We humans are technologists; technology is an integral part of our lives, all around us. From the mobile phone in your pocket to the debit card in your wallet, technology shapes our existence.
In this post, I aim to explore what technology is and how its symbiotic relationship with us impacts both our culture and society.
What is Technology?
Technology is any tool or human-made system that fulfils a purpose. For a technology to truly “survive,” it must become an assembly of practices and components accepted across our society. This means some of our technologies have been virtual long before computers even existed.
By “virtual,” I mean an idea that I and others in my society and culture agree on. Examples include money and our ability to communicate with each other through language.
Reading and Writing
Writing was invented some 5,000 years ago by the Sumerians, breaking the data processing limitations imposed by the human brain. It was originally developed for recording economic data and is dependent on other technologies, as you need a means to capture what is being written.
But our written languages are an abstract idea that we all agree on. Take this blog post, for example. I live in England, and I’m writing this in English—a language that has evolved and been influenced by the history of England, then Great Britain, and our interactions with others.
As long as you have a similar understanding of the abstract rules of the English language, you will be able to read and, hopefully, understand what I have written wherever and whenever you are reading this. You can understand what each of these symbols mean and process what they represent.
The invention of writing and reading some five thousand years ago gave us a means to share thoughts, ideas, and knowledge, amplifying our ability to share and develop new ideas and technology.
The Nature of Technology
In the book The Nature of Technology, the author asks, “Does technology evolve?”
If technology does evolve, then there has to be a family tree showing how technology has evolved over time. But this raises the question: where did the earliest technologies come from? Things like flint tools and cooking, or even the creation of new technologies from newly discovered phenomena.
At the moment, I consider technology to be in a symbiotic relationship with our search for knowledge and innovation/invention, with humans sitting at the centre of it:
- Our drive to find new knowledge leads to the discovery of new ideas and physical phenomena, adding to our existing collection of knowledge.
- Innovation/Invention: the continuous mixing of new ideas, existing ideas, and existing technologies leads to the development of new technology or improvements to existing technologies.
- New and improved technology gives us new or better tools to explore for new knowledge or to view and share existing ideas in better ways.
This creates a feedback loop in our technology and would explain how technology can grow exponentially.
Do you think technology evolves, or is there a more symbiotic relationship?
Further reading
The Nature of Technology by W. Brian Arthur
Key Takeaways from The Nature of Technology by W. Brian Arthur
Louise Pryke, ChatGPT Is Confronting, but Humans Have Always Adapted to New Technology – Ask the Mesopotamians, Who Invented Writing
Exponential – How accelerating technology is leaving us behind and what to do about it by Azeem Azhar