collected observations and facts, they had not tried to use those facts to develop explanations of the world around them. Scientific thought in Classical Antiquity becomes tangible from the 6th century BC in pre-­Socratic philosophy (Thales, Pythagoras). In circa 385 BC, Plato founded the Academy. With Plato's student Aristotle begins the "scientific revolution" of the Hellenistic period culminating in the 3rd to 2nd centuries with scholars such as Eratosthenes, Euclid, Aristarchus of Samos, Hipparchus and Archimedes. This period produced substantial advances in scientific knowledge, especially in anatomy, zoology, botany, mineralogy, geography, mathematics and astronomy;; an awareness of the importance of certain scientific problems, especially those related to the problem of change and its cause;; and a recognition of the methodological importance of applying mathematics to natural phenomena and of undertaking empirical research. The scholars frequently employed the principles developed in earlier Greek thought: the application of mathematics and deliberate empirical research, in their scientific investigations. This was passed on from ancient Greek philosophers to medieval Muslim philosophers and scientists, to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, to the secular sciences of the modern day. Islamic Golden Age The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the eighth century to the fourteenth century, with several contemporary scholars dating the end of the era to the fifteenth or sixteenth century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-­Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the world's classical knowledge into the Arabic language and subsequently development in various fields of sciences began. Science and 6
technology in the Islamic world adopted and preserved knowledge and technologies from contemporary and earlier civilizations, including Persia, Egypt, India, China, and Greco-­Roman antiquity, while making numerous improvements, innovations and inventions. Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a wide range of subject areas, especially astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. Scientific inquiry was practiced in other subjects like alchemy and chemistry, botany and agronomy, geography and cartography, ophthalmology, pharmacology, physics and zoology. Islamic science was characterized by having practical purposes as well as the goal of understanding. Astronomy was useful in determining the Qibla, which is the direction in which to pray, botany is applied in agriculture and geography enabled scientists to make accurate maps. Mathematics also flourished during the Islamic Golden Age with the works of Al-­Khwarizmi, Avicenna and Jamshid al Kashi that led to advanced in algebra, trigonometry, geometry and Arabic numerals. There was also great progress in medicine during this period. Al-­Biruni, and Avicenna produced books that contain descriptions of the preparation of hundred of drugs made from medicinal plants and chemical compounds. Islamic doctors describe diseases like smallpox and measles, and challenged classical Greek medical knowledge. Likewise, Islamic physicists such as Ibn Al-­Haytham, Al-­Biruni and others studied optics and mechanics as well as astronomy, and criticized Aristotle’s view of motion. The significance of medieval Islamic science has been debated by historians. The traditionalist view holds that it lacked innovation, and was mainly important for handing on ancient knowledge to medieval Europe. The revisionist view holds that it constituted a scientific revolution. Whatever the case, science flourished across a wide area around the Mediterranean and further afield, for several centuries, in a wide range of institutions. Science and Technology in Ancient China Ancient Chinese scientists and engineers made significant scientific innovations, findings and technological advances across various scientific disciplines including the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, military technology, mathematics, geology and astronomy. Ancient China gave the world the Four Great Inventions that include the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing. These were considered as among the most important technological advances and were only known to Europe 7
1000 years later or during the end of the Middle ages. These four inventions had a profound impact on the development of civilization throughout the world. However, some modern Chinese scholars have opined that other Chinese inventions were perhaps more sophisticated and had a greater impact on Chinese civilization – the Four Great Inventions serve merely to highlight the technological interaction between East and West. As stated by Karl Marx, "Gunpowder, the compass, and the printing press were the three great inventions which ushered in bourgeois society. Gunpowder blew up the knightly class, the compass discovered the world market and found the colonies, and the printing press was the instrument of Protestantism and the regeneration of science in general;; the most powerful lever for creating the intellectual prerequisites.” The Renaissance (1300 AD – 1600AD) The 14th century was the beginning of the cultural movement of the Renaissance, which was considered by many as the Golden Age of Science. During the Renaissance period, great advances occurred in geography, astronomy, chemistry, physics, mathematics, anatomy, manufacturing, and engineering. The rediscovery of ancient scientific texts was accelerated after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and the invention of printing democratized learning and allowed a faster propagation of new ideas. Marie Boas Hall coined the term Scientific Renaissance to designate the early phase of the Scientific Revolution, 1450–1630. More recently, Peter Dear has argued for a two-­phase model of early modern science: a Scientific Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries, focused on the restoration of the natural knowledge of the ancients;; and a Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, when scientists shifted from recovery to innovation. But this initial period is usually seen as one of scientific backwardness. There were no new developments in physics or astronomy, and the reverence for classical sources further enshrined the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic views of the universe. Renaissance philosophy lost much of its rigour as the rules of logic and deduction were seen as secondary to intuition and emotion. At the same time, Renaissance humanism stressed that nature came to be viewed as an animate spiritual creation that was not governed by laws or mathematics. Science would only be revived later, with such figures as Copernicus, Gerolamo Cardano, Francis Bacon, and Descartes. The most important technological advance of all in this period was the development of printing, with movable metal type, about the mid-­15th century in Germany. Johannes Gutenberg is usually called its inventor, but in fact many people and many steps were involved. Block printing on wood came to the West 8
from China between 1250 and 1350, papermaking came from China by way of the Arabs to 12th-­century Spain, whereas the Flemish technique of oil painting was the origin of the new printers’ ink. Three men of Mainz—Gutenberg and his contemporaries Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer—seem to have taken the final steps, casting metal type and locking it into a wooden press. The invention spread like the wind, reaching Italy by 1467, Hungary and Poland in the 1470s, and Scandinavia by 1483. By 1500 the presses of Europe had produced some six million books. Without the printing press it is impossible to conceive that the Reformation would have ever been more than a monkish quarrel or that the rise of a new science, which was a cooperative effort of an international community, would have occurred at all. In short, the development of printing amounted to a communications revolution of the order of the invention of writing;; and, like that prehistoric discovery, it transformed the conditions of life. The communications revolution immeasurably enhanced human opportunities for enlightenment and pleasure on one hand and created previously undreamed-­of possibilities for manipulation and control on the other. The consideration of such contradictory effects may guard us against a ready acceptance of triumphalist conceptions of the Renaissance or of historical change in general. The Enlightenment Period (1715 A.D. to 1789 A.D.) The Enlightenment Period or the Age of Reason was characterized by radical reorientation in science, which emphasized reason over superstition and science over blind faith. This period produced numerous books, essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions. The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline. The Enlightenment ultimately gave way to 19th-­century Romanticism. The Enlightenment’s important 17th-­century precursors included the key natural philosophers of the Scientific Revolution, including Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Its roots are usually traced to 1680s England, where in the span of three years Isaac Newton published his “Principia Mathematica” (1686) and John Locke his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” (1689)—two works that provided the scientific, mathematical and philosophical toolkit for the Enlightenment’s major advances. In this era dedicated to human progress, the advancement of the natural sciences is regarded as the main exemplification of, and fuel for, such progress. Isaac Newton’s epochal accomplishment in his Principia Mathematica consists in the comprehension of a diversity of physical phenomena – in particular the motions of heavenly bodies, together with the motions of sublunary bodies – in few relatively simple, universally applicable, mathematical laws, was a great stimulus to the intellectual activity of the eighteenth century and served as a model and inspiration for the researches of a number of Enlightenment thinkers. Newton’s 9
system strongly encourages the Enlightenment conception of nature as an orderly domain governed by strict mathematical-­dynamical laws and the conception of ourselves as capable of knowing those laws and of plumbing the secrets of nature through the exercise of our unaided faculties. – The conception of nature, and of how we know it, changes significantly with the rise of modern science. It belongs centrally to the agenda of Enlightenment philosophy to contribute to the new knowledge of nature, and to provide a metaphysical framework within which to place and interpret this new knowledge. Industrial Revolution (1760 -­ 1840) The rise of modern science and the Industrial Revolution were closely connected. It is difficult to show any direct effect of scientific discoveries upon the rise of the textile or even the metallurgical industry in Great Britain, the home of the Industrial Revolution, but there certainly was a similarity in attitude to be found in science and nascent industry. Close observation and careful generalization leading to practical utilization were characteristic of both industrialists and experimentalists alike in the 18th century. What science offered in the 18th century was the hope that careful observation and experimentation might improve industrial production significantly. The science of metallurgy permitted the tailoring of alloy steels to industrial specifications, the science of chemistry permitted the creation of new substances, like the aniline dyes, of fundamental industrial importance, and that electricity and magnetism were harnessed in the electric dynamo and motor. Until that period science probably profited more from industry than the other way around. It was the steam engine that posed the problems that led, by way of a search for a theory of steam power, to the creation of thermodynamics. Most importantly, as industry required ever more complicated and intricate machinery, the machine tool industry developed to provide it and, in the process, made possible the construction of ever more delicate and refined instruments for science. As science turned from the everyday world to the worlds of atoms and molecules, electric currents and magnetic fields, microbes and viruses, and nebulae and galaxies, instruments increasingly provided the sole contact with phenomena. A large refracting telescope driven by intricate clockwork to observe nebulae was as much a product of 19th-­century heavy industry as were the steam locomotive and the steamship. The Industrial Revolution had one further important effect on the development of modern science. The prospect of applying science to the problems of industry served to stimulate public support for science. Governments, in varying degrees and at different rates, began supporting science even more directly, by making financial grants to scientists, by founding research institutes, and by bestowing honors and official posts on great scientists. By the end of the 19th century the natural philosopher following his private interests had given way to the professional scientist with a public role. 10
The main features involved in the Industrial Revolution were technological, socioeconomic, and cultural. The technological changes included the following: (1) the use of new basic materials, chiefly iron and steel, (2) the use of new energy sources, including both fuels and motive power, such as coal, the steam engine, electricity, petroleum, and the internal-­combustion engine, (3) the invention of new machines, such as the spinning jenny and the power loom that permitted increased production with a smaller expenditure of human energy, (4) a new organization of work known as the factory system, which entailed increased division of labor and specialization of function, (5) important developments in transportation and communication, including the steam locomotive, steamship, automobile, airplane, telegraph, and radio, and (6) the increasing application of science to industry. These technological changes made possible a tremendously increased use of natural resources and the mass production of manufactured goods. 20th Century Science: Physics and Information Age The 20th century was an important century in the history of the sciences. It generated entirely novel insights in all areas of research – often thanks to the introduction of novel research methods – and it established an intimate connection between science and technology. With this connection, science is dealing now with the complexity of the real world. The scientific legacy of the 20th Century gave proof of the revolutionary changes in many areas of the sciences – in particular, physics, biology, astronomy, chemistry, neurosciences and earth and environmental sciences – and how they contributed to these changes. The epistemological and methodological questions as well as the interdisciplinary aspects become ever more important in scientific research. The common denominator of the sciences is the notion of discovery, and discovery is an organised mode of observing nature. Twentieth century cosmology greatly improved our knowledge of the place that man and his planet occupy in the universe. The “wonder” that Plato and Aristotle put at the origin of thought, today extends to science itself. Questions now arise on the origin and on the whole, its history and its laws. The start of the 20th century was strongly marked by Einstein’s formulation of the theory of relativity (1905) including the unifying concept of energy related to mass and the speed of light: E = mc2 . He made many more contributions, notably to statistical mechanics, and he provided a great inspiring influence for many other physicists. In the second half of the 20th century several branches of science continued to make great progress and we here list physics, chemistry, biology, geology and astronomy. For example, there was the development of the semi-­conductor 11
(transistor), followed by developments in nanotechnology that led to great advances in information technology. In nuclear physics the discovery of sub-­atomic particles provided a great leap forward. Modern physics grew in the 20th into a primary discipline contributing to all today’s basic natural sciences, astronomy, chemistry and biology. Although it took a hundred years since Clausius’s time for it to be fully recognized that all biological processes have also to obey the laws of thermodynamics, the border between the origin of the living and the non-­living worlds has now at last been blurred. The year 1953 was an important landmark for biology with the description by Crick and Watson of the structure of DNA, the carrier of genetic information (Rosch, 2014). Physics has enabled us to understand the basic components of matter and we are well on the way to an ever more consistent and unitary understanding of the entire structure of natural reality, which we discover as being made up not only of matter and energy but also of information and forms. The latest developments in astrophysics are also particularly surprising: they further confirm the great unity of physics that manifests itself clearly at each new stage of the understanding of reality. Biology too, with the discovery of DNA and the development of genetics, allows us to penetrate the fundamental processes of life and to intervene in the gene pool of certain organisms by imitating some of these natural mechanisms. Information technology and the digital processing of information have transformed our lifestyle and our way of communicating in the space of very few decades. The 20th century has seen medicine find a cure for many life-­threatening diseases and the beginning of organ transplants. It is impossible to list the many other discoveries and results that have broadened our knowledge and influenced our world outlook: from progress in computational logic to the chemistry of materials, from the neurosciences to robotics. Scientific research not only gives expression to the strength of rationality in explaining the world and the way in which this is done. The application of scientific knowledge can induce changes of environmental and thus living conditions. It is these aspects, the interrelations between scientific progress and social development, which together with insights into the epistemological structure and the ethical implications of science play an important role in the life and the work of scientists. Science and Technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a way of describing the blurring of boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. It’s a fusion of advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, genetic engineering, quantum computing, and other technologies. It’s the collective force behind many products and services that are fast becoming 12
indispensable to modern life. Think GPS systems that suggest the fastest route to a destination, voice-­activated virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri, personalized Netflix recommendations, and Facebook’s ability to recognize your face and tag you in a friend’s photo (https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2018/12/what-­is-­the-­
fourth-­industrial-­revolution-­4IR.html). As a result of this perfect storm of technologies, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is paving the way for transformative changes in the way we live and radically disrupting almost every business sector. It’s all happening at an unprecedented, whirlwind pace. The easiest way to understand the Fourth Industrial Revolution is to focus on
the technologies driving it. Artificial intelligence (AI) describes computers that can
“think” like humans — recognizing complex patterns, processing information, drawing
conclusions, and making recommendations. AI is used in many ways, from spotting
patterns in huge piles of unstructured data to powering the autocorrect on your phone.
New computational technologies are making computers smarter. They enable
computers to process vast amounts of data faster than ever before, while the advent
of the “cloud” has allowed businesses to safely store and access their information from
anywhere with internet access, at any time. Quantum computing technologies now in
development will eventually make computers millions of times more powerful. These
computers will have the potential to supercharge AI, create highly complex data
models in seconds, and speed up the discovery of new materials.
Virtual reality (VR) offers immersive digital experiences (using a VR headset)
that simulate the real world, while augmented reality merges the digital and physical
worlds. Examples include L’Oréal’s makeup app, which allows users to digitally
experiment with makeup products before buying them, and the Google Translate
phone app, which allows users to scan and instantly translate street signs, menus,
and other text.
Biotechnology harnesses cellular and biomolecular processes to develop new
technologies and products for a range of uses, including developing new
pharmaceuticals and materials, more efficient industrial manufacturing processes, and
cleaner, more efficient energy sources. Researchers in Stockholm, for example, are
working on what is being touted as the strongest biomaterial ever produced.
Robotics refers to the design, manufacture, and use of robots for personal and
commercial use. While we’re yet to see robot assistants in every home, technological
advances have made robots increasingly complex and sophisticated. They are used
in fields as wide-ranging as manufacturing, health and safety, and human assistance.
3D printing allows manufacturing businesses to print their own parts, with less
tooling, at a lower cost, and faster than via traditional processes. Plus, designs can be
customized to ensure a perfect fit.
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Innovative materials, including plastics, metal alloys, and biomaterials, promise
to shake up sectors including manufacturing, renewable energy, construction, and
healthcare.
The IoT describes the idea of everyday items — from medical wearables that
monitor users’ physical condition to cars and tracking devices inserted into parcels —
being connected to the internet and identifiable by other devices. A big plus for
businesses is that they can collect customer data from constantly connected products,
allowing them to better gauge how customers use products and tailor marketing
campaigns accordingly. There are also many industrial applications, such as farmers
putting IoT sensors into fields to monitor soil attributes and inform decisions such as
when to fertilize.
Energy capture, storage, and transmission represent a growing market sector,
spurred by the falling cost of renewable energy technologies and improvements in
battery storage capacity.
Activity: 1. List down the scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in each period. You may conduct additional researches and share what you have found in the class. a. Ancient Times to 600 BC __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ b. Advent of Science (600 BC to 500 AD) __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ c. Islamic Golden Age __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ d. Ancient China and the Far East __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ 14
e. Renaissance __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ f. Enlightenment Period __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ g. Industrial Revolution __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ h. 20th century __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ i. Fourth Industrial Revolution __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ 2. If given a chance to live back in time and considering the influence of science and technology in the society and the environment, which period would you choose and why? Would you prefer a less technologically driven society or you wouldn’t trade the comforts of modern life? ________________________________________________________________
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Assignment: Film Viewing. 1. Watch the World’s Greatest Invention (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYyfAl9Usc) and then answer the following guide questions. a. Among the mentioned greatest invention in the video, which do you think created the most impact in your life now? Why? ______________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________ 2. Watch Stephen Colbert’s interview with Neil Tyson on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXh9RQCvxmg&noredirect=1) and then answer the following guide questions. Guide Questions: 1. Stephen Colbert starts the interview by asking Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson, “Is it better to know or not to know?” Ponder on this question and decide which one is better. Give as many reasons as to why. ______________________________________________________________
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2. Enumerate the various statements that Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson said about the importance of science literacy and its relationship to society. ______________________________________________________________
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C. Historical Development of Science and Technology in the Philippines The current state of science and technology in the country can be traced back to its historical development and the latent events that helped shape it since the pre-­colonial period to contemporary time. What we have or lack today in terms of science and technology is very much an effect of the government policies that had been enacted by past public officials in trying to develop a technological society that is responsive to the needs of time. Pre-­Spanish Era. There is not much written about the Philippines during pre-­colonial time but analysis from archeological artifacts revealed that the first inhabitants in the archipelago who settled in Palawan and Batangas around 40 000 years ago have made simple tools or weapons of stone which eventually developed techniques for sawing, drilling and polishing hard stones. This very primitive technology was brought by primal needs of survival by hunting wild animals and gathering fruits and vegetables in the forest. They learned that by polishing hard stones, they can develop sharp objects that are useful in their day to day activities. From this early, we can see that technology was developed because of a great necessity. Still on its primitive state, the first inhabitants in the country are learning what can be harnessed from the environment. They have come to understand that when clay is mixed with 2 water and then shaped into something before sun drying, it hardens to an object that can also be useful to them. And because clay is moldable, it can be shaped into various objects. As the early Filipinos flourished, they have learned how to extract, smelt and refine metals like copper, gold, bronze and iron from nature and consequently fashion them into tools and implements. At this point, the inhabitants of the country are showing a deeper understanding of their nature because they were able to obtain valuable resources from nature. As the inhabitants shifted from wandering from one place to another and learned to settle in areas near the water source, they also learned how to weave cotton, engaged themselves in agriculture and are knowledgeable on building boats for coastal trade. From the above mentioned facts, it can be concluded that primitive Filipinos are practicing science and technology in their everyday lives. The ancient crafts of stone carving, pottery and smelting of metals involves a lot of science, which is understanding the nature of matter involved. The ingenuity of the Ifugaos in building the Banaue Rice Terraces The smelting of metals exhibited the primitive Filipino’s knowledge on the composition of alloy and the optimum temperature that will produce the metal with acceptable tensile strength. All in all, the primitive Filipinos were living in perfect harmony with nature and they obtain from it what is just needed in their everyday life through a very simple science of understanding how mother nature operates 18
Spanish Colonial Era. As claimed by Caoili (1983), the beginnings of modern science and technology in the country can be traced back to the Spanish regime because they established schools, hospitals and started scientific research that had important consequences in the development of the country. These schools, which are mostly run by Spanish friars, formed the first Filipino professionals. The The 3 highest institution of learning during this time was the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas. But the very strict hold of the church among citizens and its intervention and meddling to the government propelled by fear of intellectual awakening among Filipinos have greatly hindered the progress of these professionals to further enhance their knowledge, conduct scientific investigations and contribute to the advancement of society. But a few of persistent Filipino scientists succeeded by educating themselves abroad. One notable example of course is our national hero, the great Dr. Jose P. Rizal. Dr. Jose Rizal is the epitome of the Renaissance man in the Philippine context. He is a scientist, a doctor, an engineer (he designed and built a water system in Dapitan), a journalist, a novelist, an urban planner and a hero. Being a doctor and scientist, he had extensive knowledge on medicine and was able to operate his mother’s blinding eye. When he was deported in Dapitan, his knowledge on science and engineering was translated into technology by creating a water system that improved the sanitation of households in the area. Dr. Jose Dr. Jose Rizal was a brilliant man and his life stood out among his contemporaries. But it cannot be said that there is no contribution to science and technology among the Filipino men and women during the Spanish era. The charity hospitals became the breeding ground for scientific researches on pharmacy and medicine, with great focus on problems of infectious diseases, their causes and possible remedies. And in 1887, the Laboratorio Municipal de Ciudad de Manila was created and whose functions were to conduct biochemical analyses for public health and to undertake specimen examinations for clinical and medico-­legal cases. Its publication, probably the first scientific journal in the country was titled Cronica de Ciencias Medicas de Filipinas showed the studies undertaken during that time. As the colonization of the Spaniards lengthened, they began to exploit the natural resources of the country through agriculture, mining of metals and minerals and establishing various kinds of industries to further promote economic growth. As such, scientific research on these fields were encouraged by the government. By the nineteenth century, Manila has become a cosmopolitan center and modern amenities were introduced to the city. However, little is known about the accomplishments of scientific bodies commissioned by the Spanish government during this time. Because of limited scientific research and its consequent translation to technology during the Spanish regime, none of the industries prosper. The Philippines had evolved into a primary agricultural exporting economy, and this is not because of the researches undertaken on 19
this field, but was largely because of the influx of foreign capital and technology which brought modernization of some sectors, notably sugar and hemp production. American Period If the development in science and technology was very slow during the Spanish regime, the Philippines saw a rapid growth during the American occupation and was made possible by the government’s extensive public education system from elementary to tertiary schools. The establishment of various public tertiary schools like the Philippine Normal School and University of the Philippines provided the needs for professionally trained Filipinos in building the government’s organization and programs. The growth and application of science were still concentrated on the health sector in the form of biochemical analyses in hospitals. The government supported basic and applied research in the medical, agricultural and related sciences. The University of the Philippines Los Baños opened the College of Agriculture in 1909 while the University of the Philippines – Diliman opened the Colleges of Arts, Engineering and Veterinary Medicine in 1910. The College of Medicine was opened four years later. During this time, there were already quite a number of qualified Filipino physicians who held teaching positions in the College of Medicine, whereas most of the early instructors and professors in other colleges such as in the sciences and engineering were Americans and foreigners. Capacity building programs that include sending qualified Filipinos abroad for advanced training were conducted to eventually fill up the teaching positions in Philippine universities. Moreover, the American colonial government sent Filipino youths to be educated as teachers, engineers, physicians and lawyers in American colleges to further capacitate the Filipinos in various fields. However, there was difficulty in recruiting students for science and technology courses like veterinary medicine, engineering, agriculture, applied sciences and industrial-­vocational courses. The enrollment in these courses were dismal that the government had to offer scholarships to attract students. The unpopularity of these courses stemmed from the Filipinos’ disdain toward manual work that developed from the 400 years under Spanish colonization. The Filipinos then prefer prestigious professions at that time like priesthood, law and medicine. The government provided more support for the development of science and created the Bureau of Government Laboratories in and was later changed to Bureau of Science. It was composed of a biological laboratory, chemical laboratory, serum laboratory for the production of virus vaccine, serums and prophylactics, and a library. The bureau was initially managed by American senior scientists but as more Filipinos were trained and acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, they eventually took over their positions. The Bureau of Science served as the primary training ground for Filipino scientists and paved the way for pioneering scientific research, most especially on the study of various tropical diseases that were prevalent during those times like leprosy, tuberculosis, cholera, dengue fever, malaria and beri-­beri. Another great contribution of the Bureau of Science to the development of science and technology in the country was the publication of the 20
Philippine Journal of Science. This scientific journal published researches done in local laboratories and reported global scientific developments that had relevance to the Philippine society. The Bureau of Science became the primary research center of the Philippines until World War II. Lastly, on December 8, 1933, the National Research Council of the Philippines was established. Commonwealth Period When the Americans granted independence and the Commonwealth government was established, the Filipinos were busy in working towards economic reliance but acknowledge the importance and vital role of science and technology for the economic development of the country by declaring that “The State shall promote scientific research and invention…” The short-­lived Commonwealth Government was succeeded by the Japanese occupation when the Pacific war broke out in 1941. The prevailing situations during the time of Commonwealth period to the Japanese regime had made developments in science and technology practically impossible. This is also true when World War II ended and left Manila, the country’s capital, in ruins. The government had to rebuild again and normalize the operations in the whole country. Science and Technology since Independence In 1946 the Bureau of Science was replaced by the Institute of Science and was placed under the Office of the President of the Philippines. However, the agency faced lack of financial support from the government and experienced planning and coordination problems. In a report by the US Economic Survey to the Philippines in 1950, there is a lack of basic information which were necessities to the country's industries, lack of support of experimental work and minimal budget for scientific research and low salaries of scientists employed by the government. In 1958, during the regime of President Carlos P. Garcia, the Philippine Congress passed the Science Act of 1958 which established the National Science Development Board (NSDB). The Philippine government focused on science and technology institutional capacity-­building which were undertaken by establishing infrastructure-­support facilities such as new research agencies and development trainings. However good these projects were, it produced insignificant effects because of lack of coordination and planning, specifically technology planning, between concerned agencies which hindered them from performing their assigned functions effectively. This was aptly illustrated in the unplanned activities of the researchers within the agencies. Most areas of research were naively left to the discretion of the researchers under the assumption that they were working for the interests of the country. They were instructed to look for technologies and scientific studies with good commercialization potential. Without clear research policy guidelines, researches were done for their own sake, leaving to chance the commercialization of the results. 21
Likewise, during this time, rebuilding the country involved establishing more state funded manual and trading schools which would eventually become the current state universities and colleges. The trade schools produced craftsmen, tradesmen and technicians that helped in shaping a more technological Philippines while still being an agricultural based nation. Eventually, when these trade schools were elevated to college and university status, they produced much of the country’s professionals, although there was a great disparity on the low proportion of those in agriculture, medical and natural sciences with those from teacher training and commerce/business administration courses which had higher number of graduates. The increase in the number of graduates led to the rise of professional organizations of scientists and engineers. These organizations were formed to promote professional interests and create and monitor the standards of practice. As summarized by Caoili, “There has been little innovation in the education and training of scientists and engineers since independence in 1946. This is in part due to the conservative nature of self-­regulation by the professional associations. Because of specialized training, vertical organizations by disciplines and lack of liaison between professions, professional associations have been unable to perceive the dynamic relationship between science, technology and society and the relevance of their training to Philippine conditions. Science and Technology in the 1960s to 1990s During these years, the government gave greater importance to science and technology. The government declared in Section 9(1) of the 1973 Philippine Constitution that the “advancement of science and technology shall have priority in the national development.” On April 6, 1968, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed the 35-­hectare land in Bicutan, Taguig as the site of the Philippine Science Community. Then in 1969, the government provided funds to private universities to encourage them to conduct research and create courses in science and technology. The government also conducted seminars for public and private high school and college science teachers, training programs and scholarships for graduate and undergraduate science scholars, and workshops on fisheries and oceanography. In the 1970s, focus on science and technology was given to applied research and the main objective was to generate products and processes that were supposed to have a greater beneficial impact to the society. Relative to this, several research institutes were established under the National Science Development Board (NSDB) which includes the Philippine Coconut Research Institute and Philippine Textile Research Institute. Moreover, the Philippine Atomic Energy Commission, another agency under NSDB, explored the uses of atomic energy for economic development. To prepare the pool of scientists who will work on Philippine Atomic Commission, Pres. Marcos assisted 107 22
institutions in undertaking nuclear energy work by sending scientists abroad to study nuclear science and technology, and providing basic training to 482 scientists, doctors, engineers and technicians. Then in 1972, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 4, the National Grains Authority was created and it was tasked to improve the rice and corn industry and thereby help in the economic development of the country. This was followed by the creation of Philippine Council for Agricultural Research to support the progressive development of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in the country. The Marcos administration also established the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA) under the Department of National Defense to provide environmental protection and to utilize scientific knowledge to ensure the safety of the people through Presidential Decree No. 78, s. 1972. On the following year, the Philippine National Oil Company was created by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 334, s. 1973, to promote industrial and economic development through effective and efficient use of energy sources. To strengthen the scientific culture in the country, the National Academy of Science and Technology was established under Presidential Decree No. 1003-­A, s. 1976. The National Academy of Science and Technology was composed of scientists with “innovative achievement in the basic and applied sciences” who will serve as the reservoir of scientific and technological expertise for the country. In the 1980s, science and technology was still focused on applied research. In 1982, NSDB was further reorganized into a National Science and Technology Authority (NSTA) composed of four research and development Councils;; Philippine Council for Agriculture and Resources Research and Development (PCARRD);; Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research Development (PCIERD);; Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP). NSTA has also eight research and development institutes and support agencies under it. These are actually the former organic and attached agencies of NSDB which have themselves been reorganized. The expanding number of science agencies has given rise to a demand for high calibre scientists and engineers to undertake research and staff universities and colleges. Hence, measures have also been taken towards the improvement of the country’s science and manpower. In March 1983, Executive Order No. 889 was issued by the President which provided for the establishment of a national network of centers of excellence in basic sciences. As a consequence, six new institutes were created: The National Institutes of Physics, Geological Sciences, Natural Sciences Research, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematical Sciences. Related to this efforts was the establishment of a Scientific Career System in the Civil Service by Presidential Decree No. 901 on 19 July 1983. This is designed to attract more qualified scientists to work in government and encourage young people to pursue science degrees and careers. In 1986, under the Aquino administration, the National Science and Technology Authority was replaced by the Department of Science and Technology, giving science and technology a representation in the cabinet. Under the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan for the years 1987-­1992, science and technology's role in economic recovery and sustained economic growth was highlighted. In this period, science and 23
technology was one of the top three priorities of the government towards economic recovery. With the agency's elevation to full cabinet stature by virtue of Executive Order 128 signed on 30 January 1987, the functions and responsibilities of DOST expanded correspondingly to include the following: (1) Pursue the declared state policy of supporting local scientific and technological effort;; (2) Develop local capability to achieve technological self-­reliance;; (3) Encourage greater private sector participation in research and development. moreover, funding for the science and technology sector was tripled from 464 million in 1986 to 1.7 billion in 1992. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is the premiere science and technology body in the country charged with the twin mandate of providing central direction, leadership and coordination of all scientific and technological activities, and of formulating policies, programs and projects to support national development. The Science and Technology Master Plan was formulated which aimed at the modernization of the production sector, upgrading research activities, and development of infrastructure for science and technological purposes. A Research and Development Plan was also formulated to examine and determine which areas of research needed attention and must be given priority. The criteria for identifying the program to be pursued were, development of local materials, probability of success, potential of product in the export market, and the its strategic nature. The grants for the research and development programs was included in the Omnibus Investment Law. During President Fidel Ramos’s term, there was a significant increase in personnel specializing in the science and technology field. In 1998, there was an estimated 3,000 competent scientists and engineers in the Philippines. Adding to the increase of scientists would be the result of the two newly built Philippine Science High Schools in Visayas and Mindanao which promotes further development of young kids through advance S&T curriculum. The government provided 3,500 scholarships for students who were taking up professions related to S&T. Priority for S&T personnel increased when Magna Carta for Science and Technology Personnel (Republic Act No. 8439) was established. The award was published in order to give incentives and rewards for people who have been influential in the field of S&T. Still under the Ramos administration, DOST established the “Science and Technology Agenda for National Development (STAND)”, a program that was significant to the field of S&T. It identified seven export products, 11 domestic needs, three other supporting industries, and the coconut industry as priority investment areas. The seven identified export products were computer software;; fashion accessories;; gifts, toys, and houseware;; marine products;; metal fabrications;; furniture;; and dried fruits. The domestic needs identified were food, housing, health, clothing, transportation, communication, disaster mitigation, defense, environment, manpower development, and energy. Three additional support industries were included in the list of priority sectors, namely, packaging, chemicals, and metals because of their linkages with the above sectors. 24
In the Gloria Macapagal-­Arroyo administration, numerous laws and projects were implemented which concerns both the environment and science to push technology as a tool to increase the country’s economic level. This is to help increase the productivity from Science, Technology and Innovations (STI) and help benefit the poor people. Moreover, the term “Filipinnovation” was the coined term used in helping the Philippines to be an innovation hub in Asia. The STI was developed further by strengthening the schools and education system such as the Philippine Science High School (PSHS), which focuses in science, technology and mathematics in their curriculum. This helps schools produce get more involve in this sector. Private sectors were also encouraged to participate in developing the schools through organizing events and sponsorships. Future Filipino scientists and innovators can be produced through this system. Recently, the Philippines ranked 73rd out of 128 economies in terms of Science and Technology and Innovation (STI) index, citing the country’s strength in research and commercialization of STI ideas (DOST, 2018). However, a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies highlighted the weak ties between innovation-­driven firms and the government, and it also identified the country’s low expenditure in research and development (R&D). This is the reason the government is now extending all its efforts to reach out with the private sector, explaining that STI plays an important role in economic and social progress and is a key driver for a long-­term growth of an economy. Technology adoption allows a country’s firms and citizens to benefit from innovations created in other countries, and allows it to catch up and even leap-­frog obsolete technologies. Technology adoption, the official said, allows a country’s firms and citizens to benefit from innovations created in other countries, and allows it to catch up and even leap-­frog obsolete technologies. Hopes in Philippine Science and Technology Despite the many inadequacies, from funding to human capital, there are some science and technology-­intensive research and capacity-­building projects which resulted in products which are currently being used successfully and benefits the society. One of these is the micro-­satellite. In April 2016, the country launched into space its first micro-­satellite called Diwata-­1. It was designed, developed and assembled by Filipino researchers and engineers under the guidance of Japanese experts. The Diwata (deity in English) satellite provides real-­time, high-­resolution and multi-­color infrared images for various applications, including meteorological imaging, crop and ocean productivity measurement and high-­resolution imaging of natural and man-­made features. It enables a more precise estimate of the country’s agricultural production, provides images of watersheds and floodplains for a better understanding of water available for irrigation, power and domestic consumption. The satellite also provides accurate information on any disturbance and degradation of forest and upland areas. 25
The country also has the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH), which uses the Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology. Project NOAH was initiated in June 2012 to help manage risks associated with natural hazards and disasters. The project developed hydromet sensors and high-­resolution geo-­hazard maps, which were generated by light detection and ranging technology for flood modeling. Noah helps the government in providing timely warning with a lead time of at least six hours in the wake of impending floods. The country is now training the Cambodians on this technology, as part of the partnerships among ASEAN countries, just like in the case of Japan which assisted the country’s scientists and engineers in building its first micro-­satellite. Another hope lies in the so-­called Intelligent Operation Center Platform. Established through a collaboration between the local government of Davao City and IBM Philippines Inc., the center resulted in the creation of a dashboard that allows authorized government agencies, such as police, fire and anti-­terrorism task force, to use analytics software for monitoring events and operations in real time. Current Initiatives in Science and Technology in the Country DOST, in cooperation with HEIs and research institutions, established advanced facilities that seek to spur R&D activities and provide MSMEs access to testing services needed to increase their productivity and competitive advantage. One is the Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratories. The center houses advanced equipment for failure analysis and materials characterization to address advanced analytical needs for quality control, materials identification and R&D. Closely related to this facility is the Electronics Products Development Center, used to design, develop and test hardware and software for electronic products. There are also high-­performance computing facilities that perform tests and run computationally intensive applications for numerical weather prediction, climate modeling, as well as analytics and data modeling and archiving. The Philippines could also boast of its Genome Center, a core facility that combines basic and applied research for the development of health diagnostics, therapeutics, DNA forensics and preventive products, and improved crop varieties. The country also has drug-­discovery facilities, which address the requirements for producing high-­quality and globally acceptable drug candidates. She said the Philippines also has nanotechnology centers, which provide technical services and enabling environment for interdisciplinary and collaborative R&D in various nanotechnology applications. There are also radiation processing facilities that are used to degrade, graft, or crosslink polymers, monomers, or chemical compounds for industrial, agricultural, environmental and medical applications. The Philippines could also boast of its Die and 26
Mold Solutions Center, which enhances the competitiveness of the local tool and die sector through the localization of currently imported dies and molds. These are reflections that we are advancing, albeit slowly, to a culture that embraces STI as a sure path to growth. Activity: Identify a contemporary Filipino invention and discuss how it improved the lives of our countrymen. (Example: SALt lamp or “sustainable alternative lighting” lamp powered by galvanic reaction of an anode with saline water invented by Aisa Mijeno) ______________________________________________________________________
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D. Paradigm Shift What is a paradigm? A scientific paradigm is a framework containing all the commonly accepted views about a subject, conventions about what direction research should take and how it should be performed. The philosopher Thomas Kuhn suggested that a paradigm includes “the practices that define a scientific discipline at a certain point in time." Paradigms contain all the distinct, established patterns, theories, common methods and standards that allow us to recognize an experimental result as belonging to a field or not. Science proceeds by accumulating support for hypotheses which in time become models and theories. But those models and theories themselves exist within a larger theoretical framework. The vocabulary and concepts in Newton’s three laws or the central dogma in biology are examples of scientific “open resources" that scientists have adopted and which now form part of the scientific paradigm. Paradigms are historically and culturally bound. For example, a modern Chinese medical researcher with a background in eastern medicine, will operate within a different paradigm than a western doctor from the 1800s. A paradigm dictates: what is observed and measured the questions we ask about those observations how the questions are formulated how the results are interpreted how research is carried out what equipment is appropriate Many students who opt to study science do so with the belief that they are undertaking the most rational path to learning about objective reality. But science, much like any other discipline, is subject to ideological idiosyncrasies, preconceptions and hidden assumptions. In fact, Kuhn strongly suggested that research in a deeply entrenched paradigm invariably ends up reinforcing that paradigm, since anything that contradicts it is ignored or else pressed through the preset methods until it conforms to already established dogma. The body of pre-­existing evidence in a field conditions and shapes the collection and interpretation of all subsequent evidence. The certainty that the current paradigm is reality itself is precisely what makes it so difficult to accept alternatives. 28
What is a Paradigm Shift? "The successive transition from one paradigm to another via revolution is the usual developmental pattern of mature science" -­ Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Figure 1 Paradigm shift. Source: https://thesaurus.plus/
The shift from one paradigm to another occurs when enough anomalies to the current paradigm build up, causing scientists to question the foundational principles upon which their worldview rests. During “normal science,” when the current paradigm is in place, these anomalies are discounted as acceptable levels of error. However, during “revolutionary science” or a paradigm shift, these anomalies become the center of attention as scientists attempt to construct a new world view that incorporates and explains them. This period of intense focus on explaining anomalies and developing a new paradigm is considered “revolutionary science,” and it is sparked by a “crisis” where the old paradigm fails explain key anomalies or outliers. Once a new paradigm is developed, however, there is a return to “normal science” under the new worldview. Figure 2 Paradigm Shift
Source: https://edtosavetheworld.com
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An Example of a Paradigm Shift Many physicists in the 19th century were convinced that the Newtonian paradigm that had reigned for 200 years was the pinnacle of discovery and that scientific progress was more or less a question of refinement. When Einstein published his theories on General Relativity, it was not just another idea that could fit comfortably into the existing paradigm. Instead, Newtonian Physics itself was relegated to being a special subclass of the greater paradigm ushered in by General Relativity. Newton’s three laws are still faithfully taught in schools, however we now operate within a paradigm that puts those laws into a much broader context. Interestingly, Kuhn’s theory itself was something of a game changer at the time, since scientists were not accustomed to thinking of what they were doing in such metaphysical terms. Kuhn’s theories are today understood to be part of a greater paradigm shift in the social sciences, and have also been modified since their original publication. Kuhn later conceded that the process of scientific advancement might be more gradual. For example, Relativity did not completely prove Newton wrong, but merely reframed his theory. Even the Copernican revolution was a little more gradual in replacing Ptolemy's beliefs. The concept of paradigm is closely related to the Platonic and Aristotelian views of knowledge. Aristotle believed that knowledge could only be based upon what is already known, the basis of the scientific method. Plato believed that knowledge should be judged by what something could become, the end result, or final purpose. Plato's philosophy is more like the intuitive leaps that cause scientific revolution;; Aristotle's the patient gathering of data. Activity: Create a poster or caricature that depicts a paradigm shift in science history. Share and explain your work in the class. 30
Chapter 2 Intellectual Revolutions that Defined Society Introduction This section provides students with background on the different intellectuals who made great contributions to science that propelled scientific and technological revolutions. Emphasis is given on how these intellectual revolutions shape and transform society. Intended Learning Outcomes: 1. Articulate ways by which society is transformed by science and technology. What is an Intellectual Revolution? An intellectual revolution is a period where paradigm shifts occurred and where scientific beliefs that have been widely embraced and accepted by the people were challenged and opposed. Historically, this intellectual revolution can be summed up as the “replacement of Aristotelian ethics and Christian morality by a new type of decision making which may be termed instrumental reasoning or cost-­benefit analysis” (Wootton as cited by McCarthy, 2019). The Birth of Modern Science Western science, like so many other aspects of Western Civilization, was born with the ancient Greeks. They were the first to explain the world in terms of natural laws rather than myths about gods and heroes. They also passed on the idea of the value of math and experiment in science, although they usually thought only in terms of one to the exclusion of the other. The most influential figure in Western science until the 1600's, was the philosopher, Aristotle, who created a body of scientific theory that towered like a colossus over Western Civilization for some 2000 years. Given the limitations under which the Greeks were working compared to now, Aristotle's theories made sense when taken in a logical order. However, there were several factors that worked both to overthrow Aristotle's theories and to preserve it. First of all, Aristotle's theories relied very little on experiment, which left them vulnerable to anyone who chose to perform such experiments. But attacking one part of Aristotle's system involved attacking the whole thing, which made it a daunting task for even the greatest thinkers of the day. Secondly, the Church had grafted Aristotle's theories onto its theology, thus making any attack on Aristotle an attack on the tradition and the Church itself. 31
Finally, there were the Renaissance scholars who were uncovering other Greek authors who contradicted Aristotle. This was unsettling, since these scholars had a reverence for all ancient knowledge as being nearly infallible. However, finding contradicting authorities forced the Renaissance scholars to try to figure out which ones were right. When their findings showed that neither theory was right, they had to think for themselves and find a new theory that worked. This encouraged skepticism, freethinking, and experimentation, all of which are essential parts of modern science. Pattern of development The combination of these factors generated a cycle that undermined Aristotle, but also slowed down the creation of a new set of theories. New observations would be made that seemed to contradict Aristotle's theories. This would lead to new explanations, but always framed in the context of the old beliefs, thus patching up the Aristotelian system. However, more observations would take place, leading to more patching of the old system, and so on. The first person who started this slow process of dismantling Aristotle's cosmology was Copernicus. His findings would reinforce the process of finding new explanations, which would lead to the work of Kepler and Galileo. The work of these three men would lead to many new questions and theories about the universe until Isaac Newton would take the new data and synthesize it into a new set of theories that more accurately explained the universe. A. Copernican Revolution Nicolas Copernicus was a Polish scholar working at the University of Padua in northern Italy. The problem he wrestled with was the paths of planetary orbits. Through the centuries close observations had shown that the heavens do not always appear to move in perfect, uninterrupted circles. Rather, they sometimes seem to move backwards in what are known as retrogradations. In order to account for these irregularities, astronomers did not do away with Aristotle's theory of perfectly circular orbits around the earth. Instead, they expanded upon it, adding smaller circular orbits (epicycles) that spun off the main orbits. These more or less accounted for the retrogradations seen in orbits. Each time a new irregularity was observed, a new epicycle was added. By the 1500's, the model of the universe had some 80 epicycles attached to ten crystalline spheres (one for the moon, sun, each of the five known planets, the totality of the stars, a sphere to move the other spheres, and heaven). The second century Greek astronomer, Ptolemy was the main authority who put order to and passed this cumbersome system of epicycles to posterity. Copernicus' solution was basically geometric. By placing the sun at the center of the universe and having the earth orbit it, he reduced the unwieldy number of epicycles from 80 to 34. His book, Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial Worlds, published in 1543, laid the foundations for a revolution in how Europeans would view the world and its place in the universe. However, Copernicus' intention was not to create a radically new theory, but to get back to even older ideas by such Greeks as 32
Plato and Pythagoras who believed in a heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Once again, ancient authorities were set against one another, leaving it for others to develop their own theories. It took some 150 years after Copernicus' death in 1543 to achieve a new model of the universe that worked. The first step was compiling more data that tarnished the perfection of the Ptolemaic universe and forced men to re-­evaluate their beliefs. Johannes Kepler At this time, Tycho Brahe, using only the naked eye, tracked the entire orbits of various stars and planets. Previously, astronomers would only track part of an orbit at a time and assume that orbit was in a perfect circle. Brahe kept extensive records of his observations, but did not really know what to do with them. That task was left to his successor, Johannes Kepler. Kepler was a brilliant mathematician who had a mystical vision of the mathematical perfection of the universe that owed a great deal to the ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras. Despite these preoccupations, Kepler was open minded enough to realize that Brahe's data showed the planetary orbits were not circular. Finally, his calculations showed that those orbits were elliptical. Galileo As important as Kepler's conclusions was his method of arriving at it. He was the first to successfully use math to define the workings of the cosmos. Although such a conclusion as elliptical orbits inevitably met with fierce opposition, the combination of Brahe's observations and Kepler's math helped break the perfection of the Aristotelian universe. However, it was the work of an Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei (1564-­1642), armed with a new invention, the telescope, which would further shatter the old theory and lead the way to a new one. Using his telescope, Galileo saw the sun's perfection marred by sunspots and the moon's perfection marred by craters. He also saw four moons orbiting Jupiter. In his book, The Starry Messenger (1611), he reported these disturbing findings and spread the news across Europe. Most people could not understand Kepler's math, but anyone could look through a telescope and see for himself the moon's craters and Jupiter's moons. The Church tried to preserve the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic view of the universe by clamping down on Galileo and his book and made him promise not to preach his views. However, in 1632, Galileo published his next book, Dialogue on
the Great World Systems, which technically did not preach the Copernican theory (which Galileo believed in), but was only a dialogue presenting both views "equally". Galileo got his point across by having the advocate of the Church and Aristotelian view 33
named Simplicius (Simpleton). He was quickly faced with the Inquisition and the threat of torture. Being an old man of 70, he recanted his views. However, it was too late. Word was out, and the heliocentric heresy was gaining new followers daily. Galileo's work was the first comprehensive attack on the Aristotelian/Ptolemaic cosmic model. He treated celestial objects as being subject to the same laws as terrestrial objects. However, Galileo was still enthralled with perfect circular motion and, as a result, did not come up with the synthesis of all these new bits of information into a new comprehensive model of the universe. This was left to the last, and probably greatest, giant of the age, Isaac Newton. Isaac Newton The story of Newton being hit on the head by an apple may very well be true. However, the significance of this popular tale is usually lost. People had seen apples fall out of trees for thousands of years, but Newton realized, in a way no one else had realized, that the same force pulling the apples to earth was keeping the moon in its orbit. In order to prove this mathematically, Newton had to invent a whole new branch of math, calculus, for figuring out rates of motion and change. The genius of Newton in physics, as well as William Harvey in medicine and Mendeleev in chemistry, was not so much in his new discoveries, as in his ability to take the isolated bits and pieces of the puzzle collected by his predecessors and fit them together. In retrospect, his synthesis seems so simple, but it took tremendous imagination and creativity to break the bonds of the old way of thinking and see a radically different picture. The implications of Newton's theory of gravity can easily escape us, since we now take it for granted that physical laws apply the same throughout the universe. To the mentality of the 1600’s, which saw a clear distinction between the laws governing the terrestrial and celestial elements, it was a staggering revelation. His three laws of motion were simple, could be applied everywhere, and could be used with calculus to solve any problems of motion that came up. The universe that emerged was radically different from that of Aristotle. Thanks to Newton, it was within our grasp to understand, predict, and increasingly manipulate the laws of the universe in ways no one had been able to do before. Newton's work also completed the fusion of math promoted by Renaissance humanists, Aristotelian logic pushed by medieval university professors, and experiment to test a hypothesis pioneered by such men as Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo into what we call the scientific method. This fusion had gradually been taking place since the Renaissance, but the invention of calculus made math a much more dynamic tool in predicting and manipulating the laws of nature. The printing of Newton's book, Principia Mathematica, in 1687 is often seen as the start of the Enlightenment (1687-­1789). It was a significant turning point in history, for, armed with the tools of Newton's laws and calculus, scientists had an 34
unprecedented faith in their ability to understand, predict, and manipulate the laws of nature for their own purposes. This sense of power popularized science for other intellectuals and rulers in Europe, turning it into virtual religion for some in the Enlightenment. Even the geometrically trimmed shrubbery of Versailles offers testimony to that faith in our power over nature. Not until this century has that faith been seriously undermined or put into a more realistic perspective. B. The Darwinian Revolution The publication in 1859 of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin ushered in a new era in the intellectual history of humanity. Darwin is deservedly given credit for the theory of biological evolution: he accumulated evidence demonstrating that organisms evolve and discovered the process, natural selection, by which they evolve. But the importance of Darwin's achievement is that it completed the Copernican revolution initiated three centuries earlier, and thereby radically changed our conception of the universe and the place of humanity in it. The discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, had gradually ushered in the notion that the workings of the universe could be explained by human reason. It was shown that the earth is not the center of the universe, but a small planet rotating around an average star;; that the universe is immense in space and in time;; and that the motions of the planets around the sun can be explained by the same simple laws that account for the motion of physical objects on our planet. These and other discoveries greatly expanded human knowledge, but the intellectual revolution these scientists brought about was more fundamental: a commitment to the postulate that the universe obeys immanent laws that account for natural phenomena. The workings of the universe were brought into the realm of science: explanation through natural laws. Physical phenomena could be accounted for whenever the causes were adequately known. Darwin completed the Copernican revolution by drawing out for biology the notion of nature as a lawful system of matter in motion. The adaptations and diversity of organisms, the origin of novel and highly organized forms, even the origin of humanity itself could now be explained by an orderly process of change governed by natural laws. The origin of organisms and their marvelous adaptations were, however, either left unexplained or attributed to the design of an omniscient Creator. God had created the birds and bees, the fish and corals, the trees in the forest, and best of all, man. God had given us eyes so that we might see, and He had provided fish with gills to breathe in water. Philosophers and theologians argued that the functional design of organisms manifests the existence of an all-­wise Creator. Wherever there is design, there is a designer;; the existence of a watch evinces the existence of a watchmaker. 35
The English theologian William Paley in his Natural Theology (1802) elaborated the argument-­from-­design as forceful demonstration of the existence of the Creator. The functional design of the human eye, argued Paley, provided conclusive evidence of an all-­wise Creator. It would be absurd to suppose, he wrote, that the human eye by mere chance "should have consisted, first, of a series of transparent lenses ... secondly of a black cloth or canvas spread out behind these lenses so as to receive the image formed by pencils of light transmitted through them, and placed at the precise geometrical distance at which, and at which alone, a distinct image could be formed ... thirdly of a large nerve communicating between this membrane and the brain." The Bridgewater Treatises, published between 1833 and 1840, were written by eminent scientists and philosophers to set forth "the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God as manifested in the Creation." The structure and mechanisms of man's hand were, for example, cited as incontrovertible evidence that the hand had been designed by the same omniscient Power that had created the world. The advances of physical science had thus driven humanity's conception of the universe to a split-­personality state of affairs, which persisted well into the mid-­
nineteenth century. Scientific explanations, derived from natural laws, dominated the world of nonliving matter, on the earth as well as in the heavens. Supernatural explanations, depending on the unfathomable deeds of the Creator, accounted for the origin and configuration of living creatures—the most diversified, complex, and interesting realities of the world. It was Darwin's genius to resolve this conceptual schizophrenia (Ayala, no date). C. Freudian Revolution Sigmund Freud was born in 1856, before the advent of telephones, radios, automobiles, airplanes, and a host of other material and cultural changes that had taken place by the time of his death in 1939. Freud saw the entirety of the first World War–a war that destroyed the empire whose capital city was his home for more than seventy years–and the beginning of the next. He began his career as an ambitious but isolated neurologist;; by the end of it, he described himself, not inaccurately, as someone who had had as great an impact on humanity's conception of itself as had Copernicus and Darwin. Freud's most obvious impact was to change the way society thought about and dealt with mental illness. Before psychoanalysis, which Freud invented, mental illness was almost universally considered 'organic';; that is, it was thought to come from some kind of deterioration or disease of the brain. Research on treating mental illness was primarily concerned–at least theoretically–with discovering exactly which kinds of changes in the brain led to insanity. Many diseases did not manifest obvious signs of physical difference between healthy and diseased 36
brains, but it was assumed that this was simply because the techniques for finding the differences were not yet sufficient. The conviction that physical diseases of the brain caused mental illness meant that psychological causes–the kinds that Freud would insist on studying–
were ignored. It also meant that people drew a sharp dividing line between the "insane" and the "sane." Insane people were those with physical diseases of the brain. Sane people were those without diseased brains. Freud changed all of this. Despite his background in physicalism (learned during his stay in Ernst Brücke's laboratory), his theories explicitly rejected the purely organic explanations of his predecessors. One of Freud's biggest influences during his early days as a neurologist was Jean-­Martin Charcot, the famous French psychiatrist. Charcot claimed that hysteria had primarily organic causes, and that it had a regular, comprehensible pattern of symptoms. Freud agreed with Charcot on the latter point, but he disagreed entirely on the former. In essence, Freud claimed that neurotic people had working hardware, but faulty software. Earlier psychiatrists like Charcot, in contrast, had claimed that the problems were entirely in the hardware. As psychoanalysis became increasingly popular, psychology and psychiatry turned away from the search for organic causes and toward the search for inner psychic conflicts and early childhood traumas. As a consequence, the line between sane and insane was blurred: everyone, according to Freud, had an Oedipal crisis, and everyone could potentially become mentally ill. Psychoanalysis has had an enormous impact on the practice of psychiatry, particularly within the United States, but today it is regarded by most sources–
medical, academic, governmental, and others–as almost entirely incorrect in its conception of the mind. This judgment is based on the crucial test of psychoanalysis: whether or not it really helps patients with behavioral or psychological problems. The consensus is that is does not. Psychoanalysis in its many varieties appears to have little or no efficacy in treating mental illness. In contrast, psychopharmacology and cognitive-­ behavioral therapies (therapies that simply try to change what the patient thinks and does rather than analyzing the causes of the behavior), while far from perfect, do appear to help. If this is true–and we have a great deal of evidence that it is–why is Freud still so important? Why do we generally speak of him as a great figure in Western thought, instead of as a strange and misguided figure of turn-­of-­the-­ century Europe? There are at least two reasons. The first is purely practical: psychoanalysis has enormous historical significance. Mental illness affects an large proportion of the population, either directly or indirectly, so any curative scheme as widely accepted as was Freud's is important to our history in general. The second, more important, reason is that Freud gave people a new way of thinking about why they acted the way they did. He created a whole new way of interpreting behaviors: one 37
could now claim that a person had motives, desires, and beliefs–all buried in the unconscious–which they knew nothing about but which nonetheless directly controlled and motivated their conscious thought and behavior. This hypothesis, derived from but independent of Freud's psychiatric work, was the truly radical part of his system of thought. D. Scientific Revolution in Mesoamerica Meso-­America is the region from Mexico to Guatemala, Belize and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. There were no major ancient civilization that developed in North America. The Mesoamerican civilization were isolated from the accumulated scientific knowledge of Africa, Asia and Europe. They were confronted with much harder conditions than the ancient civilizations of the Indus valley, Mesopotamia, and Egypt which developed in parallel with each other and established contacts between each other at a very early stage. This exchange of knowledge between these ancient civilizations was critical in the development of their scientific knowledge. Because of this isolation, Mesoamerican civilization developed on their own and became much more self-­reliant. The most advanced Mesoamerican civilization was the Maya civilization that was well on its way to develop true science. They knew how to make paper and had pictorial script called Maya hieroglyphs that allowed them to record all knowledge on long strips of paper folded harmonica-­style into books. One of the three books recovered called The Dresden Codex contains predictions of solar eclipses for centuries and a table of predicted positions of Venus. Unlike the European scientists who used astronomical instruments like telescopes, the Maya made predictions by aligning stars with two objects that were separated by a large distance, a technique that achieved great accuracy of angular measurement. As a result, the Maya developed the most accurate calendar ever designed. The Aztec followed the same road. They kept their own script and languages but assimilated all they could learn from Maya society. Their manuscripts describe how the Maya performed their astronomical observations. Several outstanding achievements can be reported in the area of technology and invention. The manufacture of rubber was one of the earliest inventions, documented by the use of a rubber ball in the ball game tlachtli, a game played by Meso-­American civilizations from earliest times. In architecture the Maya were the first to use pitched ceilings in their buildings after the invention of the corbelled vault. Aztec city builders also understood the need for public sanitation;; public latrines were found along all highways, and to prevent pollution of Lake Texcoco canoes transported the sewage from Tenochtitlán to the mainland every morning. (von Hagen, 1957) American people were gifted horticulturalists and cultivated crop plants from the earliest times. Among the plants that originated in Meso-­America are corn 38
(maize), papaya, avocado and cocoa. Maize is the only cultivated plant that was developed so early in human history that its wild ancestor is no longer known. It can, however, still be crossed with two other plants found only on the Yucatan Peninsula. Finally, several sculptures found at Meso-­American sites in 1975, 1979 and 1983 and dating back to 2000 -­ 1500 BC have clear magnetic properties. In some of these sculptures the north and south poles are in most conspicuous positions, for example at the snout and at the back of the head of a frog or turtle. Another magnetic object found in 1966 was shaped as if it was to be used to indicate direction. These finds strongly suggest that the early Meso-­American civilizations knew about and used magnetism. (Malmström, 1976, 1979) E. Asian Scientific Revolution Aside from China, there were other Asian countries that contributed to the development of science and technology in the world, although it varied depending on country and time, specially in the present times. Currently, Japan is probably the most notable country in Asia in terms of scientific and technological achievement, particularly in terms of its electronics and automobile products. Other countries are also notable in other scientific fields such as chemical and physical achievements. The general conception is that many of the cutting-­edge technological developments, and to a lesser extent scientific advancements, emanate from Asia. For instance, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China together produce a staggering 90% of the world’s digital gadgets. Aside from the region’s hardware dominance, nations across Asia are becoming increasingly important to the global supply of digital content and services, something which will only increase as the continent develops over the coming decades. South Korea’s cultural popularity around the world has caused a number of startup’s to emerge working within the digital and technology sectors, including website viki.com. Taiwan is following a similar path to Japan meanwhile, moving away from hardware production, instead turning to software and content development. Together, the points raised throughout this article proves Asia is truly a crucible of innovative technological development;; a continent that will play an incredibly important role in the evolution of our digital age. F. Scientific Revolution in Middle East During the 3,000 years of urbanized life in Mesopotamia and Egypt tremendous strides were made in various branches of science and technology. The greatest advances were made in Mesopotamia—very possibly because of its constant shift of population and openness to foreign influence, in contrast to the relative isolation of Egypt and the consequent stability of its population. The Egyptians excelled in such 39
applied sciences as medicine, engineering, and surveying;; in Mesopotamia greater progress was made in astronomy and mathematics. The development of astronomy seems to have been greatly accelerated by that of astrology, which took the lead among the quasi-­sciences involved in divination. The Egyptians remained far behind the Babylonians in developing astronomy, while Babylonian medicine, because of its chiefly magical character, was less advanced than that of Egypt. In engineering and architecture Egyptians took an early lead, owing largely to the stress they laid on the construction of such elaborate monuments as vast pyramids and temples of granite and sandstone. On the other hand, the Babylonians led in the development of such practical arts as irrigation (Albright, 2014). Both sciences and pseudosciences spread from Egypt and Mesopotamia to Phoenicia and Anatolia. The Phoenicians in particular transmitted much of this knowledge to the various lands of the Mediterranean, especially to the Greeks. The direction taken by these influences can be followed from Egypt to Syria, Phoenicia, and Cyprus, thanks to a combination of excavated art forms that prove the direction of movement, as well as to Greek tradition, which lays great stress on what the early Greek philosophers learned from Egypt. Mesopotamian influence can be traced especially through the partial borrowing of Babylonian science and divination by the Hittites and later by the transmission of information through Phoenicia. The Egyptians and Mesopotamians wrote no theoretical treatises;; information had to be transmitted piecemeal through personal contacts. Of all the accomplishments of the ancient Middle East, the invention of the alphabet is probably the greatest. While pre-­alphabetic systems of writing in the Old World became steadily more phonetic, they were still exceedingly cumbersome, and the syllabic systems that gradually replaced them remained complex and difficult. In the early Hyksos period (17th century BC) the Northwestern Semites living in Egypt adapted hieroglyphic characters—in at least two slightly differing forms of letters—to their own purposes. Thus was developed the earliest known purely consonantal alphabet, imitated in northern Syria, with the addition of two letters to designate vowels used with the glottal catch. This alphabet spread rapidly and was in quite common use among the Northwestern Semites (Canaanites, Hebrews, Aramaeans, and especially the Phoenicians) soon after its invention. By the 9th century BC the Phoenicians were using it in the western Mediterranean, and the Greeks and Phrygians adopted it in the 8th. The alphabet contributed vastly to the Greek cultural and literary revolution in the immediately following period. From the Greeks it was transmitted to other Western peoples. Since language must always remain the chief mode of communication for people, its union with hearing and vision in a uniquely simple phonetic structure has probably revolutionized civilization more than any other invention in history. 40
G. Scientific Revolution in Africa The history of the sciences in Africa is rich and diverse. The applied sciences of agronomy, metallurgy, engineering and textile production, as well as medicine, dominated the field of activity across Africa. So advanced was the culture of farming within West Africa, that ‘New World‘ agricultural growth was spawned by the use of captives from these African societies that had already made enormous strides in the field of agronomy. In her work Black Rice, Judith Carnoy demonstrates the legacy of enslaved Africans to the Americas in the sphere of rice cultivation. We know also that a variety of African plants were adopted in Asia, including coffee, the oil palm, fonio or acha (digitaria exilis), African rice (oryza glabberima), and sorghum (sorghum bicolor). Plants, whether in terms of legumes, grain, vegetables, tubers, or, wild or cultivated fruits, also had medicinal implications for Africans and were used as anesthetics or pain killers, analgesics for the control of fever, antidotes to counter poisons, and anthelmints aimed at deworming. They were used also in cardiovascular, gastro-­intestinal, and dermatological contexts. Some of these such as hoodia gordonii and combrettum caffrum are being integrated within contemporary pharmaceutical systems (Emeagwali, n.d.). Africa’s areas of scientific investigation include the fields of astronomy, physics, and mathematics. Laird Scranton, making use of the extensive collections of Marcel Griaule, has deepened our understanding of Malian cosmological myths and their perceptions of the structure of matter and the physical world. Dogon knowledge systems have also been explored in terms of their perceptions on astronomy. Dogon propositions about Sirius B have been discussed by Charles Finch in The Star of Deep Beginnings. The solar calendar that we use today evolved from the Egyptian calendar of twelve months, calibrated according to the day on which the star Sirius rose on the horizon with the Sun. Scranton suggests major interconnections between the thought of the ancient Egyptians and that of the Malians of West Africa. In the field of Mathematics, Nubian builders calculated the volumes of masonry and building materials, as well as the slopes of pyramids, for construction purposes. Bianchi points to a Nubian engraving at Meroe, in ancient Sudan, dated to the first century B.C.E., which reflects “a sophisticated understanding of mathematics.” Included in the engraving were several lines, inclined at a 72-­degree angle, running diagonally from the base of a pyramid. Bianchi suggests that the Nubian King Amanikhabale of the first century BCE was the owner of that pyramid. Interestingly, the Nubians of Meroe, who constructed more pyramids than the Egyptians, built steep, flat-­topped pyramids. In the field of medicine, common patterns and trends emerged across the continent. These included scientifically proven methods, as well as techniques and strategies which were culturally specific and psychologically significant. Among the common principles and procedures were hydrotherapy, heat therapy, spinal manipulation, quarantine, bone-­setting and surgery. Incantations and other psychotherapeutic devices sometimes accompanied other techniques. The 41
knowledge of specific medicinal plants was quite extensive in some kingdoms, empires, and city states such as Aksum, and Borgu (in Hausaland). The latter continues to be well known for orthopedics (bone-­setting), as is the case of Funtua in Northern Nigeria. Many traditional techniques are still utilized in some areas. Others have undergone change over time, have been revived in more recent periods, or have fallen into oblivion. Various types of metal products have been used over time by Africans, ranging from gold, tin, silver, bronze, brass, and iron/steel. The Sudanic empires of West Africa emerged in the context of various commercial routes and activities involving the gold trade. In the North and East, Ethiopia and Sudan were the major suppliers of gold, with Egypt a major importer. In Southern Africa, the kingdom of Monomotapa (Munhumutapa) reigned supreme as a major gold producer. In the various spheres of metal production, specific techniques and scientific principles included: excavation and ore identification;; separation of ore from non-­ore bearing rock;; smelting by the use of bellows and heated furnaces;; and smithing and further refinement. The use of multishaft and open-­shaft systems facilitated circulation of air in intense heating processes, while the bellows principle produced strong currents of air in a chamber expanded to draw in or expel air through a valve. The various metal products served a wide range of purposes, including: armor (as in some northern Nigerian city-­states), jewelry (of gold, silver, iron, copper and brass), cooking utensils, cloth dyeing, sculpture, and agricultural tools. The technical know-­how and expertise of blacksmiths helped to enhance their status, although they were also often associated with supernatural and psychic powers, as well. In various parts of ancient, medieval, and contemporary Africa, building constructions of various dimensions, shapes, and types emerged, reflecting various concepts, techniques, raw material preferences, and decorative principles. Builders integrated the concepts of the arch, the dome, and columns and aisles in their constructions. The underground vaults and passages, as well as the rock-­hewn churches, of Axum are matched in Nubia and Egypt with pyramids of various dimensions. In the Sahelian region, adobe, or dried clay, was preferred in the context of moulded contours, at times integrated with overall moulded sculpture. Permanent scaffolding made of protruding planks characterized the Malian region. The principle of evaporative cooling was integrated into building design. Mats were used as part of the decor and also to be saturated repeatedly in order to cool the room. Derelict ruins from walled cities—such as Kano, Zazzau, and other city-­states of Hausaland in the central Sudanic region of West Africa—complement structures such as the rock-­hewn and moulded churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia or the Zimbabwe enclosures. The structures of ancient Nubia, as well as those of Egypt, are parallel structures in the northeast. 42
H. Information Revolution Information revolution is a period of change that describes current economic, social and technological trends beyond the Industrial Revolution. The information revolution was fueled by advances in semiconductor technology, particularly the metal-­oxide-­semiconductor field-­effect transistor (MOSFET) and the integrated circuit (IC) chip, leading to the Information Age in the early 21st century (Lukasiak, 2010;; Orton, 2009). Information revolution might prove as significant to the lives of people. Computer technology is at the root of this change, and continuing advancements in that technology seem to ensure that this revolution would touch the lives of people. Computers are unique machines;; they help to extend the brain power. Computerized robots have been replacing blue-­collar workers;; they might soon be replacing white collar workers as well. Computers are merely devices that follow sets of instructions called computer programs, or software, that have been written by people called computer programmers. Computers offer many benefits, but there are also many dangers. They could help others invade one's privacy or wage war. They might turn one into button pusher and cause massive unemployment. User-­
friendly systems can be easily used by untrained people. The key development that made personal computers possible was the invention of the microprocessor chip at Intel in 1971. The information revolution led us to the age of the internet, where optical communication networks play a key role in delivering massive amounts of data. The world has experienced phenomenal network growth during the last decade, and further growth is imminent. The internet will continue to expand due to user population growth and internet penetration: previously inaccessible geographical regions in Africa and Asia will come online. Network growth will only be accelerated by improvements in integrated circuits. Transistor size has been halved every two years since the middle of the last century. The new internet-­based global economy requires a worldwide network with high capacity and availability, which is currently limited by submarine optical communication cables. New ideas keep coming from the information transport community. Since the first edition of Undersea Fiber Communication Systems in 2002, the optical fiber communication industry moved into the “coherent” era. We transport an order of magnitude more bits than just five years ago. We encode information into phase, polarization, and amplitude of electromagnetic waves. Michael Faraday would be proud, knowing that we send over 10,000,000,000,000 bits every second across the Atlantic Ocean in a single strand of fiber. We would leave in awe Sir William Thomson (known as Lord Kelvin), who was the scientific leader of an 1858 endeavor that built the first submarine cable with a transmission speed of one word per minute. Sir Thomson and Cyrus Field, an American businessman and telecommunications pioneer, would be surprised to find out how many tools 43
developed during their first transatlantic expedition are still in use today. At first glance, the modern cable looks similar to the 1858 cable, which was copper based with a gutta-­percha (trans-­poly isoprene) isolator. In modern day cables, gutta-­
percha has been replaced with polyethylene. We still use copper to power submarine repeaters, and have added optical fibers during the last decade of the last century. The uniqueness of this engineering marvel is a combination of information science, nonlinear optics, electrical engineering, material science, engineering practices, project management, marine expertise, and high reliability standard. Undersea fiber communication systems will continue to serve society. Impact of Information Revolution The truly revolutionary impact of the Information Revolution is just beginning to be felt. But it is not "information" that fuels this impact. It is not "artificial intelligence." It is not the effect of computers and data processing on decision-­
making, policymaking, or strategy. It is something that practically no one foresaw or, indeed, even talked about ten or fifteen years ago: e-­commerce—that is, the explosive emergence of the Internet as a major, perhaps eventually the major, worldwide distribution channel for goods, for services, and, surprisingly, for managerial and professional jobs. This is profoundly changing economies, markets, and industry structures;; products and services and their flow;; consumer segmentation, consumer values, and consumer behavior;; jobs and labor markets. But the impact may be even greater on societies and politics and, above all, on the way we see the world and ourselves in it. At the same time, new and unexpected industries will no doubt emerge, and fast. One is already here: biotechnology. And another: fish farming. Within the next fifty years fish farming may change us from hunters and gatherers on the seas into "marine pastoralists"—just as a similar innovation some 10,000 years ago changed our ancestors from hunters and gatherers on the land into agriculturists and pastoralists. It is likely that other new technologies will appear suddenly, leading to major new industries. What they may be is impossible even to guess at. But it is highly probable—indeed, nearly certain—that they will emerge, and fairly soon. And it is nearly certain that few of them—and few industries based on them—will come out of computer and information technology. Like biotechnology and fish farming, each will emerge from its own unique and unexpected technology. Of course, these are only predictions. But they are made on the assumption that the Information Revolution will evolve as several earlier technology-­based "revolutions" have evolved over the past 500 years, since Gutenberg's printing revolution, around 1455. In particular, the assumption is that the Information Revolution will be like the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. And that is indeed exactly how the Information Revolution has been during its first fifty years. 44
Activity: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Motivation: Please refer to the following quote in answering the given questions below. “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” -­ Sir Isaac Newton 1. What do you think Newton has seen? ________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________ Pre-­Activity Discussion Scientists today build on the knowledge and discoveries made by others. It might be that they continue and grow the work of the scientists who have mentored and supervised them or that they build on prior discoveries – both recent and historical. Tying in stories of science in history and scientific breakthroughs can offer engaging opportunities for further exploration and learning. For example, the periodic table that we know today was actually a result of numerous experiments and discoveries that spanned for centuries starting from 1669 when the first scientific discovery of an element was made by Hennig Brand. Over the next 200 years, a great deal of knowledge about elements and compounds was gained. By the middle of the 19th century, about 60 elements had been discovered. Scientists began to recognize patterns in the properties of these elements and set about developing classification schemes. 45
Scientists are constantly working on discovering new materials and further investigating the properties of existing elements. The periodic table can be reviewed and new elements can be added, but only added after rigorous scientific examination. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) verifies the additions of new elements and at the end of 2015 the 7th period of the periodic table of elements was completed with the addition of four new elements. Activity Task: The following timeline summarizes the development of the periodic table. Using the brief history of the periodic table as an example and applying what you have learned about intellectual revolutions, select any topic (can be an object or theory) and present its historical evolution to its present day form. Identify the key persons who are instrumental in its development and how each key person worked on the findings of his/her predecessors in the field to further improve the work. Be creative in presenting your timeline and in presenting your work. 46
1862
Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois plotted
the atomic weights of elements on paper tape and
wound them, spiral like, around a cylinder. He called
his model the telluric helix or screw.
1864
English chemist John Newlands proposed
his Law of octaves based on the periodic
similarity every seventh element.
1868
Lothar Meyer compiled a periodic table based on
regular repeating pattern of physical property such
as molar volume. Once again the elements were
arranged in order of increasing atomic weights.
1894
William Ramsay discovered the noble gases
and realized that they represented a new group
in the periodic table. The noble gases added
further proof to the accuracy of Mendeleev’s
table.
1944
1869
Dmitri Mendeleev produced a periodic table
based on atomic weights but arranged
“periodically”. Elements with similar
properties appeared under each other. Gaps
were left for yet to be discovered elements.
1913
Henry Moseley determined the atomic number
of each of the known elements. He realized that
arranging the elements in order of increasing
atomic number rather than atomic weight gave
a better fit within the “periodic table”.
Glenn Seaborg proposed an ‘actinide hypothesis’
and published his version of the table in 1945. The
lanthanide and actinide series form the two rows
under the periodic table of elements.
47
Chapter 3 Science, Technology and Nation Building Introduction This section presents the policies of the government regarding science and technology, how it is being implemented through its various departments and agencies, and its role in nation building. It also includes a list of Filipino inventors and their inventions. Intended Learning Outcomes 1. Discuss the role of science and technology in Philippine nation building. 2. Evaluate government policies on science and technology in terms of their contributions to nation building. 3. Identify actual science and technology government policies and appraise their impact on the development of the Filipino nation. A. The Philippine Government Science and Technology Agenda Scientists and technologists are the backbone of an industrialized nation that propels socioeconomic gain and national progress. They are the key players and lifeblood of research and innovation and plays an important role in the industry and manufacturing sector. As such, it can be said that scientists and technologists are essential players in nation building. In the Philippines, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is tasked to oversee and manage national technology development and acquisition, undertake technological and scientific research and promote public consciousness of science and technology. DOST is responsible for formulating and adopting a comprehensive National Science and Technology plan for the Philippines and subsequently, to monitor and coordinate its funding and implementation. It undertakes policy research, technology assessment, feasibility and technical studies, and maintains a national information system and databank on science and technology. In 2017, DOST launched the Science for the People thru Administrative Order No. 003 s. 2017. This is in response to the government’s call to address inequity in developments within and among countries and is aligned with the national goals and plans. It aims to make science and technology more relevant to the conditions, needs and opportunities for contributing to regional development while keeping abreast with the trends and development in the country and in the world. Likewise, the program intends to maximize the use of science, enhance innovation and the creative capacity of the Filipinos towards the achievement of inclusive and sustainable growth. 48
Stipulated in the strategic plan are the seven outcomes that the agency strives to achieve. These are as follows: 1. Innovation and stimulus 2. Technology and adoption promoted and accelerated 3. Critical mass of globally competitive STI human resources developed 4. Productivity and efficiency of communities and the production sector, particularly MSMEs improved 5. Resiliency to disaster risks and climate change ensured 6. Inequality in STI capacities and opportunities reduced 7. Effective STI governance achieved The strategies to attain these outcomes are embodied in the DOST Eleven Point Agenda as follows: 1. Pursue R&D to address pressing national problems. 2. Conduct R&D to enhance productivity and improve management of resources. 3. Engage in R&D to generate and apply new knowledge and technologies across sectors. 4. Strengthen and utilize regional R&D capabilities. 5. Maximize utilization of R&D results through technology transfer and commercialization. 6. Develop STI human resources and build a strong STI culture. 7. Upgrade STI facilities and capacities to advance R&D activities and expand S&T services. 8. Expand STI assistance to communities and the production sector, particularly MSMEs. 9. Provide STI-­based solutions for disaster risks and climate change adaptation and mitigation. 10. Strengthen industry-­academe-­government and international STI collaboration. 11. Enhance effectiveness of STI governance. Agenda 1 highlights the latest advancements in research and development geared towards the shared goal of improved nutrition and health for all. Focused on health technology development, drug discovery and development remains to be the high-­impact and big ticket program supported by the Department in the area of health. Central to this R&D program is the study of endemic resources, partnered with documentation of traditional knowledge and practices in health, that could eventually lead to decreased cost of medicines and health interventions for diseases that affect the quality of lives of many Filipinos. Agenda 2 presents how R&D can be utilized to make key traditional industries steadfast and competitive through technological innovations that can address gaps in productivity and increase production yield. Enhancing the capacity of marginalized 49
sub-­sectors and people groups to use better and new technologies can expand their access to participate in economic activities and progress. The primary industries that will benefit from the featured major R&D programs include the agriculture, specifically coconut and rice production, non-­wood forest products, i.e., bamboo processing and utilization, and natural textile among others. Agenda 3 engages R&D in emerging scientific and technological platforms which lay the inroads to the development of new products, services, and industries. Promising new technologies may potentially disrupt and change the way things are done. Recognizing this, the Department anticipates impact of new technologies in existing industries in the country by supporting local capability programs in the areas of artificial intelligence for new industry development and supporting research in nanotechnology for new materials development. Agenda 4 focuses in strengthening institutional capacity to undertake research and development and contribute to regional development. Utilizing local researchers equalize opportunities in generating new knowledge and technologies suited for the specific need of the region. The Department partners with Higher Education Institutions in the regions in establishing niche R&D centers which may also serve as hubs for developing R&D capability of adjacent localities. Agenda 5 includes mechanisms to encourage technology transfer and avenues where R&D results are promoted in the bid to maximize its utilization. The Department provided support in bringing R&D results to its final stage of development up to commercialization. Agenda 6 aims to build a critical mass of competitive researchers, scientists, and engineers (RSEs) and promoting a culture of STI. Towards this goal, the Department continues to provide scholarship programs to scale up the number of RSEs. Agenda 7 features various S&T facilities that offer technical services for carrying out research and development, as well as addressing the needs of the industry in terms of quality assurance, adherence to standards, product development, and innovation. The electronics, semi-­conductor, automotive parts, gear assembly manufacturing, agriculture produce, and food manufacturing industries can benefit from the various S&T facilities and technical services. Agenda 8 focuses on S&T assistance provided to upgrade the technological capabilities and improve the productivity and efficiency of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The Department has continued to provide technological interventions such as process and system improvement, technical consultancy, packaging and labelling, training, testing and calibration, and product development to empower MSMEs to innovate, move up the technology scale and become more competitive. 50
Agenda 9 highlights the role of the Department in building a disaster-­resilient community through the provision of accurate and timely information. Specifically, progress was made by establishing and upgrading observation and monitoring systems, efforts in hazard and risk assessment, and researches for disaster risk management, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation. Agenda 10 focuses on the linkages and networks being pursued by the Department in terms of S&T collaboration. In 2017, the Department took part in 24 bilateral engagements and participated in a number of activities which involved 14 international organizations. Agenda 11 (Enhance effectiveness of STI governance) provides the policy framework that governs the implementation of the programs, projects and activities of the Department in contribution to national development and progress. Taking off from the National 0+10 Socioeconomic Agenda and Philippine Development Plan, the Department crafted the Science for the People 11-­point Agenda, Harmonized R&D Agenda, and Regional Offices Strategy Map. In Focus: Batangas State University KIST Park Batangas State University made history as it officially launched the country’s first Knowledge, Innovation and Science Technology (KIST) Park on July 20, 2020. This milestone placed Batangas State University at the forefront of national development. BatStateU KIST Park was designated as a Special Economic Zone under Presidential Proclamation No. 947, s. 2020. The theme of the launching event was “Towards a New Frontier of Knowledge-­building and Innovation in Science and Technology.” BatStateU headed by Dr. Tirso A. Ronquillo became a key partner of the government in fostering industry-­academe linkages, knowledge and technology transfer, and promoting the commercialization of innovations. The KIST Park will serve as a catalyst for industrial productivity and increased economic growth in CaLaBaRZon. This manifestation of the strong collaboration between government, industry and academe is central to inclusive innovation strategy. BatStateU KIST Park is now open and spearheads a long-­term vision for “state universities and colleges in the country to expand their programs for industry, academe, market synergy, technopreneurship, [innovation-­based] business incubation and acceleration, and knowledge co-­creation in science and technology.” (http://batstateukistpark.com.ph/#/main/home)
Question: Which of the 11-­point Agenda relates to the launching and operation of BatStateU KIST Park? Expound your answer. 51
B. Major Development Programs and Personalities in Science and Technology in the Philippines Major Development Programs in Science and Technology The Science for Change Program (S4CP) was created by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to accelerate STI in the country in order to keep up with the developments in our time wherein technology and innovation are game changers. Through the Science for Change Program (S4CP), the DOST can significantly accelerate STI in the country and create a massive S4CP focuses on Accelerated R&D Program for Capacity Building of R&D Institutions and Industrial Competitiveness which is composed of four (4) programs namely: (1) Niche Centers in the Regions for R&D (NICER) Program, (2) R&D Leadership (RDLead) Program, (3) Collaborative R&D to Leverage PH Economy (CRADLE) for RDIs and Industry Program, (4) Business Innovation through S&T (BIST) for Industry Program. The NICER Program capacitates Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the regions to make significant improvement in regional research by integrating its development needs with the existing R&D capabilities and resources. It provides institutional grants for HEIs in the regions for R&D capacity building to improve their S&T infrastructure. The NICER Program was established in consultation with the academe and industry;; and endorsed by the Regional Development Council (RDC). Hence, a NICER is a unique center for collaborative R&D to address specific S&T needs of local communities and industries, thereby accelerating regional development. It caters to the specific needs of the Regions, which include upgrading, development, and acquisition of R&D equipment to undertake collaborative R&D activities. Currently, there are 18 existing NICERs across 14 regions for a total funding of P641M. The R&D Leadership Program complements the establishment of R&D Centers thru the NICER Program. RDLead provides the mechanism to bring in experts and highly skilled professionals with strong leadership, management and innovative policy-­making proficiencies to be in charge of strengthening the research capabilities of the HEIs, National Government Agencies (NGAs) and Research Development Institutions (RDIs) in the regions. Together, the RDLead and NICER Programs will capacitate HEIs to help improve and hasten the use of research results that will contribute to the socio-­economic development of the country and help address pressing challenges. The NRCP is the implementing agency for this program. The Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy (CRADLE) Program is specifically designed to foster collaboration between academe and local companies to improve competitiveness and catalyze innovation. It aims to improve the country’s innovation ecosystem by facilitating the smooth transition of new technologies from universities and research and development institutes (RDI) to industries -­ from lab to market. The framework of CRADLE is a trihelix partnership 52
between the government, the industry and the academe wherein the government finances the collaboration of the private company and the partner university or RDI. The Program aims to address a problem of a Filipino company using R&D to develop innovative solutions. To date, the DOST has already provided almost Php 125 M of funding to 29 academe-­industry collaborations all over the country. The Business Innovation through S&T (BIST) for Industry Program aims to level-­
up the innovation capacity of the Philippine Industrial Sector through R&D by helping private companies and industries acquire novel and strategic technologies, such as state-­
of-­the-­art equipment and machinery, technology licenses and patent rights among others. The program will cover up to 70% of the total eligible cost of the needed technology at zero percent interest. To date, the BIST Program has approved one project from an herbal company, Herbanext Laboratories Inc., providing a total financial assistance of Php11.7M. A Steering committee for CRADLE and BIST Programs was created through the DOST Special Order No. 0276 which was approved on 02 April 2018. The Steering Committee is headed by Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, Undersecretary for R&D, and the members include the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) The committee performs the following functions: (1) Review/formulate policies relating to the implementation of CRADLE and BIST Program;; (2) Provide advice and guidance in the management and administration of the projects;; and (3) Other functions necessary for the successful implementation of CRADLE and BIST Programs. Since the implementation of the S4CP in 2017, the DOST has spent a total of Php 407,585,946.60 to the four programs. 53
Personalities in Science and Technology in the Philippines Aisa Mijeno To light up the rest of the Philippines sustainably was the vision of Filipina scientist Aisa Mijeno when she made the Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SALt) lamp. The product concept was formed after living with the Butbut tribe for weeks relying only on kerosene lamps and moonlight to do evening chores. Her mission and advocacy is to address the light inequality gap and end the use of combustion based light sources (kerosene lamps and candles) for the 16 Million Filipinos and 1.4 Billion people across the world. https://www.asianscientist.com/2015/05/features
/asias-­rising-­scientists-­aisa-­mijeno/ The SALt Lamp is an environment-­friendly and sustainable alternative light source that runs on saltwater, making it suitable to those who live in coastal areas. It can also function well in remote barrios. With just two table spoons of salt and one glass of tap water, this ecologically designed lamp can run for eight hours. The idea behind the SALt lamp is the chemical conversion of energy. It utilizes the scientific process behind the Galvanic cell, but instead of electrolytes, the SALt lamp uses saline solution, making it harmless and non-­toxic. Compared with kerosene lamp, the SALt lamp is also a lot safer since it does not have components and compounds that may spark fire. Moreover, it does not emit toxic gases and leaves minimal carbon footprint. Because of its inspiring vision and ground-­breaking innovation, the SALt lamp has received various awards and recognition from organizations in the Philippines, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. SALt have won several awards including KOTRA Top 5 Best Global Startup at Startup Nations Summit 2014, People's Choice at Startup Nations Summit 2014 and recognized by the ASEAN Corporate Sustainability Summit and Awards 2015 giving them the SME Sustainability Commitment Category. One of Mijano’s career highlights was when she was invited as an APEC CEO Summit panel member together with ex-­President Barack Obama and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma. Looking forward, she wishes to distribute more lanterns to communities across the Philippines and possibly throughout South East Asia. 54
Ramon C. Barba He is a Filipino scientist, inventor and horticulturist who is known for his successful experiment on the inducement of flowering of mango trees by spraying them with ethrel and potassium nitrate. He developed a process that caused the flowering and fruiting of mango trees three times a year, instead on once a year, so dramatically improving yields. Since his discovery, the mango industry in the Philippines expanded. Apart from the mango producers themselves, other business sectors such as the producers of the pest control chemicals, harvesters, sellers, and all https://joinpase.weebly.com/pases-­of-­
the other smaller groups of workers related to success/ramon-­cabanos-­barba mango industry have benefitted from his invention. This technology has also been successfully applied on other fruit trees including cashew. Barba also developed a tissue culture procedure for the banana plant and sugar cane which enabled production of large quantities of planting materials that were robust and disease-­free. With his research team, Barba devised micro propagation protocols for more than 40 important species of fruit crops, ornamental plants, plantation crops, aquarium plants, and forest trees. In 2013, Ramon C. Barba was conferred the rank and title of National Scientist in the Philippines for his distinguished achievements in the field of plant physiology. Fe V. del Mundo She is known as the Mother of Philippine Pediatrics, a very great scientist and a symbol of female empowerment in medicine, both in the Philippines and abroad. The first Asian woman admitted into Harvard, she pursued graduate degrees in America after receiving her medical degree from the University of the Philippines. Del Mundo pioneered numerous inventions throughout her more than 70-­year medical career. She revolutionized Philippine medicine, making major breakthroughs in immunization and in the treatment of jaundice, and providing healthcare to thousands of poor families. She is credited with https://www.thefamouspeople.com/pro
studies that led to the invention of the incubator files/fe-­del-­mundo-­25104.php and a jaundice relieving device. Her methods, like the BRAT diet for curing diarrhea, have spread throughout the world and saved millions. Del Mundo’s field of natural science and the field of public health was something she was 55
actively involved in. When she was not busy treating and taking care of children, she did some pioneering work on infectious diseases in Philippine communities and authored the Textbook of Pediatrics, as well as hundreds of articles and medical reports on diseases such as dengue, polio and measles. During her lifetime, del Mundo won numerous awards and recognition for her outstanding work. Among these was the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, which she received in 1977. She became the Philippines’ first female National Scientist in 1980, in recognition of her work in Pediatrics. The rank of National Scientist is awarded to science practitioners with “distinguished individual or collaborative achievement in science and technology.” In 2010, del Mundo was awarded the Order of Lakandula, rank of Bayani, as a Filipina who lived a life “worthy of emulation.” Posthumously, she was conferred the Grand Collar of the Order of the Golden Heart Award in 2011, by President Benigno Aquino III. Maria Y. Orosa
Advances in modern Filipino food technology owe a great deal to the creative researches and salutary inventiveness of a woman chemist and pharmacist from Batangas – Maria Y. Orosa. The now-­
commercially available thirst quencher, the calamansi juice, is just one of the popular native food products in whose preparation and preservation she had a hand. She produced the “calamansi nip,” the desiccated and powdered form of the fruit which could be made into juice. The most notable of her food inventions, is “Soyalac,” a powdered preparation of soya-­beans, which helped save the lives of thousands of Filipinos, Americans, https://food52.com/blog/24700-­maria-­
and other nationals who ever held prisoners in orosa-­profile different Japanese concentration camps during World War II. It became known to them as the “magic food.” She is also credited with the making of the banana ketchup;; wines from native fruits, like casuy and guava;; vinegar from pineapples;; banana starch;; soyamilk;; banana flour;; cassava flour;; jelly from guava, santol, mango, and other fruits, as well as the invention of rice cookies, known as ricebran or darak, which is effective in the treatment of patients with beri-­beri. Aside from making food preparations, Miss Orosa taught Filipinos how to preserve such native delicacies as the adobo, dinuguan, kilawen and escabeche. Together with her associates in the Bureau of Plant Industry, she invented “Oroval” and “Clarosa.” In 1923, she helped organize the food preservation division under the Bureau of Science. On June 3, 1927, she became the acting division head. Orosa also tried her hand in improving household wares. She invented the “Orosa Palayok Oven” for cooking various dishes. In 1928, the government, recognizing her dynamism and strong leadership, sent her to various countries as a state scholar to specialize in food 56
processing and canning. To perpetuate her memory, the government has named after her a street stretching from T.M. Kalaw to Padre Faura in Ermita, Manila, as well as a building in the Bureau of Plants and Industry. She was one of the 19 scientists who were conferred awards on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Institute of Science and Technology. On November 29, 1983, the National Historical Institute installed a marker in her honor at the Bureau of Plant Industry in San Andres, Manila. Angel Alcala He is a Filipino scientist whose biological contributions to the environment and ecosystems have made him a hero for natural sciences. During his 30 years of experience as a biologist, Alcala made major contributions to marine biology research efforts in the Philippines and authored over 160 scientific papers as well as books. Alcala was the first Filipino scientist to engage in comprehensive studies concerning Philippine reptiles and amphibians and minor studies on mammals and birds. From the 400 already known species of http://heroes.aseanbiodiversity.org/2017/09/
07/asean-­biodiversity-­hero-­dr-­angel-­c-­
reptiles and amphibians, 50 more species alcala-­philippines/
were identified due to his efforts. Because of his work, conservation programs in the Philippines are now well established. Alcala also made a highly valuable and groundbreaking contribution to marine ecosystems when he established the first artificial reef around the coastline of the Philippines, greatly boosting the ecosystem's health and viability. . In 1994, he was given the Field Museum Founders’ Council Award of Merit for contributions to environmental biology. He is a recipient of the Magsaysay Award for Public Service. In September 2011 he received the Gregorio Y. Zara Award for Basic Science from the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science Inc. In 2014, he was proclaimed National Scientist by President Benigno S. Aquino III through Presidential Decree 782 on June 6, 2014. 57
Activity: Small Group Activity Work with your three (3) classmates and discuss your answers to the following questions. 1. What are the best and the most useful inventions in the 20th and 21st centuries? ________________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________ . C. Science Education in the Philippines The role and goal of science in education should always be the same. Since science is considered both knowledge and method, operating independent of time and place, the benefits of science anywhere can only be the same. The value of science lies not only in the knowledge that it imparts and bequeaths to the learner but also in its 58
methods and techniques that inculcate in the learner’s scientific habits, skills, and attitudes. Science, even as it is considered a body of knowledge, it is also taken as methodology. It has given a tangible method and system to what would otherwise be by chance and accident. From the utilization of scientific methods and techniques, one is able to very possibly explain the past and predict what the future holds. The general benefits of science have greatly challenged education of the Philippines. While the country might have been a beneficiary of the methods of science even before the program of formal education, it was during the American period that brought about a most significant and essential change in the nature of education. There has been a corresponding increase in knowledge and understanding of natural and social phenomena covered by all the disciplines of science available now. It is this education that has been largely credited for the development of science in the Philippines. Early Efforts to Improve Science Education As early as the decade of the 1950s, scientists were concerned with the state of science education in the schools. Leading scientists made Philippine authorities aware that the teaching of science from grade school level to college levels in both public and private schools was very inadequate. The inadequacies and weaknesses of science teaching were recognized as those relating to undertrained teachers, the inadequate science curriculum in schools and colleges, the minimum allotted to science, the lack of books, equipment and teaching aids. In 1957, the Philippine government made the teaching of science compulsory in all elementary and secondary schools. A National Committee for Science Education was set up in 1958 to formulate objectives for the teaching of science education at all levels and to recommend steps that would upgrade the teaching of science. The committee identified the areas to which improvement efforts were needed such as integration of science with classroom instruction, acquisition of more science equipment and tools, coordination of efforts with other agencies, negotiations for a science institute for teachers, national science talent search and fellowships, higher salaries of science and mathematics teachers and promotion of science teachers competence. The BSCS Adaptation Project In1959, biological sciences curriculum study (BSCS) project was launched by American Institute of Biological Science, university of Colorado in order to improve biology education in secondary schools. A steering committee of biological scientists, teachers and educators was constituted. The project was financed by National Science Foundation, USA. The BSCS project was started to design high school biology course with the objectives to: provide recent and latest knowledge in biological sciences;; develop understanding of the conceptual structure of biological sciences;; develop skills and processes of biology among the students;; create an opportunity to use inquiry approach in teaching and learning of biology;; prepare rich supplementary or support materials to enrich learning experiences in biological sciences and present current status of biological sciences 59
The organization of the BSCS project necessitated because of the inadequacies and defects felt in the ongoing or conventional biological sciences teaching. Defects were observed in conventional biological science teaching such as inclusion of dead or useless contents in syllabus, little practical work, no correlation of biological sciences and physical science, lack of integrated approach and no proper consideration of psychological aspects of teaching learning. The Science Education Project These were the total efforts of SEP TO improve science education in the Philippines. First, the dissemination of improved curricula, teaching techniques and approaches in science and mathematics on basic levels of education through the introduction of new curriculum and the application of new teaching techniques and approaches by the returned Master of Arts in Teaching trainees and the teachers that they teach. On the other hand, these institutions disseminated many of the curriculum materials by the UP Science Education Center. Second, quality science and math education programs in the recipient-­sponsor institutions through new and/or improved course offerings and a generally improved teacher education program. Activity: Answer the following questions: 1. What are the current trends in Science Education in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results? ______________________________________________________________
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PART II SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION Introduction Society applauds the recent advancements of scientific technology in fields such as medicine, energy, and communication. While humankind profits in many ways from this technology, a few voices are heard cautioning society to consider the implications of this developments. This section provides students deeper appreciation of man’s existence and his purpose in a world of technology. It also discusses the concept of a good life and how it can be attained. Moreover, it also focuses on the ethical and moral dilemma brought about by the emergence of the robotic industry. Learning Outcomes At the end of this section, the students are expected to: 1. Examine the human condition to deeply reflect and express philosophical ramifications that are meaningful to the student as a part of society. 2. Critique human flourishing vis-­a vis the progress of Science and Technology to define the meaning of the good life. 3. Examine shared concerns that make up the good life in order to come up with innovative and creative solutions to the contemporary issues guided by ethical standards 4. Examine human rights in order to uphold such rights in technological dilemnas. CHAPTER 4 The Human Person Flourishing in terms of Science and Technology A. Technology as a Way of Revealing A German philosopher Martin Heidegger wrote an essay entitled “The Question Concerning Technology” which addresses modern technology and its essence as an instrumental way of revealing the world. He goes beyond the traditional view of technology as machines and technical procedures. Moreover, he tries to think through the essence of technology as a way in which humans encounter entities such as nature, self, and, indeed, everything. That is to say, that modern technology is conceived as means to achieve ends. As instrumental, the essence of technology concerns causality. A deeper look into causality reveals that the end is the beginning;; a cause is that to which something is indebted and the purpose for which an instrument is designed is the primary cause of its coming into being. Heidegger’s understanding of technology was based on its essence. First, the essence of technology is not something we make;; it is a mode of being, or of revealing. This means that technological things have their own novel kind of presence, endurance, and connections among parts and wholes. They have their own way of presenting themselves and the world in which they operate. The essence of technology is, for Heidegger, not the best or most characteristic instance of technology, nor is it a nebulous generality, a form or idea. Rather, to consider technology essentially is to see it as an event to which we belong: the structuring, ordering, and “requisitioning” of everything around us, and of ourselves. The second point is that technology even holds sway over beings that we do not normally think of as technological, such as gods and history. Third, the essence of technology as Heidegger discusses it is primarily a matter of modern and industrial technology. He is less concerned with the ancient and old tools and techniques that antedate modernity;; the essence of technology is revealed in factories and industrial processes, not in hammers and plows. And fourth, for Heidegger, technology is not simply the practical application of natural science. Instead, modern natural science can understand nature in the characteristically scientific manner only because nature has already, in advance, come to light as a set of calculable, orderable forces — that is to say, technologically. According to him there are two characteristics of modern technology as a revealing process. First, the mode of revealing of modern technology is a challenging. Things are revealed or brought forth by challenging or demanding them. It is putting to nature the unreasonable demand that it supply energy that can be extracted and stored. The mining technology today is a good example for this mode of revealing things. Tracks of land reveal as something challenged because man sees them as objects where coal and ore can be demanded. Man sees them as source of energy. These energies can be stored so that man can summon them at his bidding. Shortly, nature reveals itself in modern technology as things of manipulation, as things that yield energy whenever man demands them to do so. “Challenging” as a mode of revealing nature could be sharply contrasted “Physis” which is the arising of something from itself, a bringing-­forth or poieses. A flower 62
blossoming or fading in the changes of the season is an example of this form of revealing. The revelation has its own autonomy and, at best, man can only witness. This is a natural way of revealing. The mode of revealing in modern technology brought about new world ordering. This kind of ordering is best described as “artificial” in contrast to “natural ordering. It sees nature as an object of manipulation and not anymore as an autonomous reality demanding respect and admiration. The network of things is now reduced into the network of manipulation. The second characteristic of modern technology as a revealing process is that the challenging that brings forth the energy of nature is an “expediting”. In the modern use of word, expediting means to hasten the movement of something. However, in its original sense, expediting is also a process of revealing inasmuch as it “unlocks” and “exposes” something. But what is exposed is still directed towards something else, i.e. toward the maximum yield at the minimum expense. In short, things that are revealed in an expedited manner are brought forth as resources that must be used efficiently. In mining for example, man digs coal not simply to know what coals are. Yes, man “exposes” these coals but not simply to know them. They uncover them because he wants to use them. Coals are mined from track loads of land so as to use their energy. This is the characteristic of the things revealed in modern technology. They are there “for” something. Heidegger uses a technical word to name the things that are revealed in modern technology as “standing in reserve”. Things as standing in reserve are not “objects”. Objects on the other hand, are things that “stand against us” as things with autonomy. They are revealed mainly in human thinking and do not allow further manipulations. Things as standing in reserve, on the other hand, are called to come forth in challenging and expediting. They are reduced into the objectlessness of modern technology. Nothing anymore “stands against us” as objects of autonomy and wonder. Everything is regressed into an interlocking of things that yield what man wants whenever he demands them to do so. Even nature is now revealed as standing in reserve and not anymore objects of autonomy. Unlike the modern technologies, the old technology still respects nature as an object of autonomy. The modern and the old technologies are of different modes of revealing, the former artificial and the latter natural. Take for example, the contrast between how the modern technology of the hydropower plant and the old technology of a wooden bridge reveal the presence of a river. However, the hydropower plant reveals the river that supplies it energy simply as another thing standing in reserve. It is a source of energy which completes the interlocking of things in the system of hydropower generation. The river is not anymore seen as an object with autonomy but an object on call to be used. Conversely, the technology of building a wooden bridge reveals the river not as a key link in completing the bridge.it rather respects it as a part of nature, a “landscape” using Heidegger’s own term, that is somewhat permanent and stand against us as another entity. We move “around” it so to say and we only see what we can do to overcome its dominating presence, in other words, we do not manipulate it, but rather, we act according to its rules. 63
For Heidegger enframing is the “essence” of modern technology. Enframing simply means putting into the frame of modern technology everything in nature. This “frame” of modern technology is the network or interlocking things standing in reserve. It is the world centered on man’s caprices and demands. It is a world of manipulation and demystification. In here nothing is mysterious anymore. This is what Heidegger was afraid of, that the process of truth will revert back into the realm of erring. It must be remembered that for truth to be, it must retain its sense of mystery. Truth is for the most part untruth. To disregard this essentially limited process of revelation is also to disregard the entirety of its essence. We cannot have absolute knowledge of reality, more so, we cannot have full dominion over it. As they say, we are only “guardians” of creation. To disregard this nature of reality is also putting ourselves into the brink of danger. Because of man’s arrogance, nature is in the verge of destruction. He thinks he knows how nature works and tends to hasten or “expedite” its processes. He demands too much from it and in turn disrupts its natural flow. Nature is beyond our control. Its truth is beyond our grips. For all we know, it is the one that controls us. If we ever try to dominate it, nature will surely revolt against us in a very humbling manner. Activity: Question for Reflection Is there something unusual about the pace and nature of technological change today? Should we be more worried about the world we are creating? ______________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________ B. Human Flourishing Human flourishing is said to be the best translation for the Greek word Eudaimonia, which for both Plato and Aristotle, means not only good fortune and material prosperity but a situation achieved through virtue, knowledge and excellence. Learning to be human is central to Confucian humanism and its “creative transformation” of the self through an “ever-­expanding network of relationships encompassing the family, community, nation, world and beyond. It is thus inseparable from self-­awareness and self-­cultivation, and this “self” far from being an isolated individual, is experientially and practically a center of relationships. 64
The affirmation that human flourishing implies development of the individual in his intellectual, affective, moral and spiritual dimensions obviously needs elaboration. Plato in the Republic, contends that the soul, or mind, has three motivating parts: rational, spirited or emotional and appetitive. Each of these have their own desired ends, and Eudomenia or human flourishing requires an ordering of this tripartite structure of the soul: the rational and spirited parts. Virtue ensues. In the same vein, Aristotle, in the Nicomachean Ethics, states that Eudaimonia is constituted not by honor, or wealth power, but by rational activity in accordance with excellence in the virtues of character including courage, honesty, pride, friendliness and wittiness, the intellectual virtues notably rationality and judgment, as well as mutually beneficial friendships and scientific knowledge, particularly of things that are fundamental and unchanging. According to Aristotle, all humans seek to flourish. It’s the proper and desired end of all of our actions. Flourishing, however, is a functional definition. To understand something’s function, you have to understand its nature. In Aristotle’s schema, there are four aspects of human nature: physical, emotional, social and rational. As physical beings, we require nourishment, exercise, rest and all the other things that it takes to keep our bodies functioning properly. As emotional beings, we have wants, desires, urges and reactions. We perceive something in the world that we want and we have the power of volition to get it;; likewise, we have the power to avoid the things we don’t want. For humans, these wants can get pretty complex, but at rock bottom we all have emotional needs and wants that spring from rather basic sources. As social beings, we must live and function in particular societies. Our social nature stacks on top of our emotional nature, such that we have wants and needs that we would not have were we not social creatures. As rational beings, we are creative, expressive, knowledge-­seeking and able to obey reason. We might not always obey reason and we may sometimes not want to exercise our minds, but a large part of our existence relate to our being rational animals. An individual cannot truly flourish if he is not flourishing in one of the four aspects of human nature. Human flourishing also known as personal flourishing involves the rational use of one’s individual potentialities, including talents, abilities and virtues in the pursuit of his freely and rationally chosen values and goals. An action is considered to be proper if it leads to the flourishing of the person performing the action. Human flourishing is, at the same time, a moral accomplishment and a fulfillment of human capacities, and it is one through being the other. Self-­actualization is moral growth and vice-­versa. Not an abstraction, human flourishing is real and highly personal by nature, consists in the fulfillment of both a man’s human nature and unique potentialities, and is concerned with choices and actions that necessarily deal with the particular and the contingent. One man’s self –realization is not the same as another’s. What is called for in terms of concrete actions such as choice of career, education, friends, home and others, varies from person to person. Human flourishing becomes an actuality when one uses his practical reason to consider his unique needs, circumstances and capabilities, and so on, to determine which concrete instantiations of human values and virtues will comprise 65
his well-­being. The idea of human flourishing is inclusive and can encompass a wide variety of constitutive ends such as knowledge, the development of character traits, productive work, religious pursuits, community building, love, charitable activities, allegiance to persons and causes, self-­efficacy, material well-­being, pleasurable sensations, etc. To flourish, a man must pursue goals that are both rational for him individually and also as a human being. Whereas the former will vary depending upon one’s particular circumstances, the latter are common to man’s distinctive nature – man has the unique capacity to live rationally. The use of reason is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for human flourishing. Living rationally ( i.e., consciously ) means dealing with the world conceptually. Living consciously implies respect for the facts of reality. The principle of living consciously is not affected by the degree of one’s intelligence not the extent of one’s knowledge;; rather, it is the acceptance of use of one’s reason in the recognition and perception of reality and in his choice of values and actions to the best of his ability, whatever that ability may be. To pursue rational goals through rational means is the only way to cope successfully with reality and achieve one’s goals. Although rationality is not always rewarded, the fact remains that it is through the use of one’s mind that a man not only discovers the values required for personal flourishing, he attains them. Values can be achieved in reality if a man recognizes and adheres to the reality of his unique personal endowments and contingent circumstances. Human flourishing is positively related to a rational man’s attempts to externalize his values and actualize his internal views of how things ought to be in the outside world. Practical reason can be used to choose, create, and integrate all the values and virtues that comprise personal flourishing. Activity: Film Viewing Watch the movie clip (You tube) The Magician’s Twin: CS Lewis and the Case against Scientism. Answer the following questions: 1. What is scientism according to the magician’s twin? ______________________________________________________________
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3. How can you prevent good from being twisted into evil ends? How can you prevent science from becoming scientism? Share and explain your answer. ______________________________________________________________
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2. As you look at your daily life and in the past years, what are the aspects of your life that have been the most rewarding and enriching? When was the happiest? ______________________________________________________________
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CHAPTER 5 The Good Life A. What is a Good Life? This is one of the oldest philosophical questions. It has been posed in different ways—How should one live? What does it mean to “live well”?—but these are really just the same question. After all, everyone wants to live well, and no one wants “the bad life.” But the question isn’t as simple as it sounds. Philosophers specialize in unpacking hidden complexities, and the concept of the good life is one of those that needs quite a bit of unpacking. One basic way we use the word “good” is to express moral approval. So when we say someone is living well or that they have lived a good life, we may simply mean that they are a good person, someone who is courageous, honest, trustworthy, kind, selfless, generous, helpful, loyal, principled, and so on. They possess and practice many of the most important virtues. And they don’t spend all their time merely pursuing their own pleasure;; they devote a certain amount of time to activities that benefit others, perhaps through their engagement with family and friends, or through their work, or through various voluntary activities. This moral conception of the good life has had plenty of champions. Socrates and Plato both gave absolute priority to being a virtuous person over all other supposedly good things such as pleasure, wealth, or power. In Plato’s dialogue Gorgias, Socrates takes this position to an extreme. He argues that it is much better to suffer wrong than to do it;; that a good man who has his eyes gouged out and is tortured to death is more fortunate than a corrupt person who has used wealth and power dishonorably. In his masterpiece, the Republic, Plato develops this argument in greater detail. The morally good person, he claims, enjoys a sort of inner harmony, whereas the wicked person, no matter how rich and powerful he may be or how many pleasure he enjoys, is disharmonious, fundamentally at odds with himself and the world. It is worth noting, though, that in both the Gorgias and the Republic, Plato bolsters his argument with a speculative account of an afterlife in which virtuous people are rewarded and wicked people are punished. Many religions also conceive of the good life in moral terms as a life lived according to God’s laws. A person who lives this way—
obeying the commandments and performing the proper rituals—is pious. And in most religions, such piety will be rewarded. Obviously, many people do not receive their reward in this life. But devout believers are confident that their piety will not be in vain. Christian martyrs went singing to their deaths confident that they would soon be in heaven. Hindus expect that the law of karma will ensure that their good deeds and intentions will be rewarded, while evil actions and desires will be punished, either in this life or in future lives. 69
The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus was one of the first to declare, bluntly, that what makes life worth living is that we can experience pleasure. Pleasure is enjoyable, it’s fun, it’s...well...pleasant! The view that pleasure is the good, or, to put I another way, that pleasure is what makes life worth living, is known as hedonism. The word “hedonist,” when applied to a person, has slightly negative connotations. It suggests that they are devoted to what some have called the “lower” pleasures such as sex, food, drink, and sensual indulgence in general. Epicurus was thought by some of his contemporaries to be advocating and practicing this sort of lifestyle, and even today an “epicure” is someone who is especially appreciative of food and drink. But this is a misrepresentation of Epicureanism. Epicurus certainly praised all kinds of pleasures. The good life has to be virtuous. Although Epicurus disagreed with Plato about the value of pleasure, he fully agreed with him on this point. Today, this hedonistic conception of the good life is arguably dominant in Western culture. Even in everyday speech, if we say someone is “living the good life,” we probably mean that they enjoying lots of recreational pleasures: good food, good wine, skiing, scuba diving, lounging by the pool in the sun with a cocktail and a beautiful partner. What is key to this hedonistic conception of the good life is that it emphasizes subjective experiences. On this view, to describe a person as “happy” means that they “feel good,” and a happy life is one that contains many “feel good” experiences. If Socrates emphasizes virtue and Epicurus emphasizes pleasure, another great Greek thinker, Aristotle, views the good life in a more comprehensive way. According to Aristotle, we all want to be happy. We value many things because they are a means to other things. For instance, we value money because it enables us to buy things we want;; we value leisure because it gives us time to pursue our interests. But happiness is something we value not as a means to some other end but for its own sake. It has intrinsic value rather than instrumental value. So for Aristotle, the good life is a happy life. But what does that mean? Today, many people automatically think of happiness in subjectivist terms: To them, a person is happy if they are enjoying a positive state of mind, and their life is happy if this is true for them most of the time. Aristotle agrees with Socrates that to live the good life one must be a morally good person. He also agrees with Epicurus that a happy life will involve many and varied pleasurable experiences. We can’t really say someone is living the good life if they are often miserable or constantly suffering. Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas wrote a book entitled The Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life where they extracted “ancient wisdom from the Greek philosophers on living the good life” and mapped it into modern times. Here is a summary of what they wrote, extracted from a Forbes article written by Dr. Mourdoukoutas: 70
1. Examine life, engage life with a vengeance;; always search for new pleasures and new destinies to reach with your mind. 2. Worry only about the things that are in your control, the things that can be influenced and changed by your actions, not about the things that are beyond your capacity to direct or alter. 3. Treasure Friendship, the reciprocal attachment that fills the need for affiliation. Friendship cannot be acquired in the market place, but must be nurtured and treasured in relations imbued with trust and amity. 4. Experience True Pleasure. Avoid shallow and transient pleasures. Keep your life simple. Seek calming pleasures that contribute to peace of mind. True pleasure is disciplined and restrained. 5. Master Yourself. Resist any external force that might delimit thought and action;; stop deceiving yourself, believing only what is personally useful and convenient;; complete liberty necessitates a struggle within, a battle to subdue negative psychological and spiritual forces that preclude a healthy existence;; self-­mastery requires ruthless candor. 6. Avoid Excess. Live life in harmony and balance. Avoid excesses. Even good things, pursued or attained without moderation, can become a source of misery and suffering. 7. Be a Responsible Human Being. Approach yourself with honesty and thoroughness;; maintain a kind of spiritual hygiene;; stop the blame-­shifting for your errors and shortcomings. 8. Don’t Be a Prosperous Fool. Prosperity by itself is not a cure-­all against an ill-­
led life and may be a source of dangerous foolishness. Money is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the good life, for happiness and wisdom. 9. Don’t Do Evil to Others. Evildoing is a dangerous habit, a kind of reflex too quickly resorted to and too easily justified that has a lasting and damaging effect upon the quest for the good life. Harming others claims two victims—the receiver of the harm, and the victimizer, the one who does harm. 10. Kindness towards others tends to be rewarded. Kindness to others is a good habit that supports and reinforces the quest for the good life. Helping others bestows a sense of satisfaction that has two beneficiaries—the beneficiary, the receiver of the help, and the benefactor, the one who provides the help. 71
Activity: Questions for Reflection 1. In your opinion, what constitutes a good life? ________________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________ A. What is Human Existence? The meaning of existence is derived from philosophical and religious contemplation and scientific inquiries about, social ties, consciousness and happiness. Many other issues are also involved, such as symbolic meaning, ontology, value, purpose, ethics, good and evil, free will, the existence of one and multiple Gods, conceptions of God, the soul and the afterlife. Philosophers have tried to find the secret of existence, the meaning of it all. Aristotle teaches that each man's life has a purpose and that the function of one's life is to attain that purpose. He explains that the purpose of life is earthly happiness or flourishing that can be achieved via reason and the acquisition of virtue. Articulating an explicit and clear understanding of the end toward which a person's life aims, Aristotle states that each human being should use his abilities to their fullest potential and should obtain happiness and enjoyment through the exercise of their realized capacities. He contends that human achievements are animated by purpose and autonomy and that people should take pride in being excellent at what they do. According to Aristotle, human beings have a natural desire and capacity to know and understand the truth, to pursue moral excellence, and to instantiate their ideals in the world through action. 72
Plato’s reputation comes from his idealism of believing in the existence of universalis. His Theory of Forms proposes that universals do not physically exist, like objects, but as heavenly forms. In the dialogue of Republic, the character of Socrates describes the Form of the Good. His theory on justice in the soul relates to the idea of happiness relevant to the question of the meaning of life. In Platonism, the meaning of life is in attaining the highest form of knowledge, which is the Idea of the Good, from which all good and just things derive utility and value. B. What is a Public Good? Rolando Gripaldo, a Filipino philosopher, argues that the concept of the public good carries largely the politico-­ethical sense, which subsumes the politico-­
ethical senses. The public good is public in the sense that the beneficiaries are the general public. The government or state pursues it with a service orientation while private corporations pursue it with a profit orientation. He also cites mixed public goods which are pursued by private organizations with a service motivation. Government corporations are basically motivated by service through having profit is not precluded. He also talks about public bads, such as corruption, pollution and crimes. A public good is that which benefits by its use, the communal or national public. This can be perceived in two levels. The first level comes from the people themselves. They perceive the public good to be beneficial to most if not to all of them. This utilitarian consideration is important in that, on the other hand, it serves as the ethical standard by which the public-­through a civil society-­unify themselves in consideration of their individual and social benefits. As individuals, they may of course think in terms of their own selfish benefits from a public good, but there is also a recognition that unless they work together for their common welfare, the public good aspired for may not materialistic. They as individuals may suffer as beneficiaries from its nonrealization. In this regard, then elements of unity (bonding together for individual interests) and subsidiarity (working together for the common good) are significant aspects of a national public good from the communal or national people’s point of view. The second level comes from the local or national government, which believes or assumes with the utilitarian perspective that a particular project or service is desired by the populace as necessary for their common welfare. As such, the local or national government views it as a public good. Examples of these assumed necessary public services or public goods are national defense, education, public health, public ports/airports and highways, social services, postal services, and the like. 73
Activity: Film Viewing Watch the documentary “That Sugar Film” directed by Damon Gameau ( http://thatsugarfilm.com/ ). Do the following tasks: 1. Discuss your initial reaction to the film. ______________________________________________________________
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5. Discuss the notion that “sugar is the new tobacco.” Do you believe sugar should be taxed, as cigarettes and other nicotine products are today? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 75
CHAPTER 6 When Technology and Humanity Cross A. The Ethical Dilemmas of Robotics The rapid advancements in technology that the world has witnessed over the past century have made a reality of many of mankind’s wildest dreams. From being able to cross the earth, air, and sea at extreme speeds to being able to send and receive information instantly via the Internet, the technological advancements in recent years have become cornerstones of modern society. One dream that is still yet to be perfectly fulfilled by advancements in technology is the development of human-­like and self-­aware robots, often referred to as androids. While robotic technology has come a long way since its initial attempts, the robot which is largely indistinguishable from a human is still far from a reality. However, as technology continues to develop and evolve exponentially, many people believe it is only a matter of time. If and when truly "living" robots were to come about, one can foresee a slew of ethical dilemmas developing. A complete consensus on the definition of the word “robot” has yet to be reached. However, it is commonly accepted that robots contain some combination of the following attributes such as mobility, intelligent behavior, sense and manipulation of environment. The term “robot” truly extends to more than just androids. The commonly accepted first use of the word was in 1920 in the form of a play written by Karel Capek. The play was entitled R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) and involves the development of artificial people. These people are referred to as robots and while they are given the ability to think, they are designed to be happy as servants. The use of the word “robot” in Capek's play comes from the Slavic languages‟ word for “work,” which is robota. While the word “robot” was not used until 1920, the idea of mechanical humans has been around as far back as Greek mythology. One example that closely relates to the servant robots seen in Capek's play is the servants of the Greek god Hephaestus, the god of fire and the forge. It is recorded that Hephaestus had built robots out of gold which were “his helpers, including a complete set of life-­size golden handmaidens who helped around the house”. Another example of robots in Greek mythology comes from the stories of Pygmalion, who is said to have crafted a statue of Galatea that would come to life. Beyond the ancient myths which speak of humanoid robots, one of the milestones in the design and development of such robots came with the discovery of Leonardo Da Vinci's journals which contained detailed plans for the construction of a humanoid robot. Inspired by the ancient myths, the robot was designed in the form of an armored knight and was to possess the ability to sit up, wave its arms, move its head, and open its mouth. The journals in which the plans were found date back to 1495. It is unknown if this robot was ever built by Da Vinci, but merely conceiving it was a milestone in the timeline of robotic history. The Modern State of Robots From Da Vinci to the current day the development of humanoid robots has continued to approach the goal of a robot that is indistinguishable from a human. However, despite the massive recent advancements in technology and even the exponential growth of computing power of the past decades, this dream is still far from a reality. 76
In a comprehensive article in the New York Times, Robin Marantz Henig discusses her experiences with what are often labeled “social robots.” These robots are by no means what the servant robots of Greek mythology have led many people to hope for;; rather they are infant versions, at best, of the long-­hoped-­for androids. Henig said these machines are not the docile companions of the collective dreams, robots designed to flawlessly serve dinners, fold clothes and do the dull or dangerous jobs that human do not want to do. Nor are they the villains of the collective nightmares, poised for robotic rebellion against humans whose machine creations have become smarter than the humans themselves. They are, instead, hunks of metal tethered to computers, which need their human designers to get them going and to smooth the hiccups along the way. Despite the disappointment that many people feel when they are given the chance to interact with the latest robots, some major players in the robotic industry are quite optimistic. Rodney Brooks is an expert in robotics and artificial intelligence. In an article written in 2008, Brooks explains that it is no longer a question of whether human-­level artificial intelligence will be developed, but rather how and when. While it is true that androids are not the only robots which have a great impact on man’s lives, their development introduces a set of unique ethical issues which industrial robots do not evoke. Working under the assumption that it is only a matter of time until androids are an everyday reality, it is proper to begin thinking about what these ethical issues are and how they may be dealt with in the coming years. The overarching question that results is what exactly these robots are. Are they simply piles of electronics running advanced algorithms, or are they a new form of life? What Is Life? The question of what constitutes life is one on which the world may never come to a consensus. From the ancient philosophers to the common man on the street, it seems that everyone has an opinion on what a living organism consists of. One of the more prevailing views throughout history has been that of Aristotle. The basic tenets of Aristotle’s view are that an organism has both “matter” and “form.” This differs from the philosophical position known as materialism, which has become popular in modern times and finds its roots among the ancient Indians. Materialism does not entertain any notion of organisms having a “form” or “soul”;; rather, organisms are made simply of various types of “matter.” These two views are at odds with one another and the philosophical position society adopts will inevitably have a huge impact on how humans interact with robots. Aristotle The view articulated by Aristotle and his modern-­day followers describes life in terms of unity, a composite of both “matter” and “form.” One type of “matter” which Aristotle speaks of could be biological material such as what plants, animals, and humans consist of. Another type of “matter” could also be the mechanical and electronic components which make up modern-­day robots. Clearly it is not the “matter” alone which distinguishes whether an object is a living organism, for if it were, Aristotle‟s view would differ little from materialism. The distinguishing characteristic of Aristotle is his inclusion of “form.” The term simply means whatever it is that makes a human a human, a plant a plant, and an animal an animal. Each of these have a specific “form” which is not the same as its “matter,” but is a functioning unity which is essential to each living organism in order for it to be just that, living. The word used to describe the “form” of a living organism is “psyche” or “soul.” 77
Unlike Aristotle's philosophical view, which was embraced by various religions, perhaps most notably by the Roman Catholic Church and more specifically by St. Thomas Aquinas, materialism often finds itself at odds with most religious views in the world. Catholicism being a prime example of this, one will not find a favorable description of materialism when looking at the opening lines of its definition in the Catholic Encyclopedia. The encyclopedia's entry begins by defining materialism as “a philosophical system which regards matter as the only reality in the world, which undertakes to explain every event in the universe as resulting from the conditions and activity of matter, and which thus denies the existence of God and the soul.” Why does it matter that materialism is at odds with Catholicism and most other religions? More specifically, what does this have to do with robots and androids? It is relevant because if materialism is correct, then humans should have the power to develop new forms of life. If it is true that everything in the universe is simply material and the result of material interactions, then nothing should be stopping us from creating androids and recognizing them as just as valid a life form as humans. The decision of what level of life robots are to be considered is an essential one. In 1942 Isaac 7 Asimov introduced to the world of science fiction what are known as the Three Laws of Robotics, which were published in his short story “Runaround.” The laws Asimov formulated are: First, a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Second, a robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Third, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. While these laws are part of science fiction history, the current state of robotic technology demands that they be considered in a new light. As with many ideas once confined to the world of science fiction, Asimov‟s laws are now able to make the transition into reality. At first glance these three laws seem to be an excellent way to ensure the safe development of this supposed new life form. However, Asimov‟s laws presuppose that human life is of greater value than that of the androids being developed. If we work under the assumption that androids should be considered just below humans, Asimov‟s laws may hold true. But what if we hold to the conclusion materialism reaches, that androids should be placed at or above the level of humans? If this is the case, Asimov‟s laws will not be able to be applied. The main reason is that we could not see androids as equal forms of life and implement Asimov‟s laws, which place androids in direct submission to humans. How can it be that an android should give its life for a human if an android has a right to life equal to that of a human? Imagine an army made up of both androids and humans. Should the android always give its life to save a human‟s life? Would human soldiers be willing to die for an android? As much as people may believe in materialism and come to conclusions that robots will one day be a life form equal to humans, I find it hard to believe that many people would actually die for a robot. Robot Code of Ethics While it remains true that robotics technology is not at a place where ethical codes for robots are necessary, it is not stopping some countries from being proactive and taking the beginning steps in the development of a robot code of ethics. South Korea is considered one of the most high-­tech countries in the world and they are leading the way in the development of such a code. Known officially as the Robot 78
Ethics Charter, it is being drawn up “to prevent human abuse of robots—and vice versa”. The main focus of the charter is said to be on the social problems the mass integration of robots into society is bound to create. In particular it aims to define how people are to properly interact with robots, in Stefan Lovgren‟s words, “human control over robots and humans becoming addicted to robot interaction”. Beyond the social problems robots may bring with them, there also is an array of legal issues, the primary one in the charter being what and how information is collected and distributed by robots. To many it seems as though South Korea‟s Robot Ethics Charter is the beginning of a modern-­day implementation of Asimov‟s Three Laws of Robotics. However, many robot designers such as Mark Tilden think this is all a bit premature. Tilden claims that we are simply not at a point where robots can be given morals and compares it to “teaching an ant to yodel”. Tilden goes on to claim that when we do reach that point, the interactions will be less than pleasant, stating that “as many of Asimov's stories show, the conundrums robots and humans would face would result in more tragedy than utility”. Despite Tilden‟s and others‟ pessimistic view of what the future holds for the human-­robot relationship, technology will slow down for no one. It is only a matter of time before other countries will follow in South Korea’s footsteps and create their own code of ethics for robots and their interactions with humans. B. Human, Morals and Machines Technology has begun to change our species’long-­standing experiences with nature. Now,we have technological nature—technologies that in various ways mediate, augment, or simulate the natural world. Entire television networks, such as the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, provide us with mediated digital experiences of nature: the lion’s hunt, the Monarch’s migration, or a climb high into the Himalayan peaks. Video games, like Zoo Tycoon, engage children with animal life. Zoos themselves are bringing technologies, such as webcams into their exhibits so that we can, for example, watch animals from the leisure of our home or a cafe. Inexpensive robot pets have been big sellers in the Wal-­Marts and Targets of the world. Sony’s higher-­end robot dog AIBO sold well. Real people now spend substantial time in virtual environments (e.g., Second Life). In terms of the physical and psychological wellbeing of our species, does it matter that we are replacing actual nature with technological nature? To support our provisional answer that it does matter, we draw on evolutionary and cross-­cultural developmental accounts of the human relation with the natural world and then consider some recent psychological research on the effects of technological nature. Scientists are already beginning to think seriously about the new ethical problems posed by current developments in robotics. Experts in South Korea were drawing up an ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa. A group of leading roboticists called the Chapter 2 81 European Robotics Network (Euron) has even started lobbying governments for legislation. At the top of their list of concerns is safety. Robots were once confined to specialist applications in industry and the military, where users received extensive training on their use, but they are increasingly being used by ordinary people. Robot vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers are already in many homes, and robotic toys are increasingly popular with children. As these robots become more 79
intelligent, it will become harder to decide who is responsible if they injure someone. Is the designer to blame, or the user, or the robot itself? The ethical or moral sense for machines canbe built on a utilitarian base. There are special cases that will require modifications of the core rules that are based on the circumstances of their use. Doctors, for example, don not euthanize patients to spread the wealth of their organs, even if it means that there is a net positive with regard to survivors. They have to conform to a separate code of ethics designed around the needs of patients and their rights that restricts their actions. The same holds for lawyers, religious leaders, and military personnel who establish special relationships with individuals who are protected by specific ethical codes. The simple utilitarian model will certainly have overlays depending on the role that these robots play. They will act in accord with whatever moral or ethical code we provide them and the value determinations that we set. They will run the numbers and do the right thing. In emergency situations, our autonomous cars will sacrifice the few to protect the many. When faced with dilemmas, they will seek the best outcomes independent of whether they themselves are comfortable with the actions. So, as with all other aspects of machine intelligence, it is crucial that these systems are able to explain their moral decisions to us. They will need to be able to reach into their silicon souls and explain the reasoning that supports their actions. We need them to be able to explain themselves in all aspects of their reasoning and actions. Their moral reasoning will be subject to the same explanatory requirements that we would demand of explaining any action they take. Today’s emerging technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality, home robots, and cloud computing, to name only a few of the sophisticated technologies in development today, are capturing the imaginations of many. The advanced capabilities of today’s emerging technologies are driving many academics, entrepreneurs, and enterprises to envision futures in which their impacts on society will be nothing short of transformative. Whether these emerging technologies will realize these ambitious possibilities is uncertain. What is certain is that they will intersect and interact with powerful demographic, economic, and cultural forces to upend the conditions of everyday life. The article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carrs discusses the effects that the Internet may be having on our ability to focus, the difference in knowledge that we now have, and our reliance on the Internet. The points that are made throughout Carrs’ article are very thought-­provoking, but his sources make them seem invaluable. Carr discusses the effects that the Internet has on our minds. He feels that the Internet is bad for the brain. Nicholas Carr writes that he spends much of his leisure time from the Net. Carr feels like he cannot concentrate on the long passages of reading because his brain is used to the fast millisecond flow of the Net. “For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching and surfing.” The supporting idea is that his mind now “expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it-­-­in a swiftly moving streams of particles.” His brain wants to think as fast as the Internet goes. In summary, the article is split into two pieces. The first is Nicholas Carr’s longing for his brain to be one with the Internet, a man-­made machine. The second part of the article is Google’s standpoint on how our brains should be replaced by artificial intelligence. 80
C. Why the Future Does Not Need Us? With the accelerating improvements of technology, computer scientists succeed in developing intelligent machines that can do all things better than human beings. In that case presumably all work will be done by vast, highly organized systems of machines, and no human effort will be necessary. Either of two cases might occur. The machines might be permitted to make all of their own decisions without human oversight, or else human control over the machines might be retained. If the machines are permitted to make all their own decisions, we cannot make any conjectures about the results because it is impossible to guess how such machines might behave. We only point out that the fate of the human race would be at the mercy of the machines. It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand over all the power to the machines. But human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines or the machines would willfully seize power. Human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines’ decisions. As society and the problems that it faces become more and more complex and machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions for them, simply because machine-­made decisions will bring better results than man-­made ones. Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People will not be able to just turn the machines off because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide. On the other hand, it is possible that human control over the machines may be retained. In that case the average man may have control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car or his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will be in the hands of the tiny elite -­ just as it is today, but with two differences. Because of improved techniques the elite will have a greater control over the masses and because human work will no longer be necessary, the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite are ruthless, they may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or any other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite. Or, if the elite consist of soft-­
hearted liberals, they may decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human race. They will see to it that everyone’s physical needs are satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes “treatment” to cure his “problem.” Life will be so purposeless that people will have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove their need for the power process or make them “sublimate” their drive for power into some harmless hobby. These engineered human beings may be happy in such a society, but they will most certainly not be free. They will have been reduced to the status of domestic animals. 81
Theodore Kaczynskian American domestic terrorist,also known as the Unabomber, killed three people during a nationwide bombing campaign targeting those involved with modern technology and wounded many others. One of his bombs gravely injured David Gelernter, one of the most brilliant and visionary computer scientists. His actions were murderous and criminally insane, but his vision describes unintended consequences, a well-­known problem with the design and use of technology, and one that is clearly related to Murphy’s law–“Anything that can go wrong, will.” Our overuse of antibiotics has led to what may be the biggest such problem so far: the emergence of antibiotic-­resistant and much more dangerous bacteria. Similar things happened when attempts to eliminate malarial mosquitoes using DDT caused them to acquire DDT resistance;; malarial parasites, likewise, acquired multi-­drug-­resistant genes. The cause of many such surprises seems clear: The systems involved are complex, involving interaction among and feedback between many parts. Any changes to such a system will cascade in ways that are difficult to predict;; this is especially true when human actions are involved. Biological species almost never survive encounters with superior competitors. Ten million years ago, South and North America were separated by a sunken Panama isthmus. South America, like Australia today, was populated by marsupial mammals, including pouched equivalents of rats, deers, and tigers. When the isthmus connecting North and South America rose, it took only a few thousand years for the northern placental species, with slightly more effective metabolisms and reproductive and nervous systems, to displace and eliminate almost all the southern marsupials. In a completely free marketplace, superior robots would surely affect humans as North American placentals affected South American marsupials (and as humans have affected countless species). Robotic industries would compete vigorously among themselves for matter, energy, and space, incidentally driving their price beyond human reach. Unable to afford the necessities of life, biological humans would be squeezed out of existence. A textbook on dystopia and Moravec discuss how our main job in the 21st century will be “ensuring continued cooperation from the robot industries” by passing laws decreeing that they be “nice,” and describing how seriously dangerous a human can be once transformed into an unbounded superintelligent robot. Moravec’s view is that the robots will eventually succeed us that humans clearly face extinction. Accustomed to living with almost routine scientific breakthroughs, we have yet to come to terms with the fact that the most compelling 21st-­century technologies–robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology–pose a threat different from the technologies that have come before. Specifically, robots, engineered organisms, and nanobots share a dangerous amplifying factor: They can self-­replicate. A bomb is blown up only once–
but one bot can become many, and quickly get out of control. For instance, the sending and receiving of messages through computer networking creates the opportunity for out-­
of-­control replication. But while replication in a computer or a computer network can be a nuisance, at worst it disables a machine or takes down a network or network service. 82
Uncontrolled self-­replication in these newer technologies runs a much greater risk: a risk of substantial damage in the physical world. Each of these technologies also offers untold promise: The vision of near immortality that Kurzweil sees in his robot dreams drives us forward;; genetic engineering may soon provide treatments, if not outright cures, for most diseases;; and nanotechnology and nanomedicine can address more ills. Together, they could significantly extend our average life span and improve the quality of our lives. With each of these technologies, a sequence of small, individually sensible advances leads to an accumulation of great power and, concomitantly, great danger. What was different in the 20th century? Certainly, the technologies underlying the weapons of mass destruction (WMD)–nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC)–were powerful, and the weapons an enormous threat. But building nuclear weapons required, at least for a time, access to both rare– indeed, effectively unavailable–raw materials and highly protected information;; biological and chemical weapons programs also tended to require large-­scale activities. The 21st-­century technologies–genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR)–are so powerful that they can spawn whole new classes of accidents and abuses. Most dangerously, for the first time, these accidents and abuses are widely within the reach of individuals or small groups. They will not require large facilities or rare raw materials. Knowledge alone will enable their use;; thus, we have the possibility not just of weapons of mass destruction but of knowledge-­enabled mass destruction (KMD), this destructiveness hugely amplified by the power of self-­replication. Failing to understand the consequences of our inventions while we are in the rapture of discovery and innovation seems to be a common fault of scientists and technologists;; we have long been driven by the overarching desire to know that is the nature of science’s quest, not stopping to notice that the progress to newer and more powerful technologies can take on a life of its own. Because of the recent rapid and radical progress in molecular electronics–where individual atoms and molecules replace lithographically drawn transistors–and related nanoscale technologies, we should be able to meet or exceed the Moore’s law rate of progress for another 30 years. By 2030, we are likely to be able to build machines, in quantity, a million times as powerful as the personal computers of today. As this enormous computing power is combined with the manipulative advances of the physical sciences and the new, deep understandings in genetics, enormous transformative power is being unleashed. These combinations open up the opportunity to completely redesign the world, for better or worse: The replicating and evolving processes that have been confined to the natural world are about to become realms of human endeavor. Given the incredible power of these new technologies, should we not be asking how we can best coexist with them? And if our own extinction is a likely, or even possible, outcome of our technological development, should we not proceed with great caution? How soon could such an intelligent robot be built? The coming advances in computing power seem to make it possible by 2030. Once an intelligent robot exists, it is only a small step to a robot species–to an intelligent robot that can make evolved copies of itself. Genetic engineering promises to revolutionize agriculture by increasing crop yields while reducing the use of pesticides;; to create tens of thousands of novel species of bacteria, plants, viruses, and animals;; to replace reproduction, or supplement it, with cloning;; to create cures for many diseases, increasing our life span and our quality of life;; and much, much more. We now know with certainty that these profound changes in the biological sciences are imminent and will challenge all our notions of what life is. Technologies, 83
such as human cloning, have in particular raised our awareness of the profound ethical and moral issues we face. If, for example, we were to reengineer ourselves into several separate and unequal species using the power of genetic engineering, then we would threaten the notion of equality that is the very cornerstone of our democracy. Awareness of the dangers inherent in genetic engineering is beginning to grow, as reflected in the Lovins’ editorial. The general public is aware of, and uneasy about, genetically modified foods, and seems to be rejecting the notion that such foods should be permitted to be unlabeled. But genetic engineering technology is already very far along. As the Lovins’ note, the USDA has already approved about 50 genetically engineered crops for unlimited release;; more than half of the world’s soybeans and a third of its corn now contain genes spliced in from some other forms of life. Unfortunately, as with nuclear technology, it is far easier to create destructive uses for nanotechnology than constructive ones. Nanotechnology has clear military and terrorist uses, and you need not be suicidal to release a massively destructive nanotechnological device–such devices can be built to be selectively destructive, affecting, for example, only a certain geographical area or a group of people who are genetically distinct. The effort to build the first atomic bomb was led by the brilliant physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer was not naturally interested in politics but became painfully aware of what he perceived as the grave threat to Western civilization from the Third Reich, a threat surely grave because of the possibility that Hitler might obtain nuclear weapons. Energized by this concern, he brought his strong intellect, passion for physics, and charismatic leadership skills to Los Alamos and led a rapid and successful effort by an incredible collection of great minds to quickly invent the bomb. Physicists proceeded with the preparation of the first atomic test called Trinity despite a large number of possible dangers. They were initially worried, based on a calculation by Edward Teller, that an atomic explosion might set fire to the atmosphere. A revised calculation reduced the danger of destroying the world to a three-­
ina-­million chance. Oppenheimer, though, was sufficiently concerned about the result of Trinity that he arranged for a possible evacuation of the southwest part of the state of New Mexico. There was the clear danger of starting a nuclear arms race. Within a month of that first, successful test, two atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some scientists had suggested that the bomb simply be demonstrated rather than dropped on Japanese cities–saying that this would greatly improve the chances for arms control after the war–but to no avail. With the tragedy of Pearl Harbor still fresh in Americans’ minds, it would have been very difficult for President Truman to order a demonstration of the weapons rather than use them as he did–the desire to quickly end the war and save the lives that would have been lost in any invasion of Japan was very strong. The overriding truth was probably very simple: As the physicist Freeman Dyson later said, “The reason that it was dropped was just that nobody had the courage or the foresight to say no.” It is important to realize how shocked the physicists were in the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. They described a series of waves of emotion: first, a sense of fulfillment that the bomb worked, then horror at all the people that had been killed, and then a convincing feeling that on no account should another bomb be dropped. Another bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki, only three days after the bombing of Hiroshima. In November 1945, three months after the atomic bombings, Oppenheimer stood firmly behind the scientific attitude, saying, “It is not possible to be a scientist unless you believe that the knowledge of the world, and the power which this gives, is a thing which is of 84
intrinsic value to humanity, and that you are using it to help in the spread of knowledge and are willing to take the consequences.” In our time, how much danger do we face not just from nuclear weapons but from all of these technologies? How high are the extinction risks? The philosopher John Leslie has studied this question and concluded that the risk of human extinction is at least 30 percent while Ray Kurzweil believes we have a better than even chance of making it through, with the caveat that he has always been accused of being an optimist. Not only are these estimates not encouraging, but they do not include the probability of many horrid outcomes that lie short of extinction. Faced with such assessments, some serious people are already suggesting that we simply move beyond the Earth as quickly as possible. We would colonize the galaxy using von Neumann probes, which hop from star system to star system, replicating as they go. This step will almost certainly be necessary billion years from now (or sooner if our solar system is disastrously impacted by the impending collision of our galaxy with the Andromeda galaxy within the next three billion years), but if we take Kurzweil and Moravec at their word, it might be necessary by the middle of this century. What are the moral implications here? If we must move beyond Earth this quickly for the species to survive, who accepts the responsibility for the fate of those who are left behind? And even if we scatter to the stars, is it not likely that we may take our problems with us or find, later, that they have followed us? The fate of our species on earth and our fate in the galaxy seem inextricably linked. Another idea is to erect a series of shields to defend against each of the dangerous technologies. The Strategic Defense Initiative, proposed by the Reagan administration, was anattempt to design such a shield against the threat of a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. But as Arthur C. Clarke, who was privy to discussions about the project, observed: “Though it might be possible, at vast expense, to construct local defense systems that would only let through a few percent of ballistic missiles, the much-­touted idea of a national umbrella was nonsense.” Luis Alvarez, the greatest experimental physicist, remarked that the advocates of such schemes were very bright guys with no common sense. Similar difficulties apply to the construction of shields against robotics and genetic engineering. These technologies are too powerful to be shielded against in the time frame of interest;; even if it were possible to implement defensive shields, the side effects of their development would be at least as dangerous as the technologies we are trying to protect against. These possibilities are all, thus, either undesirable or unachievable or both. The only realistic alternative to limit the development of the technologies that are too dangerous is by limiting our pursuit of certain kinds of knowledge. We have been seeking knowledge since ancient times. Aristotle opened his Metaphysics with the simple statement: “All men by nature desire to know.” We have, as a bedrock value in our society, long agreed on the value of open access to information and recognize the problems that arise with attempts to restrict access to and development of knowledge. In recent times, we have come to revere scientific knowledge. It was Nietzsche who warned us, at the end of the 19th century, not only that God is dead but that “faith in science, which after all exists undeniably, cannot owe its origin to a calculus of utility;; it must have originated in spite of the fact that the disutility and dangerousness of the ‘will to truth,’ of ‘truth at any price’ is proved to it constantly.” It is this further danger that we now fully face the consequences of our truth-­seeking. The truth that science seeks can certainly be considered a dangerous substitute for God if it is likely to lead to our extinction. Our Western notion of happiness seems to come from the Greeks, who defined 85
it as “the exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope.” Clearly, we need to find meaningful challenges and sufficient scope in our lives if we are to be happy in whatever is to come. We must find alternative outlets for our creative forces, beyond the culture of perpetual economic growth;; this growth has largely been a blessing for several hundred years, but it has not brought us unalloyed happiness, and we must now choose between the pursuit of unrestricted and undirected growth through science and technology and the clear accompanying dangers Activity: Film Viewing Watch the movie “Artificial Intelligence” also known as “A.I.” by Steven Spielberg. Answer the following questions. 1. At the beginning of the movie, Professor Hobby states that “to create an artificial being has been the dream of man since the birth of science.” There’s probably an element of truth to this. Why do we have this fascination? ________________________________________________________________
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______________ 2. One of the scientists at Cybertronics asks, “If a robot could genuinely love a person, what responsibility does that person hold toward that mecha in return?” Professor Hobby responds, “In the beginning, didn’t God create Adam to love him?” What is implied by Professor Hobby’s answer? ________________________________________________________________
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3. Consider some of the imagery the Flesh Fair: motorcycles, cowboy hats, heavy metal music, flannel shirts. What statement does this make about the kind of humans that opposed robots? ________________________________________________________________
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______________ 4. The owner of the Flesh Fair states that child mechas like David, were built to disarm humans by playing on human emotions. Nevertheless, the human spectators feel sympathy with David, particularly because he pleads for his life. What abilities would a robot have to exhibit before we would consider it an equal with humans? ________________________________________________________________
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____ 5. Gigolo Joe tells David that his mother does not love him, but only loves what he does for her. Is it plausible to think that a normal human could love a robot as though it were a real human? ________________________________________________________________
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PART III. SPECIFIC ISSUES IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY Introduction This section provides overview on how writing evolved through time and internet came into being. Discussion on how information became accessible and inexpensive thru the discovery of printing press by Johannes Gutenburg is also presented on this part. Emphasis is given on the influence of social media to people’s lives. Further, this section of the module discusses different issues that concern society’s health and well-­being. Basic concepts and ideas on biodiversity, climate change, use of gene therapy and nanotechnology are also presented here. Learning Outcomes At the end of this section, the students are expected to: 1. illustrate how information age and social media have made an impact to our lives. 2. explain the interrelatedness of society, environment, and health. 3. discuss the costs and benefits (both potential and realized) of nanotechnology to society. 4. describe gene therapy, its various forms and potential benefits and detriments to global health. 5. identify the causes of climate change and discuss how to apply concepts of STS in this specific environmental issue. Chapter 7 The Information Age The Information Age began around the 1970s and still going on today. It is also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age. This era brought about a time period in which people could access information and knowledge easily. Pre-­Gutenberg Period During the Middle Ages in Europe, most people lived in small, isolated villages. If people travelled at all, they typically ventured only a few miles from where they were born. For most people, the only source of both religious and worldly information was the village Catholic priest in the pulpit. News passed from one person to another, often in the form of rumor. Written documents were rare and often doubted by the common people as forgeries. What counted in important matters was oral testimony based on oaths taken in the name of God to tell the truth. Almost no one could read or write the language they spoke. Those few who were literate usually went on to master Latin, the universal language of scholarship, the law, and the Roman Catholic Church. Books, all hand-­copied, were rare, expensive, and almost always in Latin. They were so valuable that universities chained them to reading tables. Most people passed their lifetime without ever gazing at a book, a calendar, a map, or written work of any sort. Memory and memorization ruled daily life and learning. Poets, actors and story tellers relied on rhyming lines to remember vast amounts of material. Craftsmen memorized the secrets of their trades to pass on orally to apprentices. Mechanics kept their accounts in their heads. Even scholars literate in Latin used memory devices to remember what they had learned. One device involved visualizing a building with various rooms and architectural features, each representing different store of knowledge. A university scholar imagined walking through this virtual building along a certain pathway to recall the contents of entire books for his lectures. Scribes, often monks living in monasteries, each labored for up to a year to copy a single book, usually in Latin. The scribes copied books on processed calfskin called velum and later on paper. Specialists or the scribes themselves “illuminated’ (painted0 large capital letters and the margins of many books with colorful designs were very costly. Before the discovery of printing press, books in Europe were typically handwritten manuscripts while paper money, playing cards, posters, and the like were block-­printed from hand-­carved wooden blocks, inked and transferred to paper. This earlier method of reproduction was expensive and time consuming. 89
Gutenberg Revolution Johannes Gutenberg turned the printing world upside down and brought on a new era of print with his revolutionary innovation of movable type in 1445. Movable type printing used metal stamps of single letters that could be arranged into words, sentences and pages of text. Using a large manually operated, the stamps would be arranged to read a page of text so that when covered with ink, it would print out a page of text. Before Gutenberg, all texts had been printed with woodblocks or fixed text stamps, both of which were complex and time-­consuming processes. Movable type kept the metal stamp letters separate, which allowed printers to reuse the letters quickly on succeeding pages. As a result, more pages could be efficiently printed in a shorter amount of time with much less effort. From here, the opportunity to share ideas and knowledge brought on a new era of change and enlightenment never seen before. Gutenberg’s amazing invention made books the internet of the time. The printing press made it possible to produce books much more quickly and cheaper than ever before. By 1463, printed Bibles cost one-­tenth of hand-­copied Bibles. The demand for books exploded. By 1500, Europe had more than 1,000 printers and 7,000 books in print. Like the internet, books spread new ideas quickly and sped up the process of change. For example, as a young sailor in Genoa, Christopher Columbus read Marco Polo’s famous Travels, in which he described his journeys to China. Columbus was thrilled by Polo’s descriptions. Books also planted the seeds of democracy and human rights in the next generation of thinkers. Newspapers and pamphlets generated information and ideas even faster. The impact of the printing press is, almost, impossible to really quantify. On the surface it allowed for the much more rapid spread of accurate information but, more elusively, it had an enormous impact on the nations and population in Europe at large. Literacy began to rise as well as the types of information people could be exposed to. When Europe was recovering from the devastating impact of the Black Death, the impact of printing press decimated the population and had led to the decline in the rise of the church, the rise of the money economy, and subsequent birth of the Renaissance. As it became easier to produce books and pamphlets, information started to spread. Previously, only religious leaders and royalty had access to books, and few people were literate. The printing Renaissance opened the realm of learning and reading to the local populations as schools were built and books about education were written and print published. The printing press had dramatic effects on European civilization and its more immediate effect was to spread information quickly and accurately and this gradually helped to create a much wider literate reading public.
The arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication, which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and revolutionary ideas transcended borders, 90
captured the masses in the Reformation, and threatened the power of political and religious authorities;; the sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class. Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-­awareness of its people led to the rise of proto-­nationalism, accelerated by the flowering of the European vernacular languages to the detriment of Latin’s status as lingua franca. The printing press was also a factor in the establishment of a community of scientists who could easily communicate their discoveries through widely disseminated scholarly journals, helping to bring on the scientific revolution. Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful and profitable. It was suddenly important who had said or written what, and what the precise formulation and time of information. Before, the author was less important, since a copy of Aristotle made in Paris would not be exactly identical to one made in Bologna. For many works prior to the printing press, the name of the author has been entirely lost.
Printed Materials as Agents of Change Gutenberg’s movable type printing press was a disruptive innovation in more ways than one. In addition to making printed materials more accessible, it allowed for the spread of knowledge both within elite communities, like the Catholic Church and the scientific community, and also to the rest of the general population. It brought about new innovations and ideas that lead to changes in power and standards in both religious and scientific areas of European culture. These included a shift in religious power from the church authority to the general population, standardization of scientific reporting, and an influx of new scientific discoveries. Although it may seem like the printing press affected the European science and religious community differently, the changes between the two are actually intricately intertwined. Both scientific and religious works were subject to a language change from Latin to vernacular languages. All of these changes were possible because of the printing press. Even more, it allowed for greater accessibility and spread of all kinds of knowledge throughout a wider population never before seen, bringing about several new social dynamics that will lead to several social revolutions. Post-­Gutenberg Period The impact of the Gutenberg printing press was immeasurable. It caused nothing less than a dramatic social and cultural revolution. The sudden widespread dissemination of printed works – books, tracts, posters and papers – gave direct rise to the European Renaissance. While Gutenberg’s famous Bible was printed in Latin, his invention of the movable type press meant that Protestant tracts and the arguments between Martin Luther and the Catholic Church which led to the Reformation could be widely disseminated. 91
The Reformation that began in Germany in the early 16th century, led to the Bible being printed in the languages common to people. Gutenberg’s invention led inevitably to the Protestant revolution, the Age of Enlightenment, the development of Modern Science and Universal Education. In other words, everything that has led to human progress and the advancement of the modern world. At present, people are beginning to look for secure and accurate and believable news portals but, the traditional trusted publishing outlets have less public beliefs as many people believe governments are manipulating them. The local press are in sharp circulation decline, and the online advertising businesses have moved to Google and Facebook and others. The result has caused newspaper closures and large-­scale downsizings and redundancies. Many people now prefer to believe people from their social environment, instead of turning to “the media”. The collateral damage caused by the digitization is increasing amounts of information and currently this is not going to stop. The emergence of the internet and the World Wide Web in the 1990s was initially hailed by many as ushering in new democratic age, driven by much greater access to information. In reality, while the internet had a dramatic impact, the revolutionary shifts predicted did not occur. This is because, in its earliest days, the World Wide Web still conformed to the Gutenberg principle. Building a website, accessing server space and publishing information required both money and technical expertise and was therefore still the preserve of institutions rather than individuals. The reality of much greater access to information was not matched by a greater ability to publish it. 92
Paradoxes of Technology New technologies allow us to be connected to and reachable by everyone. However, as a result, our privacy is threatened and Empowerment vs Enslavement technology starts controlling us. Whether we want or not, we feel socially obliged to take phone calls, answer emails, and send responses to messages on Facebook. New gadgets such as cell phones allow us to do many things on our own. However, this situation creates dependency, as we can’t go even Independent vs Dependence one day without our phones and we feel helpless when the Internet is down. Technology resolves some problems but also introduces new ones, Fulfills needs vs Creates needs e.g. we need devices with longer battery life, we need antivirus software to be safe, we need to learn new skills, etc. We can get any information we want and reach anyone we want with Competence vs Incompetence the help of new technologies. However, we lose our ability to remember phone numbers and our ability to articulate thoughts. When we are engaged in an activity that involves the use of new technology, we need to disengage from whatever we are doing. We Engaging vs Disengaging directly interact with our family and loved ones less frequently because we tend to engage more in new portable technology tools. New technologies blur the line between what is public and what is Public vs Private private. People may talk on the phone or message someone among a circle of acquaintances, which may be disturbing. We tend to think new communication technologies make our lives better. However, the more we communicate, the more trivial our Illusion vs Disillusion conversations become. In other words, more communication does not always equal better communication. Source: Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa and Karl R. Lang as cited by Acar, 2014 Speed of access also limited the ability of the internet to be a channel for all forms of media, restricting its use to text based and transactional forms. As a result, much of the initial investment in the web went into servicing and creating institutional opportunities, with e-­commerce emerging as the major new web-­based phenomena. This changed with two developments. First, the spread of broadband internet access made it possible to easily both upload and download all forms of media: video, images and audio as well as just text and transactions. Second, tools emerged which made it simple for people to publish or spread information. Blogging was the first example, followed by social networking and distribution and sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr. 93
There has been a third trend which is gathering significance, based around attaching relevance and content to all of the otherwise random pieces of information now being published. This concerns practices such as tagging, rating and commenting, as well as services such as social bookmarking and news-­sharing sites which allow individuals to store and share information. This trend is responsible for creating forms of collective intelligence and what has been called ‘crowd wisdom’ and is probably the most important area to watch going forwards because of its ability to allow individuals to create the trust and connections necessary to transact and communicate amongst themselves without any institutionalized intervention. Activity I. Activity Report: A day without Technology 1. Identify and interview 3 persons with the following description. a. an elderly who is not using cellphone and other gadgets b. a teenager who is into different social media platforms c. a professional who is busy with his/her career 2. Prepare guide questions and ask them how they live a day a. with/without technology. b. when there is no internet connection. c. when there is power interruption. 3. Synthesize their responses and make your own reflection. Prepare a written report. Activity II. Fake Spotted! Read news articles and reports from the internet. Identify specific issue that surfaced on different social media platforms which later found out as fake news. Discuss with the class the importance of verifying reliable and accurate information. Discussion Guide 1. How does “fake news” come to exist and spread so rapidly? Why do you think this happens? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 94
2. How is “fake news” harmful? ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 3. What are the long and short term effects and consequences of being a consumer of “fake news”? ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 4. How social media affect your personal life? ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 5. How social media affect the society as a whole? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 95
Chapter 8 Biodiversity and Healthy Society What is Biodiversity? Biological diversity or biodiversity is the variety of life, and refers collectively to variation at all levels of biological organization. The term biodiversity refers to the full abundance or variety of life – plant, animal and microbial. This variety of life occurs at all levels of ecological organization, but biodiversity generally refers to genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. This is the diversity of life upon which the health of the environment depends. Genetic, species and ecosystem diversity are convenient terms but because the universe is a continuum, some practical difficulties exist in precisely defining each of them. Biodiversity and Healthy Society Biodiversity is the foundation of human health. By securing the life-­sustaining goods and services which biodiversity provides to us, the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity can provide significant benefits for human health. In contrast, the continuing loss of biodiversity on a global scale represents a direct threat to our health and well-­being. Without a global environment that is healthy and capable of supporting a diversity of life, no human population can exist. • Biodiversity supports food security, dietary health, livelihood sustainability Genetic diversity in food systems provides the foundation of crop development and food security, and promotes resistance and resilience to environmental stresses including pests and diseases of crops and livestock. Diets based on a diversity of food species promote health, and can help to protect against disease by addressing the problem of micronutrient and vitamin deficiencies. Loss of agricultural biodiversity can therefore threaten health, livelihood sustainability and our future security of food and nutrition. • Biodiversity provides important resources for medical research Studies of wildlife anatomy, physiology and biochemistry can lead to important developments in human medicine. Examples of species of interest to medical science include bears (for insights into osteoporosis, cardio-­vascular disorders, renal disease and diabetes), sharks (osmoregulation and immunology), cetaceans (respiration and treatments for divers suffering from decompression sickness) and horse-­shoe crabs (optometry/ophthalmology and molecular biology). 96
• Biodiversity provides important resources for traditional and modern medicine Biodiversity loss can impact on community traditions and livelihoods centered on traditional medicinal practices that utilize wild animals and plants, particularly for indigenous and local communities. Millions of people depend upon traditional medicines for their primary health care. • Biodiversity plays a role in the regulation and control of infectious diseases Biodiversity loss and ecosystem change can increase the risk of emergence or spread of infectious diseases in animals, plants and humans, including economically important livestock diseases, zoonotic outbreaks and global pandemics. In recent years outbreaks of SARS, Ebola, Marburg, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, avian influenza and malaria have been attributed to human impacts on biodiversity, the wildlife trade or unsustainable land use change. Without a greater understanding of disease ecology, there is also a risk that programmes to tackle infectious diseases may impact negatively on biodiversity, through use of biocides and other chemicals and wildlife culls. • Biodiversity has social, cultural and spiritual importance within communities Ecosystem change can result in disconnection of populations from open spaces or the wider countryside, with negative implications for physical and mental well-­being and loss of “sense of place”. This has been linked to an increased prevalence of ‘disease of affluence’ (diabetes, obesity, cardio-­pulmonary illness) and psychological disorders in many communities. Conversely, access to ‘greenspace’ (natural and artificial) are associated with better health outcomes, shorter hospital visits and reduced convalescence time for patients than purely urban environments. An awareness of environmental values and respect for other species has been associated with reduced propensity towards anti-­social behavior in children and young adults. Threats to Biodiversity • Habitat loss Humans rely on technology to modify their environment and make it habitable. Other species cannot do this. Elimination of their habitat—whether it is a forest, coral reef, grassland, or flowing river—will kill the individuals in the species. Remove the entire habitat and the species will become extinct, unless they are among the few species that do well in human-­built environments. 97
• Overharvesting Overhunting, overfishing and over-­harvesting contribute greatly to the loss of biodiversity, killing off numerous species over the past several hundred years. Poaching and other forms of hunting for profit increase the risk of extinction;; the extinction of an apex predator — or, a predator at the top of a food chain — can result in catastrophic consequences for ecosystems. • Invasive species Exotic species are species that have been intentionally or unintentionally introduced by humans into an ecosystem in which they did not evolve. Most exotic species introductions probably fail because of the low number of individuals introduced or poor adaptation to the ecosystem they enter. Some species, however, have characteristics that can make them especially successful in a new ecosystem. These exotic species often undergo dramatic population increases in their new habitat and reset the ecological conditions in the new environment, threatening the species that exist there. When this happens, the exotic species also becomes an invasive species. Invasive species can threaten other species through competition for resources, predation, or disease. • Climate change Climate change, and specifically the anthropogenic warming trend presently underway, is recognized as a major extinction threat, particularly when combined with other threats such as habitat loss. Anthropogenic warming of the planet has been observed and is due to past and continuing emission of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Scientists overwhelmingly agree the present warming trend is caused by humans and some of the likely effects include dramatic and dangerous climate changes in the coming decades. The warming trend will shift colder climates toward the north and south poles, forcing species to move (if possible) with their adapted climate norms. The shifting ranges will impose new competitive regimes on species as they find themselves in contact with other species not present in their historic range. One such unexpected species contact is between polar bears and grizzly bears. Previously, these two species had separate ranges. Now, their ranges are overlapping and there are documented cases of these two species mating and producing viable offspring. Changing climates also throw off the delicate timing adaptations that species have to seasonal food resources and breeding times. Scientists have already documented many contemporary mismatches to shifts in resource availability and timing. 98
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Biotechnology is a set of techniques that involves the use of biological processes and living organisms for industry, agricultural or other activities. Its purpose is to modify the natural and biological processes of living organisms without necessarily altering the genes or genetic construct of the living organisms. It has four major industrial processes based on biological systems, namely cell and tissue culture, fermentation, enzyme technology, and genetic engineering – also referred to as modern technology. Genetic engineering or recombinant DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) technology differs from other forms of biotechnology as it allows the isolation and transfer of genes coding specific characteristics between living organisms to produce a new living organism that expresses the desired characteristics of both organisms. Genetically modified organisms or GMOs is the common term used for genetically engineered organisms. For thousands of years, humans have been using traditional modification methods like selective breeding and cross-­breeding to breed plants and animals with more desirable traits. Most of the foods today were created through traditional breeding methods. But changing plants and animals through traditional breeding can take a long time, and it is difficult to make very specific changes. After scientists developed genetic engineering, they were able to make similar changes in a more specific way and in a shorter amount of time. (https://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-­biotechnology/science-­
and-­history-­gmos-­and-­other-­food-­modification-­processes)
Intended Uses of GMOs Biomedical Farm/Food Animals Agriculture Used as specific models for many different human diseases, including multiple infectious diseases, such as HIV, immune system defects, blood and metabolic disorders, muscular dystrophy, cancer immunotherapies among others. Engineering of animals used for food. Examples include, chickens producing only female offspring for egg laying, cows producing only male offspring for better meat yield, pigs who can be fattened with less food, cashmere goats for producing more meat from greater muscle mass and longer hair for wool yield;; and efforts to facilitate greater stocking density, such as cattle without horns and animals with greater resistance to disease. Genetic engineering provides a quicker and more precise way to achieve the same goal in one generation. Genetically modified crops offer improved yields, enhanced nutritional value, longer shelf life, and resistance to drought, frost, or insect pests. Examples of GM crops include corn varieties containing a gene for a bacterial pesticide that kills larval pests, and soybeans with an inserted gene that renders them resistant to weed-­killers. 99
Source: Bailey, 2019 “GMO” (genetically modified organism) has become the common term consumers and popular media use to describe foods that have been created through genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is a process that involves: • Identifying the genetic information – or “gene” – that gives an organism (plant, animal or microorganism) a desired trait. • Copying the information from the organism that has the trait • Inserting that information into the DNA of another organism Some Genetically Modified Organisms developed in the Philippines o Longer-­lasting papayas Institute of Plant Breeding in UPLB developed delayed-­ripening papaya that is resistant to ring-­spot virus (PRSV). The initial project assisted by the Australian government developed a papaya variety with a 14-­day shelf life, or double the usual 6 days. The scientists achieved this by suppressing the generation of key enzyme in the ethylene biosynthesis pathway –ACC synthase – through genetic manipulation. ACC synthase triggers ethylene production, which causes ripening of fruits. o Protein enriched copra meal (PECM) as feed protein for tilapia, milkfish and shrimp aquaculture Primarily used as animal feed, copra meal is an important feed resource in the Philippines. In 2014, the Philippines produced about 750,000 metric tons of copra meal as coconut by-­product. About 60% of this was locally utilized mainly as animal feed. There are, however, several concerns on the use of soybean meals as feeding ingredient. This 100
includes its fluctuating market price, its being expensive import commodity, its erratic supply, and the fact that it even competes for human food. To address the issue on high cost of soybean importation and to ensure the quality of animal feeds, the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-­
PCARRD) supported research and development (R&D) programs on feed resources under its Industry Strategic Science and Technology (S&T) Program (ISP). One of the program’s accomplishments is the use of formulated feeds for swine, poultry and aquatic animals with Protein Enriched Copra Meal (PECM) that was developed by the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB-­BIOTECH). Through solid-­state fermentation technology, the PECM is enriched with microorganisms that increase the protein content of copra meal to about 36 to 44% crude protein content, comparable to the 46% of soybean meal. A group of researchers from the Institute of Aquaculture, College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences of the University of the Philippines Visayas studied the possibility of substituting 50% soybean meal, as a major feed protein source, with PECM. Milkfish and tilapia when fed with commercial feed and Protein enriched copra meal (PECM) used for tilapia, PECM (photo courtesy of UP Visayas, Miagao, Iloilo) milkfish, and shrimp aquaculture (photo courtesy of UP Visayas, Miagao, Iloilo) o Tomato Leaf Curve Virus (ToLCV)-­ resistant Variety The Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) of the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) has developed tomato breeding line resistant to tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV) in the hope of reviving tomato’s robust production in the country. 101
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph The two-­year project was completed by a team composed mainly of local scientist at the IPB-­UPLB with financial support from the Department of Agriculture Biotech Program. The research team developed the candidate ToLCV-­resistant lines from the local tomato varieties by interbreeding local varieties with ToLCV-­resistant tomato lines acquired from the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) – The World Vegetable Center. ToLCV-­resistance in the donor parental lines, hybrids and the derived lines from the initial hybrids was verified by exposing the plants to the ToLCV-­Laguna isolate and by marker-­assisted selection (MAS). MAS can predict even at early seedling stage whether a plant will grow to express a trait of interest based on the mere presence or absence of gene markers. Gene markers are short unique DNA sequences located near the DNA sequence of the gene responsible for a desired physical characteristic/trait in each generation of plants produced. In this case, markers for genes responsible for the resistance to ToLCV confirmed successful transfer of the resistance gene in the genetic make-­up of the developed tomato lines. Lines rated as highly resistant due to absence or very minimal observed symptoms of infection and detected for presence of ToLCV resistance genes through gene markers were considered candidate ToLCV resistant breeding materials. Tomato was the leading vegetable crop in the country in terms of area planted until 1990. The peak of decline in the area of production in 1997 was primarily due to pests and diseases as well as unfavorable climatic conditions especially during off-­season months. Virus diseases, including ToLCV, are considered the most damaging to tomato production worldwide causing 50-­100% yield loss. Use of chemicals to stop the vector insect proved to be costly and does not warrant sustainable protection. Moreover, the strategy can be hazardous both to human health and environment. The use of resistant varieties offers the most effective and practical strategy to overcome the disease. While breeding initiatives to virus resistant varieties have been going on, the lack of varieties with durable resistance against multiple virus diseases remains a concern to farmers. At present, there are no commercial varieties grown in the Philippines with durable resistance to major virus diseases such as ToLCV. Use of the promising resistant breeding materials may improve production yield and income of more than 18,000 tomato growers. 102
Bt corn Bt corn in the Philippines was engineered to be specifically resistant to the Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenee), the most devastating corn pests in the industry. It was introduced as a “practical and ecologically sustainable solution” for poor corn farmers, a major bullet to combat poverty and improve livelihood. https://www.sunstar.com Adoption rate of biotech maize in 2015 is at 63 percent. In the period 2003 to 2015, there were 13 years of consecutive growth in hectarage of Bt corn, except for 2015 due to drought. Potential benefits of GM crops 1. Better nutritional qualities-­-­-­rice with provitamin A and iron;; corn with high lysine and tryptophan;; vegetables with higher ~-­carotene and lycopene;; legumes with higher sulfur containing amino acids: sweet potato with higher protein content. 2. Engineering pest or disease resistance in important crops such as rice and corn, various vegetables. sweet potato and others especially those important for developing countries. 3. Edible vaccines -­-­-­aimed at providing low cost immunization strategy for developing countries;; banana with antigen of causal organism of diarrhea is now at clinical trial stage. Vaccine corn for gastroenteritis in hogs, hepatitis B in humans, etc. 4. Antibodies engineered and produced in plants-­-­-­expressed antibodies in potato, tobacco and rapeseed were stable and active;; need to increase expression level. 5. Crops which can extract and detoxify pollutants from the environment such as heavy metals-­-­-­this research is hampered by the lack of basic knowledge on the molecular mechanism involved in the uptake and storage of inorganics in plants. 6. Crops which produce less toxic residues such as corn with low phytate, 15 Phytate 103
complexes phosphorus and thus the latter becomes unavailable and cannot released by nonruminants. A large amount of phosphate is excreted and contributes to water pollution. 7. Production of alternative polymers which can replace o substitute plastics and other petrochemical products in plants and thus are renewable and biodegradable. Risk Related to the Use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Genetic Contamination/Interbreeding. Introduced GMOs may interbreed with the wild-­
type or sexually compatible relatives. The novel trait may disappear in wild types unless it confers a selective advantage to the recipient. However, tolerance abilities of wild types may also develop, thus altering the native species’ ecological relationship and behavior. Competition with Natural Species. Faster growth of GMOs can enable them to have a competitive advantage over the native organisms. This may allow them become invasive, to spread into new habitats, and cause ecological and economic damage. Increased Selection Pressure on Target and Non-­target Organisms. Pressure may increase on target and non-­target species to adapt to the introduced changes as if to a geological change or a natural selection pressure causing them to evolve distinct resistant populations. Ecosystem Impacts. The effects of changes in a single species may extend well beyond to the ecosystem. Single impacts are always joined by the risk of ecosystem damage and destruction. Impossibility of Follow-­up. Once the GMOs have been introduced into the environment and some problems arise, it is impossible to eliminate them. Many of these risks are identical to those incurred with regards to the introduction of naturally or conventionally bred species. But still this does not suggest that GMOs are safe or beneficial, nor that they should be less scrutinized. Horizontal Transfer of Recombinant Genes to other Microorganisms. One risk of particular concern relating to GMOs is the risk of horizontal gene transfer (HGT). HGT is the acquisition of foreign genes (via transformation, transduction, and conjugation) by organisms in a variety of environmental situations. It occurs especially in response to changing environments and provides organisms, especially prokaryotes, with access to genes other than those that can be inherited. HGT of an introduced gene from a GMO may confer a novel trait in another organism, which could be a source of potential harm to the health of people or the environment. Loss of Management Control Measures. Regulatory approvals for field trials of GMOs often require measures to limit and control the release in space and time. With the spread of the introduced gene(s) to another species by HGT, a new GMO is created. This new GMO may give rise to adverse effects which are not controlled by management measures imposed by the original license or permit. 104
Long-­term Effects. Sometimes the impact of HGT may be more severe in the long term. Even under relatively strong selection pressure, it may take thousands of generations for a recipient organism to become the dominant form in the population. In addition, other factors such as timing of appropriate biotic or abiotic environmental conditions and additional changes in the recipient organism could delay adverse effects. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2011/369573/ Antibiotic Resistance and Horizontal Gene Transfer. Most of the first generation of GM crops have antibiotic resistance gene as selectable marker. It has been hypothesized that such antibiotic resistance genes could lead to the innovation of oral doses of the antibiotic, or that these genes could be transferred to pathogenic microorganism in the gut or the soil which will render them resistant to such antibiotics. GMOs and Biodiversity The impact of GMOs on biodiversity is widely debated. Pro-­GMO researchers maintain that if crops are genetically modified for pest resistance, farmers can reduce their reliance on insecticides, so that local fauna, such as birds, rodents, and insects, can flourish in the area. Secondary pests that would have been eliminated through widespread insecticide application are not suppressed by the scaled-­back insecticide use permitted GMOs. Because these secondary pests remain, other small predator – the birds and rodents that feed on the secondary pests-­remain viable. In addition, the development of drought-­resistant or flood-­resistant crops allows arid or flood-­prone land to be used for growing crops. This means that less high-­biodiversity terrain needs to be converted for farming. On the other side of the debate, GMO skeptics have argued that up to 75% of plant genetic diversity has been lost since farmers switched to uniform GM crop varieties. In this view, less popular, non-­GM seed varieties are being neglected. Moreover, widely used GM crop varieties can spread to neighboring fields and eventually mix in with non-­
GM crops. A farmer who wishes to continue using a non-­GM seed variety, or who desires to maintain the organic status of his crops, must adopt potentially expensive measures to protect his crops from contamination or cross-­pollination with his neighbor’s GM crops. It has also been argued that the over-­popularity of certain GM crops may lead to greater susceptibility to pests and disease. Pests may evolve to target the monoculture of popular and overused crop varieties. Moreover, it has been argued that the evolution of glyphosate-­resistant weeds has required farmers to make ever greater use of glyphosate, the toxicity of which poses dangers for human health. It has been hypothesized that GM crops can harm insect species that are not pests. Insects that feed on GM crops will carry GM pollen, which may prove toxic in the long term and result in depletion or even extinction of insect populations. The genetic integrity of any plant or insect that lives in close proximity to GM crops can be compromised because gene transfer from one organism to another can occur, and such genes may 105
pose unanticipated risks. GM traits have been found transferred to insects, water life and soil. Activity 1: Article Review 1. Read the Adrian Dubock’s “The Politics of Golden Rice” available online at http://www.goldenrice.org/PDFs/Dubock-­Politics_of_GR-­2014.pdf. 2. Answer the following questions: a. What is the article all about? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ b. What is Cartagena Protocol? Why it is said that the foundation of its opposition to GMO crops was initially considered “rock”, but actually “sands”? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ c. What are the points mentioned by the author why golden rice was politicized? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ d. What are your thoughts about the article? Do you agree or disagree that “politics” somehow impede the development of GMO-­crop technology? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ e. Do you agree to its conclusion that society incurs pain, environmental damage and deaths due to the delays in advancement in agricultural science caused by national and international regulations? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 106
Activity 2. Reflective Essay Look at the picture below. Make a 300-­word essay about in relation to the ideas presented to you during the discussion. Provide a title for your essay. Environment Health Society 107
Chapter 9 The Nano World What is Nanotechnology? Nano is a prefix used in the metric scale to represent one billionth. A nanometer (nm) is one billionth of a meter. Nano comes from the Greek word for dwarf, so in combination with technology, it becomes dwarf technology. Technology applies science and materials for human uses, and nanotechnology applies science and materials at the nanoscale. People refer to nanotechnology as “tiny tech” or “nanotech”. It represents the scaling down of technology to a new scale, generally agreed to be in the range of 1 to 100 nm. One of the main reasons for the explosion of interest in nanotechnology is the unique properties and behavior of matter at the nanoscale. When particles are synthesized at the nanoscale, their properties change. For one thing, nanoparticles have much more surface area compared to their weight than larger particles. This single property means that much less material can be used for application, allowing us to save natural resources, energy and money, provided that it does not cost more to produce. Using less material in products can offer both economic and environmental benefits. Working with matter on such a small scale represents a revolution in technology because, at this scale, materials reveal uniquely novel physical, chemical, and biological (including toxicological) properties when compared to their bulk counterpart. It is akin to discovering a world of new materials emerging out of existing materials. Applications of Nanotechnology in All Fields of Science The early 2000’s saw the beginning of commercial applications of nanotechnology, although these were limited to bulk applications of nanomaterial rather than the transformative applications envisioned by the field. With thousands of researchers across the globe focusing on the applications of nanomaterials and the mushrooming of many industries, it is now difficult to say who did what first. The realization by scientists and industrialists of the ability of the materials to dramatically change their properties as nanoscale has opened up the possibility of making new devices, instruments and consumer goods, etc, to function in a much better way than was possible earlier. Rapid progress in the synthesis and understanding of nanomaterials in just a few years has led to their entry into the world in a big way. Various fields in which nanomaterials have already entered or about to enter can be overviewed. 108
Electronics Energy Environment Automobiles Agriculture and Food Application of Nanotechnology in all fields of Science Single electron transistor (SET), spin valves and magnetic tunnel junctions (MT)s are based on nanotechnology. Spin valve-­type devices are already being used in personal computers to “read discs,” which has enabled the increase of data storage capacity of hard discs. Flat-­panel television or computer monitors are products of nanotechnology. Even the coatings used on screens of TVs or monitors can be made of nanoparticles, which have better properties in terms of color quality and resolution than microparticle coatings. Some metal hydride nanoparticles like nickel hydrides or high surface area, ultra-­
lightweight materials like aerogels are found to be better options than the conventional materials in improved batteries. Carbon nanomaterial (CNM) has been used in improving the efficacy of lithium secondary batteries, supercapacitors and in hydrogen storage. Efficient production of nanomaterials following the low temperature synthesis route would help to reduce industrial pollution. Use of nanomaterials as hydrogen storage or efficient oil filters may reduce pollution from vehicles. Efficient nanomaterials are lightweight and needed only in small quantities. This may help reduce the price of many products, making them commonly affordable. Some of the nanoparticle-­based sensors are much more novel and sensitive compounds to those being used. Nanomaterials-­based sensors would be smart sensors, i.e., they will be able to detect and rectify problems. Such sensors are being developed for water purification systems, detection of toxic ions, metal ions, pesticides, etc., and their remediation on a larger scale. Nanosensors will help in assessing emissions from the vehicle and help in controlling pollutants. Car paints/coatings using nanoparticle are being used to provide smooth, thin attractive coatings that are scratch resistant, can repel dirt and are anti-­reflective. Biocide paints and anti-­fogging coatings are even being developed. “Self-­cleaning” glass for windows is being fabricated by dissolving a small amount of titania (TiO2) nanoparticles while manufacturing it and melting it together with other ingredients like silica (SiO2), CaO, Ba2O3, etc. Titania is able to dissociate organic dust in the presence of UV light available in sunlight. Once dissociated, it may fall down or simply evaporate. To combat population caused by vehicles, use of efficient nanomaterial catalysts is one solution that can convert harmful emissions into less harmful gases. To overcome the pollution problem, cars using hydrogen as fuel are being marketed. Hydrogen gas is normally stored in a metal cylinder under high pressure not only can add weight to the vehicle but is also dangerous. To overcome this problem, storing hydrogen in “nanocylinders” of carbon nanotubes is being tried. Application in combating plant diseases: • Controlled delivery of functional molecules Nanoparticles used as Trojan horse for delivery of active ingredients. 109
As a diagnostic tool for disease detection For detection purpose, both nanoparticles and quantum dots (QDs) have emerged as pivotal tools for detection of biological markers. Nanotechnology can play important role in treatment by diagnosing a disease at its very early stage. Application of Nanotechnology in all fields of Science Semiconductors and magnetic nanostructures have found maximum use in industries pertaining to semiconductor fabrication, electronics and nanostructure-­based electro-­
optical devices. Based on the nanomagnetic properties of nanostructure, photoinduced magnetism, spintronics, nanomagnetic probes, electronic magneto-­transport and micromagnetic modeling are being developed by various industries. Nanosensors and actuators for various applications are one of the major activities of nano-­based industries. Another area being concentrated on by industries is molecular electronics, such as for liquid crystal displays. Industries are involved in developing and producing nanomaterials to obtain nano-­
bioproducts for bone substitutes and dentistry;; antimicrobial applications in various products;; food and cosmetic applications;; applications in textiles, paints, catalysis, lubricants, fuel cells and batteries;; all of which are part of major industrial production. Special threads and dyes used in the textile industry are products of nanotechnology. These clothes do not require ironing or frequent cleaning. Use of silver (Ag) nanoparticles in washing machines remove the germs from clothes while washing. Masks made of fabrics coated with nanoparticles for protection against microbes are already on the market. There are piezoelectric fibers that could allow clothing to generate electricity through normal conditions. Fabrics composed of proteins are capable of stretching as much as 1500 percent from their original size and can be used form-­fitting clothing. Nanoliposomes are used as vesicular delivery systems. Liposomes are concentric bilayer vesicles. The first liposomal cosmetic was the anti-­aging cream “Capture” manufactured by Dior. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are nm-­sized particles with a solid lipid matrix. SLNs are tested in perfume formulations. Chanel’s Allure perfume was incorporated into SLNs and nanoemulsions. Dendrimers were used in a formula patented by L’Oreal that forms a thin film when deposited on a substrate. They are used in mascara and nail polish. Nanoporous aerogel insulator is excellent for insulating walls. Flame-­retardant furniture coatings are on the market which are synthesized carbon nanofibers. Fishing rods are made stronger and lighter using silica nanoparticles to fill spaces between carbon fibers. Antimicrobial titanium oxide nanoparticles are used in various applications as part of a film that uses energy in light to kill bacteria on surfaces by photocatalytic activity. Nanomedicine researchers are looking at ways that nanotechnology can improve vaccines, including vaccine delivery without the use of needles. Researchers also are working to create a universal vaccine scaffold for the annual flu vaccine that would cover more strains and require fewer resources to develop each year. • Industries Textiles Cosmetics Domestic Appliances Diagnostics and Therapeutics 110
Commercial applications have adapted gold nanoparticles as probes for the detection of targeted sequences of nucleic acids, and gold nanoparticles are being clinically investigated as potential treatments for cancer and other diseases. Nanotechnology is being studied for both the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. In one technique, researchers created a nanoparticle that mimics the body’s “good” cholesterol, known as HDL (high-­density lipoprotein), which helps to shrink plaque. Source: Sharon, 2019 Environmental Aspects of Nanotechnology Many applications of nanotechnology benefits the environment, for example, treating drinking water, eliminating toxic chemicals, increasing water and energy efficiency, and harnessing cleaner energy technologies. How can the applications of nanoscience affect the environment? It is not clear today what the potential impacts are from nanoscale materials in the air, water and soil. For example, it is not known to what extent nanomaterials might enter the food supply and become part of human diet, or whether and how they can affect forests, coral reefs, or air quality Will there be a nano-­environmental legacy? Are nanomaterials already entering the environment in ways that will allow them to persist and enter or upset the food chain? Will nanomaterials follow the path of other legacy pollutants, such as lead? How will this be determined if data are not being collected? One could argue that the amounts will be small, and in the near future, it is true that there are few applications of nanotechnology likely to allow free nanoparticles to enter the environment in significant amounts. However, as more and more applications adopt nanotechnology, the production, uses, and releases of nanoparticles will dramatically increase. By way of example, in a hospital environment, it is very important to keep surfaces sanitary and free from contamination, and many cleaning equipment or washing floors and surfaces to help prevent the spread of germs. Using a product containing a nanomaterial as a disinfectant might mean it would be sprayed, wiped, poured into buckets and on floors, and washed down drains. An obvious question arises: Where could the nanomaterial end up? Anytime, chemicals are washed away with water or flushed down the drain, they are released into the environment. From drain pipes, the materials enter the groundwater and eventually can move to the nearest river and streams, of course, these may affect drinking water sources and oceans. Triclosan, commonly found in antimicrobial soaps and cleaning products, is among many consumer-­used chemicals found in the river and drinking water sources. Some population of bacteria routinely exposed to substances designed to eradicate them (e.g. pesticides and medical antibiotics) are now found in the environment and have become resistant to antibiotics used in agriculture and to treat human diseases. Antimicrobial resistance is a big problem because bacteria are no longer susceptible to the treatments developed to kill them, and outbreaks can occur that cannot be managed. 111
Nanotechnology in the Philippines In 2011, the government announced a 10-­year strategic plan/road map for the development of the R&D strategy of nanotechnology covering at least six industrial sectors – the semiconductor, information technology, energy, agriculture, medicine, and environmental protection. Nanotechnology has been identified as one of the priority areas of research identified by the Department of Science and Technology-­Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development (DOST-­PCASTRD). PCASTRD’s mandate is to develop, integrate, and coordinate national research. Flagship projects include chemical sensors and biosensors based on nanostructured solar energy devices. PCASTRD also provides funds for scholarships and research fellowships. PCASTRD has also proposed to include nanotechnology as part of all science and engineering degrees. In the area of agriculture, funded nano projects include rapid and early pest and pathogen detection;; precision agriculture – monitoring of agricultural growth parameters;; and post-­harvest quality monitoring, nano-­sized feedstock, nano-­sized fertilizers/nutrients, and pesticides. Research into nanocomposite films and membranes aims to extend the shelf-­life of fresh and processed produce, aid the clarification of juices, and improve whey protein production. Projects concerning nanotechnology for water purification and environmental remediation are also being funded. Seedgrowth, a plant supplement consisting of nano-­sized fruit extracts and microorganisms, was developed in the Philippines and apparently reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and increases crop yield. Scientists from DOST have also developed a low-­cost water purification system in the form of a ceramic filter coated with silver nanoparticles. There appears to be no nano specific regulation in the Philippines. Risks Historical evidence supported by scientific findings show that all new technologies come with risks to human health and the environment, and nanotechnology is no exception. The increasing number of engineered nanomaterials and nanoproducts gives rise to increasing breadth and extent of the potential risks posed to human health and the environment. For example, engineered nanomaterials are of similar size range as exhaustion particles from engines combustion, and certain carbon nanotubes are in many ways similar to asbestos fibers, substances that are known to cause adverse effects to human health, namely, cancer and asbestosis. Genetics/Medicine/Healthcare Artifacts based on nanotechnology incorporate genetic material or have genetic modification or repair as an objective. If the artifact incorporates some kind of computing and sensing element, say for the controlled delivery of a drug, additional risks arise for the patient if these elements should malfunction. 112
Invasion of privacy and of the human body through the planting and implanting of computing-­cum-­communication devices without the knowledge of those affected has been done. The security and safety of a person is a problematic issue, since it will be difficult initially to detect the presence of nanosize artifacts that are capable of breaching security and harming the individual. In warfare, controlled distribution of biological and nerve agents may become feasible. Materials/Composites The general problem with composite materials is that they are more difficult to recycle and consume more energy during recycling than pure materials. Wide-­scale introduction of composite materials can increase environmental problems. In the manufacturing area, many processes will need to be redesigned to embody new principles, particularly relating to containment of active or waste products. Nanotechnology and Education Education and training in nanotechnology require special laboratory facilities that can be quite expensive. The cost of creating and maintaining nanotechnology facilities is a major challenge for educational institutions. But by using innovative approaches such as inter-­university collaboration, academia-­industry partnerships, and Web-­based remote access to nanofabrication facilities, educational institutions can overcome innovative nanotechnology researches. To address these demands of the global marketplace, a skilled workforce is required that can move from industry to industry without retraining. The new workforce will consist of researchers, technicians, and educators. To develop this workforce, new interdisciplinary educational programs need to be developed and revised. Economic and political implications of potential technology These issues include the economic value of a new materials and new industries created through nanotechnology, as well as economic dislocations caused by shifts in investment and the decline of industries and companies tied to displaced technologies. Other implications might include increased lifespans made possible through nano-­based medicines or diagnostic techniques, leading to greater numbers of active senior citizens seeking employment and active participation in the political process. Nanotechnology and Employment 113
The question of impacts on employment has not yet entered into the research agenda on the social implications of nanotechnology. Even though there are currently relatively few products, industries, and workers involved in nanotechnology compared to other industries, it appears clear that this technology is high tech and highly sophisticated, which deepens the trend to reducing workforces and automating the processes of production and services – a trend which began with the microelectric revolution and resulted in a dramatic reduction of employment in many sectors of the economy. Nanotechnology products that are already on the market allow us to identify three common characteristics: the products have multiple functions that previously required more than one product (multifunctional), the products remain useful longer, and the products use fewer raw materials. Some products combine two or three of these characteristics. Taken together, this means that manufacturing these products will lead to decreased demand for workers. In addition, these innovations reduce the demand for traditional products that compete them. Social, Ethical, Legal and Cultural Implications The list of social, ethical, legal and cultural implications includes such issues as privacy, avoiding a ‘nano-­divide’, unintended consequences, university/industry relationships and potential conflicts of interest, research ethics, and so on. It is widely acknowledged that, precisely because the applications of nanotechnology are not yet clear, neither are the ethical issues clear. And yet, many argue, the nano community must begin to address these issues now, before they overwhelm nanotechnology and derail potential benefits. 114
Activity 1. Answer the following questions. 1. Compare the benefits and disadvantages of nanotechnology. ______________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________ 2. Do research on different nanotechnology products. Identify 5 examples and choose one that surprised and fascinated you the most. ______________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________ 3. State in your own words why nanotechnology research and development of application are important. ______________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________ 4. Using the internet or other sources, research alternative definitions of nanotechnology and environment. How could these differences in definitions change the conversation or perception about the interaction of nanotechnology and the environment? ______________________________________________________________________
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_____________________________________________________________________ 5. What can be done to reduce uncertainty in developing new nanotechnology product? What are some of the ethical implications that should be considered? ______________________________________________________________________
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Activity 2. Mind Map Summarize your learnings of new ideas about nanotechnology and information presented in this topic by completing the following flowchart. 116
Chapter 10. Gene Therapy The genes in the body’s cells play an important role in your health – indeed, a defective gene or genes can make someone sick. Recognizing this, scientists have been working for decades on ways to modify genes or replace faulty genes with healthy one to treat, cure or prevent a disease or medical condition. Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. The human body is composed of trillions of them. Within our cells there are thousands of genes that provide the information for the production of specific proteins and enzymes that make muscles, bones, and blood, which in turn support most of our body’s functions, such as digestion, making energy and growing. Sometimes the whole or part of a gene is defective or missing from birth, or a gene can change or mutate during adult life. Any of these variations can disrupt how proteins are made, which can contribute to health problems or diseases. In gene therapy, scientist can do one of several things depending on the problem that is present. They can replace a gene that causes a medical problem with one that doesn’t, add genes to help the body to fight or treat disease, or turn off genes that are causing problems. In order to insert new genes directly into cells, scientists use a vehicle called a “vector” which is genetically engineered to deliver the gene. Viruses, for example, have a natural ability to deliver genetic material into cells, and therefore, can be used as vectors. Before a virus can be used to carry therapeutic genes into human cells, however, is modified to remove its ability to cause an infectious disease. Gene therapy can be used to modify cells inside or outside the body. When it’s done inside the body, a doctor will inject the vector carrying the gene directly into the part of the body that has defective cells. In gene therapy that is used to modify cells outside the body, blood, bone marrow, or another tissue can be taken from the patient, and specific types of cells can be separated out in the lab. The vector containing the desired gene is introduced into these cells. The cells are left to multiply in the laboratory and then injected back into the patient where they continue to multiply and eventually produce the desired effect. Approaches to Gene Therapy 1. Gene Modification Researchers have used the following methods to modify defective genes: • Replacement treatment: Replacing a natural gene with a non-­natural gene through homologous recombination. 117
• Modifier gene therapy: Restoring natural function to a defective gene through selective reverse mutation. • Adjustment of the expression of a specific gene. 2. Gene transfer method There are 3 physical, chemical, and biological methods of gene transfer. 3. Gene transfer to specific cell line This line is divided into 2 general categories of somatic gene therapy, and sex cell gene therapy. 4. The adoption of the most appropriate genetic engineering (gene injection) Other forms of genetic engineering include gene targeting and the elimination of specific genes through nuclease engineering. Stem Cell Therapy A stem cell therapy is any treatment that uses stem cells as the primary way of curing or reducing the severity of a disease or disorder. There are two main ways stem cells can be used: 1. as a transplant, where the desired stem cells are harvested either from the patient or a donor and refined or modified in some way before being injected or grafted into the patient, or 2. as a target for a drug or other biologic where the drug or biologic is intended to activate a desired response from the stem cells that already exist in the patient’s tissues or organs. Ethical Dilemma The possibility of destructive embryo research, particularly embryonic stem cell research, presents us with a moral problem because it appears to bring into tension two fundamental moral principles that people esteem very highly: one principle enjoins the prevention or alleviation of suffering, and other enjoins us to respect the value of human life. The harvesting and culturing of embryonic stem cells has considerable potential to bring about remarkable potential benefits in the way of alleviating debilitating medical conditions. It satisfies the first principle to a very great degree. On the other hand, there is a case to be made that the harvesting of human embryonic stem cells violates the second principle in that it results in the destruction of human life with value (i.e. human embryos). Accordingly, both principles apparently cannot simultaneously be respected in the case of embryonic stem cell research. The question then is which principle ought to be given precedence in this conflict situation. If weight is given more to the first and permit destructive embryonic stem cell research because of its remarkable benefits? Or should be given more to the second and prohibit 118
destructive embryonic research because it violates respect for the value of the embryo as the very beginnings of a possible human life? This, at bottom, is the ethical problem generated by destructive embryo research. Activity. Video Presentation A. Transplant Cells not Organs 1. Watch TED Talk featuring Susan Lim entitled “Transplant Cells not Organs”. It is available online at https://www.ted.com. 2. Answer the following questions: a. What is the main topic of the Dr. Lim’s speech? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ b. What do you think prompted scientists like Susan Lim to inject changes that lead to development of medical practice? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ c. In your opinion, how far should science go to save lives? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ B. The Next Species of Human 1. Watch TED Talk featuring Juan Enriquez entitled “The Next Species of Human”. It is available online at https://www.ted.com. 2. Answer the following questions: a. What are the three trends that have taken place for the last 25 years? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 119
b. Identify three instances mentioned by Enriquez in his speech related to evolution. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ c. Do you believe that we will evolve into Homo evolutis? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ d. What ideas did u get from the speech? Discuss. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 120
Chapter 11 Climate Change, Energy Crisis and Environmental Awareness What is climate change and what are the causes? Climate change is a broad range of global phenomena created predominantly by burning fossil fuels, which add heat-­trapping gases to Earth’s atmosphere. These phenomena include the increased temperature trends described by global warming, but also encompass changes such as sea level rise;; ice mass loss;; shifts in flower/plant blooming;; and extreme weather events. Causes On Earth, human activities are changing the natural greenhouse. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO2. To a lesser extent, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases. o Greenhouse gas emissions Evidence that CO2 emissions are the cause of global warming is very robust. Scientists have known since the early 1800s that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap heat. Global CO2 emissions from human activity have increased by over 400% since 1960. As a result, the concentration of CO2 in the air has reached more than 400 parts per million by volume (ppm), compared to about 280 ppm in 1750 (around the start of the Industrial Revolution). o Earth’s natural climate cycle Over the last 800,000 years, there have been natural cycles in the Earth’s climate, between ice ages and warmer interglacial periods. After the last ice age 20,000 years ago, average global temperature rose by about 3°C to 8°C, over a period of about 10, 000 years. o Solar influences The sun is the primary source of Earth’s heat, so relatively small changes in solar output can affect our climate. Satellite observations since the late 1970s have shown a slight decrease in the sun’s total energy output. However, instead of cooling, the Earth has warmed over this period. Also, warming from the sun would heat all of the atmosphere, including the lowest few kilometers (the troposphere) and the layer above (the stratosphere). Observations show that the stratosphere is in fact cooling while the troposphere warms. This is consistent with greenhouse gas heating and not solar heating. 121
Impacts Climate change could affect our society through impacts on a number of different social, cultural, and natural resources. Some groups of people will likely face greater challenges than others. Climate change my especially impact people who live in areas that are vulnerable to coastal storms, drought, and sea level rise or people who live in poverty, older adults, and immigrant communities. Similarly, some types of professions and industries may face considerable challenges from climate change. Professions that are closely linked to weather, such as outdoor tourism, commerce, and agriculture, will likely be especially affected. Impacts on Vulnerability and Equity 1. Geographic Location • Population in coastal areas are more sensitive to storms, drought, air pollution and heat waves. • Population in mountainous areas will likely face water shortages and increased wildfires in the future. • Arctic residents will likely experience problems caused by thawing permafrost 2. Ability to cope • People who live in poverty may have a difficult time coping with changes. These people have limited financial resources to cope with heat, relocate or evacuate, or respond to increases in the cost of food. • Older adults may be among the least able to cope with impacts of climate change. • Elderly people are particularly prone to heat stress. • Young children are another sensitive age group, since their immune system and other bodily systems are still developing and they rely on others to care for them in disaster situations. 3. Indigenous people • Climate change will make it harder for tribes to access safe and nutritious food, including traditional foods important to many tribes’ cultural practices. Many tribes already lack access to safe drinking water and wastewater treatment in their communities. Climate change is expected to increase health risks associated with water quality problems like contamination and may reduce availability of water, particularly during droughts. By affecting the environment and natural resources of tribal communities, climate change also threatens the cultural identities of indigenous people. As plants and animals used in traditional practices or sacred 122
ceremonies become less available, tribal culture and ways of life can be greatly affected. 4. Urban People • City residents and urban infrastructure have distinct sensitivities to climate change impacts. For example, heat waves may be amplified in cities because cities absorb more heat during the day than suburban and rural areas. Cities are more densely populated than suburban or rural areas. As a result, increases in heat waves, drought, or violent storms in cities would affect a larger number of people than in suburban or rural areas. Higher temperatures and more extreme events will likely affect the cost of energy, air and water quality, and human comfort and health in cities. City dwellers may also be particularly susceptible to vulnerabilities in aging infrastructure. This includes drainage and sewer systems, flood and storm protection assets, transportation systems, and power supply during periods of peak demand, which typically occur during summer heat waves. 5. Impacts on Economic Activities and Services • Communities that developed around the production of different agricultural crops, such as corn, wheat or cotton, depend on the climate to support their way of life. Climate change will likely cause the ideal climate for these crops to shift. Certain agricultural products may decline dramatically. These crops would then have to be imported. • Climate change will also likely affect tourism and recreational activities. A warming climate and changes in precipitation patterns will likely decrease the number of days when recreational snow activities such as skiing and snowmobiling can take place. Increasing number of wildfires could affect hiking and recreation in parks. Beaches could suffer erosion due to sea level rise and storm surge. Changes in migration patterns of fish and animals would affect fishing and hunting. Communities that support themselves through these recreational activities would feel economic impacts as tourism patterns begin to change.(https://climatechange.chicago.gov/climate-­impacts/climate-­impacts-­
society) In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) was adopted as the basis for a global response to the problem. The Philippines signed the UNFCCC on 12 June 1992 and ratified the international treaty on 2 August 1994. Presently, the Convention enjoys near universal membership with 194 Country Parties. Recognizing that the climate system is a shared resource which is greatly affected by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, the UNFCC has set out an overall 123
framework for intergovernmental efforts to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. Its ultimate objective is to stabilize greenhouse concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. Countries are actively discussing and negotiating ways to deal with the climate change problem within the UNFCCC using two central approaches. The first task is to address the root cause by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. The means to achieve this are very contentious, as it will require radical changes in the way many societies are organized, especially in respect to fossil fuel use, industry operations, land use, and development. Within the climate change arena, the reduction of greenhouse gas is called mitigation. The second task in responding to climate change is to manage its impacts. Future impacts on the environment and society are now inevitable, owing to the amount of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere from past decades of industrial and other human activities, and to the added amounts from continued emissions over the next few decades until such time as mitigation policies and actions become effective. Taking steps to cope with the changed climate conditions both in terms of reducing adverse impacts and taking advantage of potential benefits is called adaptation. 124
Activity 1: Photo Essay Select any photo depicting the struggles of Filipino people due to the impacts of climate change.
Write a reflective essay about it. Follow the format provided below. Provide a title for your photo
essay.
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Activity 2. Action Plan Prepare an action plan to address specific environmental problem in your community. Use the format below. Background: (Provide here brief information regarding your community and an existing problem which may be related to climate change). Objectives
Activities
Time Frame
Persons Involved
Success
Indicators
Note: 1. Identify the coverage of the plan (e.g. 1, 2 or 3 years) 2. Suggested activities should consider your course/area of specialization and the degree you are pursuing. 126
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