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Technology

Technology can really be thought of as the practical application of science principles to control features around us. Technologies are typically tools, or even methods, techniques and perhaps ways of thinking that are used in ways we interact with the world.


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An aircraft is a form of transport technology for moving people and goods long distances as fast and safely as possible.

image: R.Conan-Davies


Technology in this sense is about tools and techniques humans have devised or built. Many concepts of technology are reflections of activities that exist independently in nature. So for example storage as a concept is something living things also have solutions to. A cell for example has storage compartments for storing proteins or enzymes to engage in other functions. But the term 'storage technology' is about how we as humans come up with methods of storing things.


A selection of technology topics


Wikipedia's entry on technology

Technology (from Greek τέχνη, techne, "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and -λογία, -logia) is:

  • the making, 
  • modification, 
  • usage, and knowledge of tools, 
  • machines, 
  • techniques, 
  • crafts, 
  • systems, and 
  • methods of organisation, 


in order to:

  •  solve a problem, 
  • improve a pre-existing solution to a problem, 
  • achieve a goal,
  • handle an applied input/output relation or perform a specific function.


 It can also refer to the collection of such tools, including:

  •  machinery, 
  • modifications, 
  • arrangements and procedures. 


Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. 

The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas ,examples include: 

  • construction technology,
  • medical technology, and 
  • information technology.


Origins and progression of 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. 

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An illustration of a simple stone hand axe tool is one of the first forms of human technology. image: wikipedia


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.


Effects of technology of society

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. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of Earth's environment. 

see technological disasters and environmental disasters

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.


Ethics of technology

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. 

Technology development by animals

Until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Technology&oldid=603396439