The Changing Role of Technology in Society

This essay is a result of many years of thinking about the role of technology in human life and about the ways in which new technologies develop. It may be viewed in two ways: either as a history of technology since earliest times to the present, with emphasis on ways in which technology interacted with society, or alternatively some may read it as a description of technology in a social context, illustrated by examples from the history of technology. Whereas in early times technology served in the main only to support, indeed enable, human life, it later became a major economic factor and the chief creator of wealth. New technologies arise when a technological idea – whether based on new scientific phenomena or not – appears to offer promise for commercial success. A technological innovation happens if and when there is a confluence of a technical possibility with the promise of a profitable market. Technology now permeates all spheres of human life, for better or for worse, and dominates the real economy. I think that much of technology is for the better, but we have to be very careful about many abuses of the natural environment and many other misuses of our technical prowess. The argument is not hostile to technology, but takes a critical view of it. We are too profligate in our use of natural resources and we often forget human values in our uncritical indulgence in astonishing technological capabilities. The book „From Need to Greed” which underlies this essay addresses the lay reader, though I hope that many professional technologists and scientists will find in it much of interest.