What is Technology?
Technology is the set of technical notions and information that human beings use to attain a precise objective, which can solve a specific problem or satisfy their needs. And also, it is a broad concept encompassing various aspects and disciplines within electronics, art, or medicine for example, creating.
Types of Technology
Technology can classify in different ways depending on the characteristics take into account.
1. According to the Type of Product
Complex technologies: They use elements of the hard sciences such as engineering, mechanics, mathematics, physics, chemistry. And also, the product obtained is visible and tangible. It is the production of material goods—for example, the development of a mobile device.
Soft technologies: They base on the humanistic or soft sciences, such as sociology, psychology, economics. In general, they are used to recover processes and achieve greater efficiency in institutions or companies. And also, the product obtained is neither visible nor touchable since it consists of developing services, strategies, theories—for example, the story of software.
2. According to the American Sociologist James David Thompson
Flexible technologies: They use in different areas. That is, they have several uses. For example, the microchip that uses in telephones and computers.
Fixed technologies: It uses for the production of a specific product or in a particular area. They are skills designed and produced for a solitary purpose. For example, the poison for rats is used only for the elimination of said animal.
3. According to the Level of Innovation
State-of-the-art technologies: It also called “high technologies” or “latest technology,” they are more forward-thinking technologies available in a particular place and time.
Appropriate technologies: They design to consider the environmental, social, and economic impact in a given society.
4. According to your Application
Operating technologies: They obtain after a long time of the study, observation, and also experience.
Computer Technologies: The manufacturers of a particular product develop them.
Product technologies: The syndicate tools and knowledge to produce a specific product.
Origin and Evolution of Technology
The discovery of the use of fire was one of the first technological advances.
Instinctively, people sought to develop technology ( techniques to improve their quality of life ). The detections that man has made over the years have been shaping the world as it knows today. Therefore, technology has existed since the beginning of the species, although it has not called such until the eighteenth century.
Formally speaking, technology has its origin when technique (initially empirical) began to link with science, and in this way, the production methods structure.
Throughout the different areas of humanity, there have been discoveries that modified how the human being relates to himself and to the environment that surrounds him:
1. Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic)
It characterizes by the use of stone to manufacture utensils and the development of agriculture with rudimentary tools for land organization. And also, the detection of fire was one of the first technologies that brought noticeable benefits to humans.
2. Metal Age
It characterizes by the development of agriculture, animal domestication, and the transition from nomadism to a sedentary lifestyle. And also, the smelting of copper, bronze, and iron develop. The Egyptian civilization credit with the discovery of papyrus and pottery.
And also, the Romans developed sophisticated agriculture, improved the technology of ironwork, and developed civil and military engineering; Chinese civilization credit with the discovery of paper, the iron plow, the compass, the propeller, the crossbow, and gunpowder.
3. Middle Ages
The emergence of the contemporary printing press was one of the essential milestones within this period.
4. Industrial Revolution
It was a retro of social, economic, technological, and cultural alterations characterized by the development of a city and an industrialized economy. One of the most protuberant inventions of this time was the vapor engine. And also, during the nineteenth century, the telegraph, the light bulb, the telephone, and the automobile emerged.
5. Twentieth Century
There was a tremendous technological development with discoveries such as the airplane, radio, television, the computer, and significant advances in nuclear technology, technology applied to medicine, and interplanetary technology. There was the Information and Telecommunication Rebellion or the Information Age (1985-2000).
6. XXI Century
Technological development (also called the scientific-technological revolution or intelligence revolution) evolved fast. Technology and communications transform the industry. And also, new technologies are those that arise after the Second World War. Its rapid development and insertion in society brought essential consequences. The risk fundamentally gives that the human being can control and dominate them.
Importance of Technology
Technology has allowed us to access more significant territories in the world.
The discoveries and the appearance of new tools produced through technology were vital to human and societal development. And also, technology brings excellent discoveries that allow us to improve manufacture, save time, upsurge the quality of life, ease life in society, shorten distances, get to know the planet.
Technology emerged as essential for man to meet individual and collective desires using scientific knowledge and techniques to resolve problems and satisfy their needs. And also, it has allowed the human being to know in depth the environment surrounding him and modify it to achieve his ends; Through the centuries, man invented and changed tools to improve his lifestyle.
Technology has brought discoveries in medicine, advances in access to information, communication, and transportation to simplify tasks.
Features of Technology
- It is present in all personal life and society areas, such as work, education, medicine, and communication.
- It allows the manufacture of new objects: through it, the human being modifies the environment surrounding him.
- And also, it is responsible for most of man’s discoveries.
- If it uses well, it improves the quality of life of human beings. If it poorly uses, it can cause severe damage to individuals and society.
- It is subject to change (technological changes occur discontinuously).
- And also, its developments involve cultural, labor, and social changes.
- Uneven technological development can generate social and economic gaps within a community or between regions or nations.
Examples of Technology
1. Robotics
It uses tools and knowledge from numerous disciplines (electronic engineering, electrical engineering, computer science ) to design and manufacture robots. And also expects that these robots can perform automated tasks and routine and tedious jobs for humans or lower production costs in industries.
2. Cryptocurrencies
They are a digital currency that uses distributed ledger technology (which allows you to record and synchronize transactions between multiple users in different locations).
3. 3d Print
And also, it is a type of additional production that professionally makes individual parts and complex geometries on a wide variety of resources. Through 3D printing, a three-dimensional object creates by overlaying the layers of materials and its use in many industries for different services.
4. Artificial Intelligence
It involves the creation of machines that impersonator the cognitive purposes of human beings. This technology is used in various disciplines such as economics, medicine, transportation, video game software, systems control, handwriting recognition, speech recognition, and also pattern recognition in online assistants.
5. Autonomous Vehicles
The technology used to create driverless cars that program to mimic human driving and control capabilities. This type of vehicle observes the environment through laser systems, radars, computerized vision. Several programs are testing this new technology to see if it can use extensively.
6. Biotechnology
It is the punishment that uses technology to create products from biological systems and living organisms. And also, Biotechnology has been responsible for developing vaccines and antibodies and their use in medicine, agriculture, industry, and environmental care.
Relationship between Science and Technology
Technology uses the knowledge of science to develop goods or services.
And also, the concept of technology is often confused with that of science. On the one hand, science is a well-ordered set of knowledge obtained through observation and experimentation.
On the contrary, technology takes the information and techniques from the different sciences and develops tangible and intangible goods or services that contribute to human development.
While science allows knowing certain phenomena, the technology combines and modifies them professionally to solve a problem or satisfy a need. Therefore, technology is contingent entirely on the existence of science. Scientific advances also suggest new opportunities for technological development.
In the last decades, I + D + I (Research, development, and innovation) gained notoriety, which combines scientific study with technology.
Conclusion
Technology is part of that knowledge, so it is in constant movement, innovation, and complete evolution, revolutionizing different industries worldwide, ranging from everyday improvements in life, such as complicated ones such as engineering. Computing, physics, and communication, especially in health, since in medicine, have significantly increased their achievements in terms of life-saving methods.