Have you ever noticed how many true crime and crime drama shows are produced by the BBC? My partner and I have a running joke about the Murderous British Isles, where homicide is so common that even the village vicars are tasked with solving a new one every week. Despite the gross overrepresentation of lethal assault in Jolly Old England, the UK ranks 175th on the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime list of 230 nations that report homicide statistics, which makes it among the safest places on earth, alongside Andorra, Switzerland, and Tahiti. In fact, the murder rate across…

The Problem with Nuclear

The public enthusiasm for scientific and technological advancements that literally electrified America in the 20th century began to wane as the culture became disillusioned with its institutions, which could not close the growing gap between socioeconomic classes, political groups, religious affiliations, and along race and gender lines. The hazards of nuclear technologies became a totemic bridge between groups with seemingly disparate concerns about environmental degradation, energy crises, public health risks, America’s geopolitical role in the Cold War, military adventurism, and the possibility of total nuclear annihilation. The change in cultural attitude reached a tipping point in the 1980s, and went…

The Current Role of Citizens in Technical(ogical) Decision-Making

At a minimum, citizens have a duty to participate in the public debate over national S&T research and development priorities. Usually, this obligation is parlayed into voting and free speech rights. Certainly, the media and political groups urge individuals to take a personal interest and participate via social media in science policy debates, like climate change, medical interventions, evolution science education, and risk analysis. Recent news concerning Flint’s toxic water provides an ideal example of the role of the citizen scientist in uncovering widespread lead poisoning as the result of poor policy planning and a devastating technological decision.

Citizen Scientists

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The Internet provides an ideal lens through which to explore the many ways in which a technology might embody forms of power and authority, and test the validity of STS theory on the subject.

The Politics of Technological Determinism: Authoritarian vs. Democratic

Lewis Mumford’s normative description of authoritarian and democratic technologies immediately falls short: the Net, although system-centered and immensely powerful, it is most decidedly not inherently unstable, as authoritarian technologies are classified; nor is it man-centered and relatively weak, although it is supremely resourceful and durable, as democratic technologies are classified. So Mumford’s dualistic approach to the politics of technology doesn’t pass the prima facie test.

But…

Overview of Institutions

America’s scientific institutions encompass the various modes of organization involved in scientific discourse and endeavor. Criteria for entry into this category may change with the times, as research priorities shifted from industrial to military to medical to environmental to digital, but the structure of norms, peers, and mandates are common to all of them. Generally speaking, their rise, evolution, and/or prominence were marked by four technological advents:

1. Mass production of the early 20th century,
2. Military research efforts proximal to and between the wars,
3. Post-War “big science,” and
4. The Internet at the end of the century.

Technological Advancement Facilitates the Growth of Scientific Institutions

Mass Production Promotes Innovation in…

The sophistication, diversity, and complexity of contemporary society means that we no longer have the luxury of debating policy decisions in terms of forces of light versus forces of darkness; we must now consider the balance of virtues that will affect all of our people and institutions. STS offers a more complex and thoughtful analysis of policy options than the reductive fiscal, legal, and ideological “bottom line” explanations that tend to dominate policy debates.

STS Considers Indirect Influences on Policy and Public Opinion

Direct influences on policy and popular support include legal precedent, fiscal cost, and constituent support. Such influences can be measured or proven through records and documents…

This question is exceptionally timely (pardon the pun) in this season of primaries, caucuses, and non-stop election predictions. Political wonks are cautioned against calling the race before Super Tuesday, as time and again history has shown us that the candidate in the lead at the beginning of the nomination process is rarely in the race two months later. Nevertheless, we cannot help ourselves! Clinton was supposed to be a shoe-in, Trump should have flaked out before the debates started, Sanders was way too liberal to fund a campaign (much less make a showing), and Cruz was a foreigner. A FOREIGNER!

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In this season of political prognostication, the differences between the GOP and the Dems will be parsed and analyzed in terms of personalities and issues. But what is the difference within the primary electorate? Simply put: voters are split between those who want to do the right thing and those who want to be right. …