Welcome to the
wonderful world of technology.
Anyone who looks back on their lifetime will see that technology has progressed quite
dramatically during that short time. This seems to be the same for just about everybody because technology is
racing ahead at an amazing pace. There have been tremendous advancements in areas such as:
- entertainment
- medicine
- communications
- transport
- construction
- energy production
- education
- Information technology
Actually, the whole idea of technology is simply to find a better or more efficient way of doing the same
things. It really doesn't involve creating anything genuinely new, but it is simply the application of knowledge
and research to develop systems that appear to be more efficient in achieving certain goals.
Technology in Entertainment
In the entertainment world, we are seeing rapid developments in
areas such as televisions, radio, computers, audio, and lighting. Only 50 years ago television became
available to the general public and now there are more televisions in the USA than there are people, some
families have eight or more televisions in their house. Now, we have HD television and digital television is
becoming more widespread and common. There have been similar advances in radio including digital radio, and I
believe most people are aware of the rapid advancements in the world of computer gaming.
Medical Technology
The whole area of medicine and medical research has become extremely
high-tech. Not only can we see inside the human body with x-rays and such things, but, we even have technology
that will analyse the different movements of the brainwaves in our heads. Even the police can see if
you're telling the truth or not by connecting you up to a polygraph machine which measures such things as
pulse and body temperature. It has become possible even to stop the human heart, do some work on it, even
replace it, and then restart it, and have a person walking again in the outside world within a matter of three
or four days.
Technology in communications
Today, just about everybody needs is carrying a mobile phone. The
schools are teaching us to communicate with e-mail, how to build websites and even how to use Facebook safely.
Not only is it possible today, but it is very common for children and adults alike to be communicating with
other adults or children all over the world instantaneously. In our work environment we can easily communicate
with someone on the other side of the planet and even outsource some of our work to other countries who may
have a weaker economy and thus can benefit from the opportunities to work for a company in a different
country, even from their home.
Transport technology
It seems that transport has become even easier today than ever before.
We can go online to the Internet and browse through the lists of available flights, ferries, trains or buses,
and even without leaving our home or without picking up the telephone, we can book a ticket to travel to
practically anywhere on the globe. The number of cars on the planet in developed countries especially has
increased at a phenomenal rate, in some countries the average family will have not one but two or more
cars in the driveway.
Technology in construction
The construction industry has come on in leaps and bounds,
with new technologies in the areas of adhesives, hand-tools, electric tools and other gadgets. Large cranes,
trucks and advancements in the timber frame production industry allow us to order and design a new house on a
computer and have it delivered already made to our site in a matter of 3 to 4 weeks, complete with all the
accessories and fixtures and fittings.
Use of technology in energy
production
Although we are still using coal, oil, gas and similar
fossil fuels, there's been a great interest and increasing the usage of alternative sources of energy
including;
- wave power
- wind power
- solar power
- and even magnetic power
to produce the energy that we need to power our businesses and homes. Who would have thought that in the year
2010, it would be possible to drive a car on a rechargeable battery for over 500 km at well over 150 km/h, and then
only need to charge the battery for a further 30 minutes before driving again. There is even evidence out there
amongst the very clever leaders in technological advancement that one could run a car powered simply on water and
using electric cell to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen for burning as fuel.
Technology and education
Advancements in the area of technology related to
education range from simple but quite remarkable things like interactive whiteboards in the school classrooms,
up to much more sophisticated machinery such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, gas chromatographs,
electron microscopes and supercomputers used in the universities for research. Using technology we can send
satellites into orbit for research purposes enabling us to do things such as monitoring the weather patterns
from above.
Information technology
The advancements in information technology have been quite extensive
and have happened very quickly. The last 30 or 40 years has seen major improvements in technologies such as
voice recognition software, video technology and all areas of Internet communications. Even as I write this
article, I am not typing, I am simply speaking the words into a headset and my computer is converting
that sound into a written article at a much faster speed than I would be able to do if I were to try and type
it myself by hand. Isn't technology great?
Summary
Personally, I believe one of the most important things is that we must remember that technology is simply a
means to an end. Technology is not the goal of our lives either as individuals, collectively as
nations or as cohabitants of the planet Earth. We should use technology, not just to improve our sense
gratification or so-called enjoyment in this world, but to try to understand what is our purpose and function,
and to make this world a better place for all living entities regardless of their cast, creed, colour or gender and
also regardless of whether they are inside a human body or the body of some other kind of creature like a cat or a
cow.
I hope you enjoy your visit to our site and I hope you find the resources here useful, please remember to
bookmark us in your favourites, and come back often!
Best wishes from your friends at Tech-stuff.net
|