Transforming Nature

This book treats discovery and invention as processes of knowledge transformation. This process of transformation also covers the way in which scientists persuade and inventors create markets. New discoveries and technologies are not simply the result of organizational agendas and market forces; they are created by human beings who transform both nature and society. One of the goals of this book is to take technological and scientific thinking out of the realm of mystery and give a wider audience the tools to begin to comprehend it. An additional goal is to show how ethics can be used to make certain inventions and discoveries transform the world in a beneficial way. New technologies must be environmentally sustainable and socially just. Chapter 1 begins with analysis of several cases of discovery, and attempts to make generalizations from them. Chapter 2 combines psychology, sociology and philosophy of science in an effort to determine whether and how science can be studied. Chapter 3 is about invention and the story of the telephone is at the centre, with other cases embellishing the discussion. Chapter 4 brings ethics, discovery and invention together in the case of the atomic bomb, then goes on to treat new ethical technologies like the development of a compostable furniture fabric and the introduction of photovoltaics into developing countries. Chapter 5 considers how to teach ethical discovery and invention, and includes a section on the management of discovery and invention.