What is Technology?

Assessment (analysis and normative evaluation) of a particular technical device, system, or procedure with regard to a defined set of criteria, goals or objectives (e.g. technical security assessment according to the standards of the Orange Book).

The belief that technology develops (see development) by its own laws, that it realizes its own potential, limited only by the material resources available, and must therefore be regarded as an autonomous (see autonomy) system controlling and ultimately permeating all other subsystems of society. Evidence for the first proposition is largely taken from the natural history of technology, its progressive character and the cooccurance of independent (see independence) inventions. Evidence for the second proposition stems from the unwarranted generalization that everything that is invented is ultimately installed and ignores human playfulness, individual and collective interests and man's cognitive limitations. The conclusion is nevertheless supported by the fact that technology has indeed penetrated all spheres of human existence from interpersonal communication, to definitions of the quality of life in technological terms. (Krippendorff)

An object or sequence of operations created by man to assist in achieving some goal. A technology is a body of human knowledge that can be passed along from one place to another and from one generation to the next. Examples of technologies are: a bow and arrow; a birth control pill; a nuclear reactor; a legislature; and a planning, programming, budgeting system of accounting.
The body of knowledge about, and the systematic study of, methods, techniques and hardware applied in the adaptation of the physical environment to man's needs and wants. The application of scientific knowledge to build or improve the infrastructure of agriculture, industry government and daily life. (Technology must not be confused with the very infrastructure it generates). Technology has autocatalytic properties. It favors the use of technical devices and processes even in solving social problems, e.g., by using fertilizers to enhance agricultural production rather than a different form of work organization, by using computers for national planning rather than decentralized decision making processes. (Krippendorff)
The systematic knowledge and the methods and procedures which can be used in a specific area in order to resolve practical problems. In some languages, e.g. French, Spanish, and German, this is clearly distinguished from technic" ("technique", "tecnica", "Technik") which is the practical skill to use knowledge, methods, and procedures in a particular case in order to resolve a specific practical problem.

Technology Assessment (TA) is the encompassing analysis and evaluation of technologies in order to develop alternatives for decision-making (6). ta has three components. In a first step possible consequences of the use of a technology have to be investigated whereby a particular interest is given to unexpected and long-term consequences. In a second step the technology itself and its immediate strengths and weaknesses have to be evaluated as well as its unexpected and long-term consequences. In a third step variants and alternatives have to be elaborated. This definition of Technology Assessment corresponds to the proposal of the VDI (Association of German Engineers) in its "Guidelines to Technology Assessment" (7). (Hornung
The analysis of the implementation of a technology and its evaluation with regard to immediate and more general objectives. Technology Assessment comprises two parts. The first is an analytical, factual, part of scientific analysis of the functioning and of the effects of the technology considered. This takes into consideration in particular potential long-term and unexpected side effects. The second part is the normative evaluation of the results of the analysis with regard to < href ="CRITERION.HTML">criteria, goals, and objectives. This includes the comparison to other alternatives (other technologies or non-implementation).

The use of computer-based information processing in telecommunication and the use of telecommunication to allow computers to transfer programmes and data to each other (WHO: Telematics p. 100)the philosophical study of manifestations of design or purposes in natural processes or occurrences, under the belief that natural processes are not determined by mechanism but rather by their utility in an overall natural design. Dysteleology is the doctrine of purposelessness in nature. (American Heritage Dictionary) Teleology is associated with vitalism. It explains apparently purposeful animal behavior by saying that the action is performed because it will later be advantageous to the animal. Science, on the other hand, has sought to explain apparently purposeful behavior through the theory of mechanism. The notion that an organism contains a model of the actual world and a model of the desired world and acts so as to make the actual world conform to the desired world is compatible with the theory of mechanism.the element of apparent purpose or possession of a project in the organization of living systems, without implying any vitalistic connotations. Frequently considered as a necessary if not sufficient defining feature of the living organization. (Maturana and Varela, 1979) "With the addition of a correction channel equal to or exceeding in capacity the amount of noise in the original channel, it is possible to so encode (see encoding) the correction data sent over this channel that all but an arbitrarily small fraction of the errors contributing to the noise are corrected. This is not possible if the capacity of the correction channel is less than the noise" (see redundancy). This theorem is an isomorph of the law of requisite variety. (Krippendorff)Literally, the original written or printed form of a literary work considered as the authoritative source of interpretations. In cybernetics, data with an inherent pattern, structure or organization through which the meanings are revealed (see context). (Krippendorff)

An imaginative formulation of apparent relationships or underlying principles of certain observed phenomena. It may have been verified to some extent, or it may be pure hypothesis or conjecture. (Iberall)

A theory proposed by B. Russell that rules out self-reference in order to prevent the emergence of antinomies and paradoxes in logic. It states that a class is of a logical type higher (see ordinality) than its members and, because logical types must not be confused, no class can contain itself as a member. E.g., the law of the excluded middle which states that propositions can be either true or false is a proposition and should therefore be either true or false. But because it can only be true (else it would not be a law), it defies its own claim. Russell's solution is that the law is a proposition about propositions and must not be confused with the propositions to which it refers (see meta-). According to the theory, self-referential statements are neither true nor false but meaningless. The theory has been influential in linguistics by recognizing the importance of logical as well as grammatical restrictions on the combinations of words (see language). It provided support on attacks on logical positivism, especially on its verification principle and has inspired inquiries into communication pathologies that arise from the confusion among logical types, e.g., of content and relationship aspects of communications (see double bind). However, by exorcising self-reference, the theory of logical types bas retarded the development of theory, largely cognitive theory, in areas where self-reference is prevalent. With its focus on circularity cybernetics has transcended the theory and essentially solved the problem's self-reference originally posed. (Krippendorff)

The quantity of energy no longer available to do physical work. Every real process converts energy into both work or a condensed form of energy and waste. Some waste may be utilized in processes other than those generating it (see recycling) but the ultimate waste which can no longer support any process is energy in the form of dispersed heat (see second law of thermodynamics). All physical process, despite any local and temporal concentration of energy they may achieve, contribute to the increased overall dispersion of heat. Entropy therefore irreversibly increases in the known universe. (Krip
pendorff)

That branch of physics which is concerned with the storage, transformation and dissipation of energy (including the flow of heat from which the term is derived). Its first law, or the conservation law, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. This law provides the basis for all quantitative accounts of energy, regardless of its form, and makes energy the most important concept in physics. Its second law, or the entropy law, states that in all processes some of the energy involved irreversibly looses its ability to do work and is degraded in quality. The latter is called thermodynamic entropy whose extreme form is dispersed heat and manifested in a uniform temperature distribution. Another statement of this second law is that in any process entropy never decreases. The irreversibility of physical processes implicit in this law makes the entropy law probably the most important law in understanding terrestrial processes including living organisms and social forms. The third law of thermodynamics, or the asymptotic law, states that all processes slow down as they operate closer to the thermodynamic equilibrium making it difficult to reach that equilibrium in practice. This law suggests that the powerful and fast changes which are typical of technology and characteristic of living forms of organization are bound to occur only at levels far removed from thermodynamic equilibrium. (Krippendorff)

The law of asymptotic decelleration (see thermodynamics) . (Krippendorff)

Technology and society

Technology and pet society or technology and culture refers to the cyclical co-dependence, co-influence, co-production of technology and society upon the other (technology upon culture, and vice-versa). This synergistic relationship occurred from the dawn of humankind, with the invention of the simple tools; and continues into modern technologies such as the printing press and computers.

Modern examples

There are an extraordinary number of examples how science and technology has helped us that can be seen in society today. One great example is the mobile phone. Ever since the invention of the telephone society was in need of a more portable device that they could use to talk to people. This high demand for a new product led to the invention of the mobile phone, which did, and still does, greatly influence society and the way people live their lives. Now many people are accessible to talk to whoever they want no matter where any of the two people are. All these little changes in mobile phones, like Internet access, are further examples of the cycle of co-production. Society's need for being able to call on people and be available everywhere resulted in the research and development of mobile phones. They in turn influenced the way we live our lives. As the populace relies more and more on mobile phones, additional features were requested. This is also true with today's modern media player.
Society also determined the changes that were made to the previous generation media player that the manufactures developed. Take for example, today's media players. At the beginning, cassettes were being used to store data. However, that method was large and cumbersome so the manufactures developed compact disks, which were smaller and could hold more data. Later, compact disks were again too large and did not hold enough data that forced today's manufactures to create MP3 players which are small and holds large amount of data. Today's society determined the course of events that many manufactures took to improving their products so today's consumers will purchase their products.

Economics and technological development

Looking back into ancient history, economics can be said to have arrived on the scene when the occasional, spontaneous exchange of goods and services began to occur on a less occasional, less spontaneous basis. It probably did not take long for the maker of arrowheads to realize that he could probably do a lot better by concentrating on the making of arrowheads and barter for his other needs. Clearly, regardless of the goods and services bartered, some amount of technology was involved—if no more than in the making of shell and bead jewelry. Even the shaman's potions and sacred objects can be said to have involved some technology. So, from the very beginnings, technology can be said to have spurred the development of more elaborate economies.
In the modern world, superior technologies, resources, geography, and history give rise to robust economies; and in a well-functioning, robust economy, economic excess naturally flows into greater use of technology. Moreover, because technology is such an inseparable part of human society, especially in its economic aspects, funding sources for (new) technological endeavors are virtually illimitable. However, while in the beginning, technological investment involved little more than the time, efforts, and skills of one or a few men, today, such investment may involve the collective labor and skills of many millions.
[edit] Funding
Consequently, the sources of funding for large technological efforts have dramatically narrowed, since few have ready access to the collective labor of a whole society, or even a large part. It is conventional to divide up funding sources into governmental (involving whole, or nearly whole, social enterprises) and private (involving more limited, but generally more sharply focused) business or individual enterprises.
[edit] Government funding for new technology
The government is a major contributor to the development of new technology in many ways. In the United States alone, many government agencies specifically invest billions of dollars in new technology.
[In 1980, the UK government invested just over 6-million pounds in a four-year program, later extended to six years, called the Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP), which was intended to give every school in Britain at least one computer, software, training materials, and extensive teacher training. Similar programs have been instituted by governments around the world.]
Technology has frequently been driven by the military, with many modern applications being developed for the military before being adapted for civilian use. However, this has always been a two-way flow, with industry often taking the lead in developing and adopting a technology which is only later adopted by the military.
Entire government agencies are specifically dedicated to research, such as America's National Science Foundation, the United Kingdom's scientific research institutes, America's Small Business Innovative Research effort. Many other government agencies dedicate a major portion of their budget to research and development.
[edit] Private funding
Research and development is one of the biggest areas of investments made by corporations toward new and innovative technology.
foundations and other nonprofit organizations contribute to the development of technology. In the OECD, about two-thirds of research and development in scientific and technical fields is carried out by industry, and 20 percent and 10 percent respectively by universities and government. But in poorer countries such as Portugal and Mexico the industry contribution is significantly less. The U.S. government spends more than other countries on military research and development, although the proportion has fallen from about 30 percent in the 1980s to less than 10 percent.[1]
[edit] Other economic considerations
Appropriate technology, sometimes called "intermediate" technology, more of an economics concern, refers to compromises between central and expensive technologies of developed nations and those which developing nations find most effective to deploy given an excess of labour and scarcity of cash.
Persuasion technology: In economics, definitions or assumptions of progress or growth are often related to one or more assumptions about technology's economic influence. Challenging prevailing assumptions about technology and its usefulness has led to alternative ideas like uneconomic growth or measuring well-being. These, and economics itself, can often be described as technologies, specifically, as persuasion technology.

Sociological factors and effects

The use of technology has a great many effects; these may be separated into intended effects and unintended effects. Unintended effects are usually also unanticipated, and often unknown before the arrival of a new technology. Nevertheless, they are often as important as the intended effect.
[edit] Values
The implementation of technology influences the values of a society by changing expectations and realities. The implementation of technology is also influenced by values. There are (at least) three major, interrelated values that inform, and are informed by, technological innovations:
Mechanistic world view: Viewing the universe as a collection of parts, (like a machine), that can be individually analyzed and understood (McGinn 1991). This is a form of reductionism that is rare nowadays. However, the "neo-mechanistic world view" holds that nothing in the universe cannot be understood by the human intellect. Also, while all things are greater than the sum of their parts (e.g., even if we consider nothing more than the information involved in their combination), in principle, even this excess must eventually be understood by human intelligence. That is, no divine or vital principle or essence is involved.
Efficiency: A value, originally applied only to machines, but now applied to all aspects of society, so that each element is expected to attain a higher and higher percentage of its maximal possible performance, output, or ability. (McGinn 1991)
Social progress: The belief that there is such a thing as social progress, and that, in the main, it is beneficent. Before the Industrial Revolution, and the subsequent explosion of technology, almost all societies believed in a cyclical theory of social movement and, indeed, of all history and the universe. This was, obviously, based on the cyclicity of the seasons, and an agricultural economy's and society's strong ties to that cyclicity. Since much of the world is closer to their agricultural roots, they are still much more amenable to cyclicity than progress in history. This may be seen, for example, in Prabhat rainjan sarkar's modern social cycles theory. For a more westernized version of social cyclicity, see Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (Paperback) by Neil Howe and William Strauss; Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (September 30, 1992); ISBN 0-688-11912-3, and subsequent books by these authors.
[edit] Ethics
Winston (2003) provides an excellent summary of the ethical implications of technological development and deployment. He states there are four major ethical implications:
Challenges traditional ethical norms. Because technology impacts relationships among individuals, it challenges how individuals deal with each other, even in ethical ways. One example of this is challenging the definition of "human life" as embodied by debates in the areas of abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, etc., which all involve modern technological developments.
Creates an aggregation of effects. One of the greatest problems with technology is that its detrimental effects are often small, but cumulative. Such is the case with the pollution from the burning of fossil fuels in automobiles. Each individual automobile creates a very small, almost negligible, amount of pollution, however the cumulative effect could possibly contribute to the global warming effect. Other examples include accumulations of chemical pollutants in the human body, urbanization effects on the environment, etc.

A Lancaster dropping bundles of 4lb stick incendiaries (left), 30lb incendiaries and a "cookie" (right)
Changes the distribution of justice. In essence, those with technology tend to have higher access to justice systems. Or, justice is not distributed equally to those with technology versus those without.
Provides great power. Not only does technology amplify the ability, and hence the strength, of humans, it also provides a great strategic advantage to the human(s) who hold the greatest amount of technology. Consider the strategic advantage gained by having greater technological innovations in the military, pharmaceuticals, computers, etc. For example, Bill Gates has considerable influence (even outside of the computer industry) in the course of human affairs due to his successful implementation of computer technology.
[edit] Lifestyle
In many ways, technology simplifies life.
The rise of a leisure class
A more informed society,which can make quicker responses to events and trends
Sets the stage for more complex learning tasks
Increases multi-tasking (although this may not be simplifying)
Global networking
Creates denser social circles
Cheaper prices
Greater specialization in jobs
In other ways, technology complicates life.
Pollution is a serious problem in a technologically advanced society (from acid rain to Chernobyl and Bhopal)
The increase in transportation technology has brought congestion in some areas
Technicism (although this may not be complicating)
New forms of danger existing as a consequence of new forms of technology, such as the first generation of nuclear reactors
New forms of entertainment, such as video games and internet access could have possible social effects on areas such as academic performance
Increased probability of some diseases and disorders, such as obesity
Social separation of singular human interaction. Technology has increased the need to talk to more people faster.
Structural unemployment
Anthropocentric climate change
[edit] Institutions and groups
Technology often enables organizational and bureaucratic group structures that otherwise and heretofore were simply not possible. Examples of this might include:
The rise of very large organizations: e.g., governments, the military, health and social welfare institutions, supranational corporations.
The commercialization of leisure: sports events, products, etc. (McGinn)
The almost instantaneous dispersal of information (especially news) and entertainment around the world.
[edit] International
Technology enables greater knowledge of international issues, values, and cultures. Due mostly to mass transportation and mass media, the world seems to be a much smaller place, due to the following, among others:
Globalization of ideas
Embeddedness of values
Population growth and control
Others

Environment

Technology provides an understanding, and an appreciation for the world around us.
Most modern technological processes produce unwanted byproducts in addition to the desired products, which is known as industrial waste and pollution. While most material waste is re-used in the industrial process, many forms are released into the environment, with negative environmental side effects, such as pollution and lack of sustainability. Different social and political systems establish different balances between the value they place on additional goods versus the disvalues of waste products and pollution. Some technologies are designed specifically with the environment in mind, but most are designed first for economic or ergonomic effects. Historically, the value of a clean environment and more efficient productive processes has been the result of an increase in the wealth of society, because once people are able to provide for their basic needs, they are able to focus on less-tangible goods such as clean air and water.
The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more obvious effects include the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources (such as petroleum, coal, ores), and the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle effects include debates over long-term effects (e.g., global warming, deforestation, natural habitat destruction, coastal wetland loss.)
Each wave of technology creates a set of waste previously unknown by humans: toxic waste, radioactive waste, electronic waste.
One of the main problems is the lack of an effective way to remove these pollutants on a large scale expediently. In nature, organisms "recycle" the wastes of other organisms, for example, plants produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, oxygen-breathing organisms use oxygen to metabolize food, producing carbon dioxide as a by-product, which plants use in a process to make sugar, with oxygen as a waste in the first place. No such mechanism exists for the removal of technological wastes.
Humanity at the moment may be compared to a colony of bacteria in a Petri dish with a constant food supply: with no way to remove the wastes of their metabolism, the bacteria eventually poison themselves.

Construction and shaping

Choice
Society also controls technology through the choices it makes. These choices not only include consumer demands; they also include:
the channels of distribution, how do products go from raw materials to consumption to disposal;
the cultural beliefs regarding style, freedom of choice, consumerism, materialism, etc.;
the economic values we place on the environment, individual wealth, government control, capitalism, etc.
According to Williams and Edge (1996), the construction and shaping of technology includes the concept of choice (and not necessarily conscious choice). Choice is inherent in both the design of individual artifacts and systems, and in the making of those artifacts and systems.
The idea here is that a single technology may not emerge from the unfolding of a predetermined logic or a single determinant, technology could be a garden of forking paths, with different paths potentially leading to different technological outcomes. This is a position that has been developed in detail by Judy Wajcman Therefore, choices could have differing implications for society and for particular social groups.hh
[edit] Autonomous technology
In one line of thought, technology develops autonomously, in other words, technology seems to feed on itself, moving forward with a force irresistible by humans. To these individuals, technology is "inherently dynamic and self-augmenting." (McGinn 1991, p. 73) Jacques Ellul is one proponent of the irresistibleness of technology to humans. He espouses the idea that humanity cannot resist the temptation of expanding our knowledge and our technological abilities. However, he does not believe that this seeming autonomy of technology is inherent. But the perceived autonomy is due to the fact that humans do not adequately consider the responsibility that is inherent in technological processes.
Another proponent of these ideas is Langdon Winner who believes that technological evolution is essentially beyond the control of individuals or society.
[edit] Government
Individuals rely on governmental assistance to control the side effects and negative consequences of technology.
Supposed independence of government. An assumption commonly made about the government is that their governance role is neutral or independent. However some argue that governing is a political process, so government will be influenced by political winds of influence. In addition, because government provides much of the funding for technological research and development, it has a vested interest in certain outcomes. Other point out that the world's biggest ecological disasters, such as the Aral Sea, Chernobyl, and Lake Karachay have been caused by government projects, which are not accountable to consumers.
Liability. One means for controlling technology is to place responsibility for the harm with the agent causing the harm. Government can allow more or less legal liability to fall to the organizations or individuals responsible for damages.
Legislation. A source of controversy is the role of industry versus that of government in maintaining a clean environment. While it is generally agreed that industry needs to be held responsible when pollution harms other people, there is disagreement over whether this should be prevented by legislation or civil courts, and whether ecological systems as such should be protected from harm by governments.
Recently the social shaping of technology has had new influence in the fields of e-science and e-social science in the United Kingdom, which has made centers focusing on the social shaping of science and technology a central part of their funding programs.