Exploring the Effect of Emerging Technologies on Scientific Knowledge Production and the Industrial Advancement of Society

Abstract

The main application area of the digital transformation has been so far on the industrial and manufacturing process. Nevertheless, the concept Industry 4.0 has enormous potential in other areas such as its combination with the scientific method and the empirical logic. The term technoscience, coined in the second half of the 20th century, links both fields, the technological and the scientific field, establishing a joint growth where scientific knowledge takes advantage (and requires) of a technological infrastructure in order to advance. This chapter proposes to analyze some of the most relevant concepts in these matters in order to provide a more philosophical approach to technology, its effect on the proper engineering and scientific knowledge, and what some of the social features are that are inferred from these emerging technologies.