In this blog post, we explore the phenomenon of science and technology being marginalized by economic value and possible solutions. We will look at why science and technology is marginalized and how this can be overcome.
One morning, Gregor Samsa woke up from a nightmare and realized that he had turned into a giant insect in his bed. This is the first sentence of Kafka’s novel, The Metamorphosis. Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is famous for dealing with the issue of human alienation. However, when I read this sentence, I had a different thought. I wondered, “Could the insect in the bed be science and technology?” I considered that the main character, Gregor Samsa, symbolizes science and technology. The plot of this novel is simple. Before turning into a bug, Gregor Samsa was the pillar of his family, living a hard life as a salesman for the sake of his family. He sacrificed his life and lived a life of struggle, and was an indispensable member of his family.
Then one morning, he woke up from a nightmare and found himself transformed into a bug. From that moment on, his family saw him as a completely different being. Once indispensable to his family, he became alienated from them and eventually starved to death at their hands. Kafka intended to use “metamorphosis” to talk about human alienation, but the story reminded me of the phenomenon of technological alienation.
I am not sure if the term “technological alienation” already exists. I looked it up in the dictionary, but it was not there. However, I decided to use it because I thought it was the most appropriate term to express what I had in mind. Technological alienation does not mean that technology is alienated from people because it is out of their reach. If the subject of alienation is human beings, then in this context, the subject of alienation is technology itself. In other words, science and technology alienation means that science and technology itself is alienated.
What was the hottest topic in science and technology in 2005? No matter what anyone says, the answer is Professor Hwang Woo-suk’s stem cells. When the article and paper on Professor Hwang Woo-suk’s successful cloning of stem cells were published in Nature, not only South Korea but the whole world turned its attention to Professor Hwang. However, when the paper was found to be fraudulent, somatic cell cloning technology was marginalized. It was as if one morning, somatic cell cloning technology woke up and realized that it had turned into a giant insect in its bed. The insect in Kafka’s novel The Metamorphosis may symbolize science and technology.
Why was Gregor Samsa alienated by his family? It was not just because his appearance had changed so horribly. Gregor was alienated because he had been a successful salesman but had turned into an incompetent insect. People are also alienated by society and their families when they are judged to be incompetent. This is the human alienation that Kafka wanted to express through “The Metamorphosis.” In today’s society, the criteria for determining incompetence are increasingly determined by wealth and money. In today’s society, people who cannot make money are treated as incompetent. This leads to human alienation. The same is true for science and technology. People think that “science and technology that cannot make money is unnecessary” and that “science and technology that makes money is good science and technology.” In other words, science and technology are also alienated.
Every year on December 10, an article appears with the headline, “Why doesn’t South Korea win any Nobel Prizes?” The conclusion is always the same: “It’s because the government and companies only invest in science and technology that makes money.” When many universities and research institutes decide on research topics, the first thing they consider is money. Whether research will generate money or attract investment is the most important factor in determining research topics. In this process, research that does not generate money is treated like a bug and marginalized.
Cho Se-hee’s novel The Little Ball Thrown by a Dwarf and Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman have told many stories about the phenomenon of human alienation. Various measures have been proposed to resolve human alienation. There have been various institutional and conceptual discussions, such as strengthening the role of the family, establishing policy measures, and supplementing the limitations of evaluation based solely on economic ability. What about science and technology? There has been much discussion about the alienation of science and technology from humans, but there has been little discussion about the alienation of science and technology itself. When South Korea is excluded from the Nobel Prize every year, it is only briefly mentioned in the news and newspapers.
So how can we resolve the phenomenon of science and technology marginalization? The first method is to consider introducing an institutional mechanism called tenure. Tenure is a system that originated in the United States in the 19th century to support professors researching fields that do not receive much attention and to guarantee their lifetime employment and autonomy. Young professors work hard to obtain tenure, which allows them to conduct research in fields that do not receive much attention without being constrained by financial considerations. Although the debate over tenure continues, I believe that the partial introduction of a tenure system is necessary to prevent the marginalization of science and technology. The second method is to strengthen government and corporate support for unpopular fields. Increased support for marginalized science and technology will lead to more active research in these fields.
As a result, the phenomenon of science and technology being marginalized by money will be reduced. How can we strengthen support for unpopular fields? It is natural for companies and governments to support science and technology that is profitable. However, how can we support science and technology that is not profitable? Here, I propose a donation-based funding method. This involves providing support for non-mainstream science and technology in the form of donations. Since it is a donation, donors can consider it a worthwhile investment. I believe that such institutional mechanisms will enable financial support for non-mainstream research.
I have discussed ways to solve the marginalization of science and technology through institutional mechanisms such as tenure and donation-based funding. Once such institutional mechanisms are in place, the marginalization of science and technology due to money will decrease. However, in order to resolve the ultimate marginalization, a change in perception is necessary first. The basic solution to human marginalization is to increase interest in one’s surroundings. Similarly, people need to be interested in science and technology. It is not just interest in science and technology that makes money, but interest in science and technology itself. Even before his transformation, Gregor Samsa was a member of his family who cared about his sister’s future and his family’s future. The same is true for science and technology. Whether he was Gregor Samsa before his transformation or after his transformation into an insect, he was still a necessary part of our society. Just as Gregor Samsa was alienated by his family and died of starvation simply because he had no economic power, many technologies are still dying of starvation in some corner of the room.
