Aspects of Technology

Technology involves the use of tools. Human beings have been set apart from the animals for several reasons, one of which has been that human beings use tools while animals do not. However, some animals do use tools--certain primates make use of found objects as tools--but only human beings create tools, use them, and pass the knowledge of their construction and use from one generation to the next.

Volti states that gaining an understanding of the meaning of a word is the beginning of knowledge. The word itself dates only from the 1820s and was derived from the Greek word "techne," meaning art, craft, or skill:

The capacity of human beings to employ technologies sets us apart from other creatures . . . [for] no other animal comes close to humans in the ability to create tools and techniques, and no other creature is so dependent on them (Volti 4).

Technology is thus not only tools but techniques, both passed from one generation to the next.

Trevor I. Williams says that technology is viewed as being synonymous with applied science and offers a definition: "This is technology, which in the broadest sense can be taken to mean the application of knowledge to practical purposes" (Williams 10). Here, again, the definition indicates the development of techniques and tools and the use of those tools to solve problems.

Technology can be simple or complex, and over the centuries the range has increased. There is a moment in the film 2001: A S

adopted. The economy must be such that it can pay for the newly developed technology or finance the development of a new technology. Volti cites Schmookler to the effect that the emergence of a industry "was closely related to the level of demand for the products of these industries" (Volti 43). Governments can also spur technological change, and some technological change cannot be traced to economic motives or the desire to address practical problems (Volti 49). 8. Describe technology's impact on careers. Technology has a major impact on careers in several ways. Technology creates careers, for one thing, and much of the work we do centers on the application of technology to some problem or issue. There are few if any jobs today which do not make use of some technology to make the work easier, to make it possible, or simply to communicate with others about the work. Technology brings change to every level of work and every type of career. Volti notes the "interconnections between the development of agricultural technologies, population expansion, and increases in the amount of work performed" (Volti 111). Volti also notes how some human activities promote technological change while others inhibit such change, and some