What is Technology?
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines,
techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order
to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection
of such tools, machinery, and procedures. Technologies significantly affect
human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their
natural environments. The word technology comes from Greekτεχνολογία (technología);
from τέχνη (téchnē), meaning "art, skill, craft",
and -λογία (-logía), meaning "study of-". The term
can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include construction
technology, medical technology, and information
technology.
The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of
natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of
the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food
and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and
controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing
press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical
barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a
global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes;
the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has
progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
Technology has affected society and its surroundings in
a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more
advancedeconomies (including today's global economy) and has allowed
the rise of a leisure class. 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 often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of
the notion ofefficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally
applied only to machines, and the challenge of 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, anarcho-primitivism,
and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern
world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents
of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view
continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human
condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of
technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies
indicate that otherprimates and certain dolphin communities have
developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other
generations.
Definition and usage
of Tech
The use of the term technology has
changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the
term was uncommon in English, and usually referred to the description or study
of the useful arts. The term was often connected to technical education,
as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (chartered in 1861). "Technology"
rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the second
industrial revolution. The meanings of technology changed in the early 20th
century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen,
translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into
"technology." In German and other European languages, a distinction
exists between Technik and Technologie that
is absent in English, as both terms are usually translated as
"technology." By the 1930s, "technology" referred not to
the study of the industrial arts, but to the industrial arts themselves. In
1937, the American sociologist Read Bain wrote that "technology includes
all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing,
communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and
use them." Bain's definition remains common among scholars today,
especially social scientists. But equally prominent is the definition of
technology as applied science, especially among scientists and engineers,
although most social scientists who study technology reject this definition More
recently, scholars have borrowed from European philosophers of
"technique" to extend the meaning of technology to various forms of
instrumental reason, as in Foucault's work on technologies of the self ("techniques
de soi").
Dictionaries and scholars have offered a
variety of definitions. 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 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, or to refer to high
technology or just consumer electronics, rather than technology as a
whole. Bernard Stiegler, inTechnics and Time, 1, defines technology in
two ways: as "the pursuit of life by means other than life", and as
"organized inorganic matter."
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, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle
accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material; virtual technology, such
as computer software and business methods, fall under this
definition of technology.
The word "technology" can also be
used to refer to a collection of techniques. In this context, it is the current
state of humanity's knowledge 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. When
combined with another term, such as "medical technology" or "space
technology", it refers to the state of the respective field's knowledge
and tools. "State-of-the-art technology" refers to the high
technologyavailable to humanity in any field.
Technology can be viewed as an activity that
forms or changes culture. Additionally, technology is the application of
math, science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known. A modern
example is the rise of communication technology, which has lessened
barriers to human interaction and, as a result, has helped spawn new
subcultures; the rise of cyberculturehas, at its basis, the development of
the Internet and the computer. Not all technology enhances
culture in a creative way; technology can also help facilitate 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.
