Science and Technology

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, ABEOKUTA (FUNAAB)

THE DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

PRESENTS
A DEBATE ON THE TOPIC
‘SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT IS ALLTHAT NIGERIA NEEDS TO BECOME A DEVELOPED COUNTRY’

COURSE TITLE: LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY
COURSE CODE: GNS 204

Good day our amiable lecturer, panel of judges, accurate time keepers, co-debaters and my fellow students. My name is .........................................from the department of mathematics. I am here to speak against the topic which says that ‘Scientific and technological advancement is all that Nigeria needs to become a developed country’. Before we proceed, we would like to define the two key words in the topic before us today that is, science and technology. Science is systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation. Technology is a scientific or industrial process, invention, method, or the like. We can therefore say that scientific and technological advancements simply mean the use of the method of science to create inventions that makes life easier. Although many might stand to disagree but i would say that depending totally on science and technology to make Nigeria a developed country will end up causing more havoc than good to the country. Just like this popular quote says ‘scientific progress may yet deliver us from many evils, but there are at least two evils that it cannot deliver us from: its own finding and our own destructive bent’
Science has helped to make the world smaller, spatially, and larger, numerically. It has multiplied our choices and scaled up our risks. Based on science we have put humans into space and opened a new arena for warfare. Science has illuminated human beginnings and shaken age-old postulates about human worth and destiny. Science has unlocked material abundance and laid new burdens on irreplaceable resources. It has expanded human potential and dramatized human limits. It has advanced clarity and magnified uncertainty. It has penetrated the deepest reaches of knowledge and held a world hostage on the edge of crisis.
Contrary to the general believe that scientific and technological improvements in Nigeria is all that is needed for her to be a developed country, this is not true because scientific and technological advancement will only end up causing more harm than good to the country.
One of the major problems that scientific and technological advancement will cause for Nigeria is that it would add a lot to the current number of unemployed citizens in the country. This is true because when a country become more technologically inclined, they tend to replace the employment of humans with the use of machines, thereby rendering a lot of citizens with no job and source of livelihood. The adverse effect of this on the country is that there will be hunger and disease (since citizen would not be able to afford good food, water etc.).
Another major mishap of depending totally on science and technology for the country to become a developed one is that it not only has negative effects on our country but also on the whole planet. This is because the use of coal, oil and natural gas to generate electricity, heat our homes, power our factories and run our cars causes the production of more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere leading to an effect called Global warming (whose adverse effects, scientists consider innumerable, especially on the climate).
Furthermore, depending totally on science and technology to make Nigeria a developed nation will bring about several health problems for the populace because chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) in our cars, refrigerator, and machinery destroys the earth’s ozone layer, thereby leading an outbreak of skin cancer. Also, we stand at risk of several other health problems due to the pollution of our water bodies (rivers, oceans seas etc.). This is due to the fact that, if Nigeria depends totally on science and technology to become a developed nation, it will give rise to more industries and companies and these industries will tend to drop all the toxic waste they generate into the waters, thereby killing aquatic organisms and rendering those waters unsafe for the citizens.