1. What is it?
1.1. What I thought
1.1.1. I can't say I ever sat and thought about technology before this course, however, when you hear the word the first thing that comes to mind are devices and more and more ways to use those devices, i.e. the software. The term technology has been defined countless times in countless ways. And there's one that fits well here
1.1.1.1. Technology is anything that was invented after you were born - Alan Kay
1.1.1.1.1. Example
1.2. What the world thinks
1.2.1. If you a random person off the street you'd likely get a response like, "its like smart phones and computers and those gadgets, right?" Well we know thats not the case, so what is technology generally defined to be? "Technology is hard to define and has a meant different things at different times." The term wasn't tossed around until 1952 but technology was been around way before then. The word was first used in 1829 but even before then. Technology was been around since the beginning. Where ever or whenever you decide that beginning was, matters not.
1.2.1.1. "Technology is anything useful invented by a mind." [Kevin Kelly: 2010-02]
1.2.1.2. "Technology is defined as a social system with human actions to employ knowledge for the fulfilment of certain purposes in a particular and reproducible manner." [Yan Zhang: 2020:8]
1.2.1.3. "Technology is messy and complex. It is difficult to define and to understand. In its variety, it is full of contradictions…Yet today most people in the industrialized world reduce technology’s complexity, ignore its contradictions, and see it as little more than gadgets and as a handmaiden of commercial capitalism and the military. Too often, technology is narrowly equated with computers and the Internet" (Hughes: 2004: 1).
1.2.1.4. "Human’s use of technology involves not only machines (e.g., computer hardware) and instruments, but also includes structured relations with other humans, machines, and the environment. In short, technology is more than a collection of machines and devices. To go beyond simplistic intuitions about technology requires investigation of the human mind and socio-cultural environment as well as interactions with technological artifacts" (Isman, 2012, 208)
1.3. What I think now
1.3.1. After some thought combining my experiences and this course material, this is what I came up with; Technology as I see it is just a broad term for advancements. Advancements to the lives of everyone and everything. Whether it is the creation of a new standard or the improvement to existing standards. E.g. fire, before we as humans knew how to control fire we depended on accidental sources of fire. That was the standard. Then a new standard was created, creating and controlling fire intentionally. This marked one of, if not, the most historical accounts of “technology”. This standard drastically improved the lives of human beings. Then that technology, that standard was improved upon, again and again and now we can create and control fire with the push of a button. That button now may be the “advancement of technology” but it is not “technology”.
2. Reference List
2.1. TED Talks. [2010-02-22]. Kevin Kelly tell’s technology’s epic story [video]. Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS1xL1qcBa4&t=445s
2.2. Science Direct, [2020-08]. The map is not the territory: coevolution of technology and institution for a sustainable future. Link, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877343520300725
2.3. The Technology Liberation Front [2014-04-29]. Defining “Technology”. Link, https://techliberation.com/2014/04/29/defining-technology/
2.4. TOJET [2012-04]. TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNIQUE: AN EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVE. Link, http://tojet.net/articles/v11i2/11222.pdf
3. Advancement
3.1. Typical Advancements
3.1.1. Evolution of the telephone
3.1.2. Evolution of computers
3.1.3. Example
3.2. Less thought about advancements
3.2.1. Evolution of light
3.2.2. Evolution of the pen
3.2.3. Evolution of Transportation
3.3. Why?
3.3.1. As we humans grow and evolve, so does our needs. They become more complex, the external environment changes and adapts and thus we need knew technologies to keep up. Here's an example to help paint a picture. Take hunting, you can use a spare to catch your prey but what happens when the prey is too far? Or the prey changes and becomes more fast? Well the spare changed and now you have an arrow and bow. Much more capable to do the job, then that changed into a pistol. Thus, the technology of hunting advanced more and more through the invention of new skills and tools