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Originating from nineteenth century physics, the concept of entropy—a measure of disorder, randomness, and/or the dissipation of useful energy—underlay a cosmology where order and complexity were seen as highly improbable phenomena in a universe tending toward chaos and disorganisation. Nearly a century later, theoretical frameworks were developed for understanding the production of entropy as an enabling feature of self-organized complexity in the natural world. These ideas would contribute to establishing connections between the origins, development, and evolution of life and the principles of a thermodynamic universe. For some, they also supplied the conceptual foundations for theorizing about a universal natural tendency driving the development of increasingly complex and ordered systems which amplify processes of entropy production and energy dissipation and dispersal. In this paper I chart a path through the aforementioned ideas and present their relevance in framing a relationship between our technological civilization and the Earth system. I then speculate about the prospect of a technosphere whose constitution and activity are aligned with thermodynamic principles of dissipation and entropy-production, drawing on theoretical biology and recent developments in bioengineering to envision a paradigm where technology becomes living matter itself.

非專長授課是教學現場中實際存在的問題，第二專長班即是為此因應而生的教師專業發展途徑。本研究的目的在於探討修習生活科技第二專長課程的教師在投入科技教育時，其自身之動機、課程意識建構及教學實踐的轉化，以期能作為未來推動科技領域師資培訓與教師專業發展之參考。本研究採問卷調查與半結構深度訪談之個案研究法，針對參與第二專長班的教師進行研究，先以問卷調查全體29位學員對實施生活科技課程意願之觀點，再以個人與小組訪談的形式，邀請其中九位學員進行深度訪談。訪談時間為2018年10月，每次訪談時間約60分鐘。研究者運用質性分析軟體進行資料的編碼與分析後，對應量化問卷的分析結果， 歸納以下研究發現：一、參與第二專長班之動機，主要源於自身對於實作之興趣與學校教學需求；二、參與第二專長班對其課程意識建構之影響，包含有助於提升對生活科技課程之專業覺知、形塑實施科技教育之信念，並對任教生活科技建立正向的自我覺知；三、教學實踐會促使第二專長班教師快速吸收及轉化專業知識，但在過程中容易因外在環境因素的干擾與自覺專業知識不足，而影響教學信心；四、校內外教師社群與學校行政的支持，是協助第二專長班教師克服教學困難的重要關鍵。 Background Technology education plays an increasingly vital role in ensuring students’ technological literacy under the new Curriculum Guidelines of 12-Year Basic Education, which was introduced in 2019. However, because of the low importance assigned to living technology courses, most schools do not have sufficient qualified teachers in this field. This poses a hurdle in the implementation of the technology curriculum of Taiwan’s 12-year basic education. Moreover, because of declining birthrates, many teachers have no students to teach and the number of teachers in junior high schools have consequently shrunk. The Ministry of Education established a second-specialty course to provide teachers with a second professional certificate to meet the teaching needs of schools. Living technology is based on hands-on learning, problem-solving, and design thinking. Therefore, in addition to the conceptual knowledge of technology and engineering, living technology teachers should possess diverse practical skills and engineering design thinking and problem-solving abilities. Unlike other traditional disciplines, the living technology course attaches great importance to practical hands-on skills for solving technical problems, which is a major challenge faced by teachers of the second specialty. On the basis of this background, this research explored different means of helping teachers with second specialty to teach living technology more effectively. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the transformation of teachers, who have taken the second specialty course in living technology. These teachers’ motivation, beliefs, curricular awareness construction, and teaching practices were examined. Understanding the dynamic relationship among multiple factors that can be used as a reference for the future promotion of teacher training and professional development in the field of technology is imperative. Theoretical Framework The theoretical framework of the study is based on teachers’ beliefs, curricular consciousness, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1985, 1991), curricular awareness, and teaching practices. This study evaluated (1) teachers’ motivation to participate in professional development learning and (2) teachers’ curricular consciousness. First, this study investigated teachers’ motivation from the perspective of their beliefs and self-efficacy. Teachers’ self-efficacy refers to their belief in their abilities to teach effectively and is assessed according to whether the students have acquired real knowledge and abilities (Thoonen et al., 2011). When teachers regard teaching as a mission but feel that they lack professional competence and face pressure from changes in the educational environment, they are motivated to invest in continuing education. However, most teachers engage in continuing education because of several motivating factors. Second, teachers’ curriculum consciousness is a dynamic process of awareness. It includes internal reflection, beliefs in their teaching, reflection on curriculum implementation, and interpretation and organization of the environment (Fang & Feng, 2017). Specifically, curricular awareness includes awareness of professional knowledge, awareness of self-beliefs, and awareness of the environment (Chen, 2003; Fang & Feng, 2017; Kung & Lin, 2009). Professional knowledge includes content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of the teaching environment, and knowledge of students (Shulman, 1986, 1987). Professional knowledge should have a positive connection with teaching practice, which, in turn, modifies curriculum consciousness. Self-belief awareness refers to the self-evaluation of the results of applying certain teaching activities and teaching strategies. This can be explained in conjunction with the “attitude” aspect of the TPB (Ajzen, 1985, 1991). Environmental factors, such as hardware and software equipment, school culture, parents, and community, may present limitations and challenges to teachers but may also be perceived as opportunities related to the “subjective norm” and “perceived behavior control” factors in the TPB (Ajzen, 1985, 1991). Design/Methods On the basis of a review of the existing literature, this study investigated the factors that affect teachers’ motivation for and effectiveness in participating in a second-specialty course and subsequently constructed the outline of a semi-structured interview. A case study was employed along with semi-structured, in-depth interviews with nine teachers from various junior high schools in southern Taiwan. Both individual and group interviews were conducted. The second-specialty course of living technology started in July 2018. To elucidate the changes in the participants’ curricular consciousness after the second-specialty course, the interviews were conducted after the first stage of the course (following the completion of eleven credits). The interviews, each lasting approximately 60 minutes, were conducted in October 2018. The transcripts of the interviews were imported into NVivo qualitative analysis software, and the data were analyzed through the following steps: First, preliminary coding and classification was conducted on the basis of the aspects of investment motivation, curriculum awareness, teaching practices. Second, two researchers discussed the preliminary inductive findings, identified common or disparate views, and focused on further establishing concepts. Third, the summarized concepts were compared with related literature, and, if necessary, the interviewees were invited to verify the accuracy of the analysis results or provide auxiliary reference materials. Triangulation was used to ensure the validity of the study. Finally, in-depth discussions were held according to the research purpose, and the research findings were summarized. Results The encoding and analysis of the data using NVivo produced the following research findings: (1) The motivation of teachers to participate in the second-specialty course of living technology primarily came from their interest in hands-on implementation and their schools’ teaching needs. All teachers reported that before teaching living technology courses, they believed that this subject involved handicrafts or industrial arts, which they had previously learned. Most knowledge of technology was derived from self-learning and the experience of using technology in daily life. Most of the participants indicated that fully understanding and transforming the subject into teaching activities was difficult. (2) The effect of teachers’ participation in the second-specialty course on the development of their curricular consciousness included the promotion of their professional awareness of living technology courses, the transformation of their beliefs concerning technology education, and the establishment of positive self-awareness regarding teaching living technology. (3) Teaching practice prompted teachers of the second-specialty course to rapidly absorb and transform professional knowledge. However, in the process, their teaching confidence was affected by external environmental factors and a lack of professional knowledge. (4) The support available to teacher communities from inside and outside the school and from the school administration are critical to enabling teachers in the second-specialty course to overcome their teaching difficulties. Conclusion This study explored the transformation of second-specialty teachers involved in technology education, including their motivation, beliefs, curricular awareness construction, and teaching practices. On the basis of a literature review and interview analysis, the researchers proposed a framework to highlight the dynamic relationship between teachers’ curricular consciousness and their teaching practices. The results demonstrated that substantial professional growth occurs between learning in the second-specialty course and teaching living technology in junior high school. Teachers’ learning motivation, knowledge construction, and real-life teaching situations influence each other and affect teachers’ self-awareness, professional awareness, and environmental awareness, respectively. These dynamic interactions help form teachers’ curricular awareness. The interviews revealed that external change factors may motivate teachers to expand their knowledge. However, the most critical factors involve teachers independently generating learning motivation and curricular consciousness and desiring real changes that prompts them to invest in continual learning and teaching practices. Furthermore, teachers must establish their own teaching beliefs and curricular awareness to strengthen their teaching confidence in new fields and face external pressure, which is the core focus of curricular reform.

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The article offers information on the society-themed Artificial Life 2016 Conference which focused on artificial life and its societal impact. It mentions information on role and responsibilities as engineers, considering the societal implications of the new, rapidly emerging technologies like digital technologies, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI). It presents information on the complex adaptive systems (CAS) technologies.

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Copyright of Journal of Textbook Research is the property of National Academy for Educational Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An introduction to the journal is presented about articles describing developments in living technology.

The Aristotelian ideas of nature (physis) and technology (techné) are taken as a starting point for understanding what it would mean for technology to be truly living. Heidegger's critique of the conflation of scientific and technological thinking in the current era is accepted as demonstrating that humanity does not have a deep enough appreciation of the nature of life to harness its essence safely. Could the vision of harnessing life be realized, which we strongly doubt, living technology would give selected humans transforming powers that could be expected to exacerbate, rather than solve, current global problems. The source of human purposefulness, and hence of both technology and ethics, is identified in nature's emergent capability to instantiate informational representations in material forms. Ethics that are properly grounded in an appreciation of intrinsic value, especially that of life, demand that proposals to give humanity the capabilities of living technology address the social, political, economic, and environmental problems inherent in its development and potential deployment. Before any development is embarked on, steps must be taken to avoid living technology, whatever the term eventually designates, becoming available for destructive or antisocial purposes such as those that might devastate humanity or irrevocably damage the natural world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the physics of the natural world, basic tasks of life, such as homeostasis and reproduction, are extremely complex operations, requiring the coordination of billions of atoms even in simple cases. By contrast, artificial living organisms can be implemented in computers using relatively few bits, and copying a data structure is trivial. Of course, the physical overheads of the computers themselves are huge, but since their programmability allows digital "laws of physics" to be tailored like a custom suit, deploying living technology atop an engineered computational substrate might be as or more effective than building directly on the natural laws of physics, for a substantial range of desirable purposes. This article suggests basic criteria and metrics for bespoke physics computing architectures, describes one such architecture, and offers data and illustrations of custom living technology competing to reproduce while collaborating on an externally useful computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The life sciences present a politically and ethically sensitive area of technology development. NBIC convergence--the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information and cognitive technology--presents an increased interaction between the biological and physical sciences. As a result the bio-debate is no longer dominated by biotechnology, but driven by NBIC convergence. NBIC convergence enables two bioengineering megatrends: "biology becoming technology" and "technology becoming biology." The notion of living technologies captures the latter megatrend. Accordingly, living technology presents a politically and ethically sensitive area. This implies that governments sooner or later are faced with the challenge of both promoting and regulating the development of living technology. This article describes four current political models to deal with innovation promotion and risk regulation. Based on two specific developments in the field of living technologies--(psycho) physiological computing and synthetic biology--we reflect on appropriate governance strategies for living technologies. We conclude that recent pleas for anticipatory and deliberative governance tend to neglect the need for anticipatory regulation as a key factor in guiding the development of the life sciences from a societal perspective. In particular, when it is expected that a certain living technology will radically challenge current regulatory systems, one should opt for just such a more active biopolitical approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a novel example of a biomechatronic hybrid system. The living component of the system, embedded within microbial fuel cells, relies on the availability of food and water in order to produce electrical energy. The latter is essential to the operations of the mechatronic component, responsible for finding and collecting food and water, and for the execution of work. In simulation, we explore the behavioral and cognitive consequences of this symbiotic relation. In particular we highlight the importance of the integration of sensorimotor and metabolic signals within an evolutionary perspective, in order to create sound cognitive living technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an overview of current and potential applications of living technology to some urban problems. Living technology can be described as technology that exhibits the core features of living systems. These features can be useful to solve dynamic problems. In particular, urban problems concerning mobility, logistics, telecommunications, governance, safety, sustainability, and society and culture are presented, and solutions involving living technology are reviewed. A methodology for developing living technology is mentioned, and supraoptimal public transportation systems are used as a case study to illustrate the benefits of urban living technology. Finally, the usefulness of describing cities as living systems is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamical oil-water systems such as droplets display lifelike properties and may lend themselves to chemical programming to perform useful work, specifically with respect to the built environment. We present Bütschli water-in-oil droplets as a model for further investigation into the development of a technology with living properties. Otto Bütschli first described the system in 1898, when he used alkaline water droplets in olive oil to initiate a saponification reaction. This simple recipe produced structures that moved and exhibited characteristics that resembled, at least superficially, the amoeba. We reconstructed the Bütschli system and observed its life span under a light microscope, observing chemical patterns and droplet behaviors in nearly three hundred replicate experiments. Self-organizing patterns were observed, and during this dynamic, embodied phase the droplets provided a means of introducing temporal and spatial order in the system with the potential for chemical programmability. The authors propose that the discrete formation of dynamic droplets, characterized by their lifelike behavior patterns, during a variable window of time (from 30 s to 30 min after the addition of alkaline water to the oil phase), qualify this system as an example of living technology. The analysis of the Bütschli droplets suggests that a set of conditions may precede the emergence of lifelike characteristics and exemplifies the richness of this rudimentary chemical system, not only for artificial life investigations but also for possible real-world applications in architectural practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plasmodium of the acellular slime mold Physarum polycephalum is a gigantic single cell visible to the unaided eye. The cell shows a rich spectrum of behavioral patterns in response to environmental conditions. In a series of simple experiments we demonstrate how to make computing, sensing, and actuating devices from the slime mold. We show how to program living slime mold machines by configurations of repelling and attracting gradients and demonstrate the workability of the living machines on tasks of computational geometry, logic, and arithmetic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of living technology-that is, technology that is based on the powerful core features of life-is explained and illustrated with examples from artificial life software, reconfigurable and evolvable hardware, autonomously self-reproducing robots, chemical protocells, and hybrid electronic-chemical systems. We consider living technolog y to be secondary when its core systems are derived from other living organisms. Primary living technology is currently emerging, distinctive, and potentially powerful, motivating this review. We trace living technology's connections with artificial life (soft, hard, and wet), synthetic biology (top-down and bottom-up), and the convergence of nano-, bio-, information, and cognitive (NBIC) technologies. We end with a brief look at the social and ethical questions generated by the prospect of living technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report details a workshop held at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, to initiate interdisciplinary collaborations for the practice of systems architecture, which is a new model for the generation of sustainable architecture that combines the discipline of the study of the built environment with the scientific study of complexity, or systems science, and adopts the perspective of systems theory. Systems architecture offers new perspectives on the organization of the built environment that enable architects to consider architecture as a series of interconnected networks with embedded links into natural systems. The public workshop brought together architects and scientists working with the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science and with living technology to investigate the possibility of a new generation of smart materials that are implied by this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple chemical agents with lifelike properties can be termed a ‘protocell’, meaning the earliest form of a natural living cell. These agents are not necessarily alive but are examples of living technology, namely technology that possesses lifelike qualities. Given that the protocell can respond to environmental cues with directional and controlled movement it can be thought of as being able to make decisions whilst navigating through a complex environment. In this way a mobile protocell agent can be considered to exhibit a form of computation. The development of ‘smart’ protocell agents can be used as experimental model systems for the investigation of abstracted living processes that can subsequently be physically and chemically manipulated to produce architectural design outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of ‘living technology’ can be applied to any technology that is powerful and useful specifically because it has some of the fundamental features of living systems. This article is a brief general overview of living technology's current state and projected future. After illustrating living technology and discussing why it is complicated to define, I explain how it is related to so-called ‘NBIC convergence’ (see below) and discuss some of the larger social, ethical and aesthetic issues that it raises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When there is significant uncertainty in an innovation project, research literature suggests that strictly sequencing actions and stages may not be an appropriate mode of project management. We use a longitudinal process approach and qualitative system dynamics modelling to study the development of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes for malaria eradication in an African country. Our data were collected in real time, from early scientific research to deployment of the first prototype mosquitoes in the field. The 'gene drive' technology for modifying the mosquitoes is highly complex and controversial due to risks associated with its characteristics as a living, self-replicating technology. We show that in this case the innovation journey is linear and highly structured, but also embedded within a wider system of adoption that displays emergent behaviour. Although the need to control risks associated with the technology imposes a linearity to the NPD process, there are possibilities for deviation from a more structured sequence of stages. This arises from the effects of feedback loops in the wider system of evidence creation and learning at the population and governance levels, which cumulatively impact on acceptance of the innovation. The NPD and adoption processes are therefore closely intertwined, meaning that the endpoint for R&D and beginning of 'mainstream' adoption and diffusion are unclear. A key challenge for those responsible for NPD and its regulation is to plan for the adoption of the technology while simultaneously conducting its scientific and technical development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2020 The Authors.)