Science and technology represent a successively larger category of activities that are highly interdependent but distinct. Science contributes to technology in at least six ways:
(1) New knowledge that serves as a direct source of ideas for new technological possibilities;
(2) Source of tools and techniques for more efficient engineering design and a knowledge base for the evaluation of the feasibility of designs;
(3) Research instrumentation, laboratory techniques and analytical methods used in research that end up finding their way into design or industrial practices, often through intermediate disciplines;
(4) The practice of research as a source of development and assimilation of new human skills and capabilities eventually useful for technology;
(5) The creation of a knowledge base which is becoming increasingly important in the assessment of technology in terms of its wider social and environmental impacts; (6) the knowledge base enabling more efficient strategies for applied research, development and improvement of new technologies.
The reverse impact of technology on science is at least as important: (1) by providing a fertile source of new scientific questions and thus helping to justify the allocation of resources needed to address these questions in an efficient and timely manner, expanding the science agenda; (2) as a source of tools and techniques that would not otherwise be available and that are needed to address new and more difficult scientific issues more efficiently.
Science: a brief summary
The primary goal of science is to explain the natural world through iterative intellectual and investigative practices that involve controlled observations and manipulations of that world. In this sense, science can be argued more comfortably today in terms of a “critical realistic” stance. This reflects a view that “things” exist in the world and “are as they are” (Lopez and Potter, 2001). As such, the role of scientists is to interrogate the “real things” of the natural world to construct explanations on them. According to the vision of science as a human activity, the resulting explanatory texts are integrated into the socio-cultural world and, as such, will be human-mediated representations of “real things”.
Therefore, scientific knowledge is that which has as a reference the “real things”. For a new knowledge to be validated in the field of science, it must adhere to logical reasoning and be internally coherent within the dominant paradigm. On the other hand, it must pose a well-founded challenge to the paradigm, while still operating within the tolerance levels of the broader domain. It must withstand peer review in order to be represented as a “truth.”
Truth, therefore, is not considered an absolute within science. Scientific “truths” are, in line with pragmatic theory, those knowledges that obtain the consensus of experts in the sector. Unlike traditional views on the existence of a scientific method, contemporary views on scientific methodologies include an understanding of their diversity and flexibility in fulfilling the task at hand. Therefore, the research methods employed among, and often within, different subsets of science can differ markedly.
Technology – a brief overview
The purpose of technology is to intervene in the world to produce something “different” from what currently exists. It achieves this through iterative intellectual and design practices involving multiple sources of information. These input sources include a mixture of what is defined as natural, material, simulated, conceptual, emotional, and imagined. Technologists also turn to the past, the present, and a number of possible and probable futures.
The position that has been defended as the one that best supports the understanding of the field of technology is that of an “ontology of the process”. This position challenges the critical realistic notion that “things” exist as such, and instead holds that what exists are the “processes”, and that it is our interaction in the process that makes it possible to categorize, and therefore objectify, “things as such” (Neuman, 2003). Therefore, from this technological point of view, we are both creators of the material world of technology in a clear and tangible way, and symbolic creators of the “natural” world. Technological knowledge does not try to claim “truth” in the same way as scientific knowledge. Instead, it has as a reference the process of the function.
Therefore, what validates technological knowledge is “success,” not “truth.” However, like science, the “success” of technological knowledge is determined in technological practice by experts in the technological field. Technological practices are specific to each situation and are therefore as diverse and varied as the contexts and people involved in them.
How do they relate?
Scientific knowledge and methodologies are an important source of information for the development of technological practices and results. They are also key tools for explaining why technological interventions were or were not successful. In short, science can provide powerful explanations for why and why not technological interventions. However, because these interventions are based on more than just an understanding of the “natural” world, they can only provide a partial justification for technological practices and outcomes.
Technological practices, knowledge, and results can provide mechanisms for science to gain a better view of its defined world and, in fact, can provide serious challenges to the definition of that world. For example, the development of technological artifacts that expand the observational capacity of human beings (such as the telescope and microscope) made “visible” and available “new worlds” for science to interrogate and explain.
How science contributes to technology
Science contributes to technology in general in six ways:
New knowledge that serves as a direct source of ideas for new technological innovations.
Source of tools and techniques for more efficient engineering designs and a knowledge base for the evaluation of the feasibility of different new designs.
The research instrumentation and laboratory techniques used in the research end up reaching the design or industrial practices, through different methods in different areas.
Practice of research as a source for the development and assimilation of new skills and human capabilities useful for different innovative technologies.
The creation of knowledge that becomes increasingly important in the assessment of technology in terms of its broader social and environmental impacts.
Develop knowledge that allows more effective strategies of applied research, development and improvement of new technologies.
The impact of technology on science is equally important as a source of unavailable tools and techniques needed to address difficult scientific issues more effectively.
Technology and society
In a way, the influence that technology has had on society is evident. It’s also very deep. Just consider asking this question to the Quora community, and our responsiveness. It wouldn’t exist without technology. Social media, the Internet as a whole, blockchain technology, etc., have had a significant influence on society.
Nor, of course, can previous technological revolutions, such as the industrial revolution and the agricultural revolution, be ignored. The ability to create materials that we use in our daily lives, the ability to feed a massive number of people, etc., are all thanks to the development of technological innovations.
Of course, while technology has been a great help to prosperity, it has also had some negative impacts. It has produced quite a bit of pollution, although it is to be hoped that technology and science will solve this problem. Probably the worst use of technology – and of the science that informs its development – has been weapons of mass destruction.
In the opposite direction, society drives technology and sometimes forbids its development. I recently finished an article on the ethics of fiction writing, in which I addressed the importance that fiction has had in inspiring new technologies and warning of the threats we might face in the future[1]. Society also drives technological evolution through necessity. Very often a technology arises because someone recognizes a need for that technology.
Science and society
Just as technology often develops because there is a need, science helps solve society’s needs. Although one of the main goals of science is simply to improve our understanding, many people take advantage of science to help solve real problems in society.
The need to better understand epidemics, for example, drives our research on the subject. Science also improves our understanding of society. Anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, etc., help us to better understand the workings of society. Moreover, as with technology, society can influence our theories and their evolution. The desire to travel through time or faster than the speed of light is more than enough to drive the development of theories that, if correct, would allow such things.
Finally, as science alters our understanding of the world, it has had a significant impact on our belief systems, our norms and our values, as well as on our everyday behaviors. The germ theory, for example, has changed our health habits and hygiene, as well as our food safety protocols. Hand washing is an essential habit we have primarily thanks to our understanding of how pathogens spread. And it’s just one of the many ways in which theory and scientific evidence have changed our behavior.
A trifecta
The scientific understanding of how the world works alters how we behave. Technology alters how we can behave. Society drives technological innovations and scientific research. Science gives us an idea of what kind of technologies we could create and how to create them, while technology allows us to do more scientific research.
The three realms are so intimately connected that it is sometimes difficult to separate them. But it’s important to understand how the three relate, because each of them drives the future of the others.
The inverse impact of technology on science is at least as important:
(1) By providing a fertile source of novel scientific questions and thus also helping to justify the allocation of the resources necessary to address these questions in an efficient and timely manner, expanding the science agenda;
(2) As a source of instruments and techniques which would otherwise not be available and which are needed to address new and more difficult scientific issues more efficiently.
Specific examples of each of these bidirectional interactions are discussed. Because of the many connections, both indirect and direct, between science and technology, the research portfolio with potential for social benefit is much broader and more diverse than an examination of the direct connections between science and technology would suggest.
Science and technology are the best that society can ask for. Since the industrial revolution of the eighteenth century, science has been in progress. Some sectors that have been driven by science and technology are energy, physical sciences, information and communication. Society has gained a great deal from the invention of technology.
The Growth of Society
Society’s infrastructures have grown with the help of science and technology. Means of transport have been created, such as electronic rail lines, which have benefited society by offering it a better means of transport. In the past, almost everything was analog, but thanks to science and technology we are digitizing day by day. The invention of the telephone and radio services have expanded human communication.
Without society there would be no science and technology and that is why the invention of certain tools and equipment have helped to achieve great things. Society cannot do without the industries we have today. Society needs science and technology. The creation of computers is a work of art by individuals was a milestone that would help society a lot. A computer helps us take advantage of the valuable information we can use to enrich our lives. The impact of science and technology can be seriously recognized. Many people around the world, such as academics in universities, have taken the initiative to examine the relationship between science and technology.
The evaluation of this relationship has emerged as an important area of research. Public interest groups and academic organizations around the world are recognizing the importance of TCS. The reason is that it is necessary to recognize that there are people who are affected by science and technology. Controversies such as that of modified foods or stem cell research are the issues that have brought together policy-makers and scientists to find a way forward in this regard.
Man’s Vision of Himself
In fact, science and technology have contributed greatly to man’s view of himself. Science has changed the opinion about the origin of man and the place of origin as well. Through the results of scientific discoveries, man’s perception of his behaviour and place of origin has changed variously. Today’s scientific experiments affect society in one way or another, such as the cloning experiment of a human being. The experiment stirred up a great deal of controversy, as society was skeptical about it.
The developing world has a long tradition of participatory action research, popular education and community organizing that unite to solve some science and technology problems that affect society. This relationship of science and technology to society is something that requires even government intervention. Science and technology issues are currently being debated around the world. Advances in this field have resulted in the ability to produce various types of material items. Answer the question of how science and technology relate to society.
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Bibliographic References
Lopez, J. and Potter, G. (Eds.) (2001). After Postmodernism: An introduction to critical realism. London: The Athlone Press.
Neuman, Y. (2003). Processes and Boundaries of the Mind: Extending the limit line. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
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