The world is expanding at a rapid rate and with expansion comes exploration and with exploration comes curiosity. When the first Personal Computer was introduced in 1975 and came as kits that you had to put together yourself, it was monumental. Technology is an ever growing enterprise with many different businesses attached. Some would say that technology is somewhat a mega-corp because of it’s extensive “employees” working to make it a better industry.
The process of technological evolution culminates with the ability to achieve all the material values technologically possible and desirable by mental effort. Technology evolution is more important to humanities near future than biological evolution. As Tim Wu says in his article in The New Yorker “The devices we use change the way we live much faster than any contest among genes.” Assuming that we really are evolving as we wear or inhabit more technological prosthesis, like even smarter phones, helpful glasses, and brainy cars. “Here’s the big question: will that type of evolution take us in desirable directions, as we usually assume biological evolution does?” (newyorker.com) Biological evolution is driven by survival of the fittest while technological evolution is driven by self evolution. People often get the two types of evolution mixed up when they talk about them. When people talk about the evolution of technology, they are talking more about how it has changed over a small amount of time.
Babies born in the western half of the world are said to have a life expectancy of 100 years which means they will be alive in 2110. “It’s hard to tell detail about what life will be like at that time period,” (bigthink.com). We can guess based on current trends that humans will continue to populate the planet, sharing it with animals designed synthetically in a lab and also machines. To make changes to technology the world must first be open and willing to accept change. With supply and demand, people are buying more types of technology for their car or their homes. Harold Evans and Gail Buckland say in their book “Made in America” (382,613), Technology is more than just what type of cell phone or computer you have. It’s about the process and skills that were used in order to that were made to make the product slimmer and lighter. It’s about the design that goes into the product to make it a faster device. We take what we have no for granted, we look around at the technology we have know and we don’t consider that what we have now we didn't have a few years ago. The cell phones and computers and smart TV’s are new to this generation but the generation after us are not going to know the struggle that the other generations have had to deal with. When we talk about the different kinds of technology no don’t ever think about how many different types really exist. Let’s discuss some of the types.
The transcontinental railroad wasn't exactly a piece of technology but it helped to spark the change in it. For example, the first telegraph lines were places alongside the railroad tracks to help send messages to and from different places. The steam engine, personal computers they all help move the rate of change along. Technology doesn't always mean computers or cellphones as stated above. It can also mean something as simple as the bra or banking. The light bulb wasn’t really a technology related invention but yet still a major part in the breakthrough leading to the technology revolution that was taking place in the 1880’s. The radio was a massive contributor to the technology age. It lead Americans to spend their time hearing about the different things going on in the world and that lead to more vehicles having a radio which made road trips more interesting in turn.
The emergence of technology, made possible by the development of the rational faculty, paved the way for the first stage: the tool. A tool provides a mechanical advantage in accomplishing a physical task. The arrow, plow, or hammer that augments physical labor to more efficiently achieve this objective. Later animal-powered tools such as the plow and the horse, increased the productivity of food production tenfold over the technology of the hunter-gatherers. Tools allow one to do things impossible to accomplish with one's body alone, such as seeing minute visual detail with a microscope, manipulating heavy objects with a pulley and cart, or carrying volumes of water in a bucket.
Another piece of technology that many people don’t consider to be technology is the search engine know as Google, it was the first modern web search engine to become mainstream in America, with 1.17 billion people with a Google account. The lack of any real advanced metallurgy among the Aztecs and Mayas has long been a mystery to students of pre-columbian civilizations. The question “where did it all start?” is always an irresistible if slippery one. In matters of technology the more important and visible invention, the greater the fascination in finding it’s origin or earliest uses. You all see movies about how technology is going to take over the human race and all that but in all reality even though yes it is getting smarter is will never be able to fully replace the human aspect of Earth. Technology all around us from the micro-organisms living in the forest to the ones under the sea. You hear how people think the world isn’t ready for the new advances that technology has to offer, we have only scratched the surface for as what we can do and create with the help of technology. “They Made America” (Harold Evans, Gail Buckland, David Lefer, 74, 149, 382, 613)
Technology’s evolution overall has been bad. It has further hindered our capabilities to think and act for ourselves. People rely too much on technology to live their life. The world has become dependent on devices that connect to the internet and deliver notifications to you regardless of your location. American’s have taken a dependency to physical items because they think that it brings them more happiness rather than being with friends and family. Technology has disconnected us with who we once were.
Now with all that’s been said, technology evolution is at most a marvelous thing to see take place. The evolution of technology is expanding at a rapid rate and we are lucky enough to see the change take place in our time period. Without the advances in technology we wouldn't have half of the things that we take for granted each and every day. The cell phone for example is one that we can’t live without but yet we never really take the time to look at the trouble and time that was put into the design and production of these marvelous inventions. As Jean Arp puts it nicely in this quote, “Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.”
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