Hello Everyone,
On every tour that I give I always mention how UAT is a regionally accredited university. What does this mean? This means that every student who comes into the university is required to take all of their general education if they hadn't transferred in the credits already. Now along with these classes everyone also takes what us students call our university required classes. These are classes like Public Speaking, Law, Ethics in Technology, and Technology in Society. Now, first coming to UAT you might ask yourself "Why do I have to take these classes?" The answer to this is simple. We believe that every student is going into a technology society and we want to best prepare them for that. From my experience these classes help the student be a little more open minded when approaching technology. We really get to ask ourselves "What is technology? How to do we advance?"
Onto the point of this blog post, one of these classes, Technology and Society, opens with a question that I still ponder to this day. The question is:
Which do you believe?
- Option A: Technology drives social change.
- Option B: Society drives technological change.
This can be very hard to answer when you really think about it. I believe that it is a mix of both. I think that one cannot just choose one of these options and stick with it forever. Both of these are very circumstantial. There are sometimes when technology does drive social change. Something new can be created that makes us completely change how we think or handle things in society. The invention of cars is a great example of this happening. On the other hand sometimes it's society that drive technological change. Some can argue that there are times when society puts pressure on the technology and pushes change. A good example of this is war. War often times results in a lot of technological advancement.Some don't realize it but there is a very large increase in research and advancement during wars.
We don't usually think about these concepts everyday and that's what makes these classes so great. After learning and challenging yourself with this material you will find that you are able to point out the differences in these changes as well as make a difference. These classes help you form your ideas into something that is possible while being realistic with it's ethical and social concerns.
That's all for today
Karina
