welcome to sts-10 science technology and society our first lesson is the historical antecedents of science and technology the following are the lesson objectives first you must be able to trace the historical development of science and technology in the world and in the philippines and second you must be able to discuss how scientific and technological developments affect society throughout this semester we will be dealing with science and you might already be wondering what science is when did it begin or where was it invented the term science comes from the latin word sientia which means knowledge it can be defined as a systematic attempt to discover facts by means of observation and reasoning there are other ways to define science but all definitions refer in one way or another to this attempt to discover specific facts about the physical world and its phenomena through unbiased observation and reasoning and of course systematic experimentation today science is divided into different branches based on the subject of study but in general all sciences involve a pursuit of knowledge covering general truths or the operations of fundamental laws so when did science begin where was it invented on the simplest level science is knowledge of the world of nature and observing the natural world has been part of human history from the very beginning science therefore has existed since the dawn of human existence all people have studied the natural world but most ancient people started it for practical purposes however as we will learn later in this course it does not seem to have been until the 6th century before the common era that the pre-socratic philosophers who lived in what is now turkey and greece began seeking to understand nature as an end in itself nowadays technology comes alongside science the term technology is a combination of the greek technique meaning art or craft and logos which means word or speech in the 17th century greece technology meant a discourse on the arts by mid-century technology was defined by such phrases as the means or activity by which man seeks to change or manipulate his environment so in this lesson we will be tracing the development of technology alongside science the lesson is presented primarily in a chronological pattern we will have a glimpse of what science and technology look like in different parts of the world during the ancient times in the middle ages and since the industrial revolution in each period we will examine the social condition and technological experience and innovations as we go along the lecture i also encourage everyone to note the social cultural consequences of technological change in each era so let us briefly discuss the science and technology in the ancient world let us start with the prehistoric science now prehistorians believe that the knowledge and scientific ideas of primitive men about the natural world were inferential the primitive man must have conceived that the earth is flat and of limitless extent based on reasoning from his experience in traveling the farthest reaches of his migrations he must have observed that seasons change relative to the sun's position in the heavens now the movement of the sun moon and stars across the heavens must obviously have been among the earliest scientific observations the most primitive intelligence must also have recognized the fundamental distinction between living and non-living things and made a tacit classification of the natural objects and in the practical field of medical knowledge the primitive humans must have practiced instinctive therapeutics so they must have had elementary knowledge of toxicology as would enable them to avoid eating poisonous herbs and these are just some of the prehistoric scientific ideas according to our prehistorians it would appear then that the superstructure of later science had its foundation in the knowledge and practices of prehistoric men the stone age marks a period of prehistory in which humans used primitive stone tools now stones became tools when they were shaped deliberately for specific purposes and during the stone age humans were hunter-gatherers who lived in small nomadic groups which means that they frequently moved from one place to another tool making was achieved by the time of the neon dirtils about 70 000 years before the common era archaeologists refer to the earliest stone tools as the aldoan toolkit which are actually sharpened stones more advanced tools such as the assemblage of head and half called hafting were later produced by the crow magnets shown in this picture are hafted stone tools the neolithic revolution also called the agricultural revolution marked the transition from small nomadic bands of hunter-gatherers to larger agricultural settlements and early civilization the causes of neolithic revolution may have varied from region to region but some scientists theorized that climate changes probably drove the agricultural revolution others also suggest that intellectual advances in the human brain may have caused people to settle down the neolithic revolution started in the fertile present a boomerang-shaped region of the middle east that is highlighted in color green in this map the fertile crescent is also known as the cradle of civilization for the number of innovations that arose from the early societies in this region shortly after stone age humans in other parts of the world also began to practice agriculture and civilizations and cities grew out of the innovations of the neolithic revolution this is mesopotamia this is a vast part of the fertile crescent that is located in the region now known as the middle east shown in this slide are the map of ancient mesopotamia and the map of modern day mesopotamia that is now home to iraq kuwait turkey and syria now this photo provides us a closer look on the two rivers essential to mesopotamia the name mesopotamia is formed from the ancient words meso meaning between or in the middle of and potamos meaning river as shown in this map mesopotamia is situated in the fertile valleys between the tigris and euphrates rivers although much of this region received little or irregular rainfall the thai greece and euphrates rivers provided large amounts of fresh water facilitating agricultural production and the development of early civilizations the foundations of mesopotamian science and technology developed in sumer located in the southern part of mesopotamia the sumerians are considered the creators of civilization as modern humans understand it shown in this picture is an illustrated city-state of ancient sumer the sumerians were the first to have explored the practice of the scientific hypothesis engaged in technological innovation and created the written word developed mathematics astronomy and astrology and they even fashioned the concept of time itself the three sumerian inventions considered most important are the wheel the sale and writing the wheel is thought to have developed from a need to make better and more pottery in less time the potter's wheel was then adopted for the creation of cards and later chariots for transporting goods and for traveling the same paradigm is thought to apply to the invention of the sale which most likely began simply through the observation of the winds effect on a piece of cloth sails were especially important in trade since waterways were the preferred route the sumerians also developed a system of writing known as the cuny form which is used in pictographic tablets shown in this photo now the cuny form utilized word pictures and triangular symbols which are carved on clay using wedge instruments and then left to dry the sumerians also figured out how to collect and channel the overflow of the tigris and euphrates rivers and then use it to water and fertilize their farm fields this picture is a depiction of the ancient sumerian irrigation in dykes the sumerians also invented the plow a vital technology in farming they even produced a manual that gave farmers detailed instructions on how to use various types of blouse babylon was one of the greatest cities in the ancient world and this is a depiction of ancient babylon it was marked by political stability and military power under the most powerful political dynasties and these powerful dynasties often conquered their weaker neighbors and traded with the stronger ones but they also nurtured scientific thought ancient babylon were among the earliest people to develop the study of astronomy and along with it astrology the babylonians were also outstanding mathematicians as they were the first people to use fractions cartography jewelry making and development of a calendar system were also some of their most important contribution the ancient babylonians understood scientific thinking but their concept of science differed dramatically from the modern view because all of their science was used for practical applications astronomy and astrology occupied an important place in the babylonian society babylonian astronomy represented the melding of science and religion the planets were all associated with different deities and observatories were attached to the temples and reports were regularly sent by astronomers to the king the zodiac was also a babylonian invention of great antiquity for the web for the babylonians astrology consisted of making temporal predictions and decisions based on the movements of the celestial bodies after observing the planets and stars babylonian scientists would suggest to the king such things as when to and where to plan crops when to pursue diplomacy and when to go to war unlike today astrology was never used for personal decisions during the babylonian time unless it had to do with the king and it was also viewed as part of astronomy not separate from it this is a depiction of the babylonian zodiac around 2300 bce an ancient babylonian cartographer created this the world's first map on a clay tablet the map covers a small region of babylonia during the arcadian empire and it shows trade routes and was used as a reference during military campaigns hunting and exploration the babylonians also used a numerical system with 60 as its base this is now known as the saxodecimal number system from this we derive the modern day usage of 60 seconds in a minute 60 minutes in an hour and 360 degrees in a circle the babylonians were also able to create calendars that were more accurate than those produced by their contemporaries because their calendrical observations were aided by advances in astronomy and mathematics so they created loony solar calendar depicted in these pictures now let us go to the ancient egyptian civilization ancient egypt was a civilization of ancient north africa that flourished around 3100 bce as shown in this map the egyptian civilization developed along the nile river in large part because the reverse annual flooding ensured reliable and rich soil for growing crops the ancient egyptians had an extraordinary command of science and technology they built ancient monuments and grand temples paper and ink cosmetics the toothbrush and toothpaste even the ancestor of the modern breath mint were also invented by the egyptians additionally they made advances in almost every sphere of knowledge from the manufacture of simple household goods to engineering and construction agriculture and architecture medicine astronomy and even art and literature the egyptian writing system began with pictograms the first of which date back to 6000 bce over time they added other elements to their writing system including alphabet like characters that stood for certain sounds and other syllabic symbols and this is known as hieroglyphics this photo shows the ancient writing system hieroglyphics the egyptians had also developed a substitute for paper this stiff reed-like plant grew and continues to grow in the marshy areas lining the nile among other places this is called the papyrus plant its tough fibrous interior proved ideal for making durable sheets of writing material so a simple handheld mirror is actually one of the inventions made by the egyptians they also made toothbrushes and toothpaste shown in this picture is a depiction of the ancient egyptian toothbrush toothbrushes and toothpaste were invented because of the grit and sand which found its way into the bread and vegetables of their daily meals according to our historians toothpaste was made of rock salt mint dried iris petals and pepper which modern day scientists tried and found to be quite effective although it probably made their gums bleed the great temples and pyramids of ancient egypt arose from the same technological skill that one sees on the small scale of household goods there are many theories as to how the egyptians built the pyramids but most egyptologists think that egyptians used ram systems to build these ancient structures astronomy was important to the ancient egyptians on two levels the spiritual and the practical they believed that stars told the stories of the gods accomplishments on a more practical level the stars could tell them when it was going to rain or when it was nearing time to plant or harvest crops shown here is a star clock as depicted in the ceiling of an ancient egyptian temple and a market that was used for gauging astronomical alignments through their astronomical examination of the night skies they were also able to improve the calendar medicine in ancient egypt was intimately tied to magic the three best known works dealing with medical issues in egypt were everest papyrus edwin smith papyrus and the london medical papyrus all of which prescribe the use of spells in treating diseases while at the same time exhibiting a significant degree of medical knowledge the egyptians also practiced embalming or treating the dead body called mummification mummification probably began around 2600 years before the common era and it continued and developed for over 2 000 years this is the first part of the first lesson and these are the references you may visit these references for additional readings up next we will have the scientific and technological achievements of greece and grow