Article 15 --- 5/2/2010

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-can-technology-help-the-environment.html

For the last blog post, I chose to focus on an issue that is a big part of our society today, the environment. The article that I chose to focus on this issue is by Gaynor Borade and entitled "How Can Technology Help the Environment?" As we have learned throughout the semester, science and technology are major factors that affect our society in many ways, positive and negative. One positive thing that science and technology has allowed us to do is try and make our environment a more healthy place to live in. Through the advancement in technology and the gained knowledge of many people in our society, we have found many new ways that help aid in cleaning up the atmosphere that we have greatly polluted. As stated in the article, certain factors are essential to making our environment a better place to live in and most all of these factors rely on the technology and science that we now have available to us. Such factors include: energy efficiency, "green" living, better fuel, among many others. Further, the article states that, "Technology and dedicated research can help us to manage and monitor energy consumption. This in turn will reduce the risks associated with a depleted ozone layer, health hazards that plaque our lifestyles and even carbon footprint." Modern technology has had a huge implication on how we do many things these days. People are more and more concerned with all of these things and Obama is even giving tax breaks to people that "go green." One of the biggest ways to conserve energy and make it as "clean" as possible is something that we have been doing for a long time, wind power and tidal (water) power. We run all of our power by tidal power at my lake house. These are just a couple of things among millions that can help our society make this world a better place, but we can only do this through the use of technology that we have been able to have through science. This was just another way that proves the fact that science, technology and society go hand-in-hand.

-Adam Traywick

Article 14 --- 4/25/2010

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/impact-of-technology-on-education.html

The article I chose to write on this week is entitled Impact of Technology on Education by Minali Oak. I think this is very important in understanding because I, as everyone else in this class, am a student trying to get my education and for the purpose of this course I believe this is good in knowing. The obvious way that technology has impacted education greatly over the years is the use of computers. I can still remember when there were no computers in school and you were lucky if you had one in the home. Computers have taken the work that we used to do manually and allowed, through complex programs, us to do things with the click of a button in seconds where 20 years ago it would have taken much longer. A prime example of this is this class. I have not seen, talked to, or been around any student in this class because of the use of computers and the internet. I can now talk to people that I have not seen since I graduated high school over the internet whenever I want. Computers have also made the business side of our society a great deal better. With power points and spreadsheets we have now, accounts, presentations, data, etc. can be utilized and better understood. These things have not only made business better but the classroom as well. Most any classroom you step into now have projector screens that fall from the ceiling which allow for more and clearer information on the board while the professor is talking instead of the old ways of having to write down every little thing. Has it spoiled us? Definitely, but I do think that it has had many positive effects. The article talks a lot about online education and how this has made for more learning. I love internet classes and think that they have helped me throughout college because, in many ways, it makes you be more responsible by having to teach yourself and stay on top of things in order to pass. Technology and education compliment each other nowadays more than ever and I think that it will only get better for our society.

-Adam Traywick

Article 13 --- 4/17/2010

http://ezinearticles.com/?Indispensable-Importance-of-Studying-and-Technology-and-Society&id=2269174

As we have been talking about all semester, science and technology play a huge role in our society. This article by Danish Muzaffar entitled Indispensable Importance of Studying Technology and Society studies this matter. Obviously, there would be no science and technology without society. As Muzaffar states, naturally society has the biggest say in any scientific or technological advancement. Our society also holds the final answer in deciding whether or not this technology is beneficial or not. I chose this article because it goes a long with the discussion question of my group this week and this article in some ways explains this. Muzaffar looks at this relationship from a slightly different angle then I have in my previous articles. He states that science is a field that grows relatively everyday and there is always an area that demands scientific intervention. And that is where the technology comes in. Without science, there would be no technology and without technology, our scientific research would be much more slim than it is today. When we take a step back and look at just how far we have come, it is amazing. Another example Muzaffar gives on the relationship between science, technology and society is the one of research dealing with animals. As he says, if there were no say in society, we might would have or eventually come to the point that instead of animals, we would one day be using human beings as research such as the nazis did during the reign of Hitler. He also goes to talk about how more and more jobs are requiring basic knowledge of the new advances in science and technology. Our world is changing so much every single day that if we don't stay on top of things, we can out date ourselves in a short period of time. Science and technology has not only been affected greatly by society but has also greatly affected society itself. One way this is true is DNA. Without science and technology the study of DNA would be impossible. I did not realize how much these three things affected each other as much as they do. Everything we do these days revolves around our society which is a product of science and technology.

-Adam Traywick

Article 12 --- 4/11/2010

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Relationship-Between-Science,-Technology,-and-Society&id=2295834

Appropriate for the purpose of this class obviously, I chose this article entitled The Relationship Between Science, Technology and Society written by Danish Muzaffar. This article was about how the relationship between science and technology has such a great effect on society and how society has an equally great effect on science and technology. As the article states, "Without society then there would be no science and technology." Considering this quote, this is actually the main reason that certain tools and equipment have aided in achieving many things. One of the things that science and technology has helped create is the computer which is the greatest thing that has happened since sliced bread. Anyone can agree with this statement because of the simple fact that it has helped make many things so much easier in our society. Computer among a vast amount of other things have been the result of science and technology. This also applies to the world as a whole, not only our society. The article states that: "The developing world has a long tradition of participatory action research, popular education and community organization joining up to solve some science and technology issues that effect the society." The relationship between science, technology and society is very undermined. Everything that we do and encounter on an everyday basis is the cause of the relationship between science, technology and society. The government has even began to intervene in this issue. We have began to fund certain things such as stem cell research and cloning. These are things that some would argue are unimportant and not worthy to spend as money as we have on, but no matter what your views are, it is amazing that through science and technology our society is able to do this. Our society has made huge bounds since the industrial revolution and we have used science and technology to create what our world is today, with the help of a certain person. Science and technology is a major part of the lives of our citizens in the country as well as citizens in other countries around the world. The relationship between science and technology is a very important one that we should not ignore. We have accomplished many new things and I believe there are many other things out there that are waiting to be discovered.

-Adam Traywick

Article 11 --- 4/4/2010

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/importance-of-science-and-technology.html

To follow up on my article 1o blog, this week I am going to talk about why science and technology is important to us (society) and some ways that it affects our lives. This article was written by Minali Oak and is entitled Importance of Science and Technology. As stated in the article "science and technology are closely linked aspects of society and the studies and developments in both science and technology are essential for the overall progress of society." Why is this important? Science and technology affect us in everyday living; from studying the different branches of science to space exploration and human genetics. These are all things that affect us in one way or another, some underlined and some not. Technology also plays a big role. Technology has had many positive affects on our society such as the advancement of bicycles into scooters and motorcycles as well as telephones and the internet. All of these things have had huge impacts on the way that we as humans live every day. It has revolutionized human life. Stated in the article, we also have a new way of grouping technology that has allowed for easier use of information; "Digitizing of information has been a major breakthrough in the world of information technology. It has made possible the compaction of information, which in turn allows efficient information storage." These are only a few things that are important to us as a society through science and technology. The most important benefit of science and technology is the ease it has brought to our lives. Our society has accomplished many things over the years, some have been advantageous and some have been disadvantageous. Through everything that we have been able to do, I believe that most everything has been for the good. Science and technology are both very important to our society and are also compliments of each other which go hand in hand.

-Adam

Article 10 --- 3/28/2010

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/definition-of-science-technology-and-society.html

Throughout the semester I have found articles and talked about science, technology and society without really knowing what it meant. So for this week, I am going to discuss what the definition of science, technology and society really is. This article is entitled Definition of Science Technology and Society written by Kir Figuereo. As Figuereo states in the opening lines of the article, “Science technology and society is the study of the impact that is made when science, technology and society combine. The combination of these fields has existed since the first inventions, such as the wheel, and continued throughout the years as the printing press and computers were created.” He then goes into defining science, technology and society separately. This was interesting because the three definitions that he gave all went together quite well. They also explained why we need each of these three things needed to work together when trying to do many things in everyday life. Speaking of everyday life, Figuereo then talks about something that is one of the biggest parts of our everyday life, the cell phone. He does this by stating, “Science and technology has impacted our society in such a large number of ways that its evidence is everywhere. Just think of the telephone, ever since it was invented society desired a more mobile way to communicate with people, hence the invention of the mobile phone.” This was interesting because the cell phone has become so many peoples in our country’s life. Everywhere you go someone is on the cell phone. But, this wouldn’t even have been possible without these three things together. This also can be said about e-mails. Nowadays, e-mail has taken over the source of mail for many Americans. It is quick and impersonal which is the way of much of our country now. No one really wants to deal face to face with someone else. This article was good because all through the semester, except for the book, what science technology and society is hasn’t really been discussed and it was interesting to see how much these three things really do work with each other.

-Adam

Article 9 --- 3/21/2010

http://scienceray.com/technology/applied-science/the-effects-and-influences-of-technology-on-society-and-human-kind/

This article is entitled The Effects and Influences of Technology on Society and Human Kind written by Roger Zhong. The article was about whether or not technology has been advantageous or disadvantageous to our society these days. Zhong started out by making a statement that sort of opened up the article in the direction his opinion supported, that technology has had negative affects on society. He started out by giving a definition of technology and its origins which is Greek that means " the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area." He criticizes this definition because he thinks that "it lacks concrete meaning." His definition of technology is one that I agree with. This definition states that, "word used to collectively describe or portray the advancements, abilities, creations, undertakings, views, and knowledge of a singular group of persons: we as human kind." I agree with this definition because technology has obviously grew throughout the years, and that is because we as humans and a society have uncovered so many new things that has led to new and unimaginable lengths. One of the ways that Zhong says that technology has many disadvantageous affects on our society is that we have actually outdid ourselves with the technology; as in we depend on way too many things to work with the use of technology rather than human labor like years ago. For example, just a few years back, the internet did not exist and our country was very prosperous and we were hard working people. Zhong argues that the internet has actually made Americans more lazy and rely too much on things that we read and hear on the internet instead of real life situations. I really liked this article because it focused on many of the underlined problems we face now in our society that also goes hand in hand with what many solely rely on to get through the day, science and technology. I think we as a country sometimes need to really sit back and re-think some ways we approach new technological advances.