SOME DEFINITIONS:
Before you read the given definitions for each term, think about how you describe the term. For example, what is ‘technology’?
The following definitions explain ‘technology’ as related closely to 帮写英语论文human actions.
“Technology” =
• “ … all aspects of the process of action upon matter…” - Lemonnier
• “The cumulative sum of human means developed in response to society’s needs or desires to systematically solve problems.” - Market and Backer
“Technological systems” =
• “material culture” - Lemonnier
Do the quiz in Markert & Backer p.12. How would you define technology now?
Culture has different meanings across individuals and communities. To some, culture is art form – music, dance, drama. To others, it is the daily routine – how we dress, what we eat, what materials we value and what we don’t value. Culture has been defined as a way of life, as values and beliefs, as a guide for making decisions. “Culture” sometimes also means a state of refinement – persons are considered to be cultured if they are knowledgeable about the fine arts and acceptable, status-related ways of behaviour in a community. Hofstede provides a technology-based analogy -
“Culture” =
• “The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.” - Hofstede
Science and technology are popularly seen as related and complementary areas. It can be said that science provides the theory and the ideas, while technology is the application of scientific theory for practical uses.
“Science” =
• “A stream of human events involving a mathematical or systematic study of nature resulting in a boy of knowledge that is practical as well as theoretical.”
According to Market and Backer, science is:
• Based on Evidence – it can be proved
• Systematic – there is a discernable pattern or method
• ‘pure’ vs. ‘applied’ – ‘pure’ science consists of theories that can be abstract, whereas ‘applied’ science functions practically to achieve goals and objectives.
“Technology as fate” – Both Goyder and Lemmonier see technology as something that was with human beings right from pre-historic times, because humans needed to use items from their environment in order to fashion simple tools for existence. Humans have been “born into a technological environment” for “countless generations” (thanks to tools). Thus, humans have experimented with tools and technology, and the consequences of experiments can be expected as well as unexpected. Humans are a mix of reason and impulse, and so while they have used reasoning to carve out their existence, they are also likely to respond in a non-logical manner to the environment and give their responses meaning that is more social than practical. Fate can be changed through choices.
Which comes first?
Technology society
Society technology
Reciprocal causation.
Tools are an integral part of evolution; (see Six factors in Leakey’s model, Readings Chapter 1 Goyder p.6). Leakey’s model depicts the interlinking of tools and human development.
Humans have taken deliberate actions in forming and using tools + they have invested “Cultural” purposes and meanings to such actions. Using tools = method = rational = knowledge arrived at through experiments. Therefore, “Technology is … the application of knowledge to the achievement of particular goals or to the solution of particular problems” (Moore, 1972).
Technology =
“techne” = art (making things)
“logos” = study
We have a vast variety of ‘technologies’ from the traditional engineering technologies to police technology, reproductive technology, computer technology, business technology, etc. Each of these not only has the hardware of technology but also the software in terms of methodologies and patterns of processes that are the technology. Technolo
