SC210--Week 1--Lecture notes The Nature of Technology Many
people understand "technology" as the latest and greatest--
computers, biotechnology, nanotechnology, space technology. They
even think of old technology such as steam engines and water
wheels as not really "technology." Volti is more inclusive.
Technology, he says, is anything that helps us do things we
could not otherwise do, or lets us do them cheaper, faster,
easier. It covers computers and steam engines, hammers and axes,
even fire and sharpened sticks and chipped stones. Some of it is
old tech, some is new tech, and some is cutting-edge or even
bleeding-edge tech. But it's all technology. Does this
definition refer only to tangible things? What else might it
cover? What else "helps us do things we could not otherwise do,
or lets us do them cheaper, faster, easier"? Why do we pursue
technology? Is necessity the mother of invention? Or laziness?
Or challenge? Note Volti's discussion of technology as a
rational thing. In science and technology, trut