Irrelevance of science and technology
Name(s):
Disillusionment with science
Nature
Science and technology have failed to produce practical results, particularly as regards their ability to focus on and resolve the increasing number of social problems. New developments have not resulted in significantly lower costs of energy, health care, travel or communications, for example. Governments have discovered that high expenditure on research and development does not necessarily or quickly lead to an increase in the gross national product. Many new developments have proved unreliable when implemented. In part this is due to a lack of realization of the complexity of the systems affected, and in part to uni-disciplinary approaches to problems.
Our dependence on sophisticated technological systems has eroded basic human skills of survival, self-reliance and social skills. With this dependence has come a deep sense of powerlessness and incompetence.
Counter-claim
Public apathy toward the use of science and technology may mean that a nation will not be competitive in the world market place. In order for science to have produced the meaningful changes that it has in society, it has been necessary for it to be free. Thus, for every productive avenue opened, another costly investigation has resulted in a blind alley; for every product, service and system introduced successfully, there has been a failure. Research in planned economics has no comparable accomplishment rate to that of the sciences and technologies in the free-market countries such as Sweden, Japan, the USA, Germany and others who have high GNP and high social and economic standards of living.
Aggravates
Scientific ignorance [in 8 loops]
Unrigorous academic disciplines [in 7 loops]
Aggravated by
Strategy(ies)
Value(s)
Type
(F) Fuzzy exceptional problems