Biomedical sciences and society lecture notes
Lecture 1
Science, technology and society are intertwined; they emerge through mutual shaping
- This development is usually “fork shaped”: scientific and technological developments are
often unexpected and off-shoot from a completely different trajectory
Four views on technology and society
- Instrumental view
o Society develops and uses technology to reach its own goals
- Deterministic view
o Technological development follows its own trajectory, and technological development
has an impact on society
- Interactive view (designing)
o Society and technology influence each other. “what kind of world and society do we
want to love in and what kind of technology contributes to that world?”
- Interactive view (adaptive)
o Society and technology influence each other. “how can society reinvent itself in the
context of its technological development?”
Ted talk Kevin Kelly notes
- Term technology wasn’t used until 1952
o First use of the term was in 1928 (?) though
- technology is essential for human survival
- technology has become the most powerful force today
o everything that is changing is due to technology
- deterministic view
article homo deus notes
by Yuval Noah Harari
one sentence summary: homo deus illustrates the history of the human race from how we came to be
the dominant species over what narratives are shaping our lives today all the way to which obstacles
we must overcome next to continue to thrive.
Harari turns his eyes toward the future of mankind describing the narratives we currently use to make
sense of the world.
3 lessons learned from the book
1. shared narratives are what allow us to collaborate at a large scale and thus dominate as a
species
2. the most prevalent, current narrative is humanism
3. algorithms could eventually replace us, depending on which future narrative takes over.
Lesson 1: stories are what make us the strongest animal on the planet
According to Harari humans winning the evolutionary race is thanks to communication. Humans have
always told stories. Individually we can decide what stories we believe in, causing the bets stories to
win. Due to increasing intelligence over time, the story that wins in the long run is whichever one
benefits us the most as a whole.
, Lesson 2: today’s dominant narrative is humanism
Nowadays we’re all aware of the many different religions, political movements and belief systems
around the world, which is very different from how it used to be. The story that dominates the world
today is humanism. In this view of the world humans are the central element and our individual
freedom our greatest asset. We believe in science, rationality, progress, technology and self-
actualization. Liberalism is the most commonly chosen form of humanism and allows us to express
humanism in everyday life by translating its ideas into specific moral codes, laws and political
aspirations.
Lesson 3: all our future narratives involve algorithms, but if we’re not careful they could replace us
altogether
Algorithms help to make our work easier. Harari sees 2 trends appearing regarding the use of
algorithms in the future: techno-humanism (or transhumanism) and dataism. Transhumanism argues
that humans should merge with technology to enhance their capabilities and keep up with the power of
algorithms. Dataism suggests we get out of the way and let algorithms become as powerful as they can
become on their own.
The guardian article notes
“of course it’s not ethical”: shock at gene-edited baby claims
He Jianku (Chinese geneticist) claims to have altered embryos. He said the genomes had been altered
to disable a gene known as CCR5, blocking the pathway used by HIV virus to enter cells. Doing this
he did not follow scientific protocols, which caused other scientists to point out the ethical problems.
A bioethicist, Qiu Renzong said this work could even harm the reputation of Chinese science. “of
course it’s not ethical,” Qui stated, given that the university He worked at had rejected his request to
perform this experiment. China’s national health commission has ordered officials to investigate and
verify He’s claims. If He’s claims are true, the genetically altered twins would pass their altered DNA
on to any offspring they have, which according to several scientist would create a host of ethical and
medical problems. There are multiple ethical problems regarding this situation, one of them being that
these twins did not chose to be genetically modified themselves, but someone else made the decision,
yet, the changes that will happen to them, will remain in their offspring for future generations. Are we
as humans in the position to make such decisions with long-term impact that go beyond our lives and
our grandchildren?
Lecture 2 philosophy of science
Living in times of change: emerging technologies
- characterizing emerging technologies
o radical novelty: they change the way in which nature or society are built
o coherence: combinations of new technologies allow for the emergence of radically
new worlds
o uncertainty: their effects are unknown
o ambiguity: our evaluation of their impacts differ, depending on the perspective you
take
emerging technologies and factual uncertainty
- uncertainty about facts
o example: the level of toxicity of rubber in artificial grass soccer fields
o the right thresholds: those for medical equipment? Those for consumer products?
How “intimate” is the use of these granulates?
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