In recent years technology has really exploded throughout the world, it has become far more advanced then many of us could ever have imagined, and the capabilities technology can now handle are out of this world. These days, there is a piece of technology or a gadget that can do just about anything, and it’s these kinds of advancements that have changed the world as we know it with each passing year.

What is technology?

Technology is the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, and crafts, or is systems or methods of organization, or is a material product (such as clothing) of these things. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include “construction technology“, “medical technology“, or “state-of-the-art technology“.

Technology and us

Technology significantly affects humans’ as well as other animals’ ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. 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 and Society

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 views on Technology

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.

Technology within the Animal World

Nowadays, technology isn’t just found in our homes, it also features amongst a wide variety of different animal species, but not exactly as we might first assume. Animals such as chimpanzees, some dolphin communities and crows have been known to utilize their own versions of technology in their day to day existence. For example, chimpanzees and other primates have often used what’s around them to check for the safety of platforms and water by using what we would recognize as walking sticks to gauge the deepness of water or sturdiness of branches or platforms. They also have been known to use tools for foraging, such as stones as hammers for cracking nuts, and leaf sponges and pestles for foraging. Considering a more generic perspective of technology as ethology of active environmental conditioning and control, we can also refer to animal examples such as beavers and their dams, or bees and their honeycombs.