American public attitude on science and technology

Throughout history, the customary cognizance on intuition and engine room has not been stable. It has changed constantly and the fluctuation on the attitudes is pacify evident right away. It is important to note that the domain knowledges on scientific and scientific approachs transmute from one society to an different. Since the end of the indorsement reality contend, the first state of war to carry call of sophisticated scientific technologies such as atomic bombs, there has been some(prenominal) scientific advancement and consequently changes in the commonplace intuition in the get together States.This is as a result of the abundant seek that was prompted by the events of the uphold human beings War and the subsequent tensions of the cold war era (Mindell, pg 1). The attitudes of the Americans on scientific and technological advancements commit always had far stretchiness impacts (National academy of applied science, pg 1). It affects the level to wh ich the federal brass funds for scientific question and increment, the get of people especially college student volition to pursue c arrs in research and ontogeny the application of the new and better technologies that withstand been developed and the improvement of existing technologies.There be varies factors that have been found to influence the perceptions and attitudes of the Americans towards indisputable technologies. These factors includes that knowledge about the specific applied scientific discipline held by the general public, optimisms of the technological advancement and the general public attitude towards the barter dealing with the technology. These factors have made comparability of attitudes and perceptions of societies from different backgrounds on certain scientific advancement difficult (Liao, pg 1).In the 1970s, there was a growing concern in the get together States payable to the increased prejudicial perception of the public on science and tech nology. The public were slowly losing government agency on research and development when compared to the situation in the Second World War where the Americans had full confidence on the ability of science. These increased concerns were prompted by the increased environmental awareness. The public was increasingly getting aware of the impacts of air taint and the negative consequences of technological advancement.There were reports on the mess hall media on the dangers associated with increased research and development of thermonuclear weapons and power plants, bioengineering research especially on the DNA, disposal of hepatotoxic industrial waste and massive use of pesticides and fertilizers in the plantations. Protests against science and technology were witnessed in the 1970s. This created a ingest for the National cognizance Board to embark on strategies of reduce the general cynicism towards science and technology in the United States (Pion and Mark, pg 303).Despite th is, compared to other societies around the world, the American societys attitude favor science and technology. Most of the Americans mean that technological advancement makes them healthier and comfortable. Majority of the Americans today believes the scientists main aim is to make life story easier for the ordinary Americans. muchover, they believe that advancement in technology and its applications in their daily lives are fire and create to a greater extent opportunities for the future day generations.However, about half of the Americans believe that the forward-looking society is over-dependent on science and technology. It is interesting to note that the more the public look on about the improvement in technology and become aware of its positive and negative effective, their attitude shifts towards favoring technological development. This explains the increased perception that though technological advancement whitethorn have harmful make on the environment or degrade t he sanctitude of human life, the benefits outweigh the negative effects (Science and Engineering Indicators, Para 5).However, this does not cerebrate there are no concerns among the public on the increased dependence of science and technology among the Americans. The increased debates on climate change and global warming has been unredeemed to be associated with technological advancement in the second half of the twentieth ampere-second. but a good number of Americans believe science and technology is the solution to the environmental problems responsible for climate change.The confidence held by the Americans on science and technology is due to the perception that technology was essential in the establishment of the United States as a world superpower. The supremacy of the United States war machine in the Second World War, the Vietnam War, and the confidence during the cold war, the gulf war and the sure 21st war in warmheartedness East has been attributed to science and t echnology. Americans therefore compute research and development as their sterling(prenominal) achievement in the 20th century (Miller, pg 274).Despite the increased debate on the biotechnology especially genetically modified organisms, Americans are still weighing the options with majority beingness opposed to adoption of biotechnological advancement in food production. Biotechnology is not the only when field of technology where the Americans are keenly listening to scientists to weigh their options. They are likewise closely monitoring research on global warming, space exploration and nuclear energy. In conclusion, the public perceptions on science and technology in America have changed progressively since the end of the Second World War.It is important to note that the Americans are more confident with science and technology compared to other societies in the world. Moreover, the perception of the public generally depends on the knowledge about the technology. trim Cited L iao, Dan. , Jiang, Lingrui. , Palmer, David. , Liu, Xiaoming and McCutcheon, Allan. Attitude towards Science and technology in European New Member Countries A Cross-National Study. Paper presented at the annual showdown of the American Association for earthly concern sagacity Association, Fontainebleau Resort, Miami Beach, FL,Mindell, David. The science and technology of World War II. Retrieved on 7th June 2010 from http//www. learnnc. org/lp/editions/nchist-worldwar/5. 3. Miller, J. D. Public sagaciousness of, and attitudes toward, scientific research what we know and what we need to know. Public Understand. Sci. 13 (2004) 273294 National honorary society of Engineering (2002) Technically Speaking wherefore All Americans Need to Know More About Technology. Washington, DC National Academy Press Pion, Georgine M. and Mark, W.Lipsey. Public Attitudes Toward Science and Technology What Have the Surveys Told Us? The Public picture Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 3 (1981), pp. 303-316 S cience and Engineering Indicators. Science and Technology Public Attitudes and Understanding, (2004). http//www. nsf. gov/statistics/seind04/c7/c7s3. htm. Sturgis, P. I. Brunton-Smith, and C. Fife-Schaw. Public attitudes to genomic science an experiment in selective information provision Public Understanding of Science, 19(2) (2010) pp 166 180.