Technology integrates science and engineering to develop tools and systems, driving advancements in communication, healthcare, education, and industry.
Technology
Technology is
the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve
practical goals,
especially in a reproducible way.[1] The
word technology can also mean the products resulting from such
efforts,[2][3] including
both tangible tools such
as utensils or machines,
and intangible ones such as software.
Technology plays a critical role in science, engineering,
and everyday life.
Technological
advancements have led to significant changes in society.
The earliest known technology is the stone tool,
used during prehistoric times, followed by the control of
fire, which contributed to the growth of
the human brain and
the development of language during the Ice Age.
The invention of the wheel in the Bronze Age allowed
greater travel and the creation of more complex machines. More recent
technological inventions, including the printing
press, telephone, and the Internet,
have lowered barriers to communication and ushered in the knowledge
economy.
While
technology contributes to economic development and improves
human prosperity,
it can also have negative impacts like pollution and resource depletion, and can cause social harms
like technological unemployment resulting
from automation.
As a result, philosophical and political debates about the role and
use of technology, the ethics of technology, and ways to mitigate
its downsides are ongoing.
Starting in the 19th century,
continental Europeans started using the terms Technik (German)
or technique (French) to refer to a 'way of doing', which included
all technical arts, such as dancing, navigation, or printing, whether or not
they required tools or instruments.[7] At
the time, Technologie (German and French) referred either to the
academic discipline studying the "methods of arts and crafts", or to
the political discipline "intended to legislate on the functions of the
arts and crafts."[8] The
distinction between Technik and Technologie is absent in
English, and so both were translated as technology. The term was
previously uncommon in English and mostly referred to the academic discipline,
as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[9]
In
the 20th century, as a result of scientific
progress and the Second Industrial Revolution, technology stopped
being considered a distinct academic discipline and took on the meaning: the
systemic use of knowledge to practical ends.[10]
History
Main
articles: History of technology and Timeline of historic inventions
Prehistoric
Main article: Prehistoric technology
Tools were initially developed
by hominids through
observation and trial and error.[11] Around
2 Mya (million years ago), they learned to make the first
stone tools by hammering flakes off a pebble, forming a sharp hand axe.[12] This
practice was refined 75 kya (thousand years ago) into pressure
flaking, enabling much finer work.[13]
The discovery of
fire was described by Charles
Darwin as "possibly the greatest ever made by man".[14] Archaeological,
dietary, and social evidence point to "continuous [human] fire-use"
at least 1.5 Mya.[15] Fire,
fueled with wood and charcoal, allowed early humans to cook their food to increase
its digestibility, improving its nutrient value and broadening the number of
foods that could be eaten.[16] The cooking hypothesis proposes
that the ability to cook promoted an increase in hominid brain size,
though some researchers find the evidence inconclusive.[17] Archaeological
evidence of hearths was
dated to 790 kya; researchers believe this is likely to have intensified
human socialization and may have contributed to
the emergence of language.[18][19]
Other
technological advances made during the Paleolithic era include clothing and
shelter.[20] No
consensus exists on the approximate time of adoption of either technology, but
archaeologists have found archaeological evidence of clothing 90-120 kya[21] and
shelter 450 kya.[20] As
the Paleolithic era progressed, dwellings became more sophisticated and more
elaborate; as early as 380 kya, humans were constructing temporary wood huts.[22][23] Clothing,
adapted from the fur and hides of hunted animals, helped humanity expand into
colder regions; humans began to migrate out of Africa around 200 kya,
initially moving to Eurasia.
Neolithic
Main
article: Neolithic Revolution
An
array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and
polishing tools
The Neolithic Revolution (or First
Agricultural Revolution) brought about an acceleration of technological
innovation, and a consequent increase in social complexity.[27] The
invention of the polished stone axe was a major advance that allowed
large-scale forest clearance and farming.[28] 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.[29] 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.[30][31]
With
this increase in population and availability of labor came an increase in labor specialization.[32] What
triggered the progression from early Neolithic villages to the first cities,
such as Uruk,
and the first civilizations, such as Sumer, is not specifically
known; however, the emergence of increasingly hierarchical social
structures and specialized labor, of trade and war among adjacent cultures, and
the need for collective action to overcome environmental challenges such
as irrigation,
are all thought to have played a role.[33]
The
invention of writing led to the spread of cultural
knowledge and became the basis for history, libraries,
schools, and scientific research.[34]
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.[35] The
advantages of copper tools over stone, bone and wooden tools were quickly
apparent to early humans, and native copper was probably used from near the
beginning of Neolithic times (about 10 kya).[36] Native
copper does not naturally occur in large amounts, but copper ores are quite
common and some of them produce metal easily when burned in wood or charcoal
fires. Eventually, the working of metals led to the discovery of alloys such
as bronze and brass (about 4,000
BCE). The first use of iron alloys such as steel dates to around 1,800 BCE.
Ancient
Main
article: Ancient technology
The
wheel was invented c. 4,000 BCE. Ljubljana Marshes Wheel with axle (oldest
wooden wheel yet discovered as of 2024)
After
harnessing fire, humans discovered other forms of energy. The earliest known
use of wind power is the sailing ship;
the earliest record of a ship under sail is that of a Nile boat dating to
around 7,000 BCE.[39] From
prehistoric times, Egyptians likely used the power of the annual flooding of the Nile to irrigate
their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely built
irrigation channels and "catch" basins.[40] The
ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia used
a complex system of canals and levees to divert water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
for irrigation.[41]
Archaeologists
estimate that the wheel was invented independently and concurrently in
Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq), the Northern Caucasus (Maykop
culture), and Central Europe.[42] Time
estimates range from 5,500 to 3,000 BCE with most experts putting it closer to
4,000 BCE.[43] The
oldest artifacts with drawings depicting wheeled carts date from about 3,500
BCE.[44] More
recently, the oldest-known wooden wheel in the world as of 2024 was found in
the Ljubljana Marsh of Slovenia;
Austrian experts have established that the wheel is between 5,100 and 5,350
years old.[45]
The
invention of the wheel revolutionized trade and war. It did not take long to
discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads. The ancient
Sumerians used a potter's wheel and may have invented it.[46] A
stone pottery wheel found in the city-state of Ur dates to around
3,429 BCE,[47] and
even older fragments of wheel-thrown pottery have been found in the same area.[47] Fast
(rotary) potters' wheels enabled early mass
production of pottery, but it was the use of the wheel as a
transformer of energy (through water wheels,
windmills, and even treadmills) that revolutionized the application of nonhuman
power sources. The first two-wheeled carts were derived from travois[48] and
were first used in Mesopotamia and Iran in around 3,000
BCE.[48]
The
oldest known constructed roadways are the stone-paved streets of the city-state
of Ur, dating to c. 4,000 BCE,[49] and
timber roads leading through the swamps of Glastonbury,
England, dating to around the same period.[49] The
first long-distance road, which came into use around 3,500 BCE,[49] spanned
2,400 km from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean
Sea,[49] but
was not paved and was only partially maintained.[49] In
around 2,000 BCE, the Minoans on the Greek island of Crete built a
50 km road leading from the palace of Gortyn on
the south side of the island, through the mountains, to the palace of Knossos on
the north side of the island.[49] Unlike
the earlier road, the Minoan road was completely paved.[49]
Photograph
of the Pont du Gard in France, one of the most
famous ancient Roman aqueducts[50]
Ancient
Minoan private homes had running water.[51] A
bathtub virtually identical to modern ones was unearthed at the Palace of
Knossos.[51][52] Several
Minoan private homes also had toilets, which could be flushed by pouring water
down the drain.[51] The
ancient Romans had many public flush toilets,[52] which
emptied into an extensive sewage system.[52] The
primary sewer in Rome was the Cloaca Maxima;[52] construction
began on it in the sixth century BCE and it is still in use today.[52]
The
ancient Romans also had a complex system of aqueducts,[50] which
were used to transport water across long distances.[50] The
first Roman aqueduct was built in 312 BCE.[50] The
eleventh and final ancient Roman aqueduct was built in 226 CE.[50] Put
together, the Roman aqueducts extended over 450 km,[50] but
less than 70 km of this was above ground and supported by arches.
Pre-modern
Main
articles: Medieval technology and Renaissance technology
Innovations
continued through the Middle Ages with the introduction of silk
production (in Asia and later Europe), the horse collar,
and horseshoes. Simple
machines (such as the lever, the screw, and the pulley)
were combined into more complicated tools, such as the wheelbarrow, windmills,
and clocks.[53] A
system of universities developed and spread scientific ideas and practices,
including Oxford and Cambridge.[54]
The Renaissance era produced many
innovations, including the introduction of the movable type printing
press to Europe, which facilitated the communication of
knowledge. Technology became increasingly influenced by science, beginning a
cycle of mutual advancement.[55]
Modern
Main
articles: Industrial Revolution, Second Industrial Revolution, and Information
Age
The automobile revolutionized
personal transportation.
Starting in the United Kingdom in
the 18th century, the discovery of steam power set
off the Industrial Revolution, which saw
wide-ranging technological discoveries, particularly in the areas of agriculture,
manufacturing, mining, metallurgy, and transport, and the widespread application of
the factory system.[56] 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.[57] They
were accompanied by consequential social change, with the introduction of
skyscrapers accompanied by rapid urbanization.[58] Communication
improved with the invention of the telegraph,
the telephone, the radio, and television.[59]
The
20th century brought a host of innovations. In physics, the discovery of nuclear
fission in the Atomic Age led
to both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Analog
computers were invented and asserted dominance in processing
complex data. While the invention of vacuum tubes allowed
for digital computing with computers like the ENIAC, their sheer size
precluded widespread use until innovations in quantum
physics allowed for the invention of the transistor in
1947, which significantly compacted computers and led the digital transition.
Information technology, particularly optical fiber and optical
amplifiers, allowed for simple and fast long-distance communication,
which ushered in the Information
Age and the birth of the Internet.
The Space Age began
with the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, and later the launch
of crewed missions to the moon in the 1960s.
Organized efforts to search for extraterrestrial
intelligence have used radio
telescopes to detect signs of technology use, or technosignatures,
given off by alien civilizations. In medicine, new technologies were developed
for diagnosis (CT, PET, and MRI scanning),
treatment (like the dialysis
machine, defibrillator, pacemaker,
and a wide array of new pharmaceutical drugs), and research (like interferon cloning
and DNA microarrays).[60]
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.[61] 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.
Impact
Main
article: Technology and society
Technological change is the largest
cause of long-term economic growth.[62][63] Throughout
human history, energy production was the main constraint on economic development, and new technologies
allowed humans to significantly increase the amount of available energy. First
came fire, which made edible a wider variety of foods, and made it less
physically demanding to digest them. Fire also enabled smelting,
and the use of tin,
copper, and iron tools, used for hunting or tradesmanship.
Then came the agricultural revolution: humans no longer needed to hunt or
gather to survive, and began to settle in towns and cities,
forming more complex societies, with militaries and
more organized forms of religion.[64]
Technologies
have contributed to human welfare through increased prosperity, improved
comfort and quality of life, and medical
progress, but they can also disrupt existing social hierarchies,
cause pollution, and harm individuals or groups.
Recent
years have brought about a rise in social media's cultural prominence, with
potential repercussions on democracy, and economic and social life. Early on,
the internet was seen as a "liberation technology" that would
democratize knowledge, improve access to education, and promote democracy.
Modern research has turned to investigate the internet's downsides, including
disinformation, polarization, hate speech, and propaganda.[65]
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.
Social
Jobs
Since the invention of the wheel,
technologies have helped increase humans' economic output. Past automation has
both substituted and complemented labor; machines replaced humans at some
lower-paying jobs (for example in agriculture), but this was compensated by the
creation of new, higher-paying jobs.[66] Studies
have found that computers did not create significant net technological unemployment.[67] Due
to artificial intelligence being far
more capable than computers, and still being in its infancy, it is not known
whether it will follow the same trend; the question has been debated at length
among economists and policymakers. A 2017 survey found no clear consensus among
economists on whether AI would increase long-term unemployment.[68] According
to the World Economic Forum's "The Future of
Jobs Report 2020", AI is predicted to replace 85 million jobs worldwide,
and create 97 million new jobs by 2025.[69][70] From
1990 to 2007, a study in the U.S. by MIT economist Daron
Acemoglu showed that an addition of one robot for every 1,000
workers decreased the employment-to-population ratio by
0.2%, or about 3.3 workers, and lowered wages by 0.42%.[71][72] Concerns
about technology replacing human labor however are long-lasting. As US
president Lyndon Johnson said in 1964,
"Technology is creating both new opportunities and new obligations for us,
opportunity for greater productivity and progress; obligation to be sure that
no workingman, no family must pay an unjust price for progress." upon signing
the National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress bill.[73][74][75][76][77]
Security
With the growing reliance of
technology, there have been security and privacy concerns along with it.
Billions of people use different online payment methods, such as WeChat Pay, PayPal, Alipay,
and much more to help transfer money. Although security measures are placed,
some criminals are able to bypass them.[78] In
March 2022, North Korea used Blender.io,
a mixer which helped them to hide their
cryptocurrency exchanges, to launder over $20.5 million in cryptocurrency,
from Axie Infinity, and steal over $600 million
worth of cryptocurrency from the game's owner. Because of this, the U.S.
Treasury Department sanctioned Blender.io, which marked the first time it has
taken action against a mixer, to try to crack down on North Korean hackers.[79][80] The
privacy of cryptocurrency has been debated. Although many customers like the
privacy of cryptocurrency, many also argue that it needs more transparency and
stability.[78]
Environmental
Technology has impacted the world
with negative and positive environmental impacts, which are usually
the reverse of the initial damage, such as; the creation of pollution and the
attempt to undo said pollution,[81] deforestation and
the reversing of deforestation,[82] and oil spills.
All of these have had a significant impact on the environment of the earth. As
technology has advanced, so has the negative environmental impact, with the
releasing of greenhouse gases, like methane and carbon
dioxide, into the atmosphere, causing the greenhouse
effect, gradually heating the earth and causing global warming. All
of this has become worse with the advancement of technology.[83]
Pollution
Pollution, the presence of
contaminants in an environment that causes adverse effects, could have been
present as early as the Inca Empire. They used a lead sulfide flux in
the smelting of
ores, along with the use of a wind-drafted clay kiln, which released lead
into the atmosphere and the sediment of
rivers.
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