We live in a world that is mechanized and high on technology, we keep telling each other. But we scarcely bother about getting to the bottom of the concept of technology and defining it. That is something we left behind us way back in school. So now, it’s not a bad idea getting to the very definition of technology, and understanding it in terms of things familiar to us.
Technology is basically a collective term for the use of man made tools and crafts to make work simpler. That is a very broad definition. You might also want to know how tools and crafts are defined. To put it simply, we can consider simple machines like levers and inclined planes as basic, crude tools. A craft is a learned human skill. It is not something one is born with.
A dictionary definition of technology would read something like this- “the practical application of specific knowledge” or “the capability of practical application of knowledge in a particular area”.
Technology is used to refer to machines and gadgets that are geared at solving real world practical problems. It could also mean a group of techniques to produce products for the use of humans. It might also solve theoretical problems, and satisfy needs and wants. Technology involves putting to use the principles of science, mathematics, and the arts to benefit mankind and improve the quality of life of human beings in general.
Let us get to examples to illustrate the point. Basic everyday domestic utensils like spoons, knives and pestles are examples simple machines that make things like scooping and eating, cutting, slicing and grinding simpler. This is how they qualify as technological objects. This also explains why the arts of carpentry, weaving and sculpture are also basic, albeit primitive, forms of technology.
As for the practical application of knowledge, almost all engineering disciplines are all about that. In their curriculum, engineers learn about how the concepts of mother sciences like physics, chemistry, geography, geology and biological sciences can be put to the use and aid of humankind. The study of engineering trains people to be goal oriented. They design machines by applying axioms of these sciences, and we gain things we cannot imagine living without in the world of today. These include the television, the telephone, the computer, the automobile and electrical implements like lights, air conditioners, microwaves and heaters.
Technology can be classified into some rather broad groups, and we will talk a little bit about that. Construction technology, medical technology, nuclear technology, meteorological technology, communication technology and state of the art technology are a few of these. An exhaustive list would be out of place in this article. Appropriate technology was used to describe the manipulative kind of technology involving impromptu improvisations on the most recent kind of technology where it wouldn’t work directly. This does not require any elaborate infrastructure. The concept of the eco village rose partly out of the application of appropriate technology.