Technology deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its natural environment. The word technology comes from the Greek technología (τεχνολογία) — téchnē (τέχνη), 'craft' and -logía (-λογία), the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline. A strict definition is elusive; technology can be material objects of use to humanity, such as clothing, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology".

The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.

Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.

Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.

Technology is a broad term dealing with the use and knowledge of humanity's tools and crafts.

Sourced

• We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.
  • Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt (2002)

• Technology and the machine resurrected San Francisco while Pompeii still slept in her ashes.
  • Silas Bent, Machine Made Man, p. 326. (1930)

• Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
  • Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry Into The Limits of the Possible (1962; revised 1973)

• For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
  • Richard P. Feynman, Rogers' Commission Report into the Challenger Crash, Appendix F - "Personal Observations on Reliability of Shuttle" (June 1986)

• Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.
  • Alfred North Whitehead, An Introduction to Mathematics (1911), ch. 5

Unsourced

• Technology is a sprinter, the Law is a marathon runner.
  • A.K.T. Rex

• A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
  • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

• The drive toward complex technical achievement offers a clue to why the U.S. is good at space gadgetry and bad at slum problems.
  • John Kenneth Galbraith

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Fri Jan 22 02:21:24 2010