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Technology And Soceity

Historical Evolution of Technology and its Impact on Society

The history of technology can be defined as being the development over time of

systematic techniques for making and doing things. There may not be a specific date at which

technology was first used, but technology has been in affect since the beginning of time. It has

been said by many historians that the first degree of specialized tool making is accredited to the

Neanderthal man. Then more advanced tools requiring assemblage were created by Cro-

Magnon and the application of mechanical principals were achieved by Neolithic man. These

are the small steps that man had to take and is very important to the history of humanity and

technology.

The 20th century has witnessed more technological advances in just a few decades than

the whole previously recorded history. Everything from the airplane, atomic bombs and the

computer, have created a whole new age for man, full of possibilities that would not have been

even imaginable in previous centuries. Probably the most vital of all inventions in the

advancement of technology would be the computer. The electronic computer was first invented

by English inventor Charles Babbage in the 1830’s. This machine would record electric impulses

which would record and feed information that was wanted. When the Mark I was developed in

1944 at Harvard University, computers were large and expensive. It wasn’t until the transistor

was developed that computers really took off. It could perform the same functions of a

thermionic valve, which was what made the computer work. The transistor was a key invention

of the space age, it was small, reliable, more versatile way of technology. Starting in the 1950’s

to themid-1970’s the computer grew to more than just a ridiculous luxury to an element of

commercial enterprises, and in the 80’s the computer became widespread for home use. In the

medical field, the technology...