Technology

Technology is the field that applies science to solve problems with an industrial or commercial end in mind. Engineering applies human traits such as imagination, judgement, and intellectual discipline[?] to existing human knowledge to create or use technology safely and efficiently[?].

For example: All buildings require the use of technology of some sort. A lasting artistic expression requires materials to be formed, and creating those materials requires some understanding of their chemical and physical properties. Architecture requires an understanding of the effects of weather, soil and water, in addition to some knowledge of the strengths of the materials used.

The term technology is usually used to explain new inventions and gadgets using recently derived scientific principles and processes. However, even very old inventions such as the wheel are, strictly speaking, technology.

Technology in ideology

Very often, new is assumed to mean "better" in technology and engineering circles. The notion of appropriate technology developed in the 20th century to describe situations where it was not desirable to use very new technologies or those that required access to some centralized infrastructure or parts or skills imported from elsewhere. The eco-village movement evolved in part due to this concern. Intermediate technology, more of an economics concern, refers to compromises between central and expensive technologies of developed nations and those which developing nations find most effective to deploy given an excess of labour, and scarcity of cash. In general, an "appropriate" technology will also be "intermediate".

Exactly contrary assumptions are made by those who promote transhumanism, posthumanism, technological singularity. In these ideologies, technological development is morally good. These ideologies are seen as symptoms of scientism by some opponents. Some consider them also to be symptoms of belief in capitalism.

In economics, definitions or assumptions of progress or growth are often related to one of more of the above assumptions. Challenging prevailing assumptions about technology and its usefulness has led to ideas like uneconomic growth or measuring well-being. These, and economics itself, can often be described as technologies, specifically, as persuasion technology - a concern covered in its own separate article.

Early or prehistoric advances in technology or fundamental tools

• Agriculture
• Astronomy
• Animal husbandry
• Cattle breeding[?]
• Cooking
• Clothing
• Fire
• Inclined plane
• Metal mining[?]
• Lever
• Pottery
• Pulley
• Screw
• Weaponry
• Wedge
• Wheel
• Writing

More recent tools that are fundamental to modern technology

• Clock
• Compass
• Sextant

Modern major fields of technology

• Life science[?]
  • Agriculture
  • Biotechnology
  • genetic engineering
• Audio/Sound Technology
  • Acoustics
  • Analog recording
  • Digital recording[?]
  • Sound reproduction
  • Live Sound Reproduction
  • Music technology
• Computing technology Index of hardware and software computing related topics.
• Cryptology
• Cryptography
• Domestic technology Further technology items employed around the homestead.
• Education
• Electricity
  • Fundamental Electrical Technology
    • Resistor
    • Inductor
    • Capacitor
  • Electric power
    • Electricity generation
    • Electric power transmission
    • Electricity distribution
    • Power control
    • Electric motor
    • Electric light bulb
• Electronics
  • Klystron tube
  • Relay
  • Vacuum tube
  • Semiconductor
    • Diode
    • Transistor
    • Integrated circuits or IC's
      • Very Large System Integration or VLSI integration
      • System-on-a-chip
• Energy storage[?]
• Environmental technology[?]
  • waste
  • water treatment
  • sewage treatment
  • remediation[?]
• Instrumentation
• Materials
  • Metallurgy
• Microwave Applications
• Maintenance
• Manufacturing
• Measuring instrument
• Microtechnology
  • Microfluidics
  • Microphotonics
• Machinery An index to further categories of machines and mechanisms.
• Molecular engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Nuclear reactor
• Space Technology Introduction and index of further specific topics in this field.
• Transport
• Telecommunication
  • Telegraph
  • Telephone
  • Radio
  • Television
  • Submarine cable
  • Communication satellite
  • Internet
• Telemetry
• Nuclear technology
  • Nuclear power
    • Fission
    • Fusion
    • Antimatter
    • Radioisotope Thermal Electric
  • Nuclear Medicine[?]
  • Nuclear weapon
  • X-Rays
• Weapons
  • Nuclear weapon
  • Biological weapon
  • Chemical weapon
• Visual technology
  • Photography
  • Printing
  • Video

Concepts in Technology[?]

• Technological Singularity
• Precautionary Principle
• Strategy of technology (strategic use of advanced technology)
• Emergent Philosophies
• Transhumanism
• Posthumanism
• Intermediate technology
• Appropriate technology
• Technology transfer[?]
• Technology lifecycle

See also: Technology assessment, Timeline of inventions, Technological Convergence