Technology, from ground up | A brief account of technology alongside civilization

Technology, as of today is handheld, pocketed, mobile and accessible to anywhere in the map. In fact, one can also access maps with these pieces of technology. And this is of tremendous help, and at the same time is influencing whatever we believe in and the cultures of people at a broader scale. And from all of this, it is easily considered as something new, though the term is something new, but the idea that the word technology represents exists in almost all the chapters of human history. And thus, has some of the greatest stories of human civilization associated with the idea that technology represents, and makes a great topic to write on.Let’s begin by understanding what technology is? Where is its origin in human history? And what is this idea being talked about that this term “technology” represents?

What is technology?

It would be nice to begin with the term, “technology”. It is a mixture of two greek words “technē”, meaning ‘art, craft’, and the term “logos”, meaning ‘word, speech’. So, basically at that age, technology was just knowledge of art and craft. And this seems legit, as even today technology is just like a great piece of art.

Initially, upon introduction in 17th century  English, the term meant or pointed to any discussions and related things on applied arts, then gradually with time it became more of tools and devices being used to shape applied arts and sometimes the products of applied arts. And then with time the term increased its range of definition by including processes and ideas and tools and associated knowledge. And in the process, somewhere the applied arts simply just sloughed off of the definition. And we forgot about applied arts as the beginning of technology. But, till date, in some perspectives technology is nothing else than applied arts.

Let’s take a closer look at breakthroughs and events that shaped applied arts into technology.

From artists to techs

Beginning of it all

Even before the term technology arrived on the face of the planet, or even before English as a language came into existence, technology was there, it was just not called technology, maybe it was called nothing, i.e. there was no dedicated sound referring to this idea of development of tools or applied arts and associated knowledge, or discussions related to those. When this concept of termless technology is taken into account we can trace back technology to the earliest of our ancestors, who thought of upgrading their hunting tools/weapons from simple rock and sticks to sharpened obsidian/rocks tied at the tip of a stick. Yup! Technology comes from our need to kill others in order to survive (though that will be a rough generalization, but seems dramatic).

The farmers walk in

Around 12000 years ago, we unlocked another technology. This time it is not about killing someone for our needs, but the opposite for the same purpose. We learned to grow plants in our own backyards, so by this time we no longer need to go out in the forest to hunt wolves or gather berries.

Yes, hunters were the first to lose their job to technology. First time in the history of human existence, somebody lost their job.

But, this was not tragic though. As simultaneously they shifted to farming. And this revolutionized the way we lived for the rest of history, our population seen a boom for the first time.

 From this time, those who didn’t shift to farming went on to become artists, who were makers (of tools, arts and new ideas). And from this point our brain started to create really complex things, like society, politics, levers, wheels, and of course, hard to understand arts and buildings. And from this stage onward technology, though non-existence as a term, unofficially became something of an artists’ affair.

And around these farmlands, some had superior connectivity, and thus became the center of civilizations for centuries to come, like the mesopotamia, egypt, indus valley, etc. All these cities, gifted by farmers became not only hubs for civilization, but also the hub for innovation. Look, cities hold in it large numbers of people, who doesn’t have the same job, or in other words every body is involved in different activities to ensure the running of the city society as a whole. This way, specialization became a thing.

And somewhere around all these, in around 7th century, “Technology” got its place in english dictionary.

Industries set up

Specialization is not something efficient, unless you are doing it in bulk. And bulk manufacturing of goods and services require specialized tools, besides specialized personnels and knowledge of the tools. And around this time technology became more of a specialized thing, than something an artist would admire (In the sense that an artist would like his art to be understood by whoever sees it). It became knowledge of tools and processes only that boosts production of goods or services.

By this time, technology has really become specific, from a general talk about arts to a set of instructions on how to operate a machine or how a chemical process should be performed, and instruction of how to set up some more instructions, etc.

It remains this way, not much changed in the terminology, and the way we think of it for like one and a half century. Though technology in itself evolved as a field or discipline, and various progress and developments were made in our technologies, it went from man-powered to steam powered to electric powered.

Then two greatest wars of human history were fought, and technology truly showed its potential. It changed the outcome of the war, wherever it could.

But, this was not the complete picture. Around the end of the second great war, some people developed something called the internet, and it soon found its place in how we define technology. Though it would take some more decades to cause an outburst, but that outburst is being seeded around this time.

The “tech guy” is born

Today, we know the internet has impacted our life so badly that without it, the whole of our social structure, economy and transport and everything will just collapse. And at the core of all of it, ones who keeps the system alive are called the tech guy or techie. They are the ones who these days have somehow became the posterboy of technology, and that’s not wrong. They are the people who keep track of new things being included and implement them, and at the same time they are the people who bring those changes for good.

Today, whatever we call technology, cell phone, laptop, desktop, internet, cell tower, all are being maintained and upgraded and renovated by these people, they sit unbeknownst to us at the core of our “modern day” society.

At this point of time technology has come to things that are virtual, yet are able to impact us. Social media, websites, content sharing, trading, all are now part of our life, and through these technologies associated with outer space, distant planets, reusable rockets, stargazing and totally unrelated things to our life now matter to us.

And this is technology today.

Well, the article is getting too long at this point, so it is broken up into two pieces, and this is the introductory one, concluding one will be released soon.