AP European History AMSCO Guided Notes
9.12: Technology
AMSCO Guided Notes
AP European History Guided Notes
AMSCO 9.12 - Technology
Essential Questions
- How have innovations and advances in technology influenced cultural and intellectual developments from 1914 to the present?
I. The Benefits and Costs of Science and Technology
1. What technological advances improved life expectancy in Europe between 1950 and 2019?
2. How did medical innovations such as antibiotics, chemotherapy, and genetic research improve health outcomes?
II. Social Questions
A. Health Care Costs and Access
1. How did increased life expectancy and expensive new medical technologies affect government health care costs in Europe?
2. What inequalities in medical care existed within the European Union, and how did economic crises affect access to health care?
III. Moral Questions
1. What philosophical question about truth and morality made Europeans uncertain about how to respond to new medical technologies?
A. Birth Control
1. How did contraceptive pills change birth control practices in Europe by the 1990s?
B. Abortion
1. How did abortion restrictions change in Europe during the 1960s and 1970s, and what was the primary source of opposition?
C. Eugenics
1. What were eugenics policies, and why did most Europeans reject them after World War II?
D. Fertility Treatments
1. What was in vitro fertilization and what moral concerns did it raise when first developed?
E. Genetic Research
1. What were the potential benefits and dangers of genetic engineering that Europeans debated?
F. Stem Cell Research
1. What potential benefits did stem cells offer, and what ethical objections did some people raise about stem cell research?
IV. Military Technologies
A. Development of Nuclear Weapons
1. How did the development of atomic weapons change the nature of military technology, and which European countries possessed nuclear weapons by the 21st century?
B. Electricity from Nuclear Power
1. What advantages did nuclear power plants offer for electricity generation, and what risks did they pose?
2. How did the Chernobyl disaster demonstrate the dangers of nuclear power?
C. Nuclear Weapons Concerns
1. What strategy did the United States and Soviet Union adopt to prevent nuclear war, and how did this lead to arms control agreements?
2. What was the purpose of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and why did concerns about nuclear proliferation persist despite it?
Key Terms
birth control
abortion
eugenics
fertility treatment
genetic engineering
nuclear proliferation
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty