technology Wiktionary

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.

• Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers.
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• The discovery of fire was described by Charles Darwin as “possibly the greatest ever made by man.” Archeological, dietary, and social evidence point to “continuous fire-use” at least 1.5 Mya.
• Continuing improvements led to the furnace and bellows and provided, for the first time, the ability to smelt and forge gold, copper, silver, and lead – native metals found in relatively pure form in nature.
• Things that turn, or allow motion in one direction to cause a different kind of motion, are mechanical.
• In the Industrial Revolution of the 1700s and 1800s, this type of technology revolutionized how humans travel, eat, and live.

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 technology available to humanity in any field. Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today’s global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class.

Medical technology is another type, and includes ventilators, medication, and MRIs. Communication technology is the third type, and includes all types of tools used to communicate, from telegrams to telephones. Electronic technology includes technology that requires electricity, from dishwashers to blenders to various electronic devices. Finally, industrial and manufacturing technologies advance ways of producing objects used by people around the world.

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A 2021 analysis shows that patents that are based on scientific discoveries are on average 26% more valuable than equivalent non-science-based patents. Estimates on the advent of artificial general intelligence vary, but half of machine learning experts surveyed in 2018 believe that AI will “accomplish every task better and more cheaply” than humans by 2063, and automate all human jobs by 2140. This expected technological unemployment has led to calls for increased emphasis on computer science education and debates about UBI. Political science experts predict that this could lead to a rise in extremism, while others see it as an opportunity to usher in a post-scarcity economy. Philosophy of technology is a branch of philosophy that studies the “practice of designing and creating artifacts”, and the “nature of the things so created.” It emerged as a discipline over the past two centuries, and has grown “considerably” since the 1970s.

Some thinkers believe that this may shatter our sense of self, and have urged for renewed public debate exploring the issue more thoroughly; others fear that directed evolution could lead to eugenics or extreme social inequality. Nanotechnology will grant us the ability to manipulate matter “at the molecular and atomic scale”, which could allow us to reshape ourselves and our environment in fundamental ways. Nanobots could be used within the human body to destroy cancer cells or form new body parts, blurring the line between biology and technology. Autonomous robots have undergone rapid progress, and are expected to replace humans at many dangerous tasks, including search and rescue, bomb disposal, firefighting, and war. Emerging technologies are novel technologies whose development or practical applications are still largely unrealized.

The humanities philosophy of technology is concerned with the “meaning of technology for, and its impact on, society and culture.” In physics, the discovery of nuclear fission in the Atomic Age led to both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Computers were invented and later shifted from analog to digital in the Digital Revolution. Information technology, particularly optical fiber and optical amplifiers led to the birth of the Internet, which ushered in the Information Age.

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 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.

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