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Technology is rapidly changing our world--how do we manage it better

What are some of the fears? (start)

https://www.menti.com/ code 3979 8321

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Definitions:

What is the difference between science and technology?  What is the relationship between them?  These are important questions for our purposes, so I don't want you to use the two terms interchangeably.

If your grandmother or grandfather is making a cake, is she practicing or using science? --what is our definition of science, what does using science mean?

• Natural processes such as chemical reactions are happening when we use technology whether we understand them or not, but that isn't what I mean by using science--I'm interested in how they understand what they are doing
  
• The person making the cake has craft knowledge—that counts as technology and we could call it a broad kind of science
• but for the purposes of this course I want to define science more narrowly--I will call the narrow definition formal science

What do you mean by science?

• things that happen in the physical world are science
• science is based on experience of what works
• manipulating the variables is at least behind the recipe

You might mean:

•     The natural processes that are actually happening
•     everyday knowledge of what works
•     science—the theories and calculations of scientists as published in scientific journals

 

Formal science:

• science is the process of producing knowledge about the natural world that is mathematical/systematic/predictive--using carefully designed experiments or systematic observation
  
• the theories and calculations of scientists as published in scientific journals--that process of sharing with other scientists is essential to formal science
  
• Scientific knowledge is useful and cumulative knowledge about physical processes.  It is more reliable and cumulative (makes progress) than other kinds of knowledge because of the it follows certain rules
• the scientific method--scientists make hypotheses and test those hypotheses with experiments
• scientific publication--not only the results but the methods are shared with a community of other scientists for others to try
  
• falsification--results that don't hold up are discarded
• science is most useful for things that can be proven, where you controlled experiments, and things that are changing
• narrow definition of science: knowledge that the scientific community is working on together and is based on systematic experiment and trying to generalize theories from lots of data
• science has a very specific purpose, answer questions about the physical world, you are proving something, science has to back itself up with evidence
• science was invented as a method in the early modern period, in areas where you can do controlled experiments that method gives you more reliable knowledge and knowledge that is more cumulative than other forms of knowledge
• you get there by scientists keep trying to prove each other wrong, so "truth" keeps changing as we learn more
• the scientific community as a community defines what is the current best answer to a question--it is a consensus process
  
• Formal Science= human knowledge about the physical world that is generalized (scientific laws--not individual observations), mathematical (or at least predictive or systematic), and based on systematic experiment or observation (it must be all of the above to count as science) and which is published in scientific journals.
• Science is what scientists do, it does not include all forms of knowledge about nature.  I am defining science in a way that is limited to what scientists do. (For another approach see: What Is Science)
• why are people suspicious of science
• we don't like to trust experts
• experts disagree, particularly in the early stages of a new area of knowledge (before reaching some consensus)
• the small number of experts who disagree with the consensus have ways of getting their voices heard
• science keeps changing as it improves
• we are discovering a lot of new things, and people aren't necessarily comfortable updating their knowledge, those new things may be interpreted to contradict religious beliefs
• people see science as politicized and there are both links and politicians exaggerating that for their own use
• the scientific method eventually corrects bias, but it can take a while
  

“Obviously, your invention works in practice, but there’s one insurmountable problem: It will never work in theory.”

Definitions of Technology

Historically and even today, technology is more than the application of formal science

• some technology is science-based and some is craft-based
• craft-based technology uses experience and trial and error, not scientific theory
  

An old-fashioned definition that is still useful:  Tredgold, 1828: "Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man." (Florman p. 66.)

What lines do we need to draw to focus on technology?

• exclude naturally occurring phenomena--the technology is how we harvest/refine/use them
  
• include engineering theory but it may may be separate from formal narrow scientific knowledge
• basic science--applied science--engineering theory--technology
• technology has to be practical in some way.
  

My own definitions:

Technology= ideas, techniques, and tools for manipulating (or modifying) the environment.

• technology accomplishes something useful--in or relevant to our practical lives
  
• a technology doesn't have to be a physical thing, it can be knowledge
• technologies are usually part of systems and it is useful to consider how the system works
  

History:

• Today technology often involves the application of formal science, but before the industrial revolution technology did not grow from science.   Scientists in the 18th and first half of the 19th century were coming up with new theories of chemistry and physics, but engineers were still improving technology by trial and error, not usually using the theories of the scientists.
• Before the rise of science-based engineering in the late 19th century, what we would today call engineering was done by craftspeople with little education.  They used hands-on knowledge and ingenuity, not the scientific theories or mathematical analysis that were developed by scientists.  Craftspeople learned from experience, not from systematic, objective experimentation.

 

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Critical thinking:

1. figure out the question you want to consider
2. think through what key words mean
   
3. what information might be relevant?
4. when you have gathered the information, the next question is how does it fit together
5. can you summarize the pattern you see in one sentence or one action item?

Two points when what you learn contradicts what you thought you knew

• be curious when that happens
• think carefully about definitions

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Technology is about humans learning to control the environment, but it took a long time to get a sense of conscious control.

The major technological revolutions (see also  Five Industrial Revolutions )

1. the invention of agriculture  about 7000 BCE
2. the development of cities about 3000 BCE
3. the medieval technological revolution approx. 800-1300 AD
4. the age of exploration and the scientific revolution approx. 1400-1700
5. the British Industrial Revolution approx. 1750-1830
6. Mass production of metal goods (American system, assembly line) approx. 1840-1920
7. The computer 1946-
8. the biotechnology revolution? or merge our brains with computers (singularity)?
   

Or another approach that is more useful for the modern period:

Or 200 Countries, 200 years in 4 minutes