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Section 1.1 explained that the key to future
progress for mankind lies in the realization of
“science and technology for society, and in
society.” In Section 1.2, the current state of science
and technology, and the issues confronting it, are
examined from the viewpoint of “science and
technology for society.”
1.2.1 Contributing to Society through
Knowledge Creation and Utilization
Scientific and technological activities refers to
the elucidation of unknown phenomena, and to the
creation of new knowledge through the discovery of
new natural laws and principles, and the new
knowledge obtained is then utilized in the real
society. The essence of how science and technology
contributes to society is the creation of new
knowledge, and then utilization of that knowledge
to boost the prosperity of human lives, and to solve
the various issues facing society.
With the shift to a knowledge-based society well
underway in the opening years of the 21st century,
the creation of new knowledge is an increasingly
important aspect of scientific and technological
activities, and the role of science in this knowledge
creation is important for the realization of “science
and technology for society.”
The relationship between science and technology
and society, can be described by the example of
rain falling on a mountain. Rain that has fallen on a
mountain does not immediately wash away
downhill. First, it is captured and stored by forests,
giving life to trees and other vegetation and creating
a verdant landscape. This can be compared to the
accumulation of scientific knowledge and the
continuing search for truth, obtained through basic
research, and perhaps demonstrates that science has
intrinsic value in itself. Meanwhile, the rainwater
stored in the forest bubbles out from springs and
flows downhill in a steadily widening stream. A
single stream flow can separate into a large number
of sub-flows, and sometimes the flow can go
underground into a subterranean network. This
situation can be compared to the diversity of
research and development that can arise based on
scientific knowledge, leading to the planting of
various new technological seeds. Eventually, the
river reaches farming communities and urban cities,
where it is utilized for drinking water and other
household purposes, for agricultural or industrial
uses, and for various other needs, universally
benefiting all aspects of society. This is equivalent
to research and development resulting in practical
technologies that boost the prosperity of the
people’s society and lives, and to the utilization of
science and technology in response to various
issues facing society. If the forest fails to capture a
sufficient amount of the falling rain, society will
quickly be faced with drought and people will not
be able to live. In the same way, realization of
societal progress through science and technology
requires a sufficient accumulation of scientific
knowledge. In other words, science can be
considered to be the foundation strength of society.
However, this foundation strength is not something
that can be acquired in a single day or night, but
instead requires a steady, continuous build-up
(Figure 1-2-1).
Figure 1-2-1 Relationship between science and technology and society
This section looks at science as the foundation
for realizing “science and technology for society,”
with a focus on the natural sciences.
1.2.1.1 Science’s Contribution to
Human Civilization
(Societal Significance of Science)
Where technology has developed in close
relationship to the convenience and prosperity of
human life since before the advent of recorded
history, science originated from natural philosophy
and was supported by people’s intellectual curiosity.
The main objective of science has been elucidation
of how nature is put together and operates, and it
has developed as a separate entity from technology.
Of course, while technological progress was backed
up by various scientific advances, this does not
mean that scientific research was conducted for the
purpose of developing new technologies, rather,
scientific knowledge was utilized only because it
was available. In fact, it was more common for new
technologies to be developed in order to pursue
scientific research.
After the Industrial Revolution, the separate
paths taken by science and technology began to
move closer together. Significantly, the concept of
linking scientific results to technology for
utilization in society became prevalent after around
1850, which is when a chemical industry began to
develop based on utilization of knowledge about
chemistry, and electrical technologies arose based
on knowledge about electromagnetism.
Nevertheless, science has moved away from
being the business of the intellectual world, with
scientific results now pioneering the frontiers of
human activities in terms of both space and time,
and expanding the potential of human activities.
Science also has become a major influence on
people’s sense of values, changing the nature of
society and becoming the engine driving society’s
progress from the viewpoint of civilization.
(Scientific Progress Has Changed
the Nature of Society, and Its Sense
of Values)
While there are probably no end of examples of
scientific progress having a major effect on
people’s sense of values, and changing the nature of
society itself, the following is an introduction to just
a few of the more famous examples.
The centennial anniversary to one of the most
amazing years in history (the “Miracle Year” of
1905) is fast approaching, when Albert Einstein,
one of the premier scientists of the 20th century,
issued in rapid succession a theory of the photon, a
theory of Brownian motion, and the Special Theory
of Relativity, all of which served to overthrow the
then-prevailing views of physics. Einstein’s Theory
of Relativity became the foundations for all later
physics, contributing greatly to progress in various
fields of science. At the same time, it altered
people’s concepts of space and time, and had a huge
effect on philosophy and thought.
In the field of astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus
developed a theory, later bolstered and refined by
Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei, that had a
great effect on the development and reform of
society, overthrowing Europe’s medieval sense of
values and driving it into the modern age. In recent
years, however, examples of such society-changing
advances have become increasingly common. For
example, Edwin Hubble’s discovery in 1929 that
the universe was expanding led directly to the Big
Bang theory of the origin of the universe (1946) by
George Gamow and others. In 1965, Arno Penzias
and Robert Wilson detected cosmic background
radiation pervading the universe, providing
powerful evidence for the Big Bang theory. These
discoveries gave people a new “sense of the
universe.” Moreover, advances in space
development have greatly expanded the space
available for possible human activities, and opened
up new frontiers for humanity where people can
dream. At the same time, images of Earth taken
from space have given people all over the world a
new “view of the Earth,” vividly revealing its
beauty and irreplaceability. Furthermore, the
revelation in 1974 by Sherwood Rowland and
Mario Molina that chlorofluorocarbon gases were
causing depletion of the ozone layer, followed in
1985 by the discovery of an ozone hole, had a huge
effect on efforts to protect the global environment.
Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift,
announced in 1915, is widely accepted around the
world today as the plate tectonics theory. At the
time of its announcement, however, the mechanism
for continental drift was unknown, and the theory
attracted few supporters. In the 1950s and later,
however, advances in sea floor monitoring
advanced the field of geophysics, and in the 1960s
Frederick Vine and Drummond Mathews found
quantitative evidence of continental drift due to a
spreading sea floor. This discovery completely
altered people’s “sense of the Earth.”
In the life sciences, meanwhile, as seen by such
advances as the Theory of Evolution proposed by
Charles Robert Darwin in the 19th century, which
greatly changed people’s “sense of nature,” “sense
of humanity,” and “sense of society,” there are
many examples of discoveries going far beyond the
world of science to affect the way people think in
many sectors of society. The discovery in 1953 of
the double helix structure of the DNA molecule by
James Watson and Francis Crick gave birth to an
entirely new field of molecular biology. The result
has been progressive elucidation of the structure of
living things at the molecular level and rapid
advances in the life sciences, including the
establishment of gene recombinant technology by
Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer in 1973, the birth
of a cloned sheep, Dolly, in 1996, and completion
in 2003 of the project to sequence the entire human
genome, conducted by the International Human
Genome Sequencing Consortium, a collaboration of
six countries including Japan, and five other North
American and European countries. These recent
advances in the life sciences have greatly increased
understanding of humans and other living things,
extending the frontiers of human activity,
particularly in the medical field, and greatly
affecting people’s “sense of life” and “sense of
ethics.” Furthermore, advances in brain research
hint at the possibility of closing in on the human
soul, and progress in that area will surely have a
large effect on people’s sense of values.
The IT revolution of recent years is the
culmination of many developments in computer
technology, including the concept of the computing
machine proposed by Alan Turing, and the
invention of the transistor by William Shockley,
John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain, as well as the
advent of the Internet and other advances in
information and communications technology. The
IT revolution, however, does not consist merely of
the development of new products or improvement
of people’s convenience, but is also greatly
changing people’s modes of behavior and lifestyles,
through the possibilities it has opened up for the
people of the world to use cyberspace for
instantaneous exchange of information and opinions.
The effects of the IT revolution have changed the
nature of society in many dimensions, from the
education, medical and welfare, transport, finance,
and manufacturing sectors to modes of work and
play.
Furthermore, advances in nanotechnology have
made possible the elucidation and manipulation of
phenomena at the atomic or molecular level, feats
that were previously considered impossible, and are
now expanding the range of possible human
activities. Nanotechnology was launched by a
lecture given in 1959 by Richard Feynman, titled
“There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” and its
progress has been marked by advances in
measurement technology, and supported by such
scientific discoveries as the discovery of fullerenes
in 1984 by Harold Kroto and others.
Elsewhere, the television has become a major
factor shaping our modern society, as the
communications medium with the greatest influence.
This device, as well, is the culmination of various
scientific results over the years, beginning with the
invention of wireless communication by Guglielmo
Marconi in 1895, the invention of the Braun tube in
1897, the invention of the Yagi-Uda antenna in
1925, and Kenjiro Takayanagi’s successful
transmission of an electronic image using a Braun
tube in 1926.
1.2 How Science and Technology Are for Society
