REVIEWER IN STS FOR FINAL EXAMINATION

CHAPTER 4: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY, AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

•Martin Heidegger wrote an essay entitled “The Question Concerning Technology” which addresses modern technology and its essence as an
instrumental way of revealing the world.
•” Standing in Reserve” = things revealed in modern technology
•Enframing = essence and frame of modern technology everything in nature.
•Human flourishing aka personal flourishing involves the rational use of one’s individual potentialities, including talents, abilities and virtues in the
pursuit of his freely and rationally chosen values and goal.
•Eudaimonia = rational activity in the virtues of character or “good fortune”
Four aspects of human nature (by Aristotle)
•As physical beings, we require nourishment, exercise, rest and all the other things that it takes to keep our bodies functioning properly
•As emotional beings, we have wants, desires, urges and reactions
•As social beings, we must live and function in particular societies.
•As rational beings, we are creative, expressive, knowledge-seeking, and able to obey reason

CHAPTER 5: THE GOOD LIFE

 One of the oldest philosophical questions

 Plato and Socrates = virtue

 Epicurus = pleasure

 Aristotle = good life is happiness

 One basic way we use the word “good” is to express moral approval.

 In his masterpiece, “The Music of the Republic”, Plato develops this argument in greater detail. The morally good person, he claims, enjoys a sort of
inner harmony.

 Plato’s reputation comes from his idealism of believing in the existence of universalis. His Theory of Forms proposes that universals do not physically
exist, like objects, but as heavenly forms.

 In Platonism, the meaning of life is in attaining the highest form of knowledge, which is the Idea of the Good, from which all good and just things derive
utility and value.

 Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas wrote a book entitled The Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life.

 Rule 1 in Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life - Examine life, engage life with vengeance.

 Rule 2 in Ten Golden Rules on Living a Good Life- Worry only about the things that are in your control.

 Aristotle teaches that each man's life has a purpose and that the function of one's life is to attain that purpose.

 Rolando Gripaldo, a Filipino philosopher, argues that the concept of the public good carries largely the politico-ethical sense.

CHAPTER 7: INFORMATION AGE

 The Information Age began around the 1970s and is still going on today.

 It is also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age.

 Pre-Gutenberg Period During the Middle Ages in Europe, most people lived in small, isolated villages. For most people, the only source of both religious
and worldly information was the village Catholic priest in the pulpit. News passed from one person to another, often in the form of rumor. Written
documents were rare and often doubted by the common people as forgeries.

 Before the discovery of the printing press, books in Europe were typically handwritten manuscripts.

 Johannes Gutenberg turned the printing world upside down and brought on a new era of print with his revolutionary innovation of movable type in
1445.

 Movable type printing used metal stamps of single letters that could be arranged into words, sentences, and pages of text.

 By 1463, printed Bible’s cost one-tenth of hand-copied Bibles. The demand for books exploded.

 The printing press was also a factor in the establishment of a community of scientists who could easily communicate their discoveries through widely
disseminated scholarly journals, helping to bring on the scientific revolution.

 Post-Gutenberg Period The impact of the Gutenberg printing press was immeasurable.

 The Reformation that began in Germany in the early 16th century, led to the Bible being printed in the languages common to people.

CHAPTER 8 BIODIVERSITY AND THE HEALTHY SOCIETY

 Bio means life or living organism

 Diversity means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.
  Biodiversity is the variety of life, and refers collectively to variation at all levels of biological organization.

 Biodiversity is the foundation of human health

 Threats to Biodiversity - Habitat loss, Overharvesting, Invasive species, climate change

 Exotic species are species that have been intentionally or unintentionally introduced by humans into an ecosystem in which they did not evolve.

 Invasive species can threaten other species through competition for resources, predation, or disease

 Climate change - the anthropogenic warming trend presently underway, is recognized as a major extinction threat

 Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) - An organism whose DNA has been modified in the laboratory in order to favor the expression of desired
physiological traits or the production of desired biological products

 “GMO” (genetically modified organism) has become the common term consumers and popular media use to describe foods that have been created through
genetic engineering.

 Intended uses of GMO are for Biomedical, Farm/Food Animals, and Agriculture

 Potential benefits of GM crops

1. Better nutritional qualities
2. Engineering pest or disease resistance in important crops such as rice and corn, various vegetables. sweet potato and others especially those
important for developing countries.
3. Edible vaccine
4. Antibodies engineered and produced in plants
5. Crops which can extract and detoxify pollutants from the environment such as heavy metals
6. Crops which produce less toxic residues such as corn with low phytate
7. Production of alternative polymers which can replace to substitute plastics and other petrochemical products in plants and thus are renewable
and biodegradable

 Risk related to the use of GMO

Genetic Contamination/ Interbreeding
1.
Competition with Natural Species
2.
Increased Selection Pressure on Target and Non-Target Organisms
3.
Ecosystem Impacts
4.
Impossibility of Follow-up
5.
Loss of Management Control Measures
6.
Antibiotic Resistance and Horizontal Gene Transfer
7.
CHAPTER 9 THE NANO WORLD

 Nano comes from the Greek word for dwarf.

 People refer to nanotechnology as “tiny tech” or “nanotech”.

 Nanosensors will help in assessing emissions from the vehicle and help in controlling pollutants.

 Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are nm-sized particles with a solid lipid matrix. SLNs are tested in perfume formulations.

 Dendrimers are used in mascara and nail polish.

 Triclosan, commonly found in antimicrobial soaps and cleaning products, is among many consumer-used chemicals found in the river and drinking water
sources.

 EXAMPLES OR PRODUCTS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY sunscreen, sensors, cosmetics, microchips, car coatings, fishing rod or lure, golf ball, etc.

CHAPTER 10 GENE THERAPY

 Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things.

 GENES are small segments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

 GENE THERAPY - to modify genes or replace faulty genes with healthy one to treat, cure or prevent a disease or medical condition.

 To insert new genes directly into cells, scientists use a vehicle called a “vector” which is genetically engineered to deliver the gene.

 Viruses, for example, have a natural ability to deliver genetic material into cells, and therefore, can be used as vectors

APPROACHES TO GENE THERAPY

1. Gene Modification
 Replacement treatment: Replacing a natural gene with a non-natural gene through homologous recombination.
 Modifier gene therapy: Restoring natural function to a defective gene through selective reverse mutation.
2. Gene transfer method
 There are 3 physical, chemical, and biological methods of gene transfer.
3. Gene transfer to specific cell line
 This line is divided into 2 general categories of somatic gene therapy, and sex cell gene therapy.
 4. Adoption of the Most Appropriate Genetic Engineering
 Stem Cell = cells capable of developing into many different cells in the body and play a vital role in the repair system
 A stem cell therapy is any treatment that uses stem cells as the primary way of curing or reducing the severity of a disease or disorder.

CHAPTER 11 CLIMATE CHANGE, ENERGY CRISIS AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS

 Climate change is a change in the average temperature and cycles of weather over a long period of time. However, the rapid climate change we are
experiencing now is due to three main human activities:

 Burning fossil fuels for heating and cooking, generating electricity and powering vehicles releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

 Deforestation (destruction of forests) releases carbon dioxide and reduces the number of trees able to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

 Reduction of biodiversity creates an unstable ecosystem. Nature loss leads to ecosystems that are less able to capture carbon from the atmosphere and less
resilient to rising temperatures