24-09-2013, 12:23 PM
Advantages and disadvantages of science
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Science and technology can cure your diseases, provide shelter and food for crowds of people, enable the creation of large cities to allow collaboration in enterprises, and perhaps even more.
However an increase in mechanisation and automation has reduced the amount of work people are required to do to survive / gain nutrition. To the point where people may be almost entirely sedentary. That combined with the increase in processed high fat high calorie foods has led to problems in developed countries of obesity, heart disease and related problems.
Military technology makes it quicker and more efficient to kill people than ever before, which directly gives a shorter lifespan.
The indirect consequences of military technology are less clear -- it may be that people using the military technology to better defend themselves may live longer than they otherwise would have, and over the long term the threat of extinction from superweapons may cause nations to go to war much less often than in the times of the Caesar.
It may also be worth considering the fact that a lot of the improvements in technology and medicine are ultimately derived from the vast R+D budgets applied to the design of military equipment or through the medical treatment of those people injured during war.
Some broad examples include the development of plastic / reconstructive surgery to treat disfigured soldiers who had been injured in World War one. More recent examples include the development of new dressings which are much better at stemming blood loss and were introduced into service by the British Army in 2006 during the Afghan conflict and greatly reduce the risk of soldiers dying on the battlefield from blood loss before they reach medical facilities. Other improvements in methods are detailed in the related links. Ultimately as a large number of doctors in the British Armed forces are part of the Territorial army - What in other armed forces are referred to as reserves or National guardsman, they go back to their medical jobs in British Hospitals in the NHS and what they have learned filters down into the treatment of accident victims at home away from the battlefield.
Another obvious innovation is most likely the screen your currently looking at, along ultimately with the computer technology you are using. A significant portion of the initial R&D budget for Flat panel LCD screens was provided by the military as they are significantly lighter and smaller than the CRT screens they replaced. This was of great importance as these screens form a major part of the display of information in modern combat and civilian aircraft. As the technology matured, the costs dropped and they became affordable for home use. Now the vast majority of people use a flat screen LCD monitor or television over the older CRT screens. The first digital programmable electronic computers were developed during World War two (known as the Colossus machines) to help decipher encrypted Germ We are in the age of science and technology. Man cannot live without the aid of science. Science has so much engulfed our lives that nothing can take place in our day to day work without the help of science. Our food, transport, learning, administration, recreation and social life are all linked with science in various ways.
To answer the question whether science has come to mankind as a boon or as a use for ruin (bane), one should know what science exactly means. Science is said to be a systematic classification of experiences. We, men wonder at the various things and events happening around us. We get doubts; what are they? These questions are the basic seeds for science. Then starts the thinking, reasoning, analysis, synthesis, comparison and contrast and finally the truth emerges.
Scientists say there is a scientific method for everything and there are inevitable steps to be followed: (1) Observation (2) Hypothesis (3) Experiment (4) Theory and (5) Proof. All scientists have, in a way, followed these steps.
The aim of science is search for truth, and to know things, hitherto unknown. A scientist does not accept ideas, simply because, they were accepted by others earlier. Great discoveries are a result of reasoning. A lot of patience and observation are required. Civilization, as it is today, is the result of a number of discoveries made in the field of science. The invention of them simple wheel has resulted in our modern industrialization.
Electricity, as a source of energy, has revolutionized the world. Medical science is so much advanced that the average life of an Indian has risen to 62 years from 35 years. Science has contributed to the success of our green revolution and now we have enough food for all. We have enough clothing and better shelter too. All this is possible, because of science. Radios, T.C s and cinemas which entertain us are the products of science. So a common man has to conclude that science is a boon to mankind.