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Technology is a broad concept that deals with a species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. In human society, it is a consequence of science and engineering, although several technological advances predate the two concepts. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek "technologia" ("τεχνολογία") — "techne", "τέχνη" ("craft") and "logia", "λογία" ("saying"). However, a strict definition is elusive; "technology" can refer to material objects, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, such as systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas, such as in "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology".

The human race's use of technology began with the conversion of plentiful natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire, a simple energy source, increased the amount of available sources of food, and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, such as the printing press and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact with each other on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has constantly progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways, both positively and negatively. In many societies, technology has spurred on the development of more advanced economies, such as today's global economy, and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. However, many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of many traditional norms.

Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-luddism and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, claiming that it alienates people and destroys culture; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition.

Until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was a concept akin and restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies show that other primates (such as chimpanzees), and certain dolphin communities, have developed simple tools and learned to pass this knowledge to other generations.

Definition and usage

In general, "technology" is the relationship that society has with its tools and crafts, and to what extent society can control its environment. The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers a definition of the term: "the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area" and "a capability given by the practical application of knowledge". Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 "Real World of Technology" lecture, gave another possible definition of the concept; it is "practice, the way we do things around here". The term is often used to imply a specific field of technology; the media uses "technology" to refer to high technology, rather than technology as a whole. However, the term is mostly used in three different contexts: when referring to a tool, a technique, the cultural force, or a combination of the three.

Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems. It is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, and more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material; virtual technology, such as software and virtual machines, fall under this defintion of technology.

The world "technology" can also be used to refer to a collection of techniques. In this context, it is the current state of humanity's knowledge, either in a particular field or in general, of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants; it includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials. Terms such as "medical technology", "space technology" and "state-of-the-art technology" refer to the state of the respective field's knowledge (as well as the tools used).

"Technology" can also be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture. A modern example is the rise of communication technology, which has lessened barriers to human interaction and as a result spawned new subcultures; the rise of cyberculture has, at its basis, the development of the Internet and the computer. Not all technology enhances culture in a creative way; technology can also help facillitate political oppression and war via tools such as guns. As a cultural activity, technology predates both science and engineering, each of which formalize some aspects of technological endeavor.

Science, engineering and technology

The distinction between science, engineering and technology is not always clear. Generally, science is the reasoned investigation or study of nature, aimed at discovering enduring principles among elements of the phenomenal world by employing formal techniques such as the scientific method. However, technologies are not usually direct products of science, because they have to satisfy requirements such as utility, usability and safety; therefore the application of scientific knowledge to concrete purposes requires the contribution of engineering research. Engineering is the goal-oriented process of designing and building tools and systems to exploit natural phenomena for practical human means, using results and techniques from science.

The development of technology broadly involves the use and application of knowledge, such as scientific, engineering, mathematical, linguistic, and historical knowledge, to achieve some practical result. It is usually a consequence of science and engineering — although technology as a human activity has preceeded the two fields. For example, science might study the flow of electrons in electrical conductors, by utilising already-existing specialist technology and knowledge. This new-found knowledge may then be used by engineers to create new tools and machines, such as semiconductors, computers, and other forms of advanced technology. In this sense, scientists and engineers may both be considered technologists; the three fields are often considered together for the purposes of research and reference.

History

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Prehistory (— 5000BCE)

The history of technology is at least as old as humankind, if not older. Primitive tools have been discovered with almost every find of ancient human remains, and several finds have uncovered tools made by humanity's ancestors that date back to more than 2 million years ago. The earliest tools, such as the handaxe and scraper, were mainly developed to aid early humans in their role as hunter-gatherers.

The earliest technologies converted readily occurring natural resources, such as rock, wood and other vegetation, bone and other animal byproducts, into simple tools. Processes such as carving, chipping, scraping, weaving, knotting, and sun-baking are simple means for the conversion of raw materials into usable products. Anthropologists have uncovered many early human habitations and tools made from natural resources.

The use, and then mastery, of fire, first used between 1,500,000 and 500,000 BCE, was a turning point in the technological evolution of humankind, affording a simple energy source with many profound uses. Perhaps the first use of fire beyond providing heat was the preparation of food. This enabled a significant increase in the vegetable and animal sources of food, while greatly reducing perishability.

The use of fire extended the capability for the treatment of natural resources and allowed the use of natural resources that require heat to be useful. (The oldest projectile found is a wooden spear with fire-hardened point, circa 250,000 BC.) Wood and charcoal were among the first known materials used as a fuel. Wood, clay, and rock (such as limestone), were among the earliest materials shaped or treated by fire, for making artifacts such as weapons, pottery, bricks, and cement.

Ancient history (5000BCE — 0CE)

Continuing improvements led to the furnace and bellows and provided the ability to smelt and forge native metals (naturally occurring in relatively pure form). Gold, copper, silver, and lead, were such early metals. The advantages of copper tools over stone, bone, and wooden tools were quickly apparent to early humans, and native copper was probably used from near the beginning of Neolithic times (about 8000 BCE). Native copper does not naturally occur in large amounts, but copper ores are quite common and some of them produce metal easily when burned in wood or charcoal fires. Eventually, the working of metals led to the discovery of alloys such as bronze and brass (about 4000 BCE). The first uses of iron alloys such as steel dates to around 1400 BCE.

Meanwhile, humans were learning to harness other forms of energy. The earliest known use of wind power is the sailboat. The earliest record of a ship under sail is shown on an Egyptian pot dating back to 3200 BCE. From prehistoric times, Egyptians probably used "the power of the Nile" annual floods to irrigate their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely-built irrigation channels and 'catch' basins. Similarly, the early peoples of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, learned to use the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for much the same purposes. But more extensive use of wind and water (and even human) power required another invention.

According to archaeologists, the wheel was invented around 4000 B.C. The wheel was likely independently invented in Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq) as well. Estimates on when this may have occurred range from 5500 to 3000 B.C., with most experts putting it closer to 4000 B.C. The oldest artifacts with drawings that depict wheeled carts date from about 3000 B.C.; however, the wheel may have been in use for millennia before these drawings were made. There is also evidence from the same period of time that wheels were used for the production of pottery. (Note that the original potter's wheel was probably not a wheel, but rather an irregularly shaped slab of flat wood with a small hollowed or pierced area near the center and mounted on a peg driven into the earth. It would have been rotated by repeated tugs by the potter or his assistant.) More recently, the oldest-known wooden wheel in the world was found in the Ljubljana marshes of Slovenia.

The invention of the wheel revolutionized activities as disparate as transportation, war, and the production of pottery (for which it may have been first used). It didn't take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads and fast (rotary) potters' wheels enabled early mass production of pottery. But it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy (through water wheels, windmills, and even treadmills) that revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources.

Modern history (0CE —)

Tools include both simple machines (such as the lever, the screw, and the pulley), and more complex machines (such as the clock, the engine, the electric generator and the electric motor, the computer, radio, and the Space Station, among many others).

As tools increase in complexity, so does the type of knowledge needed to support them. Complex modern machines require libraries of written technical manuals of collected information that has continually increased and improved -— their designers, builders, maintainers, and users often require the mastery of decades of sophisticated general and specific training. Moreover, these tools have become so complex that a comprehensive infrastructure of technical knowledge-based lesser tools, processes and practices (complex tools in themselves) exist to support them, including engineering, medicine, and computer science. Complex manufacturing and construction techniques and organizations are needed to construct and maintain them. Entire industries have arisen to support and develop succeeding generations of increasingly more complex tools.

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Fields

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Today technology is pervasive. It is nearly impossible to go anywhere today and escape from technology or from its impact, either upon the environment or upon society.

Home and farm

Agriculture

In the Western world, the use of gene manipulation, better management of soil nutrients, and improved weed control have greatly increased yields per unit area. At the same time, the use of mechanization has decreased labour requirements. The developing world generally produces lower yields, having less access to the latest technology.

Modern agriculture depends heavily on engineering and technology and on the biological and physical sciences. Irrigation, drainage, conservation and sanitary engineering, each of which is important in successful farming, are some of the fields requiring the specialized knowledge of agricultural engineers.

Domestic technology

Domestic technology is the incorporation of applied science into the home. On one level, there are domestic appliances and other devices commonly used in the home, such as clothes dryers and washing machines, and climate control. On another level, domestic technology recognizes the use of applied science to construct homes to achieve a particular goal, such as energy efficiency or self-sufficiency.

Water and plumbing

Water supply is vital to everyday life, and throughout history people have devised systems to make getting and using it more convenient. Early Rome had indoor plumbing, meaning a system of aqueducts and pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains for people to use.

The intake from these water sources usually is through a large cage-like box designed to screen out large particulate matter before it enters the system. After it is sucked in by a pumping station or allowed in by a gravity-feed system, it is usually filtered further, chlorinated, fluoridated, and then pumped either to holding locations like water towers or reservoirs, or fed directly into the user's spigot. Typically wastewater is piped away in a sewer system.

Plumbing originated during the ancient civilizations such as Roman, Persian, Indian, and Chinese civilizations as they developed public baths and needed to provide fresh water and drainage.

Electricity and electronics

Electricity is a property of matter that results from the presence or movement of electric charge. Together with magnetism, it constitutes the fundamental interaction known as electromagnetism.

The field of electronics refers to the study and use of systems that operate by controlling the flow of electrons (or other charge carriers) in devices such as thermionic valves and semiconductors.

Electronic systems are used to perform a wide variety of tasks. The main uses of electronic circuits are controlling and processing of information and the conversion and distribution of electric power.

Both these applications involve the creation, detection, or both, of electromagnetic fields and electric currents. The harnessing of electricity enabled industrial applications such as electronics and electric power. While electrical energy had been used for some time before the late 19th century to transmit data over telegraph and telephone lines, development in electronics grew exponentially after the advent of radio.

Energy and other applied sciences

Solid fuels include coal, wood and peat. All these types of fuel are combustible (they create fire and heat). Coal was burnt by steam trains to heat water into steam to move parts and provide power. Peat and wood are mainly used for domestic and industrial heating, though peat has been used for power generation, and wood-burning steam locomotives were common in times past. Steam power is becoming more and more desirable as oil and gas supplies begin to run out, given the wide number of possible things that can burn to heat water.

Non-solid fuels include alkanes such as petroleum and gas (both fuel types have myriad varieties including petrol (gasoline) and natural gas). The former is widely used in the internal combustion engine while both are used in power generation.

Military and weaponry

Firearms are qualitatively different from earlier weapons because they store energy in a combustible propellant, such as gunpowder, rather than in a weight or spring. This energy is released quite rapidly, and can be restored without much effort by the user, so that even early firearms such as the arquebus were much more powerful than human-powered weapons. They became increasingly important and effective from the 16th century to 19th century, with progressive improvements in ignition mechanisms followed by revolutionary changes in ammunition handling and propellant. During the U.S. Civil War various technologies including the machine gun and ironclad warship emerged that would be recognizable and useful military weapons today, particularly in lower-technology conflicts.

The age of edged weapons diminished abruptly just before World War I with the increased development of rifled artillery, such as howitzers, able to destroy any masonry fortress.

The most notable development in weaponry since World War II has been the combination and further development of two weapons first used in it—nuclear weapons and the ballistic missile, leading to its ultimate configuration: the ICBM. The indiscriminate nature of nuclear weapons has made nuclear-tipped missiles essentially useless for smaller wars. However, computer-guided weaponry of all kinds, from precision-guided munitions (or "smart bombs") to computer-aimed tank rounds, has greatly increased the weapon's accuracy.

Transportation

Automobiles

Automobiles typically use an internal combustion engine, a heat engine in which the burning of a fuel occurs in a confined space called a combustion chamber. This exothermic reaction of a fuel with an oxidizer creates gases of high temperature and pressure, which are permitted to expand. The defining feature of an internal combustion engine is that useful work is performed by the expanding hot gases acting directly to cause movement, for example by acting on pistons, rotors, or even by pressing on and moving the entire engine itself.

Karl Benz first produced internal combustion engine automobiles in Germany in 1885-1886. Henry Ford brought automobiles to the masses, as the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of the modern assembly line.

Aviation and space travel

Aviation or air transport refers to the activities surrounding human flight and the aircraft industry. Aircraft include fixed-wing aircraft, rotary wing (helicopter/autogyro) types, and ornithopters, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as balloons and airships (also known as dirigibles).

Fixed-wing aircraft generally use an internal-combustion engine in the form of a piston engine (with a propeller) or a turbine engine (jet or turboprop), to provide thrust that moves the craft forward through the air. The movement of air over the airfoil produces lift that causes the aircraft to fly. The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, are generally credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight on December 17, 1903.

Space exploration began to be seriously developed after the development of large liquid-fueled rocket engines during the early 20th century. The first major milestone of this endeavour was the launch of the USSR's Sputnik 1 on October 5, 1957, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth. After the first 20 years of exploration, focus began shifting from one-off flights to renewable hardware, such as the Space Shuttle program, and from competition to cooperation as on the International Space Station.

Rail

A typical railway (or railroad) track consists of two parallel rails. The vehicles traveling on the rails are arranged in a train. These vehicles move with much less friction than do rubber tires on a paved road, and the locomotive that pulls the train tends to use energy far more efficiently as a result.

The first railways in Great Britain (also known as wagonways) were built in the early 17th century, mainly for transporting coal from the mine to the water side where it could be loaded on to a boat.

A rapid transit system is a railway system, usually in an urban area, with a high capacity and frequency of service, and grade separation from other traffic.

Water

In the 1800s the first steam ships were developed, using a steam engine to drive a paddle wheel or propeller to move the ship. The steam was produced using wood or coal. Now most ships have an engine using a slightly refined type of petroleum called bunker fuel. Some specialized ships, such as submarines, use nuclear power to produce the steam.

The arts and language

The accessibility of art and artistic expression in modern society are now widely available to all segments of society due to technological advances. In addition, technology creates a new aspect of art in popular culture, pop music, and pop art.

Today, due to mass communication, communication crosses geographic, ethnic, cultural, and moral boundaries, from widespread use of television, radio, and telephone. There is also a vast array of networks that connect these devices, including computer networks, public telephone networks, radio networks, and television networks.

Computer communication across the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging, is just one of many examples of mass communication.

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Architecture, construction, and engineering

The creation of technology is also a technological undertaking and there are four broad professions that generally support the application of technical knowledge and the making of technological tools:

• architecture is the profession devoted to making human-occupied spaces;
• engineering is a set of professions devoted to the application of technical knowledge to solve a human problem;
• construction and manufacturing are the professions devoted to the transformation of raw materials into finished products.

Medicine and health

Medical technology includes medical equipment such as x-ray machines for diagnosis; the laser scalpel for surgery; laboratory equipment to automate or help analysis of blood, urine and genes; and medical monitors that measure such things as blood pressure.

Related subjects include biotechnology, which can be used to create new drugs, and adaptive technology which helps disabled people, such as with devices with voice activation and speech recognition for blind people.

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Economics and technological development

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Economics can be said to have arrived on the scene when the occasional, spontaneous exchange of goods and services began to occur on a less occasional, less spontaneous basis. It probably didn't take long for the maker of arrowheads to realize that he could probably do a lot better by concentrating on the making of arrowheads and barter for his other needs. Clearly, regardless of the goods and services bartered, some amount of technology was involved—if no more than in the making of shell and bead jewelry. Even the shaman's potions and sacred objects can be said to have involved some technology. From the very beginnings, technology can be said to have spurred the development of more elaborate economies.

In the modern world, superior technologies, resources, geography, and history give rise to robust economies; and in a well-functioning, robust economy, economic excess naturally flows into greater use of technology. Moreover, because technology is such an inseparable part of human society, especially in its economic aspects, funding sources for (new) technological endeavors are virtually illimitable. However, while in the beginning, technological investment involved little more than the time, efforts, and skills of one or a few men, today, such investment may involve the collective labor and skills of many millions.

Funding

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Consequently the sources of funding for large technological efforts have dramatically narrowed, since few have ready access to the collective labor of a whole society, or even a large part. It is conventional to divide up funding sources into governmental (involving whole, or nearly whole, social enterprises) and private (involving more limited, but generally more sharply focused) business or individual enterprises.

Governmental funding

The government is a major contributor to the development of new technology in many ways. In the United States alone, many government agencies specifically invest billions of dollars in new technology.

In 1980, the UK government invested just over 6 million pounds in a four-year programme, later extended to six years, called the Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP), which was intended to give every school in Britain at least one computer, microprocessor training materials and software, and extensive teacher training. Governments around the world have instituted similar programmes.

Technology has frequently been driven by the military, with many modern applications being developed for the military before being adapted for civilian use. However, this has always been a two-way flow, with industry often taking the lead in developing and adopting a technology which is only later adopted by the military.

Entire government agencies are specifically dedicated to research, such as America's National Science Foundation, the United Kingdom's scientific research institutes, America's Small Business Innovative Research effort. Many other government agencies dedicate a major portion of their budget to research and development.

The U.S. government spends more than other countries on military research and development, although the proportion has fallen from about 30 percent in the 1980s to less than 20 percent.

Private funding

Research and development is one of the biggest areas of investments made by corporations toward new and innovative technology.

Not for profit

Many foundations and other nonprofit organizations contribute to the development of technology. In the OECD, about two-thirds of research and development in scientific and technical fields is carried out by industry, and 20 percent and 10 percent respectively by universities and government. But in poorer countries such as Portugal and Mexico the industry contribution is significantly less.

Other economic considerations

• Intermediate technology, more of an economics concern, refers to compromises between central and expensive technologies of developed nations and those which developing nations find most effective to deploy given an excess of labour and scarcity of cash. In general, a so-called "appropriate" technology will also be "intermediate".
• Persuasion technology: In economics, definitions or assumptions of progress or growth are often related to one or more assumptions about technology's economic influence. Challenging prevailing assumptions about technology and its usefulness has led to alternative ideas like uneconomic growth or measuring well-being. These, and economics itself, can often be described as technologies, specifically, as persuasion technology.

Public schools have attempted to introduce varied concepts of technology on the junior high level to better prepare youngsters for subsequent schooling, as well as entrance into the workforce.

Sociological factors and effects

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The use of technology has a great many effects; these may be separated into intended effects and unintended effects. Unintended effects are usually also unanticipated, and often unknown before the arrival of a new technology. Nevertheless, they are often as important as the intended effect.

The subtlest side effects of technology are often sociological. They are subtle because the side effects may go unnoticed unless carefully observed and studied. These may involve gradually occurring changes in the behavior of individuals, groups, institutions, and even entire societies.

Values

The implementation of technology influences the values of a society by changing expectations and realities. The implementation of technology is also influenced by values. There are (at least) three major, interrelated values that inform, and are informed by, technological innovations:

• Mechanistic world view: Viewing the universe as a collection of parts, (like a machine), that can be individually analyzed and understood (McGinn). This is a form of reductionism that is rare nowadays. However, the "neo-mechanistic world view" holds that nothing in the universe cannot be understood by the human intellect. Also, while all things are greater than the sum of their parts (e.g., even if we consider nothing more than the information involved in their combination), in principle, even this excess must eventually be understood by human intelligence. That is, no divine or vital principle or essence is involved.

• Efficiency: A value, originally applied only to machines, but now applied to all aspects of society, so that each element is expected to attain a higher and higher percentage of its maximal possible performance, output, or ability. (McGinn)
• Social progress: The belief that there is such a thing as social progress, and that, in the main, it is beneficent. Before the Industrial Revolution, and the subsequent explosion of technology, almost all societies believed in a cyclical theory of social movement and, indeed, of all history and the universe. This was, obviously, based on the cyclicity of the seasons, and an agricultural economy's and society's strong ties to that cyclicity. Since much of the world (i.e., everyone but the hyperindustrialized West) is closer to their agricultural roots, they are still much more amenable to cyclicity than progress in history. This may be seen, for example, in Prabhat rainjan sarkar's modern social cycles theory. For a more westernized version of social cyclicity, see Generations : The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (Paperback) by Neil Howe and William Strauss; Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (September 30, 1992); ISBN 0-688-11912-3, and subsequent books by these authors.

Ethics

Winston provides an excellent summary of the ethical implications of technological development and deployment. He states there are four major ethical implications:

• Challenges traditional ethical norms.
• Creates an aggregation of effects.
• Changes the distribution of justice.
• Provides great power.

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But the most important contribution of technology is making life of common people much easier and helping them achieve what was previously not possible. It is important to keep in mind that although technology enriches many, there may also be drawbacks. This is the ethical challenge faced by society as technology becomes more ingrained in our lives. All of the advances afforded by technology also cause the digital divide to widen, enlarging the gap between the technological haves and have-nots; the same gap that exists between those that have or can get access to information, and those that suffer for lack of that access.

Lifestyle

Technology, throughout history, has allowed people to complete more tasks in less time and with less human intellectual or manual labour. Many herald this as a way of making life easier. However, work has continued to be proportional to the amount of energy expended, rather than the quantitative amount of information or material processed. Technology has had profound effects on lifestyle throughout human history, and as the rate of progress increases, society must deal with both the good and bad implications. In many ways, technology improves life.

• The rise of a leisure class
• A more informed society can make quicker responses to events and trends
• Sets the stage for more complex learning tasks
• Increases multi-tasking
• Global networking
• Creates denser social circles
• Cheap price

In other ways, technology complicates life.

• Sweatshops and harsher forms of slavery are more likely to be found in technologically advanced societies, relative to primitive societies.
• The increasing oppression of technologically advanced societies over those which are not.
• More people are starving now, in this most technologically advanced age, than at any point in history or pre-history.
• The increase in transportation technology has brought congestion in some areas.
• Technicism
• New forms of danger existing as a consequence of new forms of technology, new types of nuclear reactors, unforeseen genetic mutations as the result of genetic engineering, or perhaps something more subtle which can i.e. destroy the ozone or warm the planet.
• New forms of entertainment, such as video games and internet access could have possible social effects on areas such as academic performance.
• Creates new diseases and disorders such as obesity, laziness and a loss of personality.

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Institutions and groups

Technology often enables organizational and bureaucratic group structures that otherwise and heretofore were simply not possible. Example of this might include:

• The rise of very large organizations: e.g., governments, the military, health and social welfare institutions, supranational corporations.
• The commercialization of leisure: sports events, products, etc. (McGinn)
• The almost instantaneous dispersal of information (especially news) and entertainment around the world.

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International

Technology enables greater knowledge of international issues, values, and cultures. Due mostly to mass transportation, mass media, and inexpensive personal communication, the world seems to be a much smaller place, due to the following, among others:

• Globalization of ideas
• Embeddedness of values
• Population growth and control
• Others

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Environment

Most modern technological processes produce unwanted by-products in addition to the desired products, known as industrial waste or pollution. Whilst most material waste can be reused in other industrial processes, many forms are released into the environment, with negative environmental side effects, such as pollution and lack of sustainability. Different social and political systems establish different balances between the value they place on additional goods versus the disvalues of waste products and pollution. Some technologies are designed specifically with the environment in mind, but most are designed first for economic or ergonomic effects. Historically, the value of a clean environment and more efficient productive processes has been the result of an increase in the wealth of society, because once people are able to provide for their basic needs, they are able to focus on less-tangible goods such as clean air and water.

The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more obvious effects include the depletion of non-renewable natural resources (such as petroleum, coal, ores), and the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle effects include debates over long-term effects (e.g., global warming, deforestation, natural habitat destruction, coastal wetland loss.)

Each wave of technology creates a set of waste previously unknown to humans: toxic waste, radioactive waste, and electronic waste.

Control

Autonomous technology

In one line of thought, technology develops autonomously, in other words, technology seems to feed on itself, moving forward with a force irresistible by humans. To these individuals, technology is "inherently dynamic and self-augmenting."

Jacques Ellul is one proponent of the irresistibleness of technology to humans. He espouses the idea that humanity cannot resist the temptation of expanding our knowledge and our technological abilities. However, he does not believe that this seeming autonomy of technology is inherent. But the perceived autonomy is due to the fact that humans do not adequately consider the responsibility that is inherent in technological processes.

Another proponent of these ideas is Langdon Winner who believes that technological evolution is essentially beyond the control of individuals or society.

Government

Individuals rely on governmental assistance to control the side effects and negative consequences of technology.

• Supposed independence of government. An assumption commonly made about the government is that their governance role is neutral or independent. However some argue that governing is a political process, so government will be influenced by political winds of influence. In addition, because government provides much of the funding for technological research and development, it has a vested interest in certain outcomes. Others point out that the world's biggest ecological disasters, such as the Aral Sea, Chernobyl, and Lake Karachay have been caused by government projects, which are not accountable to consumers, so governments should stay out of industry entirely.
• Liability. One means for controlling technology is to place responsibility for the harm with the agent causing the harm. Government can allow more or less legal liability to fall to the organizations or individuals responsible for damages.
• Legislation. A source of controversy is the role of industry versus that of government in maintaining a clean environment. While it is generally agreed that industry needs to be held responsible when pollution harms other people, there is disagreement over whether this should be prevented by legislation or civil courts, and whether ecological systems as such should be protected from harm by governments.

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Choice

Society also controls technology through the choices it makes. These choices not only include consumer demands; they also include:

• the channels of distribution, how do products go from raw materials to consumption to disposal;
• the cultural beliefs regarding style, freedom of choice, consumerism, materialism, etc.;
• the economic values we place on the environment, individual wealth, government control, capitalism, etc.

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Technology and philosophy

Technicism

Generally, technicism is an over reliance or overconfidence in technology as a benefactor of society.

Taken to extreme, some argue that technicism is the belief that humanity will ultimately be able to control the entirety of existence using technology. In other words, human beings will eventually be able to master all problems, supply all wants and needs, possibly even control the future. Some, such as Monsma, connect these ideas to the abdication of religion as a higher moral authority.

More commonly, technicism is a criticism of the commonly held belief that newer, more recently-developed technology is "better." For example, more recently-developed computers are faster than older computers, and more recently-developed cars have greater gas efficiency and more features than older cars. Because current technologies are generally accepted as good, future technological developments are not considered circumspectly, resulting in what seems to be a blind acceptance of technological developments.

Optimism

Optimistic assumptions are made by proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and singularitarianism, which view technological development as generally having beneficial effects for the society and the human condition. In these ideologies, technological development is morally good. Some critics see these ideologies as examples of scientism and techno-utopianism and fear the notion of human enhancement and technological singularity which they support. Some have described Karl Marx as a techno-optimist.

Pessimism

On the somewhat pessimistic side are certain philosophers like Herbert Marcuse, Jacques Ellul, and John Zerzan, who believe that technological societies are inherently flawed a priori. They suggest that the result of such a society is to become evermore technological at the cost of freedom and psychological health (and probably physical health in general, as pollution from technological products is dispersed).

Perhaps the most poignant criticisms of technology are found in what are now considered to be dystopian literary classics, for example Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and other writings, Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Appropriate technology

The notion of appropriate technology, however, was developed in the 20th century to describe situations where it was not desirable to use very new technologies or those that required access to some centralized infrastructure or parts or skills imported from elsewhere. The eco-village movement emerged in part due to this concern.

The nature of technology

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The philosopher Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus, understands technology as "organized inorganic matter", and as "the pursuit of life by means other than life." As such, the advent of technology represents a moment in the history of the exteriorization of existence. In formulating an understanding of technology in these terms, Stiegler draws especially on the work of André Leroi-Gourhan and Gilbert Simondon.

For human beings this does not only mean that it is possible to learn how to use tools from one's parents, but that the past is in general inscribed in objects and remains. Whether purposely or incidentally, every manufactured object is therefore a means of transmitting knowledge, a third kind of memory in addition to genetic memory and individual nervous system memory. Thus an archeologist can learn from the discovery of a primitive tool about the life of the person whose gesture is inscribed in the flint from which it is fashioned. As Stiegler puts it, "humans die but their histories remain." According to Stiegler this interrupts the ordinary processes of natural selection, and it is therefore no more true to say that humans invented technology than it is to say that technology invented humanity.

Other species

The use of elementary technology is also a feature of other species apart from humans. These include primates such as chimpanzees and some dolphin communities.

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit requestadding to it .

See also

Main lists: List of basic technology topics and List of technologies

Theories and concepts in technology

Main list: Theories of technology

Economics of technology

• Technocapitalism
• Technological diffusion
• Technology acceptance model
• Technology lifecycle
• Technology transfer

Notes

1. ^ "Definition of technology". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2007-02-16.
2. Franklin, Ursula. "Real World of Technology". Anansi Press. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
3. "Technology news". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-02-17.
4. The term state-of-the-art refers to the latest high technology available to humanity.
5. Borgmann, Albert (2006). "Technology as a Cultural Force: For Alena and Griffin" (fee required). The Canadian Journal of Sociology. 31 (3): 351–360. Retrieved 2007-02-16.
6. "Science". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
7. "Intute: Science, Engineering and Technology". Intute. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
8. Bower, Bruce. "Ancient Asian Tools Crossed the Line". Science News Online. Retrieved 2007-02-17.
9. "Ancient 'tool factory' uncovered". BBC News. 1999-05-06. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
10. "History of Stone Age Man". History World. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
11. Alan W. Cramb. "A Short History of Metals". Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
12. "Slovenian Marsh Yields World's Oldest Wheel". Ameriška Domovina. 2003-03-27. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
13. "Gross Domestic Expenditure on Research and Development by Country" (PDF). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
14. McGinn, Robert E. (1991). Science, Technology, and Society. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-794736-4. pg. 73
15. Hughes, James (2002). "Democratic Transhumanism 2.0". Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
16. Bernard Stiegler, Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998), p. 17 and p. 49.
17. Stiegler, Bernard. "Our Ailing Educational Institutions". Culture Machine. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
18. Sagan, Carl; Druyan, Ann; Leakey, Richard. "Chimpanzee Tool Use". Retrieved 2007-02-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
19. Rincon, Paul (2005-06-07). "Sponging dolphins learn from mum". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-02-13.

References

Printed sources

Online sources

Further reading

• Adas, Michael (1989). Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-2303-1.
• Monsma, Stephen V.; et al. (1986). Responsible Technology: A Christian Perspective. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0175-7. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)
• Noble, David F. (1984). Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-51262-6.
• Roussel, Philip A. (1991). Third Generation R & D: Managing the Link to Corporate Strategy. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 0-87584-252-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Smil, Vaclav (1994). Energy in World History. Boulder: Westview Press. pp. pp. 259-267. ISBN 0-8133-1901-3. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help) Cited at Technology Chronology (accessed September 11, 2005).
• Stiegler, Bernard (1998). Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of Epimetheus. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3041-5.
• Van Creveld, Martin (1989). Technology and war : 2000BC to the present. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-02-933151-X.
• Winston, Morton (2003). "Children of invention". In in Morton Winston and Ralph Edelbach (eds.), (ed.). Society, Ethics, and Technology (2nd ed. ed.). Belmont, Calif.: Thomson/Wadsworth. ISBN 0-534-58540-X. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)

External links

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Appropriate technology

• Appropedia, a wiki for appropriate technology information and projects.
• Campus Center for Appropriate Technology Humboldt State University
• National Center for Appropriate Technology
• Student Projects Appropriate Technology Humboldt State University

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