WRITING NATURE: 
DISCOURSES OF ECOLOGY

 

Ed:Ý What's the differemce between science and technology?Ý Who or what
controls it or them?
Steven Jay:Ý hello there
Ralph:Ý hi
Steven Jay:Ý everybodu talks
Steven Jay:Ý focus
Alex:Ý hello
Steven Jay:Ý how many people are in here
Alex:Ý 1
Opium:Ý 2
Steven Jay:Ý 3
Ralph:Ý 4
Opium:Ý Is that it??
Alex:Ý So, on with the discussion
Opium:Ý Alright, difference between science and technology-
Steven Jay:Ý technology is the progress of science
Steven Jay:Ý but progress is misleading
Alex:Ý I would say that science usually focuses on the interpretation of science
while technology is the application of science
Alex:Ý I meant to say that its the interpretation of NATURE
Ralph:Ý but it's not always the correct interpretation
Alex:Ý Correct.
Steven Jay:Ý science is our invention that enables us to understand nature in terms
that make sense (to us)
Alex:Ý Science is just aÝ model of nature, but I doubt any of it is absolutely
correct
Opium:Ý How do we feel about the use of science as a basis of technology?
Opium:Ý For instance, should science be for its own sake, whereas technology is
used for specific goals- ie war?
Alex:Ý If technology simply takes advantage of nature, and splits from it, then it is
normal to use what we know about nature to create technology
Alex:Ý I wouldnt say that science is used primarily for science's sake.Ý There are
always vested interests
Alex:Ý The Fermi institute for example:Ý nuclear physics was jumpstarted by
WWII and the atom bomb
Ralph:Ý i don't think that it's always in our best interests to use what we know
about science to further technology (i.e. cloning etc)K
Opium:Ý Very often then, sceince is progressed by the demand for technology
Alex:Ý So would you say that it is improper to use science to create technology
that specifically denies our humanity as in cloning?
Steven Jay:Ý we apply science to aspects of our world that need explaining or that
would servve our own needs (this is where war might come in)
Alex:Ý Why is it that we nned to explain these things?
Ralph:Ý it's part of our nature
Steven Jay:Ý we need to feel like we are the moasters of our domain
Opium:Ý Who decides those needs though??Ý Science- especially at the research
level- relies on funding from corporations and govt. not exactly the need to
explain..
Alex:Ý If explaining things is part of our nature, then so would the application of
what we've learned - technology
Opium:Ý There might be a lot of stuff that is yet undiscovered but will be ignored
because there is no funding to research it..
Steven Jay:Ý but the demand for technology, I think, is rooted in our innately
curious nature
Ralph:Ý i think it also stems from our desire to improve our lives and make
everything better
Steven Jay:Ý yeah, and that sense of the unknown intimidates us and motivates us
to seek the "truth"
Opium:Ý Is it just curiosity or the desire to be superior in comparison to other
human beings, countries,. etc..
Alex:Ý So, given that technology improves our lives, why is it that some people
feel like we are some how worse off?
Opium:Ý i don't think it always improve our lives.,...
Steven Jay:Ý because technology can be dangerous
Opium:Ý And in many ways it is used to subjugate others.
Ralph:Ý it also introduces a lot of ethical issues
Alex:Ý I agree, but people often justify technology by arguing that it is essential to
our way of life
Steven Jay:Ý the Promethean spirit can have disasterous consequenced
Ralph:Ý it may be essential to our current way of life, but not to life in general
Ralph:Ý what is the Promethean spirit
Opium:Ý I think we have become dependent on technology in theÝ "developed
world".Ý Which makes it essential
Steven Jay:Ý ask my CIV prof she won't stop talking about it
Opium:Ý Promethius was a God who gave fire to the humans and therefore
knowledge and was punished with an eternity of painÝ by the other Gods
Alex:Ý So do you think technology will ever cease to evolve... when will we
realize that what we have started isn't essential or helpful
Steven Jay:Ý it is basically the blind putsuit of innovation, knowledge, invention,
etc.Ý TEchnology
Steven Jay:Ý Humans playing god.ÝÝ Frankenstein
Opium:Ý As technology develops, we become more and more dependent upon it...
so it is not only a pursuit of knowledge or playing GOd.. we just can't turn back
Ralph:Ý i'm not sure that it will ever be possible to stop technology - even if
governments prohibit research in certain areas, i think it still goes on
underground
Steven Jay:Ý that's right.Ý we need to be careful
Alex:Ý Of course, our whole society is geared to capitalistic consumption fed by
technology.Ý Industry and our economy relies on technology.... Silicon Valley,etc.

Opium:Ý Exactly, and industry pumps money in to places like Stanford so that
"science" will live on....
Steven Jay:Ý we don't have to rely on technology though.Ý What's wrong with the
way we are right now?
Alex:Ý we are the future scientists and innovators they tell us
Opium:Ý I don't think most of us have a choice .
Steven Jay:Ý we could cure a few diseases and call it quits
Ralph:Ý nice idea
Opium:Ý The decision for technological research is made by those with money -
they decide how they want to use it, and we get stuck with what that money
creates..
Alex:Ý people are used to the concept of technology and progress.Ý When
someone goes to buy a car, they don't say "I want that piece of junk over there
that was a nice car 10 years ago"Ý they want the new car with gadgets that gets
better gas mileage
Steven Jay:Ý I think the money issue is debatable
Ralph:Ý how so?
Steven Jay:Ý I think that technology is the result of intelligence, not finacial
security
Steven Jay:Ý the means to implement technology do not have to be expensive
Alex:Ý Some of the more amazing discoveries were made by people with very
little money.Ý The Wright brothers and the airplane, Bill Gates, etc.
Steven Jay:Ý that's what i
Steven Jay:Ý m saying
Steven Jay:Ý starving college students like us
Opium:Ý Stanford gets 30% of its income from coporate donations - it's that
money that keeps research going.Ý And the product of that research is mass
marketed to bait us.
Steven Jay:Ý can make miracles
Ralph:Ý nowadays, however, it seems as though research won't be done without
money
Alex:Ý Bye
Steven Jay:Ý dinner's ready
Opium:Ý But for those brilliant ideas to be mass produced, it takes a lot of venture
capitalists,
Steven Jay:Ý gotta go
Ralph:Ý this was fun.Ý thanks
Opium:Ý It's been real :)
Alex:Ý late
Steven Jay:Ý er
Ralph:Ý skater