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TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCE IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETYProfessor Kelly Woods,Social Impact of Technology

Sarah Young, 200283592

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A LOOK AT TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCE As a species homo sapiens have always sought

ways to make life’s tasks easier. Early tech. improved quality of life and allowed for

species growth; tools, wheels, textiles, cooking of food are just a few early technological advances.

As living comforts improved focus turned to medical improvements. Antibiotics, Insulin and antiviral medications are responsible for saving countless lives. Surgical advances have also provided lifesaving techniques to many, many people.

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WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?

It is easy to use a word and not ever truly think about what it means. But what is Technology really? Could it be thought of as the art of science? Technologies aid people in performing tasks. Most tech. is reliant on previous tech. For

example, humans needed to harness the use of fire before we developed pots or culinary skills enabling us to cook.

Organization is an essential element to the success of technology.

Fundamental requirements for tech. advance is the development of tools and techniques to use them.

“Technology has to be invented or adopted.”-Jared Diamond-

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TECHNOLOGY’S NATURE AND EFFECTS With the intention of advancement or progress, the human drive has

focused on technological advance. Technologies have become essential to the success of the Homo sapiens species.

The idea that there are things to be fixed or improved upon may have been an initial driver, however, the use of technologies has brought a need for new and improved technology.

Roads and the use of motorized vehicles have created an enormous environmental burden. The need to mitigate this burden and it’s effect has charged us with the task of improving upon existing models and even developing new ones.

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SOURCES OF TECHNOLOGY

Social constructivism is the idea that technology requires a social structure in order to exist. Humans are social creatures and thus through our interactions we are able to learn about and share technology.

Since social structures do tend to follow a hierarchical structure it can be said that power is not evenly distributed. A select few truly make the decisions, the same is likely to be true of which technologies advance.

All tech. is dependent upon another piece of tech. that came before. It therefore a social structure and should be recognized as system and not individual.

Genius’ exists but often rely on the skills of others to market and develop their ideas/inventions into widespread use. The work that happens behind the scenes is often overlooked.

(Rose, 2015)

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SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES

Technologies sometimes become better over time. As problems with tech. arise the use of scientific testing is useful in developing more efficient alternatives.

The use of technologies that are developed for alternative uses to improve upon another technology is another valuable source of tech. advance.

In manufacturing common practices have been developed and adopted across industry. Henry Fords production line approach to manufacturing is still used today and has become an efficient production method.

Some advances are independent of a need to solve a problem. These advances are far less frequent and can often have major implications on social behaviours. Often the importance or even the applications of such technologies can go unrecognized for long periods of time until their usefulness is recognized.

“[T]hrough a combination of cumulative improvements in both the engine and the fuel it burned that the internal combustion engine reached and acceptably high level of efficiency, (Volti, 2014)”.

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TECHNOLOGICAL DIFFUSION

Democratic Society Adopt technologies from around

the world The people are encouraged to

learn and obtain information from the world that could be of value.

High rate of technological diffusion

Communist Society Adopt technologies that were

developed in their society The people are allowed only the

information which is approved by government.

Low rate of technological diffusion

• The Diffusion of technology refers to the way in which a technology gets adopted by populations. It is not enough for something useful to be invented, it also must be applied to uses in everyday life in order to be successful.

• Different populations require different technologies to be applied in specific ways. The use of alternative or intermediate technologies is sometimes necessary for proper adaptation.

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TECHNOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT There is little doubt that the environment has paid an enormous price for

human innovation. The consequences of technological advance have too often been realized after the fact.

A small portion of the human species is responsible for consuming the bulk of resources. Depleting resources such as sensitive aquifers is having consequences that cannot be ignored for long.

Health effects caused by emissions from vehicles and industry are being suspected of contributing to a rise in respiratory related illnesses.

The “greenhouse” effect is believed to be a result of the suns energy being unable to escape through the blanket of emissions containing harmful greenhouse gases.

Deforestation, air, water and soil pollution, habitat destruction, all in the name of technological advance. We are facing an age where ironically, it is time to use technological advance in order to fix some of the problems our species has helped to create. The need for technological innovation has never seen such urgency!

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NATURE AND EFFECTS OF TECH

(Appelbaum, 1996)

(agrivi, n.d.)

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TECHNOLOGY AND ENERGY

Technology that is possessed today relies on enormous energy inputs.

Cell phones, laptop and tablets, home appliances and environmental control systems all require enormous energy consumption.

Nuclear power has seen some devastating environmental disasters yet here in Ontario it is still the top source of energy production.

Fossil fuels have been depleted at an unsustainable rate. Their extraction has scarred the planet in a way that makes recovery extremely difficult if possible at all.

Emissions produced by the burning of fossil fuels accounts for much of the build up of GHGs in the atmosphere.

[T]he product of nuclear plants is electricity, and electricity has it’s limitations. Electricity is not a primary source of energy; it is a means of transmitting energy, and as much as 10% of the energy used to generate electricity is lost during transmission (Volti, 2014)”.

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TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE

Medical advances have advanced with the expansion of modern medicine; from wound care to antibiotics for infectious diseases and surgical advances with hearts and transplants.

With the advance of medical care and lifesaving techniques the ethics of medical advance are subject to scrutiny.

Rudi Volti, Society and Technological Change, states that British neurologist Bryan Jennett devised a method to determine the appropriateness of a medical technology. The criteria where as follows;

Unnecessary – is the patients condition to advanced?Unsafe - Do the complications outweigh the benefits? Unkind- Will it just prolong suffering?Unwise- Does it divert resources that could be put to better use?

“Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the wars in history, (Sagan, 1997)”.

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TECHNOLOGY AND JOBS There have been many times throughout history where changing technology

has rendered a certain workforce obsolete. Fear of job loss to new technologies is not irrational. The Luddites rebelled

against British industrial changes in the early 1800s in protest of machinery taking over their jobs, (Conniff, 2011).

As technologies advance it is necessary to redirect labour and retrain individuals for new jobs. Web designers, Geographical Information Systems technicians and medical technology technicians are a few new jobs that have been created with recent tech. advances.

Machinery is useful but it does require maintenance and monitoring and therefore does not entirely eliminate the workforce.

The service sector has seen enormous growth since the 1950s while the manufacturing sector has only seen minimal growth.

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PRINTING TECHNOLOGY Before there was the ability to print information had to be passed through

generations by word of mouth. Early cave paintings can give us some idea about what life was like for past

civilizations. Information was able to be stored for the future. The development of written languages allowed for information to be stored

in detail but had the downfall of having to be re-written to create additional copies.

Printing began in China in the eleventh century with the invention of movable “clay type set in wax matrix, (Volti, 2014)”.

The Gutenberg press that came in the 1400’s allowed for the printing of books in larger quantities making the same information available to the population (those who could read).

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ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND THE INTERNET “The internet can be described as a giant network of smaller computer

networks that allows user to access files located anywhere within these individual smaller networks, (Volti, 2014)”.

The files that are contained in these networks contain information that can now be instantly accessed and shared.

Originally developed for military use it quickly became apparent that the uses of this technology were widespread and made available for public use.

E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, You-Tube and countless other electronic communication and media applications have been developed and have created a whole new way of communicating

The creation of smartphones has made it possible to bring the internet with you wherever you go. The need for information sharing has grown and it is not difficult to find a place to connect and access the world wide web.

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TECHNOLOGICAL WARFARE• Many advances have been made

in combat techniques since the times of the knight in armor.

• The sword and shield are no longer efficient in a world of air strikes and high powered rifles.

• Drones and specialized fighters dominate the world of warfare

• Technological advances in the military have advanced democratic societies to where they are today. The internet and GPS systems are two significant advances that the public have access to due to military advance

(Washington Post, 2013)

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TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE Cultural lag is the time it takes between a new technology being released

and being implemented in a population for use. “[P]redicated on the belief that habits, thoughts, values, and social arrangements often fail to change at the same speed as technological innovation, (Volti, 2014)”.

With many people around the world using the same technologies is it possible we will end up at the same place technologically? This is the idea of the “Convergence Theory, (Volti, 2014)”. It is easy to see how this might occur when looking at an industry such as manufacturing that has begun to adopt best manufacturing practices across the industry.

There are some countries that limit the amount of technology and information available to their citizens. It is interesting to think that these countries may also end up at the same place technologically though at a slower rate.

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WHO CREATES AND DRIVES TECHNOLOGY

We would like to believe that ideally the experts are in control of technological advance, but is that really the way it is?

There are many specialist that are trained in a specific area of technological expertise but are not much good for solving problems outside of their knowledge base.

The advance of tech. through experts has the downside that there can be no opposition to an expert opinion except by that of other experts.

Many experts are employees of corporations and organizations and it is therefore difficult to trust the ethical position of these “experts”.

“Frances Bacon formulated a famous maxim: “knowledge is power”, (Volti, 2014).”

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GOVERNMENT AND TECHNOLOGY Through grants, tax incentives and deductions, it is possible for

government to influence the direction of technological advance. In this way it is possible to influence technologies such as green technologies.

Research and development is often funded by government, especially when economic and military advance is concerned.

Corporate influence over government is another issue that has an affect on tech. advance. “[L]arge farmer provide the bedrock of political support for the Department of Agriculture, and as a result this agency has primarily sponsored technological developments that benefit its most important and powerful clientele, (Volti, 2014).”

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REFERENCESagrivi. (n.d.). Soil degradation. Retrieved from www.agrivi.com: http://www.agrivi.com/soil-

degradation/

Appelbaum, R. P. (1996). Global Climate Change and What Can Be Done About It. Retrieved from www.soc.ucsb.edu: http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/projects/casemethod/appelbaum.html

Conniff, R. (2011, MARCH ). What the Luddites Really Fought Against. Retrieved from www.smithsonianmag.com: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-really-fought-against-264412/?no-ist

Rose, E. (2015, February 6). Emma Rose Creates. Retrieved from www.emma-rose-creates.com: http://www.emma-rose-creates.com/tag/technology/

Sagan, C. (1997). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark .

Volti, R. (2014). Society and Technological Change, Seventh Edition. New York: Worth Publishers.

Washington Post. (2013, February 14). Why the Pentagon hates drone warfare (Commentary). Retrieved from silive.com: http://www.silive.com/opinion/columns/index.ssf/2013/02/why_the_pentagon_hates_drone_w.html