Although at one level Jean-Pierre Jeunets "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain" is a sweet, attractive film about a young Parisian doing good deeds, it also offers a compelling analysis of the role of technology in our modern lives. The film paints a world where machines and a mechanistic worldview are appealing because humans have a desire to…

Contends that a new world is coming through technology, that education is a necessary link in its transformative agenda, and that this technology poses a threat to the social and cultural integrity of the Third World that can only be resisted through technology itself. (MKR)

Described is the philosophical debate over the issue of nuclear power. Discussed are the utilitarian nature of the justification of nuclear power and the utilitarian approaches to the issue of nuclear power, the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, and utilitarian versus egalitarian ethics. (KR)

Contemporary civilization has created a fundamental contradiction between the intellectual approach to knowing and the technical approach to doing on the one hand, and the results of their application on the other. These approaches to knowing and doing begin with a process of abstraction that trades breadth for depth, while their application…

The hydrogen economy is a technological bluff in its implied assurance that, despite the accelerating pace at which we are depleting the remaining half of our fossil fuels, our energy future is secure. Elementary thermodynamic considerations are developed to show that a hydrogen economy is about as feasible as a perpetual motion machine. Hydrogen…

The critical examination of the film "American Beauty" reveals characteristics illustrative of the form of culture coextensive with modern technological societies. This form of culture creates an imbalance favoring the aesthetical over the ethical dimensions of human orientation. Absorption into the aesthetical dimension of the electronic or…

The genetically-modified-organism (GMO) experience has been prominent in motivating science, industry, and regulatory communities to address the social and ethical dimensions of nanotechnology. However, there are some significant problems with the GMO-nanotech analogy. First, it overstates the likelihood of a GMO-like backlash against…

Discussed is the linkage between science, technology, and religious ideas. Tillich's continuum of existentialism, philosophy, and theology and his concepts of the multidimensional unity of life have been used to develop a technology and religion course. Included are the core ethic and basic tenets for STS education. (KR)

Reported are some data on both knowledge and perception of science and technology from a sample of adults in Perth, Western Australia. The results are compared to those of the United Kingdom. Included are the sampling and survey procedure, sample questions, results, and the discussion. (KR)

Presented is the position that the only goal for nonscience majors is scientific literacy, and that this goal can only be achieved through separate science courses for nonmajors. Two approaches to accomplish this and some issues of concern are examined. (KR)

Discussed is the blurring of humans and machines into a Conscious Technology civilization. Discussed are the leading indicators of this trend, the explosion of human consciousness, policy implications of this view, and this view as a criterion for policy analysis and future product development. (KR)

Presented is a collection of poems from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries that have asked questions about the social consequences of science and technology. Discussed are the beliefs of poets toward scientific knowledge and advances in technology. (KR)

Discussed is whether scientists should take responsibility for the social consequences of their discoveries. Reviewed is the role to which the "modern" playwright assigns scientists in modern society and what might realistically be a role that scientists and scientific societies should play in the modern world. (KR)

Presented is a course that applies concepts from sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and social studies of science to the question of expert status. Included are major concepts to be covered, suggested readings and annotated bibliography, and possible class exercises. (KR)

Discussed is the image of the engineer as seen through popular fiction and film. The effects of these recent comic cultural caricaturization images of engineers upon young men and women making career choices are described. (KR)