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Dr.
Bob Kistler Bethel College |
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Session Outline and Links
- Required Reading ( from one of your texts):
- Tenner, E. 1996. Ever
Since Frankenstein. pp. 3-32 IN: Why
Things Bite Back: Technology and the revenge of unintended
consequences. Vintage Books, NY
- Tenner, E. 1996. Ever
Since Frankenstein. pp. 3-32 IN: Why
Things Bite Back: Technology and the revenge of unintended
consequences. Vintage Books, NY
- Choice reading set 1 (pick one or more of
the following)
- U. S. National Library of Medicine. 2002. Frankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature, Promise and Peril. Internet: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/frankenstein/frank_promise.html
- Bailey, Ronald 2003. Accelerating Change: Why technology will be the defining battle of the 21st century. Reason on-line. Internet: http://reason.com/rb/rb081303.shtml
- Cringely, Robert X. 2002. Running Scared: Why Science Needs
Us to be Afraid , Be Very Afraid. Internet: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20021017.html
- Choice reading set 2 (pick one or
more of the
following)
- Augustine, Norman R. 1998.What we don't know does hurt us. How scientific illiteracy hobbles society. Science, 279(5357):1640-1641.
- Church of Scotland, 2002. The Implications of a Changed Public Perception of Science and Technology, Society, Religion and Technology Project: Looking at the ethics of technology for a New Millennium, http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/srtscot/s&twhit7.htm
- National Science Board Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public, Understanding. Indicators 2002: Chapter 7. http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind02/c7/c7h.htm
- Moore, J. H. 1998. Public understanding of science - and other fields. American Scientist, 86(6):498
Why do things bite back? Why is there always a frankenstein effect. Why did Eve, and then Adam have to bite the apple? What is there about the created nature of humanity that always seems to have the tendency to go awry? Can we just blame the fall, or is there more? Aside from the cause, how do we move beyond the freddy effect and move further up and further in? |
Where have we been, where are we going? Why
technology bites back.
Or
Science, Technology, and Truth: A synthesis before proceeding
The process of science goes on even now (10/6/2003):
NPR : American, Briton Win Nobel Prize for Medicine
American Paul C. Lauterbur and Briton Sir Peter Mansfield won the 2003 Nobel Prize for medicine Monday for discoveries leading to a technique that reveals images of the body's inner organs using agnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. newsday.com.
Metabolic profiling, or metabonomics
The Whole Brain Atlas - http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html
Excellent MRI views of the normal and diseased human brain. Collaboration of MIT and Harvard Univ.Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections - http://www.brainmuseum.org/
Univ. of Wisconsin site has images showing the brain's internal architecture of specimens from over 100 mammalian species for studying differences in brain function and evolution.UCLA Laboratory of NeuroImaging - http://www.loni.ucla.edu/
Research on brain mapping, structure and function, and related imaging technologies."Zoomable" Brain Picture - http://www.mabot.com/brain/zoom-x/
A set slices from an NMR brain scan, displayed using Javascript so that the user can view them in series by moving the mouse pointer. Non-scientific.Flybrain - http://flybrain.neurobio.arizona.edu/
An online atlas and database of the Drosophila nervous system.The Virtual Human Brain - http://www.vh.org/Providers/Textbooks/BrainAnatomy/BrainAnatomy.html
Actual human brain dissection images.
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Of Frog and Toad.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Why do things bite back? (Edward Tenner)
Revenge effect
Rearranging effect - shifts problems
Repeating effect - more time required
Recomplicating effect- more complex
Regenerating effect - more small impacts
Recongesting effect - more crowded
Reversed effect - unexpected good
Systems and bugs
Luddite vs Extropian
All of the above bite backs are proximate reasons why technology bites back.
What are the ultimate reasons why Science and Technology
bite back?
"We cease to be tool users and begin to be tool managers."
"Anything can break, only a system can have a bug."
Ideas from Class as to the cause and the "ultimate" answer
short vs long term thinking
we can’t know the consequences in advance
we find a solution and stick with that as the “only solution”
we use technology without understanding it
technology takes money and (science)
structure of politics interferes with technology
we are all toads J hopeless optimism
profit has also interfered with good technology
both good and bad and the distribution of the impact may not be “equitable”
need technology to solve technological problems
we fix problems with technology
$$$ defines technological growth
the practical – loss of jobs
developing vs controlling technology
do we have control of our technology?
Control exists during development – the “scientific phase”,
but not in the “field”
technology (& science) is a typical human endeavor
try to improve on nature
acceptance of what everyone does
more control (as we minimize the sacred) – become more secular
limited knowledge of ‘how things work’
tech turns what should be dialog into monologue
we don’t consider all feedbacks to move forward in the refinement of technology
What is the alternative?
It’s just the “fallen nature” of humanity and the world in
which we live and it will all be “better in the sweet by and by”.
The question to keep in mind for the rest of the semester as we examine specific
examples of technology is; Must it always be this way? That we will always hope
for new better, more leisure creating, health-giving, faster-moving, well better
technology, and yet always be hounded (revenged) by the unintended consequences,
or is there a better way?
Revisiting Synthesis Definitions:
Science is…a process of discovery, description, and understanding of natural phenomena.
Technology is…a process of applying the knowledge, (some of which may come from science) to use/manipulate/create for humanity (use, betterment, or not).
Truth is… the process of moving toward what ought to be in God’s intention for Humanity and for us as individuals.
What "laws" can we make about science, technology, and the pursuit of truth at this time in the semester?
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