The quest to understand ‘Technology’ and what it means to discuss it
In my 20 years of life, it feels like “technology” has been my imaginary friend. It always follows me, I use it to identify myself, to describe the many ideas I have, even I go to a college that has the word “Technology” in it, and yet, somehow, I still don’t seem to understand what it really encompasses.
Origins
Etymology wise, Technology itself originates from the Greek word Techne, “which means art, skill, craft, or the way, manner”, or “means by which a thing is gained”, and logia, which means “word, the utterance by which inward thought is expressed.” These two words would form into Technologia, which roughly means words or discourse about the way things are gained.
Of course, this makes no sense in our modern world, but the problem is, a word is merely a symbol that is subject to semantic change: the evolution of meaning, and Technologia are one of the many words in the english language that has a radically different meaning from its origin. So then, where do we start when discussing the contemporary meaning of Technology?
When we think of Technology, we picture computers, electricity, engines, but the word itself was not well known until the 20th century. In his book, David Nye states that before the 20th century, Technology was mostly used to refer to a “systematic study of the arts, specifically the mechanical” and even so people pictured technology as a book or a collection of studies of certain skills, like a “technology” of glassmaking, blacksmithing, etc.
Today’s modern meaning of technology are mostly owed to the Germans, who used the word “Technik” and “Teknologie” which were used by engineers and were used to refer to “the totality of tools, machines, systems and processes used in the practical arts and engineering.” The term Technik would evolve into technics, until it died out to make way for Technology. By then, Lewis Mumford in his book Technics and Civilization states that “The machine cannot be divorced from its larger social pattern; for it is this pattern that gives it meaning and purpose.” It is this quote by Mumford that became the foundation of what is defined as technology going forwards. And with the aggregation of what the Tech Liberation Front has compiled, we can loosely define technology as not merely the inventions humans (and other sentient beings) invent, but also how the symbiotic relationship humans form as a consequence of said invention. I would also add the famous words of Marshall McLuhan, which is not intended to be a definition to Technology, but a welcoming simplification of what it encompasses: “First we build the tools, then they build us.”
A we slowly understand and accept a definition of what technology is, we face a new question that might be even harder to answer: what isn’t technology then?
The Contemporary Technological Discourse
Today, technology is seemingly everywhere, and more integrated with our lives than it has ever been, and as a consequence, the term is again muddled as corporations and marketers mix technology into their new shiny products. The result of this spike in usage made technology more context dependent than ever, so much that Technology seems to revolve exclusively around the electronics industry.
The problem with the heavy marketing of technology is that most present it as a futurist concept, and thus very little space is given for people in understanding the broader definition of technology. The current discussion around technology is seemingly very focused on a very utopian future where we dream of technological advancements improving our lives today, and it’s easy to miss the bigger picture.
Many technological movements such as Appropriate Technology, which is seemingly the opposite of technological advancement often gets drown out from the limelight of technological discussion due to this thought of technology being linear and strictly futuristic. The definition of technology itself is in within its very nature; unpredictable and evolutionary, and the discourse of technology should embody this philosophy.
