Technology is a term which covers many different things, but at its core it involves the use of scientific knowledge to create tools, systems and processes that help meet human needs or achieve specific goals. Some of the biggest impacts that technology has are in areas such as improving education and healthcare, automation of repetitive tasks, and overall societal progress.
As such, it is important to understand how technology shapes our lives – not just from the perspective of those who research and develop new technologies, but also those that use them in their daily work and activities. For example, many businesses rely on technology to manage communications with their clients and suppliers. It is therefore essential for business owners to keep up with technology and find ways to improve their business practices.
The development of new technologies is often driven by the need to solve particular problems or fulfil a specific purpose. This need can be driven by the desire to make things more efficient, for example through using new materials or by reducing energy consumption, or it may be a result of a particular social ethos that encourages inventors and their ideas. Such a’sympathetic’ social ethos can include support for specific fields of invention, or it could be more general, such as in the case of middle classes in Britain during the 18th century who encouraged inventors to cultivate their talents and ideas.
Technology is a ‘combinatorial’ process, in which the technologist selects and prioritizes means to a given end, rather than having an end decided for them. This process, as described by Joseph Dunne, is inherently deliberative: ‘Technology is an attempt to bring the world closer to the way one wishes it to be. The technologist is always deliberating about the nature of that wish and the value of the different routes to its realization’.