Technology is the mak-ing, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, methods of organization, in order to solve a prob-lem, improve a preexisting solution to a prob-lem, achieve a goal or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, modifica-tions, arrangements and procedures. Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species’ ability to con-trol and adapt to their natural environments. The word technology comes

from Greek τεχνολογία (technología); from τέχνη (téchnē), meaning “art, skill, craft”, and -λογία (-logía), meaning

“study of-”. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: exam-ples include construction technology, medi-cal technology, and information technology.

The human species’ use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery

of the ability to control fire increased the

available sources of food

and

the invention of the wheel helped humans in travel-ling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological develop-ments, including the print-ing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and al-lowed humans to inter- act freely on a global

scale. How-

Technology is the making, modifica-tion, usage, and knowledge of

tools, machines, tech-

niques, crafts,

systems,

methods of organi-zation, in order to solve a problem, improve a preexist-

ing solution to a problem, achieve a goal or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection

of such tools, machinery,

modifica-tions, arrange-ments and pro-

cedures. Technolo-

gies significantly affect human as well as other animal species’ ability to con-trol and adapt to their natural

environments. The word technol-ogy comes from Greek τεχνολογία (technología); from τέχνη (téchnē), meaning “art, skill, craft”, and -λογία (-logía), meaning “study of-”. The term can either be ap-plied generally or to specific areas: examples include construction tech-nology, medical technology, and information tech-nology.The human species’ use of technol-ogy began with

the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent techno-logical develop-ments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have less-ened physical bar-riers to communica-

Computing hardware evolved from machines

that needed separate manual ac-tion to per-

form each arithmetic operation

Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today’s global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technologi-cal processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its envi-ronment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of effi-ciency in terms of human productiv-ity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of tra-ditional norms. Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and fu-ture use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technol-ogy improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criti-cise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued techno-logical progress as beneficial to soci-ety and the human condition. Indeed,

until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowl-edge to other generations. Comput-ing hardware evolved from machines that needed separate manual action to perform each arithmetic operation, to punched card machines, and then to stored-program computers. The history of stored-program computers relates first to computer architecture, that is, the organization of the units to perform input and output, to store data and to operate as an integrat-ed mechanism. Before the develop-ment of the general-purpose com-puter, most calculations were done by humans. Mechanical tools to help humans with digital calculations were then called “calculating machines”, by proprietary names, or even as they are now, calculators. It was those humans who used the machines who were then called computers. Aside from written numerals, the first aids to computation were purely mechani-cal devices which required the operator to set up the initial values of an elementary

arithmetic operation, then manipulate the device to obtain the result. A so-phisticated (and comparatively re-cent) example is the slide rule in which numbers are represented as lengths on a logarithmic scale and computa-tion is performed by setting a cursor and aligning sliding scales, thus add-ing those lengths. Numbers could be represented in a continuous “analog” form, for instance a voltage or some other physical property was set to be proportional to the number. Analog computers, like those designed and built by Vannevar Bush before World War II were of this type. Numbers could be represented in the form of digits, automatically manipulated by a mechanical mechanism. Although this last approach required more complex mechanisms in many cases, it made for greater precision of results. The invention of electronic amplifiers made calculating machines much faster than their mechanical or elec-tromechanical predecessors. Vacuum tube (ther-m i o n i c

All computers rely on digital storage