UNIT 2: the role of science and technology in shaping societies

TECHNOLOGY’S FOUR HISTORICAL TRANSITIONS - They looked after the children and searched nearby
Science and Technology woods and meadows for berries, nuts, and grains.
- It makes difficult and complicated tasks easier
- Developments in this field are not just products of one DIFFERENT ROLES OF MEN AND WOMEN
time thought process. - Everyone worked to find food, because it was the key
- Brought about by gradual improvements to earlier to the group's survival.
works from different time periods. - Some scientists believe that an equal relationship
existed between Paleolithic men and women.
Human Revolution (Human Origin) - Some evidence suggests that some men and women
- The Human Revolution is a term that refers to the may have hunted in monogamous pairs.
remarkable and sudden emergence of language, - This means that a man and a woman worked together
consciousness and culture in our species. to find food for themselves and their children.
- Such groupings became the first families.
STONE AGE
- Historians call the early period of human history the The Invention of Tools During the Paleolithic Age
Stone Age. - Technology tools and methods to perform tasks were
- The earliest part of this period was the Paleolithic Age. first used by Paleolithic people.
- Before this time, sticks, stones, and tree branches
PALEOLITHIC AGE served as tools.
- In Greek, paleolithic means "old stone."
- The Paleolithic Age is also called the Old Stone Age. FLINT TECHNOLOGY
- The Paleolithic Age began about 2.5 million years ago - Later, people made devices from a hard stone called
and lasted until around 8000 B.C. flint (hard, sedimentary crystalline form of the mineral
quartz)
PALEOLITHIC AGE Ex: Hammerstone from Majuangou, China
SURVIVING IN THE PALEOLITHIC AGE - Paleolithic people learned that by hitting flint with
- Paleolithic people often moved around in search of another hard stone, the flint would flake into pieces.
food. - These pieces had very sharp edges that could be used
- They were nomads or people who regularly move from for cutting.
place to place to survive. - Flint technology was a major breakthrough for early
- They traveled in groups, or bands, of about 20 or 30 peoples.
members. - Hand axe - a large piece of flint tied to wooden pole

HUNTING AND GATHERING BETTER TOOLS

- Paleolithic people survived by hunting and gathering. - Over time, paleolithic people made better, more
- Paleolithic people hunted buffalo, bison, wild goats, complex tools.
reindeer, and other animals, depending on where they - Spears and bows and arrows made killing large
lived. animals easier.
- Along coastal areas, they fished. - Spears with sharp points, and fishhooks increased the
- These early people also gathered wild nuts, berries, number of fish caught.
fruits, wild grains, and green plants. - Early humans used sharp-edged tools to cut up plants
- Current research indicates that two-thirds of the and dig roots.
energy was derived from animal foods. - They used scraping tools to clean animal hides, which
- The fat content of the diet was believed to be similar to they used for clothing and shelter.
that of the present day. - By the end of the Paleolithic Age, people were making
smaller and sharper tools.
MEN AND WOMEN IN THE PALEOLITHIC AGE - They crafted needles from animal bones to make nets
- Paleolithic men and women performed different tasks and baskets and to sew hides together for clothing.
within the group.
MEN Changes in the Paleolithic Age
- Men, not women, hunted large animals - Paleolithic humans learned to make their own shelters.
- Over time, Paleolithic people developed tools and - People constructed tents and huts of animal skins,
weapons to help them hunt. brush, and wood.
- The traps and spears they made increased their - In very cold climates, some people made shelters from
chances of killing their prey. ice and snow.
WOMEN - Many lived in caves.
- Women stayed close to the camp, which was often
located near a stream or other body of water.
UNIT 2: the role of science and technology in shaping societies
- The clothing of the Neolithic humans was made of
animal skins.
- Reliance upon the foods produced from cultivated
lands.
- Encouraged the growth of settlements.
- Production of surplus crop yields
Introduction to Agriculture
- Surpluses could be stored and traded.
- Agricultural life afforded securities.
- Sedentary farming populations grew faster than
nomadic.

TECHNOLOGY
The Use of Fire during the Paleolithic Age - The polished stone tools were characteristic of
- Archaeologists believe early humans produced fire by Neolithic technology.
friction. - Neolithic people were skilled farmers.
- They learned that by rubbing two pieces of wood - An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe
together, the wood became heated and charred. heads, chisels, and polishing tools. Neolithic stone
- They also discovered that a certain stone, iron pyrite, artifacts are, by definition, polished.
gave off sparks when struck against another rock - They were also skilled manufacturers of a range of
other types of stone tools and ornaments, including
Communication and Arts during the Paleolithic Age projectile points, beads, and statues.
- Development of spoken language. - The polished stone axe allowed forest clearance in a
- The spoken language of early people was constantly large scale.
growing and changing.
- Paleolithic cave paintings have been found all INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
around the world. - The Industrial Revolution (1870-1900)
- Early artists crushed yellow, black, and red - Period of time when the face of industry changed
rocks and combined them with animal fat to dramatically.
make their paints. - Lasting impact on the economies of the world and the
- They used twigs and their fingertips to apply lives of the person.
these paints to the rock walls. - Introduction of inventions that made the life of people
easier.
NEOLITHIC AGE
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION TEXTILE
- First Agricultural Revolution - The advancement of the textile industry was a key
- The wide-scale transition from a lifestyle of hunting development in the Industrial Revolution.
and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement. - The cotton increased productivity of removing seed
- The Neolithic was a period in the development of from cotton gin by a factor of 50.
human technology (10,200 BC and ending between - Large gains in productivity also occurred in spinning
4500 and 2000 BC) and weaving of textile
- These settled communities permitted humans to - The first that employed the factory system.
observe and experiment with plants to learn how they - The use of machines and an "assembly-line" approach
grew and developed.
- This new knowledge led to the domestication of plants. STEAM ENGINE
- A steam engine is a heat engine that performs
NEOLITHIC SOCIETY mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.
- During the Neolithic age, people lived in small tribes - In simple terms, the steam engine uses the expansion
composed of families. principle of chemistry, where heat applied to water
- The domestication of large animals resulted in a transforms the water to steam and then pushes a
dramatic increase in social inequality. piston (cylinder).
• Headed by a charismatic leader of tribal - This pushing force is typically transformed, by way of a
groups. connecting rod and flywheel, into rotational force for
- The growth of agriculture made permanent houses work.
possible. - James Watt created the first truly reliable steam
- Mud brick houses and stilt-houses settlements were engine in 1775.
also common. - This invention made locomotives and many of the
textile machines possible.
UNIT 2: the role of science and technology in shaping societies
MINING - It would have an incalculable impact on food
- Following the invention of the steam engine, demand preservation and transportation right up to the present
for coal increased. day.
- Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the - John Hall and Bryan Dorkin would open the very first
ground. commercial canning factory in England in 1813.
- Coal is valued for its energy content
- Industrialization increased the demand significantly. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE
- Jean Lenoir invented the internal combustion engine in
IRON MAKING 1858.
- The substitution of coal for charcoal greatly lowered - Internal Combustion Engine is a heat engine where the
the fuel cost of iron production. combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually
- The steam engine began being used to power blast air air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of
in the mid 1750s, enabling a large increase in iron the working fluid flow circuit.
production. - Eventually this engine was used in mass
transportation.

ELECTRICITY
- The development of electricity as a source of power
had been done by an international collection of
INVENTION OF MACHINE TOOLS scientists including Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania,
- The first machine tools were invented during the Alessandro Volta of the University of Pavia, Italy, and
industrial revolution. Michael Faraday of Britain.
- These included the screw cutting lathe, cylinder boring - It was the latter who had demonstrated the nature of
machine and the milling machine. the elusive relationship between electricity and
- Machine tools made the economical manufacture of magnetism in 1831.
precision metal parts possible - In particular, French, German, Belgian, and Swiss
engineers evolved the most satisfactory forms of
CHEMICALS armature (the coil of wire) and produced the dynamo,
- The large-scale production of chemicals was an which made the large-scale generation of electricity
important development during the Industrial commercially feasible.
Revolution.
- Production sulfuric acid by the lead chamber process AUTOMOBILE
invented by the Englishman John Roebuck in 1746. - Henry Ford was by far one of the most imperative
- Germany took world leadership in the chemical inventors of the Industrial Revolution.
industry during the industrial industry. - It enabled people to go wherever they wanted
- Aspiring chemists flocked to German universities whenever they wanted.
during the period. - The automobile modernize the transportation industry
entirely.
CEMENT
- In 1824, Joseph Aspdin, a British bricklayer turned TELEPHONE
builder, patented a chemical process for making - Alexander Graham Bell created the telephone in 1876.
portland cement. - The telephone further improved communications and
- This process involves sintering a mixture of clay and eventually led to the various communications devices
limestone to about 1,400 °C (2,552 °F), then grinding it used today.
into a fine powder which is then mixed with water, CAMERA
sand and gravel to produce concrete. - Beginning in 1814, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce the first
person to ever take a photograph.
AGRICULTURE - In 1827, he successfully produced the first, long-lasting
- Joseph Foljambe's Rotherham plough of 1730 was the image using a plate coated with bitumen.
first commercially successful iron plough. - This was then washed in a solvent and placed over a
- The threshing machine, invented by Andrew Meikle in box of iodine to produce a plate with light and dark
1784, displaced hand threshing with a flail, a laborious qualities.
job that took about one-quarter of agricultural labor.
PHONOGRAPH
TIN CAN - Thomas Edison created the phonograph in 1877.
- The humble tin can was patented by a British merchant - Prior to the creation of the phonograph the only option
Peter Durand in 1810. for entertainment was for live musicians or actors to
perform.
- This allowed people to listen to music anywhere.
UNIT 2: the role of science and technology in shaping societies

AIRPLANE
- Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright created the first
airplane in 1903.
- ability to fly had long been a dream of the human race.
- Within a few decades, planes had changed the face of
personal and business travel and had dramatically
altered warfare.

RISE OF THE HUMAN EMPIRE (ANTHROPOCENE)

- This is the time in which human activity has been the
dominant influence on climate and the environment.
- Scientists in the Soviet Union appear to have used the
term "anthropocene" as early as the 1960s to refer to
the Quaternary, the most recent geological period.
- The term was widely popularized in 2000 by PLASTICS
atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen, who regards the - Plastics, initially developed in the 1900s, have grown
influence of human behavior on Earth's atmosphere in rapidly since the 1950s, and we now produce 500
recent centuries as so significant as to constitute a new million tons a year.
geological time. - Sediments containing plastics will be a clear sign of the
Anthropocene.
ISSUES THAT HAVE IDENTIFIED THE ANTHROPOCENE
PERIOD

NUCLEAR WEAPONS
- War efforts have left their mark on geology.
- When the first nuclear weapon was detonated on 16
July 1945 in New Mexico
- It deposited radionuclides – atoms with excess nuclear
energy across a wide area.
- Since 1952, more explosive thermonuclear weapons
have been tested.

FOSSIL FUELS
- The products of burning fossil fuels mark
Anthropocene age.
- Current rates of carbon emission are thought to be
higher than at any time in the last 65 million years.
- The concentration of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere has risen sharply since 1850.

CHANGED GEOLOGY
- Every time we destroy a patch of rainforest, this
changes the future of Earth’s geology.
- We have transformed more than 50 percent of Earth’s
land area for our own purposes.
- Deforestation, farming, drilling, mining, landfills, dam-
building and coastal reclamation are all having
widespread effects on sedimentary processes.
- Disrupting how layers of rock are laid down, which will
be detectable thousands of years in the future.

FERTILIZERS
- Our attempts to feed an increasing population will
leave clear indicators, too.
UNIT 2: the role of science and technology in shaping societies
- Levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in soils have
doubled in the last century because of our increased
use of fertilizers.
- We produce 23.5 million tons of phosphorus a year.
- Human activity had the biggest impact on the nitrogen
cycle for 2.5 billion years.

GLOBAL WARMING
- Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in
Earth’s average surface temperature over the past
century primarily due to the greenhouse gases
released as people burn fossil fuels.
- The global average surface temperature rose 0.6 to 0.9
degrees Celsius (1.1 to 1.6° F) between 1906 and 2005,
and the rate of temperature increase has nearly
doubled in the last 50 years.
- Temperatures are certain to go up further.
- Average global sea levels are higher than at any point
in the past 115,000 years and are rising rapidly, which
may also be detectable in future.

MASS EXTINCTION
- The moment of extinction is generally considered to be
the death of the last individual of the species.
- Mass extinctions sparked by massive global changes
mark the anthropocene period.
- It is expected that three-quarters of species set to be
wiped out in the coming centuries.

TECHNOLOGY IN THE DANGEROUS WORLD

- Technology is a means to an end
- Technology is a human activity
- Technology is a contrivance
- Technology is aletheia, poisesis and techne

Calculative mind versus meditative mind

- “But where the danger is, grows the saving power also”
- “Essence of technology is nothing technological”
- “Everywhere we remain unfree and chained to
technology, whether we passionately affirm or deny it”
The four causes why technological devices affect us
- Causa materialis
- Causa formalis
- Causa finalis
- Causa efficiens