Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

and pure research in science,
fundamental
through government or private
whether
grants, is in fact justified through its
sector
usefulness in the development of new
supposed
Is this belief true, though? Project
technologies.
was a 1960s study commissioned
Hindsight
the US Department of Defense to identify
by
factors that led to successful research and
the
programmes. Part of this was to
technology
the relationship between scientific
understand
and technological innovation. Project
research
was among the earliest and most
Hindsight
studies of its kind and introduced the
ambitious
of technology studies as a dedicated field of
field
distinct from science. The study found
enquiry,
scientific research contributed to only 9%
that
the key events that led to the development
of
successful technology programmes.
of
events were responsible for the
Technological
91%. What is the difference between
other
and scientific events? According
technological
this study, science was defined as theoretical
to
experimental studies of unexplained
or
while technology was defined as
phenomena,
capability to perform specific engineering
the
with known phenomena.
techniques
historians of technology it is widely accepted
Among
science owes more to the steam engine than the
that
engine owes to science … . Science is applied
steam
more than technology is applied science.
technology
Sergio Sismondo’s words, above.
Consider
what extent would you agree, and is this
To
changing over time? Why do we
relationship
to concern ourselves with making a
continue
between science and technology? A
distinction
of it has to do with questions of funding,
part
and epistemic power. We celebrate
prestige
inventors for their genius, but even one
famous
of “The Big Bang Theory” will suggest
episode
is a perceived power differential between
there
and engineers, and the kinds of
scientists
produced by each. It is an equation
knowledge
Knowledge outside the scope of
I.3
technology
advances in nanotechnology to machine
From
and neural networks, the scope of
learning
can appear relentlessly expanding.
technology
we talk about the limits of technology,
When
is often a conversation about practical
it
such as the limits of computational
limitations,
that will—the story goes—one day
power,
be overcome.
soon
a computer beats the human champion
When
the game of chess, as is becoming more and
at
frequent, common reactions include a
more
of accomplishment for having produced
sense
a capable machine, and/or a sense of
such
in the face of an intelligence that
humility
ours. Tasks like playing chess are in
surpasses
relatively easy for a computer. But when
fact
intelligence (AI) produces an image
artificial
passes for digital art, or writes verses
that
humans find indistinguishable from
that
we may wonder what are the limits
poetry,
technology. Can a computer controlling a
to
… dance?
robot
question acquires a more serious tone in
This
context of jobs in the future. Many of the
the
that humans perform as “work” can
activities
replaced by machines. How can we know
be
jobs are less likely to be replaced by
which
Think about which human acts may be
robots?
I. Scope
I. Scope
(Sismondo 2009)
uncomputable, and what makes them so.
that keeps shifting.
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