Sci&Tech History

What do we need for a better life? Do we need reminder in our hand phone to warn us on several appointment, FoodPhone (helping to fight obesity), the HygieneGuard (motivating people to wash their hands after using the toilet), and the EconoMeter (helping people to drive their cars more economically)? If we do that, do [...]

Does scientist has nationality? The Numb3rs serial I watched yesterday, triggered this question. In the episode, a colleague of Charlie Eppes (professor in Math) has been arrested since he sent a formula that can be used to alleviate poverty to Pakistan university. The conflict occur when the US federal agency arrest him with accusation sent [...]

Why people always care about ranking? In one side, ranking can stimulate competitiveness, but in the other hand, how can something different be treated equally? In university ranking case for example, people always debating on how Indonesian universities can enter the top 100. Almost all of the resources was dedicated to improve the rankings, but [...]

Which one do you belief more, ctrl+c and ctrl+v or a typed paper based on what you have listened? I guess, everyone will choose the first choice. Along with neutrality, technology become tools that we trust more than human. Does our humanity also imply betrayal? Why technology is more reliable than human? In controlling, in [...]

Construction of knowledge can be explained through ‘cycles of accumulation’ where actors extend their network with collective hybrids. The cycle start with scientist and engineer conduct their research in the laboratory. The scientist and engineer make observation, write some notes on sketchbooks, leave the laboratory, make some calculation and come out with a formula. Next, [...]

Being a constructivist makes me wonder about absolute truth: if everything in this world can be negotiated, do we still have any place for the truth of physical world? This question arose when I entered environment discourse focused on bio energy. One group said that bio energy support environment and energy sustainable, while another group [...]

On December 2008, United National Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon calls for a “Green New Deal” to tackle the twin challenges of climate change and the financial crisis. Ki-Moon speech in the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan stressed the need to act now and avoid any backsliding on commitments to tackle these threats.[1] [...]

Borrowing the phrase from Winner (1985)–Do Artifacts Have Politics, this article try to investigate relation between artifact and nationality. If we see nationality as social construction, we can examine artifact nationality by seeing its construction. But if we see nationalism as something elementary, we have to find another entry point. One of my favorite case [...]

Top economists and United Nations leaders are working on a “Green New Deal” to create millions of jobs, revive the world economy, slash poverty and avert environmental disaster, as the financial markets plunge into their deepest crisis since the Great Depression. [...]

What make a man, man? What is the difference between man and woman? In gender discourse, those questions are the main issues: why bother about gender if there are no difference between them. Further, how can we construct an understanding about society, both human and machine, based on those differences. Can we assess a certain [...]