Talk:Technology
We should introduce categorizations based on different criteria, e.g. "Material which the technology acts upon", "Principle of working", "Functional: human sensory modality concerned with the technology", etc.
(we need some way to cover for example, both the technology of television and the content of television, which are greatly different topics with the same name)
How about a "Mass Media" category? It would also cover radio, printing press, etc.
What is the difference between technology and engineering?
Am I correct in thinking this page places too much emphasis on recent or conspicuous technologoy? Wouldn't the lever, pully, and wheel be considered vital advances in technology? If not, how long do you imagine it will be before the pump and microchip are considered trivial? Why not include irrigation, literacy, geometry, etc.? --KQ
I agree with KQ (above), and further suggest that the references to industry and commerce make this definition too narrow. Technology can be for warfare, for the fighting of disease, for the production of more aesthetically pleasing music, for the more accurate measurement of time so that monks can pray 6 times each day at the proper times, etc.
How about:
- Technology is "the application of knowledge to affect the human condition" 1.
(The quote isn't on that URL, but it's from the forthcoming book mentioned on that page.)
Started alphabetizing the major header/index listing and linking into some orphan pages to provide an initial hiearchy.
Deleted these below as they seemed to me to be procedures or fields of application rather than tools or technology. My reasoning is that a guitar is technology while country music is something else ..... weapons are technology while espionage is probably tactics? Camera or microfilm can be either a library resource or a spy tool. Espionage is not a technology but a human activity.
I put Cryptography and Cryptology back because it seemed to be a category of techniques. While used is espionage they can be used for privacy, police work, DNA decoding? etc. I agree with kq above and some others. For header or lead line definition how about:
The field of technology applies human knowledge of the physical or natural sciences to accomplish a specific human goal or purpose.
Thus a medical researcher monitoring a heart beat with a stesthocrope or IRIG B telemetry channel is applying technology but is not engineering it .
Likewise an electrician installing a 3 phase induction motor can be viewed as a technologist but not a scientist or engineer. He is applying knowledge discovered or created by others to solve a specific problem ... hence he is a technologist or specilized technician .... electrician.
Comments or alternate discussuion is welcome. user:mirwin