CHAPTER 2 - L4 Flashcards
The term technology, a combination of the Greek words:
technē, “art, craft,”
logos “word, speech,”
The term technology meant in Greece a:
discourse on the arts, both fine and applied.
When it first appeared in English in the 17th century, technology was used to mean a
discussion of the applied arts only
When it first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was used to mean a discussion of the applied arts only, and gradually these “arts” themselves came to be the object of the _______
designation
By the ________, the term embraced a growing range of means, processes, and ideas in addition to tools and machines.
early 20th century
By mid-century, technology was defined by such phrases as ________
“the means or activity by which man seeks to change or manipulate his environment.”
Another aspect of the cumulative character of technology that will require further investigation is the
manner of transmission of technological innovations
This is an _______, and it is necessary to accept the phenomenon of simultaneous or parallel invention in cases in which there is insufficient evidence to show the transmission of ideas in one direction or another.
elusive problem
The mechanics of their transmission have been enormously improved in recent centuries by the _______ and other means of communication and also by the increased facility with which travelers visit the sources of innovation and carry ideas back to their own homes.
printing press
Traditionally, however, the major mode of transmission has been the _______
movement of artifacts and craftsmen.
_____ in artifacts has ensured their widespread distribution and encouraged imitation.
Trade
Even more important, the _______ —whether the itinerant metalworkers of early civilizations or the German rocket engineers whose expert knowledge was acquired by both the Soviet Union and the United States after World War II—has promoted the spread of new technologies.
migration of craftsmen
The evidence for such processes of technological transmission is a reminder that the material for the study of the history of technology comes from a ________.
variety of sources
Much of it relies, like any _______, on documentary matter, although this is sparse for the early civilizations because of the general lack of interest in technology on the part of scribes and chroniclers.
historical examination
For these societies, therefore, and for the many millennia of earlier unrecorded history in which slow but substantial technological advances were made, it is necessary to rely heavily upon _______
archaeological evidence
Even in connection with the recent past, the historical understanding of the processes of rapid industrialization can be made deeper and more vivid by the study of ________
“industrial archaeology.”
(Industrial Technology)
Much valuable material of this nature has been accumulated in museums, and even more remains in the place of its use for the observation of the ______
field worker.
The ______ must be prepared to use all these sources, and to call upon the skills of the archaeologist, the engineer, the architect, and other specialists as appropriate.
historian of technology
The biology field is a particularly impacted domain by ______
ethical questions
Some example, such as the control of the _______ show that some technologies have led to tremendous improvement of the quality of life for many families, even if they raised ethical questions at the very beginning.
IVF (In Vitro Fertilization),
But sometimes, technical progress leads to disturbing applications, which makes us wonder:
should we accept everything?
Examples of _____ are given in the TED talk (Root Wolpe, 2010): can we accept bioluminescent monkeys or human ears grafted on rats in the name of technological progress?
“designed animals”
This technology is often compared to molecular scissors as it allows to cut a pre-selected chosen gene, and potentially replace it with another one.
CRISPR/Cas9
In the field of ______, another polemic is ongoing for a year or two about a relatively new technique, called CRISPR/Cas9.
genetic manipulation
