TECHNOLOGY

Meaning and Concepts

Lecture One
CHAPTER ONE OF PROJECT WORK
 Definition of Technology
 Characterization of
Technology
 Features of Technology
 Phases in Technology
Development
WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?
 In the narrowest sense, technology consists
of manufactured objects like tools (axes,
arrowheads, and their modern equivalents)
and containers (pots, water reservoirs,
buildings).

 Technology is “a system created by humans

that uses knowledge and organization to
produce objects and techniques for the
attainment of specific goals” (Volti, 2009:
6).

 Technology does not occur by chance;

neither does it occur in vacuum. Technology
is created by the intelligent human mind.
TECHNOLOGY AS OBJECTS
 The commonsense view identifies technology with certain
types of objects, such as tools, machines, electronic devices,
consumer products.

 We can characterize technology as made up of these

machines, and classify and study them. For example: There
are active ‘machines’ that produce certain types of motion:
printing press, steam engine, etc. And inactive ‘machines’
such as posts, walls, architectural structures.

 Tools can be seen as extensions of the human body. Clothes

and houses are extensions of our skin and hair, simple tools
extend our hands, electronic media extends our nervous
system, etc.

 Artificial intelligence (AI) could be regarded as an

extension of the human mind.

 In this view, technology is considered as the sum total of

certain types of human-made objects.
TECHNOLOGY AS PROCESS
 Technology as process Another important aspect to
technology are the processes by which these things are
made and used. Engineers tend to focus on making things,
social scientists on using them.
 We can think of technical operations as human activities
carried out in a standardized way and technology itself as
arising as an epiphenomena of these.

 The fundamental process of modern technology is often

identified as the rational pursuit of efficiency. For
example, the production of food goes from an activity
governed by various social or religious sanctions to one
governed by standardized, automated procedures.

 Some argue that if all human action is governed by the

ideal of efficiency, we are in danger of loosing human
freedoms. Others counter that rationality, materialism and
practical creativity can also be paths to human freedom
and fulfillment.
TECHNOLOGY AS KNOWLEDGE
 We may also take technology broadly as a
collection of ways of knowing through
intervening and controlling.

 For example we have sensorimotor skills

(writing on a computer, playing sports), craft-
knowledge or rules of thumb (cooking),
pragmatic laws (if we do A, we will get B),
and theories (computing, aerodymanics Ñ
theory of flight), etc.

 In this view, technology becomes an essential

constituent of human nature – homo sapiens,
“man the knower.” This way of conceiving of
technology gives rise to technological
philosophies: cybernetics, systems theory, etc.

TECHNOLOGY AS VOLITION
 The control of processes depends not only on
knowledge of the system, but also on aims,
intentions, desires, choices.

 It is often assumed that technology is neutral,

value-free, and that it simply responds to some
act of human will. This is the view of
technology as an extension of human will.

 It is also possible, however, to think of

technology as a kind of volition.
TECHNOLOGY AS APPLIED SCIENCE
 A common view, going back the early modern
period (Bacon, Descartes, etc.), is the claim
that technology is the application of scientific
knowledge.

 This view was championed in the early part of

the 20th century and formed the basis for the
establishment of government and industrial
research labs.
CLASSIFICATION OF TECHNOLOGY
Classifying or charactering technology depends on the
functions of technological products. Technology and
its products can be classified as follows:
 Active ‘machines’ that produce certain types of
motion: printing press, steam engine, etc.
 Inactive ‘machines’ such as posts, walls,
architectural structures.
 Tools can be seen as extensions of the human body.
Clothes and houses are extensions of our skin and
hair, simple tools extend our hands, electronic
media extends our nervous system, etc.
 Artificial intelligence (AI) could be regarded as an
extension of the human mind.
CATEGORIZATION OF TECHNOLOGY
From the characterization of technology as indicated
above, technology can be said to be the sum total of
certain types of human-made objects.
 Their purpose is either to enhance human
capabilities (e.g., with a hammer you can apply a
stronger force to an object) or to enable humans to
perform tasks they could not perform otherwise
(with a pot you can transport larger amounts of
water; with your hands you cannot).
 Engineers call such objects “hardware”.
Anthropologists speak of “artifacts”.
FEATURES OF TECHNOLOGY
1. Uncertainty is a basic fact of life, and technology is
no exception.
 The first source of technological uncertainty derives
from the fortunate fact that there always exists a
variety of solutions to perform a particular task.
 It is always uncertain which might be “best”, taking
into account technical criteria, economic criteria,
and social criteria.
 Uncertainty prevails at all stages of technological
evolution, from initial design choices, through
success or failure in the marketplace, to eventual
environmental impacts and spin-off effects.
FEATURES OF TECHNOLOGY
2. Technology is dynamic; it keeps changing all the
time. Change includes a continuous introduction of
new varieties, or “species”, and continuous subsequent
improvements and modifications.
 As a rule, material components of technology
change much faster and more easily than either its
nonmaterial components or society at large.
 The main factors responsible for the dynamism of
technology are:
 Continuous replacement of capital stock as it ages
and economies expand.
 New inventions.
FEATURES OF TECHNOLOGY
3. Technological evolution is systemic. It cannot be
treated as a discrete, isolated event that concerns only
one artifact.

 A new technology needs not only to be invented

Fuel
and designed, but it needs to be produced. This
requires a whole host of other technologies and Mechanical
Roads
infrastructures. A car needs roads and fuel; tools
household appliances need power. Each of them has
its own set of technologies.
Car
 Technologies are interdependent, and this causes
enormous difficulties in implementing large-scale
changes.
FEATURES OF TECHNOLOGY
3. Technological change is cumulative. Changes build
on previous experience and knowledge.
 Only in rare cases is knowledge lost and not
reproducible.

 A new artifact, like a new species, is seldom

designed from “scratch”. (The beginnings of the
space program are a notable exception).

 Hence, technological knowledge and the stock of

technologies in use grow continuously.
PHASES IN TECHNOLOGY
DEVELOPMENT/TERMINOLOGIES
 There are three important phases in technology
development: invention, innovation, and diffusion.

Invention
 Invention is the first demonstration of the principal,
physical feasibility of a proposed new solution.

 An invention is usually related to some empirical or

scientific discovery, frequently measured through
patent applications and statistics.

 However, an invention by itself often offers no hints

about possible applications despite the
technological romanticism surrounding the
inventor’s human ingenuity. Even where
applications are apparent, an invention by itself has
no economic or social significance whatsoever.
PHASES IN TECHNOLOGY
DEVELOPMENT/TERMINOLOGIES
Innovation
 Mensch (1979: 123) defines Innovation as the
point when a “newly discovered material or a
newly developed technique is being put into
regular production for the first time, or when
an organized market for the new product is
first created”.

 Innovation can be “radical”/“basic” or

considered of lesser importance.

 At the moment of innovation proper it is

nearly impossible to guess the ultimate or
potential significance of an innovation.
PHASES IN TECHNOLOGY
DEVELOPMENT/TERMINOLOGIES
Diffusion
 Diffusion is the widespread replication of a
technology and its assimilation in a socioeconomic
setting.

 Diffusion is the final, and sometimes painful, test of

whether an innovation can create a niche of its own
or successfully supplant existing practices and
artifacts.

 Technology assumes significance only through its

application (innovation) and subsequent widespread
replication (diffusion). Otherwise, it remains either
knowledge that is never applied, i.e., an invention
without subsequent innovation, or an isolated
technological curiosity, i.e., an innovation without
subsequent diffusion.
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
Technological Changes that Augment Resources
 The tremendous historical expansion of industrial
production has consumed enormous amount of
natural resources in the form of raw materials and
fuels.
 Technological changes that augment the resource
base have therefore been essential. These include
technologies that facilitate the discovery of new
resource deposits and that improve the accessibility
and recoverability of existing resources;
technologies that represent new resource inputs
altogether; and finally technologies that substitute
for existing material and fuel inputs.
 Technologies that increase efficiency (i.e., enable to
produce more with less inputs) can also be
considered to augment resources, but we will
discuss them separately under the general heading
of productivity.
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
Technological Changes that Diversify Products and
Production
 This is the most familiar impact of technological
change. Just compare the numbers and kinds of
products and technological “gadgets” in nearly
every household in the industrialized world today to
the situation some 100 years ago. Electric lights,
refrigerators, telephones, radio, TV, video,
computers, automobiles, air travel, antibiotics, and
vaccines were all either completely unknown or just
curiosities with no social or economic relevance.
 Technological change has also opened up new
production options. This makes it possible for
production can now draw upon a variety of input
materials, energy sources, etc. to better match
available inputs to production requirements, to
increase product differentiation, and to increase
quality.
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
Technological Changes that Enlarge Markets
(Output)
 Technological change has directly enlarged markets
through successive transport revolutions from the
canals, steam railways and ships of the 19th century
to the road vehicles and aircraft of today.
 Higher transport speeds and falling costs have
reduced the “economic” distance between
production and raw material supplies on the one
hand, and between production and markets on the
other.
 These effects have enabled unprecedented increases
in spatial division of labor through trade and market
growth. Both permit increased economies of scale
and have been important drivers in sustaining ever
increasing output (and consumption) volumes.
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
 Falling costs enable price reductions and expand the
customer base and thus the market. The first
automobiles and fax machines were expensive
gadgets for a few wealthy individuals and
institutions.
 With falling prices, the market for both products
grew as they came within the financial reach of
ordinary consumers.
 Mass consumption enables mass production,
increasing economies of scale, further price
reductions, and yet bigger markets. This positive
feedback mechanism has driven the expansion of
industrial production in domains as diverse as
textiles, porcelain, cars, consumer durables, instant
soups, electricity, and many more. Productivity
improvements reduce production costs.
Technological change also enlarges markets
indirectly through improved productivity.
  
IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
Technological Changes that Enhance Productivity
 Productivity improvements are the key impact of
technological change. Doing more with less is the
central objective applying to all factors of
production: land, labor, energy, and raw materials.

 The sources of these productivity increases are

diverse and defy any simplifying summary. At this
point, the key conclusion is simply that without
such increases the spectacular historical expansion
of human numbers, production and consumption
could never have been sustained.

 It could not have been sustained in terms of

resource availability, in terms of environmental
impacts, or in terms of the economics of production
and consumption.
THE END
See you next week
Bye!