| p>With developments in science and technology | | | | is downright wrong. This is where activists come in |
| being made everyday, it is only natural to address | | | | and defend the use of animals in research. If society |
| how these developments affect society, their good | | | | is not to be inquired in this kind of undertaking, a |
| and their evil. Most of the time society has the | | | | point maybe reached where humans would be the |
| biggest say in any scientific or technological | | | | subjects of research especially in the field of |
| advancement. It holds the final answer in deciding | | | | medicine. Because of issues of morality and |
| whether a developed technology is beneficial or it can | | | | professional ethics lawyers, public officials, civil |
| be done without. But before addressing this let us | | | | servants, and business people are increasingly called |
| first examine the central question; why study science | | | | upon to make decisions requiring a basic |
| and technology? | | | | understanding of science and technology and their |
| Since the dawn of formal learning, the goal has been | | | | ethical, social, and environmental consequences. |
| to make technological advancements and generally | | | | Ordinary citizens, moreover, are being asked with |
| improve life. That is where modern science came in. | | | | increasing frequency to pass judgment on |
| Inquiries into life have given forth physics astronomy | | | | controversial matters of public policy related to |
| and life sciences. Science is a field that grows | | | | science and technology. These circumstances require |
| relatively everyday and there is always an area that | | | | education befitting the complex sociotechnical |
| demands scientific intervention. And that is where the | | | | character of the contemporary era. |
| technology comes in. It is developed to ease the | | | | The study of science technology and society has |
| process of investigation and the final result is | | | | helped map out guidelines for professional boundaries. |
| something that improves the quality of living or a | | | | This study acts as a reference point for most |
| discovery is made. The role science and technology | | | | scientists on what is ethically or morally wrong and |
| has played in the field of medicine cannot be | | | | what is allowed. In medicine especially, the role is |
| understated and the breakthroughs that have been | | | | most essential and unnecessary dilemmas in some |
| made have been astonishing. In all other areas of life, | | | | medical cases for instance, use of life support for |
| from e-learning to e-shopping to space travel, it has | | | | terminally ill patients are avoided. This study gives rise |
| been credited to continued use of science. However | | | | to a new group of professionals known as |
| in all these attempts to improve human life, their | | | | interdisciplinarians who study the short and long term |
| effects on society and the individual must be better | | | | effects of science and technology from a community |
| understood by non-technical professionals and | | | | to a global level. Why study science technology and |
| ordinary citizens as well as by engineers and | | | | society? To find common ground in addressing all |
| scientists. So why study science and technology? | | | | scientific and cultural issues. |
| Boundaries have to be set on what is right and what | | | | |