Technology Definition & Meaning

Entire industries have arisen to support and develop succeeding generations of increasingly more complex tools. Complex manufacturing and construction techniques and organizations are needed to make and maintain more modern technologies, and entire industries have arisen to develop succeeding generations of increasingly more complex tools. Modern technology increasingly relies on training and education – their designers, builders, maintainers, and users often require sophisticated general and specific training. Moreover, these technologies have become so complex that entire fields have developed to support them, including engineering, medicine, and computer science; and other fields have become more complex, such as construction, transportation, and architecture.

It has spawned the dystopian and futuristic cyberpunk genre, which juxtaposes futuristic technology with societal collapse, dystopia or decay. Notable cyberpunk works include William Gibson’s Neuromancer novel, and movies like Blade Runner, and The Matrix. The earliest known revolt against technology was Luddism, a pushback against early automation in textile production.

The ethics of technology is an interdisciplinary subfield of ethics that analyzes technology’s ethical implications and explores ways to mitigate the potential negative impacts of new technologies. There is a broad range of ethical issues revolving around technology, from specific areas of focus affecting professionals working with technology to broader social, ethical, and legal issues concerning the role of technology in society and everyday life. It usually encompasses a related argument, technological autonomy, which asserts that technological progress follows a natural progresion and cannot be prevented. Social constructivists argue that technologies follow no natural progression, and are shaped by cultural values, laws, politics, and economic incentives. Modern scholarship has shifted towards an analysis of sociotechnical systems, “assemblages of things, people, practices, and meanings,” looking at the value judgments that shape technology.

• 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.
• The White House is having special briefings for influencers to get its message out to their massive audiences on TikTok.
• Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions.
• Major techno-utopian movements include transhumanism and singularitarianism.
• This disconnect from the reality of the VR market was highlighted in a recent interview with gaming legend John Carmack, the former chief technology officer for Meta’s VR unit.

This was followed a century later by the Second Industrial Revolution which led to rapid scientific discovery, standardization, and mass production. New technologies were developed, including sewage systems, electricity, light bulbs, electric motors, railroads, automobiles, and airplanes. These technological advances led to significant developments in medicine, chemistry, physics, and engineering.

A 2017 survey found no clear consensus among economists on whether AI would increase long-term unemployment. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, industry, communication, transportation, and daily life. Technologies include physical objects like utensils or machines and intangible tools such as software. 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 development. Human ancestors have been using stone and other tools since long before the emergence of Homo sapiens approximately 200,000 years ago.

November: Medical Delta Conference 2022

Automation had resulted in a need for fewer workers, a process known as technological unemployment. Some segments of the 1960s hippie counterculture grew to dislike urban living and developed a preference for locally autonomous, sustainable, and decentralized technology, termed appropriate technology. Since the 1970s, technology’s impact on the environment has been criticized, leading to a surge in investment in solar, wind, and other forms of clean energy. The Renaissance era produced many innovations, including the printing press . Technology became increasingly influenced by science, beginning a cycle of mutual advancement.

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. Perhaps the type of technology that we’re most familiar with in modern life is electronic technology, usually just called electronics, which is a complex form of technology that uses electric circuits to achieve a goal. If you have a look at a circuit board with dozens of apparently random pathways mixed in with various components, you know how complex electronics can be.

Elon Musk’s Texts Shatter the Myth of the Tech Genius

Our students come from around the world, adding to the richness of campus culture with their unique heritage. The annual Unity Carnival features games and performances – music, drama and dance – celebrating student culture and heritage. At Florida Tech, you’ll get to know your peers—in and out of your major—as well as your professors. And with an on-campus, undergraduate student body that is about one-third international, you will build a future professional network that spans the globe.

The Neolithic Revolution brought about an acceleration of technological innovation, and a consequent increase in social complexity. The invention of the polished stone axe was a major advance that allowed large-scale forest clearance and farming. This use of polished stone axes increased greatly in the Neolithic but was originally used in the preceding Mesolithic in some areas such as Ireland. Agriculture fed larger populations, and the transition to sedentism allowed for the simultaneous raising of more children, as infants no longer needed to be carried around by nomads. Additionally, children could contribute labor to the raising of crops more readily than they could participate in hunter-gatherer activities. Music and technology majors aren’t the only ones to express their love of music on campus.