Technology Definition & Meaning
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 of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms. Technology is the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life or, as it is sometimes phrased, to the change and manipulation of the human environment. Recent years have brought about a rise in social media’s cultural prominence, with potential repercussions on democracy, and economic and social life. Early on, the internet was seen as a “liberation technology” that would democratize knowledge, improve access to education, and promote democracy.
- Some, such as Monsma, connect these ideas to the abdication of religion as a higher moral authority.
- Past automation has both substituted and complemented labor; machines replaced humans at some lower-paying jobs , but this was compensated by the creation of new, higher-paying jobs.
- Computers were invented and later shifted from analog to digital in the Digital Revolution.
- Other technological advances made during the Paleolithic era were clothing and shelter; the adoption of both technologies cannot be dated exactly, but they were a key to humanity’s progress.
It did not take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads. The ancient Sumerians used a potter’s wheel and may have invented it. A stone pottery wheel found in the city-state of Ur dates to around 3,429 BCE, and even older fragments of wheel-thrown pottery have been found in the same area. Fast potters’ wheels enabled early mass production of pottery, but it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy that revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources.
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What Does Technology Mean for the Future?
This flaking produced a sharp edge on the core stone as well as on the flakes, either of which could be used as tools, primarily in the form of choppers or scrapers. The use of tools by early humans was partly a process of discovery, partly of evolution. Early humans evolved from a race of foraging hominids which were already bipedal, with a brain mass approximately one third that of modern humans.
Through technology, the phonograph both circumvented and reinforced the cultural hierarchy present in live musical performance. But farm size does not appear to explain differences in yields and net returns when the technology is adopted. People from this region have produced a relatively small number of music technology-related publications. Roll-out of the new technology has been dogged by technical problems and secrecy.
The Types of Technology
Man’s technological ascent began in earnest in what is known as the Neolithic period (“New stone age”). The invention of polished stone axes was a major advance because it allowed forest clearance on a large scale to create farms. Additionally, children could contribute labor to the raising of crops more readily than they could to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. To make a stone tool, a “core” of hard stone with specific flaking properties was struck with a hammerstone.
Relevant research centers include the Cambridge Center for the Study of Existential Risk, and the Stanford Existential Risk Initiative. He invites policymakers to question the assumptions that technological progress is always beneficial, that scientific openness is always preferable, or that they can afford to wait until a dangerous technology has been invented before they prepare mitigations. Bioethics looks at ethical issues surrounding biotechnologies and modern medicine, including cloning, human genetic engineering, and stem cell research. Computer ethics focuses on issues related to computing, including artificial intelligence and robotics. Cyberethics explores internet-related issues like intellectual property rights, privacy, and censorship. Nanoethics examines issues surrounding the alteration of matter at the atomic and molecular level in various disciplines including computer science, engineering, and biology.