Science and technology, which are advancing at a pace that makes us dizzy, are truly for whom and for what? This book carefully examines the relationship between science and technology and society, highlighting the need to seriously examine the various perspectives of the technological products that shape our lives and daily lives before blindly accepting them.


Author Kang Yang-gu is a reporter for the internet newspaper Pressian, and became known to the world for his truthful reporting on the Hwang Woo-suk scandal in 2005-2006.
The author, who has also won the Amnesty International Journalism Award and the Green Journalism Award, consistently speaks in this book about nothing less than caution against scientific supremacy and concerns about an era of science and technology without democracy.
This is because I believe that “an era of science and technology without democracy is the dystopia that many prophets of civilization have warned about.”

Furthermore, this book deeply examines and reflects on the pressing issues we face in the age of science and technology, such as the crisis of nuclear bombs, mad cow disease, environmental issues like global warming, energy issues, and the rise of a surveillance society represented by Big Brother, through the vivid voices of those on the ground. It provides food for thought on what attitude we should take toward science and technology in the future, and what answers we should find to solve numerous science and technology problems.

Their concern was this.
"Why do we have airplanes that fly at the speed of sound, but poor old people freeze to death every winter? Providing affordable heating systems doesn't require incredible technology, so why can't we? We have the technology to build sophisticated robots, but disabled people can't get assistive devices to help them get around? Why isn't there a movement to use solar energy instead of dangerous nuclear energy?" (...) Listening to their concerns felt like a punch in the face.
No matter how much science and technology are developed, what good is it if it is not used to benefit people? This is what I thought.
--- p.6~7

By the 1940s, electric refrigerators had become so widespread that 45 percent of American households owned one, and gas refrigerators were becoming a thing of the past.
Of course, electric refrigerators were introduced in Korea in the 1960s and are still widely used today.
I ended up choosing an electric refrigerator over a gas refrigerator because it was quiet, less prone to breakdowns, and even cheaper.
The electric refrigerator has emerged as the ultimate winner, over the more convenient and technologically superior product of science and technology (the gas refrigerator).
(……) As can be seen in the battle between electric and gas refrigerators, the products of science and technology that we encounter in our daily lives do not necessarily ‘survive’ because they are technologically superior and convenient.
Just as gas refrigerators were sacrificed in the midst of competition between large and small businesses, the history of the scientific and technological artifacts we use is intertwined with complex political, economic, and social factors.
--- p.53

Why do people starve despite this abundance of food? It's because food distribution isn't being done properly.
A prime example is the United States, the world's richest country, where 20.1 percent of the population suffers from hunger.
Now you can probably guess why Bobé doesn't follow in his father's footsteps. Unlike his father, Bobé believes that improving the unequal food distribution structure is more urgent than increasing production through genetically modified crops.
Perhaps Bobe would also advise Snow, who hoped that scientific revolution could eradicate poverty:
"Look, science and technology aren't a panacea." --- p.66

It's not just cows.
Pigs are also dangerous.
This is because pigs are fed animal feed to ensure they get enough protein.
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy has not yet been reported in pigs.
Daniel C. Gajdusek, Nobel Prize winner for his research on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Gajdusek) says.
“The reason why diseases do not appear in pigs is because pigs are not kept for 7 to 8 years.
“Pigs are slaughtered at most when they are 2-3 years old.” In fact, if the brain of a cow infected with mad cow disease is injected into a pig in a laboratory and raised for more than 7-8 years, the pig inevitably shows symptoms of mad cow disease and dies.
His opinion is that the 'mad pig disease' has not been discovered yet because it kills only during the incubation period.
If this is true, the problem becomes even bigger.
This is because the sutures used in surgery are made from pig intestines.
There is also a very high possibility that human mad cow disease can be transmitted through surgical equipment.
--- p.100~101

George W. of the United States.
It is well known that President Bush has been pouring cold water on global efforts to combat global warming.
In 2001, President Bush appointed Philip Cooney, who had spent six years working with the American Petroleum Institute to discredit the global warming narrative, as his environmental adviser.
For over four years, Kuni has committed the "atrocity" of deleting any report that mentions the negative aspects of global warming.
This behavior of Kuni was eventually exposed by a conscientious whistleblower within the company to the New York Times.
According to the media's revelations, Kuni deleted and edited a report that included claims that "people engaged in fishing and other industries will be severely affected by global warming" to suit his own tastes.
Ultimately, Kuni was forced to resign in disgrace from his position as environmental advisor.
So what happened to Kuni after that? Immediately after resigning, he went to work for the American oil company ExxonMobil.
--- p.117~119

Why didn't those who criticized Carson consider this scientific approach? Perhaps the influence of the chemical companies, which profited enormously from selling pesticides, played a role.
But there was another, more important reason.
The false belief that science and technology can solve any problem hindered rational thinking and even caused people to turn away from Carson, who was shouting the truth.
Carson challenged the prevailing belief at the time that "science and technology can solve everything."

--- p.128