Reviewer in GEd 109

(STS)
Chapter 1
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.
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 - evolving body of knowledge.

- based on theoretical expositions and experimental and empirical activities
that generate universal truths.

Technology - 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.

Society - sum total of our interactions as humans. Interactions that we engage in to

understand the nature of things and to create things.
Group of individuals involved in persistent interactions.
Large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically
subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

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
B. Historical Antecedents in the world
1. From Ancient Times to 600 BC
Science during ancient times involved practical arts like healing practices and
metal tradition.
3,000 years before Christ, the ancient Egyptians already had reasonably
sophisticated medical practices.
Imhotep was renowned for his knowledge of medicine. (2650 B.C.).
The heart of Egyptian medicine was trial and error.
Egyptian medicine was considered advanced as compared with other ancient
nations because of one of the early inventions of Egyptian civilization – the papyrus.

Papyrus- ancient form of paper, made from the papyrus plant, a reed which grows in
the marshy areas around the nile river.
Before papyrus, Egyptians, Sumerians, and other races wrote on clay tablets or smooth
rocks.
Continued to be used to some extent until around 1100 AD.
BC - Before Christ
AD - Anno Domini
As early as 1,000 years before Christ, the Chinese were using compasses to aid
themselves in their travels.

2. The Advent of Science - 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.
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.
Awareness of the importance of certain scientific problems,

3. Islamic Golden Age- period of cultural, economic and scientific flourishing in the
history of Islam.
This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the
Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786 to 809).
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.
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.
There was also great progress in medicine during this period.
Al-Biruni, and Avicenna produced books that contain descriptions of the
preparation of hundreds of drugs made from medicinal plants and chemical compounds.
Islamic doctors describe diseases like smallpox and measles, and challenge classical
Greek medical knowledge.
4. Science and Technology in Ancient China - Ancient Chinese scientists and
engineers made significant scientific innovations.
Findings and technological advances across various scientific disciplines (natural
sciences, engineering, medicine, military technology, mathematics, geology and
astronomy).
Ancient China Four Greatest Invention
● Compass
● Gunpowder
● Papermaking
● Printing

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.”

5. The Renaissance (1300 AD – 1600AD)- The 14th century was the beginning of the
cultural movement of the Renaissance.
Golden Age of Science.
Great advances occurred in geography, astronomy, chemistry, physics,
mathematics, anatomy, manufacturing, and engineering.
Rediscovery of ancient scientific texts was
accelerated after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Marie Boas Hall coined the term Scientific Renaissance to designate the early
phase of the Scientific Revolution, 1450–1630.
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.
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.

6. 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.
Emphasized reason over superstition and
science over blind faith.
This period produced numerous books, essays, inventions, scientific discoveries,
laws, wars and revolutions.
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.

7. Industrial Revolution (1760 - 1840)- The rise of modern science and the Industrial
Revolution were closely connected.
Great Britain, the home of the Industrial Revolution.
Science offered in the 18th century was the hope that careful observation and
experimentation might improve industrial production significantly.
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. he 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. 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.

8. 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.
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.
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 semiconductor (transistor),
followed by developments in nanotechnology that led to great advances in information
technology. In nuclear physics the discovery of subatomic particles provided a great
leap forward.
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.
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
-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.

C. Historical Development of Science and Technology in the Philippines

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.
- And because clay is moldable, it can be shaped into various objects. (clay mixed with
2 water, shaped before sun drying, hardens to an object that can be useful for them).
- 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.
8. 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 3 highest institutions of learning during this time was the Royal and
Pontifical University of Santo Tomas.

9. 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 growth and application of science were still concentrated on the health
sector in the form of biochemical analyses in hospitals.
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 acquired the necessary knowledge and skills, they eventually
took over their positions.
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
-Science and Technology since Independence
-Science and Technology in the 1960s to 1990s
-Hopes in Philippine Science and Technology
-Current Initiatives in Science and Technology in the Country
D. Paradigm Shift- 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.
-Paradigms are historically and culturally bound.
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