Alternative and Appropriate Technologies

Syllabus Contract

A few media programs that refer to relevant course topics

Watch several 1-2 minute videos about "Mega-Engineering".  You can vote for your favorite by 12:00PM on Thursday September 1, or watch them at your leisure to inspire more ideas for your essays or project.  Perhaps you will be able to critique the videos through the lens of appropriate technology.

Exploratory Exercise: Allen vs. Diamandis perspectives on technology

Syllabus Contract, Essay/Project Guidelines, and Group Designations

URL/Ref: Papadopoulos, Frey, Castro, et al., “Sponsoring Research in Appropriate Technology”, ASEE 2014.  Read pages 4-8 (Sections 2 and 3).

 Study Questions and Comments:

1. E.F. Schumacher was a "radical economist" who wrote what famous book?
2. What practice did Schumacher criticize as a solution to solve the problems of the developing world (i.e., poor countires)?  Does this practice contiue today?
3. According the Schumacher what are two twin criticisms of modern mass production?
4. How did Schumacher propose to address these problems?  Who inspired him?
5. What was the original name of the organization Practical Action (notice that Practical Action is the author of the next reading)?

URL/Ref: Practical Action, "What is Appropriate Technology?" (ITDG 1993).  Read entire article (pp. 1-6).

Study Questions:

1. What two regions of the world are identified as having unequal power relations with each other?  Were these regions identified by Schumacher (see previous reading)?  In which of these regions do you live?
2. Think about what is meant by 'appropriate' and 'inappropriate' technology.
3. React to the following statement: "need determines technology; technology does not determine need".  Do you agree or disagree that this should be the case?  Do you agree or disagree that this is historically true?
4. In the article, the use of High-Yielding Varieties (HYV) rice was explained to be problematic in the Asian Green Revolution.  Can you think of other examples of technologies that might have have negative, unintended consequences?
5. Give a reason, based on the article, to suggest why some peoples are denied choice in determining technology that is appropriate for their needs.

URL/Ref:  Schramski, Gattie, and Brown.  "Human Domination of the Biosphere: Rapid Discharge of the Earth-Space Battery Foretells the Future of Humankind", PNAS 112(31), August 4, 2015, pp. 9511-9517 (read entire article).

Study Questions

1. What is the PNAS (in the bibliographic citation)?
2. How is energy defined in the paper?
3. What is meant by "low quality" and "high quality" energy?
4. What is the relationship between photosynthesis and respiration?
5. What was a key turning point in human civilization with respect to expanding human energy consumption beyond the hunter-gatherers?
6. What is meant by "recoverable" and "non-recoverable" energy?
7. What is "net primary production" and how large is it?
8. What are the two main types of organic chemical compounds that supply energy for human civilization?
9. Verify the following calculations:
   1. p. 9514, column 1: 74.6x10⁹J/person/yr is equivalent to 2,370 W (1W = 1J/s)
   2. p. 9514, column 1: total annual energy consumption (per person) is 0.53 ZJ (1ZJ = 10²¹J = 10¹⁵MJ)
   3. p. 9514, column 1: 2000 Cal = 8.4 MJ (consult http://www.onlineconversion.com/energy.htm)
   4. p. 9514, column 1: the metabolic rate is 100 W (8.4 MJ/day)
   5. p. 9514, column 2: the average human power demand is 24 times that of the ancient hunter-gatherer (divide one of the above numbers by another - do you see which ones?)
10. Do the authors make any predictions about the future of human civilization and the earth?

Here is a good energy unit conversion calculator.  The spreadsheet provided is a simplified version for some common units.

URL/Ref: DeDecker.  "Slow Electricity: The Return of DC Power?", Low Tech Magazine, April 27, 2016.  Read entire article

Study Questions

1. What are the main factors that make DC systems attractive again?
2. What is the relationship between power loss due to cable resistance and current?
3. List at least 4 Native DC Power sources or devices (that naturally produce DC power or DC loads)
4. Besides a hybrid DC-AC system for high power appliances, what is the other alternative presented?

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 From Iván Illich. Electronic link

Please check out this article from Low-tech Magazine.  It may form the basis of a future assignment.  Other sources will be added later.

How much energy goes into producing and delivering your food, compared with the energy that you actually derive from the food?  I.e., how efficient is our food system?  Also, check out the comment about 'truth in packaging'.

URL/Ref: Chapter 10 from Willoughby, Technology Choice: A Critique of the Appropriate Technology Movement, Westview Press, 1990 (link requires access to Biblioteca General).

Please read the study guide as you read the article and watch this video that will serve as an initial example for discussion of the framework.

Divide into groups and discuss a key summary and key example for each sub-section of the reading.

URL/Ref: Chapter 3 from Mitcham and Muñoz, Humanitarian Engineering, Morgan & Claypool, 2010 (link requires access to Biblioteca General).

Study Questions:

1. How do Mitcham and Muñoz distinguish science from engineering?  Does this relate to any themes from the previous tow readings?
2. What are the origins of the profession of engineering?
3. How do Mitcham and Muñoz segue into the topic of engineering ethics?
4. How do Mitcham and Muñoz define humanitarian engineering?  How does this relate to our discussion of "Appropriate Technology"?
5. What was one of the major insights of Fred Cuny?
6. What do Harry Truman's comments about the sharing "technical knowledge" with other "peace-loving peoples" reveal about his attitudes about technology (think about what you read in the previous two readings)?  Do these attitudes views generalize to attitudes embedded in US foreign policy?

Entire book: Mitcham and Muñoz, Humanitarian Engineering, Morgan & Claypool, 2010 (requires access to Biblioteca General).

By Carl Mitcham, 1994.

Micro-hydro scheme study

http://practicalaction.org/energy-access-ecosystems

Charcoal Briquettes

http://practicalaction.org/energy-access-ecosystems

Bangladesh - Floating Gardens

http://practicalaction.org/docs/education/practical-action-bangladesh-floating-gardens.pdf

URL/Ref: Chapter 11 from Willoughby, Technology Choice: A Critique of the Appropriate Technology Movement, Westview Press, 1990 (link requires access to Biblioteca General).

PPT Presentation corresponding to "A Review of Possible Criticisms", Chapter 11 from Willoughby.

Ref/URL: Chapters 3 and 4 from E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, Harper & Row, 1973.

Unauthorized(?) electronic versions here and here.

URL/Ref: Section 1 (Chapters 2-4) from Practical Action, Wellbeing, Technology Justice, and Sustainable Development, 2012 (Unpublished/communicated to Marcel Castro, November 2012).

Related (optional): http://practicalaction.org/technology-justice, http://policy.practicalaction.org/policy-themes/technology-justice

Study Questions:

1. What is the relationship between economic growth and happiness?
2. What are some of the quality of life indicators presented?
3. What measure appears to be well-correlated with quality of life problems?
4. Which is the more critical limit on growth, exhaustion of resources or environmental/ecological damage?
5. What is problematic about the way scientific research is often funded?
6. What did Schumacher say that exemplifies the concept of non-neutrality of technology?

URL/Ref: J. Leydens, J. Lucena, and D. Nieusma, What is Design for Social Justice, 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Expositiion, Indianapolis, IN.

Study Questions

1. What is your conception of justice?  Social justice?
2. What is the authors' basic definition of social justice, as applied to engineering?
3. What are the four basic design strategies that the authors identify?  Can you give a 2-3 sentence summary of each one?
4. Reflect on your own courses so far at UPRM.  Even if you are not in engineering, which strategy do you think is the most dominant?
5. What is perhaps the most dangerous word in a typical engineering or science textbook assignment or problem?
6. What are the seven social-justice criteria that the authors identify?  Can you give a 2-3 sentence summary of each one?
7. Reflect on your own courses so far at UPRM.  Can you think of any examples in which a topic or assignment could be integrated with social justice criteria (even if that was not required or examined in your actual class)?
8. What do the authors propose are the basic arguments for and against integrating social justice criteria into traditional engineering courses?  What might be other arguments?

These are some very important references that relate to engineering, technology, and justice.

Study Questions

1. Identify the various attitudes and values held by the native people; the mining companies; the government; foreign governments; international development agencies.
2. How might "contextual listening" be applied to a mining engineering project?
3. What further questions do you have that would help you to better understand the story and context of Berta Cáceres and many activists like her?

For further thought:

1. Where do the raw materials originate - and how are they extracted - for the myriad of products that we use?
2. Has history repeated itself with the rise of industries of different epochs, such as cotton, steel, and gold?

Interview with Peter Brabeck, former CEO of Nestlé: what does the interview reveal about his attitudes about technology and social issues?

Compare: http://www.nestle.com/ask-nestle/human-rights/answers/nestle-chairman-peter-brabeck-letmathe-believes-water-is-a-human-right

Compare: http://naturalsociety.com/nestle-ceo-water-not-human-right-should-be-privatized/

1. Read various narratives of a given issue and compare them.  Do "mainstream" documentaries about "things" or "technology" raise issues of justice?
2. Pick your favorite large development project or man-made "wonder".  Investigate its history through the lens of justice.  Who benefited?  Who was exploited? What was its footprint? Etc.
3. Reflect on your current courses or projects.  How might you bring some of the principles and criteria of justice to your work - even if it is not part of the "official" assignment?

URL/Ref: Pieter Tijmes, “Albert Borgmann: Technology and the Character of Everyday Life”, in Hans Achterhuis, editor, American Philosophy of Technology: The Empirical Turn. Trans. Robert P. Crease. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2001, pages 11-36.

URL/Ref: Castro-Sitiriche, Marcel J. and Luis Jiménez-Rodríguez. "Responsible Wellbeing and Energy Threshold". ETHOS Gubernamental: Revista del Centro para el Desarrollo del Pensamiento Ético, Oficina de Ética Gubernamental, No. VII, San Juan, Puerto Rico, pp. 64-126, June 2014.

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Here is the direct link to the file.  The top page is located at practicalaction.org/cross-curricular-case-studies.

URL/Ref: Héctor Huyke-Souffront. “La sustitución de las cercanías por la lejanía”, en Tras otro progreso: Filosofía de la tecnología desde la periferia. Cabo Rojo, Editorial Educación Emergente, 2013, capítulo 6, pp. 107-124.

Atención a los siguientes puntos:

• Un fragmento de vida cotidiana (Subtítulo 6.2)
• Acoplamientos fortalecedores
• Acoplamientos debilitadores
• Tecnologías arraigantes
• Principio de las cercanías

Ref/URL: Riley, D.   Engineering Thermodynamics and 21st Century Energy Problems: A Textbook Companion for Student Engagement.  Synthesis Lecture Series, Morgan & Claypool, 2011.

PLEASE READ PP. 1-6, 9-18, 20-28, 31, 41-42, 46-48, 55-57.

Requires access to UPRM Library Database: http://www.uprm.edu/library/cre/listdbsp.php >> M >> Morgan & Claypool (second page)

Brief introduction to some basic concepts of thermodynamics.

This is the presentation outlines broad principles of structural behavior via a review of common structural forms.

This folder contains all of the documents and presentations contributed by Owen Ingley from Plenitud Iniciativas.

This article introduces basic concepts and practices of earthbag construction.  PLEASE READ PRIOR TO LECTURE.