......................................................................................................Course Developed by Prof. Archana Barua
Wiens writes about how one study (Project Hindsight), conducted by the U.S. Defense Department, examined 710 events that were essential in the development of 20 major weapon systems during the 20 years following World War II. The investigators found that only two events (a minuscule .3% of the total) were the result of basic scientific research (Volti, 1992). 19 Another study analyzing British firms reported similar findings. However, a more recent analysis found a median delay of nine years between a scientific finding and its conversion to technology, a finding that would have modified the results of Project Hindsight somewhat if the researchers would have extended their study over a longer period (Volti, 1992). While it is true that applied science is generally technology (i.e., it is designed to extend human capability or modify an environment), it is also true that much technology that exists and is practiced is not applied science in the strictest sense of the term. increasingly, the paths of science and technology are not separate or unidirectional as indicated in the Project Hindsight study but illustrate a relationship of mutual dependency, that is, symbiotic.
Green, Karen (2006) "Parity and Procedural Justice," Essays in Philosophy : Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Essays in Philosophy is a biannual journal published by Pacific University Library | ISSN 1526-0569 | http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip/
Today we can give many examples where science and technology complement each other, where one does not consistently lead or follow the other. It is the contention of the author that few fields of endeavor illustrate the symbiotic relationship between science and technology more clearly than biotechnology and, more specifically, genetic engineering.
Green, Karen (2006) "Parity and Procedural Justice," Essays in Philosophy : Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Essays in Philosophy is a biannual journal published by Pacific University Library | ISSN 1526-0569 | http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip/
Even in name, biotechnology is a marriage of science and technology. By definition, biotechnology is a multidisciplinary applied science that draws on knowledge from biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering to use living organisms to make or modify products, to improve plants or animals, or to develop micro-organisms for specific uses (Office of Technology Assessment, 1984). Biotechnology has applications in a number of fields: medicine, agriculture, botany, waste treatment, marine and aquatic fields, and food and beverages.20
Green, Karen (2006) "Parity and Procedural Justice," Essays in Philosophy : Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Essays in Philosophy is a biannual journal published by Pacific University Library | ISSN 1526-0569 | http://commons.pacificu.edu/eip/
REFERNCES
19 Volti, R. (1992). Society and technological change (2nd ed.) . New York: St. Martin's Press
20 Seenath, 198 Seenath , L. H. (1988). Industrial Biotechnology International 1988/89 . Essex, UK: Longman Group UK Limited