2
Technology, Risk, Precaution,
and Sustainability
2.1
Natural Science and Technology as the Basis of Industrial
Development
The development of modern society is strongly influenced by the progress of
science and technology. Achievements over the past 150 years have brought
material wealth to large fractions of the population in industrialized nations, and
science and technology play a central role in reducing risks to life and avoiding
scarcity within the framework of the modern economy. With today’s diversity of
technical products, processes, and services, however, unintended consequences such
as resource depletion, the release of hazardous chemicals, and the risk of serious
accidents are an ongoing and often serious threat to human and environmental health
and well-being.
To really understand the importance of science and technology and also how they
relate to one another, it is helpful to take a look back at their origin and historical
development.
Science is the systematic study of the natural world using observations and
experiments (including computer simulations). Since antiquity, science has been
transformed from an intellectual and contemplative form into a strongly actionoriented approach through the inclusion of technical elements. The introduction of
using experiments and the growing emancipation of humans from nature played a
significant role in this process. In the European Renaissance (16 th and 17 th century),
the idea of domination and control of nature superseded a natural science that was
strongly connected with philosophy and theology. Francis Bacon (1561–1626), in
his book Novum Organum, laid the foundation of the modern, empirically based,
scientific method. Since then, a large part of knowledge-oriented science has been
systematically put into the service of application-oriented science. The ability of
humans to emancipate themselves from the natural environment and to change it
has led, to some extent, to an antagonistic relationship between humans and nature
(Hösle, 1994; Primas, 1992; Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen, 1994).
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. Hungerbühler et al., Chemical Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62422-4_2
9
Technology, Risk, Precaution,
and Sustainability
2.1
Natural Science and Technology as the Basis of Industrial
Development
The development of modern society is strongly influenced by the progress of
science and technology. Achievements over the past 150 years have brought
material wealth to large fractions of the population in industrialized nations, and
science and technology play a central role in reducing risks to life and avoiding
scarcity within the framework of the modern economy. With today’s diversity of
technical products, processes, and services, however, unintended consequences such
as resource depletion, the release of hazardous chemicals, and the risk of serious
accidents are an ongoing and often serious threat to human and environmental health
and well-being.
To really understand the importance of science and technology and also how they
relate to one another, it is helpful to take a look back at their origin and historical
development.
Science is the systematic study of the natural world using observations and
experiments (including computer simulations). Since antiquity, science has been
transformed from an intellectual and contemplative form into a strongly actionoriented approach through the inclusion of technical elements. The introduction of
using experiments and the growing emancipation of humans from nature played a
significant role in this process. In the European Renaissance (16 th and 17 th century),
the idea of domination and control of nature superseded a natural science that was
strongly connected with philosophy and theology. Francis Bacon (1561–1626), in
his book Novum Organum, laid the foundation of the modern, empirically based,
scientific method. Since then, a large part of knowledge-oriented science has been
systematically put into the service of application-oriented science. The ability of
humans to emancipate themselves from the natural environment and to change it
has led, to some extent, to an antagonistic relationship between humans and nature
(Hösle, 1994; Primas, 1992; Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen, 1994).
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. Hungerbühler et al., Chemical Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62422-4_2
9