Science, technology, society

The seventh of the eight required subjects in the new General Education Curriculum (GEC) is “Science, Technology, and Society / Agham, Teknolohiya, at Lipunan.” CMO 20, series of 2013, describes it this way: “Interactions between science and technology and social, cultural, political, and economic contexts which shape and are shaped by them; specific examples throughout human history of scientific and technological developments / Interaksyon ng agham at teknolohiya at ang mga kontekstong panlipunan, pangkultura, pampulitika, at pangkabuhayan na humuhubog at hinuhubog ng mga ito; mga yaman halimbawa ng mga pagbabago na siyentipiko at teknolohiko sa kasaysayan ng sangkatauhan.”

This subject actually already exists in some universities. It is a multi-disciplinary subject looking at science and technology as major factors in the development of civilization. To teach this subject, teachers must not only be digital natives or at least digital immigrants, personally using the latest technological gadgets, but must know history, culture, politics, economics, religion, and other fields.

The Appendix of the CMO gives more details:

“The course is designed to enable students to appreciate, in broad terms, the societal impact of developments in science and technology at the global and national level. This includes a review of the history of science and technology globally – from the prehistorical era all the way to today’s advances in sciences and technology – and similarly in the Philippines, including science policy. The historical survey, which is grounded on an understanding of basic science concepts, will examine how these developments have affected the course of human society: politically, economically, and socially (including culturally).

“The second part of the course focuses on current issues arising from the application of science and technology, how such applications relate to ethical and political decisions in both the public and private sector, and their effects (positive and negative) on society and life in general. Examples of issues that can be taken up are: climate change, food security, the environment and natural resource management, biotechnology (including genetic engineering), medical ethics (including human experimentation), health policy, neurobiology, the revolution in ICT, intellectual property rights over patents and discoveries from bioprospecting, weapons of mass destruction, and impact assessment of technology.

“The course entails a variety of readings, group discussions, and research, culminating in a presentation of findings regarding a particular issue.”

Like all the other new GEC subjects, this one aims at having students form their own opinions in a knowledgeable and critical way. By focusing on only two or three key issues, the teacher of this subject should be able to get students to realize the effect of technology on their personal identity.

If I were teaching this subject, I would start the term by asking my students why they have mobile phones. (It is highly unlikely that a college student will not have one.) I will ask them why they use the phone not only as a phone (that is, to make a voice call), but to text, to surf, to take photos, to listen to music, to play games, to post, to tweet, and so on. Then I will ask them what would happen if all cell sites and internet servers in the entire world would suddenly go dead for a whole year. That will set them off thinking, perhaps panicking.

I would then talk about the panic in 1633, when Galileo Galilei was placed under house arrest for saying that the earth was not the center of the universe. He was declared a heretic and, therefore, was considered to be in hell after he died. In 1992, the Catholic Church formally acquitted Galileo and conceded that he might not actually be in hell. (The issue for those who believe in eternal life after death, of course, is how someone can go from hell to heaven.)

I would then ask my students to read Dante’s “Inferno” (at least those parts that have to do with heresy), which Galileo himself loved. That will lead to a reading of the novel entitled “Inferno” by Dan Brown, with its brief flashback set in Manila. The irrational reaction of Filipinos today to the novel would be a fitting end to the discussion on this particular topic.

What would students learn from just this module, which would probably take a few weeks? They would have to form their own opinions about science, religion, literature, government, and politics. It will not matter too much to me what their opinions will be; the important thing is that they will be their own and they will be based on a solid understanding of history, literary criticism, and social media.

Other teachers might use even more creative approaches to the subject. The current madness over Syria, for example, would be a good starting point for a discussion on Western versus alternative medicine. Pork barrel and fertilizer scams would be perfect introductions to a discussion of Plato’s ideas about science in an ideal republic. The history of our visual arts would highlight the significance of the Fast-Tracked S&T Scholarship Act of 2013.

Multidisciplinary thinking is what the GEC is aiming at. If they are going eventually to solve the problems of the future, college students will need to build on the wisdom (or avoid the stupidity) of the past and to harness the technological genius of the present. (To be continued)