STS-Reviewer-1

Module 3
Martin Heidegger
1. He was a German
philosopher who is fun of
thinking about 'being',
technology and etc.
2. He rejected the idea of
positivist thinkers and critical
to technological domination in
the modern world.
3. Heidegger was critical to the
essence and modern
technology and
4. He reconstructed the meaning
of technology that reflected in
his essay entitled " The
Question Concerning
Technology".
The meaning of technology for the
Greeks was assumed to be part of our
everyday life. To clarify further, the term
technology was defined into two
categories.
1. Technology is a means to an
end.
2. Technology is a human
activity.
The Greek definition of technology as a
human activity designed for a specific
purpose was restructured in modern
times. Technology in the modern era
was reduced to calculative thinking that
controls nature.
Modern Technology as
Challenging Forth
Heidegger claimed that ancient and
modern technology are revealing.
However, modern technology is
revealing not in the sense of bringing
forth but rather challenging nature.
Modern technology challenges nature
through extracting, transforming, storing,
and distributing it. Challenging forth
reduced nature as standing 'reserve' or
something to be disposed of by the
people. For example, people exploited
the natural resources without minding
the negative effects on the ecology, the
modernization of extracting gold, coal,
and petroleum from the ground
compromised the bodies of water, using
of synthetic dyes and artificial flavoring
jeopardize human health, and the use of
chemicals in the agriculture poses threat
to food safety and health security.
Modern Technology as
Enframing
According to Martin Heidegger, modern
technology is enframing. The term
'enframing' derives from the word 'frame'
which means putting something into a
box.

A brief overview of Aristotle's
Life
Aristotle, who lived from 384 - 322 BC,
is probably the most important ancient
Greek philosopher and scientist. He was
a student of Plato and founded a school
named Lyceum. In his own school,
Aristotle's students compiled their
lecture notes and came up with a book
entitled Nichomachean Ethics. This
Nichomachean Ethics, dedicated to his
son Nichomachus, became a foundation
of Aristotle's ethics composed of ten
books.
What is a good life?
In the Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle
says that every action aims at some
good.
The instrumental good is a means to
achieve something else while intrinsic
good is good in itself or ultimate good
(Eudaimonia or human
flourishing/happiness).
Eudaimonia
Eudaimonia is a Greek word that means
human flourishing or happiness.
Eudaimonia as ultimate good is the final
end of our action
Instrumental good aims at something
else while intrinsic good is the final end
or good in itself.
Intrinsic good if you are happy with
what you are doing right now.
The soul was divided into three; rational,
sensitive, and nutritive. The rational
part of the soul is the ability of a human
person to think either based on
theoretical or practical knowledge.
Arete is one of the significant concepts
of Aristotle in achieving a good
life/Eudaimonia or happiness. Arete is a
Greek term that means 'excellence of
any kind in terms of intellectual and
moral virtues. Intellectual virtue is
achieved through education and
experience. On the other hand, moral
virtue is developed through the constant
practice of an action that promotes good
life.
Jason Hickel, an anthropologist at the
London School of Economics, criticized
the failure of the growth and
development efforts of the UN to
eradicate poverty several decades ago.
He conceptualized a nonconformist
perspective toward growth and
development.
Assumptions:
1. UN's new sustainable
development goals (SDGs)
assumed that growth based
on the traditional economic
model is an effective strategy
to eradicate poverty.
2. Gross Domestic Products
(GDP) is a measure of human
development.
3. Questions;

1. How much do we really need to
live long and enjoy a happy life?
- According to Peter Edward,
instead of pushing poor countries
to catch up with rich ones, we
should be thinking of ways to get
rich countries to catch down to
more appropriate levels of
development.
- Genuine Progress is anchored on
quality instead of quantity
2. What is a good life or good
living?
- Latin Americans organized
themselves and envision the
indigenous concept of Buen Vivir,
or good living.
- Robert and Edward Skidelsky
conceptualized the good life
through the possibility of
interventions like banning
advertising that promotes
consumerism and shortens the
working hour, and basic income.
Module 4
H - human beings'
U - unequivocal
M - means
A - and privilege that
N - need to be
R- respected
I - in order to
G - gain success for humanity
T - today and tomorrow in relation
to
S- Science and Technology
Human rights are rights inherent to all
human beings, whatever our nationality,
place of residence, sex, national or
ethnic origin, color, religion, language,
and the like.
Human rights in the face of
technological and scientific
advancement are critical factors in one's
journey toward a good life. Protecting
the well-being and protecting the dignity
of the human person must be at the
core of continued scientific and
technological progress and
development. Such is the focus of the
human rights-based approach to
science, technology, and society by S.
Romi Mukherjee.
3 important documents
1. Universal Declaration of
Human Rights - This document
affirms everyone's right to
participate in and benefit from
scientific advances, and be
protected from scientific misuse.
2. UNESCO Recommendation of
the Status of Scientific
Researchers- This document
that all advances in scientific
and technological knowledge
should solely be geared toward
the welfare of the global

citizens, and calls upon
member states to develop
necessary protocol policies to
monitor and secure this
objective.
3. UNESCO Declaration on the
Use of Scientific Knowledge -
This document states, "Today,
more than ever, science and its
applications are indispensable for
development. All levels of
government and the private
sector should provide enhanced
support for building up adequate
and evenly distributed scientific
and technological capacity
through appropriate education
and research programs as an
indispensable foundation for
economic, social, cultural, and
environmentally sound
development.
A human rights - approach to science,
technology, and development sets the
parameters for the appraisal of how
science, technology, and development
promote human well-being.
Human rights are rights to sustainability,
as Mukherjee put it. They may function
as the "golden mean," particularly by
protecting the weak, poor, and
vulnerable from deficiencies and
excesses of science and technology.
The article, "Why the Future Does Not
Need Us?" was written by William
Nelson Joy, an American computer
scientist of Sun Microsystems.
He explained that 21st-century
technologies are becoming very
powerful that they can potentially
bring about new classes of
accidents, threats, and abuses.
Joy argued that robotics, genetic
engineering, and nanotechnology
pose much greater threats than
technological developments that
have come before.
In the article,he cautioned humans
against over-dependence on
machines.
Joy also voiced his apprehension about
the rapid increase in computer power.
He was concerned that computers will
eventually become more intelligent than
humans, thus ushering societies into
dystopian visions, such as robot
rebellions. To illuminate his concern, Joy
drew from Theodore Kaczynski's book,
Unabomber Manifesto, where Kaczynski
described that the unintended
consequences of the design and use of
technology are clearly related to
Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go
wrong will go wrong." Kaczynski
argued further that over-reliance on
antibiotics led to the great paradox of
emerging antibiotic-resistant strains of
dangerous bacteria.
Criticisms of Joy’s article, For one, John
Seely and Paul Duguid (2001), in their
article, A Response to Bill Joy and
doom-and-gloom Technofuturists,

criticize Joy's failure to consider social
factors and only deliberately focused on
one part of the larger picture. Others go
as far as accusing Joy of being a
neo-Luddite, someone who rejects
new technologies and shows
technophobic leanings.
The article tackles uncomfortable and
unpleasant possibilities that a senseless
approach to scientific and technological
advancements may bring. Whether
Joy's propositions are a real possibility
or an absolute moonshot, it is
unavoidable to think of the future that
will no longer need the human race.
In this case, it is preeminently
necessary that the scientific
community, governments, and
businesses engage in a discussion to
determine the safeguards of humans
against the potential dangers of
science and technology.