The class, to begin with, started with possible definitions of Technology. The following were the four different definitions of Technology:
Abitha : Technology is the time dependent knowledge that is acquired from science, applications of science, engineering and arts, to design processes, products or systems for the betterment of the comfort of the mankind.
Ajay : Technology is a time dependent knowledge system that describes processes that apply science to best suit human aspirations.
Nathalie : Technology is what man creates to achieve specific goals/ tasks using their knowledge.
Krupa : Technology is defined as science and its application which is implemented for the betterment of the society.
After having defined technology as they saw it, the students were asked to come up with an example of something that they consider not to be a technology. Mathematical equations were cited as an example of something that not a technology by Nathalie. But the mathematical equations being knowledge, was argued to be a technology as per the definition given by Ajay. While this argument went on the Prof. Anuradha cited ‘Nature’ and the ‘Natural phenomenon’ as something that is not Technology which was disagreed with by Abitha, who cited an example of a waterfall, which exists in nature but still has technology involved in it. That kindled an interesting discussion on Nature and Natural phenomena; whether these were Technology or had technology involved in them or not. Abitha continued to defend her statement saying that aeration and the other processes involved in the waterfall, which apparently leads to the treatment of water definitely had technology involved in it which was supported by Krupa but was firmly disagreed with by Ajay and Nathalie. Then a series of question followed and their respective answers are as follows:
· Is knowledge a part of technology?
- Krupa – “Yes knowledge is definitely a part of the technology. If you acquire knowledge how can anyone possibly come with a technology?”
· Is man the sole creator of technology?
- Abitha – “Definitely not. Nature had its own technologies which the man tries to imitate all the time”
· Are all the existing technologies imitated from nature and got from nature?
- Abitha – “Yes, the idea to create every single technology comes from nature and the various processes in nature (which could be called technology)”.
- Prof. Chanakya – “How about the steam engine? Then who could man possibly invent DDT, atom bomb etc? Where is it present in nature?”
- Krupa – “Man would definitely have observed some phenomenon in nature which inspired him to come up with such inventions”.
· Does technology already exist in nature, even before man came into existence?
- Abitha – “ Yes, technology did exist even before man did”
- Ajay – “Waterfall can never be called a technology. Technology comes from man”
- Nathalie – “Technology is what man creates. Nature can never have technology in it”
- Krupa – “ Nature cannot be a technology by itself, but it does have technology involved in it”
- Nathalie – “Then do you say that human body by itself is a technology?’
- Abitha – “Yes. The human body does have technology involved in it. Digestion could be an example. It involves processes which could be called a technology”
· What is an artificial technology? Is there something called a natural technology?
Abitha – “Artificial technology is something that is created by man and Natural is what already exists in nature”
Prof. Asha – “Then, do you call a robot as an artificial technology?”
Abitha – “Yes I do”
Prof. Anuradha – “Do you think that all the materials used in it come from nature?”
Krupa – “Yes every single component used in making it comes from nature”
· Is a bird, actually creating a technology by building nests?
Ajay and Abitha said that it could be called a technology but Nathalie and Krupa didn’t.
· Is waterfall a technological phenomenon?
- No comments
· Can nature be called a technology?
- The question still remains unanswered.
Each one of them was trying to figure out the distinction between science, technology and nature which would possibly be done in the coming classes. To help solve this puzzle, the students are asked to look into the definitions of technology, technique, knowledge, science and nature.
Lastly, each of the students were asked to come up with a ‘Dream Technology’ which they intend to create and it was made a note of by Prof. Chanakya. The class ended with a question which will be answered by the students in the coming classes:
‘Which part of your dream is science, knowledge, technology and understanding? And what inspired to dream one such technology? ‘
thanks Abitha for this summary. The others in class, do add/ comment to this. You can also start uploading your readings of the various definitions you have been asked to look for.
I sound like the bad guy!
ReplyDeleteanyway we also noted that there could possibly be multiple truths regarding definitions of technology
Here are some definitions I've found (most of them are from Wikipidia) :
ReplyDelete- Technologie:
*Technology is the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or create an artistic perspective. The word technology comes from the Greek technología (τεχνολογία) — téchnē (τέχνη), an "art", "skill" or "craft" and -logía (-λογία), the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include construction technology, medical technology, information technology, or high technology
*technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them. (definition by an American sociologist, Read Bain, in 1937)
*technology, the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life or, as it is sometimes phrased, to the change and manipulation of the human environment. (definition from the Encyclopedia Britannica)
- Nature
Nature is a word used in two major sets of ways in English and other European languages. These meanings are inter-connected in a complex way, for reasons related to the history of science, epistemology and metaphysics, particularly in Western Civilization.
1. In modern scientific writing "nature" refers to all directly observable phenomena of the "physical" or material universe, and it is contrasted only with any other sort of existence, such as spiritual or supernatural existence. In a scientific text, the unqualified term “nature” normally means the same as “the cosmos” or “the universe”.
2. Historically, and also in casual speech, “nature” does not include all things, because it excludes the artificial or man-made. For example it generally does not include manufactured objects, and also generally does not include human interaction. In this case, the unqualified term “nature” generally means the same as “wilderness” or “the Natural environment”.
Connected to this second meaning, "nature" also refers to the essential properties of any particular type of thing, which exist apart from particular things, for example in the phrase "human nature".
- Knowledge
(i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject;(ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information; or (iii) be absolutely certain or sure about something (definition from oxford british dictionnary)
- Science
Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") is an enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the world