CHAPTER 5.

When technology and humanity cross

WHY THE FUTURE DOES NOT NEED US?
Objective: At the end of this chapter, the students should be able
1. Identify William Nelson Joy’s arguments as to why the future does not need
us
2. Evaluate contemporary human experiences with science and technology
3. Write an essay that emphasizes the importance of human kind in visualizing
the future.
INTRODUCTION

The history of technology is the development over time of systematic

techniques for making and doing things. The term technology is coined with two Greek
“technē” which means “art, craft," and logos which means “word or speech". When it
first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was used to mean a discussion of the
applied arts only, and gradually these "arts" themselves came to be the object of the
designation. In the early 20th century, there has been an increasing growth of the term,
processes, and ideas in addition to tools and machines. By mid-century, technology
was defined by such phrases as "the means or activity by which man seeks to change
or manipulate his environment." Even such broad definitions have been criticized by
observers who point out the increasing difficulty of differentiation between scientific
inquiry and technological activity. A highly compressed account of the history of
technology such as this one must adopt a difficult methodological pattern if it is to do
justice to the subject without grossly distorting it one way or another. The plan followed
in the present article is primarily chronological, tracing the development of technology
through phases that succeed each other in time. Obviously, the division between
phases is to a large extent arbitrary. One factor in the weighting has been the
enormous acceleration of Western technological development in recent centuries.
Eastern technology relates to the development of modern technology. Within each
chronological phase a standard method has been adopted for surveying the
technological experience and innovations. This begins with a brief review of the
general social conditions of the period under discussion, and then goes on to consider
the dominant materials and sources of power of the period, and their application to
food production, manufacturing industry, building construction, transport and
communications, military technology, and medical technology. In a final section the
sociocultural consequences of technological change in the period are examined. This
framework is modified according to the particular requirements of every period
discussions of new materials, for instance, occupy a substantial place in the accounts
of earlier phases when new metals were being introduced but are comparatively
unimportant in descriptions of some of the later phases but the general pattern is
retained throughout.
General considerations
Essentially, techniques are methods of creating new tools and products of tools,
and the capacity for constructing such artifacts is a determining characteristic of
humanlike species. Other lower form of species makes artifacts like the bees’ build
hives to deposit their honey, birds make nests and beavers build dams. But these
attributes are the result of patterns of instinctive behavior and cannot be varied to suit
rapidly changing circumstances. Humanity, in contrast with other species, does not
possess highly developed instinctive reactions but does have the capacity to think
systematically and creatively about techniques. Humans can thus innovate and
consciously modify the environment in a way no other species has achieved. An ape
may on occasion use a stick to beat bananas from a tree, but a man can fashion the
stick into a cutting tool and remove a whole bunch of bananas. Somewhere in the
transition between the two, the hominid, the first manlike species, emerges. By virtue
of his nature as a toolmaker, man is therefore a technologist from the beginning, and
the history of technology encompasses the whole evolution of humankind. In using
rational faculties to devise techniques and modify the environment, humankind has
attacked problems other than those of survival and the production of wealth with which
the term technology is usually associated today. The technique of language, for
example, involves the manipulation of sounds and symbols in a meaningful way, and
similarly, the techniques of artistic and ritual creativity represent other aspects of the
technological incentive. This article does not deal with these cultural and religious
techniques, but it is valuable to establish their relationship at the outset because the
history of technology reveals a profound interaction between the incentives and
opportunities of technological innovation on the one hand and the sociocultural
conditions of the human group within which they occur on the other.

Social involvement in technological advances

The awareness of this interaction is important in surveying the development of

technology through successive civilizations. To simplify the relationship as much as
possible, there are three points at which there must be some social involvement in
technological innovation: social need, social resources and a sympathetic social ethos.
In default of any of these factors it is unlikely that a technological innovation will be
widely adopted or be successful. The sense of social need must be strongly felt, or
people will not be prepared to devote resources to a technological innovation. The
thing needed may be a more efficient cutting tool, a more powerful lifting device, a
labor saving machine, or a means of utilizing new fuels or a new source of energy. Or,
because military needs have always provided a stimulus to technological innovation
as it may take the form of a requirement for better weapons. In modern societies, needs
have been generated by advertising. Whatever the source of social need, it is essential
that enough people be conscious of it to provide a market for an artifact or commodity
that can meet the need.

Social resources are similarly an indispensable prerequisite to a successful

innovation. Many inventions have sunk because the social resources are vital for them
like the capital, materials, and skilled personnel were not available. The notebooks of
Leonardo da Vinci are full of ideas for helicopters, submarines, and airplanes, but few
of these reached even the model stage because resources of one sort or another were
lacking. The resource of capital involves the existence of surplus productivity and an
organization capable of directing the available wealth into channels in which the
inventor can use it. The resource of materials involves the availability of appropriate
metallurgical, ceramic, plastic, or textile substances that can perform whatever
functions a new invention requires of them. The resource of skilled personnel implies
the presence of technicians capable of constructing new artifacts and devising novel
processes. A society, in short, has to be well primed with suitable resources in order
to sustain technological innovation.

A sympathetic social ethos implies an environment receptive to new ideas, one

in which the dominant social groups are prepared to consider innovation seriously.
Such receptivity may be limited to specific fields of innovation just like for example:
improvements in weapons or in navigational techniques or it may take the form of a
more generalized attitude of inquiry, as was the case among the industrial middle
classes in Britain during the 18th century, who were willing to cultivate new ideas and
inventors, the breeders of such ideas. Whatever the psychological basis of inventive
genius, can be no doubt that the existence of socially important groups willing to
encourage inventors and to use their ideas has been a crucial factor in the history of
technology. It is worthwhile, however, to register another explanatory note. This
concerns the rationality of technology. It has already been observed that technology
involves the application of reason to techniques, and in the 20th century it came to be
regarded as almost axiomatic that technology is a rational activity stemming from the
traditions of modern science Nevertheless, it should be observed that technology, in
the sense
in which the term is being used here, is much older than science, and also that
techniques have tended to ossify over centuries of practice or to become diverted into
such para-rational exercises as alchemy. Traditionally, however, the major mode of
transmission has been the movement of artifacts and Craftsmen. Trade in artifacts has
ensured their widespread distribution and encouraged imitation. Even more important,
the migration of craftsmen whether the itinerant metalworkers of early civilizations or
the German rocket engineers whose expert knowledge was acquired by both the
Soviet Union and the United States after
World War II has promoted the spread of new technologies. The evidence for such
processes of technological transmission is a reminder that the material for the study of
the history of technology comes from a variety of sources. Much of it relies, like any
historical examination, on documentary matter, although this is sparse for the early
civilizations because of the general lack of interest in technology on the part of scribes
and chroniclers. For these societies, therefore, and for the many millennia of earlier
unrecorded history in which slow but substantial technological advances were made,
it is necessary to rely heavily upon archaeological evidence. Even in connection with
the recent past, the historical understanding of the processes of rapid industrialization
can be made deeper and more vivid by the study of "industrial archaeology." Much
valuable material of this nature has been accumulated in museums, and even more
remains in the place of its use for the observation of the field worker. The historian of
technology must be prepared to use all these sources, and to call upon the skills of the
archaeologist, the engineer, the architect, and other Specialists as appropriate.
 Diagnostic: Look at the picture: Do you think that there will come a time
in the future that will no longer need human?
An article wrote by William Nelson Joy entitled as “Why the future doesn’t need us?”
stated that technologies-genetics, nanotechnology and robotics- are becoming very
powerful that they can potentially bring about new classes of accidents, threats and
abuses. He further warned that theses dangers are even more pressing because they
do not require large facilities or even rare raw materials-knowledge alone will make
them potentially harmful to humans.

CHAPTER 6. The information Age (Gutenberg to Social media)

Objectives: At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Link learned concepts to the development of the information age and its
impact on society
2. Illustrate how the social media and the information age have impacted our
lives
The Information Age began around the 1970s and is still going on today. It is
also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age. This era brought
about a time period in which people could access information and knowledge easily.
The Renaissance influenced the Information Age by creating the idea inventions, while
too advanced for the time, the basic idea was used to develop modern inventions. The
Renaissance also changed literature. At first, only books that told stories of religion
and religious heroes were written. During the Renaissance, people began to write
realistic books and not just religious stories. People's mindset about themselves
changed. It was no longer about what humans could do for God, but what humans
could do for themselves. This way of thinking is called humanism. The Scientific
Revolution changed the modern era by introducing important scientists such as
Galileo, Copernicus, and Sir Isaac Newton. Their discoveries paved the way for
modern tools, inventions and innovations. The Industrial Revolution brought about
major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology.
This era had a profound effect on the social, economic, and cultural conditions of the
world. Highly modernized, automated, data-driven and technologically advance- these
bests describe our society nowadays, as evidenced by how information could be
transferred or shared quickly. The different areas of society have been influenced
tremendously such as communication, economics, industry, health and the
environment. Despite our gains due to the growing development of information
technology, the rapid upgrade of information also has disadvantages. This lesson will
discuss the history and impact of technological advancements to society. Life is
accompanied by endless transmission of information that takes place within and
outside the human body. According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged
Information is “knowledge communicated or obtained concerning a specific fact or
circumstances.” Hence, Information is a very important tool for survival. The
Information Age is defined as a “period starting in the last quarter of the 20th century
when information became effortlessly accessible through publications and through the
management of information by computers and computer networks. The means of
conveying symbolic information (E.g. writing, mathematics and other codes) among
humans has evolved with increasing speed. According to James R. Messenger who
proposed the theory of Information Age in 1982, “the Information Age is a true new age
based upon the interconnection of computers via telecommunications, with these
information systems operating on both a real-time and as-needed basis. Furthermore,
the primary factors driving this new age forward are convenience and user-friendliness
which, in turn, will create user dependence.” Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Jobs and Bill
Gates are several important people of the Information Age. Berners-Lee created the
World Wide Web(www). Jobs who was created the first effective personal computer
called the Apple 1. The Apple 1 was a huge advancement in computer sciences and it
carved the path for the computers we have now. Apple has created iPhone, iPod, iPad,
iMac, and Apple TV. Gates is also a huge force in the Information Age. He founded
Microsoft, which creates almost everything that has to do with computers. Microsoft
develops programs like Microsoft Office, Windows, and many other influential
products.

1. Drawings in Caves
 38,000 BCE
 Communication
began as drawing.

 It is a painted
drawing on walls or
ceilings mainly of
prehistoric origin.

 The paintings are

remarkably similar
around
the world, with
animals being
common subjects
that give the most
impressive images.
2. Clay Tablets
 2,400 BCE
 In the Ancient Near
East, clay tablets
were used as a
writing medium,
especially for
writing in
cuneiform,
throughout the
Bronze Age and
well into the Iron
Age.

 Cuneiform
characters were
imprinted on a wet
clay tablet with a
stylus often made of
reed (reed pen).

3. A punched card or punch

card is a piece of stiff paper
that can be used to contain
digital information
represented by the
presence or absence of
holes’ in predefined
positions.
4. Johannes Gutenberg,
Printing Press
The first printing press that
changed the world of
printing was invented in the
Holy Roman Empire by the
German Johannes
Gutenberg, based on
existing screw presses.
• But have been
established in 242 cities in
various countries mostly in
Western Europe around
1500 according to the
scholars and considered as
the first medium for the
masses.
• It altered the church,
science, arts, and politics,
accelerating developments
that would see its pinnacle
 in Industrial Revolution of
17th century
5. . Codex
• -300 BCE
• A book constructed of a
number of sheets of paper,
vellum, papyrus, or similar
materials, with hand-
written contents invented
by the Christians. • A
document which can be
rightfully referred as the
prototype of book. It this
time, it was already bound
together for easy reading
and flipping the pages.
6. Papyrus
• -220 BCE
• Papyrus was produced in
Egypt, and in ancient
Greece and Rome. which
was woven from papyrus
plants.
• It transmits ideas,
messages and scriptures
like
for churches activities.
7. Acta Diurna
• 1455
• A daily papyrus
newspaper, the Acta
Diurna (Daily Events), was
distributed in locations in
Rome and around the +
Baths. Its motto was
“Publicize and Propagate.”
Probably the low-grade
saitic or taenotic 8 papyrus
was used for daily
publishing, no doubt one of
the reasons that no scraps
of the Acta Diurna have
ever been found.
8. Doctrina Christiana
• 1684
• The Doctrina Christiana
was an early book on the
Roman Catholic
Catechism, written by Fray
Juan de Plasencia, and is
believed to be one of the
earliest printed books in the
Philippines.
• He derived its name from
the Latin term Doctrina
Christiana meaning the
“teachings of the church”.

9. Telegraph
• 1770
• Telegraphy is the long-
distance transmission of
textual or symbolic (as
opposed to verbal or audio)
messages without the
physical exchange of an
object bearing the
message. Thus,
semaphore is a method of
telegraphy, whereas
pigeon post is not.
• Telegraphy requires that
the method used for
encoding the message be
known to both sender and
receiver.
• A press that had the ability
to conduct dialogue and
even argue with the
government.
• It was triggered by the
imposition of taxes on a
paper by the British empire,
so it could generate the
much- needed revenues to
finance its wars.
• The income of the printers
was severely affected by
this development, so they
openly denounce this
colonial policy of taxation.
10. Typewriter
• 1846
• A typewriter is a
mechanical or electro-
mechanical machine for
writing characters similar to
those produced by printer’s
movable type. A typewriter
operates by means of keys
that strike a ribbon to
transmit ink or carbon
impressions onto paper.
• Typically, a single
character is printed on
each key press. The
machine prints characters
by making ink impressions
of type elements similar to
the sorts used in movable
type letterpress printing.
11. Vitascope
• 1900
• Edison Vitascope was on
public debut in New York,
where it showed a film”
Rough Sea at Dover” by
Robert Paul. 9
• It was such a novelty and
large screen projection
enabled massive
audiences to watch and at
the same time starkly
different practice from the
newspaper that was Helsby
a single reader, and
perhaps, passed on to the
next individual who
expressed interest to read
the current news.
12. Television
➢ 1930
• Television was already
used in magazine called
the” Scientific American “.
• The first telecast of a
television program took
place transmitting from the
experimental studio of
General Electric in New
York.
➢ 1946
 • A much-improved
technology from the
mechanical scanning
introduced earlier.
• A type of phased array
antenna, that is a
computer-controlled array
antenna in which the beam
of radio waves can be
electronically steered to
point in different directions
without moving the
antenna.
• By the 1939, President
Franklin Roosevelt became
the first president to appear
on the tube.
13. Transmitter
• 1946
• James Lindenberg, an
American engineer began
assembling transmitters in
Bolinao, Pangasinan but
he failed at not fully
successful to attempt to
establish a television
station.
14. Transistor Radio
• 1949
• The invention of the
transistor radio signaled
the
development of semi-
conductor devices,
considered
the foundation of modern
electronics, as it led to the
invention of integrated
circuits, a technology that
will
be critical in the
development of the
computer.
15. Packard
• 1969
• Packard Bell is a Dutch-
based computer
manufacturing
subsidiary of Acer. The
brand name originally
belonged to an American
 radio manufacturer,
Packard Bell,
founded by Herbert “Herb”
A. Bell and Leon S.
Packard in 1933. Some
websites use 1926 as the
founding date when
Herbert Bell was an
executive with Jackson Bell
Company, Los Angeles,
California
16. Apple 1
• 1980
• Apple Computer 1, also
known later as the Apple I,
or Apple-1, is a desktop
computer released by the
Apple Computer Company
(now Apple Inc.) in 1976. It
was designed and hand-
built by Steve Wozniak.
Wozniak’s friend Steve
Jobs had the idea of selling
the computer.
17. Laptop
• 1986
• A laptop, often called a
notebook or “notebook
computer”, is a small,
portable personal
computer with a “clamshell”
form factor, an
alphanumeric keyboard on
the lower part of the
“clamshell” and a thin LCD
or LED computer screen on
the upper portion, which is
opened up to use the
computer. Laptops are
folded shut for
transportation, and thus are
suitable for mobile use.
18. Bulletin Board System
• 1993
• A computer running
software that allows uses to
connect and exchange
messages and information
using a terminal program.
• It was started to operate
this time using software
that ran on an IBM XT
Clone PC, with a modem
that ran on 1200 bpm
19. Mosaic Browser
• 1994
• Mosaic, is a discontinued
early web browser. It has
been credited with
popularizing the World
Wide Web. It was also a
client for earlier protocols
such as File Transfer
Protocol, Network News
Transfer Protocol, and
Gopher. The browser was
named for its support of
multiple internet protocols.
Its intuitive interface,
reliability, Windows port
and simple installation all
contributed to its popularity
within the web, as well as
on Microsoft operating
systems.
20. World Wide Web
• 1994
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee
invented the World Wide
Web and finally launched in
the Philippines.
• It is information system on
the Internet that
allows documents to be
connected to other
documents by hypertext
links, enabling the user to
search for information by
moving from one document
to another. • The
Philippines was formally
connected to the internet
using the PLDT network
center in Makati City.
 21. First Smartphone
• 1999
• A refined version was
marketed to consumers in
1994 by BellSouth under
the name Simon Personal
Communicator. The Simon
was the first commercially
available device that could
be properly referred to as a
“smartphone”, although it
was not called that in 1994.

Impacts of the Information Age

The Information Age brought about many new inventions and innovations.
Many communication services like texting, email, and social media developed and the
world has not been the same since. People learn new languages easier and many
books have been translated into different languages, so people around the world can
become more educated. However, the Information Age is not all good. There are
people in the world that believe they can live their entire life through the Internet. Also,
huge criminal organizations rely on hacking into government systems and obtaining
confidential information to continue their way of life. Jobs have also become easier,
and some jobs can even be done from the comfort of your own home. The Information
Age is also known as the Age of Entrepreneurship. Now entrepreneurs can start and
run a company easier than ever before. It also impacts our work ethics by distracting
us and causing us to lose interest in the task we are doing. This time period has also
created a shortage of jobs and making many jobs obsolete because machines are now
being used to do the work humans once did.

How to check the reliability of Web Sources?

The internet contains a vast collection of highly valuable information but it may
also contain unreliable, biased information that mislead people. The following
guidelines can help us check the reliability of web sources that we gather. It is
noteworthy to consider and apply the following guidelines to avoid misinformation.
1. Who is the author of the article/site?
How to find out? ➢ Look for an “About” or “ More about the author” link
at the top, bottom or sidebar of the webpage. Some pages will have a corporate
author rather than a single person as an author. If no information about the
authors of the page is provided, be suspicious
2. Who published the site?
How to find out?
➢ Look at the domain name of the website that will tell you who is
hosting the site. For instance, the Lee College Library website is:
http://www.lee.edu/library. The domain name is “lee.edu.” this tells you that the
library website is hosted by Lee college.
 ➢ Search the domain name at http://www.whois.sc/. The site provides
information about the owners of registered domains names. What is the
organizations main website, if it has one. Is it educational? Commercial? Is it a
reputable organization?
➢ Do not ignore the suffix on the domain name (the three-letter part
that comes after the “.”). the suffix is usually (but not always) descriptive of what
type of entity hosts the website. Keep in mind that it is possible for sites to
obtain suffixes that are misleading. Here are some examples: .edu =
educational . com = commercial .mil = military .gov = government .org =
nonprofit
3. What is the main purpose of the site? Why did the author write it and why did
the publisher post it? To sell a product? As a personal hobby? As a public
service? To further scholarship on a topic? To provide general information on
a topic? To persuade you f a particular point of view.
4. Who is the intended audience?
Scholars or the general public? Which age group is it written for? Is it
aimed at people from a particular geographic area? Is it aimed at members of
a particular profession or with specific training?
5. What is the quality of information provided on the website?
Summary Nowadays, information could be shared or transferred quickly.
People are becoming more interested in sharing information about themselves.
Various aspects of our society are also being influenced by the Information age
especially communication, economics, industry, health and the environment.
The rapid upgrade of information poses both positive and negative impacts t
our society. Therefore, we 13 need to carefully check our motives before
disseminating information and we also need to verify information that could help
improve our lives and others.