Engineer and Society Unit I

Session 01 Technology and its connectedness to society and environment

This session discusses some problems related to technology society and environment. It shows you the basic connectedness of technology to man and his environment, and some of the important questions it raises. You will in this course elaborate this picture and address these questions.

Session 02 Technology, Development and the Paradigm of Icarus

This session discusses the modern paradigm of development, i.e. that of unbounded material growth. We have termed this the 'paradigm of Icarus'. The earth's resources in terms of materials, energy, environment and human activity assimilated and as such inherently contradict this paradigm. Even if it was possible, there is doubt if the necessary human effort should be directed towards such a one-dimensional goal.

Session 3 Progress of Technological R & D: pre and post independence scenario

With the recent development in services and industrial sectors, identifying Sri Lanka as an agricultural country is debatable. Sri Lanka, however, was an agricultural country and the progress of R & D in the past is hence dominated unavoidably by R & D in the agricultural sector. So in this session we take agriculture as the case study to discuss R & D during the colonial period and the era after independence while introducing you very briefly the evolution of technological R & D in general.

Session 4 Status of science & Technology sector in Sri Lanka

Science and technology policies led R & D dynamism has been witnessed in some coretechnology sectors in some countries in the Asian region, along with efforts in building S & T institutions and rapid promotion of the human resource base. This session attempts to explore some of the key features of the Sri Lankan S & T system from the perspectives of the technological R & D.

Session 5 Resources for production

The production in one sector is dependant on that of others, and this mutual interdependence has been illustrated by example. Historically, we could say that

domestic production came first followed by agriculture and then industry. All three sectors of production need resources and we have identified five fundamental resources. Each resource plays a different role in the production process. The different 'ideal' roles are qualitatively outlined as labor, capital, environment, Material and energy. These resources are heavily interdependent on each other and man has to transform these resources either permanently for his use.

Session 6 Resource usage and their interdependency

The problem of accounting for resource expenditure is not merely that of accounting for the immediate production process. All resources need to be transformed and adapted to the particular process before use. This requires a further expenditure of resources. Within capital is contained an earlier expenditure of resources and this must also be accounted for. A total expenditure can be worked out by tracing all these different expenditures. Only the significant branches of the tree-like path need to be traced. To what extent and how we do it is much dependent on why we are accounting. . In a world of limited resources and large scale production, a science of resource accounting is very necessary.

Session 7 Sustainable development

The idea of sustainable development grew from numerous environmental movements in earlier decades. A simple and clear definition of the concept is: Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This section is focused on living in harmony with the environment and proposes to join up economic goals and social goals of development with environmental goals to arrive at sustainable development.

Session 8 What is gender? - I

This session introduces you to the differences between the concepts of sex and gender and gender related concepts, which would provide you the background for the discussion on gender and technology.

Session 9 What is gender? - II

In this session what is gender, you were introduced to gender concepts, and had opportunity to apply gender analysis to a technology-related situation. The aim is in this session to look at gender and technology from three perspectives. In approaching the gender and technology from any of these perspectives, it might be useful also to consider women and men as users and producers of technology.

Session 10 Electromagnetic fields and Public Health I

Ever since the discovery of radio-transmission, the amount of EM radiation that humans are exposed to have increased. The use of mobile phones has increased the personal exposure links of mobile phone users. These effects on health due to this exposure are yet unknown

Session 11 Electromagnetic Fields and Public Health II - Mobile Telephones and Base stations
The use of mobile could be hazardous to the user. However, the evidence is at present conjectural, and more methodological investigations need to be done. AS a precautionary measure it is important that a phone should not be placed near human brain while transmitting (eg: against the ear). The brain that operates on a low-level of electrical activity may be subject to disruption. Base stations which collect amplify and retransmit signals from mobile phones, may also pose a health hazard to people living nearby, but not more than a radio broadcasting station of equal power capacity. However these have been a proliferation of such base stations with mobile phone usage.