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Question science technology VS scientific technology

hirashin

Sempai
Donor
8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
which sounds good?
(a) Mathematics has become the basis of science technology.
(b) Mathematics has become the basis of scientific technology.
(c) Mathematics has become the basis of science and technology.
 
I like (c) most. (b) is clumsy because technology is generally scientific anyway (whereas not all science involves technology). (a) is possible but the two nouns together don't sound great in this case.
 
I agree with Lothor that (c) sounds by far the most natural.

The way I perceive it, at least, is that one doesn't typically think of "science" (or "scientific") being a type of technology, but rather science being the observation/investigation/study of phenomena, and technology referring to the application of science for practical purposes. Considered in those terms, "science technology" or "scientific technology" feels redundant.

I think an underlying issue behind this might be that the Japanese word 技術 has a wider range of meaning than the English "technology", and can also refer to techniques/crafts/arts that are not necessarily "scientific" in nature. In that sense, in Japanese you could have "scientific" 技術 (科学技術、科学的な技術) vs. other kinds of 技術 (e.g. 伝統技術). In English, however, the word "technology" alone inherently implies a relation to science.

(edited for formatting and clarity)
 
Thank you for the help, Lothor and bentenmusume. As bentenmusume says, Japanese people tend to say "science technology" or "scientific technology" because of the Japanese term 科学技術.
 
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