{"id":4932,"date":"2020-09-05T18:49:40","date_gmt":"2020-09-05T22:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/?p=4932"},"modified":"2020-09-05T18:49:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T22:49:40","slug":"science-and-technology-intertwined-within-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/2020\/09\/05\/science-and-technology-intertwined-within-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Science and Technology: Intertwined within Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Science and Technology both play important roles within our society, however, defining the two terms has become difficult. The topics are so complicated that in order to fully understand them, one must educate themselves through the work of experts. By reading the works of David Nye, Thomas Khun and Karl Popper, it is evident how ever shifting these topics are. Science involves methods and steps that are constantly being refuted in order to answer questions. Technology is something that is constantly changing over time and is an aspect of life which has been adapted by humans. Science and Technology are two extremely complicated aspects of society that is better understood through the works of Nye, Khun, and Popper.<\/p>\n

In Nye\u2019s work, he defines technology in terms of its evolutionary impact on humans. His view on technology is unique since it differs from many. Nye contends that technology as a whole has allowed for humans to live more complex lives. This doesn\u2019t mean that the introduction of new technologies has necessarily simplified human life, but it has altered it in many ways. Nye claims that \u201cTechnologies are not foreign to \u201chuman nature\u201d but inseparable from it\u201d (Nye, 2). He is stating that technology as a whole has become so intertwined within society that one cannot separate the two. Nye also states “A tool implies at least one small story. There is a situation; something needs doing\u201d (Nye, 5). In this sense, Science and Technology are both connected because in science, experts use the scientific method and attempt to prove their hypothesis wrong in order to come to a conclusion. Tools imply that there is a problem that exists and something needs to be done in order to solve it. Moreover, he contends that technology is more concerned with art because art has to do with the selection and manipulation of matter; technology\u2019s connection to science is misinterpreted. Nye\u2019s piece attempts to present his view of Science and Technology and introduce the notion that technology as a whole is generally misunderstood by society.<\/p>\n

Thomas Khun, a 20th<\/sup> century scientific philosopher, claims that science is an extremely complicated topic that cannot be predicted. \u00a0He claims that science doesn\u2019t progress in a linear way. There is no set of steps to follow in order to find the right answer. He introduces the idea of \u201cparadigm shifts\u201d within the field of science. He claims that a paradigm shift occurs when many anomalies and challenges happen. As a result, scientists would learn from their lessons and progress their ideas as a result of learning from their previous mistakes. A paradigm can be defined as a model or example for something. Khun explains that science is constantly adapting as new ideas are formulated. He believed that certain aspects of science needed to be modified in order to be improved. Khun states \u201cClearly we need a new vocabulary and concepts for analyzing events like the discovery of oxygen\u201d (Khun, 55). Khun claims that there should not be set parameters for a certain topic because it limits the development of it. Many scientific views have changed over time. For example, new developments such as the James Webb Telescope in the field of astronomy have allowed for a better understanding of space as a whole. If the same parameters had been followed, there would have been no advancements made. Changes in the way of thinking need to occur. Critical thinking and analysis are both necessary. Khun\u2019s idea that scientific advances occur when anomalies and challenges arise is extremely relevant and is an idea that should be followed.<\/p>\n

Karl Popper, another 20th<\/sup> century philosopher, focused on defining science by the process of demarcation. He claimed that science could be confirmed by the process of trial and error. By proving and disproving what is right and wrong, he claimed that one would be able to learn from these observations and come to a conclusion. Moreover, he also believed that science has to be refutable in some way. By refuting a claim, lessons can be learned and new revisions can be made which may advance the issue. Popper also claimed that the process of demarcation happens through observations. Testability, refutability, and falsifiability were three important aspects of this process. Popper also claimed that the more theories forbid, the more there was to prove.<\/p>\n

All of these philosophers all pose valid points, however, I believe that Nye\u2019s is the most relevant theory today. Nye\u2019s claim that tools and other types of technologies make us remember a sequence of time is relevant within my life. For example, I often associate many different types of technologies with different parts and sequences of my life. Not only does technology simplify human life in many ways, it also allows for interactions to be remembered with more ease. The most relevant example that comes to mind is music. I often associate different songs that I have listened to with different times of my life. It makes remembering those moments easier. Science differs from technology in the sense that it is not as identifiable to the average human. Scientists are often extremely educated individuals who have specialized skills. Technology is much more easily interpreted by society and that is why reading the works of philosophers such as Nye, Khun, and Popper, are extremely important in order to better understand science.<\/p>\n

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Sources:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/information-technology\/2020\/08\/apple-helped-us-government-build-a-secret-ipod-former-engineer-says\/<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/moodle.colby.edu\/pluginfile.php\/429142\/mod_resource\/content\/1\/1.%20Popper_Conjectures%20and%20Refutations.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/moodle.colby.edu\/pluginfile.php\/429145\/mod_resource\/content\/2\/2.%20Kuhn_Anomaly%20and%20Scientific%20Discoveries.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/moodle.colby.edu\/pluginfile.php\/429146\/mod_resource\/content\/2\/3.%20Nye_Can%20we%20define%20technology%3F.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Science and Technology both play important roles within our society, however, defining the two terms has become difficult. The topics are so complicated that in … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11238,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[468646],"tags":[292202,530891,531042,531322,193163,1178,973,88285,358],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4934,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932\/revisions\/4934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st112a-fall20\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}