Module Three: Part A 2023

Society, Science, and Technology – A Study in Triangulation

Scientific and technological activities refers to the elucidation of unknown phenomena, and to
the creation of new knowledge through the discovery of new natural laws and principles, and the
new knowledge obtained is then utilized in the real society. The essence of how science and
technology contributes to society is the creation of new knowledge, and then utilization of that
knowledge to boost the prosperity of human lives, and to solve the various issues facing society.

With the shift to a knowledge-based society well underway in the opening years of the 21st
century, the creation of new knowledge is an increasingly important aspect of scientific and
technological activities, and the role of science in this knowledge creation is important for the
realization of “science and technology for society.”

The relationship between science and technology and society, can be described by the example
of rain falling on a mountain. Rain that has fallen on a mountain does not immediately wash
away downhill. First, it is captured and stored by forests, giving life to trees and other vegetation
and creating a verdant landscape. This can be compared to the accumulation of scientific
knowledge and the continuing search for truth, obtained through basic research, and perhaps
demonstrates that science has intrinsic value in itself. Meanwhile, the rainwater stored in the

forest bubbles out from springs and flows downhill in a steadily widening stream. A single
stream flow can separate into a large number of sub-flows, and sometimes the flow can go
underground into a subterranean network.
This situation can be compared to the diversity of research and development that can arise based
on scientific knowledge, leading to the planting of various new technological seeds. Eventually,
the river reaches farming communities and urban cities, where it is utilized for drinking water
and other household purposes, for agricultural or industrial uses, and for various other needs,
universally benefiting all aspects of society. This is equivalent to research and development
resulting in practical technologies that boost the prosperity of the people’s society and lives, and
to the utilization of science and technology in response to various issues facing society. If the
forest fails to capture a sufficient amount of the falling rain, society will quickly be faced with
drought and people will not be able to live. In the same way, realization of societal progress
through science and technology requires a sufficient accumulation of scientific knowledge. In
other words, science can be considered to be the foundation strength of society. However, this
foundation strength is not something that can be acquired in a single day or night, but instead
requires a steady, continuous build-up.

Societal Significance of Science

Where technology has developed in close relationship to the convenience and prosperity of
human life since before the advent of recorded history, science originated from natural
philosophy and was supported by people’s intellectual curiosity. The main objective of science
has been elucidation of how nature is put together and operates, and it has developed as a
separate entity from technology. Of course, while technological progress was backed up by
various scientific advances, this does not mean that scientific research was conducted for the
purpose of developing new technologies, rather, scientific knowledge was utilized only because
it was available. In fact, it was more common for new technologies to be developed in order to
pursue scientific research.

After the Industrial Revolution, the separate paths taken by science and technology began to
move closer together. Significantly, the concept of linking scientific results to technology for
utilization in society became prevalent after around 1850, which is when a chemical industry
began to develop based on utilization of knowledge about chemistry, and electrical technologies
arose based on knowledge about electromagnetism.

Nevertheless, science has moved away from being the business of the intellectual world, with
scientific results now pioneering the frontiers of human activities in terms of both space and
time, and expanding the potential of human activities. Science also has become a major influence
on people’s sense of values, changing the nature of society and becoming the engine driving
society’s progress from the viewpoint of civilization.

In 1905 Albert Einstein, one of the premier scientists of the 20th century, issued in rapid
succession a theory of the photon, a theory of Brownian motion, and the Special Theory of
Relativity, all of which served to overthrow the then-prevailing views of physics. Einstein’s
Theory of Relativity became the foundations for all later physics, contributing greatly to progress
in various fields of science. At the same time, it altered people’s concepts of space and time, and
had a huge effect on philosophy and thought.
Much earlier than this, in the field of astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus developed a theory, later
bolstered and refined by Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei, that had a great effect on the
development and reform of society, overthrowing Europe’s medieval sense of values and driving
it into the modern age. In recent years, however, examples of such society-changing advances
have become increasingly common. For example, Edwin Hubble’s discovery in 1929 that the
universe was expanding led directly to the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe (1946)
by George Gamow and others. In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson detected cosmic
background radiation pervading the universe, providing powerful evidence for the Big Bang
theory. These discoveries gave people a new “sense of the universe.” Moreover, advances in
space development have greatly expanded the space available for possible human activities, and
opened up new frontiers for humanity where people can dream.

At the same time, images of Earth taken from space have given people all over the world a new
“view of the Earth,” vividly revealing its beauty and irreplaceability. Furthermore, the revelation
in 1974 by Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina that chlorofluorocarbon gases were causing
depletion of the ozone layer, followed in 1985 by the discovery of an ozone hole, had a huge
effect on efforts to protect the global environment. Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift,
announced in 1915, is widely accepted around the world today as the plate tectonics theory. At
the time of its announcement, however, the mechanism for continental drift was unknown, and
the theory attracted few supporters. In the 1950s and later, however, advances in sea floor
monitoring advanced the field of geophysics, and in the 1960s Frederick Vine and Drummond
Mathews found quantitative evidence of continental drift due to a spreading sea floor. This
discovery completely altered people’s “sense of the Earth.”

In the life sciences, meanwhile, as seen by such advances as the Theory of Evolution proposed
by Charles Robert Darwin in the 19th century, which greatly changed people’s “sense of nature,”
“sense of humanity,” and “sense of society,” there are many examples of discoveries going far
beyond the world of science to affect the way people think in many sectors of society. The
discovery in 1953 of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule by James Watson and
Francis Crick gave birth to an entirely new field of molecular biology. The result has been
progressive elucidation of the structure of living things at the molecular level and rapid advances
in the life sciences, including the establishment of gene recombinant technology by Stanley
Cohen and Herbert Boyer in 1973, the birth of a cloned sheep, Dolly, in 1996, and completion in
2003 of the project to sequence the entire human genome, conducted by the International Human
Genome Sequencing Consortium, a collaboration of six countries including Japan, and five other
North American and European countries. These recent advances in the life sciences have greatly
increased understanding of humans and other living things, extending the frontiers of human
activity, particularly in the medical field, and greatly affecting people’s “sense of life” and
“sense of ethics.” Furthermore, advances in brain research hint at the possibility of closing in on
the human soul, and progress in that area will surely have a large effect on people’s sense of
values.

The IT revolution of recent years is the culmination of many developments in computer

technology, including the concept of the computing machine proposed by Alan Turing, and the
invention of the transistor by William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain, as well as
the advent of the Internet and other advances in information and communications technology.
The IT revolution, however, does not consist merely of the development of new products or
improvement of people’s convenience, but is also greatly changing people’s modes of behavior
and lifestyles, through the possibilities it has opened up for the people of the world to use
cyberspace for instantaneous exchange of information and opinions. The effects of the IT
revolution have changed the nature of society in many dimensions, from the education, medical
and welfare, transport, finance, and manufacturing sectors to modes of work and play.

Furthermore, advances in nanotechnology have made possible the elucidation and manipulation
of phenomena at the atomic or molecular level, feats that were previously considered impossible,
and are now expanding the range of possible human activities. Nanotechnology was launched by
a lecture given in 1959 by Richard Feynman, titled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” and
its progress has been marked by advances in measurement technology, and supported by such
scientific discoveries as the discovery of fullerenes in 1984 by Harold Kroto and others.

As can be seen from the foregoing, science and technology in modern society is not limited to
the technological aspects of a tool for making life more prosperous and convenient. Rather, in its
scientific aspect, it forms the foundation for how world’s people think and for the nature of
society.

Since research into social technologies aims for the resolution of societal problems, it is not
limited to technological knowledge centered on the natural sciences, but instead involves the
promotion of research and development from a broad perspective transcending the bounds of
particular sectors, through cooperation between researchers in the natural sciences and in the
humanities and social sciences that incorporate knowledge in the humanities and social sciences
that target individual and group psychology and behavior.