FILAMER CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

College of Computer Studies

GEC 7 : SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Module 6: Human Flourishing as Reflected in Progress and Development

Overview

The quest for human progress and flourishing has always been at the center of civilization. People always seek
to live better lives and provide a better life. In the process, they seek to live lives of meaning and aspire to fulfill their
potential. Although societies are made up of heterogeneous individuals with different preferences, people reliably
organize themselves into groups, communities or nations in an effort to improve the status quo ( progress ).

According to Nicholas Christakis, human flourishing in its broadcast sense means that it is about everyone having
a chance to climb the ladder of success. In essence, the dreams is about aspiration, opportunity, progress, and not
just material comfort alone. It is something greater than yourself while still maintaining a strong sense of personal
agency.

By “progress” means the combination of economic, technological, scientific, cultural, and organizational
advancement that has transformed our lives and raised standards of living over the past couple of centuries.

Humans of today are expected to become “man of the world”, supposed to situate himself in a global
neighborhood, working side by side among institutions and the government to be able to reach a common good.

Objectives

At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

1. Critique human flourishing vis-à-vis the progress of science and technology.

Modules Contents

Human Flourishing as reflected in Progress and development ( Jason Hickel )

> The term Human Flourish come from the Greek word “ EUDAIMONIA “ used by Aristotle.
> Human Flourishing arises with different component such as “ Phroneis” , “Freindship” , “Love” , and Power.
 Jason Hickel challenges us to rethink and reflected on a different paradigm of de-development. De-
development is the way of bridging the gup between the poor countries anf rich one
 It is about time that we rethink our stands of development if we truly want to live a good life.
 SDGs are about to offer a fresh plan for how to save the world, but beneath all the types, its business as usual.
The main strategy for eradicating poverty is the same growth.
 Growth isn’t an option any more-we’ve already grown too much. Scientists are now telling us that we’re
blowing past planetary boundaries at break week speed. And the hard truth is that this global crisis is due
almost entirely to over consumption in rich countries.
 Instead of pushing poorer countries to “catch up” with rich ones, we should be thinking of ways to get rich
countries to “catch down” to more appropriate levels of development. We should look at societies where
people live long and happy lives.
 Jason Hickel was a famous Anthropologist who said that advanced science and technology means finding
ways to enhance human flourishing with minimal pressure on the planet.
 He also said that we need to do and invest in more efficient technology and a team scientists who can come
up with good technology in order to enhance human flourishing such as in advertising, promotion of product
and resources.
 He also explained how human condition affects economic growth; that is human flourishing in harmony with
the planet.
 He said “developing” poor countries means to re-develop poor countries, meaning that instead of pushing
poorer countries to “catch up “ with rice ones, we should be thinking ways to get rich countries to “catch up”
with rice ones, we should be thinking ways to get rich countries to “catch down” to more appropriate levels
of development.
 He further described that there is clear racial imbalance at play as average, the votes of people of color are
worth only a tiny fraction of their counterpart. It is called as a facial dictatorship.
Self-Evaluation

After reading and understanding the article of Jason Hickel, answer the following questions on the space
provided. Nations?

1. What is the main objective of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations?

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2. What is the standardized unit that measure resource and waste?

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3. What is the standard response to eradicating poverty?

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4. What is the threshold of the Earth for adequately sustaining life?

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5. What are two indicators of the quality of life given in the article ( Jason Hickel ) ?

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6. How would the different areas of the world react to the idea of “de-development”?
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Questions for Reflection

1. How do we improve our lives and yet reduce consumptions?

Supplementary Activity

Watch the video clip titled “The Magician’s Twin”: CS Lewis and the case Against Scientism. Reflect on the
notions of development that may evolve into scientism. In pairs and take note of your thoughts on the video clip
with the following guide questions:

1. What is scientism?
2. Why is science more dangerous to magic?
3. What do we need for the sciences to be good?

References

McNamara, DJ., Valverde, V.M., and Beleno, R. III. (2018). Science, Technology and Society,

Philippines. C & E Publishing House, Inc.

Video Clips/Slides. The Magician’s Twin: CS Lewis and the Case Against Scientism.