Technology
hideTechnology is a broad concept that deals with an animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects an animal species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek "technologia", "τεχνολογία" — "techne", "τέχνη" ("craft") and "logia", "λογία" ("saying"). However, a strict definition is elusive; "technology" can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology".
The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.
Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.
For more information about Technology, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with technology
Scientists synthesize graphene-like material: Polymer with honeycomb structure
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 19, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (6) |
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Two-dimensional carbon layers, so-called graphenes, are regarded as a possible substitute for silicon in the semiconductor industry. The electronic properties of these layers can be varied by "building in" ...
Pulling the plug on hybrid myths
Nov 19, 2009 |
3.8 / 5 (12) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Whether you call them myths, urban legends, fables or old wives' tales, there's a lot of misinformation out there about plug-in electric hybrid vehicles. These vehicles, abbreviated PHEVs, ...
Google adds automatic captions to YouTube
Nov 19, 2009 |
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Google, in a significant development for the deaf, announced on Thursday it was adding automatic caption capability to videos on YouTube.
Engineer designs micro-endoscope to seek out early signs of cancer
Nov 19, 2009 |
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Traditional endoscopes provide a peek inside patients' bodies. Now, a University of Florida engineering researcher is designing ones capable of a full inspection.
ICT fails to accelerate drug approvals
Nov 19, 2009 |
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Drug approvals are taking just as long as they ever did despite increased expenditure on new information technology at the Food and drug Administration. So says a statistical analysis of approval intervals from 1997 to 2006, ...
P2P comes to the aid of audiovisual search (w/ Video)
Technology / Computer Sciences
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Current methods of searching audiovisual content can be a hit-and-miss affair. Manually tagging online media content is time consuming, and costly. But new 'query by example' methods, built on peer-to-peer ...
QuikScat and Aqua providing important data on Tropical Storm Anja
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 18, 2009 |
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Anja has continued to weaken over the last 24 hours, and NASA's QuikScat satellite has confirmed that the once mighty Category 4 Cyclone is now a tropical storm in the southern Indian Ocean. Two instruments ...
Toshiba develops molecular photoresist technology for EUV lithography
Nov 17, 2009 |
2.2 / 5 (10) |
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Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has developed a high resolution photoresist (photo-sensitive film) essential for future application of EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography in semiconductor fabrication, ...
Advanced nuclear fuel sets global performance record
Nov 17, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (18) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Idaho National Laboratory scientists have set a new world record with next-generation particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors (HTGRs).
There's no business like Grid business (w/ Video)
Technology / Computer Sciences
Nov 17, 2009 |
3 / 5 (1) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have embraced the Grid, but businesses have held back, concerned about complexity and security. Now a European research team has built a platform opening the Grid's vast resources ...
Finnish technology workers warn of strike
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Some 2,000 employees in Finland's technology sector will begin a strike in two weeks time if no agreement is reached in labor talks with company managers, union leaders said Wednesday.
Measuring Electron Orbitals
Nov 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, it has been possible to measure electron density in individual molecular states using what is known as the photoelectric effect. Now published in Science, this method repres ...
The Future in Two Words: Ionic Liquids
Nov 13, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Ionic liquids are molecular solutions that have a wide range of potential applications, including next-generation solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells and lithium batteries.
Cryptographic voting debuts
Technology / Computer Sciences
Nov 13, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
5
(PhysOrg.com) -- Last week, in Takoma Park, Md., a new cryptographic voting system that could ensure accurate vote counts was used for the first time in a real election. MIT’s Ron Rivest, the Viterbi Professor ...
LLNL licenses carbon nanotube technology to local company
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 12, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has exclusively licensed to Porifera Inc. of Hayward a carbon nanotube technology that can be used to desalinate water and can be applied to other liquid based separations.
