Technology In The Modern World

Engr3: Technology in the Modern World

How Stuff Works

How various devices and systems came to be – the evolution of innovation

Playing/Experimentation

Accidental Discoveries

Improving upon what already exists to satisfy human needs and wants

Design based on failure analysis and calculations

The fundamental science that explains why stuff works the way it does

The human elements of technology

Learning about the workings of technology is about acquiring Technological Literacy

What is Technology?

Technology is not only artifacts , such as computers, ipods, aircrafts, hybrid cars, digital cameras, bridges, vaccines, bio- implants, robots, sunscreen, lasers, phones, printers, ….

Technology is also systems like waste water treatment, roads, fuel production, the energy grid, and water delivery, …

Technology is the “ know how ” needed to design, maintain, & manufacture technology.

Tools have been used by human ancestors 1.6 million years ago As long as animals have been able to fashion tools, technology has existed.

To Create Technology is an ancient Human Endeavor

Children Play with Toys

Humans and primates create and refine tools

The act of tool making is older and more “natural” than written language

Humans evolved alongside technology

Homo Sapiens evolved into physically weak animals because of the mental ability to make tools, control fire, and domesticate animals.

Opposable Thumb

The ability to control and manipulate objects, not just build shelter

Why does creating tools and designing objects seem difficult to people, when the process is inherently so human?

Do we think that technology = “high tech” ?

Have we become so specialized in our jobs that we no longer have to fashion tools, clothes, food products, furniture, shelter, spears, saddles, pots, etc. for ourselves?

Examples of Early Engineers

Farmers

Settlers

Potters

Weavers

Tailors

Blacksmiths

Painters/Artists

Engineering in the 20 th Century

Defined as masculine

Institutions offering curriculum in the areas of technology

Large, organized, and profitable enterprises employing many engineers

Emphasis on the need to understand the underlying science in order to manipulate materials

Where is new technology found?

Places of high productivity allowing groups of people devote their attention to technology creation

Good public education with incentives for studying engineering.

Adequate energy and infrastructure for supporting businesses.

Higher wages and an economic market that make technology accessible to all.

Legal, political, and economic systems that protect intellectual property and promote innovation.

How does Technology develop?

Technology evolves.

Devices and systems start simple and become increasingly complex.

Ideas are borrowed and poached constantly.

You can not own or patent an idea.

Sir Isaac Newton once said,

"If I have been able to see farther than others, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants."

Do you see a similarity? Wood Lathe Apple Peeler Corer

So Why is Technological Literacy Important?

It gives one an understanding of the world

Demystifies, Simplifies

Affects how we think, act, vote, and make decisions.

Increases our capabilities and effectiveness

The goal of Technology Literacy is to provide people with the tools to participate intelligently in the world around them. Technically Speaking National Academy of Engineering The world around us is becoming increasingly more technological.

Technological Literacy and the Common Good

"I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.“

Thomas Jefferson, 1820

3 rd President

Great Populist

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." TJ

"Light and liberty go together.“ TJ

Technology Literacy and Ensuring Our Democracy If we want to ensure democracy we have to participate in our government. In order to participate we have to have knowledge about the issues at hand. More and more issues have a technological component of which we must educate ourselves.

Some Technological Issues that depend on a public decision:

Stem Cell Research

Oil Drilling in Alaska

Biofuels as substitutes for fossil fuels

Fuel Efficiency Standards in Cars

Regulating CO 2 Emissions

Genetically Modified Foods

Type of Warfare

Utility Deregulation

Local Cell Phone Towers …..

Technological decision making is influenced by science, engineering, politics, ethics, law, economic markets, energy, the environment, and people.

Course Focus

To gain an understanding of the workings of some everyday technology including assessing constraints and trade-offs.

Understand that technology reflects cultural values and people shape technology.

To ask questions about new technologies.

To make informed decisions about technology.

To experiment with some basic laws of nature.

To debate the effectiveness of something

To explain how something works

To explain why it works as it does

All Technology has trade-offs and nothing is black and white (nothing is perfect)

The trade-offs of DDT

DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane - an effective pesticide was introduced in 1939.

DDT is very effective at killing mosquitoes and so it was used to control the spread of Malaria and other insect-borne diseases.

Paul Hermann Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1948 for his contribution towards developing DDT.

DDT being sprayed on Long Island, NY Beaches in 1945 DDT being used In Africa to control Malaria 1956 Central Valley farm workers standing naked in line to be sprayed with DDT

Malaria Stats

Forty-one percent of the world's population live in areas where malaria is transmitted

Each year 350–500 million cases of malaria occur worldwide, and over one million people die, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malaria caused 10.7% of all children's deaths in developing countries.

Between 1957 and 2003, in the United States, 63 outbreaks of locally transmitted mosquito-borne malaria have occurred.

National Geographic

While good at controlling mosquitoes, DDT harmed wildlife.

DDT has a ½ life of 15 years , and so persists for a long time in the environment.

Biologist Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962 warning us of the implications of indiscriminate spraying of insecticides without knowing the effects on the environment, particularly birds.

Bald Eagle Pairs - Year/#pairs 1963 - 417 pairs 1974 - 791 pairs 1984 - 1795 pairs 1994 - 4449 pairs 1998 - 5948 pairs 2006 - 9789 pairs Source: USFWS Region 3. DDT bioaccumulation in the eagle's fatty tissue blocked the female's ability to produce calcium, causing the egg shell walls to thin, making them vulnerable during incubation.

In 1972 the EPA banned DDT because of its "unreasonable adverse effects on man and the environment."

Studies in the intervening years have demonstrated that while its acute effects on humans and primates are mild at worst, DDT has a very heavy impact on aquatic life and the avian populations which feed on them.

Wikipedia

Bald Eagles removed from Endangered Species List

"Today I am proud to announce: the eagle has returned," said Secretary Kempthorne. "In 1963, the lower 48 states were home to barely 400 nesting pairs of bald eagles. Today, after decades of conservation effort, they are home to some 10,000 nesting pairs, a 25-fold increase in the last 40 years. June 28, 2007

Dirk Kempthorne – Secretary Of the Interior.

So is that the end to the DDT story?

The World Health Organization today announced a major policy change. It's actively backing the controversial pesticide DDT as a way to control malaria. Malaria kills about 1 million people a year, mainly children, and mainly in Africa.

A number of major environmental groups support the limited use of DDT , such as spraying only inside of houses and huts once or twice a year. That type of use is supported by the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense.

NPR: All Things Considered, Sept. 15, 2006

“ GMOs” Genetically Modified Organism No GMO’s

“ GMOs” Genetically Modified Organism

In 1999, US Farmers planted approximately 70 million acres of genetically modified crops.

36% of corn is genetically modified

55% of soybean is genetically modified

43% of cotton is genetically modified

With recombinant DNA technology DNA molecules from different sources are combined in vitro into one molecule to create a new gene. This modified DNA is then transferred into an organism causing the expression of modified or novel traits. The term "GMO" does not cover organisms thats genetic makeup has been altered by conventional cross breeding Wikipedia

Why genetically modify food? Proponents say…

The organism is altered to produce a protein that defends the crop against pests, therefore less chemical pesticide is applied.

Or the organism is altered to make corn resistant to herbicides, such as Round Up TM

Monsanto’s “Round-Up Ready” seed

The organism is altered to produce more nutritional value, e.g. rice with beta carotene

What some proponents of GMOs don’t say…

A GMO can be patented. Ownership of an organism means profits.

A GMO can spread to areas where it is not wanted, forcing it onto unwilling farmers.

A genetically altered food may contain allergens not found in the food’s pure form, causing possibly fatal allergic reactions.

What Opponents say…

Perhaps these GMOs are not safe to consume.

Organic food retail sales in the U.S. was estimated at $7.8 billion in 2000, a 20% increase over 1999 sales (source: The U.S. Organic Food Market, Packaged Facts) , so is there is need for genetically modified foods?