3. What is it?

What is it?

So what is technology? Easy: it’s computers and hovercraft and steam engines and cyborgs and remotely operated sex toys and stuff, right? Well yes, but actually it’s not so easy. Although extremely common, the term ‘technology’ is not as well defined as its usage might suggest [1]. The difficulty in finding a satisfactory definition means that some critical writers on the subject prefer to always refer to specific technologies or technological processes, rather than technology as an abstract concept.

Rather than evaluating the various formal definitions of technology, or coming up with our own, we’ll instead present a very quick introduction to how the word is and has been used.

As well as being somewhat difficult to define, the term is also relatively new. Despite a very long history of tool use and ‘technological’ development, the word technology only became widely used in the 20th century. It is formed from a combination of Greek τέχνη, techne, “art, skill, cunning of hand”; and -λογία, -logia, roughly translating as “science of craft”, and originated as a translation of the German word technik [2].

In discussions around technology, certain ideas are frequently repeated. Most definitions refer to things (tools, machines or techniques) being used to solve problems or satisfy human needs or purposes. It is also generally accepted that the tools and machines need not be physical, that things such as organisational methods or computer software fall under the definition of technology. So does this mean something like language counts as a technology? Maybe, maybe not. Some, such as W. Brian Arthur, use extremely broad definitions, extending the meaning of ‘a technology’ as far as “a means to fulfil a human purpose” [3].

Science also often comes up in writing about technology and many definitions of technology refer to the the application of scientific knowledge to do something. They are certainly closely related to one another, with scientific discoveries allowing the creation of new technologies, and technological development allowing further observation, measurement and analysis. In fact, science and technology are so intimately connected that it is often difficult to distinguish between them.

Stemming from this, the understanding of nature through observation and measurement, and the ability to influence or even control natural processes and our environment are other common themes in technology.

Technology also concerns the interaction between the technological tools and techniques and the people and systems that create, use or are affected by them. The idea of technology includes a social context and there is a continually evolving relationship with other aspects of society or culture. Technologies are hugely influenced by ideologies and social structures, such as capitalism, and act as real world manifestations of the ideas behind them.

So technology includes tools and machines, needs and desires; it involves science, society and nature, and it is inherently political.

We will look into these various aspects of technology. In the next chapter we give a critical look at the dominant modern idea of technology, one that treats it as apolitical, inevitable, that represents human progress and is based on domination of nature. Where did these ideas come from and why are they important to discussions around technology today? In the rest of the book we take a broader view, one that sees technology as not necessarily based on the manipulation and control of nature, or the most efficient means to achieve a specific end. Instead we approach it as something that is part of wider culture and has the potential to be used in a way that encourages harmonious relationships between humans and with nature.