by In our society today there is an evolving presences of technology with electronics constantly surrounding us, to scientific breakthroughs and discovery that are being sought after. But as technology evolves and science continues to shed light onto the mysteries of the universe there comes the question of at what point should we stop our technological advancement and pursuit for new scientific discoveries? The field of Science, Technology, and Society makes us be cognizant of the interaction of science and technology with society and culture and makes us stop and think about what advancements in science and technology are leading to the betterment of society and what advancements are ethically wrong and do not benefit the greater good.
Advancement in technology has lead to some remarkable changes in the way that we are able to communicate with one another, engineering, entertainment, and is seeing further advancement in the field of artificial intelligence. Previously it was thought to be impossible to communicate with someone hundreds of miles away, but then came the emergence of the telephone. Before the internet people would have to look up information in a library, but now people can just search for information on Google or find books online. Our cell phones now also contain the information to receive and send messages, download and stream movies, social media apps and even contains sensitive personal information that we would like to keep private.
Despite advancements in technology, we must also recognize that there is a duty that we have to our society to make sure that technological advancements do not infringe on an individual’s privacy and to not put our society in harms way. With large amounts of data now being stored on our personal phones and computers there has to be asked the question of what data remains personal and what data do the companies that make this technology that were are using have access to? Just because I take photos with my personal camera or send private messages to a friend does that mean that this data is truly only available to myself? Taking a look at what responsibilities that we must take as a society to ensure technology does not become destructive for all of us is imperative and is where the field of Science, Technology, and Society takes a stand.
Science has also led to the greater understanding of the universe through greater understanding of the origin of life to biological sciences which allow us to comprehend the physical world around us. Understanding the functioning of the human body has lead to miracles in modern medicine that have prolonged human life span and eradicated diseases such as measles and varicella. Advances in Chemistry have lead to the formation of new elements and compounds that have been revolutionary in manufacturing and medicine. But as we continue to develop more and more outstanding breakthroughs in the field of science we must also ask ourselves what is moral for society? When Robert Oppenheimer, chief nuclear physicist of the Manhattan Project, finally broke through to create the nuclear bomb he said that “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds”. Before scientific breakthroughs are allowed to occur we must first ask ourselves is such a discovery or creation best for the greater good of society? Does any nation deserve to have a weapon powerful enough to destroy the world a hundred times over? In Science, Technology, and Society we must battle with these questions before discovery is made.
In the discipline of Science, Technology, and Society we must evaluate how the fields of Science and Technology impact our society and whether or not advancement in these fields truly advance or cripple our world. We must stop and think about if we should do something not if we can achieve a break through. Often times we must stop scientific and technological advancement for the greater good of our society.
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Image 1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/15/as-technology-advances-what-will-happen-with-online-privacy/#33f15f0c1c45
Image 2: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/us/trinity-test-anniversary.html