STS C78

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 5

CHAPTER 7 ● By 1463, printed Bibles cost one-tenth of hand-copied

The Information Age Bibles.


● began around the 1970s and still going on today ● By 1500, Europe had more than 1,000 printers and 7,000
● known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media books in print.
Age ● Like the internet, books spread new ideas quickly and sped
● brought about a time period in which people could access up the process of change.
information and knowledge easily ● Books also planted the seeds of democracy and human
rights in the next generation of thinkers.
Pre-Gutenberg Period ● Newspapers and pamphlets generated information and
● most people lived in small, isolated villages ideas even faster.
● the only source of both religious and worldly information ● BOOKS allowed for the much more rapid spread of
was the village Catholic priest in the accurate information but, more elusively, it had an
pulpit enormous impact on the nations and population in Europe
● News passed from one person to another, often in the form at large.
of rumor. ● Literacy began to rise as well as the types of information
● Written documents were rare and often doubted by the people could be exposed to.
common people as forgeries ● When Europe was recovering from the devastating impact
● What counted in important matters was oral testimony of the Black Death, the impact of printing press decimated
based on oaths taken in the name of God to tell the truth. the population and had led to the decline in the rise of the
● Almost no one could read or write the language they spoke. church, the rise of the money economy, and subsequent
● Those few who were literate usually went on to master birth of the Renaissance.
Latin, the universal language of scholarship, the law, and ● The printing Renaissance opened the realm of learning and
the Roman Catholic Church reading to the local populations as schools were built and
● Books, all hand-copied, were rare, expensive, and almost books about education were written and print published.
always in Latin ● The printing press had dramatic effects on European
● Most people passed their lifetime without ever gazing at a civilization and its more immediate effect was to spread
book, a calendar, a map, or written work of any sort information quickly and accurately and this gradually helped
● Memory and memorization ruled daily life and learning to create a much wider literate reading public.
● Poets, actors and story tellers relied on rhyming lines to ● The arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced
remember vast amounts of material. the era of mass communication, which permanently
● Craftsmen memorized the secrets of their trades to pass altered the structure of society.
on orally to apprentices. ● the sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the
● Mechanics kept their accounts in their heads. literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the
emerging middle class.
● Scholars literate in Latin used memory devices to
remember what they had learned. ● Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its
people led to the rise of proto-nationalism, accelerated by
● Scribes, often monks living in monasteries, each labored
the flowering of the European vernacular languages to the
for up to a year to copy a single book, usually in Latin.
detriment of Latin’s status as lingua franca.
● The scribes copied books on processed calfskin called
● Because of the printing press, authorship became more
velum and later on paper.
meaningful and profitable.
● Specialists or the scribes themselves “illuminated’ painted
● It was suddenly important who had said or written what, and
large capital letters and the margins of many books with
what the precise formulation and time of information.
colorful designs were very costly.
● Before, the author was less important, since a copy of
● Before the discovery of printing press, books in Europe
Aristotle made in Paris would not be exactly identical to one
were typically handwritten manuscripts while paper money,
made in Bologna.
playing cards, posters, and the like were block-printed from
hand-carved wooden blocks, inked and transferred to Printed Materials as Agents of Change
paper. ● Gutenberg’s movable type printing press was a disruptive
Gutenberg Revolution innovation in more ways than one.
● Johannes Gutenberg turned the printing world upside ● it allowed for the spread of knowledge both within elite
down and brought on a new era of print with his communities, like the Catholic Church and the scientific
revolutionary innovation of movable type in 1445 community, and also to the rest of the general population.
● Movable type printing used metal stamps of single letters ● It brought about new innovations and ideas that lead to
that could be arranged into words, sentences and pages of changes in power and standards in both religious and
text scientific areas of European culture.
● large manually operated, the stamps would be arranged to ● scientific and religious works were subject to a language
read a page of text so that when covered with ink, it would change from Latin to vernacular languages.
print out a page of text ● it allowed for greater accessibility and spread of all kinds of
● Movable type kept the metal stamp letters separate, which knowledge throughout a wider population never before
allowed printers to reuse the letters quickly on succeeding seen, bringing about several new social dynamics that will
pages. As a result, more pages could be efficiently printed lead to several social revolutions.
in a shorter amount of time with much less effort. Post-Gutenberg Period
● Gutenberg’s amazing invention made books the internet of ● The impact of the Gutenberg printing press was
the time. immeasurable. It caused nothing less than a dramatic
● The printing press made it possible to produce books much social and cultural revolution.
more quickly and cheaper than ever before.
● The sudden widespread dissemination of printed works –
books, tracts, posters and papers – gave direct rise to Competence
vs We can get any information we want and reach
the European Renaissance. Incompetence anyone we want with the help of new
Gutenberg technologies. However, we lose our ability to
● While Gutenberg’s famous Bible was printed in Latin remember phone numbers and our ability to
● Movable type press articulate thoughts.
- his invention meant that Protestant tracts and the
arguments between Martin Luther and the Catholic Church Engaging vs When we are engaged in an activity that involves
which led to the Reformation could be widely disseminated. Disengaging the use of new technology, we need to disengage
The Reformation from whatever we are doing. We directly interact
with our family and loved ones less frequently
● began in Germany in the early 16th century because we tend to engage more in new portable
● led to the Bible being printed in the languages common to technology tools.
people.
● Gutenberg’s invention led inevitably to the Protestant Public vs New technologies blur the line between what is
Private public and what is private. People may talk on the
revolution, the Age of Enlightenment, the development of phone or message someone among a circle of
Modern Science and Universal Education. acquaintances, which may be disturbing.
● everything that has led to human progress and the
advancement of the modern world. Illusion vs We tend to think new communication
Disillusion technologies make our lives better. However, the
The local press more we communicate, the more trivial our
● are in sharp circulation decline, and the online advertising conversations become. In other words, more
communication does not always equal better
businesses have moved to Google and Facebook and
communication.
others.
● The result has caused newspaper closures and large-scale Speed of access
downsizings and redundancies. Many people now prefer to ● limited the ability of the internet to be a channel for all forms
believe people from their social environment, instead of of media, restricting its use to text based and transactional
turning to “the media”. forms.
● The collateral damage caused by the digitization is ● much of the initial investment in the web went into servicing
increasing amounts of information and currently this is not and creating institutional opportunities, with e-commerce
going to stop. emerging as the major new web-based phenomena.
World Wide Web Two developments:
● The emergence of the internet and the World Wide Web in (1) the spread of broadband internet access made it possible
the 1990s was initially by many as ushering in new to easily both upload and download all forms of media:
democratic age, driven by much greater access to video, images and audio as well as just text and
information. transactions.
● In reality, while the internet had a dramatic impact, the (2) tools emerged which made it simple for people to publish or
revolutionary shifts predicted did not occur. spread information. EX: Blogging, social networking and
● World Wide Web still conformed to the Gutenberg principle. distribution and sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr.
Building a website, accessing server space and publishing
information required both money and technical expertise Gathering significance
and was therefore still the preserve of institutions rather ● third trend based around attaching relevance and content
than individuals. to all of the otherwise random pieces of information now
● The reality of much greater access to information was not being published.
matched by a greater ability to publish it. ● concerns practices such as tagging, rating and
commenting, as well as services such as social
PARADOXES OF TECHNOLOGY bookmarking and news-sharing sites which allow
individuals to store and share information.
Empowerment New technologies allow us to be connected to
vs and reachable by everyone. However, as a result, ● s responsible for creating forms of collective intelligence
Enslavement our privacy is threatened and technology starts and what has been called ‘crowd wisdom’
controlling us. Whether we want or not, we feel ○ probably the most important area to watch going forwards
socially obliged to take phone calls, answer because of its ability to allow individuals to create the
emails, and send responses to messages on trust and connections necessary to transact and
Facebook. communicate amongst themselves without any
institutionalized intervention.
Independent New gadgets such as cell phones allow us to do
vs many things on our own. However, this situation
Dependence creates dependency, as we can’t go even one CHAPTER 8: What is Biodiversity?
day without our phones and we feel helpless ● Biological diversity or biodiversity is the variety of life
when the Internet is down.
● refers collectively to variation at all levels of biological
Fulfills needs Technology resolves some problems but organization.
● The term biodiversity refers to the full abundance or variety
of life – plant, animal and microbial.
vs Creates also introduces new ones, e.g. we need devices ● occurs at all levels of ecological organization, but
needs with longer battery life, we need antivirus
biodiversity generally refers to genetic, species and
software to be safe, we need to learn new skills,
etc. ecosystem diversity.
● This is the diversity of life upon which the health of the Intended Uses of GMO
environment depends.
Biomedical
● Genetic, species and ecosystem diversity are convenient
terms but because the universe is a continuum, some ● Used as specific models for many different human
diseases, including multiple infectious diseases, such as
practical difficulties exist in precisely defining each of them.
HIV, immune system defects, blood and metabolic
disorders, muscular dystrophy, cancer immunotherapies
Threats to Biodiversity among others.
Habitat loss
● Elimination of their habitat—whether it is a forest, coral reef, Farm/Food Animals
grassland, or flowing river—will kill the individuals in the ● Engineering of animals used for food.
species. Examples include, chickens producing only female offspring for
● Remove the entire habitat and the species will become egg laying, cows producing only male offspring for better meat
extinct, unless they are among the few species that do well yield, pigs who can be fattened with less food, cashmere goats
in human-built environments. for producing more meat from greater muscle mass and longer
Overharvesting hair for wool yield; and efforts to facilitate greater stocking
density, such as cattle without horns and animals with greater
● Poaching and other forms of hunting for profit increase the
resistance to disease.
risk of extinction; the extinction of an apex predator — or, a
predator at the top of a food chain — can result in Agriculture
catastrophic consequences for ecosystems. ● Genetic engineering provides a quicker and more precise
Invasive species way to achieve the same goal in one generation.
Genetically modified crops offer improved yields, enhanced
● Exotic species are species that have been intentionally or
nutritional value, longer shelf life, and resistance to drought,
unintentionally introduced by humans into an ecosystem in
frost, or insect pests.
which they did not evolve.
● These exotic species often undergo dramatic population Examples of GM crops include corn varieties containing a gene
increases in their new habitat and reset the ecological for a bacterial pesticide that kills larval pests, and soybeans with
conditions in the new environment, threatening the species an inserted gene that renders them resistant to weed-killers.
that exist there.
“GMO” (genetically modified organism) has become the
● When this happens, the exotic species also becomes an common term consumers and popular media use to describe
invasive species. Invasive species can threaten other foods that have been created through genetic engineering.
species through competition for resources, predation, or
disease. Genetic engineering is a process that involves:
Climate change ● Identifying the genetic information – or “gene” – that gives
● Climate change, and specifically the anthropogenic an organism (plant, animal or microorganism) a desired
warming trend presently underway, is recognized as a trait.
major extinction threat, particularly when combined with ● Copying the information from the organism that has the trait
other threats such as habitat loss. ● Inserting that information into the DNA of another organism
● Anthropogenic warming of the planet has been observed
and is due to past and continuing emission of greenhouse Some Genetically Modified Organisms developed in the
gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane, into the Philippines
atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels and Longer-lasting papaya
deforestation.
● Institute of Plant Breeding in UPLB developed delayed-
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) ripening papaya that is resistant to ring-spot virus (PRSV).
Biotechnology ● Initial project assisted by the Australian government
● is a set of techniques that involves the use of biological developed a papaya variety with a 14-day shelf life, or
processes and living organisms for industry, agricultural or double the usual 6 days.
other activities. ● Scientists achieved this by suppressing the generation of
● Its purpose is to modify the natural and biological processes key enzyme in the ethylene biosynthesis pathway –ACC
of living organisms without necessarily altering the genes or synthase – through genetic manipulation.
genetic construct of the living organisms. ○ ACC synthase triggers ethylene production,
which causes ripening of fruits.
four major industrial processes based on biological ● Protein enriched copra meal (PECM) as feed protein for
systems tilapia, milkfish and shrimp
● cell and tissue culture aquaculture
● Fermentation ALL ABOUT COPRA
● enzyme technology ● Primarily used as animal feed,
● genetic engineering also referred to as modern technology ● important feed resource in the Philippines.
● For thousands of years, humans have been using ● In 2014, the Philippines produced about 750,000 metric
traditional modification methods like selective breeding tons of copra meal as coconut by-product. About 60% of
and cross-breeding to breed plants and animals with more this was locally utilized mainly as animal feed.
desirable traits.
● Most of the foods today were created through traditional Several concerns on the use of soybean meals as feeding
breeding methods. ingredient.
● This 101 includes its fluctuating market price
● its being expensive import commodity, • The peak of decline in the area of production in 1997 was
● its erratic supply due to pests and diseases as well as unfavorable climatic
● it even competes for human food conditions especially during off-season months.
• Virus diseases, including ToLCV, are considered the most
To address the issue on high cost of soybean importation damaging to tomato production worldwide causing 50-
and to ensure the quality of animal feeds, 100% yield loss.
● Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural • Use of chemicals to stop the vector insect proved to be
Resources Research costly and does not warrant sustainable protection.
● Development of the Department of Science and Moreover, the strategy can be hazardous both to human
Technology (DOSTPCARRD) health and environment.
Two organization supported research and development (R&D) • use of resistant varieties offers the most effective and
programs on feed resources under its Industry practical strategy to overcome the disease.
Strategic Science and Technology (S&T) Program (ISP) • While, breeding initiatives to virus resistant varieties have
been going on, the lack of varieties with durable resistance
One of the program’s accomplishments against multiple virus diseases remains a concern to
• is the use of formulated feeds for swine, poultry and aquatic farmers. At present, there are no commercial varieties
animals with Protein Enriched Copra Meal (PECM) that grown in the Philippines with durable resistance to major
was developed by the National Institute of Molecular virus diseases such as ToLCV. Use of the promising
Biology and Biotechnology of the UPLB-BIOTECH. resistant breeding materials may improve production yield
● Through solid-state fermentation technology, the PECM is and income of more than 18,000 tomato growers
enriched with microorganisms that increase the protein
BT CORN
content of copra meal to about 36 to 44% crude protein
content, comparable to the 46% of soybean meal. ● was engineered to be specifically resistant to the Asian
● A group of researchers from the Institute of Aquaculture, corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenee), the
College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences of the University most devastating corn pests in the industry.
of the Philippines Visayas studied the possibility of ● was introduced as a “practical and ecologically
substituting 50% soybean meal, as a major feed protein sustainable solution” for poor corn farmers, a major
source, with PECM bullet to combat poverty and improve livelihood.
● Adoption rate of biotech maize in 2015 is at 63%. In the
Tomato Leaf Curve Virus (ToLCV)- resistant Variety period 2003 to 2015, there were 13 years of
● The Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) of the consecutive growth in hectarage of Bt corn, except for
University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) 2015 due to drought
developed tomato breeding line resistant to tomato leaf
curl virus (ToLCV) in the hope of reviving tomato’s Potential benefits of GM crop
robust production in the country. 1. Better nutritional qualities
● two-year project was completed by a team composed - rice with provitamin A and iron corn with high lysine and
mainly of local scientist at the IPB-UPLB with tryptophan;
financial support from the Department of Agriculture - vegetables with higher ~-carotene and lycopene;
Biotech Program. legumes with higher sulfur containing amino acids:
● Research team developed the candidate ToLCV- - sweet potato with higher protein content.
resistant lines from the local tomato varieties by 2. Engineering pest or disease resistance in important
interbreeding local varieties with ToLCV-resistant crops
tomato lines acquired from the Asian Vegetable - such as rice and corn, various vegetables. sweet
Research and Development Center (AVRDC) – The potato and others especially those important for
World Vegetable Center developing countries.
● ToLCV-resistance in the donor parental lines, hybrids 3. Edible vaccines aimed at providing low cost immunization
and the derived lines from the initial hybrids was strategy for developing countries
verified by exposing the plants to the ToLCV-Laguna
- banana with antigen of causal organism of diarrhea is
isolate and by marker-assisted selection (MAS).
now at clinical trial stage.
○ MAS can predict even at early seedling stage
whether a plant will grow to express a trait of - Vaccine corn for gastroenteritis in hogs, hepatitis B in
interest based on the mere presence or absence humans, etc.
of gene markers.- 4. Antibodies engineered and produced in plants
○ Gene markers are short unique DNA sequences located expressed antibodies in potato, tobacco and rapeseed
near the DNA sequence of the gene responsible for a were stable and active; need to increase expression level.
desired physical characteristic/trait in each generation 5. Crops which can extract and detoxify pollutants from
of plants produced. the environment such as heavy metals
○ markers for genes responsible for the resistance to this research is hampered by the lack of basic
ToLCV confirmed successful transfer of the resistance knowledge on the molecular mechanism involved in
gene in the genetic make-up of the developed tomato the uptake and storage of inorganics in plants.
lines. 6. Crops which produce less toxic residues such as corn
○ Lines rated as highly resistant due to absence or very with low phytate,
minimal observed symptoms of infection and detected 15 Phytate complexes phosphorus and thus the latter
for presence of ToLCV resistance genes through gene becomes unavailable and cannot released by
markers were considered candidate ToLCV resistant nonruminants. A large amount of phosphate is
breeding materials excreted and contributes to water pollution.
• Tomato was the leading vegetable crop in the country in
terms of area planted until 1990.
7. Production of alternative polymers which can replace o thousands of generations for a recipient organism to
substitute plastics and other petrochemical products in become the dominant form in the population.
plants and thus are renewable and biodegradable ● other factors such as timing of appropriate biotic or abiotic
environmental conditions and additional changes in the
Risk Related to the Use of Genetically Modified
recipient organism could delay adverse effects.
Organisms (GMOs)
Antibiotic Resistance and Horizontal Gene Transfer.
Genetic Contamination/Interbreeding
● Most of the first generation of GM crops have antibiotic
● Introduced GMOs may interbreed with the wildtype or resistance gene as selectable marker.
sexually compatible relatives. ● It has been hypothesized that such antibiotic resistance
● The novel trait may disappear in wild types unless it confers genes could lead to the innovation of oral doses of the
a selective advantage to the recipient. antibiotic, or that these genes could be transferred to
● However, tolerance abilities of wild types may also develop, pathogenic microorganism in the gut or the soil which will
thus altering the native species’ ecological relationship and render them resistant to such antibiotics.
behavior
GMOs and Biodiversity
Competition with Natural Species. ● The impact of GMOs on biodiversity is widely debated.
● Faster growth of GMOs can enable them to have a ● Pro-GMO researchers maintain that if crops are genetically
competitive advantage over the native organisms. modified for pest resistance, farmers can reduce their
● This may allow them become invasive, to spread into new reliance on insecticides, so that local fauna, such as birds,
habitats, and cause ecological and economic damage rodents, and insects, can flourish in the area.
Increased Selection Pressure on Target and ○ Secondary pests that would have been eliminated
Non-target Organisms. through widespread insecticide application are not
suppressed by the scaled-back insecticide use
● Pressure may increase on target and non-target species to permitted GMOs. Because these secondary pests
adapt to the introduced changes as if to a geological remain, other small predator – the birds and rodents
change or a natural selection pressure causing them to that feed on the secondary pests-remain viable.
evolve distinct resistant populations. Ecosystem Impacts o development of drought-resistant or flood-resistant
● The effects of changes in a single species may extend well crops allows arid or flood-prone land to be used for
beyond to the ecosystem. growing crops.
● Single impacts are always joined by the risk of ecosystem
damage and destruction ● GMO skeptics have argued that up to 75% of plant genetic
diversity has been lost since farmers switched to uniform
Impossibility of Follow-up. GM crop varieties.
● Once the GMOs have been introduced into the environment o less popular, non-GM seed varieties are being
and some problems arise, it is impossible to eliminate them. neglected.
● Many of these risks are identical to those incurred with o ○ widely used GM crop varieties can spread to
regards to the introduction of naturally or conventionally neighboring fields and eventually mix in with nonGM
bred species. But still this does not ssuggest that GMOs are crops.
safe or beneficial, nor that they should be less scrutinized o ○ A farmer who wishes to continue using a non-GM
● Horizontal Transfer of Recombinant Genes to other seed variety, or who desires to maintain the organic
Microorganisms. status of his crops, must adopt potentially expensive
- One risk of particular concern relating to GMOs is the measures to protect his crops from contamination or
risk of horizontal gene transfer (HGT). cross-pollination with his neighbor’s GM crops.
o ○ over-popularity of certain GM crops may lead to
- HGT is the acquisition of foreign genes (via greater susceptibility to pests and disease.
transformation, transduction, and conjugation) by
o ○ Pests may evolve to target the monoculture of
organisms in a variety of environmental situations.
popular and overused crop varieties.
- It occurs especially in response to changing o ○ The evolution of glyphosate-resistant weeds has
environments and provides organisms, especially required farmers to make ever greater use of
prokaryotes, with access to genes other than those that glyphosate, the toxicity of which poses dangers for
can be inherited. human health.
- HGT of an introduced gene from a GMO may confer a ● It has been hypothesized that GM crops can harm insect
novel trait in another organism, which could be a species that are not pests.
source of potential harm to the health of people or the
● Insects that feed on GM crops will carry GM pollen, which
environment
may prove toxic in the long term and result in depletion or
Loss of Management Control Measures. even extinction of insect populations.
● Regulatory approvals for field trials of GMOs often require ● The genetic integrity of any plant or insect that lives in close
measures to limit and control the release in space and time. proximity to GM crops can be compromised because gene
● With the spread of the introduced gene(s) to another transfer from one organism to another can occur, and such
species by HGT, a new GMO is created. This new GMO genes may pose unanticipated risks.
may give rise to adverse effects which are not controlled by ● GM traits have been found transferred to insects, water life
management measures imposed by the original license or and soil.
permit
Long-term Effects
● impact of HGT may be more severe in the long term. Even
under relatively strong selection pressure, it may take

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy