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Dec. 6, 2004 According to Merriam Websters Dictionary: Technology: Main Entry: tech·nol·o·gy Pronunciation: -jE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -gies Etymology: Greek technologia systematic treatment of an art, from technE art, skill + -o- + -logia - logy 1 a : the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area : ENGINEERING 2 b : a capability given by the practical application of knowledge 2 : a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge 3 : the specialized aspects of a particular field of endeavor . Most people would think that technology is automatically that of computers, Palm pilots, day planners, internet, GPS and cell phones. This however is part and parcel of high tech and information tech. Technology is just as described, a process of learning and advancement by the application of knowledge. But to which definition is this essay subject. Who would ever really consider the caveman wielding a club as technologically advanced, or the chimpanzee using a stick to get to termites? But it is technology they are using. The use of a tool or something else to advance and get what they want. Technology as we know it is often a shortened and abused subject matter. Too often it’s considered only computers and electronics and things that make our lives easier and cushy. Technology has taken us from our first days as hominids hunting ostrich eggs, then realizing that we can use the empties for water botas, to talking with satellite miles in space. Technology can be considered both a blessing and a curse. It can make our lives easier, and can make us lazier and forgetful. For with every stride forward is a desire to surpass and sometimes forget the past. It is a process that never ends. It almost always repeats its own history. Technology as a whole has come along way. Positive and negative always come with any advancement or discovery. And with it we have new addictions, new paranoia’s, new crimes and new problems. But the advancements at times over ride the detrimental effects of this new techno life. That is providing information, education and companionship through a simple telephone line, was in Marconis' day an unheard of path on the original idea. If we think of technology in our own daily life we would not think that the simple toothbrush as technologically advanced, but it is. We would not think that the newspaper we read as technology, but it is. It is hard to think of these things on a daily item basis, today as technology. But they all are. Everything we do, touch and experience is technology at its finest. We have of course had to expand on this and combine High technology, and information technology. To make this simple idea more complicated. “ If I have seen farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants”, Is the oath of most advancement designers of today. It is because of the technological advances that they had done is years past, we could not have the microchip, silicone implantable nightmare of HG Wells today. And in his eyes technology was a nightmare. Big brother, and automatons, The slow degradation and subsequent lack of needed humans in I Robot is coming too fast for some. IN some eyes technology is replacing the human as work force and as a needed entity. And too we have to wonder about technological strides. How is it we have gone from horse and buggy to total electric cars and hydrogen fuel cars in less time than mans needed to walk upright? How is it we can destroy ourselves with nuclear fission and fusion, and from that same menace create electrical resources when we were just settling the west? Technological advances are too quick in some respects to not have intervention or other help. In just our lifetime we have gone from wood stoves to radiation cooking. A stride that was only someone imagination at the 1932 Worlds Fair. Ideas of clean; white washable living is not so far fetched. Its push button worlds are where we are now. The unfathomable and laughable ideas of talking to someone far away was but an amusement at the 1800s France Worlds Fair. If we look at the advertisements from the early 1900s magazines could we have ever imagined what we have today? Yet, here we are. The grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who thought it was far fetched to wash your clothes in multiple temperatures, and watch images on a television screen and cook with electricity and not wood. Here we are the next generation in 21st century, contemplating life and our own advances. Just thinking of some abilities that technology could take us, such as colonizing Mars Intergalactic travel and manipulated food, yet leave us yearning, at times for a simpler life and simpler times. Technology, as a tool is wonderful. It has given us better quality and quantity of life. Diseases and conditions that were once deadly at a young age are now controllable, in some cases curable and in others maintainable. Had it not been for technology we would not have glucose monitors, kidney dialysis, or cancer treatments. Technology by far, is the best outcome of our own knowledge has given us a longer better life. It has given us advantages and access to education (though in some areas they laugh at the internet as not being real education or information), It has provided us with a safety net, a sense of self, worth and a form of security that has literally never been known before. It has also made us prisoners in our own worlds and homes. And yet with all these buttons, doodads and high tech things and abilities, There is something that technology will never replace, take away or enhance and that is a sense of realism. Regardless of how much we like and enjoy the conveniences of technology, we feel a need to experience things that are real or are old fashioned. These are comforting, and allow us feel a different sense of security. Technology as a whole is neither electronic, nor computerized. It’s not a microwave oven, or the internet It is ourselves. It is our own growing and our own application of knowledge. Our minds and abilities are each individuals own technology. And where these take us, only we as individuals can know and experience its outcome. ------------ About the author: Julia Sherman is now a BA student at SNL@ DePaul University. Working on a New project of making a mummy for a museum exhibit. Her Factoring Diabetes is available at Booklocker.com, and Dollmaking at Lionsong.com. She live son a 30 acre farm, that is slowly being converted in a Haunted Farm for next years Haloween. Email: jimmysdevoted2@bellsouth.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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