What came first – the society, or the science and technology? Understanding the ouroboros for improving the quality of life around the world.
In understanding the role of contemporary science and technology in our society today, the impact of society on science and technology, and thus on the quality of life, is often misinterpreted. Perhaps it is so, as the very nature of such an inquiry, is a matter of a cause-effect argument. This argument in its entirety can form the basis for a thesis – the scope of which, is beyond this modest essay.
Until the very beginning of the industrial age in the late eighteenth century, progress of science was dominated by discovery, and not invention. Then, the impact of science and technology on society was obvious, and was often, with the might of the religious structures, of a conflicting nature. But as the industrial revolution unfolded over the next two centuries, man’s needs and wants began to drive invention and innovation. More so, it were the needs and wants of the western society that demanded the growth in science and technology. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the western society, now an aptly functioning developed society, garnered substantial incentives from the resulting advancement of science. Yet, still, the ramifications of scientific progress on society were more intense than the other way around. Matters drastically changed, first during and after the First World War, and then, during and after the Second World War.
The western society by now had started investing enormous amounts of resources in driving science and technology, in ways it deemed fit, either to hon the interests of its socio-moral values, or to project a sense of authority of its governing structures over the virgin, but resource rich, nations which had spawned after imperial colonies had dissolved. This was evident at the macro-level. At the micro-level, institutions such as universities, and at the other end, manufacturing corporations, began to diverge the progress of science and technology in directions which they deemed financially profitable. Research and development in areas viable to the developing and under- developed societies was overlooked.
Today, in the twenty-first century, the impact society has on contemporary science and technology is greater than ever before, and ever more apparent. From the growing awareness of mass consumerism to the state of earth’s climate, from stem cell research to development of weapons of mass destruction, etc., the contemporary society is rift with leashes controlling the growth in science and technology. And with the advent of globalisation, we have witnessed societies harbouring intentions to help better the conditions in the developing and under-developed regions of our world. Nevertheless, the attitude towards science and technology directed towards the development of underprivileged regions is still appalling. From an industrial designer’s point of view, this appalling attitude has resulted in a disparity between the industrial design for the first world and the third world – a distinction so immoral, that it could arise only out of political mistrust and greed.
How science and technology affects the society, on the other hand, has always been a customary undertaking whilst analysing feasibility of emerging science and technology. No where is it more apparent than in the field of aerospace technology (Though there are other comparable technologies, the focus on aerospace is based on the underlying interest in space technologies for developing closed-loop solutions). Armed with three hundred odd years of an insight into Newtonian physics, the technological advances due to the industrial revolution and the military-industrial-complex, industrialised nations have been investing heavily in developing aerospace technologies since after the Second World War. The aerospace industry being a high-maintenance undertaking, devouring enormous amounts of material and financial resources, was quick to realise the financial potential in licensing and leasing its cutting-edge technologies to commercial sectors. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) agency of the United States has been actively licensing their technologies since 1970s. Since then, products and processes developed using these technologies have been permeating our society.
The European Space Agency (ESA), a conglomerate of national space agencies of many nations in the European Union, too, has taken to initiating space technology transfer initiatives in its member nations. From high grade plastics to composite alloys, from high performance computing systems to advanced micro-electronics, from resource-generation systems to recycling systems, from global positioning systems to manufacturing processes, have all found their way in to everyday objects like automobiles, consumer electronics and products, medical equipment and procedures, furniture and housing materials, transportation and communication systems, etc. The result has been startling. It has been pivotal in the transition, and subsequent proliferation of the experience economy. It has truly enabled consumerism strengthen its grip in the developed world. It has, consequently, empowered the developed society define the developments in science and technology, so as to serve itself. This is why the society has had a polarised impact on sustained and unbiased scientific progress.
“Since science is problem driven, it should be judged by the quality of the problems it poses, and the quality of the solutions it provides”, wrote Sydney Brenner in Science, volume 282. The problems posed by the situations in the developing and under-developed regions are characteristically different from those in the developed regions. Consequently, any attempts to converge and find solutions to these problem will require dedicated and specialised effort, and more importantly, additional, stipulated resources. Yet, the expected pay back from these solutions, in terms of financial surplus is mediocre. This is where the major hurdle lies. Overcoming the very nature of the industrial, capitalist economies in order to invest in science and technology for everyone, without any prejudice towards political boundaries, economics and social strata, will provide a breeding ground for new opportunities and avenues to uplift underprivileged regions of our world.
This essay is part of a series of essays on the challenges facing sustained and unbiased development of the quality of life in the underprivileged regions of our world, which were a prologue to my thesis work at Konstfack in 2010-2011.