CHAPTER 8

INFORMATION SOCIETY
INFORMATION
WORD
• Is a combination of sounds
that represents something.
• It is this significance which
makes words distinct from
just any kind of vocal
utterance.
• Words are made up of sounds
& yet they transmit something
more significant.
• Words are informed with
meaning given by the speaker
& intended for the listener.
Simply put, they communicate
meaning.
 THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE
• The scientific search for truth
early on recognized the
usefulness of language & the
ability it gave to make sense of
nature.
• For the ancient Greeks,
language was an object
worthy of admiration. Words
have power.
• From the Latin word scire
(meaning to know), is one
kind of knowledge the Greek
wanted to understand.
 MATHEMATICS AS THE
LANGUAGE OF NATURE
• Since people have discovered
the laws & language of
nature, they can develop
technology that uses these
laws &language for their
benefit.
• This language is, of course,
mathematics, the great
contribution of Isaac Newton.
 MATHEMATICS AS THE
LANGUAGE OF NATURE
• Nature can be
understood because it
speaks un the language
of mathematics & the
human brain, to a
certain extent, can
comprehend this
language. Unfortunately,
this fact is not always
appreciated.
 TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD
• Western thinkers
harnessed the forces of
nature after understanding
them better.
• Lost in antiquity is the first
sailing vessel that worked
through the power of the
wind.
Ancient scribe working at his desk
 TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD
• Similarly, it was never
recorded when the early
people realized that fire has
its own power & energy.
• Not all early inventions are
lost in time, however. Hero of
Alexandria, for instance,
would invent a primitve
steam engine in the first
century.
THE PRINTING PRESS AND BEYOND

The development of the

printing process, which may be
regarded as the beginning of a
true revolution, could be dated
to the 15th century.
Through this technology, the
ancient Greek idea that
knowledge should be shared &
communicated among humans
would actually be done on a
scale unimagined by its
thinkers.
 THE PRINTING PRESS AND
BEYOND

• Using the printing press, people on different

sides of the world could share their thoughts
& ideas with each other, forming
communities of thinkers across space & time.
 THE WORLD WIDE WEB
• A more modern example of
technology feeding upon
itself is the 20th century tour
de forces: the World Wide
Web through the internet.
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented
it as a way of addressing data
processing & information
sharing needs among
scientists for the European
Organization for Nuclear
Research (CERN).
• Nevertheless, human beings have always found a
way to address their needs & discover new
frontiers with scientific thinking.
• Considering the many benefits we get from these
technologies, we must also be responsible in
utilizing them to avoid harming others & ourselves.
 END…..

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