Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The nature of technology
- Technology results from invention and the ability of people to innovate and find new and better ways of carrying out a task
- It increases the ability of people to satisfy their needs, for example by developing:
- New tools, machines and systems of production in areas such as manufacturing and farming
- New ways of moving and communicating
- New ways of modifying the environment, by
building, irrigation and flood control technologies
- New means of prolonging and shortening life
in the form of medical technology and weaponry
- Solving Problems
- Many people believe that for every problem there is a technological fix - an innovation waiting to be discovered that will solve it
- A solution or cure to problems such as global warming, HIV/AIDS or oil shortages is sought through science and engineering.
- Problems can also be solved by an attitudinal fix, which involves changing human behaviour
- Technological fix
- Global Warming
- Geo-engineering to reduce incoming solar radiation
- HIV/AIDS
- Pharmaceutical research to find a vaccine or curative medicine
- Oil shortages
- A hydrogen economy or similar alternative energy future
- Attitudinal fix
- Oil shortages
- Energy efficiency, public transport and energy-efficient cars
- Global warming
- Education and tax incentives to reduce personal carbon footprints
- HIV/AIDS
- Public health education to prevent the spread of the disease
- Development of technology
- The process of technological development is widely
perceived to be one of unending progress with new
and better technologies replacing older, obsolete ones
- New technologies have a life cycle
- Decline begins when better technologies become mainstream
- Life cycles have become
shorter over time
- The speed
of growth has
increased
- Some 2.4 million years ago in the Palaeolithic
period, early humans such as homo habilis
discovered the use of stone tools
- This revolutionised life and led to the development of stone axes, knives and
arrowheads - this is the earliest know example of technological innovation
- In Mesopotamia 10,000 years ago - the development of
agricultural technology created a system of food supply
that was no longer reliant on hunting and gathering.
- For much of human history, the development of technology has been gradual,
punctuated by 'technological breakthroughs' such as the invention of metal tools,
the use of antibiotics to treat infections, amore recently the creation of the internet
- Controlling nature
- Over time, people have used technology to control nature, so that their lives are less determined by environmental factors
- Using an umbrella when it's raining
- Taking antibiotics to fight infection
- Irrigating deserts to grow food crops
- In the twenty-first
century, in the developed
world at least, technology
has pervaded every
aspect of life to the extent
that we are entirely
dependent on it in one
way or another
- In rural sub-Saharan Africa, for
example, 90% of people would be
out gathering wood for fuel. Many
would walk long distances to
collect unterated water. In some
places technologies such as
refrigeration are virtually unknown
- Attitudes to technology
- In general,
people tend
to accept
new
technology if
they think it
will improve
their quality
of life
- At one end of the spectrum
of adoption are the 'techies'
who positively seek out and
embrace developments:
these are the 'early adopters'
of new technnologies
- The majority of people - what might be called
the mainstream - are more likely to adopt a
new technology when its benefits are clear
and its costs have fallen to an affordable level
- At the other end of the spectrum are the 'luddites' - people who are opposed
to technological change. This name derives from Ned Ludd, who in 1811
organised opposition to the introduction of new textile looms in Nottingham
- In the 1830s, luddism spread to
the rural workforce, and gangs of
men destroyed threshing
machines in England
- In the USA there are some 200,000 Amish Christians
who in general technology. Their objection is a
religious one and reflects their wish to live separately
- In the UK there is a growing concern
over privacy due to CCTV - in 2008,
the met reported that only 3% of street
crime was solved by CCTV