A Public View?

For my last source, I decided to find out what the public as a whole believes technology to be, and what better place to find a public point of view than wikipedia. Wikipedia gives a very large selection of definitions for technology, perhaps from the differing opinions that have influenced it. According to wikipedia, “technology is a broad concept that deals with a species usage and knowledge of tools and crafts.” It is a “consequence of science and engineering”, although technology predates both of these things. Wikipedia states that technology started with “the conversion of natural resources into simple tools.” It says that technology can be “broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve some value.” As an engineer, I like this definition that is proposed: “technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems.” I am going to be trying to efficiently solve real world problems for the rest of my life, so that fits me very well. I will be creating technology. The only thing is I cannot just say I like this one and stick with it, and I cannot just look at this wiki for a definition, no matter how broad it may be. I do however like this broad idea of technology that is presented. That it is something that deals with science and math, something that benefits society, something that comes from natural resources. I think that technology is something created by the application of effort. I think that all of these definitions are correct, but maybe just re-worded of themselves. How, though, does this affect what I have already discovered. What about fire? Is it now technology? I have not come across anything or anyone that says technology ceases to be technology once it is outdated. Perhaps that was a preconceived notion that I unknowingly entertained coming into this project. Perhaps fire and the wheel are still technology, no matter how old they are. They got us where we are today (and we still use them). I am going to move away from this position that things were technology to the position that they are, no matter the age. War veterans don’t loose their titles once they get old, they earn their title through what they did. Technology shouldn't cease to be once it is old. It should be praised for getting us where we are today. Perhaps the term’s common meaning should be changed, so that “new technology” refers to what most people today call technology.

From a Professional Point of View

For my next source I decided to get away from people and see what technology media had to say. For this I went to the renowned magazine Technology Review, online of course. Apparently they have been reviewing technology for 108 years, so I bet they know what they are talking about. Because of the various articles it was hard to find one single place to look, but by examining the whole site I got a general idea of their take on technology. In their “About Us” statement, they say that they explore “emerging technologies”, and then they go on to define emerging technologies as “groundbreaking innovations that will shape and define our lives and our businesses.” From reading the website, I got a general feeling that technology is not even today, but that it is what is coming tomorrow. It’s a general feel that the only thing that matters is what is being created, and not what is already created. Where I had this idea that once something is obsolete, it is not technology (even though it was at some point), they have this idea that once something goes from idea to reality, it looses its status as technology. To give an idea of what they classify as technology, this is how they divide their website: Information technology, Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Energy, and Business Technology. Everything on the site is futuristic, unheard of, and really really cool, but no where does it mention anything more than 1 or 2 months old. I think that things that are useful are still technology, but they present this idea that it is not technology unless it is state of the art. Perhaps this is an effect of marketers and advertising? New things are always expensive, and not ever necessary, but still it’s like you need them. On the other hand, the future is in new technologies, and embracing them is like embracing the future.

A Word from the Not as Wise

After hearing from the experience of an older man, I decided to look at the opposite side of the spectrum, to examine the point of view of someone just entering the field of engineering. I decided that my roommate David, a freshman undecided engineer, would be a perfect candidate. I asked him to tell me the first things that came to his mind when I said “What is Technology?” His answer was this
“Well, it’s ummm, how people solve problems. [Its] what they make to solve problems. Do you agree? Technology changes rapidly, constantly, other than the dark ages there wasn’t any decline in technology. It helps us be more safe, it helps us in medicine, in warfare. It allows our society to advance above others. [For instance] you wouldn’t be able to write on that computer if it weren’t for technology. If we didn’t have technology, we would just be cavemen. We wouldn’t even carry around a stick ‘cus that could be technology, we couldn’t carry a club. We probably wouldn’t even have clothes.”
It seems to me that David is defining technology by what we would be without it: cavemen, with no weapons, no fire, and no wheel, not anything. I suppose that if you take his definition, technology is basically everything around us. In this case it isn’t natural food or drink, or a hole in a rock, but everything else is technology. This poses a problem though, because I am trying to narrow my definition of technology, or at least my understanding of it. If we look at technology as everything, it becomes much harder to define. Perhaps it is everything, but in its own time. If I go back to my definition and to the definition Mr. Powers gave me, technology is something evolutionary, something restricted to the present; created by, but not including the past. Perhaps David was wrong in his tenses, and technology was everything at some point, but is limited to the here and now.

A Word from the Wise

For my first source in this search to define technology, I called up an old friend, someone who has been around to see technology change. He was my mentor in high school, and his name is Don Powers. Don Powers grew up during the depression, graduated as an electrical engineer from Texas A&M, and went on to work at Honeywell for many years, building gyros for NASA. I asked Mr. Powers what technology was to him, and this is what he told me. "When I started knowing the world was more than just Minnesota, technology was radio, and starting to automate things in cars." He went on to tell me that although that is what he first knew technology to be, that it constantly changes, from the "basic stuff" like electricity and gas engines, to space travel. "Technology is an evolutionary thing," he told me, "To you it is computer related, but it can pertain to astronomy or space travel." He then told me that technology is a super broad field like education. "Try to define education," he said, "and you will find that it's very difficult because it depends on the time in history you are defining it in." He then said that technology to him, today, is space travel, astronomy, and as far as computers are concerned, the World Wide Web and WiFi. He finished by saying this, "They tame the beast, but taming the beast releases another beast that is bigger, stronger, and different."
What a good opinion. Don Powers is a man I have utmost respect for, and he again gave me a superior answer to my question. He described technology mostly as an evolutionary thing, but he struggled with a tangible definition because he said that it is constantly changes. He described technology as something that is current with the time. I did not go this far, but perhaps these things that were once technology no longer are, they are just artifacts, history, but none the less, things that were technology at one point. He made a great point about "the beast", that it is the invention of technology that paves the way for new technology to make the old obsolete. As someone who has seen it all happen, and has been around for the change, I believe his opinion helps me to decide that technology is something that is current, and perhaps something that makes technology obsolete.

Exploring My Own

Technology. It has become a household word, generally associated with the modern world. Technology has come to refer to electronics, machines, and anything that makes our life easier. But what about 200 years ago? Did they have technology? They most certainly had new inventions, new ways to do things, creations to make their lives easier. Was that technology? I don't really know. Is technology something that IS current, or something that WAS current? Is technology limited to those alive today, or should we consider ancient inventions technology. The wheel had no circuit boards, but it certainly revolutionized the way the world saw transportation. What about fire? Perhaps some dictionary definitions can aid my pursuit. Answers.com gives us 4 different definitions. The first 3 are very specific in what they address, the application of science, the scientific method, and electronics. These give us a pretty good idea about technology today. The 4th, however, addresses technology as a more abstract, intangible thing. "The body of knowledge available to a society that is of use in fashioning implements, practicing manual arts and skills, and extracting or collecting materials." Is technology simply that, an idea? Is it knowledge that we have gained? We have gained the knowledge of electronics, of wireless internet, of cell phones. We at one point gained the knowledge of fire, so does that make it technology, or is its status as technology limited to when it was discovered? I think that we could still call fire technology. It is still knowledge that we possess. I think that if anything I am closer to understanding technology, perhaps more as an idea than a thing.

What Are You?

The purpose of this blog is to flesh out what the word "technology" means, to me, and to everyone. Each post will address a different source, which, cobbled together, should provide some answers to this question, "What is technology?"