Technology, also referred to as the transformation and manipulation of the human environment, is the application of scientific knowledge to the practical goals of human life.
A number of articles cover the topic of technology. See history of technology; hand tool for general treatment. See elastomers, industrial ceramics, industrial glass, metallurgy, mineral deposit, mineral processing, mining, and plastic for descriptions of the materials that serve as both the target of environmental manipulation and the tool for it. See energy conversion, coal mining, coal use, petroleum production, and petroleum refining for information on the production of energy. See history of agriculture, agricultural economics, beekeeping, beer, cereal farming, coffee, commercial fishing, dairy farming, distilled spirits, food preservation, animal husbandry, poultry farming, and soft drink manufacture for treatment of the production of food. One of our world's buzzwords, "technology," is also one of the most muddled. It appears essential as an analytical category for our comprehension of the entire history of humanity, and perhaps even further. It's probably safe to say that humans have been using tools since the Paleolithic, and a variety of species, from crows to chimpanzees, have even been found to utilize tools. Though related concepts like techno, arts, and so on have a considerably longer history, "technology" as an actor's category is fairly new. But even for a relatively new English word, "technology" has come to encompass a variety of frequently contradictory meanings. I have three objectives for this essay review. I'll start by summarizing Eric Schatzberg's significant new book Technology,
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'Technology' is one of our world's buzzwords, but it's also one of the most muddled. It appears essential as an analytical category for our comprehension of the entire history of humanity, and perhaps even further. It's probably safe to say that humans have been using tools since the Paleolithic, and a variety of species, from crows to chimpanzees, have even been found to utilize tools. Though related concepts like techno, arts, and so on have a considerably longer history, "technology" as an actor's category is fairly new. But even for a relatively new English word, "technology" has come to encompass a variety of frequently contradictory meanings. I have three objectives for this essay review.
Schatzberg takes pains to place these claims in their proper context. Aristotle was defending an aristocratic social structure in which those at the top might have had the freedom and time to reflect on the eternal as well as the assurance of philosophy that they knew how to behave well, while those at the bottom who had to work to produce the necessities of life possessed techno. However, as Pamela Long and Serafihc Cuomo, among others, have observed, there were always conflicts within the hierarchy because aristocratic society still required construction, and artisans occasionally disputed their inferior position. Nevertheless, the Roman elite culture inherited the Greek elite's disdain for the "basic," or simple, manual, arts.
The hierarchy persisted even though techno, or the Latin translation art, of Aristotle's subtle distinctions,
As political, military, and commercial power increased starting in the fifteenth century, Schaumburg, following Long, refers to this as the "new alliance of techno and praxis," which encouraged a "surge in authorship about the mechanical arts," some of which was produced by a humanist elite and some of which was produced by craftspeople themselves (pp. 43–4). The "problem with techno"—that it would upend the social order—remained, though, as this was not an alliance of equals. Despite having a slightly altered rank, the mechanical arts remained inferior. The New Organ and New Atlantis, two of Francis Bacon's publications, serve as illustrative examples of the academic movement to "reject the categorical separation of science and material practice without opposing the established hierarchy of head over hand" Technicians,
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