Technology

Technology is a word with origins in the Greek word technologia (τεχνολογια), techne (τεχνη) "craft" + logia (λογια) "saying". It is an encompassing term dealing with the use and knowledge of humanity's tools and crafts.

Disambiguation of technology'''
Depending on context, the word technology has the following definitions and uses:

Technology as tool
In its most common use, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to help solve problems. In this use, technology is a far-reaching term that may include both simple tools, such as a wooden spoon, and complex tools, such as the space station or the written sets of procedures and maintenance manuals for it.

Technology as technique
In this use, technology is the current state of our knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, to fulfill needs, or to satisfy wants. Technology in this sense includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials. (E.g., in such use as computer technology, construction technology, or medical technology)

Technology as a cultural force
A culture forming or modifying activity (such as— in part of its meaning— manufacturing technology, infrastructure technology, or space-travel technology). (McGinn). As a cultural activity, technology predates both science and engineering, which are attempts to formalize some parts of technological endeavor. This is not to imply that technology is the only or the necessarily dominant culture forming activity. Indeed, culture itself acts strongly upon, and shapes the form and nature of technology. But, because of the increasingly widespread use of ever more complex technologies and their frequently unintended or unforseen consequences, problems arise in their use, which have been and are being separately studied. Such topics include (but are not limited to) technological ethics, environmental impacts, technological by-products, and technological risk. The cultural force of technology (e.g., as seen in the invention of writing) may truly be said to be the driving force that sets us apart from the rest of the flora and fauna of Earth.

Science, engineering and technology
The distinctions between science, engineering and technology are not always clear. Generally, science is the reasoned investigation or study of nature, aimed at discovering nonperishable relationships (principles) among elements of the experienced (phenomenal) world, generally employing formal techniques, i.e., some set of established rules of procedure, such as the scientific method. Engineering is the formal use of scientific principles to achieve a planned result. However, technology broadly involves the use and application of knowledge (e.g., scientific, engineering, mathematical, language, and historical), both formally and informally, to achieve some 'practical' result (Roussel, et.al.).

For example, science might study the flow of electrons in electrical conductors. This knowledge may then be used by engineers to create artifacts, such as semiconductors, computers, and other forms of advanced technology. In this sense, scientists and engineers may both be considered technologists, but scientists generally less so.

History of technology
The history of technology is at least as old as humanity (certainly by the time of homo habilis); some primitive forms of tools have been discovered with almost every find of ancient human remains. Nevertheless, other animals have been found to use tools— and to learn to use and refine tools— so it is incorrect to distinguish humans as the tool-using or tool-making animal. The history of technology follows a progression from simple tools and simple (mostly human) energy sources to complex (high-technology) tools and energy sources.

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, rolling (the wheel), 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. Birds and other animals often build elaborate nests and some simple tools out of various materials, but we normally don't consider them to be performing a technological feat, primarily because such behavior is seen as largely instinctive. (Although, there is some evidence of occasional 'cultural' transferrence, especially among the other, non-human primates.) Nevertheless, there is now considerable evidence of such simple technology among animals other than humans.

The use, and then mastery, of fire was a key turning point in man's technological evolution providing him with a simple energy source, but of many profound uses. Perhaps the first use of fire beyond simply providing heat was the preparation of food, enabling a great increase in the vegetable and animal sources of food, and greatly reducing its 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. Wood and charcoal were among the first 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. 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 (ca. 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 (ca. 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 BC. 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 utilize the Tigris and Euphrates for much the same purposes. But more extensive use of wind and water (and even human) power required another invention. It is still a mystery as to who invented the wheel and when and why it was invented. According to some archaeologists, it was probably originally invented around 8,000 B.C. The wheel was almost certainly re(?)invented in Mesopotamia— present-day Iraq. Estimates on when this may have occurred range from 5500 to 3000 B.C., with most guesses closer to a 4000 B.C. date. The oldest artifacts with drawings that depict wheeled carts date from about 3000 B.C., though for all anyone knows, the wheel may have been in use for millennia before these drawings were made. But 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 wooden wheel in the world was found in the Ljubljana marshes of Slovenian

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 and windmills and even treadmills) that revolutionized the application of non-human power sources.

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, computer science, etc. Complex manufacturing and construction techniques and organizations are needed to construct and maintain them. Entire industries have arisen to support and develop succeding generations of increasingly more complex tools.

General characteristics
With the ubiquity of technology in use in modern society, it may seem futile to attempt a comprehensive list of common characteristics. Still, many authors, such as McGinn (1991) and Winston (2003), list the following as key:

Complexity refers to the characteristic that most modern tools are difficult to understand (i.e., require substantial preparatory training to manufacture and/or use). Some are relatively easy to use (and understand the use of), but relatively difficult to comprehend as to their source and means of manufacture, such as a kitchen knife, a baseball, or highly processed food. Others are both difficult to use and difficult to comprehend, such as a tractor, a television, or a computer.

Dependency refers to the fact that most modern tools depend on other modern tools, which (in turn) depend on still other modern tools, for their manufacture and/or proper use. Cars, as an example, have a huge supporting complex of industry for their manufacture and maintenance. And to use them requires a complex of roads, streets, highways, gasoline and service stations, waste collection, etc.

Valence refers to the many, many different types or variations of the same tool. Imagine the many different types of spoons available today, or scissors; even the most complex tools generally come in a variety of shapes and forms, as the construction crane or the automobile.

Scale refers to the sheer magnitude, size, and pervasiveness of modern technology. Simply put, technology seems to be everywhere. It dominates modern life. (Modern man and his society would quickly succumb without it.) Scale refers also to the scope of many modern technological projects, such as the cellular telephone network, the Internet, air travel, communications satellites, and their impact on most people in the world.

Types of technology
One possible classification of technology uses the major fields of technological studies commonly found in academic institutions of higher learning:
 * Agriculture and Animal husbandry, including Veterinary medicine;
 * The Arts and Language, including Architecture;
 * Athletics and Recreation;
 * Business, including the Information Sciences;
 * Engineering, including Transportation;
 * Law, e.g., Commercial Law
 * Medicine and Health, including Bioengineering;
 * Military;
 * Science, especially Applied science, and including Domestic Science.

Relationship with society
The relationship between society and technology is quite complex, creating what many characterize as a co-dependence of one upon the other; society creates and depends upon technology to meet its needs and desires. Modern technology, or something close to it is absolutely essential for supporting the 6 billion plus inhabitants of the Earth today— and technology's very existence arises due to society's needs and desires and history. However, this "symbiosis" goes further than that: every advancement in technology influences and eventually changes society. So the needs of society change, creating more needs, and eventually creating more technology, and conversely. (McGinn 1991)

Consider only communications: telegraphy, radio, and the telephone— with its latest progeny, the mobile phone. With the invention of electrical forms of communication, society began to depend on ever quicker means of communication among its members. Higher expectations for speedier communications were initially met using telegraphy, then radio, then telephone systems. This demand for ever speedier (and more accessible) communications led to the invention of the portable phone. The influence of such technology is so pervasive, that now anyone can be said to be accessible 24/7/365 in most places in the world, even in "the heart of darkest Africa" or Antartica. Gone are the days of lost explorers and mysterious "lost worlds" (thanks also to GPS). The modern business world would be mightily hampered if it had to give up its cell phones, faxes, internet, personal computers and printers and copy machines— yet that was the world of the early 1960s, scarcely two generations ago!

Many technologies allow one society to have a significant advantage over another society. This may be indirect— as something that promotes population growth— or this can be direct— in the form of markedly superior weapons. The effects of these technologies on human society are complex— at the extreme, resulting in one human society enslaving, assimilating, or annihilating another. Some technologies are initially employed for one social purpose, but then used for one or more others. Moreover, the widespread adoption of a new technology invariably launches the need for the rapid adaptation of old technologies and the invention of new technologies. The car is example of this... it was created and marketed as a substitute for the horse, initially for the wealthy, but as its use spread among the population to people of all walks of life, it began to require many supporting activities and industries, such as road building, gas and service stations, etc. Its superiority as a means of transportation inspired its use in war, but its increasing need for fuel may eventually lead to resource wars.

The use of mass media techniques, such as newspapers, radio, and television programming, allows a select number of society's members to have great influence over the attitudes and opinions of others. And mass media often shapes mass opinion, thereby effecting and affecting social change.

The perceived effect of technology upon the population's well-being may also sway public opinion. The Chernobyl accident may well have played a part in undermining the confidence that citizens of the Soviet Union had in their (then) government. But in any event, it has had a marked effect on the nuclear power industry in Russia. In the U.S., no new nuclear reactors have been built since the Three Mile Island accident.

Economics and technological development
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. So, from the very beginnings, technology can be said to have spurred the development of more elabotate economies, and conversely.

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

Government funding for new technology
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 thousands of millions of dollars in new technology.

[In 1980, the UK government invested just over 6 million pounds in a 4 year programme, later extended to 6 years, called the Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP) whose intention was to provide every school in Britain with at least one computer, microprocessor training materials and software, and extensive teacher training. Similar programmes have been instituted by governments around the world.]

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.

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

Many foundations and non-profit organizations contribute to the development of technology. In the OECD, around two-thirds of research and development in scientific and technical fields is carried out by industry, and 20% and 10% respectively by universities and government, although in poorer countries such as Portugal and Mexico the industry contribution is significantly less. The US government spends more than other countries on military R&D, although the proportion has fallen from around 30% in the 1980s to under 20%. 

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 &mdash; a concern covered in its own separate article.
 * Technocapitalism
 * Technological diffusion
 * Technology acceptance model
 * Technology lifecycle
 * Technology transfer

Sociological and other (unintended) effects
There are innumerable effects of the use of technology; at the extremes these may be separated into intended effects and unintended effects. Unintended effects are (usually) also unanticipated, and often unknown prior to the implementation of a new technology. Nevertheless, they are frequently as important as, if not more so, than the intended effect.

The most subtle side effects of technology are often sociological in nature. Subtle, because those side effects may go unnoticed unless carefully observed and studied by a trained and practiced eye. These may involve (extraordinarily slowly occurring) changes in the behavior of individuals, groups, institutions, and even entire societies. One only has to compare in detail the society of 2006 and the society of 1996, to see the radical changes that have ocurred almost unnoticed over only half a generation!

Values
The implementation of technology influences the values (beliefs, ideas, opinions) of society by changing expectations and realities. There are (at least) three major, interrelated, values that are the result of technological innovations:
 * Mechanistic World View. A set of beliefs that views 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 few nowadays literally espouse.  However, what might be classified as a neo-mechanistic world view holds that nothing in the universe is not amenable to understanding by the human intellect. And that, while all things exceed the sum of their parts (e.g., even if we consider nothing more in addition than the information involved in putting the things together), 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 placed upon all aspects of society, whereby each element (including organizational structures and human beings) is expected to attain a higher and higher percentage of its maximal possible performance, output, ability, etc. (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 the 'rest of the world' (i.e., everyone but the hyperindustrialized 'West') is much 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 0688119123, 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.

Lifestyle
Technology, throughout history, has allowed people to complete more tasks in less time and with less energy. 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 quanitiative amount of infomation or material processed. Technology has had profound impacts on liftestyle throughout human history, and as the rate of progress increases society must deal with both the good and bad implications.

In many ways, technology simplifies 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
 * And plus it's good for your health!!!
 * 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). However, the replacment of workers with machines and social progress such as emancipation trancends this in many post industrial societies.
 * The increasing disparity between technologically advanced societies and those who are not.
 * More people are currently starving now that at any point in history or pre-history, however the majority of these people live in subsistance and therefore less technological societies. This is also relative to the world's population explosion. Technology, such as genetics, hopes to alleviate the stress put on resources.
 * 'Work to drive to drive to work to work to drive' -- consequently dealing with the traffic jams. The increase in transportation technology has brought congestion in some areas.
 * Too much information can lead to stressful situations.
 * Technicism
 * New forms of danger existing as a consequence of new forms of technology, such as the first generation of nuclear reactors.
 * New forms of entertainment, such as gaming and internet access could have possible social impacts on areas such as academic performance.

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.
 * Others

International
Technology provides a heightened awareness of international issues, values, and cultures. Due mostly to mass transportation and mass media, 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

Environmental
Some technologies are designed specifically with the environment in mind, but most are designed first for economic or ergonomic effect, with environmental side effects.

The effects of technology on the environment is both obvious and subtle. The more obvious effects include the depletion of nonrenewable 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 impacts (e.g., global warming, deforestation, natural habitat destruction, costal wetland loss)

Each wave of technology creates a set of waste that's heretofore unknown by humans: toxic waste, radioactive waste, electronic waste.

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." (McGinn, p. 73)

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. He, however, 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.  Often, if not usually, that assumption is misplaced.  Governing is a political process, more so in some countries than in others, therefore government will be influenced by political winds of influence. In addition, government provides much of the funding for technological research and development.  Therefore, even government has a vested interest in certain outcomes.
 * 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 organization(s) or individual(s) responsibile for damages.
 * Legislation.
 * Others

Choice
Society also controls technology through the choices that it makes. These choices not only include consumer demands; it includes
 * 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.
 * Others

Technicism
Generally, Technicism is an overreliance 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. (For a more complete treatment of the topic see the work of Egbert Schuurman, for example at .) Some, such as Monsma, et al., connect these ideas to the abdication of God as a higher moral authority.

More commonly, technicism is a criticism of the commonly held belief that newer, more recently-developed technology is &quot;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.  Since 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.

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 literary classics, for example Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Optimism
On the other hand, the optimistic assumptions are made by proponents of technoprogressivist views or ideologies such as transhumanism and singularitarianism, that 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, mathematical fetishism, or techno-utopianism and fear the idea of technological singularity which they support.

Appropriate technology
The notion of appropriate technology, however, was developed in the twentieth 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.

Theories and concepts in technology
There are many theories and concepts that seek to explain the relationship beteen technology and society:
 * Appropriate technology
 * Diffusion of innovations
 * Jacques Ellul's Technological Society, is considered a classic criticism of modern culture's pursuit of technology for its own sake. For more on these ideas see.
 * Posthumanism
 * Precautionary principle
 * Strategy of technology
 * Radovan Richta's theory of technological evolution
 * Technological determinism
 * Technological singularity
 * Transhumanism