What is Technology?
The word Technology[1] was
first used by Jacob Bigelow in 1829, to discuss the application of sciences to
the useful arts. It can also be defined as “knowledge and skills available to
any human society”. Technology is a broad term that refers both to artifacts
created by humans, such as machines, and the methods used to create those
artifacts. Technology can be used to refer to a way of doing something or a
means of organization. Technology is created by humans, tools, machines and appliances:
methods of doing something. Humans find problems in life, then they create a
solution. As needs change, humans develop and build on old designs. Technology
is everything created by humans, and not by nature.
Technology did not always mean
Ipods, DVDs and the Internet. For thousands of years, it was the means by which
people secured food and shelter, established social orders, shaped and
sustained the cultures. Technology has shaped the way people thought and
interacted throughout history, in both a local and national sense. We can
consider the appearance of the first signs of technology 50.000 ago, with the
use of tools that many archaeologists connect to the emergence of modern
languages. The earliest stone tools appeared 40.000 years ago. Fire was
controlled by the Homo Erectus about 500.000 years ago. Other technological
advances involve clothing and shelter. The New Stone age (known as Neolithic
period) includes the invention of stone axes which were used for forest
clearing. These lead to the appearance of agriculture as an important change in
the lives of people, and an important technological advance. Although
agriculture was much more difficult than hunting at first, growing dependence
on it allowed ancient societies to build more stable settlements, that could
support more people.
The Neolithic Revolution was a
means for people to acquire food, which changed the behavior pattern of our
cave cultures and better helped them to sustain themselves. By 3000 BC, some
groups of Southwestern Indians had already begun to grow corn. The rise of
agriculture allowed these people to form permanent settlements. Metal tools
replaced the stone, which eventually led to the discovery of bronze and brass
(4000 BC). Iron and steel date to 1400 BC.
The Egyptians introduced the
first complex technological advances, such as the use of wind power in the
sailboat. They also used the flood from the Nile to irrigate their lands. The
wheel was invented around 4000 BC, in the Mesopotamia region. The oldest wooden
wheel in the world was found in the Ljubljana marshes of Slovenia. The use of
the wheel as a transformer of energy (through water wheels, windmills and
treadmills) revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources.
This small introduction leads us
to understand that the word “Technology” is misused, or misrepresented. When we
think of technology we think mainly about Information Technology. The Internet,
Computers, the Iphone, Ipad… You would never imagine the wheel to be
technology, but in fact it represented one of the major technological
innovations in history!!! NeXT, a recount of historical technological
developments will help us understand better the world that we are living in
today.
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