General

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SOSC 111 - Science, Technology and Society
Today Begin Tools for Analysis Week 3, Lesson
6 Wednesday, September 16, 1998 Dr. Vincent Duffy
- IEEM http//www-ieem.ust.hk/dfaculty/duffy/111 e
mail vduffy_at_ust.hk
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Overview for today

• Begin tools for analysis QOTD
• Introduce TA and return QOTD
• Finalize teams -Turn in sheets with photos, etc.
• Give dates of choice for oral presentation

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Questions of the day

• Q1. Is more technology always better? Why or why
  not?

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Tools for analysis

• Is more technology always a good thing?
• good when we get the intended results
• what about the unintended results?
• Primary result, Secondary results
• Social Lag, Social Payoff, Social Cost

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• Primary results
• When people make a technology they have certain
  intended results
• usually these are short term goals and have
  positive impact on the society
• intended results

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• Secondary results
• most if not all technologies also have secondary
  results, which are unintended, or unplanned.
• usually unintended or unplanned results
• the secondary effects/results usually show up
  over the long term, and many are negative

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• ex. asbestos, cigarette smoking
• cancer is a an unintended result
• though the company may or may not have known, the
  society/users did not intend the result of using
  cigarettes to be getting cancer

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Predicting secondary results

• It would be advantageous if businesses, designers
  and governments could predict the secondary
  results of a new technology
• However there are a number of forces that tend to
  make this difficult
• more details in future discussions

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Social Payoff and Social Cost

• Social Payoff -
• the value of something (in this case, a
  technology) to the society
• typically a measure of the economic benefits of
  something
• Social costs -
• technologies also have cost to society
• ex. pollution

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• Measuring social payoff and social cost
• It is difficult to measure the benefits and
  costs.
• many times it is related to more than one
  technology (more details later)
• sometimes it can not be felt right away

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Social lag

• While society may quickly acquire a new techology
• it may take much longer for society to adapt to
  the new technology
• new technologies often create tensions in society
• it may be years or decades before social
  frameworks integrate the new technology
• ex. nuclear power
• deciding what to do with the waste?

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• Q.2. Consider dirty air from buses and taxis. If
  Hong Kong were to require the use of cleaner
  fuel, what would be the primary results,
  secondary results, social payoff, social cost and
  social lag?
• All are not so clear, right?
• Difficult to predict some of these
• We will discuss more with regard to homework 1

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• TA s
• Vivienne Tao Yick Ku
• email sovvt
• Alex Chan Ching Shing
• email sschchan
• either email or schedule appointment to meet to
  discuss grading questions
• Grading
• please turn in the other half (h) for any missing
  or please write your answers (a) for any of the
  first 6 QOTD by next Friday 18th September
• turn in to me after class
• 1 full credit, 0 no credit

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• Q.3 You will be asked to do an oral presentation
  for one of the 3 homework assignments. Please
  give your first and second choices for dates
  (same day hwk is due).Choose 1st 2nd
• Hwk 1. Friday September 30_________
• Hwk 2 Monday, November 9________
• Hwk 3 Friday, November 27_________

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• Next reading posted on webpage w/notes
• Friday Effects of technological change.
• Monday homework 1 distributed