Science, Technology, & Society in the 20th century
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Transcript of Science, Technology, & Society in the 20th century
Science, Technology, & Society in the
20th Century
Technology and Society in the 20th Century
Technology is central in war and peace.
The changes in change in structure, methods, and scope led to an increased production of technology.
There is remake in man’s way of life all over the globe.
There are three separate aspects:
1. Structural Changes the professionalization, specialization, and
institutionalization of technological work
2. Changes in Methods the new relationship between technology and science
3. The “Systems Approach”
The Structure of Technological Work
Technological activity (19th
century) is craft. This is done by individuals alone and without much formal education.
By the 20th century, the technological activity has become highly specialized and thoroughly professional.
The 19th century:A. Formal Education
Typical inventor: a mechanic starting at age 14 years old or below Notable people consider themselves as mechanics and inventors
B. Technology–University BuildingsUniversities
a. Ecole Polytechniqueb. California Institute of Technology
Peoplea. Henry Fordb. Wright Brothers
Technically educated man with the college degree began to assume leadership about the time of World War I.
Technological work since 1940, as primarily been done by men who were educated in universities and degrees eventually became prerequisites for technological work.
Charles Franklin Kettering: inventive genius of General Motors Electric self-starter
(automobiles) Non-toxic freezing
compound (refrigeration) Tetra-ethyl lead (high-
performance automobile and aircraft engine)
Specialists in Invention Thomas Edison Werner von Siemens
Justus von Liebig George Westinghouse
Emile Berliner Edwin H. Land
LaboratoriesA. Size of a laboratory has no relation to its research and its results; it
needs: exclusive interest in research, discovery, and innovation brings together men from a wide area of disciplines embodies a new methodology of technological work squarely
based on the systematic application of science to technology
B. Strength of laboratories: “specialist” and “generalist”
What distinguishes today's research laboratory from any predecessor is, first, its exclusive interest in research, discovery, and innovation.
Secondly, the research laboratory brings together men from a wide area of disciplines, each contributing his specialized knowledge.
Finally, the research laboratory embodies a new methodology of technological work squarely based on the systematic application of science to technology.
The Methods of Technological Work
Technology has become science-based. Its method is now "systematic research." And what was formerly "invention" is "innovation" today.
It was World War I that brought about the change.Technology has become in this century somewhat of a
"science" in its own right. It has become "research"—a separate discipline having its own specific methods.
Technologists followed the work of scientists, therefore electrical technology has been closely related to the physical science of electricity.
Alexander Graham Bell on telephone
Hermann von Helmholtz on the reproduction of sound
Guglielmo Marconi on radio
James C. Maxwell on electromagnetic-wave propagation theory
World War I, scientists were mobilized for war effort: science’ power to spark technological ideas and to indicate technological solutions and technological problems
Technology is NOT, then, ‘the application of science to products and processes,’ as is often asserted.” “Know-how” of technologists > “know-what of
scientists” Science as the basis and starting point of today’s
technology
Technology has become a science in its own right; a separate discipline
“Invention” = “flash of insight”
Technological "research" has not only a different methodology from "invention"; it leads to a different approach, known as "innovation," or the purposeful and deliberate attempt to bring about, through technological means, a distinct change in the way man lives and in his environment.
Research method Research team Other elements of research discipline
1. A definition of the need2. A clear goal3. Identification of the major steps to be taken and the
major pieces of work that had to be done4. Constant "feedback" from the results of the work on the
plan5. Organization of the work so that each major segment is
assigned to a specific work team
Scientific "discovery" has always been measured by what it adds to our understanding of natural phenomena. The test of invention is, however, technical--what new capacity it gives us to do a specific task. But the test of innovation is its impact on the way people live.
First major innovation: mass production of Model T automobile by Henry Ford
Innovation defined:“a technical solution to the economic problem of how to produce the largest number of finished products with the greatest reliability of quality at the lowest possible cost.”
The Systems Approach
Mass production exemplifies, too, a new dimension that has been added to technology in this century: the systems approach.
The Pre-Technological Civilization of 1990
Only Japan, of the non-European, non-western countries, had then begun to build up a modern industry and modern technology.
It was, indeed, almost an axiom--for Westerner and non-Westerner alike--that modern technology was, for better or worse, the birthright of the white man.
Technology, as a creature of man, is a problematical, as ambivalent, and as capable of good or evil, as is its creator.
Technology Remakes Social Institutions
Emancipation of Women
Changes in the Organization of Work
The Role of Education
Change in Warfare
A Worldwide Technological Civilization
Man–Moves into a Man–Made Environment
Only sixty years ago, men depended on nature and were primarily threatened by natural catastrophes, storms, floods or earthquakes. Men today depend on technology, and our major threats are technological breakdowns. The largest cities in the world would become uninhabitable in forty-eight hours were the water supply or the sewerage systems to give out.
Modern Technology and the Human Horizon
News, data, information, and pictures have become even more mobile than people. They travel in "real time", that is, they arrive at virtually the same time as they happen.
Technology and Man
The metropolis has become the habitat of modern man. Yet paradoxically we do not know how to make it habitable.
In the final analysis this surely means mastery by man over himself, for if anyone is to blame, it is not the tool but the human maker and user. "It is a poor carpenter who blames his tools"
It is also true that "better tools" demand a better, more highly skilled, and more careful "carpenter".