roadwrkahead

image
image

Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology

by Ellen Ullman

bemusedlybespectacled

a while back I made a post along the lines of "every STEM major should have a required 'history of science' course that's just all about previously wrong and bad scientific theories like sperm all containing homunculi and spontaneous generation" and I got a lot of responses like "but STEM majors already have gen ed requirements!" and would not understand why I was specifically asking for a course that would teach people about why science is not infallible and does not exist in a vacuum and THIS IS EXACTLY WHY ACTUALLY

falcon-fox-and-coyote

*waves hand* I'm a historian of science technology and medicine and at my university the med students are required to take history of medicine classes.

And let me tell you, the blank expressions they get sometimes when they need to learn things.

In their med classes, they're taught: disease is fixed by x. Give patient x or do x and the patient will survive.

They are never confronted with: what if patient doesn't want to do x.

Our courses teach our students: okay, during anti malaria campaigns, mosquito control is a massive part of reducing rates of infections. But in many places, the local population does not want to accept the spraying in their communities. Why? Because it makes their homes reek, it forces them out of their communities, it creates disruptions in their work day and food stability because they have to attend to the spray sessions, they lose money and time and are more likely to experience hardship as a result of the spraying and they would rather take their chances with a disease they might not get.

The looks on these students' faces as they realize that people are people beyond their diseases is baffling at times. They have been taught to hit the nail with the hammer that they forget that sometimes the nail cannot be fixed with a hammer at all. Sometimes other interventions or community mindedness needs to be discussed.

Now if you expand out of there and towards anti vaccination campaigns, or fears in the indigenous communities due to medical trauma from forced sterilization and fraudulent injections : it adds context to why patients behave towards doctors and what the doctor can do to build faith in a community.

History of STM is so important for people in the STEM fields. They need to understand it. They need to know where their work comes from and what the people they are dealing with expect or anticipate. If they don't, they'll keep spraying noxious substances in houses and expecting to be thanked for it, while not understanding why they aren't.

dimonds456

Don't forget about the Palestinians.

Don't forget about them now.

Don't forget about them tomorrow.

Don't forget about them in a week from now.

Don't forget about them in a month.

Don't forget them next year.

Don't forget them in 5 years.

When the history books start to update, don't let them put lies in there.

When documentaries come out, boycott the ones who call this a victory for Israel.

When books release talking about soldier's personal experiences with Palestine, remember the victims. Remember the truth.

Don't forget about what we've seen.

Don't forget about what we've heard.

Don't let them tell lies about Palestine.

Don't forget about the Palestinians when the world tries to make this go away.