Question 1:
Tell us about yourself so you can meet and greet other fellow Grantham University students within your course. Include what you believe to be your current knowledge level of this course topic and what you hope to learn before the course is over.
Question 2:
To prepare for this discussion, please read carefully and think intensively about Morton Winston's essay "Children of Invention Revisited".
After you have done this, please engage your classmates in an extended academic discussion of the following questions:
- What, according to Winston, are the most important reasons why it is important or useful to investigate science and technology philosophically?
- Do you agree that these reasons are important? Why or why not?
- As you reflect on your own attitudes towards technology, do you come closer to "techno-optimism" or "techno-pessimism" as discussed by Winston on pp. 13-16?
- Why does Winston think that it is useful to adopt a critical perspective towards technology, and do you agree or disagree with his reasoning?
- Why might one think that technological development drives social change? Why think that development is subject to social pressures?