In the quarter of a million years or so since humans joined the animal population on this planet, we have been actively changing our physical world, and not merely adapting to what we find. We have used technology, making endless alterations in the environment to help us flourish. It began with weapons and sharp-edged tools made from stone. We built shelters and defences against many threats, cooked our food, made baskets and pots, wove fabrics. Soon animal husbandry, horticulture and agriculture began; starting independently in several geographical locations, but widespread by 10,000 BC. So began our unique historical trajectory towards domination of our planet.
It was not a smooth or uniform process: technology never is in a steady state for long. Since earliest times people have triggered epochs of rapid innovation in technology, each changing the world. Very early among these revolutions was the use of domesticated animals. Bees were kept from 10,000 BC in North Africa, valued for both honey and beeswax. Horses were important by 4000 BC. Perhaps bred at first for their meat, horses were quickly seen as an important mechanical energy source, soon dominating all forms of land transportation.
And so it went on: great and memorable technology revolutions, one after another from then until now, and our own revolution—microelectronics on the silicon chip—arguably the most significant advance there has ever been. Technology is not static but from its beginning has been in process of continual development, presenting a different face to successive human generations. New material worlds change the patterns and boundaries of thought for those who live in them. This historical succession of new and different worlds, each giving rise to distinctive cultural outcomes, is created by the evolution of technology. Story-telling, fine and popular arts, philosophy, science and theology are immensely precious expressions of the human spirit. However, they make sense only when seen as responses to the place and time in which they appear, the unique material culture which is itself technology’s consequence in interplay with history.
In no way is this to be seen as technological determinism. What is going on here is a dialogue, or perhaps a ritual dance. Needs and wishes expressed in society at large evoke new technology. If it succeeds this should have the outcomes being sought, but will probably have others, not foreseen. Many facets of social behaviour and structure will change in time, to adapt to the new material environment that emerging technology has created. This transformed culture will evoke new social demands which again technology will seek to fulfil. And so it goes, turn and turnabout.
Technology is never in steady state so neither is our social forms and institutions. Each responds to the other. Already having brought us domination of our own planet, this process has not finished yet. We are reaching out to the universe. But technology has a worrying downside too. The news is not all positive—potential for good and evil have come together. People fear things to come, and need time to adjust their lives and thinking to manage unforeseen consequences of change. We are better able to do that if we have a broader perspective of what is happening.
To claim an important part for technology in human history is not controversial. My contention is that through this dialogue successful technology sets the direction and pace of all cultural evolution. The state of technology at any time is the major influence on the world, and not just the material world. Since the earliest times, humanity has lived beset by occasional revolutions in technology, which, in turn, change the world, often beyond recognition. This book is not a history of technology, still less of science. It questions how technology and social forces interact, leading to these successive revolutions and their outcome.
The following chapters explore five themes:
- How is technology different from science and what language shall we use to talk about it?
- How does technology go about its work? What is the doxastic method? One of the most widespread problem-solving strategies, technology orchestrates it to symphonic levels.
- What distinctive feature have we in mind when we call an activity technology? Many animals use tools, but we do not think of that as technology.
- How are the needs and wants society expresses matched to the contemporary potential of technology?
- What characterises its successes and failures? In 1932 DELAG, the world’s first commercial airline, initiated a regular service direct from Berlin to Buenos Aires, using an airship. Yet in a few years airplanes were replacing airships everywhere because they were faster, cheaper and safer. Was what DELAG did a success or a failure? Perhaps it was neither—for a time it proved useful, so maybe it was just a precursor.
We are Homo Sapiens Sapiens, the apprentice guardians of Earth. If we fail in our duty of care for our planet no others will follow. No living thing here has the potential to displace us, and any sentient extra-terrestrials are just too far away. So we need to learn to be competent guardians of what we have. Our technology creates irreversible social revolutions. We blunder thoughtlessly into them, acting like children, innocent of what will follow. But now we are living in a unique epoch of human history: a great transition has begun. We are building, at absurdly low cost, general-purpose digital machines of more than biological complexity. Technology has come to childhood’s end, and it is time we took ownership of our future.