The document discusses the history and social impact of technology. It notes that early technological advances like tools, wheels and textiles improved quality of life and enabled human growth. More recent medical advances such as antibiotics and surgeries have saved many lives. The document examines different perspectives on how technology develops and its relationship with society, including how social structures influence technological diffusion. It also explores some negative environmental and social impacts of technology and argues that technological solutions will be needed to address problems created by earlier advances.

1. Professor Kelly Woods,
Social Impact of Technology
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Sarah Young, 200283592

2.  As a species homo sapiens have always sought ways to
make life’s tasks easier.
 Early tech. improved quality of life and allowed for
species growth; tools, wheels, textiles, cooking of food
are just a few early technological advances.
 As living comforts improved focus turned to medical
improvements. Antibiotics, Insulin and antiviral
medications are responsible for saving countless lives.
Surgical advances have also provided lifesaving
techniques to many, many people.
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3. It is easy to use a word and not ever truly
think about what it means. But what is
Technology really?
 Could it be thought of as the art of science?
 Technologies aid people in performing tasks.
 Most tech. is reliant on previous tech. For example,
humans needed to harness the use of fire before we
developed pots or culinary skills enabling us to cook.
 Organization is an essential element to the success of
technology.
 Fundamental requirements for tech. advance is the
development of tools and techniques to use them.
“Technology
has to be
invented or
adopted.”
-Jared Diamond-
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4.  With the intention of advancement or progress, the human drive has focused on
technological advance. Technologies have become essential to the success of the
Homo sapiens species.
 The idea that there are things to be fixed or improved upon may have been an
initial driver, however, the use of technologies has brought a need for new and
improved technology.
 Roads and the use of motorized vehicles have created an enormous environmental
burden. The need to mitigate this burden and it’s effect has charged us with the
task of improving upon existing models and even developing new ones.
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5.  Social constructivism is the idea that technology
requires a social structure in order to exist. Humans
are social creatures and thus through our interactions
we are able to learn about and share technology.
 Since social structures do tend to follow a hierarchical
structure it can be said that power is not evenly
distributed. A select few truly make the decisions, the
same is likely to be true of which technologies
advance.
 All tech. is dependent upon another piece of tech. that
came before. It therefore a social structure and should
be recognized as system and not individual.
 Genius’ exists but often rely on the skills of others to
market and develop their ideas/inventions into
widespread use. The work that happens behind the
scenes is often overlooked.
(Rose, 2015)
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6.  Technologies sometimes become better over time. As
problems with tech. arise the use of scientific testing is
useful in developing more efficient alternatives.
 The use of technologies that are developed for
alternative uses to improve upon another technology is
another valuable source of tech. advance.
 In manufacturing common practices have been
developed and adopted across industry. Henry Fords
production line approach to manufacturing is still used
today and has become an efficient production method.
 Some advances are independent of a need to solve a
problem. These advances are far less frequent and can
often have major implications on social behaviours.
Often the importance or even the applications of such
technologies can go unrecognized for long periods of time
until their usefulness is recognized.
“[T]hrough a combination
of cumulative
improvements in both
the engine and the fuel
it burned that the
internal combustion
engine reached and
acceptably high level of
efficiency, (Volti, 2014)”.
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7. Democratic Society
 Adopt technologies from around the
world
 The people are encouraged to learn
and obtain information from the
world that could be of value.
 High rate of technological diffusion
Communist Society
 Adopt technologies that were
developed in their society
 The people are allowed only the
information which is approved by
government.
 Low rate of technological diffusion
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• The Diffusion of technology refers to the way in which a technology gets adopted
by populations. It is not enough for something useful to be invented, it also must
be applied to uses in everyday life in order to be successful.
• Different populations require different technologies to be applied in specific
ways. The use of alternative or intermediate technologies is sometimes necessary
for proper adaptation.

8.  There is little doubt that the environment has paid an enormous price for human
innovation. The consequences of technological advance have too often been
realized after the fact.
 A small portion of the human species is responsible for consuming the bulk of
resources. Depleting resources such as sensitive aquifers is having consequences
that cannot be ignored for long.
 Health effects caused by emissions from vehicles and industry are being
suspected of contributing to a rise in respiratory related illnesses.
 The “greenhouse” effect is believed to be a result of the suns energy being unable
to escape through the blanket of emissions containing harmful greenhouse gases.
 Deforestation, air, water and soil pollution, habitat destruction, all in the name of
technological advance. We are facing an age where ironically, it is time to use
technological advance in order to fix some of the problems our species has helped
to create. The need for technological innovation has never seen such urgency!
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9. (Appelbaum, 1996)
9(agrivi, n.d.)

10.  Technology that is possessed today relies on
enormous energy inputs.
 Cell phones, laptop and tablets, home appliances and
environmental control systems all require enormous
energy consumption.
 Nuclear power has seen some devastating
environmental disasters yet here in Ontario it is still
the top source of energy production.
 Fossil fuels have been depleted at an unsustainable
rate. Their extraction has scarred the planet in a way
that makes recovery extremely difficult if possible at
all.
 Emissions produced by the burning of fossil fuels
accounts for much of the build up of GHGs in the
atmosphere.
[T]he product of nuclear
plants is electricity, and
electricity has it’s
limitations. Electricity is
not a primary source of
energy; it is a means of
transmitting energy, and as
much as 10% of the energy
used to generate electricity
is lost during transmission
(Volti, 2014)”.
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11.  Medical advances have advanced with the expansion
of modern medicine; from wound care to antibiotics
for infectious diseases and surgical advances with
hearts and transplants.
 With the advance of medical care and lifesaving
techniques the ethics of medical advance are subject
to scrutiny.
 Rudi Volti, Society and Technological Change, states
that British neurologist Bryan Jennett devised a
method to determine the appropriateness of a medical
technology. The criteria where as follows;
Unnecessary – is the patients condition to advanced?
Unsafe - Do the complications outweigh the benefits?
Unkind- Will it just prolong suffering?
Unwise- Does it divert resources that could be put to
better use?
“Advances in
medicine and
agriculture have
saved vastly more
lives than have been
lost in all the wars in
history, (Sagan,
1997)”.
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12.  There have been many times throughout history where changing technology has
rendered a certain workforce obsolete.
 Fear of job loss to new technologies is not irrational. The Luddites rebelled against
British industrial changes in the early 1800s in protest of machinery taking over
their jobs, (Conniff, 2011).
 As technologies advance it is necessary to redirect labour and retrain individuals
for new jobs. Web designers, Geographical Information Systems technicians and
medical technology technicians are a few new jobs that have been created with
recent tech. advances.
 Machinery is useful but it does require maintenance and monitoring and therefore
does not entirely eliminate the workforce.
 The service sector has seen enormous growth since the 1950s while the
manufacturing sector has only seen minimal growth.
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13.  Before there was the ability to print information had to be passed through
generations by word of mouth.
 Early cave paintings can give us some idea about what life was like for past
civilizations. Information was able to be stored for the future.
 The development of written languages allowed for information to be stored in
detail but had the downfall of having to be re-written to create additional copies.
 Printing began in China in the eleventh century with the invention of movable
“clay type set in wax matrix, (Volti, 2014)”.
 The Gutenberg press that came in the 1400’s allowed for the printing of books in
larger quantities making the same information available to the population (those
who could read).
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14.  “The internet can be described as a giant network of smaller computer networks
that allows user to access files located anywhere within these individual smaller
networks, (Volti, 2014)”.
 The files that are contained in these networks contain information that can now
be instantly accessed and shared.
 Originally developed for military use it quickly became apparent that the uses of
this technology were widespread and made available for public use.
 E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, You-Tube and countless other electronic
communication and media applications have been developed and have created a
whole new way of communicating
 The creation of smartphones has made it possible to bring the internet with you
wherever you go. The need for information sharing has grown and it is not
difficult to find a place to connect and access the world wide web.
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15. • Many advances have been made
in combat techniques since the
times of the knight in armor.
• The sword and shield are no
longer efficient in a world of air
strikes and high powered rifles.
• Drones and specialized fighters
dominate the world of warfare
• Technological advances in the
military have advanced
democratic societies to where
they are today. The internet and
GPS systems are two significant
advances that the public have
access to due to military advance
(Washington Post, 2013)
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16.  Cultural lag is the time it takes between a new technology being released and
being implemented in a population for use. “[P]redicated on the belief that habits,
thoughts, values, and social arrangements often fail to change at the same speed
as technological innovation, (Volti, 2014)”.
 With many people around the world using the same technologies is it possible we
will end up at the same place technologically? This is the idea of the “Convergence
Theory, (Volti, 2014)”. It is easy to see how this might occur when looking at an
industry such as manufacturing that has begun to adopt best manufacturing
practices across the industry.
 There are some countries that limit the amount of technology and information
available to their citizens. It is interesting to think that these countries may also
end up at the same place technologically though at a slower rate.
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17.  We would like to believe that ideally the experts are
in control of technological advance, but is that really
the way it is?
 There are many specialist that are trained in a
specific area of technological expertise but are not
much good for solving problems outside of their
knowledge base.
 The advance of tech. through experts has the
downside that there can be no opposition to an expert
opinion except by that of other experts.
 Many experts are employees of corporations and
organizations and it is therefore difficult to trust the
ethical position of these “experts”.
“Frances Bacon formulated
a famous maxim:
“knowledge is
power”, (Volti, 2014).”
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18.  Through grants, tax incentives and deductions, it is possible for government to
influence the direction of technological advance. In this way it is possible to
influence technologies such as green technologies.
 Research and development is often funded by government, especially when
economic and military advance is concerned.
 Corporate influence over government is another issue that has an affect on tech.
advance. “[L]arge farmer provide the bedrock of political support for the
Department of Agriculture, and as a result this agency has primarily sponsored
technological developments that benefit its most important and powerful clientele,
(Volti, 2014).”
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19. agrivi. (n.d.). Soil degradation. Retrieved from www.agrivi.com: http://www.agrivi.com/soil-
degradation/
Appelbaum, R. P. (1996). Global Climate Change and What Can Be Done About It. Retrieved from
www.soc.ucsb.edu: http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/projects/casemethod/appelbaum.html
Conniff, R. (2011, MARCH ). What the Luddites Really Fought Against. Retrieved from
www.smithsonianmag.com: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-really-
fought-against-264412/?no-ist
Rose, E. (2015, February 6). Emma Rose Creates. Retrieved from www.emma-rose-creates.com:
http://www.emma-rose-creates.com/tag/technology/
Sagan, C. (1997). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark .
Volti, R. (2014). Society and Technological Change, Seventh Edition. New York: Worth Publishers.
Washington Post. (2013, February 14). Why the Pentagon hates drone warfare (Commentary). Retrieved
from silive.com:
http://www.silive.com/opinion/columns/index.ssf/2013/02/why_the_pentagon_hates_drone_
w.html
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