Science, Technology, and Society

Prepared for FSC STS classes, December 8, 2011

Tom Easton

Professor of Science

Thomas College

Getting Started…

Dr. Paula Thompson asked me to start by talking about how I got involved in doing Taking Sides books.

Well, it all began once upon a time.  I was just a kid with interests in science (Dad was a biologist, Mom a nurse) and science fiction.  I turned thirteen in 1957, the year of Sputnik.  The newspapers and magazines of the time were full of rockets, satellites, and space travel.

Social Impact

Sputnik stimulated the US space program and a huge boost in STEM education funding

In part this was responsible for the huge flowering of technology that has happened during my lifetime

It has happened fast, and it has prompted debate over many associated issues

The College Years…

By the time I was in college, I was already interested in how science and technology interacted with society, as well as with the ways issues in science, technology, and society prompt debates over the facts, their meanings, and what to do about them.

Graduate School and After…

In graduate school, I started writing science fiction, and not long after that, science textbooks. 

Want to Be a Writer Too?

Then write! Have something to say. Apply seat to chair and fingers to keyboard. Keep a regular schedule. And submit the results to editors.

If someone buys your work, be professional. Accept editing. Meet deadlines. Learn from experience.

But don’t give up the day job. Writing is a chancy occupation.

Writing classes? Creative or other? Some people like them. I never took one.

The Thomas College Years

Shortly after I started teaching at Thomas College, I was asked to develop a course in “Methods and Issues in Science."  That course covered a number of issues in science, technology, and society, as well as a fair amount of philosophy.  Since there was at the time no single textbook for the course, I set out to write one. 

When I showed the proposal to an editor at Dushkin Publishing in Guilford, CT, the response was positive, but not quite what I wanted.  "Not quite our cup of tea," he said.  "But we do these Taking Sides books.  Think you could do it in that form?"

The Rest Is History

Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Science, Technology, and Society is now in its tenth edition.  Later, McGraw-Hill bought Dushkin and moved the operation to Iowa.  When Ted Goldfarb, editor of Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Environmental Issues, was ill, I was asked to help out on his 9th edition.  After he died, they gave me the book (now in its 15th edition), as well as Ted's Sources anthology (now in its 4th edition).

 And I was able to convince them to let me do Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Energy and Society.

Why So Many Editions?

Taking Sides books benefit from being up-to-date.

But publishers do love to kill the used-book market. Only 10% of the pages have to be reset to

justify changing the edition number. Admittedly many publishers do achieve that

with trivial changes. With Taking Sides, each new edition has

about 50% new content.

Choosing Content

I read Science, Science News, Scientific American, Technology Review, and more to keep an eye on current issues.  When I see one that is prompting debate, I look for articles on both sides of the debate.

The library’s computerized magazine and journal databases are a huge help!

If I find articles of appropriate length, then I have a possibility. 

Current possibilities include…

Is Global Warming Now Inevitable?

The International Energy Agency says we have 5 years before climate warming exceeding 2 degrees Celsius is inevitable, and there is no real sign that anything is being done to forestall it.  See http://www.iea.org/weo/ .

The US government outlook seems more optimistic (http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/) (“Assuming no changes in policy related to greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide emissions grow slowly and do not return to 2005 levels until 2027”).

Is the Growth Economy Dead?

Richard Heinberg (of the Post Carbon Institute), The End of Growth (New Society Publishers, 2011), says "Economic growth as we have known it is over and done with. ... The economic crisis that began in 2007-2008 was both foreseeable and inevitable, and it marks a permanent, fundamental break from past decades... From now on, only relative growth is possible: the global economy is playing a zero-sum game, with an ever-shrinking pot to be divided among the winners." 

In part, Heinberg blames looming resource shortages and environmental degradation.

Can We Still Afford “Big Science”? Given the US’s and the world’s recent

economic problems, this question is of interest to physicists, astronomers, and more.

There are huge arguments over whether we can afford to fund the James Webb telescope, planetary exploration, atom-smashers, and other large science projects. There is also concern for more numerous publically-funded small projects.

Sorry…

Often, an issue seems to be debated only in short pieces, along the lines of newspaper op-ed columns.

Those I cannot use. Nor can I use issues that are being discussed

without debate, though I do keep an eye on them, for debate may well develop. 

One such issue is 3D printing.

What Is 3D Printing?

It is also known as: Rapid prototyping Additive manufacturing

The Basic Idea

Slices, Not Dices

If you can slice an object You can glue the slices back together 3D printing builds 3D objects layer by layer 100-200 layers per inch And it is slow--a Lego block can take an hour

to make But it’s getting better—rapidly!

Basic Technique #1

Platform with layer of powder

Fuse powderwith laser or by adding binder(with ink-jetprinter)

Lower the platform,add new layer of powder,and repeat

Z-Corporation Machines Use Powder with Binder

Basic Technique #2

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM): Squirt semiliquid material (heated plastic for RepRap, below, or plaster, wax, chocolate)

Stratasys FDM

Basic Technique #3

Stereolithography Tank of liquid polymer Polymerize (harden) with

laser beam Latest wrinkle: Araldite

Digitalis uses MEMS to expose 42,000 pixels at once. Faster!

Art

There is a collection of printable files athttp://www.3dprintables.org

Limitations

Pixelly (voxelly) Slow Expensive

Until recently, there were only industrial machines priced from $20,000 up. High end at half a mil!

But…

Print shops are cropping up E.g., Shapeways

Specialized products Christmas ornaments with your face Masks Artwork Fetuses

“The London Ultrasound Centre in the UK offers the ability to take a 3D scan of your offspring - before birth - and produce a 3D print of the child. Actually, the 3D Print is simply used to create a mold for subsequent bronze casting. There's no official pricing on the Centre's website for this service, but according to the Daily Mail, it costs 1,200 pounds sterling (or around USD$1,800) and takes several weeks to deliver!”

For the DIY Crowd

Fab@Home Under $3,000 for parts

RepRap Under $1,000 for parts

(and it can print parts

for new machines!)

Where’s It Going to Go?

The low-end prices are (in constant dollars) where the PC was in mid-70s

Many observers think the tech is too That is: Prices will drop – lowest are already

c. $500! Capabilities will improve: Multiple colors,

multiple materials, less pixelly 3D printers will be in every home in 20 years

Better Capabilities? One Dream: Print a Robot that Walks out of Printer

Second Dream—Print Houses!

It will take a big printer, but–really– this technology is very scalable. And several teams are working on this.

Impacts

The design economy Businesses will have to adapt States will too, for they will suffer lost sales

taxes (1/3 of typical state budget) New sorts of misbehavior

The Design Economy

As soon as people can turn a computer file into a useful solid object, those computer files will be product

People with CAD skills—or 3D scanners!-- will make them

People with printers will buy them Another opportunity for the

developing world?

New Business Models

Sell—and customize--3D printer files, not widgets Sell raw materials Sell equipment to recycle materials Sell a printer linked to file source (Think Kindle!) And don’t forget that porn led the way to e-

commerce. (Sorry! No pics!)

State Taxes

It’s a real problem. States are losing billions in sales taxes

because of e-commerce The transactions exist They just have to figure out how tax them

3D printing will mean no sale of product, hence no transactions and nothing to tax

Count on it: The states will make it up somewhere!

New Misbehaviors

I can hardly wait for the Creationists to get their hands on this tech

Of course, they aren’t the only ones who might like to manufacture evidence to order. Unethical scientists, crooked cops…

IP infringement Crooks are printing ATM card skimmers Etc.

Where’s It Going to Go?

We can try to predict But the only safe prediction is that we are

going to be surprised Both at what 3D printing proves able to do And at what it does to us (or society)

The MIT Food Printer

MIT's Fluid Interfaces Group is working on the design of a concept device that if made popular, would revolutionize how we cook, eat and even socialize.The device shown on the next slide (just a conceptual image) would store a variety of raw food elements in cartridges. The cartridges would be swapped into the print head, which can hold several simultaneously. A 3D model, or "recipe" would drive the head to the right spots to deposit juicy material in a delicious pattern.

Commercial Bioprinting Available Now Invetech has announced the availability of a

commercial 3D Bioprinter. It's being distributed by Organovo to research institutions around the world.

What's a Bioprinter? It's essentially a 3D printer that deposits living cells according to a 3D model to form actual living tissue that can potentially be used inside living organisms.

Possessions are Over! Writer Bruce Sterling fantasizes a new flat near Old Street Station in

London. Apparently he's a bit short on facilities right now: “As yet, I possess no stove, no toilet, no bathtub and and no bed. In fact,

there are no physical objects in my flat whatsoever, except for my two roll-aboard suitcases, this Taiwanese netbook, and one metric tonne of natural ABS plastic on a giant wooden cable reel. The cable reel doubles as the coffee table on which I write this informative blogpost.” 

This apparent lack of household items does not seem to concern Sterling even slightly. He's undergone a transformation of understanding of objects: 

But the key insight is – they’re not possessions. Possessions are over. They are data! Data which sometimes manifests itself as his possessions. 

“This is the essence of the 3D printing paradigm: the data is of value. Objects are mere transitory instances that can be used, or not.” 

Full Color 3D Printing

3D printing service Shapeways now offers full color 3D printing. They use a ZCorp 650 3D printer, which provides the color capability. The "Full Color Sandstone" material is able to handle color texture maps. 

It's obviously more work to prepare color models...

Welcome to The Product Bay

The Pirate Bay may be fading away, eaten slowly by corporate legal teams, but their inspiration carries on - and not only for bigtime entertainment media. Now there’s "The Product Bay,” whose intention seems similar to the Pirates. They "want to take all of this to the next level … for real life objects."

3D Printing Debates

Not much so far It just isn’t on the horizon for most folks But there have been suggestions that the

technology will have to be banned, or at least heavily regulated

The debates are coming!

Future Taking Sides

And when they do… They’ll be in Taking Sides: Clashing Views in

Science, Technology, and Society