Technology

Last updated

A steam turbine with the case opened, an example of energy technology Dampfturbine Montage01.jpg
A steam turbine with the case opened, an example of energy technology

Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge for achieving practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. [1] The word technology can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, [2] [3] including both tangible tools such as utensils or machines, and intangible ones such as software. Technology plays a critical role in science, engineering, and everyday life.

Contents

Technological advancements have led to significant changes in society. The earliest known technology is the stone tool, used during prehistoric times, followed by the control of fire, which contributed to the growth of the human brain and the development of language during the Ice Age. The invention of the wheel in the Bronze Age allowed greater travel and the creation of more complex machines. More recent technological inventions, including the printing press, telephone, and the Internet, have lowered barriers to communication and ushered in the knowledge economy.

While technology contributes to economic development and improves human prosperity, it can also have negative impacts like pollution and resource depletion, and can cause social harms like technological unemployment resulting from automation. As a result, there are ongoing philosophical and political debates about the role and use of technology, the ethics of technology, and ways to mitigate its downsides.

Etymology

Technology is a term dating back to the early 17th century that meant 'systematic treatment' (from Greek Τεχνολογία, from the Greek : τέχνη , romanized: tékhnē, lit. 'craft, art' and -λογία, 'study, knowledge'). [4] [5] It is predated in use by the Ancient Greek word tékhnē , used to mean 'knowledge of how to make things', which encompassed activities like architecture. [6]

Starting in the 19th century, continental Europeans started using the terms Technik (German) or technique (French) to refer to a 'way of doing', which included all technical arts, such as dancing, navigation, or printing, whether or not they required tools or instruments. [7] At the time, Technologie (German and French) referred either to the academic discipline studying the "methods of arts and crafts", or to the political discipline "intended to legislate on the functions of the arts and crafts." [8] Since the distinction between Technik and Technologie is absent in English, both were translated as technology. The term was previously uncommon in English and mostly referred to the academic discipline, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [9]

In the 20th century, as a result of scientific progress and the Second Industrial Revolution, technology stopped being considered a distinct academic discipline and took on its current-day meaning: the systemic use of knowledge to practical ends. [10]

History

Prehistoric

A person holding a hand axe Faustkeil Nachbau, 2020 PD a-7.jpg
A person holding a hand axe

Tools were initially developed by hominids through observation and trial and error. [11] Around 2 Mya (million years ago), they learned to make the first stone tools by hammering flakes off a pebble, forming a sharp hand axe. [12] This practice was refined 75 kya (thousand years ago) into pressure flaking, enabling much finer work. [13]

The discovery of fire was described by Charles Darwin as "possibly the greatest ever made by man". [14] Archaeological, dietary, and social evidence point to "continuous [human] fire-use" at least 1.5 Mya. [15] Fire, fueled with wood and charcoal, allowed early humans to cook their food to increase its digestibility, improving its nutrient value and broadening the number of foods that could be eaten. [16] The cooking hypothesis proposes that the ability to cook promoted an increase in hominid brain size, though some researchers find the evidence inconclusive. [17] Archaeological evidence of hearths was dated to 790 kya; researchers believe this is likely to have intensified human socialization and may have contributed to the emergence of language. [18] [19]

Other technological advances made during the Paleolithic era include clothing and shelter. [20] No consensus exists on the approximate time of adoption of either technology, but archaeologists have found archaeological evidence of clothing 90-120 kya [21] and shelter 450 kya. [20] As the Paleolithic era progressed, dwellings became more sophisticated and more elaborate; as early as 380 kya, humans were constructing temporary wood huts. [22] [23] Clothing, adapted from the fur and hides of hunted animals, helped humanity expand into colder regions; humans began to migrate out of Africa around 200 kya, initially moving to Eurasia. [24] [25] [26]

Neolithic

An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools Neolithique 0001.jpg
An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools

The Neolithic Revolution (or First Agricultural Revolution) brought about an acceleration of technological innovation, and a consequent increase in social complexity. [27] The invention of the polished stone axe was a major advance that allowed large-scale forest clearance and farming. [28] This use of polished stone axes increased greatly in the Neolithic but was originally used in the preceding Mesolithic in some areas such as Ireland. [29] Agriculture fed larger populations, and the transition to sedentism allowed for the simultaneous raising of more children, as infants no longer needed to be carried around by nomads. Additionally, children could contribute labor to the raising of crops more readily than they could participate in hunter-gatherer activities. [30] [31]

With this increase in population and availability of labor came an increase in labor specialization. [32] What triggered the progression from early Neolithic villages to the first cities, such as Uruk, and the first civilizations, such as Sumer, is not specifically known; however, the emergence of increasingly hierarchical social structures and specialized labor, of trade and war amongst adjacent cultures, and the need for collective action to overcome environmental challenges such as irrigation, are all thought to have played a role. [33]

The invention of writing led to the spread of cultural knowledge and became the basis for history, libraries, schools, and scientific research. [34]

Continuing improvements led to the furnace and bellows and provided, for the first time, the ability to smelt and forge gold, copper, silver, and lead native metals found in relatively pure form in nature. [35] The advantages of copper tools over stone, bone and wooden tools were quickly apparent to early humans, and native copper was probably used from near the beginning of Neolithic times (about 10 ka). [36] Native copper does not naturally occur in large amounts, but copper ores are quite common and some of them produce metal easily when burned in wood or charcoal fires. Eventually, the working of metals led to the discovery of alloys such as bronze and brass (about 4,000 BCE). The first use of iron alloys such as steel dates to around 1,800 BCE. [37] [38]

Ancient

Ancient technology
The wheel was invented c. 4,000 BCE. Wheel Iran.jpg
The wheel was invented c.4,000 BCE.

After harnessing fire, humans discovered other forms of energy. The earliest known use of wind power is the sailing ship; the earliest record of a ship under sail is that of a Nile boat dating to around 7,000 BCE. [39] From prehistoric times, Egyptians likely used the power of the annual flooding of the Nile to irrigate their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely built irrigation channels and "catch" basins. [40] The ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia used a complex system of canals and levees to divert water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for irrigation. [41]

Archaeologists estimate that the wheel was invented independently and concurrently in Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq), the Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture), and Central Europe. [42] Time estimates range from 5,500 to 3,000 BCE with most experts putting it closer to 4,000 BCE. [43] The oldest artifacts with drawings depicting wheeled carts date from about 3,500 BCE. [44] More recently, the oldest-known wooden wheel in the world was found in the Ljubljana Marsh of Slovenia. [45]

The invention of the wheel revolutionized trade and war. It did not take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads. The ancient Sumerians used a potter's wheel and may have invented it. [46] A stone pottery wheel found in the city-state of Ur dates to around 3,429 BCE, [47] and even older fragments of wheel-thrown pottery have been found in the same area. [47] Fast (rotary) potters' wheels enabled early mass production of pottery, but it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy (through water wheels, windmills, and even treadmills) that revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources. The first two-wheeled carts were derived from travois [48] and were first used in Mesopotamia and Iran in around 3,000 BCE. [48]

The oldest known constructed roadways are the stone-paved streets of the city-state of Ur, dating to c.4,000 BCE, [49] and timber roads leading through the swamps of Glastonbury, England, dating to around the same period. [49] The first long-distance road, which came into use around 3,500 BCE, [49] spanned 2,400 km from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, [49] but was not paved and was only partially maintained. [49] In around 2,000 BCE, the Minoans on the Greek island of Crete built a 50 km road leading from the palace of Gortyn on the south side of the island, through the mountains, to the palace of Knossos on the north side of the island. [49] Unlike the earlier road, the Minoan road was completely paved. [49]

Photograph of the Pont du Gard in France, one of the most famous ancient Roman aqueducts Pont du Gard BLS.jpg
Photograph of the Pont du Gard in France, one of the most famous ancient Roman aqueducts

Ancient Minoan private homes had running water. [51] A bathtub virtually identical to modern ones was unearthed at the Palace of Knossos. [51] [52] Several Minoan private homes also had toilets, which could be flushed by pouring water down the drain. [51] The ancient Romans had many public flush toilets, [52] which emptied into an extensive sewage system. [52] The primary sewer in Rome was the Cloaca Maxima; [52] construction began on it in the sixth century BCE and it is still in use today. [52]

The ancient Romans also had a complex system of aqueducts, [50] which were used to transport water across long distances. [50] The first Roman aqueduct was built in 312 BCE. [50] The eleventh and final ancient Roman aqueduct was built in 226 CE. [50] Put together, the Roman aqueducts extended over 450 km, [50] but less than 70 km of this was above ground and supported by arches. [50]

Pre-modern

Innovations continued through the Middle Ages with the introduction of silk production (in Asia and later Europe), the horse collar, and horseshoes. Simple machines (such as the lever, the screw, and the pulley) were combined into more complicated tools, such as the wheelbarrow, windmills, and clocks. [53] A system of universities developed and spread scientific ideas and practices, including Oxford and Cambridge. [54]

The Renaissance era produced many innovations, including the introduction of the movable type printing press to Europe, which facilitated the communication of knowledge. Technology became increasingly influenced by science, beginning a cycle of mutual advancement. [55]

Modern

The automobile revolutionized personal transportation. Late model Ford Model T.jpg
The automobile revolutionized personal transportation.

Starting in the United Kingdom in the 18th century, the discovery of steam power set off the Industrial Revolution, which saw wide-ranging technological discoveries, particularly in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing, mining, metallurgy, and transport, and the widespread application of the factory system. [56] This was followed a century later by the Second Industrial Revolution which led to rapid scientific discovery, standardization, and mass production. New technologies were developed, including sewage systems, electricity, light bulbs, electric motors, railroads, automobiles, and airplanes. These technological advances led to significant developments in medicine, chemistry, physics, and engineering. [57] They were accompanied by consequential social change, with the introduction of skyscrapers accompanied by rapid urbanization. [58] Communication improved with the invention of the telegraph, the telephone, the radio, and television. [59]

The 20th century brought a host of innovations. In physics, the discovery of nuclear fission in the Atomic Age led to both nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Computers were invented and later shifted from analog to digital in the Digital Revolution. Information technology, particularly optical fiber and optical amplifiers led to the birth of the Internet, which ushered in the Information Age. The Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, and later the launch of crewed missions to the moon in the 1960s. Organized efforts to search for extraterrestrial intelligence have used radio telescopes to detect signs of technology use, or technosignatures , given off by alien civilizations. In medicine, new technologies were developed for diagnosis (CT, PET, and MRI scanning), treatment (like the dialysis machine, defibrillator, pacemaker, and a wide array of new pharmaceutical drugs), and research (like interferon cloning and DNA microarrays). [60]

Complex manufacturing and construction techniques and organizations are needed to make and maintain more modern technologies, and entire industries have arisen to develop succeeding generations of increasingly more complex tools. Modern technology increasingly relies on training and education – their designers, builders, maintainers, and users often require sophisticated general and specific training. [61] Moreover, these technologies have become so complex that entire fields have developed to support them, including engineering, medicine, and computer science; and other fields have become more complex, such as construction, transportation, and architecture.

Impact

Technological change is the largest cause of long-term economic growth. [62] [63] Throughout human history, energy production was the main constraint on economic development, and new technologies allowed humans to significantly increase the amount of available energy. First came fire, which made edible a wider variety of foods, and made it less physically demanding to digest them. Fire also enabled smelting, and the use of tin, copper, and iron tools, used for hunting or tradesmanship. Then came the agricultural revolution: humans no longer needed to hunt or gather to survive, and began to settle in towns and cities, forming more complex societies, with militaries and more organized forms of religion. [64]

Technologies have contributed to human welfare through increased prosperity, improved comfort and quality of life, and medical progress, but they can also disrupt existing social hierarchies, cause pollution, and harm individuals or groups.

Recent years have brought about a rise in social media's cultural prominence, with potential repercussions on democracy, and economic and social life. Early on, the internet was seen as a "liberation technology" that would democratize knowledge, improve access to education, and promote democracy. Modern research has turned to investigate the internet's downsides, including disinformation, polarization, hate speech, and propaganda. [65]

Since the 1970s, technology's impact on the environment has been criticized, leading to a surge in investment in solar, wind, and other forms of clean energy.

Social

Jobs

Since the invention of the wheel, technologies have helped increase humans' economic output. Past automation has both substituted and complemented labor; machines replaced humans at some lower-paying jobs (for example in agriculture), but this was compensated by the creation of new, higher-paying jobs. [66] Studies have found that computers did not create significant net technological unemployment. [67] Due to artificial intelligence being far more capable than computers, and still being in its infancy, it is not known whether it will follow the same trend; the question has been debated at length among economists and policymakers. A 2017 survey found no clear consensus among economists on whether AI would increase long-term unemployment. [68] According to the World Economic Forum's "The Future of Jobs Report 2020", AI is predicted to replace 85 million jobs worldwide, and create 97 million new jobs by 2025. [69] [70] From 1990 to 2007, a study in the U.S by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu showed that an addition of one robot for every 1,000 workers decreased the employment-to-population ratio by 0.2%, or about 3.3 workers, and lowered wages by 0.42%. [71] [72] Concerns about technology replacing human labor however are long-lasting. As US president Lyndon Johnson said in 1964, "Technology is creating both new opportunities and new obligations for us, opportunity for greater productivity and progress; obligation to be sure that no workingman, no family must pay an unjust price for progress." upon signing the National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress bill. [73] [74] [75] [76] [77]

Security

With the growing reliance of technology, there have been security and privacy concerns along with it. Billions of people use different online payment methods, such as WeChat Pay, PayPal, Alipay, and much more to help transfer money. Although security measures are placed, some criminals are able to bypass them. [78] In March 2022, North Korea used Blender.io, a mixer which helped them to hide their cryptocurrency exchanges, to launder over $20.5 million in cryptocurrency, from Axie Infinity, and steal over $600 million worth of cryptocurrency from the game's owner. Because of this, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Blender.io, which marked the first time it has taken action against a mixer, to try and crack down on North Korean hackers. [79] [80] The privacy of cryptocurrency has been debated. Although many customers like the privacy of cryptocurrency, many also argue that it needs more transparency and stability. [78]

Environmental

Technology has impacted the world with negative and positive environmental impacts, which are usually the reverse of the initial damage, such as; the creation of pollution and the attempt to undo said pollution, [81] deforestation and the reversing of deforestation, [82] and oil spills. All of these have had a significant impact on the environment of the earth. As technology has advanced, so has the negative environmental impact, with the releasing of greenhouse gases, like methane and carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere, causing the greenhouse effect, gradually heating the earth and causing global warming. All of this has become worse with the advancement of technology. [83]

Pollution

Pollution, the presence of contaminants in an environment that causes adverse effects, could have been present as early as the Inca empire. They used a lead sulfide flux in the smelting of ores, along with the use of a wind-drafted clay kiln, which released lead into the atmosphere and the sediment of rivers. [84]

Philosophy

Philosophy of technology is a branch of philosophy that studies the "practice of designing and creating artifacts", and the "nature of the things so created." [85] It emerged as a discipline over the past two centuries, and has grown "considerably" since the 1970s. [86] The humanities philosophy of technology is concerned with the "meaning of technology for, and its impact on, society and culture". [85]

Initially, technology was seen as an extension of the human organism that replicated or amplified bodily and mental faculties. [87] Marx framed it as a tool used by capitalists to oppress the proletariat, but believed that technology would be a fundamentally liberating force once it was "freed from societal deformations". Second-wave philosophers like Ortega later shifted their focus from economics and politics to "daily life and living in a techno-material culture", arguing that technology could oppress "even the members of the bourgeoisie who were its ostensible masters and possessors." Third-stage philosophers like Don Ihde and Albert Borgmann represent a turn toward de-generalization and empiricism, and considered how humans can learn to live with technology. [86] [ page needed ]

Early scholarship on technology was split between two arguments: technological determinism, and social construction. Technological determinism is the idea that technologies cause unavoidable social changes. [88] :95 It usually encompasses a related argument, technological autonomy, which asserts that technological progress follows a natural progression and cannot be prevented. [89] Social constructivists[ who? ] argue that technologies follow no natural progression, and are shaped by cultural values, laws, politics, and economic incentives. Modern scholarship has shifted towards an analysis of sociotechnical systems, "assemblages of things, people, practices, and meanings", looking at the value judgments that shape technology. [88] [ page needed ]

Cultural critic Neil Postman distinguished tool-using societies from technological societies and from what he called "technopolies", societies that are dominated by an ideology of technological and scientific progress to the detriment of other cultural practices, values, and world views. [90] Herbert Marcuse and John Zerzan suggest that technological society will inevitably deprive us of our freedom and psychological health. [91]

Ethics

The ethics of technology is an interdisciplinary subfield of ethics that analyzes technology's ethical implications and explores ways to mitigate the potential negative impacts of new technologies. There is a broad range of ethical issues revolving around technology, from specific areas of focus affecting professionals working with technology to broader social, ethical, and legal issues concerning the role of technology in society and everyday life. [92]

Prominent debates have surrounded genetically modified organisms, the use of robotic soldiers, algorithmic bias, and the issue of aligning AI behavior with human values. [93]

Technology ethics encompasses several key fields. Bioethics looks at ethical issues surrounding biotechnologies and modern medicine, including cloning, human genetic engineering, and stem cell research. Computer ethics focuses on issues related to computing. Cyberethics explores internet-related issues like intellectual property rights, privacy, and censorship. Nanoethics examines issues surrounding the alteration of matter at the atomic and molecular level in various disciplines including computer science, engineering, and biology. And engineering ethics deals with the professional standards of engineers, including software engineers and their moral responsibilities to the public. [94]

A wide branch of technology ethics is concerned with the ethics of artificial intelligence: it includes robot ethics, which deals with ethical issues involved in the design, construction, use, and treatment of robots, [95] as well as machine ethics, which is concerned with ensuring the ethical behavior of artificially intelligent agents. [96] Within the field of AI ethics, significant yet-unsolved research problems include AI alignment (ensuring that AI behaviors are aligned with their creators' intended goals and interests) and the reduction of algorithmic bias. Some researchers have warned against the hypothetical risk of an AI takeover, and have advocated for the use of AI capability control in addition to AI alignment methods.

Other fields of ethics have had to contend with technology-related issues, including military ethics, media ethics, and educational ethics.

Futures studies

Futures studies is the systematic and interdisciplinary study of social and technological progress. It aims to quantitatively and qualitatively explore the range of plausible futures and to incorporate human values in the development of new technologies. [97] :54 More generally, futures researchers are interested in improving "the freedom and welfare of humankind". [97] :73 It relies on a thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis of past and present technological trends, and attempts to rigorously extrapolate them into the future. [97] Science fiction is often used as a source of ideas. [97] :173 Futures research methodologies include survey research, modeling, statistical analysis, and computer simulations. [97] :187

Existential risk

Existential risk researchers analyze risks that could lead to human extinction or civilizational collapse, and look for ways to build resilience against them. [98] [99] Relevant research centers include the Cambridge Center for the Study of Existential Risk, and the Stanford Existential Risk Initiative. [100] Future technologies may contribute to the risks of artificial general intelligence, biological warfare, nuclear warfare, nanotechnology, anthropogenic climate change, global warming, or stable global totalitarianism, though technologies may also help us mitigate asteroid impacts and gamma-ray bursts. [101] In 2019 philosopher Nick Bostrom introduced the notion of a vulnerable world, "one in which there is some level of technological development at which civilization almost certainly gets devastated by default", citing the risks of a pandemic caused by bioterrorists, or an arms race triggered by the development of novel armaments and the loss of mutual assured destruction. [102] He invites policymakers to question the assumptions that technological progress is always beneficial, that scientific openness is always preferable, or that they can afford to wait until a dangerous technology has been invented before they prepare mitigations. [102]

Emerging technologies

Experimental 3D printing of muscle tissue Army invests in 3-D bioprinting to treat injured Soldiers.jpg
Experimental 3D printing of muscle tissue

Emerging technologies are novel technologies whose development or practical applications are still largely unrealized. They include nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics, 3D printing, blockchains, and artificial intelligence.

In 2005, futurist Ray Kurzweil claimed the next technological revolution would rest upon advances in genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics, with robotics being the most impactful of the three technologies. [103] Genetic engineering will allow far greater control over human biological nature through a process called directed evolution. Some thinkers believe that this may shatter our sense of self, and have urged for renewed public debate exploring the issue more thoroughly; [104] others fear that directed evolution could lead to eugenics or extreme social inequality. Nanotechnology will grant us the ability to manipulate matter "at the molecular and atomic scale", [105] which could allow us to reshape ourselves and our environment in fundamental ways. [106] Nanobots could be used within the human body to destroy cancer cells or form new body parts, blurring the line between biology and technology. [107] Autonomous robots have undergone rapid progress, and are expected to replace humans at many dangerous tasks, including search and rescue, bomb disposal, firefighting, and war. [108]

Estimates on the advent of artificial general intelligence vary, but half of machine learning experts surveyed in 2018 believe that AI will "accomplish every task better and more cheaply" than humans by 2063, and automate all human jobs by 2140. [109] This expected technological unemployment has led to calls for increased emphasis on computer science education and debates about universal basic income. Political science experts predict that this could lead to a rise in extremism, while others see it as an opportunity to usher in a post-scarcity economy.

Movements

Appropriate technology

Some segments of the 1960s hippie counterculture grew to dislike urban living and developed a preference for locally autonomous, sustainable, and decentralized technology, termed appropriate technology. This later influenced hacker culture and technopaganism.

Technological utopianism

Technological utopianism refers to the belief that technological development is a moral good, which can and should bring about a utopia, that is, a society in which laws, governments, and social conditions serve the needs of all its citizens. [110] Examples of techno-utopian goals include post-scarcity economics, life extension, mind uploading, cryonics, and the creation of artificial superintelligence. Major techno-utopian movements include transhumanism and singularitarianism.

The transhumanism movement is founded upon the "continued evolution of human life beyond its current human form" through science and technology, informed by "life-promoting principles and values." [111] The movement gained wider popularity in the early 21st century. [112]


Singularitarians believe that machine superintelligence will "accelerate technological progress" by orders of magnitude and "create even more intelligent entities ever faster", which may lead to a pace of societal and technological change that is "incomprehensible" to us. This event horizon is known as the technological singularity. [113]

Major figures of techno-utopianism include Ray Kurzweil and Nick Bostrom. Techno-utopianism has attracted both praise and criticism from progressive, religious, and conservative thinkers. [114]

Anti-technology backlash

Technology's central role in our lives has drawn concerns and backlash. The backlash against technology is not a uniform movement and encompasses many heterogeneous ideologies. [115]

The earliest known revolt against technology was Luddism, a pushback against early automation in textile production. Automation had resulted in a need for fewer workers, a process known as technological unemployment.

Between the 1970s and 1990s, American terrorist Ted Kaczynski carried out a series of bombings across America and published the Unabomber Manifesto denouncing technology's negative impacts on nature and human freedom. The essay resonated with a large part of the American public. [116] It was partly inspired by Jacques Ellul's The Technological Society . [117]

Some subcultures, like the off-the-grid movement, advocate a withdrawal from technology and a return to nature. The ecovillage movement seeks to reestablish harmony between technology and nature. [118]

Relation to science and engineering

Antoine Lavoisier experimenting with combustion generated by amplified sunlight Zoom lunette ardente.jpg
Antoine Lavoisier experimenting with combustion generated by amplified sunlight

Engineering is the process by which technology is developed. It often requires problem-solving under strict constraints. [119] Technological development is "action-oriented", while scientific knowledge is fundamentally explanatory. [120] Polish philosopher Henryk Skolimowski framed it like so: "science concerns itself with what is, technology with what is to be." [121] :375

The direction of causality between scientific discovery and technological innovation has been debated by scientists, philosophers and policymakers. [122] Because innovation is often undertaken at the edge of scientific knowledge, most technologies are not derived from scientific knowledge, but instead from engineering, tinkering and chance. [123] :217–240 For example, in the 1940s and 1950s, when knowledge of turbulent combustion or fluid dynamics was still crude, jet engines were invented through "running the device to destruction, analyzing what broke [...] and repeating the process". [119] Scientific explanations often follow technological developments rather than preceding them. [123] :217–240 Many discoveries also arose from pure chance, like the discovery of penicillin as a result of accidental lab contamination. [124] Since the 1960s, the assumption that government funding of basic research would lead to the discovery of marketable technologies has lost credibility. [125] [126] Probabilist Nassim Taleb argues that national research programs that implement the notions of serendipity and convexity through frequent trial and error are more likely to lead to useful innovations than research that aims to reach specific outcomes. [123] [127]

Despite this, modern technology is increasingly reliant on deep, domain-specific scientific knowledge. In 1975, there was an average of one citation of scientific literature in every three patents granted in the U.S.; by 1989, this increased to an average of one citation per patent. The average was skewed upwards by patents related to the pharmaceutical industry, chemistry, and electronics. [128] A 2021 analysis shows that patents that are based on scientific discoveries are on average 26% more valuable than equivalent non-science-based patents. [129]

Other animal species

This adult gorilla uses a branch as a walking stick to gauge the water's depth. Gorilla tool use cropped.jpg
This adult gorilla uses a branch as a walking stick to gauge the water's depth.

The use of basic technology is also a feature of non-human animal species. Tool use was once considered a defining characteristic of the genus Homo. [130] This view was supplanted after discovering evidence of tool use among chimpanzees and other primates, [131] dolphins, [132] and crows. [133] [134] For example, researchers have observed wild chimpanzees using basic foraging tools, pestles, levers, using leaves as sponges, and tree bark or vines as probes to fish termites. [135] West African chimpanzees use stone hammers and anvils for cracking nuts, [136] as do capuchin monkeys of Boa Vista, Brazil. [137] Tool use is not the only form of animal technology use; for example, beaver dams, built with wooden sticks or large stones, are a technology with "dramatic" impacts on river habitats and ecosystems. [138]

The relationship of humanity with technology has been explored in science-fiction literature, for example in Brave New World , A Clockwork Orange , Nineteen Eighty-Four , Isaac Asimov's essays, and movies like Minority Report , Total Recall , Gattaca , and Inception . It has spawned the dystopian and futuristic cyberpunk genre, which juxtaposes futuristic technology with societal collapse, dystopia or decay. [139] Notable cyberpunk works include William Gibson's Neuromancer novel, and movies like Blade Runner , and The Matrix .

See also

Related Research Articles

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence of machines or software, as opposed to the intelligence of living beings, primarily of humans. It is a field of study in computer science that develops and studies intelligent machines. Such machines may be called AIs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanoid robot</span> Body shape similar to a human

A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other purposes. In general, humanoid robots have a torso, a head, two arms, and two legs, though some humanoid robots may replicate only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots also have heads designed to replicate human facial features such as eyes and mouths. Androids are humanoid robots built to aesthetically resemble humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Innovation</span> Practical implementation of improvements

Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity, realizing or redistributing value". Others have different definitions; a common element in the definitions is a focus on newness, improvement, and spread of ideas or technologies.

Robopsychology is the study of the personalities and behavior of intelligent machines. The term was coined by Isaac Asimov in the short stories collected in I, Robot, which featured robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin, and whose plots largely revolved around the protagonist solving problems connected with intelligent robot behaviour. The term has been also used in some academic studies from the field of psychology and human–computer interactions, and it refers to the study of the psychological consequences of living in societies where the application of robotics is becoming increasingly common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science and technology studies</span> Academic field

Science and technology studies (STS) or science, technology, and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social robot</span>

A social robot is an autonomous robot that interacts and communicates with humans or other autonomous physical agents by following social behaviors and rules attached to its role. Like other robots, a social robot is physically embodied Some synthetic social agents are designed with a screen to represent the head or 'face' to dynamically communicate with users. In these cases, the status as a social robot depends on the form of the 'body' of the social agent; if the body has and uses some physical motors and sensor abilities, then the system could be considered a robot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human</span> Species of hominid in the genus Homo

Humans or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus Homo. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligence. Humans have large brains, enabling more advanced cognitive skills that enable them to thrive and adapt in varied environments, develop highly complex tools, and form complex social structures and civilizations. Humans are highly social, with individual humans tending to belong to a multi-layered network of cooperating, distinct, or even competing social groups – from families and peer groups to corporations and political states. As such, social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, languages, and traditions, each of which bolsters human society. Humans are also highly curious: the desire to understand and influence phenomena has motivated humanity's development of science, technology, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other frameworks of knowledge; humans also study themselves through such domains as anthropology, social science, history, psychology, and medicine. As of March 2024, there are estimated to be more than 8 billion humans alive.

The ethics of technology is a sub-field of ethics addressing the ethical questions specific to the Technology Age, the transitional shift in society wherein personal computers and subsequent devices provide for the quick and easy transfer of information. Technology ethics is the application of ethical thinking to the growing concerns of technology as new technologies continue to rise in prominence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AI takeover</span> Hypothetical artificial intelligence scenario

An AI takeover is a scenario in which artificial intelligence (AI) becomes the dominant form of intelligence on Earth, as computer programs or robots effectively take control of the planet away from the human species. Possible scenarios include replacement of the entire human workforce due to automation, takeover by a superintelligent AI, and the popular notion of a robot uprising. Stories of AI takeovers are very popular throughout science fiction. Some public figures, such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, have advocated research into precautionary measures to ensure future superintelligent machines remain under human control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social responsibility</span> Ethical framework

Social responsibility is an ethical framework in which a person works and cooperates with other people and organizations for the benefit of the community.

Emerging technologies are technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized. These technologies are generally new but also include older technologies finding new applications. Emerging technologies are often perceived as capable of changing the status quo.

Robot ethics, sometimes known as "roboethics", concerns ethical problems that occur with robots, such as whether robots pose a threat to humans in the long or short run, whether some uses of robots are problematic, and how robots should be designed such that they act 'ethically'. Alternatively, roboethics refers specifically to the ethics of human behavior towards robots, as robots become increasingly advanced. Robot ethics is a sub-field of ethics of technology, specifically information technology, and it has close links to legal as well as socio-economic concerns. Researchers from diverse areas are beginning to tackle ethical questions about creating robotic technology and implementing it in societies, in a way that will still ensure the safety of the human race.

The ethics of artificial intelligence is the branch of the ethics of technology specific to artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The ethics of artificial intelligence covers a broad range of topics within the field that are considered to have particular ethical stakes. This includes algorithmic biases, fairness, automated decision-making, accountability, privacy, and regulation. It also covers various emerging or potential future challenges such as machine ethics, lethal autonomous weapon systems, arms race dynamics, AI safety and alignment, technological unemployment, AI-enabled misinformation, how to treat certain AI systems if they have a moral status, artificial superintelligence and existential risks. Some application areas may also have particularly important ethical implications, like healthcare, education, or the military.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in applications throughout industry and academia. Similar to electricity or computers, AI serves as a general-purpose technology that has numerous applications. Its applications span language translation, image recognition, credit scoring, e-commerce and various other domains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyborg</span> Being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts

A cyborg —a portmanteau of cybernetic and organism—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline. In contrast to biorobots and androids, the term cyborg applies to a living organism that has restored function or enhanced abilities due to the integration of some artificial component or technology that relies on feedback.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robotics</span> Design, construction, use, and application of robots

Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots.

Machine ethics is a part of the ethics of artificial intelligence concerned with adding or ensuring moral behaviors of man-made machines that use artificial intelligence, otherwise known as artificial intelligent agents. Machine ethics differs from other ethical fields related to engineering and technology. Machine ethics should not be confused with computer ethics, which focuses on human use of computers. It should also be distinguished from the philosophy of technology, which concerns itself with the grander social effects of technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyborg anthropology</span>

Cyborg anthropology is a discipline that studies the interaction between humanity and technology from an anthropological perspective. The discipline offers novel insights on new technological advances and their effect on culture and society.

Google Brain was a deep learning artificial intelligence research team under the umbrella of Google AI, a research division at Google dedicated to artificial intelligence. Formed in 2011, Google Brain combined open-ended machine learning research with information systems and large-scale computing resources. The team has created tools such as TensorFlow, which allow for neural networks to be used by the public, with multiple internal AI research projects. The team aims to create research opportunities in machine learning and natural language processing. The team was merged into former Google sister company DeepMind to form Google DeepMind in April 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Coeckelbergh</span> Belgian philosopher of technology

Mark Coeckelbergh is a Belgian philosopher of technology. He is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Vienna and former President of the Society for Philosophy and Technology. He was previously Professor of Technology and Social Responsibility at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, Managing Director of the 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology, and a member of the Philosophy Department of the University of Twente. Before moving to Austria, he has lived and worked in Belgium, the UK, and the Netherlands. He is the author of several books, including Growing Moral Relations (2012), Human Being @ Risk (2013), Environmental Skill (2015), Money Machines (2015), New Romantic Cyborgs (2017), Moved by Machines (2019), the textbook Introduction to Philosophy of Technology (2019), and AI Ethics (2020). He has written many articles and is an expert in ethics of artificial intelligence. He is best known for his work in philosophy of technology and ethics of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), he has also published in the areas of moral philosophy and environmental philosophy.

References

Citations

  1. Skolnikoff, Eugene B. (1993). "The Setting". The Elusive Transformation: Science, Technology, and the Evolution of International Politics. Princeton University Press. p. 13. ISBN   0-691-08631-1. JSTOR   j.ctt7rpm1. LCCN   92022141. OCLC   26128186. I find the most useful conceptual definition for this study to be that given by Harvey Brooks, who has defined technology ... as 'knowledge of how to fulfill certain human purposes in a specifiable and reproducible way.'
  2. Salomon 1984 , pp. 117–118: "The first pole, that of the naturalisation of a new discipline within the university curriculum, was presented by Christian Wolff in 1728, in Chapter III of the "Preliminary discourse" to his Philosophia rationalisis sive Logica: 'Technology is the science of skills and works of skill, or, if one prefers, the science of things made by man's labour, chiefly through the use of his hands.'"
  3. Mitcham, Carl (1994). Thinking Through Technology: The Path Between Engineering and Philosophy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN   0-226-53196-1. LCCN   93044581. OCLC   29518988.
  4. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1996) [1891]. Greek-English Lexicon (Abridged ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-910205-8. OCLC   38307662.
  5. Simpson, J.; Weiner, Edmund, eds. (1989). "technology". The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0198611868.
  6. Aristotle (2009). Brown, Lesley (ed.). The Nicomachean Ethics. Oxford World's Classics. Translated by Ross, David. Oxford University Press. p. 105. ISBN   978-0-19-921361-0. LCCN   2009005379. OCLC   246896490.
  7. Salomon 1984, pp. 114–115.
  8. Salomon 1984, p. 117.
  9. Schatzberg, Eric (2006). ""Technik" Comes to America: Changing Meanings of "Technology" before 1930". Technology and Culture. 47 (3): 486–512. doi:10.1353/tech.2006.0201. ISSN   0040-165X. JSTOR   40061169. S2CID   143784033. Archived from the original on 10 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  10. Salomon 1984 , p. 119: "With the industrial revolution and the important part England played in it, the word technology was to lose this meaning as the subject or thrust of a branch of education, as first in English and then in other languages it embodied all technical activity based on the application of science to practical ends."
  11. Schiffer, M. B. (2013). "Discovery Processes: Trial Models". The Archaeology of Science. Manuals in Archaeological Method, Theory and Technique. Vol. 9. Heidelberg: Springer International Publishing. pp. 185–198. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-00077-0_13. ISBN   978-3319000770. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  12. The British Museum. "Our earliest technology?". smarthistory.org. Archived from the original on 2 September 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  13. Minogue, K. (28 October 2010). "Stone Age Toolmakers Surprisingly Sophisticated". science.org. Archived from the original on 10 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  14. Crump, Thomas (2001). A Brief History of Science. Constable & Robinson. p. 9. ISBN   978-1841192352.
  15. Gowlett, J. A. J.; Wrangham, R. W. (1 March 2013). "Earliest fire in Africa: towards the convergence of archaeological evidence and the cooking hypothesis". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 48 (1): 5–30. doi:10.1080/0067270X.2012.756754. ISSN   0067-270X. S2CID   163033909.
  16. Stahl, Ann B. (1984). "Hominid dietary selection before fire". Current Anthropology . 25 (2): 151–68. doi:10.1086/203106. JSTOR   2742818. S2CID   84337150.
  17. Wrangham, R. (1 August 2017). "Control of Fire in the Paleolithic: Evaluating the Cooking Hypothesis". Current Anthropology. 58 (S16): S303–S313. doi:10.1086/692113. ISSN   0011-3204. S2CID   148798286. Archived from the original on 10 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  18. Dunbar, R. I. M.; Gamble, C.; Gowlett, J. A. J., eds. (2014). Lucy to Language: the Benchmark Papers. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0199652594. OCLC   1124046527. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  19. Wade, Nicholas (15 July 2003). "Early Voices: The Leap to Language". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  20. 1 2 Shaar, Ron; Matmon, Ari; Horwitz, Liora K.; Ebert, Yael; Chazan, Michael; Arnold, M.; Aumaître, G.; Bourlès, D.; Keddadouche, K. (1 May 2021). "Magnetostratigraphy and cosmogenic dating of Wonderwerk Cave: New constraints for the chronology of the South African Earlier Stone Age". Quaternary Science Reviews. 259: 106907. Bibcode:2021QSRv..25906907S. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106907. ISSN   0277-3791. S2CID   234833092.
  21. Hallett, Emily Y.; Marean, Curtis W.; Steele, Teresa E.; Álvarez-Fernández, Esteban; Jacobs, Zenobia; Cerasoni, Jacopo Niccolò; Aldeias, Vera; Scerri, Eleanor M. L.; Olszewski, Deborah I.; Hajraoui, Mohamed Abdeljalil El; Dibble, Harold L. (24 September 2021). "A worked bone assemblage from 120,000–90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco". iScience. 24 (9): 102988. Bibcode:2021iSci...24j2988H. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102988. ISSN   2589-0042. PMC   8478944 . PMID   34622180.
  22. O'Neil, Dennis. "Evolution of Modern Humans: Archaic Homo sapiens Culture". Palomar College. Archived from the original on 4 April 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  23. Villa, Paola (1983). Terra Amata and the Middle Pleistocene archaeological record of southern France. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 303. ISBN   978-0520096622.
  24. Cordaux, Richard; Stoneking, Mark (2003). "South Asia, the Andamanese, and the Genetic Evidence for an 'Early' Human Dispersal out of Africa" (PDF). American Journal of Human Genetics . 72 (6): 1586–1590, author reply 1590–93. doi:10.1086/375407. PMC   1180321 . PMID   12817589. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 October 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2007.
  25. "'Oldest remains' outside Africa reset human migration clock". phys.org. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  26. Harvati, Katerina; Röding, Carolin; Bosman, Abel M.; Karakostis, Fotios A.; Grün, Rainer; Stringer, Chris; Karkanas, Panagiotis; Thompson, Nicholas C.; Koutoulidis, Vassilis; Moulopoulos, Lia A.; Gorgoulis, Vassilis G.; Kouloukoussa, Mirsini (2019). "Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia". Nature. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. 571 (7766): 500–504. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   31292546. S2CID   195873640. Archived from the original on 1 August 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  27. Kuijt, i., ed. (2002). Life in Neolithic Farming Communities: Social Organization, Identity, and Differentiation. Fundamental Issues in Archaeology. Springer New York. ISBN   9780306471667. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  28. Coghlan, H. H. (1943). "The Evolution of the Axe from Prehistoric to Roman Times". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 73 (1/2): 27–56. doi:10.2307/2844356. ISSN   0307-3114. JSTOR   2844356. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  29. Driscoll, Killian (2006). The early prehistory in the west of Ireland: Investigations into the social archaeology of the Mesolithic, west of the Shannon, Ireland. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  30. University of Chicago Press Journals (4 January 2006). "The First Baby Boom: Skeletal Evidence Shows Abrupt Worldwide Increase In Birth Rate During Neolithic Period". ScienceDaily. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  31. Sussman, Robert W.; Hall, Roberta L. (April 1972). "Child Transport, Family Size, and Increase in Human Population During the Neolithic". Current Anthropology . 13 (2): 258–267. doi:10.1086/201274. JSTOR   2740977. S2CID   143449170.
  32. Ferraro, Gary P. (2006). Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective. The Thomson Corporation. ISBN   978-0495030393. Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  33. Patterson, Gordon M. (1992). The Essentials of Ancient History. Research & Education Association. ISBN   978-0878917044. Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  34. Goody, J. (1986). The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society. Cambridge University Press.
  35. Cramb, Alan W (1964). "A Short History of Metals". Nature. 203 (4943): 337. Bibcode:1964Natur.203Q.337T. doi: 10.1038/203337a0 . S2CID   382712.
  36. Hall, Harry Reginald Holland (1911). "Ceramics"  . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 05 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 703–760, see page 708. The art of making a pottery consisting of a siliceous sandy body coated with a vitreous copper glaze seems to have been known unexpectedly early, possibly even as early as the period immediately preceding the Ist Dynasty (4000 B.C.).
  37. Akanuma, Hideo. "The significance of the composition of excavated iron fragments taken from Stratum III at the site of Kaman-Kalehöyük, Turkey". Anatolian Archaeological Studies. Tokyo: Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology. 14.
  38. "Ironware piece unearthed from Turkey found to be oldest steel". The Hindu. 26 March 2009. Archived from the original on 29 March 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  39. Usai, Donatella; Salvatori, Sandro. "The oldest representation of a Nile boat". Antiquity. 81.
  40. Postel, Sandra (1999). "Egypt's Nile Valley Basin Irrigation". Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last?. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN   978-0393319378. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  41. Crawford, Harriet (2013). The Sumerian World. New York & London: Routledge. pp. 34–43. ISBN   978-0203096604. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  42. Potts, D.T. (2012). A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. p. 285.
  43. Childe, V. Gordon (1928). New Light on the Most Ancient East. p. 110.
  44. Anthony, David A. (2007). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 67. ISBN   978-0691058870.
  45. Gasser, Aleksander (March 2003). "World's Oldest Wheel Found in Slovenia". Republic of Slovenia Government Communication Office. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  46. Kramer, Samuel Noah (1963). The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 290. ISBN   978-0226452388. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  47. 1 2 Moorey, Peter Roger Stuart (1999) [1994]. Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: The Archaeological Evidence. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. p. 146. ISBN   978-1575060422. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  48. 1 2 Lay, M G (1992). Ways of the World. Sydney: Primavera Press. p. 28. ISBN   978-1875368051.
  49. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gregersen, Erik (2012). The Complete History of Wheeled Transportation: From Cars and Trucks to Buses and Bikes. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing. p. 130. ISBN   978-1615307012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  50. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Aicher, Peter J. (1995). Guide to the Aqueducts of Ancient Rome. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc. p. 6. ISBN   978-0865162822. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  51. 1 2 3 Eslamian, Saeid (2014). Handbook of Engineering Hydrology: Environmental Hydrology and Water Management. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. pp. 171–175. ISBN   978-1466552500. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  52. 1 2 3 4 5 Lechner, Norbert (2012). Plumbing, Electricity, Acoustics: Sustainable Design Methods for Architecture. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 106. ISBN   978-1118014752. Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  53. Davids, K.; De Munck, B., eds. (2019). Innovation and Creativity in Late Medieval and Early Modern European Cities. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315588605. ISBN   978-1317116530. S2CID   148764971. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  54. Courtenay, W. J.; Miethke, J.; Priest, D. B., eds. (2000). Universities and Schooling in Medieval Society. BRILL. ISBN   978-9004113510. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  55. Deming, D. (2014). Science and Technology in World History, Volume 3: The Black Death, the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution. McFarland. ISBN   978-0786490868.
  56. Stearns, P. N. (2020). The Industrial Revolution in World History. Routledge. ISBN   978-0813347295.
  57. Mokyr, J. (2000). "The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870–1914" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  58. Black, B. C. (2022). To Have and Have Not: Energy in World History. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1538105047. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  59. Albion, Robert G. (1 January 1933). "The Communication Revolution, 1760-1933". Transactions of the Newcomen Society. 14 (1): 13–25. doi:10.1179/tns.1933.002. ISSN   0372-0187. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  60. Agar, J. (2012). Science in the 20th Century and Beyond. Polity. ISBN   978-0745634692. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  61. Goldin, C.; Katz, L. F. (2010). The Race between Education and Technology. Harvard University Press. ISBN   978-0674037731. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  62. Solow, Robert M. (1957). "Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function". The Review of Economics and Statistics. 39 (3): 312–320. doi:10.2307/1926047. ISSN   0034-6535. JSTOR   1926047.
  63. Bresnahan, Timothy F.; Trajtenberg, M. (1 January 1995). "General purpose technologies 'Engines of growth'?". Journal of Econometrics. 65 (1): 83–108. doi: 10.1016/0304-4076(94)01598-T . ISSN   0304-4076.
  64. Wrigley, E. A (13 March 2013). "Energy and the English Industrial Revolution". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 371 (1986): 20110568. Bibcode:2013RSPTA.37110568W. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2011.0568 . PMID   23359739. S2CID   10624423.
  65. Persily, Nathaniel; Tucker, Joshua A., eds. (2020). Social Media and Democracy: The State of the Field, Prospects for Reform. SSRC Anxieties of Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108890960. hdl:11245.1/cf2f5b6a-8dc8-4400-bc38-3317b0164499. ISBN   978-1108835558. S2CID   243715477.
  66. Autor, D. H. (2015). "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 29 (3): 3–30. doi: 10.1257/jep.29.3.3 . Archived from the original on 1 September 2022.
  67. Bessen, J. E. (3 October 2016). "How Computer Automation Affects Occupations: Technology, Jobs, and Skills". Economic Perspectives on Employment & Labor Law EJournal. Rochester, NY. No. 15-49. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2690435. S2CID   29968989. SSRN   2690435.
  68. "Robots and Artificial Intelligence". igmchicago.org. Initiative on Global Markets. 30 June 2017. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  69. "The Future of Jobs Report 2020" (PDF). www3.weforum.org. October 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  70. "Robots and AI Taking Over Jobs: What to Know | Built In". builtin.com. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  71. "How many jobs do robots really replace?". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 4 May 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  72. Acemoglu, Daron; Restrepo, Pascual (1 June 2020). "Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets". Journal of Political Economy. 128 (6): 2188–2244. doi:10.1086/705716. hdl: 1721.1/130324 . ISSN   0022-3808. S2CID   7468879.
  73. "Remarks Upon Signing Bill Creating the National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  74. "Technology and the American Economy" (PDF). files.eric.ed.gov. February 1966. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  75. "If Robots Take Our Jobs, Will They Make It Up to Us?". The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  76. "GovInfo". www.govinfo.gov n. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  77. "H.R.11611 - An Act to establish a National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress". www.congress.gov. 1963. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  78. 1 2 Rosenberg, Elizabeth; Harrell, Peter E.; Shiffman, Gary M.; Dorshimer, Sam (2019). "Financial Technology and National Security". Center for a New American Security.
  79. "U.S. takes aim at North Korean crypto laundering". NBC News. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  80. "U.S. ties North Korean hacker group to Axie Infinity crypto theft". NBC News. 15 April 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  81. Austin, David; Macauley, Molly K. (1 December 2001). "Cutting Through Environmental Issues: Technology as a double-edged sword". Brookings. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  82. Grainger, Alan; Francisco, Herminia A.; Tiraswat, Penporn (July 2003). "The impact of changes in agricultural technology on long-term trends in deforestation". The International Journal Covering All Aspects of Land Use. 20 (3): 209–223 via Elsevier Science Direct.
  83. Chaudhry, Imran Sharif; Ali, Sajid; Bhatti, Shaukat Hussain; Anser, Muhammad Khalid; Khan, Ahmad Imran; Nazar, Raima (October 2021). "Dynamic common correlated effects of technological innovations and institutional performance on environmental quality: Evidence from East-Asia and Pacific countries". Environmental Science & Policy. 124 (Environmental Science & Policy): 313–323. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2021.07.007 via Elsevier Science Direct.
  84. Smol, J. P. (2009). Pollution of Lakes and Rivers : a Paleoenvironmental Perspective (2nd ed.). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. p. 135. ISBN   978-1444307573. OCLC   476272945.
  85. 1 2 Franssen, M.; Lokhorst, G.-J.; van de Poel, I. (2018). "Philosophy of Technology". In Zalta, E. N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 ed.). Archived from the original on 11 September 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  86. 1 2 de Vries, M. J.; Verkerk, M. J.; Hoogland, J.; van der Stoep, J. (2015). Philosophy of Technology : An Introduction for Technology and Business Students. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1317445715. OCLC   907132694. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  87. Brey, P. (2000). Mitcham, C. (ed.). "Theories of Technology as Extension of Human Faculties". Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Technology. Research in Philosophy and Technology. 19.
  88. 1 2 Johnson, Deborah G.; Wetmore, Jameson M. (2021). Technology and Society: Building Our Sociotechnical Future (2nd ed.). MIT Press. ISBN   978-0262539968.
  89. Dusek, Val (2006). Philosophy of Technology: An Introduction. Wiley. ISBN   978-1405111621. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  90. Postman, Neil (1993). Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. New York: Vintage.
  91. Marcuse, H. (2004). Technology, War and Fascism: Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse, Volume 1. Routledge. ISBN   978-1134774661. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  92. Hansson, Sven Ove (2017). The Ethics of Technology: Methods and Approaches. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1783486595. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  93. Al-Rodhan, Nayef. "The Many Ethical Implications of Emerging Technologies". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 8 April 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  94. Luppicini, R. (2008). "The emerging field of Technoethics". In Luppicini; R. Adell (eds.). Handbook of Research on Technoethics. Hershey: Idea Group Publishing.
  95. Veruggio, Gianmarco (2011). "The Roboethics Roadmap". EURON Roboethics Atelier. Scuola di Robotica: 2. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.466.2810 .
  96. Anderson, Michael; Anderson, Susan Leigh, eds. (2011). Machine Ethics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0521112352.
  97. 1 2 3 4 5 Bell, W. Foundations of Futures Studies, Volume 1: Human Science for a New Era. Transaction Publishers. ISBN   978-1412823791. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  98. "About us". cser.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  99. Gottlieb, J. (1 May 2022). "Discounting, Buck-Passing, and Existential Risk Mitigation: The Case of Space Colonization". Space Policy. 60: 101486. Bibcode:2022SpPol..6001486G. doi:10.1016/j.spacepol.2022.101486. ISSN   0265-9646. S2CID   247718992.
  100. "Stanford Existential Risks Initiative". cisac.fsi.stanford.edu. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  101. Bostrom, Nick; Cirkovic, Milan M. (2011). Global Catastrophic Risks. OUP Oxford. ISBN   978-0199606504. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  102. 1 2 Bostrom, Nick (6 September 2019). "The Vulnerable World Hypothesis". Global Policy. 10 (4): 455–476. doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12718 . ISSN   1758-5880. S2CID   203169705.
  103. Kurzweil, Ray (2005). "GNR: Three Overlapping Revolutions". The Singularity is Near. Penguin. ISBN   978-1101218884.
  104. Kompridis, N. (2009). "Technology's challenge to democracy: What of the human" (PDF). Parrhesia. 8 (1): 20–33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  105. McShane, Sveta (19 April 2016). "Ray Kurzweil Predicts Three Technologies Will Define Our Future". Singularity Hub. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  106. Poole, C. P. Jr.; Owens, F. J. (2003). Introduction to Nanotechnology. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-0471079354.
  107. Vince, G. (3 July 2003). "Nanotechnology may create new organs". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 11 September 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  108. Lee, Sukhan; Suh, Il Hong (2008). Recent Progress in Robotics: Viable Robotic Service to Human: An Edition of the Selected Papers from the 13th International Conference on Advanced Robotics. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 3. ISBN   978-3540767282. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  109. Grace, K.; Salvatier, J.; Dafoe, A.; Zhang, B.; Evans, O. (31 July 2018). "Viewpoint: When Will AI Exceed Human Performance? Evidence from AI Experts". Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research. 62: 729–754. doi: 10.1613/jair.1.11222 . ISSN   1076-9757. S2CID   8746462. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  110. Segal, H. P. (2005). Technological Utopianism in American Culture (20th Anniversary ed.). Syracuse University Press. ISBN   978-0815630616. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  111. More, M.; Vita-More, N., eds. (29 April 2013). "Roots and Core Themes". The Transhumanist Reader. Wiley. pp. 1–2. doi:10.1002/9781118555927.part1. ISBN   978-1118334294. Archived from the original on 11 September 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  112. Istvan, Zoltan (1 February 2015). "A New Generation of Transhumanists Is Emerging". Interalia Magazine. Archived from the original on 11 September 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  113. More, M.; Vita-More, N., eds. (29 April 2013). "Future Trajectories: Singularity". The Transhumanist Reader. Wiley. pp. 361–363. doi:10.1002/9781118555927.part8. ISBN   978-1118334294. Archived from the original on 11 September 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  114. Blackford, R.; Bostrom, N.; Dupuy, J.-P. (2011). H±: Transhumanism and Its Critics. Metanexus Institute. ISBN   978-1456815653. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  115. Jones, Steven E. (2013). Against Technology: From the Luddites to Neo-Luddism. Routledge. ISBN   978-1135522391. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  116. Kelman, David (1 June 2020). "Politics in a Small Room: Subterranean Babel in Piglia's El camino de Ida". The Yearbook of Comparative Literature. 63: 179–201. doi:10.3138/ycl.63.005. ISSN   0084-3695. S2CID   220494877. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  117. Fleming, Sean (7 May 2021). "The Unabomber and the origins of anti-tech radicalism". Journal of Political Ideologies. 27 (2): 207–225. doi: 10.1080/13569317.2021.1921940 . ISSN   1356-9317.
  118. Vannini, Phillip; Jonathan Taggart (2013). "Voluntary simplicity, involuntary complexities, and the pull of remove: The radical ruralities of off-grid lifestyles". Environment and Planning A. 45 (2): 295–311. Bibcode:2013EnPlA..45..295V. doi:10.1068/a4564. S2CID   143970611.
  119. 1 2 Scranton, Philip (1 May 2006). "Urgency, uncertainty, and innovation: Building jet engines in postwar America". Management & Organizational History. 1 (2): 127–157. doi:10.1177/1744935906064096. ISSN   1744-9359. S2CID   143813033.
  120. Di Nucci Pearce, M. R.; Pearce, David (1989). "Technology vs. Science: The Cognitive Fallacy". Synthese. 81 (3): 405–419. doi:10.1007/BF00869324. ISSN   0039-7857. JSTOR   20116729. S2CID   46975083. Archived from the original on 10 September 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  121. Skolimowski, Henryk (1966). "The Structure of Thinking in Technology". Technology and Culture. 7 (3): 371–383. doi:10.2307/3101935. ISSN   0040-165X. JSTOR   3101935.
  122. Brooks, H. (1 September 1994). "The relationship between science and technology". Research Policy. Special Issue in Honor of Nathan Rosenberg. 23 (5): 477–486. doi:10.1016/0048-7333(94)01001-3. ISSN   0048-7333. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  123. 1 2 3 Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2012). Antifragile. Penguin Random House. OCLC   1252833169.
  124. Hare, Ronald (1970). The Birth of Penicillin, and the Disarming of Microbes. Allen & Unwin. ISBN   978-0049250055. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  125. Wise, George (1985). "Science and Technology". Osiris. 2nd Series. 1: 229–46. doi:10.1086/368647. S2CID   144475553.
  126. Guston, David H. (2000). Between Politics and Science: Assuring the Integrity and Productivity of Research. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0521653183.
  127. Taleb, N. N. (12 December 2012). "Understanding is a Poor Substitute for Convexity (Antifragility)" (PDF). fooledbyrandomness.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  128. Narin, Francis; Olivastro, Dominic (1 June 1992). "Status report: Linkage between technology and science". Research Policy. 21 (3): 237–249. doi:10.1016/0048-7333(92)90018-Y. ISSN   0048-7333. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  129. Krieger, Joshua L.; Schnitzer, Monika; Watzinger, Martin (1 May 2019). "Standing on the Shoulders of Science" (PDF). SSRN   3401853. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 September 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  130. Oakley, K. P. (1976). "Man the Tool-Maker". Nature. 199 (4898): 1042–1043. Bibcode:1963Natur.199U1042.. doi:10.1038/1991042e0. ISBN   978-0226612706. S2CID   4298952.
  131. Sagan, Carl; Druyan, Ann; Leakey, Richard. "Chimpanzee Tool Use". Archived from the original on 21 September 2006. Retrieved 13 February 2007.
  132. Rincon, Paul (7 June 2005). "Sponging dolphins learn from mum". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  133. Schmid, Randolph E. (4 October 2007). "Crows use tools to find food". NBC News. Archived from the original on 10 March 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  134. Rutz, C.; Bluff, L.A.; Weir, A.A.S.; Kacelnik, A. (4 October 2007). "Video cameras on wild birds". Science . 318 (5851): 765. Bibcode:2007Sci...318..765R. doi: 10.1126/science.1146788 . PMID   17916693. S2CID   28785984.
  135. McGrew, W. C (1992). Chimpanzee Material Culture. Cambridge u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN   978-0521423717.
  136. Boesch, Christophe; Boesch, Hedwige (1984). "Mental map in wild chimpanzees: An analysis of hammer transports for nut cracking". Primates . 25 (2): 160–170. doi:10.1007/BF02382388. S2CID   24073884.
  137. Brahic, Catherine (15 January 2009). "Nut-cracking monkeys find the right tool for the job". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  138. Müller, G.; Watling, J. (24 June 2016). The engineering in beaver dams. River Flow 2016: Eighth International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics. St. Louis: University of Southampton Institutional Research Repository. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  139. Thomas Michaud (2008). "Science fiction and politics: Cyberpunk science fiction as political philosophy". New Boundaries in Political Science Fiction. By Hassler, Donald M. University of South Carolina Press. pp. 65–77 [75–76]. ISBN   978-1570037368.

Sources

Further reading