Technology
Christian Wolff presented the first pole of technology as a systematic academic discipline in 1728. He wrote Chapter III of his Preliminary discourse to define it as the science of skills and works of skill. This early definition focused on things made by human labor, chiefly through hand use. The word technology dates back to the early 17th century with the meaning of systematic treatment. Ancient Greek scholars used terms for knowledge of how to make things like architecture. Continental Europeans began using German or French terms in the 19th century to refer to ways of doing technical arts. These terms included activities like dancing, navigation, or printing regardless of tool requirements. English speakers translated both concepts simply as technology without distinguishing them. Massachusetts Institute of Technology adopted the term when referring to an academic discipline. Scientific progress during the Second Industrial Revolution caused technology to lose its distinct academic status. It shifted to mean the systemic use of knowledge applied to practical ends.
Hominids developed tools through observation and trial and error around two million years ago. They learned to hammer flakes off pebbles to form sharp hand axes. Pressure flaking refined this practice seventy-five thousand years later into much finer work. Charles Darwin described the discovery of fire as possibly the greatest ever made by man. Archaeological evidence points to continuous human fire use at least one point five million years ago. Early humans fueled fires with wood and charcoal to cook food and increase digestibility. The cooking hypothesis suggests this ability promoted increased hominid brain size. Researchers dated archaeological evidence of hearths to seven hundred ninety thousand years ago. This likely intensified socialization and contributed to the emergence of language. Clothing adapted from fur and hides helped humanity expand into colder regions. Humans began migrating out of Africa around two hundred thousand years ago. Archaeologists found evidence of clothing between ninety thousand and one hundred twenty thousand years ago. Dwellings became more sophisticated as early as three hundred eighty thousand years ago.
The earliest record of a ship under sail dates to around seven thousand BCE on the Nile. Ancient Egyptians used annual flooding power to irrigate lands through built channels and catch basins. Sumerians in Mesopotamia diverted water from Tigris and Euphrates rivers using complex canal systems. Experts estimate the wheel was invented independently between five thousand five hundred and three thousand BCE. Most experts place it closer to four thousand BCE. Austrian experts established the oldest known wooden wheel in Ljubljana Marshes is between five thousand one hundred and five thousand three hundred fifty years old. A stone pottery wheel found in Ur dates to around three thousand four hundred twenty-nine BCE. Fast rotary potters wheels enabled early mass production of pottery. The first long distance road spanned two thousand four hundred kilometers from Persian Gulf to Mediterranean Sea. It came into use around three thousand five hundred BCE but remained unpaved. Minoans on Crete built a fifty kilometer paved road from Gortyn palace to Knossos palace around two thousand BCE. Construction began on Rome's primary sewer Cloaca Maxima in the sixth century BCE. The first Roman aqueduct was built in 312 BCE. These aqueducts extended over four hundred fifty kilometers total.
Steam power discovery set off the Industrial Revolution starting in United Kingdom during the 18th century. This era saw wide ranging technological discoveries in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, metallurgy, and transport. Widespread application of the factory system followed this initial phase. A century later the Second Industrial Revolution led to rapid scientific discovery and standardization. New technologies included sewage systems, electricity, light bulbs, electric motors, railroads, automobiles, and airplanes. These advances led to significant developments in medicine, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Skyscrapers accompanied rapid urbanization as a consequence of these changes. Communication improved with invention of telegraph, telephone, radio, and television. Analog computers asserted dominance in processing complex data before vacuum tubes allowed digital computing. Quantum physics innovations enabled invention of transistor in 1947 which significantly compacted computers. Optical fiber and optical amplifiers ushered in Information Age and birth of Internet. Space Age began with launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957. Crewed missions to moon occurred in the 1960s. Organized efforts search for extraterrestrial intelligence use radio telescopes to detect technosignatures from alien civilizations.
Lead sulfide flux used by Inca Empire released lead into atmosphere and river sediment during smelting. Environmental technology describes array of technologies seeking to reverse or mitigate environmental damage. Measures include halting pollution through regulations, capturing storage, or using pollutant byproducts elsewhere. Emerging climate engineering fields may halt global warming though this remains highly controversial. Increased release of greenhouse gases like methane nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide causes greenhouse effect. This gradually heats earth causing global warming and climate change. Pollution presence caused adverse effects possibly as early as Inca Empire times. Technologies correlate with rise in greenhouse gas emissions into atmosphere. Environmental technology includes deforestation reversal measures alongside other mitigation strategies. Scientists debate whether emerging technologies can effectively address these growing threats without creating new problems.
Philosophy of technology emerged as discipline over past two centuries and grew considerably since 1970s. Marx framed technology as tool used by capitalists to oppress proletariat while believing it fundamentally liberating once freed from societal deformations. Second wave philosophers shifted focus from economics to daily life living in techno material culture. Third stage philosophers considered how humans learn to live with technology. Early scholarship split between technological determinism and social construction arguments. Technological determinism ideas suggest technologies cause unavoidable social changes following natural progression. Social constructivists argue technologies follow no natural progression shaped instead by cultural values laws politics. Modern scholarship analyzes sociotechnical systems assemblages of things people practices and meanings. Cultural critic Neil Postman distinguished tool using societies from technopolies dominated by progress ideology. Herbert Marcuse and John Zerzan suggested technological society will inevitably deprive freedom and psychological health. Ethics of technology analyzes implications exploring ways to mitigate potential negative impacts. Prominent debates surround genetically modified organisms military robots algorithmic bias AI alignment issues. Bioethics examines cloning human genetic engineering stem cell research computer ethics focuses computing cyberethics explores internet intellectual property rights privacy censorship. Nanoethics examines alteration matter atomic molecular level across disciplines including computer science engineering biology.
Futures studies explore range plausible futures incorporating human values into new technology development. Science fiction often serves source of ideas for researchers analyzing past present trends. Estimates on artificial general intelligence advent vary though half machine learning experts surveyed in 2018 believe it accomplishes every task better than humans by 2063. They predict automation of all human jobs by 2140. This expected unemployment leads to calls for increased emphasis on computer science education universal basic income debates. Political science experts predict rise in extremism while others see post scarcity economy opportunity. Existential risk researchers analyze risks leading to human extinction or civilizational collapse looking for resilience building methods. Relevant centers include Cambridge Center Study Existential Risk Stanford Existential Risk Initiative. Future technologies may contribute risks from artificial general intelligence biological warfare nuclear warfare nanotechnology anthropogenic climate change stable global totalitarianism. Technologies also help mitigate asteroid impacts gamma ray bursts. Philosopher Nick Bostrom introduced notion vulnerable world one where civilization almost certainly gets devastated by default technological development level. He cites pandemic bioterrorist arms race loss mutual assured destruction as examples. Policymakers question assumptions that progress always beneficial scientific openness always preferable waiting until dangerous invention before preparation mitigations.
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Common questions
When did Christian Wolff present technology as a systematic academic discipline?
Christian Wolff presented the first pole of technology as a systematic academic discipline in 1728. He wrote Chapter III of his Preliminary discourse to define it as the science of skills and works of skill.
How long ago did hominids develop tools through observation and trial and error?
Hominids developed tools through observation and trial and error around two million years ago. They learned to hammer flakes off pebbles to form sharp hand axes and later refined this practice with pressure flaking seventy-five thousand years later.
What year was the oldest known wooden wheel established in Ljubljana Marshes?
Austrian experts established the oldest known wooden wheel in Ljubljana Marshes is between five thousand one hundred and five thousand three hundred fifty years old. A stone pottery wheel found in Ur dates to around three thousand four hundred twenty-nine BCE.
Which country started the Industrial Revolution using steam power discovery during the 18th century?
Steam power discovery set off the Industrial Revolution starting in United Kingdom during the 18th century. This era saw wide ranging technological discoveries in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, metallurgy, and transport.
When will AI replace eighty five million jobs worldwide according to World Economic Forum report?
AI is predicted to replace eighty five million jobs worldwide by 2025 according to World Economic Forum report. It may create ninety seven million new jobs during same period.