The
use of the term technology has changed significantly over the last 200
years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, and usually
referred to the description or study of the useful arts.[1]
The term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (chartered in 1861).[2]
"Technology" rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection
with the Second
Industrial Revolution. The meanings of technology changed
in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik
into "technology." In German and other European languages, a
distinction exists between Technik and Technologie that is absent
in English, as both terms are usually translated as "technology." By
the 1930s, "technology" referred not to the study of the industrial
arts, but to the industrial arts themselves.[3]
In 1937, the American sociologist Read Bain wrote that "technology
includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing,
clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we
produce and use them."[4]
Bain's definition remains common among scholars today, especially social
scientists. But equally prominent is the definition of technology as applied
science, especially among scientists and engineers, although most social
scientists who study technology reject this definition.[5]
More recently, scholars have borrowed from European philosophers of
"technique" to extend the meaning of technology to various forms of
instrumental reason, as in Foucault's work on technologies
of the self ("techniques de soi").
Dictionaries
and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. The Merriam-Webster
dictionary offers a definition of the term: "the practical application of
knowledge especially in a particular area" and "a capability given by
the practical application of knowledge".[6]
Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 "Real World of Technology" lecture,
gave another definition of the concept; it is "practice, the way we do
things around here".[7]
The term is often used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology
or just consumer electronics, rather than technology as a whole.[8]
Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time, 1, defines technology in two ways: as "the pursuit of
life by means other than life", and as "organized inorganic
matter."[9]
Technology
can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial,
created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to achieve
some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be
used to solve real-world problems. It is a far-reaching term that may include
simple tools, such as a crowbar
or wooden spoon,
or more complex machines, such as a space station
or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material; virtual
technology, such as computer software and business methods, fall under this definition of technology.[10]
The
word "technology" can also be used to refer to a collection of
techniques. In this context, it is the current state of humanity's knowledge of
how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems,
fulfill needs, or satisfy wants; it includes technical methods, skills,
processes, techniques, tools and raw materials. When combined with another
term, such as "medical technology" or "space technology",
it refers to the state of the respective field's knowledge and tools. "State-of-the-art technology" refers to the high technology
available to humanity in any field.
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