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Voorbeeld 3 van de 17 pagina's
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Voorbeeld van de inhoud
LECTURE 1:INTRODUCTION
Vaccinations
A vaccine is a preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen, such as a bacterium or virus, or of a portion
of the pathogen's structure, that is administered to prevent or treat infection by the pathogen and that
functions by stimulating the production of an immune response. To make a vaccine a success, several
things are needed:
People Doctors, managers, nurses, developers, administrators, etc.
Infrastructure and logistics cooling, transport, roads, ships, hospitals, etc.
Goods and products needles, liquids, fridges, paper, etc.
Systems and structures administration, finance, government, etc.
Knowledge and experience science, practical experience, etc.
People remain unvaccinated for a variety of reasons. Some cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons,
while other struggle to navigate diverse sources of information. Many hesitate, for example because of
specific medical conditions and some are “anti-vax”. Increasing the vaccination rate, therefore, requires
careful collaboration between all relevant “actors”: people, infrastructure, goods, systems and structures,
knowledge and experience. This results in a complex debate: sovereignty over own body versus
protection of public health.
Science and technology in context
Science, technology and society are intertwined. They emerge through mutual shaping. This results in
‘fork-shaped’, messy processes of development. This means that scientific and technological
developments are often unexpected, an off-shoot from a completely different trajectory. Science and
technology are part of the solution to all sorts of challenges, such as climate, sustainability, security,
poverty, inequality, health and well-being. But, science and technology are often part of the problem as
well, such as pollution and emissions, growing inequalities, more diseases and unexpected and unwanted
effects. Also, there are numerous mismatches between science and technology and society, which result
in vulnerable groups and minorities.
Views on technology and society
There are 4 ways in which people can view the impact of technology on society and vice versa:
1. Instrumental view Society develops and uses technology to reach its own goals.
2. Deterministic view Technological development follows its own trajectory, and technological
development has an impact on society.
3. Interactive view (designing) Society and technology influence each other. “What kind of
world and society do people want to live in and what kind of technology contributes to that
world?”
4. Interactive view (adaptive) Society and technology influence each other. “How can society
reinvent itself in the context of its technological development?”
'Of course it's not ethical': shock at gene-edited baby
claims by the Guardian
Chinese geneticist He Jiankui’s claim to have altered embryos prompts outcry from scientists. He said the
genomes had been altered to disable a gene known as CCR5, blocking the pathway used by the HIV virus
to enter cells. “Of course it’s not ethical,” said Qiu, after publicly criticising He’s work before the several
,hundred people in attendance. China’s National Health Commission has ordered officials to investigate
and verify He’s claims. If He’s claims are true, the twins would pass the altered DNA on to any offspring
they have, which several scientists said would create a host of ethical and medical problems. “We end up
with big ethical questions ... the decision that was made about these twin girls was not made by them,
but by someone else. The changes that happened to them will remain in their offspring for future
generations.” But Kirksey agreed it raised difficult ethical questions. “It risks creating a new, genetically
modified elite ... who can’t get sick but pass it on to other people.”
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
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. Here are 3 lessons learned, one from each section of 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.
Humans have told stories since the dawn of speech. Because we can all decide what stories we believe in
individually, the best stories win. Over time, we’ve become more intelligent, which is why, usually, the
story that wins in the long run is whichever one benefits us the most as a whole. As a result, 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. There are many variants of humanism, and respecting all of them is important, but
the most commonly chosen one is liberalism. Liberalism allows us to express humanism in everyday life
by translating its ideas into specific moral codes, laws, and political aspirations. Even campaigns for a
certain cause, like climate change awareness, less waste, or redistribution of wealth are often just liberal
narratives in disguise. There are 2 major trends forming about how algorithms will be part of the future:
Techno-humanism (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.
Technology’s epic story by Kevin Kelly
According to Alan Kay, technology is anything invented after you were born.
In the world of hunter-gatherers, everyone died around the age of 20-30. It was a world without
grandparents. Grandparents are very important, because they are the transmitter of cultural evolution
and information. In this world, someone couldn’t do much learning in his own life, because it is so short.
Also, there is nobody to pass on what is learned.
With little technology, about 250 megafauna animals in North America were brought to extinction by the
hunter-gatherers. Other thing the early man invented was fire. This was used to clear out and affected
the ecology of grass and whole continents, and was used in cooking. Humanity and everything we think
about ourselves is something we’ve invented. So, humanity is our greatest invention, but were still
inventing. This is what technology is allowing us to do, constant reinventing ourselves.
Technology is anything useful invented by a mind.
The precautionary principle says, when you meet a new technology, stop. Until it can be proven that it
does no harm. A better way, according to Kelly, is the proactionary principle, which is, you engage with
technology. You obviously do what the precautionary principle suggests, after anticipating it, you
constantly asses it and when it diverts from what you want, we prioritize risk, we evaluate the old stuff.
We fix it, but most importantly, we relocate it. Meant by that, is we find a new job for it. For example,
nuclear energy is bad for bombs, but it may be a pretty good idea relocated into sustainable nuclear
energy for electricity, instead of burning coal.
, TUTORIAL 1:
INTERTWINEMENT
Developments in S&T and developments in society are intertwined. Developments in S&T influence the
way society develops, and developments in society influence the way S&T develop. For example, the way
the development of the contraceptive pill resulted in societal changes with regard to sexuality and
emancipation and how that, again, changes the way society looks at the pill and the development of the
male pill in response.
The development of S&T is a messy process. Science and technology rarely happens in a unilinear
fashion, in a way that is planned. Very often, the most revolutionary ideas emerge unexpected and as an
offshoot branch from the way that the technology seems to be developing.
“The Birth of the Pill”, and the reinvention of sex, by
Jonathan Eig
The development of the birth control pill started in the 60’s. This resulted in a sexual revolution and
caused the detachment of sexuality and reproduction. It also caused women’s emancipation and
emancipation of homosexuals. The process of its making was enabled by unequal power structures. It
started with testing female rabbits by injecting them with the hormone progesterone. Despite prolific
mating habits, they did not get pregnant. Now, the problem was how to stretch “the boundaries of law
and ethics” to test progesterone on women. Trials started with some patients and later, nurses were
recruited and mental patients were tested without their consent. The tests were an enormous burden:
participants endured endometrial biopsies, daily vaginal smears, temperature-monitoring and side effects
such as nausea. Few women could stand the routine long enough to get reliable results. About this
ethically questionable phase of human testing, Eig writes that the scientists violated two protocols of
modern medical research. They didn’t inform the patients of the purpose of the study or warn them of
possible risks. The scientists were lucky: their drug proved safe and it worked. In 1960, the FDA approved
the pill for use as birth control in the United States.
NHS to offer safer Down’s syndrome test to pregnant
woman by Sarah Boseley
A safer test for Down’s syndrome that allows pregnant women to be screened without the risk of
miscarriage is the non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT). This means most women at higher risk of a Down’s
baby will be able to avoid amniocentesis, which involved removing a tiny amount of fluid from the womb.
This new non-invasive test carries no miscarriage risk. All pregnant women will have preliminary
screening at around 12 weeks, which involves an ultrasound and a blood test. But women deemed high
risk after the initial screening will be offered the new test. When the NIPT is positive, the invasive test will
still be offered. This new blood test is being introduced purely on the grounds of safety, but it is expected
to increase the number of parents willing to find out whether they are carrying a baby likely to have
Down’s syndrome. That could lead to fewer children with the genetic disorder being born, if more
parents choose to have a termination.
The NIPT documentary by Sally Phillips
There are multiple issues raised in this documentary. First one is that society generally brings people to
believe a narrative of Down’s syndrome that is tragic and disastrous. Second, there are increasing societal
pressures on new parents to abort unborn babies with Down’s syndrome. Thirdly, society has accepted
termination with little public debate regarding the ethical issues of prenatal screening. Fourth, the voice
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