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TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY

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njanatha5
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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TECHNOLOGY

Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to


achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way.[1] The
word technology can also mean the products resulting from
such efforts,[2][3] including both tangible tools such
as utensils or machines, and intangible ones such as software.
Technology plays a critical role in science, engineering,
and everyday life.
Technological advancements have led to significant changes in
society. The earliest known technology is the stone tool, used
during prehistory, followed by the control of fire—which in turn
contributed to the growth of the human brain and the
development of language during the Ice Age, according to
the cooking hypothesis. The invention of the wheel in
the Bronze Age allowed greater travel and the creation of more
complex machines. More recent technological inventions,
including the printing press, telephone, and the Internet, have
lowered barriers to communication and ushered in
the knowledge economy.
While technology contributes to economic development and
improves human prosperity, it can also have negative impacts
like pollution and resource depletion, and can cause social
harms like technological unemployment resulting
from automation. As a result, philosophical and political
debates about the role and use of technology, the ethics of
technology, and ways to mitigate its downsides are ongoing.
Etymology
Technology is a term dating back to the early 17th century that
meant 'systematic treatment' (from Greek Τεχνολογία, from
the Greek: τέχνη, romanized: tékhnē, lit. 'craft, art' and -λογία,
'study, knowledge').[4][5] It is predated in use by the Ancient
Greek word tékhnē, used to mean 'knowledge of how to make
things', which encompassed activities like architecture.[6]
Starting in the 19th century, continental Europeans started
using the terms Technik (German) or technique (French) to
refer to a 'way of doing', which included all technical arts, such
as dancing, navigation, or printing, whether or not they required
tools or instruments.[7] At the time, Technologie (German and
French) referred either to the academic discipline studying the
"methods of arts and crafts", or to the political discipline
"intended to legislate on the functions of the arts and
crafts."[8] The distinction between Technik and Technologie is
absent in English, and so both were translated as technology.
The term was previously uncommon in English and mostly
referred to the academic discipline, as in the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.[9]
In the 20th century, as a result of scientific progress and
the Second Industrial Revolution, technology stopped being
considered a distinct academic discipline and took on the
meaning: the systemic use of knowledge to practical ends.[10]

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